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Golden Puzzle Cube

Disclaimer: This is purely a work of fiction. All characters in this publication are fictitious and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

Legal Disclaimer: All characters depicted in sexual situations in this post of fiction (including material in the comments) are fictional and are intended to be and considered to be by the author of said material of the legal age of consent in the United States state of California, regardless of what age these characters may be in the material they are derived from.

/The Black Book, Sebastian/Chris, Drama/Romance, Rated: M for Mature/

Description: A mysterious cube comes across Sebastian's desk at the academy, with it a note from a scholar who said that the cube has some kind of tie to The Black Book. What secrets is the cube holding or is it something that Chris and Sebastian will regret dearly.

Golden Puzzle Cube

It was another typical morning in the Academy, as Sebastian finally made it to his office. He opened the black wooden door that creaked open and allowed him entrance into his cluttered office. On his desk he noticed a small medium size cube. It was gold and had markings from the old kingdom. It looked like it had a hint of the Arcane Scripture on it as well.

He looked at the cube with an interested look. It perplexed him, through all of his studies of the ancient relics of the old kingdom this one seemed nothing like the others. What struck his attention was the Eldarian markings, three of them neatly carved into the cube along with what Sebastian could recognize was at least nine other ones. Sebastian shook his head at the intercity that the craving present he made his way to the book shelf, and grabbed three books. He fished out the book he had on Elderian language, along with a book on Arcanium Magic's: Fact or Fiction, and The Black Book.

Sebastian then flipped through the elven book 'Secrets of the Elderian language' as he came upon the section marked 'Elderian Symbology: The study of Elderian symbols'. To his astonishment none of the markings appeared to have a direct translation, he looked at the different meanings, and came up with three possible meanings. They were Magic Seal, Magic Disruption, and Magic Trap, along with some other meanings that dealt with Soul Trapping and Soul Exchange. The translations on that were incomplete, as the book only mentioned what has already been translated.

Sebastian knew the Elderian's were one of the last races to die from the purge. In fact most of their works were preserved, but sadly most of ruins were sealed and it took the work of the elves to unseal them. Progression on discovering and unsealing ruins was off and on all the time, depending on when the elves felt like doing it. Projects to the elves weren't priority. The Elves just completed them as leisure actives, stopping when they felt like it and sometimes years later resuming them as if they never were stopped in the first place.

Puzzled by this he looked at the other marking, precisely the ones carved from the Arcane Warriors. Those marking defiantly meant Soul House, Soul Transfer, and Soul Trapping. So assuming from those marking he assumed that it was a soul prison of some sort, or a trap of some kind. The other marking that were inscribed on the cube were unknown to him, they looked as if they were before the first kingdom. Finding what they meant was impossible, as information on the Heralds was slim to none.

Sebastian looked as he eyed the cube unsure if he should touch it, he wondered if he should use a magic dampening spell on it. He didn't want residual magic flowing through his body to activate it somehow. It puzzled him as he consulted The Black Book, which of course had nothing on any sort of prison like this. He flipped through various pages outline and explaining various seal, traps and prisons. He read briefly on soul trapping, which again was inconclusive. The soul trapping here used various gems to store the magical essence in a soul, not the entire soul. Soul Prisons were marked as impossible even though three spells existed. Each of them had warnings of possibly killing the intended target before the sealing was complete.

Soul Transfer and Exchange caught his eye as he read the pages after Soul Trapping, and Soul Sealing. He remembered that one of the marking combinations translated to that, as he read it. It explained the possibility of transferring a soul to an object that could sustain it, like the process of transferring magic essence from a soul that died which was known as Soul Trapping. Complete souls could be transferred to objects enchanted to sustain souls, as well as killing them in a set amount of time.

Sebastian though back to the old days, as he remembered something being mentioned that was being tested on criminals, transferring souls from the dying to inhabit the bodies of criminals. It was being tested to serve the purpose of prolonging the life of a dying man and sentencing a man convicted of heinous crime to death. Though it was never known if the project was completed, or it they really were transferred to the body of a dying host.

The box appeared to be capable of sustaining a soul, but with the other markings, direct translations of the some markings without the others made the finding inconclusive and incomplete. For all he knew this object could be intended as a prison, was well as other uses. He looked further in The Black Book looking on the evidence of Soul Transfers, and looking at the records in various books on the topic to see if they were in fact preformed and were successful. Some cases say that at most it is possible that only five or six trials were looked into, while others say that it is impossible. Others argued that man was playing god is evidence enough that it cannot be done.

One trial caught his attention in the 'Arcanium Magic's: Fact or Fiction, Volume 13: Dated Years 2E405-2E406'. It described the process of using a temporary stasis field, and a Soul Gem to transfer a living soul out of a dead man to a mechanized golem. It was reported that the process was successful that the victim only lived for a week after that. After that trial the process was declared inhumane, and to a religious decree, a violation of the belief of god that men should not play god in the interest of prolonging or creating life. Sebastian just shook his head and looked over at the cube sitting on the table as he mocked the religious decree.

Sebastian knew where the process went wrong. Transferring a soul with something that is supposed to store something small and less powerful weakened the life force of it, reducing it to matter of days instead of the normal years. Finding something to sustain a something as powerful as life force was hard enough, but again the little gold cube did. Now it was a matter of finding out if that was what it was.

Sebastian eyeing the cube for the seventh time was caught off guard when he heard a knock at the door. Chris was standing there and didn't wait for him to even look up at he entered the office.

"Ok Sebastian what gives, you weren't at breakfast again." Chris looked over at him as he caught a glimpse of the numerous books scattered around. Picking one up to make his point

"You know that this isn't good for you, or did you happen to find another hint on a page that I didn't know about in the last hour and a half? Chris looked over at the desk and picked up the book careful not lose the page it was opened to.

'Arcanium Magic's'? Alright spill it, what did you find this time?" Chris asked as he laid the book back down, careful to keep the page it was open to yet again. Then he noticed it was opened to a particular catchy experiment, labeled Soul Transfer. "Soul Transfer?" he questioned to himself. He remembered the experiment clearly, since he was given the memories of many people who all worked in the magic field. "What are you interested in this for? That experiment wasn't as successful as the book claims." Sebastian looked up at him, as if caught by surprise.

Sebastian handed him the letter and pointed to the cube on the stand. "Please do not touch it. I haven't the faintest idea what it is or let alone what it does. I have no idea if simply touching activates it yet." Chris looked at it in perplexed as well. He recalled a cube like this, but neither had any idea what it was or how it worked.

"Look under Puzzle Cubes. I think their is a passage on this type of cube in there." Chris found The Black Book open to same type of passages related to Soul Exchange, Transfer, and Soul Trapping. "Alright I bit here, what gave you this idea?" Chris asked as he looked closer at the cube. "Eldarian? That is strange. Shouldn't this be in the hands of the elves? How did you get it?" Chris asked as brought his hand to his head and rubbed it in confusion.

"I don't know. I found it here this morning, and it was left by the courier. There was no return recipient, or a name on the letter." Chris listened as Sebastian read the letter aloud from memory.

"Dear, Mr. Mcfarlin, or whom it may concern,

'I know you have an interest in things like this, especially on things that should be in The Black Book.
I wanted to Share my findings with you, and hopefully this help you in the search of The Black Book. ' Sincerely, a friend "

"You know me I was immediately intrigued simply by the markings. It has a hint of Arcane Scripture on it as well."

"This is strange don't you think. They would have gotten more from it with the elves. To give up a find like this, I think there's something else were not seeing here." said Chris as walked to the shelf and briefly looked through the books. He tilted his head as he looked through the shelves only to come up empty handed. He groaned in frustration.

"Damn Sebastian, you have nothing on puzzle cubes. Did not think we would encounter them? I wrote it down on the list of book to transcribe when you last went to the library." complained Chris as he stood up and walked back to the desk.

"Okay, this is what I got from what I could decipher. It was something about Magic Disruption, Magic Seal, and Magic Trap. What got me is they have various rearranged meaning that deals with the Souls Arts. The book is not complete though, I apparently transcribed it when I wasn't supposed to. I have the first meaning as Soul Exchange or Transfer, as for the rest I cannot translate without the rest of the translated texts. If I remember the elves had it, since this is Eldarian, and I sure it still not complete to this day. "

"Okay now I see why you were looking up Soul Transfers, but that still doesn't answer what it is."

"That experiment that you said wasn't a success, it was in fact. All that was needed was a bigger stronger way of storing the life force. Soul Gems weren't meant for that, they are meant to hold the magic essence of the soul not the life force. Something as weak as that would cut the amount of life force present, reducing the time the thing had to live. I think the experiment reduced the years it had left into days or weeks at the max apparently." Sebastian then returned his attention to the book as he reread the experiment making sure the information was correct.

"So that means…," Chris looked over and poked his head around Sebastian as if trying to get in his train of thought.

"Nothing to our subject now, but maybe it will offer something more conclusive. I think that was one of the uses for this cube, since there are markings signifying Soul Transfer and Soul Exchange. This Experiment was inconclusive to the subject I was looking under anyway." Sebastian then slide over on the table to the black book, as he looked up Puzzle Cubes.

"What did you mean about puzzle cubes? I'm familiar with them, as they hold secrets correct? You're thinking it's holding a secret in the form of a soul, like teachings or something?"

"That was my first though until you mentioned the soul sealing. In looking at the various symbols here," Chris pointed to some of the symbols that were froing to Sebastian, "some of these are from the Heralds, the first race, but there are inconclusive. I cannot completely tell you what they mean, for there was never any direct translation on their symbols. It was only garbled junk and a bunch of guessing, all that will do it cause more problems

"Puzzle Cubes are devices constructed in the crude form that houses a massive amount of magic." read Sebastian, "Constructed by the Dwarves in the late 2E era it was one of the devices that could hold multiple markings. The marking were used in some form to hold large amounts of information, up to one library give or take. Puzzle Cubes were used the by The Heralds, as they were the first to discover and use them to their fullest extent. Nothing is really known about extent of what it can do, since to this day no has been able to crack the markings of The Heralds. Testing still is ongoing today." Finished Sebastian as he took a breath and shook his head, as he was not pleased with what the Black Book had listed on them.

He looked at the book at the numerous pictures as he noticed that the golden ones were marked as rare underweight the picture. The colors ranged from blue, yellow, red, green, brown, purple, black, white, silver, and gold.

See this symbol," Chris pointed to the house symbol of the Dwarves, "Paragon Khondlim, a famous constructor of magic trinkets and devices, constructed this cube. He and his works have been lost in the Great Catastrophe, which marked the end of the old kingdom. There may be fifty of his things found, this being one of them. This symbol is how you can tell that if it is authentic or not. People are constantly trying to pass off replicas like the real ones, and going as far as trying to mimicking symbols of The Heralds. The Dwarven Paragons infused there symbols with a metal that reacts to Lithium dust. Since this is an authentic Khondlim dynasty piece, you can tell by the small castle in the center of his symbol, it's got to have original information on it.

"Khondlin Dynasty Pieces…" Sebastian thought as he looked around the room. He couldn't quite place if he had anything on that particular topic.

"The book 'Dwarven Craftsmanship, History of and Guide to' is the best things you're going to get on his pieces, other than that the information and art of creating his particular pieces are lost, along with his special metal to create his symbols. Nothing in magical trinkets can compare to his I'm told.

Sebastian pointed to the corner of the room. "Over there should be a book for Dwarven craftsmanship, it intrigued me so I transcribed it. Which one it is I don't remember. There also should be a book on Dwarven Paragons over there too; I had a student transcribe it for me for extra credit." Chris walked over to the piles of books that to his assessment were at least twenty five. He looked down the stacks until he found the books he was looking for, and carefully with knocking the stack over removed them.

"What Sebastian you naughty boy, books on the Onyx Cubes, those are protected books. No one allowed to see them let alone touch them. How… never mind I don't want to know." said Chris amazed that he had such books.

"I transcribed the ones that were left out on the king's office. It was relatively easy process, and I just hid them in fake covers. I'm not dumb Chris. I know how to get restricted books. How else do you think I got half of these books, I guarantee you that most are restricted books." mentioned Sebastian as he looked down the list of non-acquired books and tapped his finger on the written words "Dwarven Craftsmanship: The History of. "'Dwarven Craftsmanship: The History of' it not here, you don't have to look for it.

Well their isn't much more here than what I already told you, and you already know about the multiple colors and Paragon Symbols. The only thing it does say was in the early 4E's era construction of them slowed down considerably, because the Dwaves are having trouble finding the components to build them. Since Paragon Khondlim disappearance no one has even come close to constructing a working Golden Puzzle Cube either. So not much help there." Chris skimmed down the page again and came to a section that he had to read closer to make sure he understood the passage correctly. Placing his finger on the section, "This might help a little. They were first constructed in the 2E's era, by the famous Khondlim, a Paragon Craftsman, and house lord eligible for king. I think this was right around the time of these experiments on Soul Transfer and Exchange. Sebastian grabbed the book "Arcanium Magics: Fact or Fiction' again as he read the passage again and blurted out the date "Year of 2E405" he continued to read and made sure the date was correct.

"The date is 2E405, when the experiment took place, so Soul Cubes or Puzzle Cubed was in that time period. I know around the end of the 2E's and the beginnings of the 3E's Arcane Warriors were looking into Soul Transfers and Exchange. We were trying to come up with a way to prolong our lives and maintain magic in our late age, But what I don't know is if those tests were Successful or not. That is what I was looking up Soul Exchange and Transfers, which brought me to that experiment.

"Can someone tell me what the hell it is that I'm feeling, it the third time this morning I felt a shift in some sort of energy.

"It's the cube; it has its own energy source. I felt it as soon as it came in, as the residence inside of the cube is reacting to the magic essence were letting off. "

"So that is what that feeling is? The cube has magic inside of it? Wonderful, I defiantly don't want to do anything to it now unless I know what it does." Sebastian looked at it and turned his head towards the black book. He grabbed the transcriber out of his desk drawer, and set in the book as he transcribed the passage out of the Dwaven Craftsmanship book. When it finished there was a whole page added to the book, just on Soul Cubes and Puzzle Cubes. He then transcribed the Information that Chris told him in the book labeled as miscellaneous information. Pleased he turned the page and returned the transcriber back to his desk drawer.

"Should we try to crack the seal on it?" Sebastian looked at Chris for an answer to his question. "I'm entirely sure we should even be doing anything with it, seeing how we have no idea what is in it, let alone what it is capable of. Chris then explained why is and wasn't possible to decode the entire cube.

"That's if you can break them, Eldarians were extremely powerful magic users. There magic flowed through the earth itself to them. It was the purest magic have then. Those scriptures that appear in Eldarian were probably set up for Soul Transfers, since it would allow souls to flow in and out of the cube upon command through magic. But since a Magic seal is placed on it, it stopped the process. If by chance your race used this to keep someone and information, it could be valuable to break the seal. But like you said we have no idea what is in or on this cube, and seeing The Heralds language on this it would be almost impossible to break The Heralds Scriptures, but you can possibly break the Eldarian's scriptures."

"You're saying we should pass it off to the elves than?"

"No! If you do, they will seal in their vaults and not even attempt to break it. They don't care about the past, only collecting artifacts from their ancestors. That is why there are reluctant in unsealing Eldarian ruins. Relics in there are preserved and if they are where no else can touch them, then by all means they will leave them there. It's the ruins that are unsealed are the ones that they quickly and quietly clear out.

Sebastian then picked up the black book, he turned the pages to the section marked scriptures and began to read them. There was a brief section on Eldarian Scriptures as skimmed it. There was a brief how to on breaking and decoding Eldarian Scriptures, which called for a lengthy ritual and a spell ritual circle.

Eldarian Magic was the strongest from known to the living races, being directly taken from the earth. It required no Spells or incantation, just a powerful will a strong mind to tell it how to work, and a lot of magic essence. Beings how the ritual described many steps and a very intricate spell circle it seem very unlikely that he would be strong enough to even maintain the ritual.

Six points of magic were needed; Fire, Earth, Water, Wind, Darkness, and Light, along with seven different incantations which were written and described in the book. In Eldarian these were not incantations but methods of command and will, and the Ritual circle had to be exactly seven foot round laced with various spiritual matters and living magic essence caught in soul gems. The ritual also called for occupants of the Eldarian to be present to help sustain the circles power, but seeing's how that wasn't possible he would have to settle for completing this one way and that was all.

He continued to read the steps need and what exactly was needed to lace the circle with natural properties of magic. The methods of control were so detailed that he wasn't sure if he even had it in him to will these sorts of things for the spell. Then it came to being able to harness and command each of the elemental powers needed in the ritual. There was a will and a command procedure for each element needed. In the last set of will and command broke one of the scriptures, it would have to be repeated three times to break all three scriptures.

Sebastian looked at the complete ritual, which took five pages front and back to explain. He reread each step to insure he understood it right as he finally set back and took a deep breath.

"This seems impossible, how the hell can this even be possible. You cannot will and command magic like that."

"Sebastian, yes you can. Your kind does it through words; the Eldarian's did it through thought and will power. Just think what you want the magic to do, and will it to happen. That is what I was told when an Eldarian taught me about their rituals."

"Yeah commanding and willing all six elements in the last step that seems like an awful lot even for them." Sebastian just sighed as he looked down at the book again.

"You can always ask Michael to assist you, I'm sure he would love to patronize you on how weak you have become." Chris just looked at him with a smirk. He enjoyed hitting those nerves.

"I'm sure you would love to see him patronize me wouldn't you. Oh but wait he would also hit on me and then we have a jealous Chris instead."

"Shut up ass! Forget I said anything." Chris just rolled his eyes as was not happy with Sebastian assessment. He also hated the fact that Michael flirted with any guy he deemed hot and worthy enough. In Chris eyes Sebastian was his and his alone until they decided otherwise. Michael was just a nuance, a huge one at that. The way he tried to court Sebastian also pissed Chris off, as wealth is not the only determining factor in relationship. But nevertheless he flaunted it, showed it off, and used it to his advantage. So far Sebastian didn't seem impressed with it. That could change at any time, especially if he got something that Sebastian actually wanted.

"Well, well… he does have nerves after all, and I thought you got angry at nothing." mocked Sebastian as he got up and began drawing the pentagram on the floor that marked the six elements needed.

"Oh yes he does… and now there telling me to get you back." Chris moved up to him and grabbed him picking him up off the floor. "And I know the perfect way too." taunted Chris as he moved in closer.

"No! That is a cheap shot and you know it. Move away from the body and play fair.

"Play fair you say, well you should have thought of that before you threaten Michael on Me." countered Chris as he moved even closer making his way to his lips.

"Hey… Hey! Now I'm not the one who threaten him first. You are the one who should think of playing fair, and you should remember that it takes two to tango. If you play dirty I can too.

"Fine, it not like you wouldn't have enjoyed it anyway." Chris then moved in and kissed him anyway. Chris taunted him all the way through never letting him get the upper hand in it or letting him in. finally they broke apart.

"That proves it, you don't know how to play fair!" pouted Sebastian as moved back to face him.

"Okay… okay. So I fibbed just a little, but you loved it anyway."

"Oh sure, players just love cheaters who violate the rules of the game, but you get an E for Effort. I almost forgot that you cheated, almost.

"That means next time I have to try harder" laughed Chris

"Oh by all means try harder next time, then maybe I won't realize that you can take advantage of me like that." As Sebastian finished that there was a knock at the door. Both of them looked back as the mood was ruins.

"My lord, provisions from this morning's breakfast. Lord McBride requested that it be delivered to you."

"Thank you Seranna you can place them over there," Sebastian pointed to the only halfway clear table in the room, "if you need just move some stuff off to the side to make room, and yes that will be all."

"Thank you My Lord" Serena moved and placed the tray down just as fast as she entered and exited just as much grace. Sebastian could see the steam rise from the tray as he tried to ignore it.

"Leave to Michael to ruin the mood!" said Chris as his eyes turned green from jealousy. He then moved way and walked to the shelf of books. He brought his hand to his head and rubbed his eyes trying to get the ugly green out of them. He hated that fact about him, that he got jealous over simple gestures that in reality really meant nothing. It should have been him that thought of that not Michael, he thought as he turned around.

"Chris, he was just being nice, in fact that it only the second time he's ever done that. Don't take it the wrong way, please." Sebastian didn't like it when Chris felt out did. He found it cute when Michael went out of his way to make him feel special, but it was nothing like what Chris would do. Michael would have never taken him out to the garden in the moon light, or take him to the most beautiful scenic waterfalls of the lands. No, Michael was beyond that, he would take him to a bathhouse, or some luxurious resort. What Chris did was more for him, and not what was convenient because of being rich.

"It's hard not to, how can I compete with that! He has money and fame, and he's hot, muscular, powerful, everything that I'm not. I'm just a damn soul in a book."

"A hot, beautiful, romantic, and loving soul that's stuck in a book, and seriously don't worry about him. You're a lot he is not and there is more than what meets the eye to you, so much more than you realize."

"That is so reassuring." Chris laced it with a hint of sarcasm to make his point known.

"You should take it as a compliment." Sebastian walked over to the tray and removed the iron cover. He looked at the multiple plates that were covered with a little of everything. "You know to this day no one knows what I like, god what am I supposed to do with all this?"

"Okay I take it back; maybe I can compete with him." Chris walked over to the tray sort of amused and laughing at Sebastian's remark. He was right there was nothing particularly good on it. What do you expect from money he thought?

"Really who eats half of this stuff anyway?" Sebastian poked around the tray moving some of the contents with the fork he was provided beside the tray. He finally settled on bread and a couple of sausage links.

"You know Michael, it has to extravagant. If it isn't he is not pleased with it."

"Okay, so what is this," Sebastian bent his head down to smell and quickly was discouraged on even tasting it, "it smells disgusting, and what is that to the side of it, it looks even worse?

"Oh my god," Chris moved to get one of the many clothes that were on the tray, and it spit out into it, "you're right that is gross.

Sebastian just grabbed the plate of eggs and the rest of the sausage and some strips of pork. He also grabbed the pot of coffee and placed it on the fire place he had going to keep the other pot he had left warmed. He placed the plate down on the corner of the table as he placed what he wanted on it and poured the coffee into his pewter cup.

"Chris, please tell Serena to take the rest of this, unless there is something that you want out of it? Also grab the cider off the corner if you would please." said Sebastian as he took the plate and moved back to his desk clearing a spot to set the plate down. He quickly sat down and grabbed the cup of coffee and drank it. Coughing from the sudden burst of warmth to his throat as he quickly cleared it and started to eat what he had. After Sebastian calmed down from the sudden change of temperature in his throat Chris called and got Serena to take the tray and the cloth away, which Sebastian made a point of thanking her again when she left with the tray?

After he finished with the slim picking that he could tolerate from the tray he returned to the puzzle that lay before him. He was really concerned on how he was going to manage to break one of the scriptures let along all three of them.

He continued the ritual circle on the floor. When he finished the pentagram on the floor he drew the seven foot circle around it, then he then laced with the soul matter as best he could. He then placed one soul gem at every point and one in the center marking the sixth element light. He could sense the shift in the magic essence on the room when the soul gems where place. It was like the completed circle was already conducting energy of some kind. The energy was drawn in the center where the soul gem as placed, he felt it shifting and gathering there. He then placed the cube in the center as all the Eldarian scriptures began to glow and resonate. That is when a major shift to balance of the circle, like the cube off set it.

"Umm, Chris is supposed to do that?" Sebastian was unsure if he should continue the ritual, as the cube presence shifted the balance in the circle. He never done or even watched a Eldarian ritual before, seeing how he was he was doing one with no supervision from them he had no way of knowing if it was done right.

"I guess did you follow the book correctly?" Chris looked at the cube as the scriptures glowed more intensely. "If I would have to give an educated guess I would say that the cube is resonating with the power that is already present. The flow of elements exists outside while the flow of life exists in side. Lacing the circle with death is an unknown at this point, I have to assume when you draw on the elements that somehow death enters the equations and brings the balance back."

"Really and that is a guess?" Sebastian gave him a look that said I'm not in the mood for your games; just tell me what you think.

"An educated one, but you should try anyway, see where this goes." Chris said with as much certainty as he could

"Man your braver then I am, and I don't even know if I can seal it back up once it open though."

"You worry too much. It has nothing but ancient records in it." Chris looked over at the now brightly blue glowing scriptures, as he noticed that all the scriptures were that bluish glowing color as he looked at the cube more closely.

"I think that all the scripts here are resonating, even the Symbols of the Heralds. Continue the ritual I want to see what happens. If you succeed you will be the first to break the symbols of The Heralds." Chris looked over at Sebastian with that glow in his eyes; he was like a kid who received a present.

"You have that much confidence in me? I don't know if I should be flattered or calling you an idiot for even believing I can do this?" said Sebastian as he rested his body in the transitive from the book described. Chris just looked at him. He knew that if anyone could do this it was him. He was a power warrior of magic. He watched as the magic essence rose from Sebastian as he started to command the first element to his will. There was a violent shaking as the power from the earth rose to his command as he willed to the first place on the pentagram. Shards of earth rose from the ground and changed to glowing dots that looked like spirits. The power of the earth rested on the pentagram as it began to resonate with the circle. Sebastian never moved as he moved the next element. He was surprisingly calm doing this but it was taking allot out of him to maintain the connection. This form of magic was cruder then he was used to, as it was difficult to control the raw form of magic.

A pillar of flames rushed up from the floor as he struggled to will the power to his command. The pillar grew stronger threatening to engulf everything around it. The fire was freer and allot more powerful in this form. It didn't want to bend to anyone's will, as he forced it to its knees and it broke into the glowing spirits. He willed them to the place on the pentagram as they resonated with the circle.

The earth and fire combined with the circle as it shifted even more. The cube glowing changed again as it shifted to a redder color, as it started to float from the ground. There was a massive shift in the magic essence as a wave came from it. When it came off it almost threw Sebastian off in his concentration as the spirits started to come back out of resonance. He struggled but gained the upper hand as the resonance harmonized again.

Next a puddle of water came from the floor as it grew in size. The slick oddness of water made it hard for Sebastian to control it. As he tried there was a burst as a stream of water came from the floor. It was strong as it escaped it little prison and ran everywhere. Sebastian at this point was almost at his end of will power. The water was proving slick as it escaped his every attempt to contain it long enough to capture it and will it. As Sebastian tried to contain the more powerful the stream got and the more it ran everywhere. Chris watched him as he tried, as his body was shaking from all the exertion. Chris knew he was almost at the end of his power, he sensed it as he sensed him trying to control the water. This is why the ritual called for more sorcerers, it was impossible for one to control all the elements. Chris knew Sebastian's will was strong, but what he didn't know was if it was strong enough to do this. Still he continued to believe that he could do it.

Sebastian was weakening and he knew it, but still he continued as he tried several more times to no avail to control it. The water ability to change its properties made it hard to control let alone will it to do anything. Finally after another five more tries, he got it as the stream began to weaken in force. The water was under his control as he forced it all into one area. He at the fifth attempt finally figured out how to make the water change it properties at his will, as he forced it into the small spirits that resonated in the circle.

The water combined with the established resonance, as another shift in the balance occurred and the scriptures changed colors again. It changed from red to a bright green color. Another wave came off it, and as it let off a high-pitched vibration throughout the room. Chris covered his ears as the vibration was released, as it shrieked through the room shattering all the glass present. Chris noticed that the resonance from the scripts was changing like it was adapting to the resonance the elements were creating. The waves that were coming off it were the Cubes way of protecting itself from the change in resonance. Chris just didn't know how much more violent the waves would become as the rest of the elements were added. Three of them were present as three more were needed.

A torrent of wind filled the room. High powered winds blew in a twisting effect as a huge twister in the room. Sebastian found the controlling the winds were easy as he pulled the power away from the winds and they calmed to a gentle breeze. The power behind the winds was a force that when removed tamed the massive creature. He quickly added it into the resonance.

There was another shift in the resonance as the wind joined in the resonance; the cube shook violently as the wave after wave of energy sheared off it. The waves caused the building to shake as the cube vibrated more to the wave. Sebastian was finding it hard to maintain control as waves came off, each threatening to pull him further out of sync. He moved forward as he called the darkness from the underworld.

The darkness shot up as it infested his concentration filling his head with sight, sounds, and smells of hell itself. Scenes of death and murder plagued his mind as he tried desperately to control it. Demons came and spoke as they shared more intimate moments of their twisted ways of murder and control. They clawed at his mind trying to tear him apart, seeping more horrific scene at him. He shuttered at this as felt his concentration slipping away and the resonance at the circle started to come apart. The Cube started to vibrate even more as the balance was shifting again. Chris who was now at his side was trying to get to him. The darkness had took him and held him in this state as the resonance slipped farther out of sync.

"Damn it, his will is weakening, if the resonance were to weaken anymore it will become unstable." He shouted to himself as he tried to comfort him. Sebastian body was now shaking even more from the exertion, and Chris felt his magic approaching its limits. He knew if he couldn't get this element under his control the resonance would fall out of sync.

"Damn it Sebastian, I'm sorry I should have never forced you into this. I really thought you could handle it," he said as he touched his head with his hands trying to stabilize it, "Now I need you to concentrate on me, listen to my voice." He said trying to find what was left of him in all this.

Sebastian heard a whisper among all the other confusion; it was the voice of Chris as he tried to concentrate on that. The voices of the demons plagued his mind as they tried to get him to submit. He pressed on trying his hardest to find the source of darkness. Every time he came close another demon or another vision plagued his mind. It was not threatening to rip his sanity away as he watched as a woman died, but he couldn't stop it. It was like he was watching through the eyes of the demon that did it. He watched as the demon killed the woman consumed her and took on her body. He just shuttered as he heard the screams and pleads from the woman for her life. He heard the demon laughing as he killed her soul condemning her to an eternity of hell. The shrieks from her tortured soul filled his mind as the demon fed him more of his senses. It was deafening and horrifying to him to hear a human soul in that much pain.

He felt another presence with him, as he heard another whisper from Chris. It was softer than last time but still he heard it. It seemed far away in the distance as the fire from the demons raged on. He was falling deeper into their realm, falling deeper into their clutches. He tried to concentrate on it as he moved towards it. The demons again pulled at him as he fought his way to the voice.

"Come on Sebastian you can do it… fight them fight them for me" he pleaded as he tried desperately to find him. "I know your there your still there I sense it… come on fight them" Chris's voice was laced in worry, but he knew he was there he could sense it as it was weakening fast. The darkness was growing steadily faster in him, he was losing to it. Still Chris didn't give up hope, he wanted desperately to believe that he could do it, he controlled the others. He kept telling himself that if he can do it he would be done. The seventh element does need to be controlled it comes naturally. "Please do not give in to them, I need you here…" he continued

Sebastian kept after the voice trying to ignore what the demons were doing to him. As he resisted them the visions and voices became stronger, and his will was giving out. He could sense the resonance becoming more out of sync, as he tried to will it back in. It would but when the visions came it fell back out. He was constantly fighting for control and the darkness was slipping further out of his grasps.

He continued to follow the voice as the demon continued to kill him. It was getting to the point that when he got one step ahead he was forced back two. It was now down to who had the more powerful will, him or the darkness. The darkness continued to ravage him mind never relenting in its strength and will. Chris watched him as he sense everything that was going through. Every time pain or suffering was caused his essence spiked up, every time he fell or succumbed his essence deviated. Chris knew he was losing him to it, he wished that he had never talked into breaking the scriptures. This maybe would be the one thing that he wouldn't be able to come back from. It scared him to think this way, but it was threatening his life, as his magic was at its limit. It had been for twenty minutes now, as he watched him struggling in his attempts.

Sebastian continued to fight his way to the voice, as the vision became ever more intense. It was getting to the point that he was living through what the demons were doing to him. The pain they caused seems real but when he came back to reality there was nothing. He knew the demons were still toying with him; that the darkness was still toying with him. It loved the fact that it could control its conjuror like that. But still he didn't give up, he tired and continued to attack and control the darkness, it was getting close. Sebastian could see the darkness deploying tactics to protect itself every time he found the end. The darkness was however a formidable opponent giving just as much as it took, but it seemed that the darkness couldn't keep him from finding the end.

The tactics the darkness was deploying were getting desperate. No matter what it did, he always found the end. Sebastian was getting closer to finishing this; he was using the voice as a focus point to drown out the demons, as he continuously fought to get to the end. The darkness was losing to him, a little at a time, but regardless it was losing. He was finding and getting closer to the end each time, as he finally reached it. The darkness howled as it dissipated, releasing it clutches on his mind. His magic and will were at their limits, as it was taking just about everything he had to hold it all together. Still he had the darkness as he willed it into the resonance of the circle.

Sebastian exited the trance as he fell to the ground, only to be caught by Chris. Chris tenderly pulled him to his chest as he apologized to him over and over. Sebastian didn't have anything left that was it he was at his limit as gave into him arms.

"I don't think I can finish it now, at least not yet." He whispered as he fell into his arms.

"What after that and your still worried about that? That almost killed you for real this time! You could have very well not walked away from this!" Chris anger was made relevant when he knew it was just as much his fault as Sebastian's. Chris quickly apologized for his outburst, as he tried to comfort him

"Thank you Chris…" Sebastian started as his strength was giving out, "Thank you for being there."

"What?"

"For guiding me through that hell…" Chris just looked at him and smiled.

"I was not going to lose you to them; you're too pure for them."

"I wish that was true I really do…" Sebastian then fell into a deep sleep as his body finally gave out. Chris got up and carried him to the bed that in corner. Sebastian slept just as much in here as he did in his real quarters, and for once he was grateful for the bed, rather than cursing it for being there.

To be continued…

A/N: 8/19/12:
This chapter is continued in part 2. I was approaching 8,000 words as this is double my normal chapters, and it also seemed like a great place to leave off haha. Anyways I will leave you at this cliff hanger and keep you wondering what is in that cube. Oh and no Sebastian did not die, he is just very tired from doing all that. Poor Chris I know I think he really regrets talking him into doing that.

This is just an introduction chapter. I wanted to see what everyone thought of the idea, and to see if it was worth continuing. This Chapter will probably not get complete anytime soon as I am working on the actual story. This story is also three years in the future of the actual timeline, sorry to do that but when I get with the first chapter collection that will be posted next. If I decide to put this chapter in the story I will probably update it then.

Also I'm in need of a beta for this story, if you are interested then please message me. I only ask that if you offer that you are open minded and don't have a dislike or hatred of the M/M genre. Chances are if you are reading this then you do not. If you any Further question than either check out my profile, as it has what i'm looking for as far as a beta or you can ask me through private Message. I just want to thank anyone in advance who even took the time to even consider taking the job.