(Outdated) The King of Elements

Grab Your Destiny

"You have bested each of my most difficult trials, Megumi Gladestone," the giant head stated in front of her, his booming, godly voice echoed throughout the dimly lit temple. "You have proved to me not to judge those who are shorter in stature. I thank you for showing me the errors of my ways." Rows of stone pillars stood on her left and right, each of them high into the sky, only to be swallowed by the darkness. Only a few small patches of sunlight bled through the dark where the ceiling had crumpled, shining a heavenly light down on the rubble.

Megumi herself looked in bad shape; her hair was filled with thorns and twigs and she had claw marks on the left side of her cheek. Both of the sleeves of her favorite blue "HMD" shirt were torn off, and there was a deep gash in her side, which bled profusely onto the shirt. Her worn out sneakers were full of quicksand and her right pant leg was ripped dangerously high above her bruised and bleeding thigh. Yet, even though she was sore, bruised, and bleeding, she still looked confident in the sentinel's glowing red eyes. "You sure there aren't any more trials? I was starting to have a little fun," she said as she twirled both of her pistols on her index fingers.

"While I assure you I would have no higher joy than to destroy those who seek my most valuable treasure, you have shown that you are more that capable of obtaining that which you seek." He began to hum ominously; his glowing eyes pulsated as the rusted iron gate and stone door descended into the ground. "Inside you will no longer find enemies or traps, but the eternal bliss of beholding mankind's most precious and forgotten treasure. I grant you the permission to venture inside."

Megumi holstered the pistols. "Thank you, Great Golem," she said with a graceful bow. She made her way into the dark room and for a second couldn't see anything, until a bright light filled the room from a large chest in the center of the room.

Finally. This is it.

She strode towards the chest and slowly stuck her hand inside. Her heart pounded in her chest. This was it. She was finally going to get the most prized possession of the gods, the secrets of the universe-

"Hey, 8-Bit! Rise and shine! You've got school," she heard Joel call from the darkness.

Megumi opens her eyes, halfway expecting to be inside of the temple, staring down the giant's head, but found herself in her room. She yawned as she stumbled out of her bed and moved towards her closet. "What are you still doing here?"

"Loyalty and I are helping the family move the stuff in."

"Joy. You mind not trying to knock down the door next time you wake me? I kind of appreciate having some kind of privacy."

"You're eighteen. You don't need privacy yet."

"Oh, shut up."

Joel laughed as he left her door. She didn't know what exactly what made her the angriest: the fact that he woke her by trying to kick down the door, or that he woke her as she was so close to finding the secrets of the universe. She sighed as she put on a black shirt with pink stripes on the side and a pair of black jeans, baggy of course.

It should be made illegal to wake someone from such a nice dream. She though as she sat on the foot of her bed and started to brush her hair.

A softer knock sounded on the door, much softer than any knock that Joel had the common decency to do, anyway. "Gumi, it's almost time for you to leave," her mother's gentle voice had said through the cracked door. "Are you going to eat here or at school?"

"I'm eating here, mom. If the lunchroom ladies put as much care into their food as Principal Dixon put into his duties, then I won't take my chances. I'd much rather not die from vengeful food. I'll be in as soon as I get done brushing my hair."