Orbs of Power

Chapter One

He glanced left and right, careful to not move too quickly lest a watchman spot him and apprehend him.  Seeing no one within his immediate vicinity, he quickly opened the trapdoor and slipped down the ladder, concious of the slight squeaks and blast of heat that assaulted him, not to mention the whirring of the generator and the light that poured out of the new opening.  He quickly vaulted down and closed the trapdoor behind him.

Let me take a moment to explain our friend here before we return to the humid depths.  His name is Sean Jackson, fifteen, and he was currently participating in illegal activities, if you couldn't tell by his discression and sneakiness.  What manner of illegal activities we will discover momentarily.

Sean darted along, past the generators, glancing in between them in hopes of spotting his prize.  He was nearing the final row when the warm yellow glow smiled up at him.  He sighed in relief and eagerly set his hand upon the contraband.  The power of the object was transfered into his hand, and the sunny light faded as the item ceased to exist in it's previous form.  Even the humidity of the room and the loud whirring of the generators could not  dillute the jolt of energy that shot through Sean as he performed the previosly mentioned action.

The moment of joy and strength, however, passed, as all good things must come to an end, and Sean went back to focusing on the task at hand.  He had the stolen goods, so all he had to do now was escape into the cold, shadowing embrace of the night without being detected.

I can assure you he got out successfully, but while we wait for these events to transpire, let me take a moment to inform you of the weight of the situation.

Back in what must have been... Oh, 1998, or twenty years ago, making now 2018, leaders in Germany discovered something fantastic that only existed in Germany, and being selfish, greedy people, they decided they wanted to control it, have it all for themselves.  Aparently, they never went to kindergarten to learn that sharing is caring.

This fantastic thing would have given these leaders great power.  If they and gotten to them first.

A kid discovered one of these things and accidentally put them to use, burning down a whole village and killing many people.  This is when the leaders put Germany on lockdown so that the story and the power could not escape.

This power was the Orbs.

There are ten total Orbs, in theory, but really we only have access to seven of them.  The other three are really only talked about on legend, never really seen put to use by anyone, so generally, the animal, plant, and disease orbs are considered myths.

The other seven, however, are more commonly accepted.  They are as follows: fire, water, earth, electricity, air, life, and death.  They can be found surrounded by their element, such as at the bottom of the ocean, in a storm, or at a power plant (ahem), with the exception of the life and death orbs being considered a soul, seeing as they only appear when someone important dies.

The life and death orbs are actually one orbs in reality, first seen as gray and dull, only manifesting as life or death when consumed into a persons hand.  Which power you get depends on your true nature.

Sadly, as is true in every society, these orbs are not available to everyone.  The rich get their pick when an orb appears, whereas the poor are lucky if they ever see one.  The Jacksons were not rich.  Therefore, you can now fully see why what Sean was doing was illegal.

Speaking of Sean, he had successfully departed from the powerplant with his new power and was nearing his house, where his parents and little brother, Max, waited with dinner, oblivious to where he had been.  He burst through the door with this ridiculous grin on his face, the hairs on the back of his hand standing on end (which hand? Obviously the one with the power in it!...Now that I mention it though, no one would have noticed the hairs).  His family was sitting at the small table with the soup that was to be tonights dinner, and food for the next few days too (again, they were kinda poor).  They all looked up and Max exclaimed, "Sean! You're home!"  His mother glanced up at the single lightbulb that hung over their table, swearing it had gotten brighter when her son walked in.