Key to the World

Discovery of Fire

Its been about half an hour since I've started searching around the piles of junk. Found nothing interesting so far.

Sitting on a bench that's dangerously extended out of a hill of scrap, I pull out the padlock in my pocket. I eye it curiously and a thought crosses my mind, but I dismiss it. "Nah, there's no way right?" I chuckle to myself. "But then again, what if..." I sigh inwardly and decide to just go with the idea.

Standing up on the precariously positioned seat, I stomp down on the exposed end of it, triggering a collapse in the structure I'm against. The steel plank breaks in half and I slide down the pile of scrap. I made it to the ground smoothly and disembark. And as I make my way to an open area in the scrapyard, I hear loud crashes behind me. "Its fine Jamie, just ignore it and it doesn't exist. " I say nervously as I leave the scene of the crime.

Entering a clearing absentmindedly, I stare at the small piece of metal in my hand. "In the case that the dream was real, how does this small thing store so much power?" I wonder to myself. Highly sceptical and curious, I set up a few dummies out of scraps.

Standing before them, I close my eyes and clench the lock in my hand.

A few moments of silence pass.

"Nothing... Of course. What was I even thinking?" I sigh and scratch the back of my neck with my free hand. "I should head home, still got work tomorrow." Tonight definitely feels lonelier than the last...

Tssssss...

What's that sound? And is it just me or is my hand getting hotter?

"So it is time..." A quiet voice calls out. "Who's there?" My eyelids opens up in a split moment and my eyeballs dart around, looking for the speaker.

"Ahem, down here..." The voice calls out again and I look down at my palm. "Oh god..." I chuckle, exacerbated. "The lock is talking to me, I've finally gone mad."

Suddenly, I feeling a burning sensation in my palm and I'm forced to drop the padlock. Looking down, I notice it's glowing with sheer heat. "What the f-" Before I had the chance to process my shock and finish my sentence, the object floats into the air, bobbing around in front of my face.

"Now that I have your attention. May we finally talk?" My eyes were still wide with surprise, but I swallow it and force myself to speak. "Uh.. umm... yeah, sure." "Good, let's start by introducing ourselves."  The lock starts. "I am Argon, aspect of fire. And I am the spirit that resides in this artifact."

"Jamie, Jamie Gearhead. I'm a scrapper. I have many questions..." I say, trying to piece together my thoughts. "Go right on ahead. I'll do my best to answer your queries." Argon replies, still ominously floating in front of me, the red glow of heat he had a few moments ago has fated.

"Well, I think a good starting point is what I saw. What was that dream about?" I ask. "..." The spirit grows silent for a while. "While I cannot say why, what you saw was the memory of a previous Lockbearer."

I nod slowly, trying to comprehend the situation. I then ask a follow up question. "Wait, if what I saw was a memory, why wasn't it from the perspective of your wielder?"

...

Another moment of awkward silence, but Argon continues hesitantly. "I'm ashamed to admit it, but I was not in control at the time... My previous wielder, Marcus, strayed from our original mission- To help maintain the balance between the progression of mankind and the conservation of the natural world. His twisted conceptions made him inconvincible, seeing only the worst in humanity. He forced me to go into slumber, knowing that I would reject his use of my power if I remained conscious... Seeing that I've been reawoken, that means the world has survived and Marcus has been stopped."

I put a hand to my chin and contemplate. "Hey Argon?"

"Yes, Jamie?"

"Do you, by chance, know of the current state of the world?"

"I can't say I do, could you fill me in?" 

"Yeah, sure..."

After some time spent telling the spirit before me about the the desolate state the world is in, the air falls heavy. And though he doesn't have a face, I can almost see tears from the floating lump of metal.

"So it seems that I have failed the world... I'm so sorry everyone..." The spirit sighs and turns his focus back to me. "Thank you for telling me, Jamie. I think I need some time alone..." I nod, solemnly reaching out to put the padlock away.

When the metal, once again cooled, touches my hand, a loud boom abruptly erupts from the direction of Theta-3. Quickly turning my focus to it, I see massive puffs of smoke billow and flits of ember and ash.

"What the!?" I shout out on instinct as I hastily pick myself up off of the ground. Shaking the lock in my hand, I summon it's guardian and speak. "Argon, I may need your help." I feel a voice speak directly into my mind as I start sprinting back to the settlement. "Jamie, I'm not the aspect of flowing water... But I will try to help, for the innocents." I would've laughed at the last part of his statement if the situations weren't so dire right now, nobody is innocent in this world. Not anymore, at least.

Why would anyone want to attack this barren ass settlement though? I don't particularly care about that shithole of a town, but I don't want the one person that I care about there die. Just hang on Dana, I'll see what I can do to help...