Rise of the Guardians: Fall of the Guardians

Chapter 10- The Eternia Glass

A withered old man lay in a bed made of shifting golden sand. He breathed deeply, obviously fighting for each breath that he managed to take. His paper thin skin was wrinkled and pulled taunt against his feeble bones.

Trii was about to leave when something adjacent to the man caught his eyes. Upon a silver pedestal was some sort of orb. It was glowing faintly and was completely transparent. Swarms of white sand shifted around inside the glass, but Trii for some reason couldn't tell if it was floating up or falling down.

"Trii Korteet," the withered man gasped out. "I feared that you would come, though I knew it was going to happen."

"W-Who are you?" Trii asked, tenitively drawing near, his eyes darting from the orb to the man in the bed.

"I am Tai M. Keeper," the man responded, coughing into his shoulder, for he had not the strength to lift his hand. "I am Grandfather Time and this is my Temple."

"Pitch didn't say that you would be..." Trii bit his lip and allowed his words to trail off.

"It is the end of the year and, thus, I must go through this again," Tai explained. "Every New Year's Eve, I must die so that the next year, and the next Grandfather Time, can come to be. It is the circle of my life." Tai sighed heavily. "That is the Eternia Glass that you were sent for but I warn you, you don't know what you are getting yourself into."

Trii scowled. "Pitch told me that you would say that. He told me that you would try to stop our mission. Well it isn't going to work! We have spent enough time hiding in the shadows and being hated. It is our time to shine."

"I will not stop you, Trii Korteet," Tai stated. "I cannot stop you. But I will warn you that nothing good will come from this. You will suffer pain unimaginable."

Trii nibbled at his bottom lip, turning his eyes away from both Tai and the Eternia Glass. He said nothing as he did so.

"Trii!" a familiar voice shouted. Jack skidded to a stop just outside the door, grasping the doorway to stop himself from going past it. "Don't do it, Trii!"

"Jack?" Trii smiled slightly. "You came."

"You need to stop this, Trii," Jack said, entering the room. "Pitch doesn't care about you at all. If you touch that glass, you will disappear forever. He is using that to take the Guardians down."

Trii's smile dropped. "You are lying to me," he insisted. "Just like you lied to me before!"

Jack shook his head. "No, Trii. I didn't want to lie to you, but you don't realize that you are on the wrong side here."

"No! You don't understand!" Trii stepped back as Jack drew closer. "You were once just like us, but now that time means nothing to you just because you are a part of those Guardians."

"Trii, just calm down. You were lied to by Pith," Jack said. "Pitch lies. That is what he does." Jack took a few tentative steps closer.

"Stay back!" Trii reached into his "Trick" bag on his hip and pulled out a pumpkin bag. "If you get any closer to me, I will throw this."

Jack stopped, holding up his hands. "Calm down. You don't want to do anything drastic."

Trii's eyebrows scrunched up. "Why are you still with them, Jack?" Trii tightened his grip on the pumpkin bag. "You saw the memory. Pitch told me how they killed you. The Guardians killed you!"

"They had to!" Jack shouted back.

"Don't you lie to me again, Jack!" Trii raised the bag higher. "I can tell that you don't even fully believe your own words. They took your life, Jack. Not just your life life, but you entire life. You had a chance to be with your family and friends. Yu were loved and they took that away from you!"

"Shut up!" Jack screeched, stomping his foot down.  Ice formed on the floor and traveled throughout the room. Trii took a step back, finding immediately that his foot now lacked friction.

"Ah!" Trii landed on his back and slid towards Jack's legs, knocking him over.

BOOM!