Master of Water

By: Akiko and Elena

Prologue

Soft blue light shone faintly through the ice. Lines of shimmering water the same azure shade sliced through the walls and across the floor, its soft glow reflecting off of the frozen, faceted surfaces of the cave.

Picard placed glove fingers gently where the glow originated. He sent a tendril of power through the leather encasing his hand, willing the ice to melt, the liquid joining the water rushing through the linear cracks. He reached through the hole he had created and felt the stirrings of an ancient power. He hesitated for a moment before allowing his fingers to rest on the glowing half-sphere that felt so much like the Black Orb he used to control his ship. The strangely warm crystal responded to his touch, its glow intensifying. A deep, resonating hum crashed through the room. The sheer power peeled the leather of his gloves back to his knuckles. The crystal vibrated, another throbbing hum unleashed, the sound echoeing against walls of ice.

"...What is it?" his burgendy haired companion asked softly, her voice tinted with awe. The ice in front of him shattered with the next pulsing sound, and a staff, its base hovering a few inches from the floor, floated to his now gloveless hand. He took a hold of it, unable to count the times the familiar silver handle had sat in his grip.

He turned to the girl who had asked such a foolish question, and without thought lunged for her. He grabbed her shoulder with his free hand and shoved her against the ice wall. He raised his staff with the other hand, the crystal at her throat, poised to kill. She barely had time to release a startled gasp.

"Picard! Have you gone insane?!" another voice, male, pierced through the fog entrapping his mind. Agony blossomed at the back of his skull and he stumbled back, still gripping the staff. He dropped to his knees on the ice, splashing water in the channels still flowing from where his staff had been. Strangers loomed around him in the blue hazing his vision.

And he remembered.