InterLUDE: A Quest of Rings

By Xenomorph666

Disclaimer: I own only Perfection and Wraith.

DigitalMan and K2 are © My close friend.

Everything else is copyrighted to their correct owner.

Universe: Spliced-Verse

Burning Rage; Element of Fire

"This is insane..." Wheeler coughed as he and Pyro dug into an old Freemasonry crypt.

"I can't help it if this is where everything points too." Arcade said as he began to jot down the symbols on the crypt. "You know I think this may be some sort of code..."

"Well what does it say?" Pietro asked as he dusted his legs off.

"I'm not sure." Arcade said, "Cypher would be better at this than I am."

"Well..." Pietro pulled out his cell phone and shrieked when he saw it couldn't get a signal.

"Oi, don't shriek like that, you could collapse this entire place on us." Pyro snapped. "I jus' don't like this place."

"Yeah, I know what..." Just then the wall collapsed and revealed a large room decorated with an odd ceremonial sense. "You mean." Wheeler finished

"Walk forward, he who would command my flame." A deep and ominous voice echoed throughout. "Walk forward and meet your destiny Wheeler Sloane."

For a few seconds the groups stood stone cold frozen in fear.

"Well, what are you waiting for?" Pietro asked.

"A friendly push would be nice..." Wheeler's voice cracked.

"Okay." Pyro shoved Wheeler in with both hands.

As soon as Wheeler entered the crypt a wall of solid red fire rushed to close the hole. Wheeler coughed lightly as he stood up and looked around. Around the crypt where five torches, each one a color that could be identified to one of the elements and pure white one. Of the ones that were colored a tall red flame burned in a hanging torch above a pedestal, on it was a shining golden ring.

Wheeler gasped as he saw the ring. "Guys, I see another ring in here.", he shouted through the fire, but no response came.

"What fuels you?" The disembodied voice asked.

"What?" Wheeler spun around looking for the voice.

"What fuels your fire, what fuels your rage, your passion and burning desire." The voice boomed with hisses and explosions as if it were speaking from within fire itself.

"Whose there?" Wheeler spun around again in panic.

"I yearn for your answer, he who would command fire." The voice again boomed throughout.

"I don't know, I'm a hot head! Whatever pisses me off at the time!" Wheeler shouted.

"You rage mindlessly like the fire you seek to control?" The voice laughed. "You are no better than the ones who came before you. You will fail. Take the ring if you can, boy."

The voice was silent, and Wheeler took a deep breath before he continued on up to the pedestal. As he neared the ring he saw the symbols on it were similar to the ones on Ma-ti's new ring, only aligned in a different order. The flame was in the center with the other elements pointing in the cardinal directions.

"Earth, Wind, Water and Heart. Fire is this ring's focus." The voice boomed once more. "Do you still think yourself worthy?"

"Worthy of what?" Wheeler asked before he shook his head. "You know what, I don't care. I don't want this ring, I need it to help my friends. To help this world!"

"What fuels your rage?" This time the voice came from behind him. Wheeler spun around to see a towering golem completely composed of flames. . "I repeat, what fuels your rage?"

"I told, I don't know!" Wheeler shouted.

The golem simply stared at Wheeler. "Then you and your friends shall be purged of this realm."

"What?!" Wheeler yelped as the golem materialized Pietro, Arcade and Pyro, the three of them bound by a flaming rope that immediately consumed their unconscious bodies. "NO!"

Wheeler collapsed as he tried to reach for his friends, but they vanished in a flash of smoke. He couldn't move after that, the shock of the loss of his friends was to great. Soon though, he felt it, his anger was rising and he could not, would not stop it.

"You monster." Wheeler's voice was ragged. "They had nothing to do with this, they didn't want the ring!"

"In my realm they stood, in my realm they died." The golem stood. "And now so shall you." The golem created a vortex of flame and aimed it at Wheeler.

"You want to know what fuels my rage?" Wheeler growled.

"You do not know." The golem said unemotionally.

"Injustice..." Wheeler squeaked out as he felt his own rage boil to a front.

"You bring forth the guardian." The golem spoke. "You rage upon the injustices of the weak, fight for those who cannot fight for themselves..."

"Not that it matters now..." Wheeler growled.

"You have passed." The golem spoke. "Gaia chose wisely, and now my power is added to the ring. Call upon when you have need by name of Agni."

Wheeler collapsed in confusion as his eyes grew heavy, and the old broken ring on his finger all at once slipped off and was replaced by the new golden one. Then he awoke with a start and looked around, the crypt was now empty and rocks covered where he had entered, they were soon parted to reveal Pyro's smiling face.

"You guys are alive?" Wheeler asked in shock.

"Uh..." Arcade looked at Wheeler with an odd look. "Yeah..."

"It must have..." Wheeler looked down at his hand where the golden ring now perched itself, as a mighty symbol to the lesson he had learned about himself. "Been a dream."

"Well, let's find out if we got a ring in here or not." Pietro pushed his way through.

"No need." Wheeler smiled. "I already have it, I always have."

"Eh?" Pietro blinked.

"I knew you wouldn't get it." Wheeler smiled.

"Hey..." Pyro walked up to Wheeler, "Sorry about the push..."

"Don't worry." Wheeler smiled. "It kinda helped actually."

"Being unconscious during a cave-in helped?" Arcade asked incredulously.

"Yeah, it kinda did." Wheeler smiled, "Anyway let's get going."

"Ok..." Pietro said with a confused look. "Oh, Arcade translated the code."

"Really, what did it say?" Wheeler asked.

"May justice fuel your heart's rage." Arcade said. "Weird, huh?"

"Not really." Wheeler smiled as he exited.

"Oooookayyy..." Pietro blinked, "Does anyone know what just happened?"

The others just shrugged.