For billions of years, the cube, or the stone encased within the cube, had watched the universe evolve. Compared to its other five comrades, the cube had the second-best point of reference to watch as one universe was destroyed and another made. It took hundreds of millions of years for the first real spark of life to catch the attention of the blue stone.
The stone's green brother knew what was going to happen and shared it with the other five of its siblings. But the blue stone had taken interest at certain parts of what would be the future of the nine realms, as the first people called it when the connection was discovered. Each of the six comrades, objects forged before the current universe's creation, agreed that there would be a conflict for the rest of time. But there was one point when heroes from every world would fail to win a war against an enemy that genuinely thought he was helping the universe.
Something needed to be done to stop the conflict. After that war, the spark of life that kept everything moving substantially dimmed, and eventually faded away. The stones saw the problem, saw what went wrong and decided to do something to keep it from happening.
So each of the six stones placed themselves in a spot where they would do the most good when the time was right. Most of them would cause pain, suffering, and death in the hands of the people they would eventually fall into over the course of finding their way to the place they wanted to be. But the loss would allow the right hands to eventually grasp each stone. And when those right hands finally held the stones that had chosen them, the war would change.
The blue stone had watched for a long time, waiting, planning, for the person that would turn the tide in the war that was so far away. So the blue stone consulted with its green comrade, searching through the future to find the person. And eventually, it did.
The blue stone, now encased in an almost unbreakable cube of clear walls, placed itself in the spot where it would eventually fall into her hands, the hands of the person it had chosen. It was used in ways that weren't good for the people of the world. But a hero, one that the stone had seen a long time ago, stopped the man that was using its power for evil. And when that evil man took ahold of the cube the stone punished him, sending him to see and reach for something he knew he could never have. It sent the man to guard one of the stone's brethren until the time of war was reached, until the man who waged war against the universe would give up the one thing he loved for the other stone.
But the hero wasn't the right person, no matter how big of a role he would play in the coming war. The hero would have died if the stone had not interfered. While he was not chosen for any of the six stones, the part he played was so important. The universe couldn't allow him to die. So the cube froze him, surrounding him in ice to keep him alive until both man and stone, disguised as a cube, could be found.
The organization found them both decades later, buried in ice and the wreckage of a plane. The man was awakened slowly, but the stone they took to a building, a scientific place where tests and experiments were performed on the most secret of technology. But the cube didn't mind, only reacting enough to intrigue those who studied it. It waited, waited for those people to finally introduce it to the girl that would save the universe.
And when they finally did, the stone showed her the man she was destined to change. It showed her the man whose mind would be cracked almost to breaking. And then, under the influence of one of the stone's brethren, he would do things, terrible things to the world the girl was now trapped on.
But the girl could change him, could overthrow the power that would be embedded in his mind so deep it would have caused permanent emotional and mental damage. But to do that they would need to understand each other, they would need to form some kind of friendship, a bond. In order to send the girl to the place the man was now imprisoned the stone would need to call upon all its power.
The stone had stored power for millennium, waiting for the time in which the girl could handle and understand what it needed to show her. It had used the glass cube to contain it's power so that no others could access it. The power was buried deep, hidden from those who would have used it for evil, and from those who were too curious for their own good.
The stone buried down, deeper and deeper as it gathered all the power and energy it had stored up. All the while it used small amounts of that energy to teach her, to imbed memories within her own about what it had seen, about what the world was like now. The stone saw how the girl had noticed the change long before she had ever been imprisoned, that the world was moving towards money, selfishness.
People became unimportant. They weren't someone else's family, neighbors became strangers and everyone became obsessed with how much money they had, how much they could make, and how much more they could cheat and steal from others. The girl hadn't been happy to see the direction the world had been taking and it made her sick to realize that, despite her hope, the world had not turned into a place of peace and prosperity, but had festered and become diseased. She almost wished she hadn't lived to see it happen.
But the stone, sensing her despair, showed her hope too. People who worked to make things better, heroes and scientists and warriors working hard to make the world a place people dreamed to live in. There was still hope, still a chance that the world could change.
She could change the world, should she decide to. She could be one of those people if she wanted, if she could find the strength to look past what had been done to her if she could tap into her potential. The stone knew, had seen the way she would hold when the time was right, and saw how she would change the universe. It saw that, when everything went to hell, that when all worlds knew only chaos and pain, she would be able to stand up, to be an instrument in changing the tide of the war. She would become a weapon.
And the stone knew that it had to happen, even if it meant the girl remembering every terrible thing that happened in her past, so she could understand. She needed to make it through this, even if it meant putting herself through the torture of heartbreak, fear, sadness. But it meant, that at the end of it all, she would be left with love, with happiness. And the cube knew she would think it was worth it.
But until then, there was work that needed to be done.
She stared at her father, his head tilted back against the chair, his hand resting on his lap, the pistol now lying on the floor. He didn't move as a stain of deep red spread through the fabric of the chair. He was so still, almost as if he was asleep. But he wasn't. His chest wasn't moving. He wasn't breathing, his heart wasn't beating, there was nothing. But worst of all was the lack of emotion coming from him. The hatred, while horrible, was nothing compared to the sudden absence of any emotion at all.
She had known her mother was going to die, had felt it as the sickness seeped into every part of her body. She had felt her mother's mind start to grow smaller as the sickness continued to get worse. There had been some time to prepare for it, though she was never sure how quickly her mother would be consumed. She had felt the life leave her mother, the lack of emotions, thoughts, breath. It was peaceful.
Her father was different. There was no easing into death, no gradual downward incline. It was just the sudden silence after that loud bang. There was nothing left of him, only an empty shell and brief echoes of grief and rage and hatred and love.
But her death would be neither peaceful like her mother's or quick like her father's. No, hers would be slow, filled with pain and blood and hopelessness and the last emotion her father had felt. That hatred rang in her head, his last words ringing in her ears. "I was aiming to kill you quickly."
She had fallen from her knees only a few seconds after her father had shot himself, landing on her side and shoulder, thankfully on her uninjured side. She had moved onto her back, hoping that it would help with the pain and reduce the bleeding.
But still, her blood was spreading. She could feel it, the thick wet sticky fluid leaking from her shoulder onto the ground. It hurt, oh god, it hurt. She screamed with the pain, half hoping that someone would hear, that someone would come to investigate.
But her brother and sister were at school, she had sent them off in the morning. Her neighbors would be out, the husbands at work, the wives gossiping at lunches, and the children at school. The maid wasn't here either. The girl had sent her to get groceries and other supplies. And her father. He was there, just useless now. Lifeless.
Someone should be around soon. The maid should be back, maybe one of the neighbors was home after all. Someone must have heard the two pistol shots, her screams. But no one came. She lay there, her blood spreading under her.
She thought of her family, of her mother who she would probably be seeing soon, her father, who had most likely gone to hell for killing her, then himself. Her siblings would be alone. They wouldn't have any parents, no one to take care of them. They were so young. They would go to an orphanage. There was no other family that could take them in. They would suffer through cold winters, only with the two of them to huddle together for warmth. They wouldn't laugh as they had before, they wouldn't know what had happened. She wouldn't be there to comfort and help them as they coped with the death of their father. As the coped with her death.
She would never see her siblings again. She would never see her friends. She would never have the joy of reading another book, of finding love, of having children. She would die with her last thoughts being of her siblings, of how much she wished she could be there for them.
She screamed more, calling for help, begging for it. The pain, it was driving her crazy as she sobbed, both with sorrow and hopelessness. She had to have lost a lot of blood. Her head became light, the room spinning, her body becoming numb. And because of that, when the front door opened and a call of "Law enforcement! Is there anyone here?" she almost didn't hear it.
She called out, as loudly as she could, unsurprised it wasn't as loud as she wanted. But she kept calling and she heard boots thump through the bottom floor, then up the stairs, around the second floor, and then finally outside the door.
"Help," the girl said.
The footsteps grew closer and she called out again.
She saw a man in a uniform enter the room as her vision became a tunnel. When he yelled, it sounded from so far away.
"I found them! Someone get that ambulance here!"
And then her vision was black, the pain was gone, and she couldn't hear a thing. She thought of how much she loved her brother and sister and hoped they had a good life.
The days became repetitive and always followed the same pattern. She would wake up when the compartment beeped. She would get out of bed, pulling the blankets back up to her pillow, and eat her food. She would meditate for some time afterwards, clearing her mind before stretching her boundaries. She still couldn't tell if she was making any progress at reaching farther, but she kept trying. She would read until the compartment beeped again, lunch having been served. Sometimes she received a book with her sheets, sometimes she received another item that now seemed like a luxury. She was starting to gain quite the collection. But still she wore the white shirt and pants.
After lunch, she would shower with the shampoo and conditioner she had been gifted, and braid her hair after it had time to dry. At some point, the door that leads to the other room would open, though she couldn't tell how long it was before her dinner. When it did open, she would sit in her chair and reach out to the cube with her mind, building that connection piece by piece. After almost two weeks of the repeat, the bond between Sigyn and the cube was very strong, stronger than anything she had experienced before.
Because of that reason, Sigyn could tell that there was a plan, a very large and complicated plan that included her in a way she couldn't understand. It scared her, but it also gave her a small seed of hope, an emotion she hadn't felt in a very long time. There was hope that she would leave this place, that she would never have to return.
But that didn't stop the dreams that continued to plague her. Usually, they were only brief glimpses of scattered memories. Three weeks after the dream where she witnessed her father shooting her, then himself, her brain showed her the aftermath. She had woken screaming, tears running down her cheeks, thoughts of the siblings that she just couldn't quite remember. It had taken some time for her body and mind to calm, just as before.
But she pushed through it, knowing that these memories had to come back. The cube had made it clear that her memories, and the memories it had given her from its own past were important somehow. She didn't understand why, but if the cube said it was important, who was she to disagree?
She had been meditating more these past few days. The cube was pulling energy for something, something involving her. If she needed to keep up with the cube, and whatever it was it wanted to show her, she needed for her mind to be in the best condition that it possibly could be.
She wasn't sure what to expect, but she could only guess that she would be going somewhere, just as she had that first time. That single time had taken a large amount of energy from her, had strained her mind more than she realized it would. She could feel the ache of her mind well over a week later. Sigyn thought she knew why, and practiced harder and harder to stretch her mind to farther points.
Expanding her mind, even in this simple way, would help when the cube took over her thoughts, overriding all of her senses to show her the different place, to let her experience it. She didn't know if it would actually help, but there was nothing to stop her, and she should practice anyway.
And the days continued. Sigyn was gaining strength. Her meals had become larger, she had gained a little of the weight she really needed, and she was feeling healthier and stronger each day she exercised both her mind and body. The cube even encouraged her to do so.
Sigyn, from hours spent with the cube, finally started to understand the basic emotions the cube had. There was a sense of urgency, of a timeline that needed to be followed now that events had finally started to gain momentum.
She got the sense that there were several key people connected to the events that she was going to play such a big part in. While there were many others, Sigyn had the feeling that she was special, not more special than any of the others that would be involved in this terrible future, but special in a way none of the others were.
There were so many variables, so many things that could go wrong. Sigyn didn't need the cube to tell her as much. It was a risk for them to continue to plan the way they did. There was a risk that those who had her here would find out that Sigyn and the cube were planning her escape. Hopefully, they thought it impossible, but there was always a chance.
Another week passed, almost a month since the cube had shown her that other cell with the man inside, and she was ready. She was surprised that she woke up to pain in her abdomen. She was confused at first, unsure as to why she would have pain. But it wasn't a pain that meant injury. No, this was a woman's pain.
She stood, feeling uncomfortable as her abdomen twisted and squeezed. It had been decades since this particular uncomfortable feeling had graced her with its presence. If past experiences were still true now, she would have several hours to prepare.
Her morning and afternoon routine took longer than usual. She was much more tired than she usually was and her body ached. This was one thing that she hadn't missed during her years of imprisonment. But she went through the motions, knowing that her routine was important for a number of reasons.
When she went into the other room that day the cube was quiet. The cube could sense she wasn't feeling her best and Sigyn was thankful for a day where nothing was expected of her. She just reached her mind out, gently touching the consciousness, content to feel that bond between them.
And that was the moment Sigyn realized that, for the first time in fifty years, she had a friend. The friend wasn't a person, it wasn't an actual physical being she could see other than the blue light within the glass cube. But it cared about her. It cared beyond using her as a means to an end. She wasn't a pawn in a game. Yes, she knew she had a part to play, and the cube would ensure that she would be prepared for it, but it cared for her otherwise. It wanted to be sure she was mentally stable, that she felt well enough to make connections, to talk, to plan.
For the first time since her family had died, she felt as if someone, or something, actually wanted to be around her for a reason other than her emotional influence, physical pleasure, or for experimentation. And she felt lucky.
Later that day, when she returned to her cell, she started to prepare for the oncoming days. She took some of her old sheets, ripped them as best she could, trying to make a lining for when the bleeding started. It took time, but she had plenty of it and nothing else to do.
She ate dinner like she always did, before falling asleep.
Lunch the next day offered a surprise. In with her food was a box containing products, feminine products specifically, to help her through the next few days. She had never been more thankful to the person who was looking after her. That would be the one person, the only person, she would spare in the place that had kept her for so long.
Another week passed in an almost replica of the week before. But the cube was radiating growing excitement. It was almost time for the plan to start. Each day Sigyn walked through that door expecting it to be the day. It wasn't. At least not until almost fifty days after she had first visited that tall dark-haired man.
But the day she walked through and she could already feel the pulse of the cube's energy she knew. It was time. She still didn't know what was going to happen, but she trusted the cube. It would be hard and this had to be done. Sigyn was up for the challenge.
She sat in her chair as the cube was extended from the small compartment it seem-+-ed to be kept in. She waited, letting the cube make the first move. It reached out towards her mind and she welcomed it with open arms. They eased their way through each other's consciousness, preparing for the connection that would enable Sigyn to see a different place.
Only a few moments after the beginning of their connection the cube released its power and energy, and Sigyn found herself hurtling through space, the rush of blood in her head, and a beautiful overwhelming view of the universe.