Prologue

Date: March 7, 2008

Location: The North Pole

A team of archaeologists and researchers have been searching the area for what they believe to be an ancient temple that was discovered using thermal satellite scan technology. The location had been pinpointed, and now they just had to dig through the over 1 mile of Ice and snow just to get there.

"Hey, Doctor Richards, you might want to come and look at this!" screamed one of the diggers towards the hole opening.

"Coming!" said the doctor, almost tripping over his own feet in his excitement. The doctor made his way down to the digger that had called for him and saw what looked like a great stone spike sticking out of the ice. "My my, what have we here? How did the stone survive these conditions?"

"Well sir, I don't know about all of that, but this looks like the top of a tower or something like that..." said the digger.

"Yeah, maybe we found Santa's Workshop!" screamed one of the other diggers from across the area.

"Shut up Jones! This is serious stuff." the digger said.

"Right you are, my good man. Now that we've breeched the ice sealing, we need to get the secondary team in here to get the ice away from the structure." said the doctor. "Mr. Jones!" bellowed the doctor. "Get the secondary team on the line and tell them they're up!"

"Sir." said Jones, saluting.
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Another day passed and finally a majority of the structure had been revealed. The exploration team was preparing to enter for the first time, and spirits were high.

"Well men," said the doctor "I know you all know this, but i want you all to be extremely careful in there. There hasn't been a lifeform in this place for probably thousands of years, and it could be very dangerous in there. Good luck, and be sure to bring back anything interesting that you can."

With that, the team set out, and proceeded to open up the massive stone doors leading inside. Amazingly, the place seemed to be in pristine condition, the doors worked perfectly, and sunlight streamed in, illuminating the entire entryway with semi-warm light. They proceeded down the entryway until they reached what seemed to be the main chamber. Inside there was a round chamber withs eating along the curved walls, as well as what looked to be a large altar or platform in the center. On top of the platform was a raised cylindrical column with 4 holes in the sides that looked like something should be inserted into for some reason.

"Hey, Commander, look at those holes...they're square." said one of the men.

"Yeah, I noticed that...I wonder what goes there." said the Commander.

"Commander! I think I found something over here!" said another man. "They're like...batons or something, and the ends are perfect squares, just like the holes in that thing over there."

"Call in the Doctor...we don't want to do anything he doesn't want done yet." he said.

Five minutes later, Doctor Richards showed up with a logbook and flashlight in hand.

"Yes, Commander, you've found something, I take it?" he said.

"Yes sir, take a look at this column over here and these...batons, or whatever they are." said the commander.

"Curious...very curious. It looks like these-batons, you called them?- would fit perfectly into those holes. I think we should give them a try." said the doctor.

"As you wish, Doctor Richards." said the Commander "Place the four batons in the holes, men."

All four of the remaining team each picked up a baton and slid them into place on the column. However, nothing happened.

"Hmm...Ah! Maybe you should try turning the column. The batons should provide enough support to use them to twist the entire column around!" said the Doctor.

The men once again did as commanded, and after one full revolution, a loud "Click" resounded all through the room. All of a sudden the chamber itself started to shake and then the symbols on the walls lit up with a bright, white light.

"Remarkable...these symbols...they're the ten elemental symbols of the ancient world. Look." he said as he pointed to the one that looked like a flame. "Fire, water, wind, earth, ice, metal, wood, thunder, light, and darkness!" he said, pointing to each symbol in turn. "This seems to be a temple dedicated to the very elements themselves!"

The commander scratched his chin. "But, I think there must have been some purpose to all that besides lighting up these symbols, sir." he said.

"Yes, there must have been, but for now, this is a wonderful start. I want pictures and video made of the entire temple, we need to document this." said the doctor.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Location: Global monitoring facility in up-state New York, United States.

A shallow rumbling could be felt even in America as the temple shook.

"Sir!" a control monitor said to his commanding officer "There's ten separate traces of intense heat signatures coming from all over the globe...that earthquake must have been some sort of trigger."

"Yes, but what are these signatures?" he asked

"Well sir, it's hard to tell from here, but-" he began, but was cut off by a loud alarm beeping on his control area. "Oh no, it looks like whatever those signatures are, they've left the ground and are now heading for outer space!"

"Can we track them?" asked the officer.

"Not at those speeds and that altitude...I'm afraid that's beyond this department's capabilities. Perhaps NASA, or some obscure branch of the NSA or FBI, but not us sir."

"Get NASA on the horn then...we need to find out what the hell is going on!"
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Location: undisclosed. somewhere in the Colorado Rocky Mountains.

Deep underground, in a cave unknown to any person in the area, a bright light shone in the pits of the cave. A massive shelf of the wall fell apart, revealing a statuesque man, sealed within an ancient cocoon-like casing.

The casing cracked open and fell to the floor, revealing the unobscured face of the man, whose eyes were now open, looking around.

"I'm awake? I can't be awake! This means someone must have found the temple and unlocked the elemental seals! I must get up North as soon as possible. " the man said "Koichi! arise...we have work to do. The spirits have been released!"

As he spoke those words, a small creature, similar to a dragon, but somehow looking human appeared from beneath the rubble of the cocoon.

"Master, is it true? Have the spirits really been released?" said Koichi

"Yes, Koichi, they have. you know what this means...we're going to have to track down the spirits and hope that no humans have found them yet...it will be much easier to re seal them if they have not been found yet."

"Yes, master. Where to first?"

"The Temple...we need to check and be absolutely sure that the pedestal has been completely turned. If not, then the spirits are still safe and we can warn the humans if need be."
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End of prologue.

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