“Hey! Hey wake up, dude! C'mon wake up!"
A gray-cloaked minifig awoke to find himself in a vaguely familiar place with an unfamiliar face grinning down at him.
“Oh finally you’re awake!" exclaimed the unfamiliar minifigure, "I was wondering when I would meet one of you guys."
Quantumsurfer Ken propped himself up with a startled expression, hands inching toward the hilt of his sword. “What do you mean ‘one of you guys’?”
“A Quantumsurfer! That’s what you are, right? I can tell!”
“Well… that’s what everyone’s calling me these days," replied Ken a little uncertainly, "Wait, how can you tell?”
“Because I’m a Quantumsurfer too! I just earned my spark not too long ago!”
“Ah… new guy eh?” Ken observed.
“Yep! And this little slice of the Brikverse here is mine too!”
“It’s not a lot right now, but pretty soon I’m gonna fill it up with all kinds of cool creations!”
“Nice,” commented Ken.
“Everyone’s gonna love it! I’m so excited to get things built and join in on all kinds of cool stuff!"
"That's great bud," Ken responded with a wink, "and it's great to see a new face around here."
"So... do you have a name?"
"Uhh..." The stranger gave him a blank look.
"I already told you my name."
"You did? I don't recall at all, friend."
"Yeah," the stranger said, "that was like the first thing I told you."
"Huh that's weird," Ken muttered before his eyes seemed to glaze over and he turned away from the other Quantumsurfer.
"Aw man how did I get here? Another teleportation mishap?" He seemed to have completely forgotten there was someone else nearby.
"Uh... excuse me?" A voice called out from behind Ken, who stopped in his tracks. "Is this some kind of joke or something?"
"This is like some weird Quantumsurfer initiation right?"
"Oh crap, heyo! I didn't realize there was someone else here. I'm Ken, who are you?"
"Wait, you're serious. You don't remember meeting me?" The strangely armored minifig's frown deepened and an expression of utter bemusement befell him.
"Afraid not," answered Ken. He felt just as confused, but offered a nervous smile regardless. "Hey that's a neat trick by the way."
"Neat trick? What're you talking about?"
"Your limbs look like they're fading or something," Ken pointed out.
"Wait, wha-"
As if on cue, a flash of violet energy erupted around the stranger and enveloped him in what looked like some form of fire.
The unfortunate minifig's facial features seemed to morph and twist until only the basic features were left. What only remained were two beady eyes and a mouth held agape in horror and pain. He screamed a blood-curdling horrible cry as he tried to swing away at the energy consuming him, but to no avail.
Only a matter of seconds later and the rest of his physical features faded away, either melted by the flames or simply devoured by them. Only the silhouette remained.
The minifig's body finally collapsed. No further movements or sounds followed. Nothing.
Ken watched as the body lost all solidity and melt into the ground like a puddle of black water.
And then... nothing.
As if he had no recollection of what horror he just witnessed, Ken turned on his heel and peered around him coyly. "Hey, how did I end up here again?"
He spun around at the sudden sound of something ripping apart behind him. It sounded like a piece of paper ripping itself apart, only a hundred times deeper-pitched.
A swirling vortex appeared several inches above the ground in the same ominous hues of purple.
"Oh man that doesn't look good," mumbled Ken.
The vortex suddenly opened even wider, violet tendrils of dark energy licking out of it at all sides.
"Okay," commented Ken, "that looks even worse."
The warp shimmered and sparkled in an alluring pace. Mesmerized, Ken almost wanted to approach it, but his uncertainty kept him rooted in place. All the while the anomaly glowed brighter and brighter. Something was coming, Ken was sure of it.
He wasn't wrong.
The portal birthed a cloaked figure, glowering eyes fixated on Ken. The Quantumsurfer froze as their eyes locked, he knew what this presence was.
"Oh shit..."
The mysterious figure took shape as it inched its way out of the vortex like a terrifying butterfly leaving it's cocoon. As it's body began to take shape, as did the golden color of its form.
And there it hovered above the gleaming floor, surrounded by an aura of ancient and unspeakable power. Though it's eyes were hidden under the helm of gold, Ken could tell its gaze of malice was still trained on him. Unintelligible whispers permeated around them, but the hooded figure said nothing more.
"So we meet again," Ken stared back and hardly winced, "huh, QuantumStalker?"
~To be continued~
