eda peered around the corner, sweating profusely. Loud drums and soft chanting in another language echoed through the whole temple. In the centre, a pot…..no…cauldron…..no……

“URN! What are they doing?!” thought Seda, “Surely, they wouldn’t be as stupid as to…..”

The chanting started to grow louder and louder, the drum beating faster and faster.

Seda spied two men walking towards the dancers….

“FLAG!”

I strolled briskly down towards the dancers not really caring what they did as long as I got the end result.

The power of the ancient times…in the palm of my hand!

”Ahem”

”What is it?” I asked, not impolitely, but a little annoyed.

“Well, sorry to interrupt your musing, Colonel Flag, but I would like some compensation for getting more than the required amount of dancers with such………skill and qualifications.” Replied the fat man beside me.

I sighed internally. This man was always trying to leach Gilda off me again and again. I’ll be terra damned if he isn’t happy after this next payment. “Another billion Gilda should be enough, yes?”

The greedy man just grunted.

Now, where was I? Oh, yes, power in the palm of my hand to destroy my enemies and rule the world!

“Ahem”

”What is it this time?!” I shouted over the now very loud drum beat.

“What do you plan on doing with this power? 400 years ago…..the Dark Genie destroyed the world….”

“Do you think I care?”

“No”

“Good”

I REALLY have to do something about him. Why did I end up with THIS terra damned man? Aren’t there others that can do the same job for a lot less? Oh well… it’s nearly finished…

“How…..will they control it?” thought Seda. “The deadliest ancient power even known in the possession of a man who probably thinks it’s just another weapon.”

The dancers moved towards the urn and started dancing around it. Most of the dancers were painted blue with a female lead dancer. As the lead dancer moved, the rest moved, all in time with the beat of the drum and their own chanting.

With a final drum beat a great big purple cloud wafted out of the urn and gathered into a ball of pure energy. Malevolence and despair radiated throughout the whole temple. All the dancers fled the temple and while they did, Flag stood as stead fast to attention as he could, not showing any sign of fear, even as his mind was assaulted by the most horrid images. The fat man beside Flag was mopping his brow, which was sweating profusely.