The old king walked over to Sinoe, and reached behind her ear. He produced an orange, as if from thin air. The purple-haired construct blinked, and seemed to find this unremarkable.

Cai ran his hands over the fruit for a few moments, and then said “Watch.”

He held the orange at eye level, and gently released it. The fruit hung in the air, and began to slowly spin.

Light shone from the fruit, and different colors began to appear. Blue seas, and green lands. Each watcher knew instantly that they were looking at their own world, Aufero.

The globe continued to spin, but then a point of light appeared a hand’s distance away — it grew in brightness, and then moved to touch the turning orb. The light spread over the globe, then broke apart into tiny pinpricks of illumination. Carbunkle had to squint to be sure, but they took the form of little men.

The light men walked around the globe and rejoiced and danced with glee. The globe spun, and the light men began to build. Shining silver towers began to rise, connected by beams of every rainbow hue. The blue waters shone, the green grass grew and the light men danced.

The globe spun.

The light men began to dance less, and stand more. All at once they began to break their silver towers, and bring them to one place on the globe, building the greatest tower of all. The tower took on the shape of a giant man, silver metal growing dark, and slick like oil. All the light of the globe was channeled into this creation, and its eyes opened.

It’s eyes were dark, dark as night.

The light men fled in terror from their creation. The dark machine began to move around the globe, leaving destruction in its wake.

The light men gathered and huddled together, and began to prepare a trap for the machine. A hole leading nowhere. As the footsteps of their creation drew closer, they threw themselves into the hole, their light forming a net — a net made of stars.

It pulled the dark machine down, it clawed and pulled at the earth causing more destruction. The light men and their creation fell into the chasm, and their energy imploded. For a moment two globes hung in the air, they danced and spun, and folded inside of one another, almost gently.

On the globe, amongst the ruins of silver towers — a few pinpricks of light huddled, and wept.

“This is what happened to the Precursors.” Cai said simply.