[ WP ] You discover a grand hall filled with legendary weapons like Mjonir and Excalibur . Each generation or so , warriors come to the hall to inherit a weapon that they are worthy enough to wield . Across the hall you see a forgotten weapon that 's been collecting dust . You hear it call to you .

Finally we were brought into a surprisingly small square room. While the floor area didn ’ t live up to the hype inspired by our guide, this was more than made up for in height – thin ledges lining the walls were spaced out seemingly eternally above us, each providing access to eight doors. The floor was made of terrazzo, with a simple rectangular platform embedded in the center of the room. I guessed this was for the guide ’ s use in navigating the archives. Against the wall were eight bare platforms aligned with the upper level ’ s doors. One for each of us. 
 
 Our guide stood in the center and spoke. He was tall and wore a mask and a black robe. The man was rather unremarkable, like the rest of this place ( excluding the eternally high ceiling ), but he somehow demanded more attention than anyone I had ever met. His dialect was painfully enunciated but his speech was plain, and like everything else he said up to this point, it was repeated in Spanish and two other languages for the four of us who didn ’ t speak English. 
 
 As instructed, we all moved to stand by our platforms. I was on the side of the entry opposite the side the guide started on. I would be last, but I didn ’ t wait long – the guide spent the next thirty or so minutes giving individual attention to my peers, bequeathing them various items and quietly discussing… whatever. The first lady got an old glass bottle. One man received a ring, and a spear was the one weapon was given out ( loudly identified by the enthusiast among us as Gungnir. He was crushed when his platform revealed a pair of leather shoes ). 
 
 It seemed the guide was a bit more excited than usual in his stride over to me. He put his hand on my shoulder as we watched the platform change shape to reveal my gift: a crystal-looking object with five facets on the top and bottom forming pyramidal shapes, connected in the middle to form the rough shape of a pointed AA battery. Throughout the crystal, the interior was a flat gray color. 
 
 “ This item is one of eight housed on the second floor of the archives. It is the only one that has never been claimed. Some of these items played significant roles in forming the universe you live in today – others were hardly significant, at least in the hands of those that obtained them. Even in those cases, I was still able to discern the true purpose of every item – except this one. I have no idea what this is. Do you? ” 
 
 I told him I didn ’ t. Of course, that was a lie. I recognized it immediately, and my heart was pounding. I had seen it in my dreams for years. He knew, but he didn ’ t press me, and soon enough I was out of the archives and back home. 
 
 I ’ ve taken the past few moments to write this and calm myself before I crush the crystal. I know that when I do the gray will overtake me, and I will die, but the one that stands in my place will control the world. 

