A young volunteer stood with the magically altered orb, a fair distance away, waiting for the signal to launch it toward a large grouping of straw men wearing steel armor using a modified sling. Though they had only been there a short time, the wait grated on his nerves. Everything that could go wrong with the test ran through his mind. What if it didn’t go off as planned? What if the soldier missed and the orb flew toward them? What if it went off in the sling killing the soldier? Before he left, he was sure that nothing could go wrong. He had check and double checked the thickness of the orb. He had even stopped by and asked Todd what force he believed it would take to cause a crack deep enough to reach its inner core, but now his confidence was waning. He had to fight to keep himself from fidgeting as he watched the soldier place the orb in his sling. It was a new form of torture, watching the sling spin over the soldiers head with the orb inside.
