Fortnite's giant purple cube is moving around the map (and smiting down anyone who pisses it off)

Things are starting to get really, really weird in Fortnite. This comes as no surprise to anyone who put up with the battle royale game's meteor showers or rocket launches over previous seasons, but Epic has turned everything up a notch with the recent appearance of a giant, purple cube that - for all intents and purposes - is the closest thing to an in-game mystical deity. 

Things started innocuously enough, with the slow closing of the space-time rift that opened up at the start of Fortnite's Season 5 (after little rifts started sucking up objects like the Durr Burger mascot and spitting them out into the real world). As the crack in the sky shrunk, purple lighting bolts started cracking down onto the desert section of the map near Paradise Palms. With each passing hour, the Grimace-colored lightning strikes had become increasingly frequent - until suddenly, a colossal purple cube materialized at the site.

Unlike a Borg cube, this gigantic geometrical shape appears to come in peace - unless you shoot it, at which point you'll get zapped with harmful electricity or sent soaring across the island. Standing near the cube will slowly charge your shields, and if you jump on top of it, you'll bounce around while strange runes glow beneath your feet with each impact.

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The entity remained stationary for a time, until last weekend, when it started rolling around on its side, moving across the map at a slow but steady pace, in a defined pattern that has allowed the Fortnite community to predict and live track its ongoing travel path. And in case you're wondering, yes, the cube can be broken into, as two players with pickaxes discovered and chronicled on Reddit, but sadly nothing - not even a tiny Peter Molyneux - was found inside. 

Instead, this all likely to be part of the buildup to Fortnite Season 6, and only time will tell what kind of stranger and stranger things await the Fortnite fanbase over the coming weeks. If this somehow turns out to be a tie-in marketing campaign for Purple mattresses, I'll be delighted beyond words. PC Gamer is following the cube news closely, so be sure to check out their coverage for up-to-the-minute developments.

If you’re looking for a way to show just how much you love Fortnite, here’s the best Fortnite merch to wear as you floss your way to Victory Royale.