- Location
- Australia
Really awesome story man can't wait to see more.
Under The Cerise Skies [Worm/Steven Universe/Multi-crossover] [SI]
- Thread starter AEM
- Start date
- Mature
Diffraction 2.6
- Location
- Chula Vista
Diffraction 2.6
I hit the ground with a resounding thud, letting out a cry from the impact of a green fist on my face. I rolled, and dodged on all fours before jumping back into a combative position.
I followed the motions, heard the click of violins and chiptunes turn against me, and turned on a dime. Aventurine leapt over where I had been standing, her fist shattering a boulder as large as I am. Which meant she was hitting like a truck with every one of her strikes.
Then again she was a Quartz, even if a more specialized and sneaky type. They were built with power in mind, an enduring strength, a weight of stone that matched my own power more effectively. I could have learned from other Gems but they didn't offer the same experiences.
Someone like a Pearl or a Lapis Lazuli training themselves to fight…their movements would be more precise, more elegant and focused and while the second had power it was in aqueous waves and spikes and walls. It wasn't the same. A non-fusion Garnet would work but their power was again just different in how it was applied.
I kicked the ground, and leapt out of the way of another strike, Aventurine's fists crackling with green lightning. Her hands glowed and became enclosed within heavy gauntlets, and with a flick enormous blades radiated from the knuckles.
A hexagonal red-pink barrier placed itself in the path of her wild slash, and Aventurine laughed, a song radiating joy-battle-lust-peach-apple-lemon. "THAT'S MORE LIKE IT! SHOW ME WHAT YA GOT!"
I grit my teeth, biting back an angry retort. I charged, the world blurring around me as I hit my new top speed. I threw a series of jabs and punches, Aventurine blocking them with her forearms. She charged her bladed-gauntlets and I was rewarded with an electric blast to the face.
Shit!
The fight continued despite the setback, and I formed a bubble, and I extended spikes from the surface. I rolled the ball, crashing into Aventurine. She unleashed a long slashing motion, electric plasma exploding and breaking the bubble into shards of decaying energy.
I rolled around blows I could barely even see, the wind parting with the sheer speed Aventurine imparted into each and every snapping strike. And she was clearly still holding back, because I had heard the crack of air when she charged at full speed.
I spun behind Aventurine, bashing her with another hexagonal barrier and knocking her off her balance. But instead as she fell, she did a handstand, spinning and kicking me in the chin. I was sent flying into a tree and I scrambled up it, flexing my claws out to climb up a ninety degree angle surface.
I hardened my arms, human skin becoming rough, tough and dense scales. The tree began to fall, severed in half by a casual swipe from Aventurine. I jumped and reversed my floating, that energy field holding me aloft. I dropped like a brick, and my arms exploded into long jagged crystalline spikes. My opponent let out a pained burst, and she slid the claws of her gauntlet back into place.
I was grabbed by the collar, and without further notice, smashed into the ground, with a foot stomped down on my chest becoming the final blow.
"A lot of improvement for only three days of training." She offered to lift me up and I took it without hesitation. Her hand engulfed mine, her inch and a half long claws grazing my arm with a precise, careful ease. I was pulled up to my feet, and I cleared my throat at the damage to the woodland.
She rolled her eyes, and pushed me forward and I kissed a tree because at this point I didn't give much of a fuck anymore. I did the same for the other trees and the ground and before too long, it was like nothing had happened. Leaving a trail of broken trees and boulders sounded like a bad idea for remaining discreet.
I wiped my hands, clearing away the accumulated dust on them. "I'm still not as strong as I could be."
Aventurine chuckled. "It's been twenty seven days, you're not going to go from a squishy human to unyielding Diamond just like that." She cracked her knuckles, sauntering towards the tiny base. "Code patching should at least help clear up some of your rough spots though."
Being around Gems had started to very slowly numb me to how they were very free with their kisses. It was oddly conversational, not much of a big deal for the species. And with how they freely pass data, from memory to even certain perception powers it made sense.
Luckily none of them did something weird like kissing me on the mouth, a kiss on the cheek was one thing, a kiss on my virgin lips was another. But that didn't seem to be a common thing outside of very close friends or romantic relationships.
Now…I needed a nice hot shower.
I pulled at my shirt, still feeling some of the heat from the steam of my hot shower. Shifting to a girl had been an easy magic tweak, and I was comfortably wearing a red shirt and white gym shorts. Olly was busy, popping through the Galaxy Warp again and again, and bringing in materials and Robonoids, caked in red dust.
She had created a whole lot of gem alloy cables, and was more or less producing hundreds of tons of the stuff, if not thousands, along with some type of plasticine membrane. It still felt kind of weird to realize it was using my own ichor to make them, since they didn't want to waste what had been brought with them.
Each and every Gem sent had a store of ichor from all four Diamonds, literal tens of gallons of the stuff as needed. And when a single milliliter was all that was needed to create a single Gem…there was a lot of room to grow. Olly was busy with studying the properties of my ichor, while it was mostly like Steven's there were small tweaks to it…aspects shared more with Yellow oddly enough.
Olly's made over over a hundred Robonoids, including several about the size of small cars. Construction robots rapidly assembled the structure for what would eventually become a colony, my colony. She had enough cabling to suspend a few kilometers square worth of area, and the current plan was to cover about five hundred square kilometers beneath a protective layer of supremely tough membrane.
While it would have been easy to put up an energy field to protect the colony, it was costly and prone to power failure. This was basically a high tech, ultra strong tent held up by cable a thousand times stronger than steel. Cables set from a hundred meters to two hundred meters apart, a grand space for buildings and soil and life.
Some of those cables would be within buildings and towers at least a hundred meters high, because while Gems didn't need air, the life they needed did. Of course terraforming with only a handful of Gems wasn't exactly going to be…
I was smacked in the face multiple times by blunt objects, dropping out of my bed. A few Pebbles scurried about, poking me with worry.
"You okay?" I patted one on the head and nodded, and they ducked away into cute little mouse holes. Their cute little songs echoed in the walls and I held myself on my knees. I found the blunt object easily enough and stared.
A total of six Gems had come in this new burst, and my eyes focused to see what types had come through this time. The first gem was a pentagonal one with a medium dark yellow color, Legrandite from the looks of it. The gem next to it was a teardrop shaped specimen of Labradorite, three Rubies and a cabochon cut of Ammolite.
Before I could even think, the three Rubies began to glow with light and song and I scrambled back, falling on my ass. Two of the Gems emerged fairly normally, and stood at about the same height as Sapphire. My Sapphire I mean, though stockier and more heavily muscled.
Their uniform was more or less the standard one, with the Diamond insignia colored rose red, straddling the line between red and pink. Though one Gem had a frilly Kama cape thing and her squarish hair ended in curls. She showed her belly, where a hexagonal gemstone sat firmly at the center.
The second Ruby was very slightly taller, and had a slightly more robust frame and hair design, with a gem on her dorsal side of her right hand. Her color was a deeper shade, more rusty if you would. The remaining Ruby ended up being more unusual, continuing to form past where her fellow Rubies stopped.
I blinked and I looked up at the six foot tall Ruby with crimson skin and a different uniform from either Ruby. Her pants were looser, more like work-out clothing or a martial arts uniform, a dull red versus black while her shoulders were colored with a brown-red darkening to almost black around her gloved hands. She had her gem on her chest, and her dark crimson eyes had a sign of age on them.
She was an old rock, and I wasn't sure how I knew that.
All three made a quick salute, one gruff of song, another more casual and a third was a tad on the hard side, like rumbling pebbles. The big one went first.
"Blood Pigeon Ruby Facet-A11 Tetragon-27." The big one reported, with a designation unused by Rubies since before the advent of Era 1. More proof of her old age. The next Rubies followed up on their own designations.
The bellybutton Ruby smiled, her song just this side of seductive. "Ruby Facet-U27 Tetragon-4KY." Was said sweetly and easily.
The rusty skinned gem followed up. "Ruby Facet-B21 Trilliant-4ZZ." And at that moment I noted the cut of her stone was different. Here I had three perfectly nice Gems being all orderly and eager to talk to me…and I was on the ground like a common idiot.
"Umm…hello?" I picked myself up, grabbing the remaining Gems and placing them on my bed for the time being. "It's nice to meet the three of you." I actually was, still fascinated by Gems as a species. Plus two of them were small and adorable despite being able to beat the shit out of most humans on Earth.
Blood Pigeon was the first to respond, amusement dancing between gruff notes. "I thought you'd be taller."
I slumped. "Why do people keep saying that?" I whined, growling under my breath.
"Because it's funny." The chipper of the three Rubies confirmed my fear with a carefree expression. "Oh and we've been assigned as guards, it's what we wanted to do." The bellybutton Ruby preempted Blood Pigeon, her smile looking more like a mischievous smirk.
The giant Ruby rolled her eyes. "There's a lot of Gems who are going to need someone a little tougher to keep them safe. It might be Era 3 now, but this world is a lot more dangerous than most colonies. It's why we've got a few chunks of Quartzes on their way along with our commander."
"Commander?" That was actually interesting information, I doubt it's a Garnet since those tend to lead hundreds of Gems at the lower end and millions at the higher end. From what I knew, out of about twenty seven Gems as an initial party we had four Quartzes including Aventurine, five Rubies and an Orthoclase along with a Pearl trained in combat.
"Well she's a—" There was a howling roar outside, like the bark of dogs scaled up tenfold.
Fight.
"It might be time to show me what you can do." I stood up, looking back at the gems. The three Rubies shared smiles of varying emotional capacity. Their songs ring loud and clear and warm.
"RUBIES OUT!" Blood Pigeon gave out the orders, and the three Gems marched through my wall, leaving imprints of their bodies. I stepped out of my room, and ran towards the entrance to the thousands of square feet within this pocket dimension.
I made it out right as the three Rubies opened and shut the door behind them. I stepped out but stayed on the porch since I was still terrible at fighting. I blinked as I stared at the two massive monsters Aventurine was holding off.
They were monstrous, massive beasts of flesh and bone and spurs, jaws snapping to crush at Aventurine's arms. She moved like molasses to my eyes, clearly holding back against them. There was a grating sound, and I scowled, snapping my jaw in anger.
SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP!
The three Rubies and Aventurine slowed before speeding back up again, with the group of three new Gems piling up on a single dog monster. They carefully crashed the beast into the ground, holding it down with their superior strength. Aventurine did the same, her gauntlets forming solid bands of electrical energy to hold down the dog.
I glanced over to a gruff faced auburn girl, her hard expression shifting to something closer to fear, an animal panic that left me just a tad concerned. I recognize Bitch easily enough, monstrous dogs with bony angular bodies and a rough looking auburn teenager were a rather obvious clue.
I stepped down from the porch, and sauntered over to the girl. Her eyes widened when she found me approaching her.
"Brutus h—" I lifted an eyebrow, and she growled. I approached further, and she attacked, throwing a punch. I took the hit and she let out a hiss of pain at my iron jaw.
"Stop that." I gently pointed out, my aura pressing outwards. Not against her but against her shard. "Stop empowering your dogs and we can…talk." I didn't smile, but there was a brief flash of my teeth regardless of what I wanted.
There was a glower on her face, wary and aggressive, lips pulled into a very small snarl. I narrowed my eyes, tilted my head. She wanted to attack, she was angry, scared, frustrated.
"Why did you attack my Gems?" Something possessive entered my voice, not in the sense of owning them…no this was a different kind of greed, a different kind of protective instinct.
"They got too close to my dogs." There was something else, it wasn't just her own inability to read people that had gotten her in trouble. I could feel the biting, grating tonal howls of her shard, physical projections of information and energy into the area around us.
I blasted my Aura, and the shard cowered, and I could feel it's feelings, that burst of terror-error-disconnection-confusion. The shards were powerful, complex and yet simple, vastly intellectual and yet bestial and instinctual. Their ability to manipulate dimensions and physical energies was vast. But they weren't magic, and we had stacked the dice in our favor.
The Empire had years of combating shards which meant they had means of messing with them, and the shards themselves could. With Mantellum being a good proof of concept. I was a Diamond, and all five of us possessed vast psychic power, our Auras proof of them.
And those of Cerise specifically had excellent means of deflecting, of stopping mind control, mind manipulation,we were reflections of Her after all…the cerise shadow of Light Given Mind.
I stared down the younger Rachel, she was of course younger, and she had bulk to her frame, but she hadn't built up the muscle her future self would one day earn.
A future self anyway.
"Get your dogs to back down and I'll let you all leave, I'm not interested in a fight." Rachel scowled but after a moment, she reached out with her power and the dogs stopped growing under her powe. Stopped supplyingthe pound by pound of mass entering through a method of dimensional transference.
I gestured, and she went to her dogs, looking mere moments away from attacking the Rubies, though they flashed their tusks with almost cruel smiles. The two dogs went from half ton monstrosities to husks, and she expertly cut away the rotting flesh with a knife on her person.
After a minute she had cut her dogs free, revealing a large and excited Rottweiler, black fur slick with ichor, and a slim but strong German Shepherd, fur matted by the wetness of the giant meat suit it had been piloting.
Ruby Facet-U27 Tetragon-4KY's eyes sparkled, and her song rippled with the smashing of sparks and hot metal.
"Doggy!" She cried out, making her approach, one made with careful analysis, the flash of fangs held back, music muted and softened to something sweet. Rachel stiffened, knuckles turning white with her grip.
She went for the Rottweiler, moving carefully, slowly, glancing back at the auburn teenager with wide puppy dog eyes. But not looking her directly in the eyes."I won't hurt him…he's a sweet boy isn't? Well trained too…may I?"
Rachel chuffed. "Fine. I can't stop you anyway." Ruby tsked, and pressed her hand against Brutus' fur, fingers gliding and petting him with experienced ease. He panted, his nub of a tail quivering back and forth in an approximation of a tail wag.
The bellybutton Ruby's song was sickeningly sweet, and I crossed my arms, keeping my temper in check as I stared Rachel down. She bared her teeth, attempting some type of dominance display.
We couldn't have that now can we?
I squared my shoulders, followed those strange foreign alien instincts, that Diamond brain with the backlogs of millions of years of contests and natural selection, that mechanical instinct honed across generations.
"How exactly did you end up here?" I asked, measured in tone, keeping my song from leaking too much. Her rewired brain might react badly to the frequencies of Gemsong.
"Needed a place to lay low, but I can't stay here. Not a lot we can eat out here, and if my dogs get sick…" She trailed off, as if waiting for me to ask more questions.
I didn't, it wasn't complicated. She was hiding from the Protectorate, and decided a big old forest was a good place to hide for a while.
"Food huh…?" Aventurine cut in, her voice plucking at the air with an electric crackle. "We've got some food to share if you need any, enough to get you back to wherever you're from." The Quartz pointed back to the Home Pyramid, and the small greenhouses and tree covered buildings built along a small grid on the stream.
Rachel grunted, and Aventurine replied back with a deep trill, rumbling in my chest.
"Alright." The cape acceded.
I watched from the corner of my vision as Rachel scarfed down her food, some type of magic cooked fish along with rice. Her dogs ate a helpful mix made by one of the Rubies. Who obviously had a lot of experience with canines with how expertly prepared they had been made.
Fuschia was watching over the remaining gemstones waiting to regenerate, kneeling on the sofa with an intense one eyed expression. Three Gems, of varying former castes and experiences.
It would obviously take them longer to emerge than the Rubies, unless one of them decided to prove me wrong and— there it goes.
The Labradorite was the Gem floating up into the air, their gem ringing with sound, and burning with light. Rachel went still, gaze sharpening. The mannequin frame of all Gems came to form, and clothing and personality was injected and layered over the mass of light.
In no time at all, another Gem floated down onto the ground. She's a more typical height, not as tiny as modern Corundum and not as bulky as lumps of Quartz, about the height of Lapis.
Her frame is slightly wider than the delicate elegant frames of a Lapis Lazuli, a little more curvaceous, especially around the hips. She wears a strapless dress, a light blue around the bust, with the exception of a black Diamond shape from her bust down to her lower stomach. The dress was a light blue directly below the symbol, and a deeper shade along the sides. Her smooth cut gem was right above her bust, below her neck. Her skin was cerulean, and her face was oval, with bags under dark blue eyes. Her baby blue hair was straight and had a dark blue hair band, and split at the ends as it curtained below her back.
I noted the lines on her skin, black color along a pristine blue surface. A magnetite inclusion from the looks of both her gems and her markings. Her tired expression was more wired than Olly's, and her soft smile reveals pointed teeth like that of piranha's, the facsimile of humanity broken.
"Is this a bad time?" Her song was even in beat, soft spoken, with a light accent to it. Just a little humor, buried in a quiet song, dry and casual. I nodded. Her eyes squinted, and she curtsied with her notes trailing amusement. "I'll make my leave then."
Rachel was staring at me, her natural glare sharpening, becoming more focused on me. I didn't look away, while I should have felt nervous, getting glared at by a superpowered fourteen year old wasn't very impressive. Her dogs weren't even all that scary when Aventurine could just rip them in half.
The meat suits rather than the dogs I mean. Killing dogs isn't really one of my goals here.
"What are you?" Her eyes were narrowed, hackles raised and her dogs followed her lead, light growls hitting the air.
"We're Gems." I replied with a chipper lilt.
"Don't be cute." She growled, and I nodded firmly.
"I'm not lying, we're Gems, beings of light and crystal with powers and abilities." I gestured to the several Gems in the room. Two Rubies, a Sapphire and an Amber. "You stumbled on our…home, territory, temporary base of operations?" I shrugged. "We offered you food, and you're probably planning on leaving and going back to civilization."
"You're like the monster capes?" I blinked at her blase and slightly offensive response, I guess Rachel wouldn't know they were called Case 53s.
"If you mean our biology is really different from humans yes," I rubbed my chin, folding one leg over the other. "But it's a bit of a simplification, and I don't think you want to sit through a long explanation."
"No I don't…" Rachel was tilting her head, like she was trying to figure out a puzzle and couldn't work it out. "What do you want from me?" She accused, expression pinched and agitated.
"Want?" I blinked. "Why would I want anything from you?" While having another parahuman might be nice, that wasn't why I had let Aventurine offer her food.
She sounded confused, paranoid, angry even. "Then why give me food?"
"Because we could? Only two of us need to eat, and we have a surplus." I had no means of helping a half-feral teenager, I had no context and couldn't use the experiences of my parents for this. "I suppose we could house you, but that doesn't seem like something you would want." I shrugged, there were options but going our separate ways was a good possibility.
"Hmm…" She grunted, continuing to eat and there was a terrible silence. "You don't seem to want anything, but she does." She pointed to Aventurine entering the rooms "She should get to the point."
The Quartz grinned, tusks as sharp as a lion's killing fangs clicking. "Hah! You're a bit of a brute aren't ya? I'll keep it simple…I just wanted to give ya food, but then I thought…why not make a deal, a trade."
"For what?" Rachel gruffly responded.
"We give you food and shelter, and you help us with information, we're not locals ya see."
"I don't talk to people." Which was true from Rachel.
"Nothing like that," Aventurine reassured. "We just need eyes and ears, and someone to deliver equipment so we can pull it off." She shifted her huge shoulders. "You scratch our backs, we scratch yours…that's the saying right?" I gave a thumbs up. "We might even give you back up if you want it."
"That all?" Rachel said it with the dryness of the Sahara desert.
"Or we can give you a three day's supply of food and send you on your way back, we're not exactly desperate here." We weren't, we could find other ways to get what we needed.
Rachel narrowed her eyes, though her expression softened when she saw how my bellybutton Ruby was careful with her dogs.
"You'll help me with my dogs?" There was something, not calculating, more measuring.
"I'd do that free of charge, I have a lot of history with them…so does Ruby over there," Something soft entered Aventurine's song, a melancholic melody. "It's your choice to make, we'll pack you supplies either way."
Rachel was still. "Later." She stood up, and I expected not to get an answer until tomorrow.
Just a guess.
I suppose the future is going to be pretty eventful.
I floated within a landscape of clouds under a cerise sky, golden tinged masses of fluff twisting around me. This time I knew I was in a Dream, my own pocket of a vast Realm of Dreams. A place that was nowhere and everywhere, in every when and yet not in any one place, in one space, in one time.
I jumped, and broke the sound barrier a hundred times over, bursting out from the cloud line and into the void of space. It was full of stars, and my eyes saw them as a barrage of energy, spikes of color in all the spectrums of the light. I could see the cracks, thousands upon thousands of them, perhaps even a million across a scarred and frightened world.
A few cracks were familiar, and I drifted along the currents of the Dream Realm, following after them. The Earth below me changed, and my eyebrows furrowed in realization.
This was his Earth, I could hear the songs of a million Gems, the rumbling cacophony of eight billion organic lives. I looked up at the Moon and saw great cities of crystal and light, spire across a grid of a terraformed natural satellite, Luna under azure skies.
I could talk with him here, in this Dream Realm shared by all living things, by humans, by Gems, and by countless other beings. What was out there?
I veered away from Earth, and I spun in the emptiness of space, the stars melting into beacons of light. Images came to me, memories, anchors, places that could exist but probably didn't.
The stars melted away and I was suddenly shooting across a vast star system, hundreds of light years from Earth if not thousands. Twenty one worlds orbited around a bright white star, so many of them bearing life of one stripe or another, a calculated dance of gravity and mass shifting keeping them from falling apart.
I drifted towards one world, and I let out a strangled scream as I slammed into a planet, a verdant world covered in red vegetation and with striking cerise and azure seas. I fell into the mindscape of the planet, sliding between a hundred million dreams, essence sparking with gold and amber.
I walked on cracked desert soil, and looked up at a series of towers and round cylindrical buildings topped by domes of stained glass. A desert palace sparkling with the unreal aura of dreams and nightmares both.
I stepped back, where two figures collided, both burning inside and out with ultraviolet fire, energy and power given form and purpose. Two golden tanned beings moving with grace and martial strength.
I caught the shine of black and red hair, flaring with fire and heat, and fists lighting with violet and green energy respectively. There were screams, raw in their emotion, rage and betrayal, jealousy and hatred burning against my mind.
"You can't win sister! " The raven haired alien screamed, and I understood her perfectly. Because I was a Gem, because I was a Diamond. "The Citadel will be here soon, it's time for you to…end!" Both were woman, female, almost human, and yet there were subtle differences.
They drifted and hopped on long digitigrade legs, golden glittering skin exposed to the sun. Their skin was covered in faint patterns, small spots and long weaving stripes. Glowing emerald eyes radiated with power, in a nightmare memory, a battle between sisters.
Between royal kin.
There was a scream in the air, a shift in the wind, a burst of enormous power. Both sisters stopped, and the raven haired sister paused, an elongated ear twitching and swiveling, an earpiece visible in the scene.
"What…where is the armada, I've given you the plans, now carry them out—" The earpiece releases a piercing scream and the traitorous sister rips it away from a now bleeding ear. There was something in the sky, a rippling in reality, across the light of a distant world.
I scrambled back, and the vision focused away from the scene and onto a world surrounded by a great defenses, orbital rings carrying fortresses, vessels of gleaming silver and shadowy titanium in the thousands, emplacements spitting nuclear fire and tendrils of dark energies against an unseen foe.
Something emerges from the abyss, and I saw something vast. It wasn't big in the way trees or even the mountains were, it cast a shadow on the planet itself, black crystalline flesh obscured under optical distortions as light itself was warped around the vast thing, like a worm, like a whale, like a divine serpent casting down judgment.
It turned and ten thousand cannons blasted with a force to sunder a continent, flesh burned away, pieces the size of islands broken and shattered and melted. It was larger than the moon, the serpentine thing wrapping around the world in panic and terror.
Guns fired, ships the length of towns were sundered, asteroid fields were scattered and stellar beasts died. In a single battle, an empire was broken, armies ruined, weapons exhausted, rings twenty thousand kilometers long breaking into a million pieces. The panicked Wyrm died in terror and confusion, it's flesh falling into the yellow-white star, a moon sized dragon slain.
I retracted back to the planet I had seen first, falling down onto my knees. One of the golden skinned humanoids remained, The one dreaming this terrible Dream.
She was taller than Blood Pigeon Ruby, her glimmering skin a burnt orange hue with lighter patterns, spots along her legs, whirling stripes on her bare stomach and arms. She had a face of classical beauty with a touch of the alien, just a tad longer than normal, eyes like a cat's with an emerald glow. Her legs were shapely, and she stood on the balls of her feet, built more for sprinting than any human should be. Her hair was a shade of red deeper than humanly possible, and she wore only a purple skirt and top, arms crossed over her bust, a single clawed index finger tapping against them.
"S-Sorry." She shrugged, and with a gentle tap on my nose sent me out of her dream, flying into the void.
I flew faster than light, outpacing the laws of physics. I flew away from that star system which had known so much loss and pain, and towards another star, towards another world. It was a large dark planet, tidally locked to its parent star, with a narrow terminus where life could survive.
I looked at the dark side of the planet, and there was a sensation like I was being watched, like fingers were crawling along my skin. I dropped down like a rock, and crashed into another dream, one that was deeper and larger than most.
I found myself in a hot spring, steam rising from golden waters lapping against dark stone. Strange leaves and branches hung overhead, blending into the soft gold-cerise light of the room. I looked around at the ornate architecture, like something out of a fairy tale, pillars holding up the dark stone.
I was sitting on a metal bench and felt oddly rejuvenated, like all the energy I spent projecting my mind across space and time was being recovered second by second. There was another presence, someone humming a tune, plucking at the strings of the Dream.
I stepped off the bench, and the world shifted around me, leaving me in front of a statue of a massive moth, carved in stone and lined with white gold. There was a whisper, of something dead, forgotten, consumed.
The light went out, and I shrunk in on myself, trying to project a bubble even though I was astral projecting. It failed, and the shrine was consumed by shadows, countless white orbs emerging from the shadows. My Aura pushed the darkness back, and I swallowed nervously.
Where the hell had I gone?
Something large emerged from the shadows, a figure with eight eyes and two sets of branching horns, four arms and countless tendrils moving back and forth, like a living glitch made of void and shadows and darkness.
I felt cold, and the shadows retracted at the bidding of the fifty foot tall lord of darkness, and it didn't speak in direct words, nor in the lyrical quality of Gemsong.
Think.
Feel.
Live.
My anxieties retreated at the passiveness of the entity, even as it's voice felt like a chorus of madness, void made manifest, potential and primordial energy warping around me.
"I…what are you?"
Void. Regrets. Shadow. I flinched, as the shadows parted for thousands, maybe millions of specters, countless regrets gathered within this void within a dream. The being chuffed, and I blinked as it poked me with a clawed hand, reflecting thoughts and feelings back at me.
Light Of Life. It gestured to myself, to my form, eight eyes crinkling while it's body shifted with a chittering crack. It gestured and images emerged in the black.
I saw a radiant figure, white light shining like a star, the face of a Diamond.
Light Of Mind.
Yellow followed.
Light Of Body.
Blue rose from the void, clouds of light azure vaporizing in the dream realm.
Light Of Will.
Is…is that what this being, this Void Given Focus calls the Diamonds, so I'm the Light Of Life then?
The entity shook its head, gesturing that I was similar but there were small disparities, clicks of tonal chitters translated by my Diamond brain into something barely coherent.
"Could I leave? I'm feeling a little lost." I asked and it responded, a massive blade made of golden light folding the Dream Realm with pure power. I was launched from this strange place between worlds, and flew.
I was back on Earth, his Earth and I slipped through the cracks without meaning to. I spun, and collided with dull and muted dreams, the disparate processes of something enormous in scope and scale. I walked along crystalline circuitry sparking with energies, thousands of red crystals melded together into a single unit.
I LISTENED, I HEARD, I EXPERIENCED.
I drifted among the dregs of thoughts and dreams and impressions of something as large as a planet, a labyrinthine machine, broadcasting, intuiting, connecting, draining, activating, drawing upon. It was the pedestal, the church, the false idol, made to draw upon the powers of others of its kind. It connected to ten thousand lesser pieces, broken in body and spirit, in a broken network. It drew upon the sleeping desires of its host, creating truly grand and worth—
I was ripped away from the mind of the beast, a claw curling to pull me by my collar. My eyes were wide when I looked back at Diamond pupils that weren't my own.
Aster Diamond smiled.
It's time for you to wake up…
I let out a scream as I woke up from that tangle of dreams, gripping onto my pillow for comfort I breathed, in and out and named items in the room to further delay my panic and anxiety.
I had been subconsciously using my astral projection, and had entered the dreams of several entities. The first was humanoid, almost too human even and yet there were subtle differences, enough to unnerve a person. It was a flashback, a distorted nightmare, and I noted the imagery of a vast shard of an Entity. The second world was one of darkness, the home of something huge and powerful.
Then I had slid into the assorted thoughts of a shard, and was pulled out of the madness by Steven. My astral projection had sent me across space and time, and he had saved me. I laid back down on my bed with a groan.
I'm not going to sleep much tonight am I?
I hit the ground with a resounding thud, letting out a cry from the impact of a green fist on my face. I rolled, and dodged on all fours before jumping back into a combative position.
I followed the motions, heard the click of violins and chiptunes turn against me, and turned on a dime. Aventurine leapt over where I had been standing, her fist shattering a boulder as large as I am. Which meant she was hitting like a truck with every one of her strikes.
Then again she was a Quartz, even if a more specialized and sneaky type. They were built with power in mind, an enduring strength, a weight of stone that matched my own power more effectively. I could have learned from other Gems but they didn't offer the same experiences.
Someone like a Pearl or a Lapis Lazuli training themselves to fight…their movements would be more precise, more elegant and focused and while the second had power it was in aqueous waves and spikes and walls. It wasn't the same. A non-fusion Garnet would work but their power was again just different in how it was applied.
I kicked the ground, and leapt out of the way of another strike, Aventurine's fists crackling with green lightning. Her hands glowed and became enclosed within heavy gauntlets, and with a flick enormous blades radiated from the knuckles.
A hexagonal red-pink barrier placed itself in the path of her wild slash, and Aventurine laughed, a song radiating joy-battle-lust-peach-apple-lemon. "THAT'S MORE LIKE IT! SHOW ME WHAT YA GOT!"
I grit my teeth, biting back an angry retort. I charged, the world blurring around me as I hit my new top speed. I threw a series of jabs and punches, Aventurine blocking them with her forearms. She charged her bladed-gauntlets and I was rewarded with an electric blast to the face.
Shit!
The fight continued despite the setback, and I formed a bubble, and I extended spikes from the surface. I rolled the ball, crashing into Aventurine. She unleashed a long slashing motion, electric plasma exploding and breaking the bubble into shards of decaying energy.
I rolled around blows I could barely even see, the wind parting with the sheer speed Aventurine imparted into each and every snapping strike. And she was clearly still holding back, because I had heard the crack of air when she charged at full speed.
I spun behind Aventurine, bashing her with another hexagonal barrier and knocking her off her balance. But instead as she fell, she did a handstand, spinning and kicking me in the chin. I was sent flying into a tree and I scrambled up it, flexing my claws out to climb up a ninety degree angle surface.
I hardened my arms, human skin becoming rough, tough and dense scales. The tree began to fall, severed in half by a casual swipe from Aventurine. I jumped and reversed my floating, that energy field holding me aloft. I dropped like a brick, and my arms exploded into long jagged crystalline spikes. My opponent let out a pained burst, and she slid the claws of her gauntlet back into place.
I was grabbed by the collar, and without further notice, smashed into the ground, with a foot stomped down on my chest becoming the final blow.
"A lot of improvement for only three days of training." She offered to lift me up and I took it without hesitation. Her hand engulfed mine, her inch and a half long claws grazing my arm with a precise, careful ease. I was pulled up to my feet, and I cleared my throat at the damage to the woodland.
She rolled her eyes, and pushed me forward and I kissed a tree because at this point I didn't give much of a fuck anymore. I did the same for the other trees and the ground and before too long, it was like nothing had happened. Leaving a trail of broken trees and boulders sounded like a bad idea for remaining discreet.
I wiped my hands, clearing away the accumulated dust on them. "I'm still not as strong as I could be."
Aventurine chuckled. "It's been twenty seven days, you're not going to go from a squishy human to unyielding Diamond just like that." She cracked her knuckles, sauntering towards the tiny base. "Code patching should at least help clear up some of your rough spots though."
Being around Gems had started to very slowly numb me to how they were very free with their kisses. It was oddly conversational, not much of a big deal for the species. And with how they freely pass data, from memory to even certain perception powers it made sense.
Luckily none of them did something weird like kissing me on the mouth, a kiss on the cheek was one thing, a kiss on my virgin lips was another. But that didn't seem to be a common thing outside of very close friends or romantic relationships.
Now…I needed a nice hot shower.
I pulled at my shirt, still feeling some of the heat from the steam of my hot shower. Shifting to a girl had been an easy magic tweak, and I was comfortably wearing a red shirt and white gym shorts. Olly was busy, popping through the Galaxy Warp again and again, and bringing in materials and Robonoids, caked in red dust.
She had created a whole lot of gem alloy cables, and was more or less producing hundreds of tons of the stuff, if not thousands, along with some type of plasticine membrane. It still felt kind of weird to realize it was using my own ichor to make them, since they didn't want to waste what had been brought with them.
Each and every Gem sent had a store of ichor from all four Diamonds, literal tens of gallons of the stuff as needed. And when a single milliliter was all that was needed to create a single Gem…there was a lot of room to grow. Olly was busy with studying the properties of my ichor, while it was mostly like Steven's there were small tweaks to it…aspects shared more with Yellow oddly enough.
Olly's made over over a hundred Robonoids, including several about the size of small cars. Construction robots rapidly assembled the structure for what would eventually become a colony, my colony. She had enough cabling to suspend a few kilometers square worth of area, and the current plan was to cover about five hundred square kilometers beneath a protective layer of supremely tough membrane.
While it would have been easy to put up an energy field to protect the colony, it was costly and prone to power failure. This was basically a high tech, ultra strong tent held up by cable a thousand times stronger than steel. Cables set from a hundred meters to two hundred meters apart, a grand space for buildings and soil and life.
Some of those cables would be within buildings and towers at least a hundred meters high, because while Gems didn't need air, the life they needed did. Of course terraforming with only a handful of Gems wasn't exactly going to be…
I was smacked in the face multiple times by blunt objects, dropping out of my bed. A few Pebbles scurried about, poking me with worry.
"You okay?" I patted one on the head and nodded, and they ducked away into cute little mouse holes. Their cute little songs echoed in the walls and I held myself on my knees. I found the blunt object easily enough and stared.
A total of six Gems had come in this new burst, and my eyes focused to see what types had come through this time. The first gem was a pentagonal one with a medium dark yellow color, Legrandite from the looks of it. The gem next to it was a teardrop shaped specimen of Labradorite, three Rubies and a cabochon cut of Ammolite.
Before I could even think, the three Rubies began to glow with light and song and I scrambled back, falling on my ass. Two of the Gems emerged fairly normally, and stood at about the same height as Sapphire. My Sapphire I mean, though stockier and more heavily muscled.
Their uniform was more or less the standard one, with the Diamond insignia colored rose red, straddling the line between red and pink. Though one Gem had a frilly Kama cape thing and her squarish hair ended in curls. She showed her belly, where a hexagonal gemstone sat firmly at the center.
The second Ruby was very slightly taller, and had a slightly more robust frame and hair design, with a gem on her dorsal side of her right hand. Her color was a deeper shade, more rusty if you would. The remaining Ruby ended up being more unusual, continuing to form past where her fellow Rubies stopped.
I blinked and I looked up at the six foot tall Ruby with crimson skin and a different uniform from either Ruby. Her pants were looser, more like work-out clothing or a martial arts uniform, a dull red versus black while her shoulders were colored with a brown-red darkening to almost black around her gloved hands. She had her gem on her chest, and her dark crimson eyes had a sign of age on them.
She was an old rock, and I wasn't sure how I knew that.
All three made a quick salute, one gruff of song, another more casual and a third was a tad on the hard side, like rumbling pebbles. The big one went first.
"Blood Pigeon Ruby Facet-A11 Tetragon-27." The big one reported, with a designation unused by Rubies since before the advent of Era 1. More proof of her old age. The next Rubies followed up on their own designations.
The bellybutton Ruby smiled, her song just this side of seductive. "Ruby Facet-U27 Tetragon-4KY." Was said sweetly and easily.
The rusty skinned gem followed up. "Ruby Facet-B21 Trilliant-4ZZ." And at that moment I noted the cut of her stone was different. Here I had three perfectly nice Gems being all orderly and eager to talk to me…and I was on the ground like a common idiot.
"Umm…hello?" I picked myself up, grabbing the remaining Gems and placing them on my bed for the time being. "It's nice to meet the three of you." I actually was, still fascinated by Gems as a species. Plus two of them were small and adorable despite being able to beat the shit out of most humans on Earth.
Blood Pigeon was the first to respond, amusement dancing between gruff notes. "I thought you'd be taller."
I slumped. "Why do people keep saying that?" I whined, growling under my breath.
"Because it's funny." The chipper of the three Rubies confirmed my fear with a carefree expression. "Oh and we've been assigned as guards, it's what we wanted to do." The bellybutton Ruby preempted Blood Pigeon, her smile looking more like a mischievous smirk.
The giant Ruby rolled her eyes. "There's a lot of Gems who are going to need someone a little tougher to keep them safe. It might be Era 3 now, but this world is a lot more dangerous than most colonies. It's why we've got a few chunks of Quartzes on their way along with our commander."
"Commander?" That was actually interesting information, I doubt it's a Garnet since those tend to lead hundreds of Gems at the lower end and millions at the higher end. From what I knew, out of about twenty seven Gems as an initial party we had four Quartzes including Aventurine, five Rubies and an Orthoclase along with a Pearl trained in combat.
"Well she's a—" There was a howling roar outside, like the bark of dogs scaled up tenfold.
Fight.
"It might be time to show me what you can do." I stood up, looking back at the gems. The three Rubies shared smiles of varying emotional capacity. Their songs ring loud and clear and warm.
"RUBIES OUT!" Blood Pigeon gave out the orders, and the three Gems marched through my wall, leaving imprints of their bodies. I stepped out of my room, and ran towards the entrance to the thousands of square feet within this pocket dimension.
I made it out right as the three Rubies opened and shut the door behind them. I stepped out but stayed on the porch since I was still terrible at fighting. I blinked as I stared at the two massive monsters Aventurine was holding off.
They were monstrous, massive beasts of flesh and bone and spurs, jaws snapping to crush at Aventurine's arms. She moved like molasses to my eyes, clearly holding back against them. There was a grating sound, and I scowled, snapping my jaw in anger.
SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP!
The three Rubies and Aventurine slowed before speeding back up again, with the group of three new Gems piling up on a single dog monster. They carefully crashed the beast into the ground, holding it down with their superior strength. Aventurine did the same, her gauntlets forming solid bands of electrical energy to hold down the dog.
I glanced over to a gruff faced auburn girl, her hard expression shifting to something closer to fear, an animal panic that left me just a tad concerned. I recognize Bitch easily enough, monstrous dogs with bony angular bodies and a rough looking auburn teenager were a rather obvious clue.
I stepped down from the porch, and sauntered over to the girl. Her eyes widened when she found me approaching her.
"Brutus h—" I lifted an eyebrow, and she growled. I approached further, and she attacked, throwing a punch. I took the hit and she let out a hiss of pain at my iron jaw.
"Stop that." I gently pointed out, my aura pressing outwards. Not against her but against her shard. "Stop empowering your dogs and we can…talk." I didn't smile, but there was a brief flash of my teeth regardless of what I wanted.
There was a glower on her face, wary and aggressive, lips pulled into a very small snarl. I narrowed my eyes, tilted my head. She wanted to attack, she was angry, scared, frustrated.
"Why did you attack my Gems?" Something possessive entered my voice, not in the sense of owning them…no this was a different kind of greed, a different kind of protective instinct.
"They got too close to my dogs." There was something else, it wasn't just her own inability to read people that had gotten her in trouble. I could feel the biting, grating tonal howls of her shard, physical projections of information and energy into the area around us.
I blasted my Aura, and the shard cowered, and I could feel it's feelings, that burst of terror-error-disconnection-confusion. The shards were powerful, complex and yet simple, vastly intellectual and yet bestial and instinctual. Their ability to manipulate dimensions and physical energies was vast. But they weren't magic, and we had stacked the dice in our favor.
The Empire had years of combating shards which meant they had means of messing with them, and the shards themselves could. With Mantellum being a good proof of concept. I was a Diamond, and all five of us possessed vast psychic power, our Auras proof of them.
And those of Cerise specifically had excellent means of deflecting, of stopping mind control, mind manipulation,
I stared down the younger Rachel, she was of course younger, and she had bulk to her frame, but she hadn't built up the muscle her future self would one day earn.
A future self anyway.
"Get your dogs to back down and I'll let you all leave, I'm not interested in a fight." Rachel scowled but after a moment, she reached out with her power and the dogs stopped growing under her powe. Stopped supplyingthe pound by pound of mass entering through a method of dimensional transference.
I gestured, and she went to her dogs, looking mere moments away from attacking the Rubies, though they flashed their tusks with almost cruel smiles. The two dogs went from half ton monstrosities to husks, and she expertly cut away the rotting flesh with a knife on her person.
After a minute she had cut her dogs free, revealing a large and excited Rottweiler, black fur slick with ichor, and a slim but strong German Shepherd, fur matted by the wetness of the giant meat suit it had been piloting.
Ruby Facet-U27 Tetragon-4KY's eyes sparkled, and her song rippled with the smashing of sparks and hot metal.
"Doggy!" She cried out, making her approach, one made with careful analysis, the flash of fangs held back, music muted and softened to something sweet. Rachel stiffened, knuckles turning white with her grip.
She went for the Rottweiler, moving carefully, slowly, glancing back at the auburn teenager with wide puppy dog eyes. But not looking her directly in the eyes."I won't hurt him…he's a sweet boy isn't? Well trained too…may I?"
Rachel chuffed. "Fine. I can't stop you anyway." Ruby tsked, and pressed her hand against Brutus' fur, fingers gliding and petting him with experienced ease. He panted, his nub of a tail quivering back and forth in an approximation of a tail wag.
The bellybutton Ruby's song was sickeningly sweet, and I crossed my arms, keeping my temper in check as I stared Rachel down. She bared her teeth, attempting some type of dominance display.
We couldn't have that now can we?
I squared my shoulders, followed those strange foreign alien instincts, that Diamond brain with the backlogs of millions of years of contests and natural selection, that mechanical instinct honed across generations.
"How exactly did you end up here?" I asked, measured in tone, keeping my song from leaking too much. Her rewired brain might react badly to the frequencies of Gemsong.
"Needed a place to lay low, but I can't stay here. Not a lot we can eat out here, and if my dogs get sick…" She trailed off, as if waiting for me to ask more questions.
I didn't, it wasn't complicated. She was hiding from the Protectorate, and decided a big old forest was a good place to hide for a while.
"Food huh…?" Aventurine cut in, her voice plucking at the air with an electric crackle. "We've got some food to share if you need any, enough to get you back to wherever you're from." The Quartz pointed back to the Home Pyramid, and the small greenhouses and tree covered buildings built along a small grid on the stream.
Rachel grunted, and Aventurine replied back with a deep trill, rumbling in my chest.
"Alright." The cape acceded.
I watched from the corner of my vision as Rachel scarfed down her food, some type of magic cooked fish along with rice. Her dogs ate a helpful mix made by one of the Rubies. Who obviously had a lot of experience with canines with how expertly prepared they had been made.
Fuschia was watching over the remaining gemstones waiting to regenerate, kneeling on the sofa with an intense one eyed expression. Three Gems, of varying former castes and experiences.
It would obviously take them longer to emerge than the Rubies, unless one of them decided to prove me wrong and— there it goes.
The Labradorite was the Gem floating up into the air, their gem ringing with sound, and burning with light. Rachel went still, gaze sharpening. The mannequin frame of all Gems came to form, and clothing and personality was injected and layered over the mass of light.
In no time at all, another Gem floated down onto the ground. She's a more typical height, not as tiny as modern Corundum and not as bulky as lumps of Quartz, about the height of Lapis.
Her frame is slightly wider than the delicate elegant frames of a Lapis Lazuli, a little more curvaceous, especially around the hips. She wears a strapless dress, a light blue around the bust, with the exception of a black Diamond shape from her bust down to her lower stomach. The dress was a light blue directly below the symbol, and a deeper shade along the sides. Her smooth cut gem was right above her bust, below her neck. Her skin was cerulean, and her face was oval, with bags under dark blue eyes. Her baby blue hair was straight and had a dark blue hair band, and split at the ends as it curtained below her back.
I noted the lines on her skin, black color along a pristine blue surface. A magnetite inclusion from the looks of both her gems and her markings. Her tired expression was more wired than Olly's, and her soft smile reveals pointed teeth like that of piranha's, the facsimile of humanity broken.
"Is this a bad time?" Her song was even in beat, soft spoken, with a light accent to it. Just a little humor, buried in a quiet song, dry and casual. I nodded. Her eyes squinted, and she curtsied with her notes trailing amusement. "I'll make my leave then."
Rachel was staring at me, her natural glare sharpening, becoming more focused on me. I didn't look away, while I should have felt nervous, getting glared at by a superpowered fourteen year old wasn't very impressive. Her dogs weren't even all that scary when Aventurine could just rip them in half.
The meat suits rather than the dogs I mean. Killing dogs isn't really one of my goals here.
"What are you?" Her eyes were narrowed, hackles raised and her dogs followed her lead, light growls hitting the air.
"We're Gems." I replied with a chipper lilt.
"Don't be cute." She growled, and I nodded firmly.
"I'm not lying, we're Gems, beings of light and crystal with powers and abilities." I gestured to the several Gems in the room. Two Rubies, a Sapphire and an Amber. "You stumbled on our…home, territory, temporary base of operations?" I shrugged. "We offered you food, and you're probably planning on leaving and going back to civilization."
"You're like the monster capes?" I blinked at her blase and slightly offensive response, I guess Rachel wouldn't know they were called Case 53s.
"If you mean our biology is really different from humans yes," I rubbed my chin, folding one leg over the other. "But it's a bit of a simplification, and I don't think you want to sit through a long explanation."
"No I don't…" Rachel was tilting her head, like she was trying to figure out a puzzle and couldn't work it out. "What do you want from me?" She accused, expression pinched and agitated.
"Want?" I blinked. "Why would I want anything from you?" While having another parahuman might be nice, that wasn't why I had let Aventurine offer her food.
She sounded confused, paranoid, angry even. "Then why give me food?"
"Because we could? Only two of us need to eat, and we have a surplus." I had no means of helping a half-feral teenager, I had no context and couldn't use the experiences of my parents for this. "I suppose we could house you, but that doesn't seem like something you would want." I shrugged, there were options but going our separate ways was a good possibility.
"Hmm…" She grunted, continuing to eat and there was a terrible silence. "You don't seem to want anything, but she does." She pointed to Aventurine entering the rooms "She should get to the point."
The Quartz grinned, tusks as sharp as a lion's killing fangs clicking. "Hah! You're a bit of a brute aren't ya? I'll keep it simple…I just wanted to give ya food, but then I thought…why not make a deal, a trade."
"For what?" Rachel gruffly responded.
"We give you food and shelter, and you help us with information, we're not locals ya see."
"I don't talk to people." Which was true from Rachel.
"Nothing like that," Aventurine reassured. "We just need eyes and ears, and someone to deliver equipment so we can pull it off." She shifted her huge shoulders. "You scratch our backs, we scratch yours…that's the saying right?" I gave a thumbs up. "We might even give you back up if you want it."
"That all?" Rachel said it with the dryness of the Sahara desert.
"Or we can give you a three day's supply of food and send you on your way back, we're not exactly desperate here." We weren't, we could find other ways to get what we needed.
Rachel narrowed her eyes, though her expression softened when she saw how my bellybutton Ruby was careful with her dogs.
"You'll help me with my dogs?" There was something, not calculating, more measuring.
"I'd do that free of charge, I have a lot of history with them…so does Ruby over there," Something soft entered Aventurine's song, a melancholic melody. "It's your choice to make, we'll pack you supplies either way."
Rachel was still. "Later." She stood up, and I expected not to get an answer until tomorrow.
Just a guess.
I suppose the future is going to be pretty eventful.
I floated within a landscape of clouds under a cerise sky, golden tinged masses of fluff twisting around me. This time I knew I was in a Dream, my own pocket of a vast Realm of Dreams. A place that was nowhere and everywhere, in every when and yet not in any one place, in one space, in one time.
I jumped, and broke the sound barrier a hundred times over, bursting out from the cloud line and into the void of space. It was full of stars, and my eyes saw them as a barrage of energy, spikes of color in all the spectrums of the light. I could see the cracks, thousands upon thousands of them, perhaps even a million across a scarred and frightened world.
A few cracks were familiar, and I drifted along the currents of the Dream Realm, following after them. The Earth below me changed, and my eyebrows furrowed in realization.
This was his Earth, I could hear the songs of a million Gems, the rumbling cacophony of eight billion organic lives. I looked up at the Moon and saw great cities of crystal and light, spire across a grid of a terraformed natural satellite, Luna under azure skies.
I could talk with him here, in this Dream Realm shared by all living things, by humans, by Gems, and by countless other beings. What was out there?
I veered away from Earth, and I spun in the emptiness of space, the stars melting into beacons of light. Images came to me, memories, anchors, places that could exist but probably didn't.
The stars melted away and I was suddenly shooting across a vast star system, hundreds of light years from Earth if not thousands. Twenty one worlds orbited around a bright white star, so many of them bearing life of one stripe or another, a calculated dance of gravity and mass shifting keeping them from falling apart.
I drifted towards one world, and I let out a strangled scream as I slammed into a planet, a verdant world covered in red vegetation and with striking cerise and azure seas. I fell into the mindscape of the planet, sliding between a hundred million dreams, essence sparking with gold and amber.
I walked on cracked desert soil, and looked up at a series of towers and round cylindrical buildings topped by domes of stained glass. A desert palace sparkling with the unreal aura of dreams and nightmares both.
I stepped back, where two figures collided, both burning inside and out with ultraviolet fire, energy and power given form and purpose. Two golden tanned beings moving with grace and martial strength.
I caught the shine of black and red hair, flaring with fire and heat, and fists lighting with violet and green energy respectively. There were screams, raw in their emotion, rage and betrayal, jealousy and hatred burning against my mind.
"You can't win sister! " The raven haired alien screamed, and I understood her perfectly. Because I was a Gem, because I was a Diamond. "The Citadel will be here soon, it's time for you to…end!" Both were woman, female, almost human, and yet there were subtle differences.
They drifted and hopped on long digitigrade legs, golden glittering skin exposed to the sun. Their skin was covered in faint patterns, small spots and long weaving stripes. Glowing emerald eyes radiated with power, in a nightmare memory, a battle between sisters.
Between royal kin.
There was a scream in the air, a shift in the wind, a burst of enormous power. Both sisters stopped, and the raven haired sister paused, an elongated ear twitching and swiveling, an earpiece visible in the scene.
"What…where is the armada, I've given you the plans, now carry them out—" The earpiece releases a piercing scream and the traitorous sister rips it away from a now bleeding ear. There was something in the sky, a rippling in reality, across the light of a distant world.
I scrambled back, and the vision focused away from the scene and onto a world surrounded by a great defenses, orbital rings carrying fortresses, vessels of gleaming silver and shadowy titanium in the thousands, emplacements spitting nuclear fire and tendrils of dark energies against an unseen foe.
Something emerges from the abyss, and I saw something vast. It wasn't big in the way trees or even the mountains were, it cast a shadow on the planet itself, black crystalline flesh obscured under optical distortions as light itself was warped around the vast thing, like a worm, like a whale, like a divine serpent casting down judgment.
It turned and ten thousand cannons blasted with a force to sunder a continent, flesh burned away, pieces the size of islands broken and shattered and melted. It was larger than the moon, the serpentine thing wrapping around the world in panic and terror.
Guns fired, ships the length of towns were sundered, asteroid fields were scattered and stellar beasts died. In a single battle, an empire was broken, armies ruined, weapons exhausted, rings twenty thousand kilometers long breaking into a million pieces. The panicked Wyrm died in terror and confusion, it's flesh falling into the yellow-white star, a moon sized dragon slain.
I retracted back to the planet I had seen first, falling down onto my knees. One of the golden skinned humanoids remained, The one dreaming this terrible Dream.
She was taller than Blood Pigeon Ruby, her glimmering skin a burnt orange hue with lighter patterns, spots along her legs, whirling stripes on her bare stomach and arms. She had a face of classical beauty with a touch of the alien, just a tad longer than normal, eyes like a cat's with an emerald glow. Her legs were shapely, and she stood on the balls of her feet, built more for sprinting than any human should be. Her hair was a shade of red deeper than humanly possible, and she wore only a purple skirt and top, arms crossed over her bust, a single clawed index finger tapping against them.
"S-Sorry." She shrugged, and with a gentle tap on my nose sent me out of her dream, flying into the void.
I flew faster than light, outpacing the laws of physics. I flew away from that star system which had known so much loss and pain, and towards another star, towards another world. It was a large dark planet, tidally locked to its parent star, with a narrow terminus where life could survive.
I looked at the dark side of the planet, and there was a sensation like I was being watched, like fingers were crawling along my skin. I dropped down like a rock, and crashed into another dream, one that was deeper and larger than most.
I found myself in a hot spring, steam rising from golden waters lapping against dark stone. Strange leaves and branches hung overhead, blending into the soft gold-cerise light of the room. I looked around at the ornate architecture, like something out of a fairy tale, pillars holding up the dark stone.
I was sitting on a metal bench and felt oddly rejuvenated, like all the energy I spent projecting my mind across space and time was being recovered second by second. There was another presence, someone humming a tune, plucking at the strings of the Dream.
I stepped off the bench, and the world shifted around me, leaving me in front of a statue of a massive moth, carved in stone and lined with white gold. There was a whisper, of something dead, forgotten, consumed.
The light went out, and I shrunk in on myself, trying to project a bubble even though I was astral projecting. It failed, and the shrine was consumed by shadows, countless white orbs emerging from the shadows. My Aura pushed the darkness back, and I swallowed nervously.
Where the hell had I gone?
Something large emerged from the shadows, a figure with eight eyes and two sets of branching horns, four arms and countless tendrils moving back and forth, like a living glitch made of void and shadows and darkness.
I felt cold, and the shadows retracted at the bidding of the fifty foot tall lord of darkness, and it didn't speak in direct words, nor in the lyrical quality of Gemsong.
Think.
Feel.
Live.
My anxieties retreated at the passiveness of the entity, even as it's voice felt like a chorus of madness, void made manifest, potential and primordial energy warping around me.
"I…what are you?"
Void. Regrets. Shadow. I flinched, as the shadows parted for thousands, maybe millions of specters, countless regrets gathered within this void within a dream. The being chuffed, and I blinked as it poked me with a clawed hand, reflecting thoughts and feelings back at me.
Light Of Life. It gestured to myself, to my form, eight eyes crinkling while it's body shifted with a chittering crack. It gestured and images emerged in the black.
I saw a radiant figure, white light shining like a star, the face of a Diamond.
Light Of Mind.
Yellow followed.
Light Of Body.
Blue rose from the void, clouds of light azure vaporizing in the dream realm.
Light Of Will.
Is…is that what this being, this Void Given Focus calls the Diamonds, so I'm the Light Of Life then?
The entity shook its head, gesturing that I was similar but there were small disparities, clicks of tonal chitters translated by my Diamond brain into something barely coherent.
"Could I leave? I'm feeling a little lost." I asked and it responded, a massive blade made of golden light folding the Dream Realm with pure power. I was launched from this strange place between worlds, and flew.
I was back on Earth, his Earth and I slipped through the cracks without meaning to. I spun, and collided with dull and muted dreams, the disparate processes of something enormous in scope and scale. I walked along crystalline circuitry sparking with energies, thousands of red crystals melded together into a single unit.
I drifted among the dregs of thoughts and dreams and impressions of something as large as a planet, a labyrinthine machine, broadcasting, intuiting, connecting, draining, activating, drawing upon. It was the pedestal, the church, the false idol, made to draw upon the powers of others of its kind. It connected to ten thousand lesser pieces, broken in body and spirit, in a broken network. It drew upon the sleeping desires of its host, creating truly grand and worth—
I was ripped away from the mind of the beast, a claw curling to pull me by my collar. My eyes were wide when I looked back at Diamond pupils that weren't my own.
Aster Diamond smiled.
It's time for you to wake up…
I let out a scream as I woke up from that tangle of dreams, gripping onto my pillow for comfort I breathed, in and out and named items in the room to further delay my panic and anxiety.
I had been subconsciously using my astral projection, and had entered the dreams of several entities. The first was humanoid, almost too human even and yet there were subtle differences, enough to unnerve a person. It was a flashback, a distorted nightmare, and I noted the imagery of a vast shard of an Entity. The second world was one of darkness, the home of something huge and powerful.
Then I had slid into the assorted thoughts of a shard, and was pulled out of the madness by Steven. My astral projection had sent me across space and time, and he had saved me. I laid back down on my bed with a groan.
I'm not going to sleep much tonight am I?
Diffraction 2.7
- Location
- Chula Vista
Diffraction 2.7
I rubbed my eyes, yawning as steam rose from the room, wicking away my sweat, gleaming with the pearlescent aura of Diamond's Fire. I was wearing only shorts, and when I brushed my fingers through my very light beard they came away with light red ichor. A stream of water followed, wicking away the liquid essence as it fell down the drain of the miniature Extraction Chamber.
There was a short chirping alarm, and the extraction process ceased after draining some fourteen liters of ichor. Thankfully I had learned that the amount of ichor I produced wasn't directly related to how much water I had in my body. Else I'd be shit out of luck on producing enough ichor for Gems.
Though a single person scaled up to the size of a Diamond might produce more than enough. A single person could produce a maximum of ourteen liters of sweat a day, and a Diamond might be six hundred times greater in volume.
Which…should be enough to create billions of Gems every year, and was probably a bare minimum.
I summoned my shirt, and rolled my shoulders, getting a satisfying crack. I patted it and it changed color according to my will. It went from light pink to a crimson red, and I stepped out of the chamber. From what I knew the chamber was a prototype for a Lapidary, one of the many recreational and Gem processing facilities found on every colony in the Gem Empire.
I walked out barefoot before slipping into slippers, again brought out from my Gem. I could see the tubes running, flexible transparent pipes pumping ichor towards containers as well as a Spectrum Analyzer for Labradorite, or more specifically Magnetite Inclusion Labradorite Facet-22Z Cabochon-378.
The Labradorites had a specific role in the Empire, as sorcerers sent to collect the essence of the Diamond's to prepare for the creation of new Gems. They were also magical researchers and tinkers, and responsible for a number of enchanted and mystical artifacts.
Things like Replicator Wands, Warp Whistles, and Fire Salt were creations of Labradorites in projects of their own design or in tandem with other intellectual Gems. Labradorites were dangerous and unpredictable due to their duties in handling Diamond's ichor. They could create or enchant or invoke any number of spells and reality shift techniques.
They had abilities inherent to themselves of course, teleportation was a common one though not all of them had the power. While the caste system was obsolete, Gems would always retain certain aspects of their nature as programmed beings. Even the new programming of Era 3 Gems could only change so much.
The difference was that they could choose their own path, and that they had room to do more than their purpose. To be more than their purpose.
That became obvious when I saw Fuschia was elbows deep into a large machine, with Olly doing the same, and pointing out things with a mutter. She was crouching, sticking out her tongue and welding together components with a precise hand.
Gems had much better kinesthetic control than humans, and it helped them a lot with the creation of technology.
"I didn't know you liked to build and tinker yourself." Fuschia looked back, wiping away dark fluids with a light smile.
She shrugged, sweetly greeting me. "It's a hobby, and we're constructing a warp core." She preempted my question, eyes crinkling in amusement.
"Hmm…those are faster than light drives aren't they?" It was what they used to bend reality to their will.
"Warp cores have multiple uses beyond transluminal travel."
True. Their gravimetric field displacement manifolds were used in general propulsion along with secondary thrusters. They operated at sublight speed, and were divided up into several redundant sections for different 'gears' of travel. Complex equations and invocations of reality shift drove the field towards different shapes as needed for FTL travel.
Other sections were dedicated to gravity control, with a backup system built into the floor plating of the ship. The warp core, and the tesseract coils within them were placed in front of the engines, energy projected to warp reality.
These warp cores were powerful machines, capable of sending a ship flying at thousands of times the speed of light at their slowest.
"Is…is it a good idea to build a reality warping engine on an inhabited planet?"
"We're only assembling some of the tesseract coils, and we're missing the Crystal Heart to power it. At best we'll have limited gravity control along with inertial dampening."
"Neat." I commented and Fuschia giggled softly.
"I believe you wanted to look at the Computation Orb?" She answered.
"Is this your way of kicking me out?" I teased and a hot blush spread across her face.
"I…sorry, I didn't mean it like that!" She apologized, raising her hands up. I chuckled, and she huffed.
"No it's fine, I really should have been taking a look at that myself. We can talk more later." I smiled, and Fuschia smiled back, her song turning sweet and warm.
I moved quickly, opening the door to my section of the pocket reality inside the Home Pyramid. Which was closer in design to Era 3 spatial expansion rooms than the old Gem-linked dimensions of Era 1. A lot of Gem-linked magic tech could probe very finicky. The rooms were all in one reality and divided up by physical space, rather than separate dimensions with thin barriers between them.
It prevented the scenarios of, say, Sardonyx's whole fusion dimensions collapsing on top of you.
One door led right to the Thinking Chamber, a cave lined with cerise and amber crystal, like the inside of a geode. The Computation Orb was a complicated device and there were several holographic consoles, projecting data and information I didn't quite understand at my current level of education.
For now…
The Geode was split in two, and I placed my hand on a hand-shaped interface activating the device. I came here to check something rather important. The two halves slid together, and the sphere became translucent, the air shimmering around it.
I coughed. "Computer. How many intelligent species have been documented by the Gem Empire?" The sphere pulsed with mechanical song.
"3600 species have been documented and studied by Gemkind, across ten galaxies." It spoke freely, dancing along my throat, a shifting chorus. I focused my mind then, and broadcasted my memory into the machine.
"What species is this?" That woman was a curious thing.
"Species 26," It formed a generic image of the golden skinned humanoid, stripped of clothing until I commanded otherwise with a flushed face. "A resilient and heavily carnivorous humanoid species from the Lyrae star system, 2600 light years from Earth. Species 26 has a warrior culture." The sphere expanded, becoming wispy and forming a model of twenty one worlds, and a massive asteroid field acting as a line between the star and it's planets.
That…that wasn't natural at all.
Readings came in from one of the holographic screens at hand, esoteric data organized along lines compatible with Gem instinct and mentality. I blinked at the basic outlines and summaries.
Species 26 was a TNA-based species of life with a six letter genetic code, using base pairs natural to Earth. Turns out they're among the most stable base pairs out of a million possible combinations.
There were maybe a hundredth of a percent of the possible nucleobases that were stable and useful for life without excessive mutation and decay. So things like Adenine and Uracil, Cytosine and Guanine weren't uncommon, and for this tree of life, they were also paired with Xanthine and Diaminopyrimidine. Not as stable but stable enough.
Their genetic code was complex and labyrinthine, and capable of creating a wide selection of enzymes and molecular machines. Many of those enzymes and biological machines focused on bonds between silicon and carbon, and made Species 26…very alien. They were living organisms, living lattices of silicate and carbon, feeding off of ultraviolet radiation to power alien processes.
Their skin was a supple composite of crystalline carbon, silicon and flesh, with the flexibility of skin and the hardness of diamond, of graphene and silicon carbide. Sparkling very dimly in the right circumstances.
Bones were reinforced, tough enough to shrug off blows that would cripple humans and even stagger Gems. Muscles were the same way, silicone and laced organic carbon fiber muscles fed by nutrient slurry with suitable oxidants. Their nerves were a complex organic network of carbon-silicon nerves connected to the armored sensitive skin.
They were a strange mix between organic and silicon, cells protected by crystal lattices, and focusing ultraviolet radiation as a catalyst for as of yet undocumented processes.
I think it was called the Photonucleic effect, but I wasn't too sure.
But what I did know said a lot about them, they absorbed electromagnetic energies and gained control over strange, possible magical powers. They could fly, uniting electromagnetic and gravitational forces, their already tough bodies were reinforced by energy fields, and they could release blasts of heat and plasma, and even fly into space. That ignored things like their alien internal organs, their altered psychological profiles and their almost but not quite human appearance.
This Species 26 was tough, as strong as a Quartz on average and as strong as some fusions on the high end. And from what I could, their powers were a relatively recent phenomena, emerging in the last tens of thousands of years.
Because if they could fly without propulsion why would they need legs?
I scowled, shaking my head. "What about the species associated with…" I imagined that Void…that darkness from which all things are borne from, and from which everything will return to it.
"Species 52. A species similar to sapient insects in appearance, their malleable genetics allow for substantial biological differences between races." I blinked when it demonstrated some small bipedal beetles, wearing either flat masks…or it was just their face, to massive spider-like creatures. "All Species 52 individuals have access to a hitherto unknown energy, used to empower their bodies and to create effects in reality. "
So…magic?
"What species are closely associated with the Gem Empire?" The Computational Orb responded with a chime.
"Species 2, 4, 7, 12, 14, 26, 27, 28, 46, 52 all have varying ties with the Gem Empire." It went through species quickly, a few were humanoid while others were more alien. Some were superhuman, while others were close to a human baseline.
I narrowed my eyes. "I've been told about threats to the Empire before Era 1, like the Maszyna. Are there other examples?"
"Yes. The Gem Empire has encountered a number of threats, with the first known as the Apoquiae Maszyna." The sphere depicted massive lumbering vessels, hundreds of kilometers long, with a swarm of billions of drones around the mothership. Kites of light flitted between the swarms, and it shifted to a ground battle, strange Gems, oddly tall Rubies and lumbering Gems of stone-like disposition battling golems of metal and plastic, single-eyed optics and bipedal forms clicking and shrieking in unison with ten thousand of their even more alien brethren.
"Umm…"
"Rampant sub-sapient machines, they colonized thousands of worlds and discovered the Gem Empire, attacking the six moons of Homeworld with a vast fleet of butchering mechanisms."
"Oh." Well that was horrifying.
"The second were called Star Echidnas." A massive starfish-like being, purple and blue in color, and it was planetary in scale, swarmed by billions of smaller copies. "The Echidna War lasted a thousand years, destroying five hundred colonies and resulting in the extermination of the Star Echidna's hive mind. The Empire found the remains of countless dead worlds destroyed by the Star Echidnas, reducing the resources of their native galaxy."
It put up a timeline, the Maszyna War was one hundred twenty thousand year ago, the Star Echidna eighty thousand years ago and a handful of other wars against strange alien life.
And none of it was sophont, either they were an interstellar Machine Army, galactic parasites or mutant organic beasts of various stripes and powers. Organic life in Homeworld's galaxy was heavily mutated by magic, and what wasn't organic was incredibly alien and aggressive.
There had even been a species of sentient metals, metallic golems animated by magic but lacking the sapience of Gems. They lived within interstellar asteroids and planetoids, voracious living threads of living metal raining down on unsuspecting colonies.
These Metal Threads came in many forms, from Irons to Coppers to even Bismuths, though they weren't crystallized into gemstones. They were destroyed and became the inspiration for certain Gem types like Cuprites and what would become Bismuths.
There was a reason they had soldiers, even if it was mostly against supernatural animals and abominations along with robotic armies. But humans had been the first true intelligent life they had ever encountered, and they didn't discover more until Era 3 started.
Something to do with the denizens of the galaxy wanting nothing to do with world destroyers. Though not every species coming out of the woodworks had been…so nice and friendly.
Species 4 had been secretly invading Earth, along with a series of other worlds out of misguided bigotry and a wrathful tantrum due to the slow extinction of their species due to inbreeding and poorly managed eugenics programs. That had been about eleven years ago from the looks of it.
There were hundreds of species I needed to read up on, and I had some free time so…there was…
Thump.
…
I'll visit this place soon enough, I'll check out that noise first.
Of the remaining two Gems, it ended up being Ammolite who I saw first. She was a colorful Gem, and stood about half a head taller than Ambz, around six feet or so.
I blinked, inspecting the Gem.
She had blush pink skin, and had a heavier frame than Amber or Labradorite, a bit like a skinnier Rose Quartz. She had fluffy crimson red hair with hints of pink and orange, and she wore an artistic red, orange, and black leotard exposing her upper thighs, with the rest of her leg covered in large red limb-enhancer esque boots. She swayed her hips as she walked, lips pulled up into a small grin as she conversed with Olly.
Her gemstone was on the back of her left hand, a cabochon stone of glimmering red, with streaks of pink and orange among it's spectrum. She turned, as if expecting me.
"Oh hello?" She waved shyly. "You must be…Sunrise Diamond right?" She sounded a bit like swaying grass in the wind, nature turned into music. Her pitch was modest, and pleasant.
I grinned, still not accustomed to being greeted so often. "Were you looking for me?"
"Oh no. I was just coming back from examining the Nursery, and advising Olly on what the best Gems to grow." She perked up, eyes lighting. "Based on the life I sense, we can safely extract one hundred and sixty Gems from the pegmatite Nursery."
"That's a fair number, any guess at the expected ratio?" I grew curious, what else could Ammolite tell me?
"Eighty one Feldspars, forty five Quartz, twenty one Micas, six Tourmalines, and seven other Gems." She answered with pep.
"So Anglesites, Titanites, Garnets and perhaps a Beryl?" It wasn't so much an educated guess anymore. I had been learning a lot about Gem production myself, one because well…I'm a Diamond and two it's just neat.
"That's about right." Ammolite shrugged her shoulders, her song twisting a little. "We should be able to start incubating Gems in…three to seven days, depending on a few factors."
"How long does it take for Gems to uhh…form?" Ammolite rubbed her chin, humming.
"I'll give it about a week for the Gem itself, and another one to two weeks to finalize their programming." I leaned forward, surprised.
"I thought it'd take longer, Gems seem like they'd grow more like trees than like bamboo."
"Nope. Growing Gems can be a rather quick process when needed," Ammolite explained. "But it requires much more active supervision of the mineral and life energy conditions. Slow growth exchanges speed for a greater margin of error, more time to monitor conditions as needed."
Huh…interesting. So they could grow Gems really fast but need more monitoring, or they could have growth periods of years to decades or even centuries depending on the Gem.
I opened my mouth to respond, and picked up on her despondent tone. "But we aren't going to grow many Gems from this rock are we?"
"It was a good idea when we had no idea of the state of this Earth, but…" It likely wasn't the best plan to absorb the life energy of a planet with people who might retaliate violently. "A bit disappointing really."
"Couldn't we still make a few Gems? A small handful to get ourselves prepared for Mars?" I suggested, and Ammolite's expression became more pensive.
"We're strictly limited to one Gem, any more will result in too much damage to be easily hidden. If you're wanting something experimental, we'll need your processing power to assist us in the design."
"I don't mind, though I might need some assistance on that front. I'm not exactly an experienced Diamond."
"Do you have any Gems in mind?" Ammolite asked, with a hand on her hip.
"Rose Quartz. I'm interested in them, and they seem like an easy enough Gem to extract from the planet." Earth was a quartz-rich planet, and that made them one of the easier Gems to mine from the planet.
"Well you'll have to find out what you want for your Rose Quartzes, we've never made Gems with five ichors before."
She passed a kiss sparking with friend-vein-Gem-happy-to-meet-you. An electric warmth I had been exposed to several times whenever some of the Gems approached me. Apparently they looked at me and thought baby. It was incredibly embarrassing, like having your mom hovering over you.
But also really comforting, and it wasn't like they didn't take me seriously. They were just weird and that was okay. I flexed the fangs in my mouth, pulling out a bar of chocolate and cutting apart the wrapping.
"You're the girl right?" I munched away at the chocolate bar, noting Rachel's voice when I saw the teenager. She was wearing an offered tank top, and long brown work pants.
"I was and am a guy," I admitted, not caring much about whether she knew, I still looked different in my base male form than what I looked like on my Earth. "I just like using my shapeshifting, it's fun." I breathed, and my hands became paws with long tiger claws harder than iron. I shifted back as easy as breathing.
"I'll take the deal." She stared intently, her blunt face pulled into a glower. "None of you have fucked with me or my dogs. And most of you are tough enough to stop my dogs, even you." There was disdain there, and I didn't completely blame her.
I was no warrior, I was a mess. But I wanted to get better, and I would. And if there was one thing I did feel, it was an urge to protect , to help what was mine. My Gems, they were mine, precious, to be cherished and respected. The instincts of a Diamond were primal, like the greed of a Dragon. Some part of me just wasn't built like a human anymore.
I didn't mind, I always knew it was going to be weird and alien to become part Gem, part Diamond.
"Still learning. But why the sudden trust? You don't seem the type." I was blunt, there was no reason to beat around the bush.
She didn't answer, her gaze shifting to belly button Ruby, to Frills. She was playing tug of war with Brutus, mouth gripping onto a rope. Brutus won, and Frills let out a happy bark of song, complementing the dog for his victory.
"Fair enough." We spent a few minutes in silence, as her two dogs scampered about. I was a bit of a blabbermouth, but awkward enough with new people so I didn't end up annoying her much.
…
I wonder if I was secretly some type of parahuman magnet? Getting two in the span of a few weeks is a little odd isn't it?
Oh well.
I worked on constructing something I had seen Olly working on, based on Anglesite powers and something stolen from Shards they had dismantled. I delicately adjusted power cabling with tweezers, assembling the grown crystal elements.
I could sense the shape of the deadly spells within, the way magical energy was shaped to alter particles and waves alike. A micro-waldo system operated in tandem with the motions demanded of my mind, code rolling past my vision. I spent minutes on the device, my eyesight sharpening to focus on the smallest possible objects.
The finished device was a gun-shaped object, colored a bright red with black highlights. With a click of my tongue and a flick of my finger, the object fired a beam of golden light. The air seemed to cool, and when I threw a ball through the field it slowed, stilled. This was a much smaller device than the scaffolding of whatever weapon Olly was building.
The little workshop I had built into my section of the Home Temple was full of a few objects and tech I had made. A console sized Composer served better for creating and growing Gemtronics. I had figured out how to build my own robots, growing a Gemtronic processing node, and later assembling a sphere to house the electronics.
I had also recreated a Gem object known as Permafrost Glass, the cubes remaining consistently at negative forty degrees no matter how much heat is poured into it. A blatant violation of the second law of thermodynamics, and a rather interesting enchanted item.
It wasn't hard to manipulate magic, though I couldn't just perform any kind. It didn't work like that…though if I used human techniques I might be able to manage. All my powers as a Pink Diamond were magic, programmed into me from birth, from when…from when…
I remember the star that made me, I remember the screams of a hundred billion shards as I ate them alive and they burn under my skin even now.
I stumbled, swallowing spit as the hazy memory crashed into my brain with an unkind tenacity. My fingers curled into a workbench, claws scraping metal. It was there at the start, the booting up of the first iteration of…of me. It was a hazy thing, like the earliest childhood memory.
It was absolute energy and power, shards flaring like stars, and the flare of an actual star sacrificed upon the altar of an eldritch alien mother-god. It was a nightmarish landscape of void and light and song, and I shuddered.
There was a reason it was impossible to poof a Diamond without a weapon like Rose's Sword, and even that had been her faking it. Much less shattering one, which was about as likely as one-shotting Behemoth without Sting or Stilling.
I shook my head, now wasn't the time to be doing this kind of stuff. You had better things to do.
I grabbed a thin flexible strip, grabbing another pair of tweezers, and tweaking the internals of the circlet. My own take on an invention of Rose Quartz during the war to help human combatants. A Circlet of Luck. Magic was heavily conceptual, responding to will and affected in part by belief. Even the magitech of Gems was no different.
I was a being of magic, I was made of it, borne from it, molded by the light, shining in the void. A being of flesh ascended to a new state of existence.
There was a lot of work to do, magic to learn, shards to defy, and gods and monsters to slay. But I would start small, and I would learn and I would grow.
My song quivered, following the possibilities.
I rubbed my eyes, yawning as steam rose from the room, wicking away my sweat, gleaming with the pearlescent aura of Diamond's Fire. I was wearing only shorts, and when I brushed my fingers through my very light beard they came away with light red ichor. A stream of water followed, wicking away the liquid essence as it fell down the drain of the miniature Extraction Chamber.
There was a short chirping alarm, and the extraction process ceased after draining some fourteen liters of ichor. Thankfully I had learned that the amount of ichor I produced wasn't directly related to how much water I had in my body. Else I'd be shit out of luck on producing enough ichor for Gems.
Though a single person scaled up to the size of a Diamond might produce more than enough. A single person could produce a maximum of ourteen liters of sweat a day, and a Diamond might be six hundred times greater in volume.
Which…should be enough to create billions of Gems every year, and was probably a bare minimum.
I summoned my shirt, and rolled my shoulders, getting a satisfying crack. I patted it and it changed color according to my will. It went from light pink to a crimson red, and I stepped out of the chamber. From what I knew the chamber was a prototype for a Lapidary, one of the many recreational and Gem processing facilities found on every colony in the Gem Empire.
I walked out barefoot before slipping into slippers, again brought out from my Gem. I could see the tubes running, flexible transparent pipes pumping ichor towards containers as well as a Spectrum Analyzer for Labradorite, or more specifically Magnetite Inclusion Labradorite Facet-22Z Cabochon-378.
The Labradorites had a specific role in the Empire, as sorcerers sent to collect the essence of the Diamond's to prepare for the creation of new Gems. They were also magical researchers and tinkers, and responsible for a number of enchanted and mystical artifacts.
Things like Replicator Wands, Warp Whistles, and Fire Salt were creations of Labradorites in projects of their own design or in tandem with other intellectual Gems. Labradorites were dangerous and unpredictable due to their duties in handling Diamond's ichor. They could create or enchant or invoke any number of spells and reality shift techniques.
They had abilities inherent to themselves of course, teleportation was a common one though not all of them had the power. While the caste system was obsolete, Gems would always retain certain aspects of their nature as programmed beings. Even the new programming of Era 3 Gems could only change so much.
The difference was that they could choose their own path, and that they had room to do more than their purpose. To be more than their purpose.
That became obvious when I saw Fuschia was elbows deep into a large machine, with Olly doing the same, and pointing out things with a mutter. She was crouching, sticking out her tongue and welding together components with a precise hand.
Gems had much better kinesthetic control than humans, and it helped them a lot with the creation of technology.
"I didn't know you liked to build and tinker yourself." Fuschia looked back, wiping away dark fluids with a light smile.
She shrugged, sweetly greeting me. "It's a hobby, and we're constructing a warp core." She preempted my question, eyes crinkling in amusement.
"Hmm…those are faster than light drives aren't they?" It was what they used to bend reality to their will.
"Warp cores have multiple uses beyond transluminal travel."
True. Their gravimetric field displacement manifolds were used in general propulsion along with secondary thrusters. They operated at sublight speed, and were divided up into several redundant sections for different 'gears' of travel. Complex equations and invocations of reality shift drove the field towards different shapes as needed for FTL travel.
Other sections were dedicated to gravity control, with a backup system built into the floor plating of the ship. The warp core, and the tesseract coils within them were placed in front of the engines, energy projected to warp reality.
These warp cores were powerful machines, capable of sending a ship flying at thousands of times the speed of light at their slowest.
"Is…is it a good idea to build a reality warping engine on an inhabited planet?"
"We're only assembling some of the tesseract coils, and we're missing the Crystal Heart to power it. At best we'll have limited gravity control along with inertial dampening."
"Neat." I commented and Fuschia giggled softly.
"I believe you wanted to look at the Computation Orb?" She answered.
"Is this your way of kicking me out?" I teased and a hot blush spread across her face.
"I…sorry, I didn't mean it like that!" She apologized, raising her hands up. I chuckled, and she huffed.
"No it's fine, I really should have been taking a look at that myself. We can talk more later." I smiled, and Fuschia smiled back, her song turning sweet and warm.
I moved quickly, opening the door to my section of the pocket reality inside the Home Pyramid. Which was closer in design to Era 3 spatial expansion rooms than the old Gem-linked dimensions of Era 1. A lot of Gem-linked magic tech could probe very finicky. The rooms were all in one reality and divided up by physical space, rather than separate dimensions with thin barriers between them.
It prevented the scenarios of, say, Sardonyx's whole fusion dimensions collapsing on top of you.
One door led right to the Thinking Chamber, a cave lined with cerise and amber crystal, like the inside of a geode. The Computation Orb was a complicated device and there were several holographic consoles, projecting data and information I didn't quite understand at my current level of education.
For now…
The Geode was split in two, and I placed my hand on a hand-shaped interface activating the device. I came here to check something rather important. The two halves slid together, and the sphere became translucent, the air shimmering around it.
I coughed. "Computer. How many intelligent species have been documented by the Gem Empire?" The sphere pulsed with mechanical song.
"3600 species have been documented and studied by Gemkind, across ten galaxies." It spoke freely, dancing along my throat, a shifting chorus. I focused my mind then, and broadcasted my memory into the machine.
"What species is this?" That woman was a curious thing.
"Species 26," It formed a generic image of the golden skinned humanoid, stripped of clothing until I commanded otherwise with a flushed face. "A resilient and heavily carnivorous humanoid species from the Lyrae star system, 2600 light years from Earth. Species 26 has a warrior culture." The sphere expanded, becoming wispy and forming a model of twenty one worlds, and a massive asteroid field acting as a line between the star and it's planets.
That…that wasn't natural at all.
Readings came in from one of the holographic screens at hand, esoteric data organized along lines compatible with Gem instinct and mentality. I blinked at the basic outlines and summaries.
Species 26 was a TNA-based species of life with a six letter genetic code, using base pairs natural to Earth. Turns out they're among the most stable base pairs out of a million possible combinations.
There were maybe a hundredth of a percent of the possible nucleobases that were stable and useful for life without excessive mutation and decay. So things like Adenine and Uracil, Cytosine and Guanine weren't uncommon, and for this tree of life, they were also paired with Xanthine and Diaminopyrimidine. Not as stable but stable enough.
Their genetic code was complex and labyrinthine, and capable of creating a wide selection of enzymes and molecular machines. Many of those enzymes and biological machines focused on bonds between silicon and carbon, and made Species 26…very alien. They were living organisms, living lattices of silicate and carbon, feeding off of ultraviolet radiation to power alien processes.
Their skin was a supple composite of crystalline carbon, silicon and flesh, with the flexibility of skin and the hardness of diamond, of graphene and silicon carbide. Sparkling very dimly in the right circumstances.
Bones were reinforced, tough enough to shrug off blows that would cripple humans and even stagger Gems. Muscles were the same way, silicone and laced organic carbon fiber muscles fed by nutrient slurry with suitable oxidants. Their nerves were a complex organic network of carbon-silicon nerves connected to the armored sensitive skin.
They were a strange mix between organic and silicon, cells protected by crystal lattices, and focusing ultraviolet radiation as a catalyst for as of yet undocumented processes.
I think it was called the Photonucleic effect, but I wasn't too sure.
But what I did know said a lot about them, they absorbed electromagnetic energies and gained control over strange, possible magical powers. They could fly, uniting electromagnetic and gravitational forces, their already tough bodies were reinforced by energy fields, and they could release blasts of heat and plasma, and even fly into space. That ignored things like their alien internal organs, their altered psychological profiles and their almost but not quite human appearance.
This Species 26 was tough, as strong as a Quartz on average and as strong as some fusions on the high end. And from what I could, their powers were a relatively recent phenomena, emerging in the last tens of thousands of years.
Because if they could fly without propulsion why would they need legs?
I scowled, shaking my head. "What about the species associated with…" I imagined that Void…that darkness from which all things are borne from, and from which everything will return to it.
"Species 52. A species similar to sapient insects in appearance, their malleable genetics allow for substantial biological differences between races." I blinked when it demonstrated some small bipedal beetles, wearing either flat masks…or it was just their face, to massive spider-like creatures. "All Species 52 individuals have access to a hitherto unknown energy, used to empower their bodies and to create effects in reality. "
So…magic?
"What species are closely associated with the Gem Empire?" The Computational Orb responded with a chime.
"Species 2, 4, 7, 12, 14, 26, 27, 28, 46, 52 all have varying ties with the Gem Empire." It went through species quickly, a few were humanoid while others were more alien. Some were superhuman, while others were close to a human baseline.
I narrowed my eyes. "I've been told about threats to the Empire before Era 1, like the Maszyna. Are there other examples?"
"Yes. The Gem Empire has encountered a number of threats, with the first known as the Apoquiae Maszyna." The sphere depicted massive lumbering vessels, hundreds of kilometers long, with a swarm of billions of drones around the mothership. Kites of light flitted between the swarms, and it shifted to a ground battle, strange Gems, oddly tall Rubies and lumbering Gems of stone-like disposition battling golems of metal and plastic, single-eyed optics and bipedal forms clicking and shrieking in unison with ten thousand of their even more alien brethren.
"Umm…"
"Rampant sub-sapient machines, they colonized thousands of worlds and discovered the Gem Empire, attacking the six moons of Homeworld with a vast fleet of butchering mechanisms."
"Oh." Well that was horrifying.
"The second were called Star Echidnas." A massive starfish-like being, purple and blue in color, and it was planetary in scale, swarmed by billions of smaller copies. "The Echidna War lasted a thousand years, destroying five hundred colonies and resulting in the extermination of the Star Echidna's hive mind. The Empire found the remains of countless dead worlds destroyed by the Star Echidnas, reducing the resources of their native galaxy."
It put up a timeline, the Maszyna War was one hundred twenty thousand year ago, the Star Echidna eighty thousand years ago and a handful of other wars against strange alien life.
And none of it was sophont, either they were an interstellar Machine Army, galactic parasites or mutant organic beasts of various stripes and powers. Organic life in Homeworld's galaxy was heavily mutated by magic, and what wasn't organic was incredibly alien and aggressive.
There had even been a species of sentient metals, metallic golems animated by magic but lacking the sapience of Gems. They lived within interstellar asteroids and planetoids, voracious living threads of living metal raining down on unsuspecting colonies.
These Metal Threads came in many forms, from Irons to Coppers to even Bismuths, though they weren't crystallized into gemstones. They were destroyed and became the inspiration for certain Gem types like Cuprites and what would become Bismuths.
There was a reason they had soldiers, even if it was mostly against supernatural animals and abominations along with robotic armies. But humans had been the first true intelligent life they had ever encountered, and they didn't discover more until Era 3 started.
Something to do with the denizens of the galaxy wanting nothing to do with world destroyers. Though not every species coming out of the woodworks had been…so nice and friendly.
Species 4 had been secretly invading Earth, along with a series of other worlds out of misguided bigotry and a wrathful tantrum due to the slow extinction of their species due to inbreeding and poorly managed eugenics programs. That had been about eleven years ago from the looks of it.
There were hundreds of species I needed to read up on, and I had some free time so…there was…
Thump.
…
I'll visit this place soon enough, I'll check out that noise first.
Of the remaining two Gems, it ended up being Ammolite who I saw first. She was a colorful Gem, and stood about half a head taller than Ambz, around six feet or so.
I blinked, inspecting the Gem.
She had blush pink skin, and had a heavier frame than Amber or Labradorite, a bit like a skinnier Rose Quartz. She had fluffy crimson red hair with hints of pink and orange, and she wore an artistic red, orange, and black leotard exposing her upper thighs, with the rest of her leg covered in large red limb-enhancer esque boots. She swayed her hips as she walked, lips pulled up into a small grin as she conversed with Olly.
Her gemstone was on the back of her left hand, a cabochon stone of glimmering red, with streaks of pink and orange among it's spectrum. She turned, as if expecting me.
"Oh hello?" She waved shyly. "You must be…Sunrise Diamond right?" She sounded a bit like swaying grass in the wind, nature turned into music. Her pitch was modest, and pleasant.
I grinned, still not accustomed to being greeted so often. "Were you looking for me?"
"Oh no. I was just coming back from examining the Nursery, and advising Olly on what the best Gems to grow." She perked up, eyes lighting. "Based on the life I sense, we can safely extract one hundred and sixty Gems from the pegmatite Nursery."
"That's a fair number, any guess at the expected ratio?" I grew curious, what else could Ammolite tell me?
"Eighty one Feldspars, forty five Quartz, twenty one Micas, six Tourmalines, and seven other Gems." She answered with pep.
"So Anglesites, Titanites, Garnets and perhaps a Beryl?" It wasn't so much an educated guess anymore. I had been learning a lot about Gem production myself, one because well…I'm a Diamond and two it's just neat.
"That's about right." Ammolite shrugged her shoulders, her song twisting a little. "We should be able to start incubating Gems in…three to seven days, depending on a few factors."
"How long does it take for Gems to uhh…form?" Ammolite rubbed her chin, humming.
"I'll give it about a week for the Gem itself, and another one to two weeks to finalize their programming." I leaned forward, surprised.
"I thought it'd take longer, Gems seem like they'd grow more like trees than like bamboo."
"Nope. Growing Gems can be a rather quick process when needed," Ammolite explained. "But it requires much more active supervision of the mineral and life energy conditions. Slow growth exchanges speed for a greater margin of error, more time to monitor conditions as needed."
Huh…interesting. So they could grow Gems really fast but need more monitoring, or they could have growth periods of years to decades or even centuries depending on the Gem.
I opened my mouth to respond, and picked up on her despondent tone. "But we aren't going to grow many Gems from this rock are we?"
"It was a good idea when we had no idea of the state of this Earth, but…" It likely wasn't the best plan to absorb the life energy of a planet with people who might retaliate violently. "A bit disappointing really."
"Couldn't we still make a few Gems? A small handful to get ourselves prepared for Mars?" I suggested, and Ammolite's expression became more pensive.
"We're strictly limited to one Gem, any more will result in too much damage to be easily hidden. If you're wanting something experimental, we'll need your processing power to assist us in the design."
"I don't mind, though I might need some assistance on that front. I'm not exactly an experienced Diamond."
"Do you have any Gems in mind?" Ammolite asked, with a hand on her hip.
"Rose Quartz. I'm interested in them, and they seem like an easy enough Gem to extract from the planet." Earth was a quartz-rich planet, and that made them one of the easier Gems to mine from the planet.
"Well you'll have to find out what you want for your Rose Quartzes, we've never made Gems with five ichors before."
She passed a kiss sparking with friend-vein-Gem-happy-to-meet-you. An electric warmth I had been exposed to several times whenever some of the Gems approached me. Apparently they looked at me and thought baby. It was incredibly embarrassing, like having your mom hovering over you.
But also really comforting, and it wasn't like they didn't take me seriously. They were just weird and that was okay. I flexed the fangs in my mouth, pulling out a bar of chocolate and cutting apart the wrapping.
"You're the girl right?" I munched away at the chocolate bar, noting Rachel's voice when I saw the teenager. She was wearing an offered tank top, and long brown work pants.
"I was and am a guy," I admitted, not caring much about whether she knew, I still looked different in my base male form than what I looked like on my Earth. "I just like using my shapeshifting, it's fun." I breathed, and my hands became paws with long tiger claws harder than iron. I shifted back as easy as breathing.
"I'll take the deal." She stared intently, her blunt face pulled into a glower. "None of you have fucked with me or my dogs. And most of you are tough enough to stop my dogs, even you." There was disdain there, and I didn't completely blame her.
I was no warrior, I was a mess. But I wanted to get better, and I would. And if there was one thing I did feel, it was an urge to protect , to help what was mine. My Gems, they were mine, precious, to be cherished and respected. The instincts of a Diamond were primal, like the greed of a Dragon. Some part of me just wasn't built like a human anymore.
I didn't mind, I always knew it was going to be weird and alien to become part Gem, part Diamond.
"Still learning. But why the sudden trust? You don't seem the type." I was blunt, there was no reason to beat around the bush.
She didn't answer, her gaze shifting to belly button Ruby, to Frills. She was playing tug of war with Brutus, mouth gripping onto a rope. Brutus won, and Frills let out a happy bark of song, complementing the dog for his victory.
"Fair enough." We spent a few minutes in silence, as her two dogs scampered about. I was a bit of a blabbermouth, but awkward enough with new people so I didn't end up annoying her much.
…
I wonder if I was secretly some type of parahuman magnet? Getting two in the span of a few weeks is a little odd isn't it?
Oh well.
I worked on constructing something I had seen Olly working on, based on Anglesite powers and something stolen from Shards they had dismantled. I delicately adjusted power cabling with tweezers, assembling the grown crystal elements.
I could sense the shape of the deadly spells within, the way magical energy was shaped to alter particles and waves alike. A micro-waldo system operated in tandem with the motions demanded of my mind, code rolling past my vision. I spent minutes on the device, my eyesight sharpening to focus on the smallest possible objects.
The finished device was a gun-shaped object, colored a bright red with black highlights. With a click of my tongue and a flick of my finger, the object fired a beam of golden light. The air seemed to cool, and when I threw a ball through the field it slowed, stilled. This was a much smaller device than the scaffolding of whatever weapon Olly was building.
The little workshop I had built into my section of the Home Temple was full of a few objects and tech I had made. A console sized Composer served better for creating and growing Gemtronics. I had figured out how to build my own robots, growing a Gemtronic processing node, and later assembling a sphere to house the electronics.
I had also recreated a Gem object known as Permafrost Glass, the cubes remaining consistently at negative forty degrees no matter how much heat is poured into it. A blatant violation of the second law of thermodynamics, and a rather interesting enchanted item.
It wasn't hard to manipulate magic, though I couldn't just perform any kind. It didn't work like that…though if I used human techniques I might be able to manage. All my powers as a Pink Diamond were magic, programmed into me from birth, from when…from when…
I stumbled, swallowing spit as the hazy memory crashed into my brain with an unkind tenacity. My fingers curled into a workbench, claws scraping metal. It was there at the start, the booting up of the first iteration of…of me. It was a hazy thing, like the earliest childhood memory.
It was absolute energy and power, shards flaring like stars, and the flare of an actual star sacrificed upon the altar of an eldritch alien mother-god. It was a nightmarish landscape of void and light and song, and I shuddered.
There was a reason it was impossible to poof a Diamond without a weapon like Rose's Sword, and even that had been her faking it. Much less shattering one, which was about as likely as one-shotting Behemoth without Sting or Stilling.
I shook my head, now wasn't the time to be doing this kind of stuff. You had better things to do.
I grabbed a thin flexible strip, grabbing another pair of tweezers, and tweaking the internals of the circlet. My own take on an invention of Rose Quartz during the war to help human combatants. A Circlet of Luck. Magic was heavily conceptual, responding to will and affected in part by belief. Even the magitech of Gems was no different.
I was a being of magic, I was made of it, borne from it, molded by the light, shining in the void. A being of flesh ascended to a new state of existence.
There was a lot of work to do, magic to learn, shards to defy, and gods and monsters to slay. But I would start small, and I would learn and I would grow.
My song quivered, following the possibilities.
Diffraction 2.a
- Location
- Chula Vista
Diffraction 2.a
Peridot Facet-25FL Trilliant-5XI or Olly as she liked to be called, released a smug sounding burst of Gemsong as hundreds of Robonoids expanded the membrane of the official start of her Diamond's first colony. It had been a simple plan from them, from him. While most Gems could operate in vacuum, her Diamond could not(yet) and the organic life they needed wasn't capable of it either. Spires were going to be placed out every few hundred meters, providing tensile strength to the thick membrane made of unique plasticine Chroma materials.
Legrandite had been helpful with her geokinesis, and her inherent ability to assess the land. Labradorite had a better idea of how to mix ichor than she did, the mage Gem infusing the essence of the Diamond's into rock. The mix of two Cerise ichors proved potent, with how she felt grass brushing against her touch stumps. About twenty square kilometers had been enclosed, and terraformed, and different minerals were being mined and concentrated.
Some of the bigger lumps of Gems had offered their strength to her, and she had them to thank for the progress made in the last several days. They had already started with the introduction of various plant species.
Mosses, lichens, liverworts, ammonia producing bacteria, and various species of fungus, their mycelium networks provided a sealing barrier beneath the ground. Pines were another interesting plant, their growth accelerated by pipes of life giving ichor and Ammolite's own powers. Soil was introduced from Earth, along with artificial soil made by hers truly.
Fuschia Sapphire had been helpful with her predictions, and had stopped quite a few industrial accidents. The settlement had officially been called Rocknest, apparently they had landed in the exact same spot as a probe known as Curiosity from her Diamond's home. The long term plan was to cover the entirety of Gale Crater, nearly twenty thousand square kilometers of dirt and soil and minerals to pop out Gems.
Of course extensively studying the geology of the planet was coming first, for the scientific curiosity of her Diamond if nothing else. Something about how the planet was once suitable for life over three billion years ago.
Former lakes like this crater were among the most suitable for Gem implantation and production, with a wider range of minerals. She had identified areas rich in Feldspar, Quartz, Opal, Pyroxenes, and Olivine.
Some minor tweaking could enable quite a few Gem types, from Albites to Spodumene.
"We really need more Gems," Olly muttered to herself. "I'm going to have to create a thermal hotspot beneath the crater to synthesize all the minerals we'll require." Granite was rare, and without plate tectonics there was a massive lack in what was needed.
She remembered the initial dossier she had been given of the twenty seven Gems including herself that would act as a vanguard force for colonization of Mars Bet.
It wasn't enough, they needed hundreds of Gems at least, if not thousands. Earth Bet had a lot more Paired than they had originally estimated and the damage to the project had thrown off the mission. Based on the discrete scans she had taken, there were between five hundred and nine hundred thousand active connections to shards.
There were maybe one to two hundred million shards total in the collective galaxies, with a grand total of ten thousand on the highest density planet. With many of them in varying conditions. Based on the scans she had received from members of the Pink Sunrise Project back home…there had to be far more shards infesting this section of the multiverse.
But unlike the more dangerous shards of the Black Wyrm, they were all relatively dormant operating in power saving mode to endure through a cycle. Less desperate and more complacent than the frightened and fearful things his shards had become. More alive than the broken things bursting to life in terror and rage.
She really wanted to take a nice nap, the relaxation and time to mentally calibrate. If there was one use for sleeping it was that, rebooting the software of a Gem's mind, smoothing out your programs and thoughts, troubleshooting any messes.
The other use was having weird dreams like vomiting puppies and kittens.
You can't judge me…what are you a cop?
Olly flushed, and went back to look at her analysis of Elle and her shard. She had constructed a modified dimensional scanner, a dark beryl-like crystal capable of looking across dimensional boundaries. She had gotten quite a lot of data from the shard in it's vulnerable state.
It was an incredibly powerful shard, one capable of layering realities on top of one another, carefully perturbing quantum layers to make it possible. This power was a-not-quite-a-portal ability, folding spacetime manifolds together. With Elle it brought forth fragments of other worlds partially into her dimension based on aspects of her emotions and memories.
At full power it could combine thousands of worlds together, if not millions. She suspected this shard finds all realities and brings aspects of them together to join shards in a single plane of reality. One such shard had been…destroyed back home, blown up by a widespread barrage of Shooting Stars.
Insidious little things, those Shooting Stars. Magic fire, pure entropic force gathered from dying stars and contained within icy shells of unstable magical matrices. They had been created during the Gem War, even a single palm sized device could blow up entire mountains.
They had used millions against the Earth, blown crater lakes and tore open tectonic rifts with a bombardment of magical weapons. Reshaped the coastlines with their power.
The prototype of the Storm Geode had ripped apart Africa with a synthetic storm the size of a dwarf planet, designed to scour the planet down to bedrock. It failed and the second prototype was…contained by the Crystal Gems. Wisps of it sank an island civilization, who became the progenitors of strange undersea peoples.
They had utilized a unique energy weapon to erase a fraction of the largest continent's mass, powered by one of the many hearts of a planet-sized mineralogical creature they had slain to study and harvest from it's mineral flesh.
It was a human who had the bright idea of using the second Storm Geode, using it's winds to hold aloft thousands of Shooting Stars along with a number of modified human bombs, nuclear energies unleashed against the shard.
That beast had been twice the mass of the Earth, and it had taken multiple asteroid strikes to drill their way to the central 'mind' of the shard before detonating the Storm Geode. This was followed up by charging the dead heart and turning it into a planet cracking mine.
Elle's shard was not that, it was a crippled thing, at some point it had collided with a dead shard and was critically damaged, ninety nine percent of its mass compromised and destroyed in the collision. It was larger than the average shard and had higher authority, but it was much easier to compromise and subvert.
And unlike a shard of the Destroyer, they had no context for magic, no protection against the precaution-weapons, no protections against the ancient and primal power of the Diamonds.
But that didn't mean this was going to be a cake walk, or was it a piece of cake, a walk in cake park?
Olly pinched the bridge of her nose. "That doesn't matter, what matters is importing all the matter we need for eventual global terraforming."
Hmm…maybe Venus would be viable? It has more than enough nitrogen, and importing minerals from the Asteroid Belt should be easy enough.
They really needed more Gems.
Olly shook her head, and lightly slapped her face. It was time to get back to work.
A man walked down the black walls with scattered circuits of green of a space station, idly gripping a badge in his hand with the universal galactic symbol of peace, a black and green face like that of an odd watch.
He stopped by a large display window, made of glass tough enough to block meteor strikes and behind an energy shield capable of withstanding nuclear bomb level energies. The Moon was hanging in the sky, the blue haze of the atmosphere generated and protected by the structures of Selene.
The Empire had been very industrious after the incidents with the Atasians some eleven years ago, and the political leaders of the Earth had managed to provide their own assistance and thus partial ownership of the terraformed Moon. Human technology has only grown since then, especially with the advances in Supernatural Physics from two scientists from Oregon.
Especially after one of them had become the forty-fifth president and was on their second and final term…
The man chuckled quietly at the thought, so much had changed since that one fateful summer with his cousin and grandpa. He had been there when his cousin studied the mystic arts for herself, and when she had helped with the terraforming of Mars and Venus.
As well as when humanity had claimed the moons of Jupiter, outside the aegis of His Radiance. With their technology, and from what they had pilfered from alien technologies both Gem and otherwise. In seventeen years he had seen his species go from a borderline Level 3 to Level 7, and he knew they had technology far in advance of that in smaller numbers.
It was how they had brute forced their way into the worlds the fragments of the Destroyer were hiding in, as humanity had a far better understanding of dimensional travel technology than Gems did…for a time anyway. They would catch up soon enough.
He adjusted his uniform with a soft grin, one which widened when he saw his cousin. She wore her black and blue spandex suit, and he nodded to himself at the thin flexible armor plating along her vital areas. Stone charms glowed with an eerie cerise light along her left arm, and the man heard the whisper under the current.
A little bit of luck, and a little bit of charm to guide fate your way. One whispered insistently, while another chimed happily. The anchor of life, the anchor of death.
A third thrummed with flame and brimstone and the everburning sun while the fourth screamed of mind over matter, control over the Physical.
The fifth murmured of thunder and lightning and the wrath of storms. The final charm was the one that bound them all together, the one to unite them in darkness and light, in death and life, the lifeforce, the multiplier, the keystone.
The man shuddered, he had gotten used to magical things but those Charms were another thing entirely. But he had seen worse, like one of the many arcane creations of the Kitakah and their many races. Now that was creepy as all hell.
"Gwen…how has Homeworld been treating you?" He asked sincerely, he had read the files and while it had been seventeen years since Era 2, seventeen years wasn't a lot for a five hundred thousand year old alien empire.
"I've got…way too many Gems flirting with me," The redhead's lips were curled into a light smile. "I guess they're rather impressed that a human can use magic the way I do." She shrugged, reveling in the inside joke shared between their family. Not many knew about her heritage. "I've studied how they make their Gravity Engines work, I think with enough time we can use our own magic to copy it."
The man sighed. "We already have the Hyperdrives Gwen."
"But they're a lot more finicky and prone to space-time shifting eddies and currents, plus we need to chart maps for them. They're also faster than our current drives." Gwen narrowed her eyes, making her cousin flinch.
"And how was your partner on the planet?" He asked, more curious than worried.
"Blue Cubic Zirconia Facet-BD Trilliant-84? She's right behind you." The brunette agent jumped when he felt eyes on him, reaching for the weapon on his hip before remembering himself.
The Gem partnered with his cousin was tall, a lithe and athletic form some eight and a half feet in height. She wore a blue robe, obscuring some of her figure under billowing fabric, with curling lines of gold and cerise like vines along her arms, with a gem flickering with cerulean light on her forehead. She had a blue face with high cheeks, plump lips curling into a smile at his reaction, teal eyes brimming with amusement. She brought down a hood, revealing curls of dark blue hair, curtaining behind her in waves.
He had met a number of Cubic Zirconias before, they were Supreme Sorcerers, shaman-philosophers who ruled over courts of Gems tasked with studying magic, with Labradorites and Taafites, and appointed Danburites. Most weren't as tall as this one, shorter by a whole foot.
"Hello there." Her Gemsong was warm, with the sound of wind chimes and the beating of skin drums backed by the crackling of fresh paper.
"Sup." He smirked at the alien almost-woman, and glanced back at his cousin. "Her Luminance wanted to talk with us, and said she had a few concerns." Gwen frowned, and in a moment whispered away reality, teleporting right to the Diamond herself.
The agent raised an eyebrow at the highest and most esteemed military leader of the Gem Empire. He had seen old pictures before Era 3, a towering titan of a woman, almost nine times as tall as a man, and with harsh shoulder pads. This was not that old picture of an Eternal and Glorious Empire.
She was tall, yes, a solid three feet taller than the Blue Zirconia partnered with his cousin. But she wasn't the gigantic matron he had seen from old images, when she had been a very different person.
"Agent Tennyson." The now named agent flinched, reeling at the orchestra of Gemsong bouncing against the walls. "How was your mission with one of my generals? I hope Hessonite wasn't too much trouble." The Diamond didn't specify which Hessonite, she didn't need to.
"The mission on Rann was a success, we succeeded in stopping the Detonation Event, and destroyed a Harvester shard." Yellow Diamond's song twisted, pleased with a reverberation against his heart.
"And have the Rannians changed their mind on their self-isolation from the galaxy?"
Agent Tennyson smirked. "You know it." The alien god Queen rolled her eyes. "When they saw this guy shooting a thousand foot tall Wyrm Titan in the face…they just had to change their mind."
"Ben…" Gwen hissed, and there was a rumbling chuckle of amusement from Yellow Diamond.
"I'm sure they were very impressed Plumber." There was an almost sarcastic bite to her song. "But the status of your mission isn't the only reason I've called the both of you here." The Diamond gestured to her console, and a holographic screen expanded massively. An image of a young man appeared on the screen, and Ben flinched at the shuttering pupils in the picture.
"Wait that's…"
"The newest Diamond of the Gem Empire," The Song of Penance confirmed. "He's one of Aster Diamond's projects, made possible by unknown circumstances even to him. I want you to investigate those circumstances, and to pass that data to the new Diamond."
"Because it affects him too?" Gwen added, pink energy crackling in her fists.
"Yes. I'm also passing you a dossier on Sunrise Diamond's current mission, and on a number of potential threats. They'll grow more detailed as we gain more information on them."
Agent Tennyson received the information to his Proto-Tool, and he opened up the screen with a light grin. It diminished when a number of threats were projected on screen.
A blue-green aquatic beast, hunchbacked and lithe, with an enormous whip tail. A mountain of black flesh and obsidian, a craggy faced monster bursting with energy, and a silver winged woman. More threats came, some human, others not.
An African woman with a beast of shadow.
A monochrome woman, a too-wide grin revealing sharp teeth.
A blonde child in a green cloak, surrounded by three phantoms.
And a golden skinned man in a white pristine uniform.
"Well…shit." He declared.
Yellow Diamond agreed, song curdling.
Lily crossed her arms, feeling out of place among her fellow Wards. This was the first time she had attended a meeting between Wards from another city, training games to improve relations and to train their powers.
It was a team from Boston that had been paired up with them, and to her surprise they had been sent to a new specialized PRT training facility in Piermont, New Hampshire. It was a nice place, with a number of rooms built to simulate different scenarios for mock battles. They were going to spend the next few days here at what was basically a camp right next to the White Mountain National Park. Which had been built and expanded from a National Forest after a villain in the 90s destroyed most of the nearby towns and buried them in native plant life.
So why did the PRT put a training facility here?
She crossed one leg over the other, chewing on her lip as she saw Jouster talk with Shelter, and a Ward from Boston. A young Case 53 from the looks of it, his body twisted into a hunchback form. The two teams had just finished a mock battle, and her team had lost by the slimmest of margins to Boston.
She could see the pockmarks where her power had left it's signature. She hadn't gotten to use her sword much, as her power had proven too volatile and too dangerous to use in combat. Instead they had made her a tinkertech arbalest, firing three foot long projectiles instead.
Which made sense to Lily, she hadn't found a lot of powers that could withstand her power, like it somehow trumped any and all defenses. The main limits were that her power wasn't charged with unlimited power, so it could only cut through so much mass before the effect ended.
She didn't talk to anyone, it was hard to develop bonds when you kept being moved around again and again and again…
Lily sighed.
She chewed on her lip, she had heard quite a few rumors about Piermont. A villain, a cape labeled Hellhound had been lingering around, going back and forth between attacking dog fighting rings. Though there were hesitant murmurs of recategorizing her as a vigilante based on something they had found about her home life, and the surprisingly small number of crimes on her part.
Though she suspected it was more a matter of luck based on her disposition, she hadn't been put in a position to be considered in an especially bad light. Hellhound wasn't that important though, there had been rumors of an escapee from a Parahuman asylum, a fire manipulating cape.
Then there were the brief sightings of a mercenary team that had attacked that very same asylum, and a Shaker 12 had vanished in the scuffle between them and a dispatched squad from Boston.
Lily had a bad feeling about this, a gut feeling she couldn't ignore. But before she could focus on why that was, Jouster called out to her. She hummed uncomfortably.
Guess it's time to get back to training…
Peridot Facet-25FL Trilliant-5XI or Olly as she liked to be called, released a smug sounding burst of Gemsong as hundreds of Robonoids expanded the membrane of the official start of her Diamond's first colony. It had been a simple plan from them, from him. While most Gems could operate in vacuum, her Diamond could not(yet) and the organic life they needed wasn't capable of it either. Spires were going to be placed out every few hundred meters, providing tensile strength to the thick membrane made of unique plasticine Chroma materials.
Legrandite had been helpful with her geokinesis, and her inherent ability to assess the land. Labradorite had a better idea of how to mix ichor than she did, the mage Gem infusing the essence of the Diamond's into rock. The mix of two Cerise ichors proved potent, with how she felt grass brushing against her touch stumps. About twenty square kilometers had been enclosed, and terraformed, and different minerals were being mined and concentrated.
Some of the bigger lumps of Gems had offered their strength to her, and she had them to thank for the progress made in the last several days. They had already started with the introduction of various plant species.
Mosses, lichens, liverworts, ammonia producing bacteria, and various species of fungus, their mycelium networks provided a sealing barrier beneath the ground. Pines were another interesting plant, their growth accelerated by pipes of life giving ichor and Ammolite's own powers. Soil was introduced from Earth, along with artificial soil made by hers truly.
Fuschia Sapphire had been helpful with her predictions, and had stopped quite a few industrial accidents. The settlement had officially been called Rocknest, apparently they had landed in the exact same spot as a probe known as Curiosity from her Diamond's home. The long term plan was to cover the entirety of Gale Crater, nearly twenty thousand square kilometers of dirt and soil and minerals to pop out Gems.
Of course extensively studying the geology of the planet was coming first, for the scientific curiosity of her Diamond if nothing else. Something about how the planet was once suitable for life over three billion years ago.
Former lakes like this crater were among the most suitable for Gem implantation and production, with a wider range of minerals. She had identified areas rich in Feldspar, Quartz, Opal, Pyroxenes, and Olivine.
Some minor tweaking could enable quite a few Gem types, from Albites to Spodumene.
"We really need more Gems," Olly muttered to herself. "I'm going to have to create a thermal hotspot beneath the crater to synthesize all the minerals we'll require." Granite was rare, and without plate tectonics there was a massive lack in what was needed.
She remembered the initial dossier she had been given of the twenty seven Gems including herself that would act as a vanguard force for colonization of Mars Bet.
It wasn't enough, they needed hundreds of Gems at least, if not thousands. Earth Bet had a lot more Paired than they had originally estimated and the damage to the project had thrown off the mission. Based on the discrete scans she had taken, there were between five hundred and nine hundred thousand active connections to shards.
There were maybe one to two hundred million shards total in the collective galaxies, with a grand total of ten thousand on the highest density planet. With many of them in varying conditions. Based on the scans she had received from members of the Pink Sunrise Project back home…there had to be far more shards infesting this section of the multiverse.
But unlike the more dangerous shards of the Black Wyrm, they were all relatively dormant operating in power saving mode to endure through a cycle. Less desperate and more complacent than the frightened and fearful things his shards had become. More alive than the broken things bursting to life in terror and rage.
She really wanted to take a nice nap, the relaxation and time to mentally calibrate. If there was one use for sleeping it was that, rebooting the software of a Gem's mind, smoothing out your programs and thoughts, troubleshooting any messes.
The other use was having weird dreams like vomiting puppies and kittens.
You can't judge me…what are you a cop?
Olly flushed, and went back to look at her analysis of Elle and her shard. She had constructed a modified dimensional scanner, a dark beryl-like crystal capable of looking across dimensional boundaries. She had gotten quite a lot of data from the shard in it's vulnerable state.
It was an incredibly powerful shard, one capable of layering realities on top of one another, carefully perturbing quantum layers to make it possible. This power was a-not-quite-a-portal ability, folding spacetime manifolds together. With Elle it brought forth fragments of other worlds partially into her dimension based on aspects of her emotions and memories.
At full power it could combine thousands of worlds together, if not millions. She suspected this shard finds all realities and brings aspects of them together to join shards in a single plane of reality. One such shard had been…destroyed back home, blown up by a widespread barrage of Shooting Stars.
Insidious little things, those Shooting Stars. Magic fire, pure entropic force gathered from dying stars and contained within icy shells of unstable magical matrices. They had been created during the Gem War, even a single palm sized device could blow up entire mountains.
They had used millions against the Earth, blown crater lakes and tore open tectonic rifts with a bombardment of magical weapons. Reshaped the coastlines with their power.
The prototype of the Storm Geode had ripped apart Africa with a synthetic storm the size of a dwarf planet, designed to scour the planet down to bedrock. It failed and the second prototype was…contained by the Crystal Gems. Wisps of it sank an island civilization, who became the progenitors of strange undersea peoples.
They had utilized a unique energy weapon to erase a fraction of the largest continent's mass, powered by one of the many hearts of a planet-sized mineralogical creature they had slain to study and harvest from it's mineral flesh.
It was a human who had the bright idea of using the second Storm Geode, using it's winds to hold aloft thousands of Shooting Stars along with a number of modified human bombs, nuclear energies unleashed against the shard.
That beast had been twice the mass of the Earth, and it had taken multiple asteroid strikes to drill their way to the central 'mind' of the shard before detonating the Storm Geode. This was followed up by charging the dead heart and turning it into a planet cracking mine.
Elle's shard was not that, it was a crippled thing, at some point it had collided with a dead shard and was critically damaged, ninety nine percent of its mass compromised and destroyed in the collision. It was larger than the average shard and had higher authority, but it was much easier to compromise and subvert.
And unlike a shard of the Destroyer, they had no context for magic, no protection against the precaution-weapons, no protections against the ancient and primal power of the Diamonds.
But that didn't mean this was going to be a cake walk, or was it a piece of cake, a walk in cake park?
Olly pinched the bridge of her nose. "That doesn't matter, what matters is importing all the matter we need for eventual global terraforming."
Hmm…maybe Venus would be viable? It has more than enough nitrogen, and importing minerals from the Asteroid Belt should be easy enough.
They really needed more Gems.
Olly shook her head, and lightly slapped her face. It was time to get back to work.
A man walked down the black walls with scattered circuits of green of a space station, idly gripping a badge in his hand with the universal galactic symbol of peace, a black and green face like that of an odd watch.
He stopped by a large display window, made of glass tough enough to block meteor strikes and behind an energy shield capable of withstanding nuclear bomb level energies. The Moon was hanging in the sky, the blue haze of the atmosphere generated and protected by the structures of Selene.
The Empire had been very industrious after the incidents with the Atasians some eleven years ago, and the political leaders of the Earth had managed to provide their own assistance and thus partial ownership of the terraformed Moon. Human technology has only grown since then, especially with the advances in Supernatural Physics from two scientists from Oregon.
Especially after one of them had become the forty-fifth president and was on their second and final term…
The man chuckled quietly at the thought, so much had changed since that one fateful summer with his cousin and grandpa. He had been there when his cousin studied the mystic arts for herself, and when she had helped with the terraforming of Mars and Venus.
As well as when humanity had claimed the moons of Jupiter, outside the aegis of His Radiance. With their technology, and from what they had pilfered from alien technologies both Gem and otherwise. In seventeen years he had seen his species go from a borderline Level 3 to Level 7, and he knew they had technology far in advance of that in smaller numbers.
It was how they had brute forced their way into the worlds the fragments of the Destroyer were hiding in, as humanity had a far better understanding of dimensional travel technology than Gems did…for a time anyway. They would catch up soon enough.
He adjusted his uniform with a soft grin, one which widened when he saw his cousin. She wore her black and blue spandex suit, and he nodded to himself at the thin flexible armor plating along her vital areas. Stone charms glowed with an eerie cerise light along her left arm, and the man heard the whisper under the current.
A little bit of luck, and a little bit of charm to guide fate your way. One whispered insistently, while another chimed happily. The anchor of life, the anchor of death.
A third thrummed with flame and brimstone and the everburning sun while the fourth screamed of mind over matter, control over the Physical.
The fifth murmured of thunder and lightning and the wrath of storms. The final charm was the one that bound them all together, the one to unite them in darkness and light, in death and life, the lifeforce, the multiplier, the keystone.
The man shuddered, he had gotten used to magical things but those Charms were another thing entirely. But he had seen worse, like one of the many arcane creations of the Kitakah and their many races. Now that was creepy as all hell.
"Gwen…how has Homeworld been treating you?" He asked sincerely, he had read the files and while it had been seventeen years since Era 2, seventeen years wasn't a lot for a five hundred thousand year old alien empire.
"I've got…way too many Gems flirting with me," The redhead's lips were curled into a light smile. "I guess they're rather impressed that a human can use magic the way I do." She shrugged, reveling in the inside joke shared between their family. Not many knew about her heritage. "I've studied how they make their Gravity Engines work, I think with enough time we can use our own magic to copy it."
The man sighed. "We already have the Hyperdrives Gwen."
"But they're a lot more finicky and prone to space-time shifting eddies and currents, plus we need to chart maps for them. They're also faster than our current drives." Gwen narrowed her eyes, making her cousin flinch.
"And how was your partner on the planet?" He asked, more curious than worried.
"Blue Cubic Zirconia Facet-BD Trilliant-84? She's right behind you." The brunette agent jumped when he felt eyes on him, reaching for the weapon on his hip before remembering himself.
The Gem partnered with his cousin was tall, a lithe and athletic form some eight and a half feet in height. She wore a blue robe, obscuring some of her figure under billowing fabric, with curling lines of gold and cerise like vines along her arms, with a gem flickering with cerulean light on her forehead. She had a blue face with high cheeks, plump lips curling into a smile at his reaction, teal eyes brimming with amusement. She brought down a hood, revealing curls of dark blue hair, curtaining behind her in waves.
He had met a number of Cubic Zirconias before, they were Supreme Sorcerers, shaman-philosophers who ruled over courts of Gems tasked with studying magic, with Labradorites and Taafites, and appointed Danburites. Most weren't as tall as this one, shorter by a whole foot.
"Hello there." Her Gemsong was warm, with the sound of wind chimes and the beating of skin drums backed by the crackling of fresh paper.
"Sup." He smirked at the alien almost-woman, and glanced back at his cousin. "Her Luminance wanted to talk with us, and said she had a few concerns." Gwen frowned, and in a moment whispered away reality, teleporting right to the Diamond herself.
The agent raised an eyebrow at the highest and most esteemed military leader of the Gem Empire. He had seen old pictures before Era 3, a towering titan of a woman, almost nine times as tall as a man, and with harsh shoulder pads. This was not that old picture of an Eternal and Glorious Empire.
She was tall, yes, a solid three feet taller than the Blue Zirconia partnered with his cousin. But she wasn't the gigantic matron he had seen from old images, when she had been a very different person.
"Agent Tennyson." The now named agent flinched, reeling at the orchestra of Gemsong bouncing against the walls. "How was your mission with one of my generals? I hope Hessonite wasn't too much trouble." The Diamond didn't specify which Hessonite, she didn't need to.
"The mission on Rann was a success, we succeeded in stopping the Detonation Event, and destroyed a Harvester shard." Yellow Diamond's song twisted, pleased with a reverberation against his heart.
"And have the Rannians changed their mind on their self-isolation from the galaxy?"
Agent Tennyson smirked. "You know it." The alien god Queen rolled her eyes. "When they saw this guy shooting a thousand foot tall Wyrm Titan in the face…they just had to change their mind."
"Ben…" Gwen hissed, and there was a rumbling chuckle of amusement from Yellow Diamond.
"I'm sure they were very impressed Plumber." There was an almost sarcastic bite to her song. "But the status of your mission isn't the only reason I've called the both of you here." The Diamond gestured to her console, and a holographic screen expanded massively. An image of a young man appeared on the screen, and Ben flinched at the shuttering pupils in the picture.
"Wait that's…"
"The newest Diamond of the Gem Empire," The Song of Penance confirmed. "He's one of Aster Diamond's projects, made possible by unknown circumstances even to him. I want you to investigate those circumstances, and to pass that data to the new Diamond."
"Because it affects him too?" Gwen added, pink energy crackling in her fists.
"Yes. I'm also passing you a dossier on Sunrise Diamond's current mission, and on a number of potential threats. They'll grow more detailed as we gain more information on them."
Agent Tennyson received the information to his Proto-Tool, and he opened up the screen with a light grin. It diminished when a number of threats were projected on screen.
A blue-green aquatic beast, hunchbacked and lithe, with an enormous whip tail. A mountain of black flesh and obsidian, a craggy faced monster bursting with energy, and a silver winged woman. More threats came, some human, others not.
An African woman with a beast of shadow.
A monochrome woman, a too-wide grin revealing sharp teeth.
A blonde child in a green cloak, surrounded by three phantoms.
And a golden skinned man in a white pristine uniform.
"Well…shit." He declared.
Yellow Diamond agreed, song curdling.
Lily crossed her arms, feeling out of place among her fellow Wards. This was the first time she had attended a meeting between Wards from another city, training games to improve relations and to train their powers.
It was a team from Boston that had been paired up with them, and to her surprise they had been sent to a new specialized PRT training facility in Piermont, New Hampshire. It was a nice place, with a number of rooms built to simulate different scenarios for mock battles. They were going to spend the next few days here at what was basically a camp right next to the White Mountain National Park. Which had been built and expanded from a National Forest after a villain in the 90s destroyed most of the nearby towns and buried them in native plant life.
So why did the PRT put a training facility here?
She crossed one leg over the other, chewing on her lip as she saw Jouster talk with Shelter, and a Ward from Boston. A young Case 53 from the looks of it, his body twisted into a hunchback form. The two teams had just finished a mock battle, and her team had lost by the slimmest of margins to Boston.
She could see the pockmarks where her power had left it's signature. She hadn't gotten to use her sword much, as her power had proven too volatile and too dangerous to use in combat. Instead they had made her a tinkertech arbalest, firing three foot long projectiles instead.
Which made sense to Lily, she hadn't found a lot of powers that could withstand her power, like it somehow trumped any and all defenses. The main limits were that her power wasn't charged with unlimited power, so it could only cut through so much mass before the effect ended.
She didn't talk to anyone, it was hard to develop bonds when you kept being moved around again and again and again…
Lily sighed.
She chewed on her lip, she had heard quite a few rumors about Piermont. A villain, a cape labeled Hellhound had been lingering around, going back and forth between attacking dog fighting rings. Though there were hesitant murmurs of recategorizing her as a vigilante based on something they had found about her home life, and the surprisingly small number of crimes on her part.
Though she suspected it was more a matter of luck based on her disposition, she hadn't been put in a position to be considered in an especially bad light. Hellhound wasn't that important though, there had been rumors of an escapee from a Parahuman asylum, a fire manipulating cape.
Then there were the brief sightings of a mercenary team that had attacked that very same asylum, and a Shaker 12 had vanished in the scuffle between them and a dispatched squad from Boston.
Lily had a bad feeling about this, a gut feeling she couldn't ignore. But before she could focus on why that was, Jouster called out to her. She hummed uncomfortably.
Guess it's time to get back to training…
- Location
- Chula Vista
Thanks. I didn't even notice I had uploaded it twice.
Ohhhh this is nice...
I gotta say AEM... I love how you write... but I have not been able to find a link to all your fics... do you have one or anyone has made one where I can enjoy em?
Also.... I have to ask... ffxiv hydaelyn?.... she referred to in previous chapters if I am not wrong... right?
Will we see more of her or some of her chosen ones?
I gotta say AEM... I love how you write... but I have not been able to find a link to all your fics... do you have one or anyone has made one where I can enjoy em?
Also.... I have to ask... ffxiv hydaelyn?.... she referred to in previous chapters if I am not wrong... right?
Will we see more of her or some of her chosen ones?
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- Location
- Chula Vista
I don't really have many stories that aren't basically dead. I tend to run straight into a brick wall of writer's block and them permanent hiatus up to a point. And that part was more a reference than the Mothercrystal herself.
- Location
- Chula Vista
Probably. But I have specific requirements for crossovers here. Not super specific mind you but specific enough.Daawwww.... would had been cool with all the links and whatnot that could have been exploited between the gems and the Mothercrystal with them basically both basically been crystaline life forms....
Something for the future maybe
- Location
- Inside this solar system (I think)
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Great story! I really like all the crossover aspects of the universe the gems come from.
As far as I can tell there is Steven universe, Ben 10, gravity falls and DC (specifically teen Titans?) Since you showed what I guess were tamaranians.
Although I have to ask, the Ben part of the interlude never mentioned it so... Does Ben have the Omnitrix? Or is he just a regular old plumber?
As far as I can tell there is Steven universe, Ben 10, gravity falls and DC (specifically teen Titans?) Since you showed what I guess were tamaranians.
Although I have to ask, the Ben part of the interlude never mentioned it so... Does Ben have the Omnitrix? Or is he just a regular old plumber?
- Location
- Chula Vista
Plumber, Ben is a mostly regular Plumber.
- Location
- Inside this solar system (I think)
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Yeah, figured as much. Adding the Omnitrix on top of everything else would have overloaded the story a little
- Location
- Chula Vista
I've got other reasons for not adding the Omnitrix. Ones I won't mention just yet.
Symphony 3.1
- Location
- Chula Vista
Author's Note: Today I'll be putting out Arc 3, and we'll catch up to Arc 4 tomorrow.
Symphony 3.1
I folded my arms over my chest, inspecting my form. I succeeded in hiding some of my more alien features, my hair was a uniform black, the crosshairs of my Diamond pupils had been obscured as best as I could manage. My nails were long, but they didn't curl as the claws they were.
My teeth were slightly pointed but within human limits, within human confines of biology. There wasn't anything I could do for my freaky bones, but that was just life.
Of course for going out, I went for the form that didn't look exactly like what I looked like back home. Some amount of hiding was necessary because getting recognized as a magic alien wasn't conducive to a private life. I don't think I was built for a public life, which made my sudden elevation to being the equivalent of a queen bee to an entire species a rather…harrowing problem.
Rachel Lindt had been…an interesting addition to our little group of Gems and humans. She got along well enough with Aventurine and the Rubies, and a check of the calendar and the current date of it being the fifteenth of April told me she had been with us for three days.
She had been going back and forth between the forest and a nearby town, and had almost gotten caught at some point before she had met us. So she of course decided to stay here until the heat goes down.
I…wasn't sure how I felt about Ewe-one-of-purity-tender-good-hearted. Her Trigger Event had killed someone and maimed several others, there was no guarantee she hadn't hurt other people since then. But I looked at a fourteen year old teenager, and felt…conflicted. She was a kid, a kid hurt by the world, someone who was broken by the world and then further broken by a malicious alien parasitic worm god-virus.
And then her first impression had been her dogs attacking Aventurine, though I wouldn't and couldn't call that a major threat. And even if I knew of her, I didn't really know her as a person, and this world wasn't the same world. I had no idea how different it could be, because Abaddon had been heading towards Andromeda and not towards magic alien ladies.
Andromeda, and not an entirely new universe to exploit, and the number of divergences could be very large or very small. Maybe in this world her foster mother survived, or maybe her Trigger blew up a bus full of kids in this universe.
Not like I could ask her anyway. Asking about the worst day of your life is a dick move in any universe.
There was a bark, a soft whine that translated to hunger in my mind. I reacted, and opened up a bag of dog food the Rubies had made. I remember the portions Rachel gave them, and served both dogs their meals.
There was a grunt, and I lifted the bag away from Brutus and Judas, automatically placing it away. Rachel was giving me a look, and I barely kept a smile from expressing itself.
There was gratitude condensed in her grunt, and then a more curious look, even if only mildly so. There was a weight on my shoulder, and I softly pet a new Coral out of a total of thirty of them that had been grown. It was about the limit, and this one had a crimson coloration, and a Y-shaped face gem.
"One of my Corals, I made them." I replied, and the Coral flew with a sweet Gemsong. She chittered to one of the dogs, shaking from side to side in excitement.
"With your power?" She questioned roughly, her grouchy face inspecting the Corals.
"One of my many powers, I bring life to things. And you've seen me heal." She didn't reply, and I almost let out a breath but decided against it. Rachel was not the talkative type.
"You made them too?" She pointed out to the Rubies as they tussled, their eager songs.
"Oh no, they were made by someone else and have chosen to help me out with learning my powers and my role." I rubbed the back of my neck. "And some of them are way older than me…or anyone else on the planet…" I trailed off, maybe it wasn't a good idea to tell this to her?
Then again this was Rachel we were talking about, even if she had almost sicked her dogs on me when I accidentally snuck up on her. Turns out three thousand pound monster dogs are good motivation for my bubble. She didn't seem the type to tell other's secrets like that.
"Hmm…" She stayed with her dogs. "I'll be going out again." I understood what she was getting at. She was an aggressive kind of person, and well…I had no handle on a person like that.
Aventurine did though, she was a Quartz, she understood rough people, knew how to talk to them in a way they could understand. She played the social games needed to keep Rachel…not in line, but calm maybe? Less acerbic? She was hard to manage though, bucking at authority because she had never been socialized correctly.
I wasn't going to make it my job to fix every wayward person that came my way, I didn't have the skills, I wasn't going to play therapist either.
Steven had done that, and looked how that turned out. My job hadn't even been to directly kill an Entity either, I was closer to a backup Diamond, my power would help other Gems to end Scion and the Endbringers. I wasn't even supposed to be here, I was supposed to have a few weeks to straighten my affairs before colonizing Mars Bet instead.
Which was somehow much less stressful, and I was halfway convinced that maybe it was a good idea to pack up to Mars. I wasn't fit to be a leader, my job was basically just to get my powers in order. And I didn't mind it. If I had to help people I didn't mind it, but right now…I had to be focused on getting stronger, on learning the ins and outs of what I can do.
Using my powers to fuck with shards was all nice and dandy too, but I really didn't want to be shackled with all that responsibility. So I was going to do exactly that, learning about how to run a colony wasn't bad, it was something to do if nothing else.
So focus on my actual job rather than meddling in the business of people I don't know how to help. Getting other Gems to help them sure, I had the authority for that. But I had a handful of Gems to command when I needed thousands at the bare minimum.
I really hoped I didn't develop a complex from this, I had already been suffering from a bad case of almost crippling anxiety and periodic insomnia. I didn't need a messiah and atlas complex on top of that. An idea rose up from my mind.
I'm going to check up on my colony.
I stepped off the Warp Pad, and into a somewhat stale atmosphere, though it was growing less so based on the rich plant life… what the fuck?
"It's only been three days." I choked on my spit, literally shapeshifting back to my base form in shock. I looked up at a canopy to a dusky red sky, like I was inside a kilometer scale tent. Every hundred meters or so there was a crystalline spire maybe a meter thick, with some of them hanging incomplete buildings on them. Everything was quite makeshift, incomplete but even this partial progress was insane.
I could sense my ichor flowing through the ground, intermixed with a similar wavelength, Steven's own ichor supercharging the soil.
Right outside the canopy, there was a large orb, maybe three or four meters across. Air spun around the machine, bending around and then into the machine itself.
"I managed to pressurize the dome with a nitrogen-oxygen atmosphere by creating an aerokinetic core for a Robonoid."
"Aerokinetic core?" I turned around to find a wired up Olly marching back and forth from a large scale Gemforge, the second of its kind after the one in…Atlas. I had settled on Atlas for a name.
"A device designed to control and manipulate atmospheric gases," She affectionately bumped hips with me. "I've been using this one to compress nitrogen and carbon dioxide in the air."
"So you break up the carbon dioxide into carbon and oxygen, and create a compatible atmosphere." It was a rather clever use of magic.
Olly shrugged. "I've only pressurized the sections around the Warp Pad, it should take half a week to one week to finish off the pressurization project." She murmured a complaint, like claws against sheet metal in my ears. "I need more Gems, even a thousand Peridots wouldn't be enough to colonize a planet."
"And Labradorite?"
Olly straightened up. "She's been an excellent partner in the creation and expansion of Rocknest. She's created a few different magic tools to speed up the process and…" She spoke fast, her placid tones becoming more Peridot-like, a faint flush on her green face.
I grinned, unable to suppress the amused chitter weaving into my voice. "Oh you like her don't you?"
She went as stiff as a board. "I do not!" She screamed, showing the most emotion I had seen from her yet. "I simply consider her…fairly skilled and very intelligent." She was trying to be sly with her words but they didn't work with what I knew.
What Gems found attractive was several things due to not being inherently sexual beings. As well as being almost identical. They liked smart, they liked skilled, and they liked big. It was the trifecta of some of the more important qualities to have in a Gem. I think some of them had sex drives, but it was more likely a learned behavior or some odd remnant programming.
Not that there was anything wrong with that.
"Sure you do. I believe you." I very much did, of course I did.
"It's good to see you're feeling better, even if it comes at my expense." Her tone was biting, though there was sincerity in her electronic buzzing song.
"Better?" I murmured, feeling small for some reason.
"It's kind of obvious you're going through something," there was a kind tone in her voice. "Whether our failure in preparing you or something prior to your transition into a Diamond. You stay up late for a human…and you stay close to us Gems."
"Umm…I haven't been having the best couple months, anxiety mostly." Very bad, very concerning anxiety. "And being involved with all this saving the world nonsense isn't helping."
"You're not obligated to have to help us with stopping Scion, with stopping the remaining shards." I stopped fiddling with my fingers, blinking rapidly.
"Huh?"
Olly rubbed her eyes, biting her lip. "You might be a Diamond, but you weren't made to be…some type of weapon, or a tool." Her eyes sharpened, an intensity to them. "We've been fighting shards for years, we have experience you lack. We're not going to use you at the expense of your own well-being."
"I still want to help but…" I thought about the fighting, the life and death battles that were a regular part of cape careers in this world. I don't think I wanted that kind of life. If I had a choice I was never going to be a combatant, it just wasn't my calling.
I didn't have the training or the disposition or the traumas and little tweaks that shards used for their hosts. Small things really, all they had to do was act as reminders of the worst day of their life, to reward them for whatever goals they were after. To punish them when they failed.
Whether it was conflict, or continuous studying or even nothing depending on the power. I didn't have that, and I had the choice of not having to fight, of sticking to Mars and helping with my power for more capable Gems.
In experience if not in raw power.
"I understand, I'm not saying you have to do nothing either. Being cooped up isn't healthy for humans or Gems." I agreed with her and she didn't stop. "Hmm…let me show you something." She gestured to a building, the single completed floor of a spire meant to be four hundred meters high.
I followed her, and the door opened when she lightly tapped a Gem interface. There was a ring shaped array of consoles, and with a tap Olly created some type of projection of Earth. But it didn't look right…off in the slightest of ways.
"This is Earth Bet." She pointed out, eyes narrowed. "And this is your Earth, which we're designating Earth Mundanus." This map appeared more detailed, more realistic. "We've launched two precaution-weapons into orbit around your planet, capable of projecting their effect across dimensional boundaries."
"Precaution-weapons?" I queried with a low song. "You've mentioned them, but I'm not sure what they are."
"Relics of the war that shaped the structure of Homeworld society during Era 1, a way to ward off evil, to stop the greatest enemy Gemkind ever knew." There was something like terror in her song, notes cracking. "We scattered devices like this one on every colony, and across galaxies in unmanned probes." She projected a map of over 25 million galaxies across two billion light years of space.
It wasn't a very detailed map mind you, clearly they had sent only the precaution-weapons that far out.
"They…do what then?" She wasn't being specific and I kind of felt nervous about that.
"Everything and nothing and something in between the two, as well as something completely unlike the two." What the hell does that even mean? "The enemy they were designed to fight was capable of bending fate itself, a god attacking us from across the sea of time itself."
"So these…precaution-weapons stopped it…made it give up?"
"Yes. Though we'll never know which, they're effectively good luck charms." Olly provided a schematic, and I felt eyes open inside my brain when I saw the impossible geometry within the telescope-shaped machine carved with art and images. "Magic itself was beyond the Black Wyrm's horizon of knowledge. But with just magic alone he would discover how to manipulate its boundless energy."
"So what screwed him over then?"
"The precaution-weapons were built with…other forces in mind, but they interfered with it's foresight and blinded it to the worst possibilities. We've also been studying their biology extensively, as well as the signatures of their presence." She switched to a new display.
It wasn't quite a map of realities, more a detection of high levels of unusual energies. The exotic waveforms related to the bridges between worlds…based on what I had read up on. Simplified to reduce computational resources. "That…you're going to what, make us invisible to their precognition so you can shank them in the back?"
"We're already invisible to current methods of Shard precognition, none of their models will take us into account. We're actively blinding the shards, in a similar vein to Mantellum." I think it really was a good thing I had told them about as many capes as I could, and that they had their own connection to my world's internet.
I really hope they haven't looked through my search history…
They had data on a number of capes, as well as data on vital shards to subvert or shut down. A good number of the shards needed to leave the solar system or to coordinate an entity could be…stopped from doing that.
"So you're going to blind them enough so you can blast them from orbit and shatter their network?" That sounded both interesting and just a little terrifying.
"It's not that simple, but it's not far from the truth either." Fair enough.
"How about the progress of the colony, how is that going?" I changed the subject, deciding something more interesting was in order.
Her expression and mannerisms became placid and more laidback. "We need more Gems, but that's not happening until the initial group is complete."
"Initial group?"
"A total of Gems including myself acting as a vanguard, once we're all here the Empire will gather more resources and Gems for a second wave, a few hundred Gems will spend their time on the colony."
"Oh that's interesting, what else can you tell me?"
"Well there's the…"
"More Gems?" I commented as I noted two additional Rubies in the window of the temple, making a squad of five. Fuschia turned, lips pulled into a knowing smile.
"The initial vanguard was delivered to Gale Crater once it was established rather than following your energy signature." Which explained why gems kept hitting me in the face. "Which makes just under thirty Gems in this universe." Not a small number if you go off the size of cape teams, but tiny for a planetary invasion.
"What kind of Gems decide it's a good idea to fight a multidimensional worm god?" I boggled just a little at the mere idea.
"If you're asking for Gem types, a Sapphire," she gestured to herself. "A Legrandite, an Iolite, a Zircon, a single Axinite, a Turquoise, an Orthoclase, Sunstone, Bismuth, Labradorite, Ammolite, two Ambers, a Rose Quartz, a Jasper and a Carnelian. One Aventurine, Peridot, a Malachite, an Opal, five Rubies, one Pearl and a Devilline."
"Huh…neat." So about twenty seven Gems, or twenty eight including myself. Which made us a sizable 'parahuman' team, likely comparable to Protectorate teams in major cities. And if hundreds more were coming, then we were going to handily outnumber any team. "So has Rachel already left?"
"Along with several Robonoids on her person, with a few stealth models shadowing her." She absently replied, looking into the future most likely. "I foresee no complications today, though tomorrow is more uncertain…"
"Question." I poked her with a claw, squinting my eyes. "How does your vision work against shard based precognition?"
"Our ability to pierce the veil of time has always been…finicky, as Sapphires require a constant flow of information and data gathered by other Gems or our own initiative to improve our accuracy. Time is hard to wrangle even with magic." She explained, and I drew closer, unable to hold back my curiosity.
"Tell me more." I placed my hands on my knees, tapping my fingers against them. Fuschia brushed back a bang, hissing with a gentle musical tone.
"Determining the course of the future is far from trivial, and much of it involves going with the flow of events, of taking the future into your own hands. Breadth and depth, our powers and their powers have both though we specialize in depth while they excel at breadth."
So Gems could see farther while Entities could see more clearly when magic and magic based sensor spoofing wasn't getting in their way. The Entity's increased clarity would have won him the war if it wasn't for the six billion light year bubble of precaution-weapons sent out over twenty thousand years.
"But even then fighting their Precogs would mess with the accuracy of your visions wouldn't it?" She tersely nodded.
"It's why the precaution-weapons were the first items sent across the barrier between worlds. We're scattering them across your galaxy too, just to make sure nothing too bad pops up." That was both worrying and comforting. "Any Entity that wanders within the bubble encompassing your galaxy will have gaps in their vision they won't see until it's too late."
I pouted as I realized the conversation was becoming heavier than I wanted it to be, and I felt just tired.
"How about you?"
"Huh?" She was nonplussed by my question.
"What about you? We…we can talk about that right? I'd like to get to know you." She was taken aback, and I hoped I wasn't being presumptuous.
"You want to…" She appeared less confident than usual.
"I…umm. Yeah?" I clasped my hands together, some of my anxiety returning. "Is that okay?"
"I don't mind, though there's not much to talk about. I'm quite young for a Gem." I raised an eyebrow at how she put herself down.
"So am I," She blushed, as if just realizing that fact. "I'm turning 21 this year, so I'm quite certain neither of us are ancient." I nudged her shoulder, and she giggled.
Fuschia had a nice laugh. I really did think so, the way it radiated and pressed across the air. All Gemsong was special but hers was just more…grounded, present to my senses.
"Then let's talk."
"So I noticed you're into engineering, where'd you pick up a skill like that?" I started, genuinely interested.
Fuschia perked up. "Oh. That's something I picked up in the first year of my life, I traveled around with a few Serpentines and Peridots led by a Tanzanite." All three were engineering and technician Gems, with Tanzanites being rarer scientists. "I got tired of just using my power to keep the ship from blowing up. So one of the Peridots taught me herself."
"It makes you really happy." I stated rather than asked, it was clear to anyone with a brain.
Guess that makes sense, Brandon…Brenda…whatever.
"Very much so, it's one of my passions. And you?" I blinked at the perfectly reasonable question from the Sapphire next to me.
"I…like to write," I fought past my hesitation. "Stories and things like that. I'm interested in world building too. Making worlds, histories, even fictional species and evolution." I brushed back a bang from my face. "I used to draw a bit, though I was limited to dinosaurs and reptiles. Not so good with mammals or people."
Drawing was nice when I still did it. I should start up again.
"And you have a keen interest in scientific knowledge as well."
I laughed quietly. "I imagine I made it obvious. I'm not that subtle."
"I suppose not, but that's okay. What else do you like?" Fuschia Sapphire was being more lively, her usual cool confidence returning.
"Well I like food." I clapped my hands together, thinking of the meals I was learning to make. "There's a few shows I like to watch but…" Then I remembered one of those shows had been Steven Universe and I stumbled. "Anyway. I don't play games much but I have a few favorites, like Pokémon."
"Oh our world has that franchise as well, I have a few game systems and games stored in my Gem. What else have you played?" She sounded invested, and at this point so was I.
"Well there's Undertale but I only completed a single run," I shrugged as I realized that. "Subnautica, Skyrim, played a bit of Terraria and Stellaris, I'm playing a run of Hollow Knight but I haven't finished it yet." Her smile dimmed, her song going still. "Something wrong?"
"No." She was lying but I wasn't going to ask.
"Right. Okay. So you play video games, any other hobbies?" I leaned in her direction, gaining some comfort from her proximity. I couldn't help it really, I had been alone too long, both during the forest and… before. There was something that felt missing, something sad and bitter where happiness had been.
But my Gems were affectionate, and they were free with it in a way I'm not sure I ever could be. And Gems were apparently naturally warm as fuck, even cold manipulating Gems were when they didn't use their powers. Plus they were softer than any human ever could be, to the point I had fallen asleep the one time Aventurine had to carry me back to the Home Temple. Plus I loved to lounge about, and my new Gem instincts didn't help.
Fuschia touched my cheek, and I almost pulled away. She released a Gem purr, and my body slackened. "What…what are you doing?"
"I am providing you with comfort, I believe you need it." My eyes welled up, frustration and anger, and sadness boiling and simmering. Most of it wasn't even from my situation. Just a general feeling of helplessness.
"I…it might be nice." She turned, offering up a hug. Despite my shyness I accepted, wrapping my arms around the smaller Gem. I placed my head on her shoulder, and the purr of her song was…just very nice. And it was making me feel a little sleepy.
She was really soft, what voodoo magic was responsible for her being so huggable? Fuschia hummed, and I could feel the happiness and amusement in her lovely song.
I yawned, burbling a strain of contentment. "We can be friends right?" I was tired, and just a little sad and lonely.
Fuschia giggled, a note of sadness in it. "Of course we can be friends."
Good.
That was good.
I carefully looked at the drafts for the plan involving Mars, establishing the number of Facets, their purpose, and the early terraforming stages. We were currently in the atmospheric terraforming phase, and the second wave of Gems would have enough supplies and equipment to transport material from asteroids and Venus.
Right now there was a plan to bury machinery within the planet's mantle for large-scale geoengineering of the planet, as well as methods of seeding the planet itself with a more diverse range of minerals. They also wanted to astrally deconstruct one of Mars's moons to power the endeavour.
Apparently they had a means of converting matter to energy to catalyze the Gem powered machinery of their tech. A series of portals were going to export nitrogen and carbon dioxide from Venus, while a Lapis Lazuli would divert water from the solar system to further hydrate Mars, as well as adding lubrication to the planet's interior geology.
Aerokinetic Gems helping with the management of terraforming machines, Legrandites and other earth moving Gems and tech would shift the crust, adding needed minerals, and life would be spread across the planet, accelerated by Diamond ichor and life giving stores of Gem magic.
The planet had been divided up into a hundred Facets, each Facet slightly larger than Alaska in area. Rocknest would be the name of the central hub of Caldera which would act as the capital. Once the planet melted, water would be processed to irrigate the eighteen thousand square kilometer crater.
A Turquoise had decided to work under Fuschia's aegis, due to their complementary abilities. They were planning Gems, with powerful insight not unlike a Sapphire's in some way. However it was more limited, unfolding into unprecedented planning ability. Able to come up with a number of interlocking solutions on the fly, and drafting plans for colonies was one of their major roles.
So like a caste of Accords, a Gem with 'Thinker' powers. I had a few Gems handling some(all) of the paperwork, Fire Opal Facet-Z16 Cushion-6AA. She was an administrative Gem, and one who enjoyed her job more now that the Empire had things like vacation days and actual civil rights. Especially when she could administer Gems who had once been higher up than she was.
There was a warning song I responded to. "Come in." The head intelligence officer sauntered in, and I tilted my head in polite acknowledgement.
Brass Pearl Facet-M16 Oval-C6 was an interesting Gem, she had been heavily involved with a secret invasion of a species of aliens, Species 4 officially known as the Atasians. A dying race that had been stifled and molded by a fascistic empire, and decided to wipe out other species in vengeance. Though from what I can tell most of their wrath had been focused on Earth since sapient species were often separated by hundreds of light years.
A few thousand species across multiple galaxies of stars couldn't be considered a dense neighborhood. Especially when most had populations in the millions and billions, and only a small fraction of them had capabilities and populations that could hold back the Gem Empire.
"We've succeeded in tapping into the internet connection of Earth Bet and have confirmed a number of established threats to our operation in this solar system." She informed me with false cheer. "Our few technicians have created a number of trawler programs to search this planet's local network. It'll help us quite a bit once this planet's intelligence programs take notice."
"You're pretty worried about that aren't you?" She hummed a wary song, like violins crashing with knives in the dark.
"I doubt you're any less concerned about this my Diamond," There was a knowing look. "I came here to make up for your lack of experience, we can't have anyone attempt an assassination of a Diamond. And there are many dangerous powers on this death trap of a planet."
"I'm not going to say you're wrong there," I rolled my shoulders, my Gemsong upping in tone. "Do what you have to, as long as it doesn't cause a war. Having to fight on multiple fronts is…not likely to be a good idea."
"True. I'll have more to report when I have a few more Gems under my wing, Deviline is a sweet girl but two Gems doesn't make an agency. Say hello to Starry for me will you?" She bowed her head, and when I blinked once she was gone, vanished into thin air.
Another wave of song, but one I had only heard the echo of on the trails of the Rubies, their commander. I clicked, not bothering with words this time, more curious than annoyed. The door opened, and it was filled with the biggest Gem I had seen besides my Aventurine and my new Bismuth.
A euhedral Rose Quartz with an asterism pattern on both her Gem, and her physical form. Though being euhedral didn't say much when Rose Quartzes were made to a higher tolerance and quality due to it being the main line of Quartz designed by Pink Diamond. Most Rose Quartzes were already in the size range of euhedral Quartz at around seven foot ten inches to a solid eight feet of height.
She was about 8'2, and I had to crane my neck up, and kept my jaw from dropping, biting back a chirp of surprise. She had more robust arms, and a slightly wider frame though she retained the soft curves and shape of her fellow Rose Quartzes.
Her skin was closer in shade to a human's, but it retained a pink tinge that was obvious enough from a glance. She wore a one piece uniform, a shade of red so deep it was almost black, and a v-collar with a Diamond symbol in my color. She had light brown gloves and boots, Chroma clothing obviously.
Her arms were covered in inclusions, darker stripes along her shoulders and biceps, and her cheeks had scattering aster markings, like faded freckles. Her right glove had a lozenge shaped opening for her darker Rose Quartz, and as she sashayed she brushed her hands through wild rose red hair, more like a Jasper's with only a few rose curls.
Her smile was small, and I caught a flash of tusks, more of the blunt fangs inherent to any Quartz. She briefly bowed her head, more casual than Brass Pearl had been.
"Euhedral Rose Quartz Facet-4 Round-815," She confirmed. "I'm the commander of the Rubies assigned as your guards. A Royal Guard if you would…" her song was deep, a rumbling seductive strumming of soft guitar and drum beats.
"Nice to meet you." I greeted her, with just a little bit of shyness, my lips suddenly feeling dry. It was hard not to be intimidated, she was big, soft and pretty and I had a general weakness towards certain kinds of women. Even if technically she wasn't one.
Her smirk wasn't subtle, amusement dancing in her eyes as she added a little more sway to those hips of hers. I coughed, and she became more serious.
"Starry right?" Her smile froze for a moment. "Brass Pearl says hi." Her song broke into surprised humor. "So you're going to keep me from keeling over then?" I joked, and she laughed nervously with a strain of pain.
"Oh I'm certainly going to try, I might even warm your bed if that'll keep you safe." I turned scarlet, and my song scratched like a record. She winked which made it worse because she was really pretty… and really curvy and tall.
"No thanks." I kept my reluctance from coming out in my song, knowing it was just my hormones. I learned more toward human ideals of attraction, though…to be absolutely frank Gem ideals weren't that hard to get into. "Right. So Starry, you're going to act as my guard along with your Rubies?"
"I am." She flexed her claws, her body language shifting. "I'm also going to take up your training." I blinked at the news, I had heard about that but…
"Is your fighting style more compatible with my powers?"
Starry grinned, and in a flicker of light a shield materialized from the ether. It was a pointed blocky shield, a hulk of cerise metal with a bladed end. The shield had a mandala emblem, black with a circle colored red in the middle.
"You could say that, Your Illumination." Her stressing pressure on her low song, the casual flirtiness was…really embarrassing. "There aren't many Gems capable of handling the power of a Diamond, I'm a euhedral Quartz, and while I'm not as experienced as Aventurine, our fighting styles likely fit better."
"Fair enough. So what else are you here for? I have time to chat." I have time for a lot of things nowadays. While I was technically a Diamond I wasn't quite part of the Diamond authority. I was still learning the ropes, so technically my Gems were in charge of me, getting me up on my feet.
I was okay with that.
"Well we need to start up with more regular patrols and sweeps, there could be any number of threats hiding in and around this forest…"
"Yeah?"
"Then we need to create a heavier armory, more weapons and more defenses…"
This continued for the next thirty minutes, and I moved on to briefing with other Gems.
All in all? It was a good day.
Symphony 3.1
I folded my arms over my chest, inspecting my form. I succeeded in hiding some of my more alien features, my hair was a uniform black, the crosshairs of my Diamond pupils had been obscured as best as I could manage. My nails were long, but they didn't curl as the claws they were.
My teeth were slightly pointed but within human limits, within human confines of biology. There wasn't anything I could do for my freaky bones, but that was just life.
Of course for going out, I went for the form that didn't look exactly like what I looked like back home. Some amount of hiding was necessary because getting recognized as a magic alien wasn't conducive to a private life. I don't think I was built for a public life, which made my sudden elevation to being the equivalent of a queen bee to an entire species a rather…harrowing problem.
Rachel Lindt had been…an interesting addition to our little group of Gems and humans. She got along well enough with Aventurine and the Rubies, and a check of the calendar and the current date of it being the fifteenth of April told me she had been with us for three days.
She had been going back and forth between the forest and a nearby town, and had almost gotten caught at some point before she had met us. So she of course decided to stay here until the heat goes down.
I…wasn't sure how I felt about Ewe-one-of-purity-tender-good-hearted. Her Trigger Event had killed someone and maimed several others, there was no guarantee she hadn't hurt other people since then. But I looked at a fourteen year old teenager, and felt…conflicted. She was a kid, a kid hurt by the world, someone who was broken by the world and then further broken by a malicious alien parasitic worm god-virus.
And then her first impression had been her dogs attacking Aventurine, though I wouldn't and couldn't call that a major threat. And even if I knew of her, I didn't really know her as a person, and this world wasn't the same world. I had no idea how different it could be, because Abaddon had been heading towards Andromeda and not towards magic alien ladies.
Andromeda, and not an entirely new universe to exploit, and the number of divergences could be very large or very small. Maybe in this world her foster mother survived, or maybe her Trigger blew up a bus full of kids in this universe.
Not like I could ask her anyway. Asking about the worst day of your life is a dick move in any universe.
There was a bark, a soft whine that translated to hunger in my mind. I reacted, and opened up a bag of dog food the Rubies had made. I remember the portions Rachel gave them, and served both dogs their meals.
There was a grunt, and I lifted the bag away from Brutus and Judas, automatically placing it away. Rachel was giving me a look, and I barely kept a smile from expressing itself.
There was gratitude condensed in her grunt, and then a more curious look, even if only mildly so. There was a weight on my shoulder, and I softly pet a new Coral out of a total of thirty of them that had been grown. It was about the limit, and this one had a crimson coloration, and a Y-shaped face gem.
"One of my Corals, I made them." I replied, and the Coral flew with a sweet Gemsong. She chittered to one of the dogs, shaking from side to side in excitement.
"With your power?" She questioned roughly, her grouchy face inspecting the Corals.
"One of my many powers, I bring life to things. And you've seen me heal." She didn't reply, and I almost let out a breath but decided against it. Rachel was not the talkative type.
"You made them too?" She pointed out to the Rubies as they tussled, their eager songs.
"Oh no, they were made by someone else and have chosen to help me out with learning my powers and my role." I rubbed the back of my neck. "And some of them are way older than me…or anyone else on the planet…" I trailed off, maybe it wasn't a good idea to tell this to her?
Then again this was Rachel we were talking about, even if she had almost sicked her dogs on me when I accidentally snuck up on her. Turns out three thousand pound monster dogs are good motivation for my bubble. She didn't seem the type to tell other's secrets like that.
"Hmm…" She stayed with her dogs. "I'll be going out again." I understood what she was getting at. She was an aggressive kind of person, and well…I had no handle on a person like that.
Aventurine did though, she was a Quartz, she understood rough people, knew how to talk to them in a way they could understand. She played the social games needed to keep Rachel…not in line, but calm maybe? Less acerbic? She was hard to manage though, bucking at authority because she had never been socialized correctly.
I wasn't going to make it my job to fix every wayward person that came my way, I didn't have the skills, I wasn't going to play therapist either.
Steven had done that, and looked how that turned out. My job hadn't even been to directly kill an Entity either, I was closer to a backup Diamond, my power would help other Gems to end Scion and the Endbringers. I wasn't even supposed to be here, I was supposed to have a few weeks to straighten my affairs before colonizing Mars Bet instead.
Which was somehow much less stressful, and I was halfway convinced that maybe it was a good idea to pack up to Mars. I wasn't fit to be a leader, my job was basically just to get my powers in order. And I didn't mind it. If I had to help people I didn't mind it, but right now…I had to be focused on getting stronger, on learning the ins and outs of what I can do.
Using my powers to fuck with shards was all nice and dandy too, but I really didn't want to be shackled with all that responsibility. So I was going to do exactly that, learning about how to run a colony wasn't bad, it was something to do if nothing else.
So focus on my actual job rather than meddling in the business of people I don't know how to help. Getting other Gems to help them sure, I had the authority for that. But I had a handful of Gems to command when I needed thousands at the bare minimum.
I really hoped I didn't develop a complex from this, I had already been suffering from a bad case of almost crippling anxiety and periodic insomnia. I didn't need a messiah and atlas complex on top of that. An idea rose up from my mind.
I'm going to check up on my colony.
I stepped off the Warp Pad, and into a somewhat stale atmosphere, though it was growing less so based on the rich plant life… what the fuck?
"It's only been three days." I choked on my spit, literally shapeshifting back to my base form in shock. I looked up at a canopy to a dusky red sky, like I was inside a kilometer scale tent. Every hundred meters or so there was a crystalline spire maybe a meter thick, with some of them hanging incomplete buildings on them. Everything was quite makeshift, incomplete but even this partial progress was insane.
I could sense my ichor flowing through the ground, intermixed with a similar wavelength, Steven's own ichor supercharging the soil.
Right outside the canopy, there was a large orb, maybe three or four meters across. Air spun around the machine, bending around and then into the machine itself.
"I managed to pressurize the dome with a nitrogen-oxygen atmosphere by creating an aerokinetic core for a Robonoid."
"Aerokinetic core?" I turned around to find a wired up Olly marching back and forth from a large scale Gemforge, the second of its kind after the one in…Atlas. I had settled on Atlas for a name.
"A device designed to control and manipulate atmospheric gases," She affectionately bumped hips with me. "I've been using this one to compress nitrogen and carbon dioxide in the air."
"So you break up the carbon dioxide into carbon and oxygen, and create a compatible atmosphere." It was a rather clever use of magic.
Olly shrugged. "I've only pressurized the sections around the Warp Pad, it should take half a week to one week to finish off the pressurization project." She murmured a complaint, like claws against sheet metal in my ears. "I need more Gems, even a thousand Peridots wouldn't be enough to colonize a planet."
"And Labradorite?"
Olly straightened up. "She's been an excellent partner in the creation and expansion of Rocknest. She's created a few different magic tools to speed up the process and…" She spoke fast, her placid tones becoming more Peridot-like, a faint flush on her green face.
I grinned, unable to suppress the amused chitter weaving into my voice. "Oh you like her don't you?"
She went as stiff as a board. "I do not!" She screamed, showing the most emotion I had seen from her yet. "I simply consider her…fairly skilled and very intelligent." She was trying to be sly with her words but they didn't work with what I knew.
What Gems found attractive was several things due to not being inherently sexual beings. As well as being almost identical. They liked smart, they liked skilled, and they liked big. It was the trifecta of some of the more important qualities to have in a Gem. I think some of them had sex drives, but it was more likely a learned behavior or some odd remnant programming.
Not that there was anything wrong with that.
"Sure you do. I believe you." I very much did, of course I did.
"It's good to see you're feeling better, even if it comes at my expense." Her tone was biting, though there was sincerity in her electronic buzzing song.
"Better?" I murmured, feeling small for some reason.
"It's kind of obvious you're going through something," there was a kind tone in her voice. "Whether our failure in preparing you or something prior to your transition into a Diamond. You stay up late for a human…and you stay close to us Gems."
"Umm…I haven't been having the best couple months, anxiety mostly." Very bad, very concerning anxiety. "And being involved with all this saving the world nonsense isn't helping."
"You're not obligated to have to help us with stopping Scion, with stopping the remaining shards." I stopped fiddling with my fingers, blinking rapidly.
"Huh?"
Olly rubbed her eyes, biting her lip. "You might be a Diamond, but you weren't made to be…some type of weapon, or a tool." Her eyes sharpened, an intensity to them. "We've been fighting shards for years, we have experience you lack. We're not going to use you at the expense of your own well-being."
"I still want to help but…" I thought about the fighting, the life and death battles that were a regular part of cape careers in this world. I don't think I wanted that kind of life. If I had a choice I was never going to be a combatant, it just wasn't my calling.
I didn't have the training or the disposition or the traumas and little tweaks that shards used for their hosts. Small things really, all they had to do was act as reminders of the worst day of their life, to reward them for whatever goals they were after. To punish them when they failed.
Whether it was conflict, or continuous studying or even nothing depending on the power. I didn't have that, and I had the choice of not having to fight, of sticking to Mars and helping with my power for more capable Gems.
In experience if not in raw power.
"I understand, I'm not saying you have to do nothing either. Being cooped up isn't healthy for humans or Gems." I agreed with her and she didn't stop. "Hmm…let me show you something." She gestured to a building, the single completed floor of a spire meant to be four hundred meters high.
I followed her, and the door opened when she lightly tapped a Gem interface. There was a ring shaped array of consoles, and with a tap Olly created some type of projection of Earth. But it didn't look right…off in the slightest of ways.
"This is Earth Bet." She pointed out, eyes narrowed. "And this is your Earth, which we're designating Earth Mundanus." This map appeared more detailed, more realistic. "We've launched two precaution-weapons into orbit around your planet, capable of projecting their effect across dimensional boundaries."
"Precaution-weapons?" I queried with a low song. "You've mentioned them, but I'm not sure what they are."
"Relics of the war that shaped the structure of Homeworld society during Era 1, a way to ward off evil, to stop the greatest enemy Gemkind ever knew." There was something like terror in her song, notes cracking. "We scattered devices like this one on every colony, and across galaxies in unmanned probes." She projected a map of over 25 million galaxies across two billion light years of space.
It wasn't a very detailed map mind you, clearly they had sent only the precaution-weapons that far out.
"They…do what then?" She wasn't being specific and I kind of felt nervous about that.
"Everything and nothing and something in between the two, as well as something completely unlike the two." What the hell does that even mean? "The enemy they were designed to fight was capable of bending fate itself, a god attacking us from across the sea of time itself."
"So these…precaution-weapons stopped it…made it give up?"
"Yes. Though we'll never know which, they're effectively good luck charms." Olly provided a schematic, and I felt eyes open inside my brain when I saw the impossible geometry within the telescope-shaped machine carved with art and images. "Magic itself was beyond the Black Wyrm's horizon of knowledge. But with just magic alone he would discover how to manipulate its boundless energy."
"So what screwed him over then?"
"The precaution-weapons were built with…other forces in mind, but they interfered with it's foresight and blinded it to the worst possibilities. We've also been studying their biology extensively, as well as the signatures of their presence." She switched to a new display.
It wasn't quite a map of realities, more a detection of high levels of unusual energies. The exotic waveforms related to the bridges between worlds…based on what I had read up on. Simplified to reduce computational resources. "That…you're going to what, make us invisible to their precognition so you can shank them in the back?"
"We're already invisible to current methods of Shard precognition, none of their models will take us into account. We're actively blinding the shards, in a similar vein to Mantellum." I think it really was a good thing I had told them about as many capes as I could, and that they had their own connection to my world's internet.
I really hope they haven't looked through my search history…
They had data on a number of capes, as well as data on vital shards to subvert or shut down. A good number of the shards needed to leave the solar system or to coordinate an entity could be…stopped from doing that.
"So you're going to blind them enough so you can blast them from orbit and shatter their network?" That sounded both interesting and just a little terrifying.
"It's not that simple, but it's not far from the truth either." Fair enough.
"How about the progress of the colony, how is that going?" I changed the subject, deciding something more interesting was in order.
Her expression and mannerisms became placid and more laidback. "We need more Gems, but that's not happening until the initial group is complete."
"Initial group?"
"A total of Gems including myself acting as a vanguard, once we're all here the Empire will gather more resources and Gems for a second wave, a few hundred Gems will spend their time on the colony."
"Oh that's interesting, what else can you tell me?"
"Well there's the…"
"More Gems?" I commented as I noted two additional Rubies in the window of the temple, making a squad of five. Fuschia turned, lips pulled into a knowing smile.
"The initial vanguard was delivered to Gale Crater once it was established rather than following your energy signature." Which explained why gems kept hitting me in the face. "Which makes just under thirty Gems in this universe." Not a small number if you go off the size of cape teams, but tiny for a planetary invasion.
"What kind of Gems decide it's a good idea to fight a multidimensional worm god?" I boggled just a little at the mere idea.
"If you're asking for Gem types, a Sapphire," she gestured to herself. "A Legrandite, an Iolite, a Zircon, a single Axinite, a Turquoise, an Orthoclase, Sunstone, Bismuth, Labradorite, Ammolite, two Ambers, a Rose Quartz, a Jasper and a Carnelian. One Aventurine, Peridot, a Malachite, an Opal, five Rubies, one Pearl and a Devilline."
"Huh…neat." So about twenty seven Gems, or twenty eight including myself. Which made us a sizable 'parahuman' team, likely comparable to Protectorate teams in major cities. And if hundreds more were coming, then we were going to handily outnumber any team. "So has Rachel already left?"
"Along with several Robonoids on her person, with a few stealth models shadowing her." She absently replied, looking into the future most likely. "I foresee no complications today, though tomorrow is more uncertain…"
"Question." I poked her with a claw, squinting my eyes. "How does your vision work against shard based precognition?"
"Our ability to pierce the veil of time has always been…finicky, as Sapphires require a constant flow of information and data gathered by other Gems or our own initiative to improve our accuracy. Time is hard to wrangle even with magic." She explained, and I drew closer, unable to hold back my curiosity.
"Tell me more." I placed my hands on my knees, tapping my fingers against them. Fuschia brushed back a bang, hissing with a gentle musical tone.
"Determining the course of the future is far from trivial, and much of it involves going with the flow of events, of taking the future into your own hands. Breadth and depth, our powers and their powers have both though we specialize in depth while they excel at breadth."
So Gems could see farther while Entities could see more clearly when magic and magic based sensor spoofing wasn't getting in their way. The Entity's increased clarity would have won him the war if it wasn't for the six billion light year bubble of precaution-weapons sent out over twenty thousand years.
"But even then fighting their Precogs would mess with the accuracy of your visions wouldn't it?" She tersely nodded.
"It's why the precaution-weapons were the first items sent across the barrier between worlds. We're scattering them across your galaxy too, just to make sure nothing too bad pops up." That was both worrying and comforting. "Any Entity that wanders within the bubble encompassing your galaxy will have gaps in their vision they won't see until it's too late."
I pouted as I realized the conversation was becoming heavier than I wanted it to be, and I felt just tired.
"How about you?"
"Huh?" She was nonplussed by my question.
"What about you? We…we can talk about that right? I'd like to get to know you." She was taken aback, and I hoped I wasn't being presumptuous.
"You want to…" She appeared less confident than usual.
"I…umm. Yeah?" I clasped my hands together, some of my anxiety returning. "Is that okay?"
"I don't mind, though there's not much to talk about. I'm quite young for a Gem." I raised an eyebrow at how she put herself down.
"So am I," She blushed, as if just realizing that fact. "I'm turning 21 this year, so I'm quite certain neither of us are ancient." I nudged her shoulder, and she giggled.
Fuschia had a nice laugh. I really did think so, the way it radiated and pressed across the air. All Gemsong was special but hers was just more…grounded, present to my senses.
"Then let's talk."
"So I noticed you're into engineering, where'd you pick up a skill like that?" I started, genuinely interested.
Fuschia perked up. "Oh. That's something I picked up in the first year of my life, I traveled around with a few Serpentines and Peridots led by a Tanzanite." All three were engineering and technician Gems, with Tanzanites being rarer scientists. "I got tired of just using my power to keep the ship from blowing up. So one of the Peridots taught me herself."
"It makes you really happy." I stated rather than asked, it was clear to anyone with a brain.
Guess that makes sense, Brandon…Brenda…whatever.
"Very much so, it's one of my passions. And you?" I blinked at the perfectly reasonable question from the Sapphire next to me.
"I…like to write," I fought past my hesitation. "Stories and things like that. I'm interested in world building too. Making worlds, histories, even fictional species and evolution." I brushed back a bang from my face. "I used to draw a bit, though I was limited to dinosaurs and reptiles. Not so good with mammals or people."
Drawing was nice when I still did it. I should start up again.
"And you have a keen interest in scientific knowledge as well."
I laughed quietly. "I imagine I made it obvious. I'm not that subtle."
"I suppose not, but that's okay. What else do you like?" Fuschia Sapphire was being more lively, her usual cool confidence returning.
"Well I like food." I clapped my hands together, thinking of the meals I was learning to make. "There's a few shows I like to watch but…" Then I remembered one of those shows had been Steven Universe and I stumbled. "Anyway. I don't play games much but I have a few favorites, like Pokémon."
"Oh our world has that franchise as well, I have a few game systems and games stored in my Gem. What else have you played?" She sounded invested, and at this point so was I.
"Well there's Undertale but I only completed a single run," I shrugged as I realized that. "Subnautica, Skyrim, played a bit of Terraria and Stellaris, I'm playing a run of Hollow Knight but I haven't finished it yet." Her smile dimmed, her song going still. "Something wrong?"
"No." She was lying but I wasn't going to ask.
"Right. Okay. So you play video games, any other hobbies?" I leaned in her direction, gaining some comfort from her proximity. I couldn't help it really, I had been alone too long, both during the forest and… before. There was something that felt missing, something sad and bitter where happiness had been.
But my Gems were affectionate, and they were free with it in a way I'm not sure I ever could be. And Gems were apparently naturally warm as fuck, even cold manipulating Gems were when they didn't use their powers. Plus they were softer than any human ever could be, to the point I had fallen asleep the one time Aventurine had to carry me back to the Home Temple. Plus I loved to lounge about, and my new Gem instincts didn't help.
Fuschia touched my cheek, and I almost pulled away. She released a Gem purr, and my body slackened. "What…what are you doing?"
"I am providing you with comfort, I believe you need it." My eyes welled up, frustration and anger, and sadness boiling and simmering. Most of it wasn't even from my situation. Just a general feeling of helplessness.
"I…it might be nice." She turned, offering up a hug. Despite my shyness I accepted, wrapping my arms around the smaller Gem. I placed my head on her shoulder, and the purr of her song was…just very nice. And it was making me feel a little sleepy.
She was really soft, what voodoo magic was responsible for her being so huggable? Fuschia hummed, and I could feel the happiness and amusement in her lovely song.
I yawned, burbling a strain of contentment. "We can be friends right?" I was tired, and just a little sad and lonely.
Fuschia giggled, a note of sadness in it. "Of course we can be friends."
Good.
That was good.
I carefully looked at the drafts for the plan involving Mars, establishing the number of Facets, their purpose, and the early terraforming stages. We were currently in the atmospheric terraforming phase, and the second wave of Gems would have enough supplies and equipment to transport material from asteroids and Venus.
Right now there was a plan to bury machinery within the planet's mantle for large-scale geoengineering of the planet, as well as methods of seeding the planet itself with a more diverse range of minerals. They also wanted to astrally deconstruct one of Mars's moons to power the endeavour.
Apparently they had a means of converting matter to energy to catalyze the Gem powered machinery of their tech. A series of portals were going to export nitrogen and carbon dioxide from Venus, while a Lapis Lazuli would divert water from the solar system to further hydrate Mars, as well as adding lubrication to the planet's interior geology.
Aerokinetic Gems helping with the management of terraforming machines, Legrandites and other earth moving Gems and tech would shift the crust, adding needed minerals, and life would be spread across the planet, accelerated by Diamond ichor and life giving stores of Gem magic.
The planet had been divided up into a hundred Facets, each Facet slightly larger than Alaska in area. Rocknest would be the name of the central hub of Caldera which would act as the capital. Once the planet melted, water would be processed to irrigate the eighteen thousand square kilometer crater.
A Turquoise had decided to work under Fuschia's aegis, due to their complementary abilities. They were planning Gems, with powerful insight not unlike a Sapphire's in some way. However it was more limited, unfolding into unprecedented planning ability. Able to come up with a number of interlocking solutions on the fly, and drafting plans for colonies was one of their major roles.
So like a caste of Accords, a Gem with 'Thinker' powers. I had a few Gems handling some(all) of the paperwork, Fire Opal Facet-Z16 Cushion-6AA. She was an administrative Gem, and one who enjoyed her job more now that the Empire had things like vacation days and actual civil rights. Especially when she could administer Gems who had once been higher up than she was.
There was a warning song I responded to. "Come in." The head intelligence officer sauntered in, and I tilted my head in polite acknowledgement.
Brass Pearl Facet-M16 Oval-C6 was an interesting Gem, she had been heavily involved with a secret invasion of a species of aliens, Species 4 officially known as the Atasians. A dying race that had been stifled and molded by a fascistic empire, and decided to wipe out other species in vengeance. Though from what I can tell most of their wrath had been focused on Earth since sapient species were often separated by hundreds of light years.
A few thousand species across multiple galaxies of stars couldn't be considered a dense neighborhood. Especially when most had populations in the millions and billions, and only a small fraction of them had capabilities and populations that could hold back the Gem Empire.
"We've succeeded in tapping into the internet connection of Earth Bet and have confirmed a number of established threats to our operation in this solar system." She informed me with false cheer. "Our few technicians have created a number of trawler programs to search this planet's local network. It'll help us quite a bit once this planet's intelligence programs take notice."
"You're pretty worried about that aren't you?" She hummed a wary song, like violins crashing with knives in the dark.
"I doubt you're any less concerned about this my Diamond," There was a knowing look. "I came here to make up for your lack of experience, we can't have anyone attempt an assassination of a Diamond. And there are many dangerous powers on this death trap of a planet."
"I'm not going to say you're wrong there," I rolled my shoulders, my Gemsong upping in tone. "Do what you have to, as long as it doesn't cause a war. Having to fight on multiple fronts is…not likely to be a good idea."
"True. I'll have more to report when I have a few more Gems under my wing, Deviline is a sweet girl but two Gems doesn't make an agency. Say hello to Starry for me will you?" She bowed her head, and when I blinked once she was gone, vanished into thin air.
Another wave of song, but one I had only heard the echo of on the trails of the Rubies, their commander. I clicked, not bothering with words this time, more curious than annoyed. The door opened, and it was filled with the biggest Gem I had seen besides my Aventurine and my new Bismuth.
A euhedral Rose Quartz with an asterism pattern on both her Gem, and her physical form. Though being euhedral didn't say much when Rose Quartzes were made to a higher tolerance and quality due to it being the main line of Quartz designed by Pink Diamond. Most Rose Quartzes were already in the size range of euhedral Quartz at around seven foot ten inches to a solid eight feet of height.
She was about 8'2, and I had to crane my neck up, and kept my jaw from dropping, biting back a chirp of surprise. She had more robust arms, and a slightly wider frame though she retained the soft curves and shape of her fellow Rose Quartzes.
Her skin was closer in shade to a human's, but it retained a pink tinge that was obvious enough from a glance. She wore a one piece uniform, a shade of red so deep it was almost black, and a v-collar with a Diamond symbol in my color. She had light brown gloves and boots, Chroma clothing obviously.
Her arms were covered in inclusions, darker stripes along her shoulders and biceps, and her cheeks had scattering aster markings, like faded freckles. Her right glove had a lozenge shaped opening for her darker Rose Quartz, and as she sashayed she brushed her hands through wild rose red hair, more like a Jasper's with only a few rose curls.
Her smile was small, and I caught a flash of tusks, more of the blunt fangs inherent to any Quartz. She briefly bowed her head, more casual than Brass Pearl had been.
"Euhedral Rose Quartz Facet-4 Round-815," She confirmed. "I'm the commander of the Rubies assigned as your guards. A Royal Guard if you would…" her song was deep, a rumbling seductive strumming of soft guitar and drum beats.
"Nice to meet you." I greeted her, with just a little bit of shyness, my lips suddenly feeling dry. It was hard not to be intimidated, she was big, soft and pretty and I had a general weakness towards certain kinds of women. Even if technically she wasn't one.
Her smirk wasn't subtle, amusement dancing in her eyes as she added a little more sway to those hips of hers. I coughed, and she became more serious.
"Starry right?" Her smile froze for a moment. "Brass Pearl says hi." Her song broke into surprised humor. "So you're going to keep me from keeling over then?" I joked, and she laughed nervously with a strain of pain.
"Oh I'm certainly going to try, I might even warm your bed if that'll keep you safe." I turned scarlet, and my song scratched like a record. She winked which made it worse because she was really pretty… and really curvy and tall.
"No thanks." I kept my reluctance from coming out in my song, knowing it was just my hormones. I learned more toward human ideals of attraction, though…to be absolutely frank Gem ideals weren't that hard to get into. "Right. So Starry, you're going to act as my guard along with your Rubies?"
"I am." She flexed her claws, her body language shifting. "I'm also going to take up your training." I blinked at the news, I had heard about that but…
"Is your fighting style more compatible with my powers?"
Starry grinned, and in a flicker of light a shield materialized from the ether. It was a pointed blocky shield, a hulk of cerise metal with a bladed end. The shield had a mandala emblem, black with a circle colored red in the middle.
"You could say that, Your Illumination." Her stressing pressure on her low song, the casual flirtiness was…really embarrassing. "There aren't many Gems capable of handling the power of a Diamond, I'm a euhedral Quartz, and while I'm not as experienced as Aventurine, our fighting styles likely fit better."
"Fair enough. So what else are you here for? I have time to chat." I have time for a lot of things nowadays. While I was technically a Diamond I wasn't quite part of the Diamond authority. I was still learning the ropes, so technically my Gems were in charge of me, getting me up on my feet.
I was okay with that.
"Well we need to start up with more regular patrols and sweeps, there could be any number of threats hiding in and around this forest…"
"Yeah?"
"Then we need to create a heavier armory, more weapons and more defenses…"
This continued for the next thirty minutes, and I moved on to briefing with other Gems.
All in all? It was a good day.
Symphony 3.2
- Location
- Chula Vista
Symphony 3.2
I leaned forward, standing on the tips of my toes as I remained on call with Steven. Talking with him had become a daily occurrence, since he had advice on my powers that couldn't be gathered from my imperfect knowledge of his universe.
I grinned, kneading my hands together, claws inching forward in excitement. "So. We're supposed to be super strong right? Able to lift a lot of mass?" I was getting stronger, and I had more Gems to test my strength against.
Steven grinned, a soft look entering his eyes. "So you want to know how much I've lifted in the past?"
"Just a little curious, I can't really help it." The Quartz had demonstrated their strength by lifting blocks of stone the size of small houses, hundreds of tons of mass without any strain. The Rubies could lift SUVS easily enough, and they were tough little guys.
"Well there was that time I lifted a Terraforming Injector, about the mass of a container ship." So he had lifted a few hundred thousand tons at his weakest. "Then there was that time I sparred with a Paired, a human. A lot like the Alexandria you mentioned. Ended up knocking down a mountain during the fight. She helped me fix it though…" There was notable amusement, his song twisting though dulled by machinery.
"So will I be able to do that someday?" He raised an eyebrow, his toothy smile notable.
"And what would you do with that strength?" There was something in his song, not judging but weighting instead.
"I don't know, I guess I use it to move stuff? Debris from natural disasters, maybe punching passages through mountains? Constructive things. I can't see many uses that don't involve turning people into red mist." Which was never going to be my cup of tea.
"Suppose you're not much for fighting." Steven made the observation, and I didn't disagree.
"I would probably fight if I had to, but no…that's just not the kind of person I am." Maybe that would change with my new Diamond brain, but I didn't know that. "But that brings us to a better question. Teach me how to set shit on fire?"
Steven choked with bubbly laughter, and I preened.
I picked up a single boulder, roughly five meters in diameter with a single hand. Instead of it crumbling under my hands or my fragile human bones snapping like twigs. I guessed it was a weird touch-TK kind of power all Gems had, that or they had the precise foresight to touch items at the perfect angle to prevent breakage.
Which wasn't the answer because that's stupid.
My hands burst into cerise fire, energy spreading to shatter the rock. I grabbed a stone from the rubble, idly sharpening my claws. I heard the ring of battle, and murmured to myself that the Quartzes were rallying.
I launched myself forward, and towards the clash with an excited snap of my teeth. I felt excitement at seeing a Gem sparring session for myself. Desert Jasper and Carnelian were both sitting down, their cheery songs hitting the air with shifting sand and maracas, as well as beating fire and the clash of steel against steel. The Rubies were watching intently, especially Blood Pigeon Ruby.
The air shattered like glass as the two Quartz met head to head, each moving with their own style. Aventurine fought with a predatory grace, wild movements, instant twists of her heel, raking slashes while aiming at joints and weak points with precise punches and jabs.
Her claw-gauntlets were wrapped within green solid electricity, constructs of deadly energy. She fought like a beast, power brimming with strikes that would cleave tank armor. Aventurine spun on her heels to avoid a strike from Starry, and detonated her electrical power like a bomb in the pink Quartz' face.
The blast was blocked by the bladed shield that was Starry's signature weapon, the massive hulk of steel-like light groaning under explosive strain. She shifted her grip, and turned the pointed shield into a blunt instrument of war.
Where Aventurine displayed violence and animalistic strategy and power, Starry's fighting style was a dance of death. She spun like a top, her shield used as both a bludgeon and a blade. It was a rooted stance, yet loose enough to slip through supersonic strikes. Her battle-foresight was amazing, twisting past Aventurine's lightning the moment it leaves her fingertips.
I had been watching the Quartz spar for two days now since the initial introduction and briefing with the remaining Gems of the first wave. We had four Quartz at the moment, a Carnelian from the Beta Kindergarten on Earth, a Desert Jasper from a colony about two hundred light years away, and of course Starry and Aventurine.
The battle was faster than humanly possible and yet my eyes tracked them all the same, a tinge of cerise at the corner of my vision. Starry smashed her shield into Aventurine's chest, and it detonated with a wave of magenta fire. A free arm shifted into a hammer, crashing into her side.
Aventurine rolled with the punch, and curled into a ball, covered in a bright sphere of hard electrical energy. She smashed into the skillful Rose Quartz like the fist of god, and dropped to all fours to curve behind Starry's devastating axe kicks. She grabbed the plush pink Gem from behind, and the ground shattered with the force of the suplex. Starry compressed herself down, folding out of the hold before shifting back to her original size.
A foot caught itself in Aventurine's gut as she pulled herself back up, Starry summoned dual shields and slammed the both of them down on her opponent's head. She detonated one to stagger the green Quartz, and dispelled it in the immediate instant afterward. Her hand became a jagged clawed hand, and a slash left glowing streaks and scuffs along her fellow soldier's surface.
A crater formed where Aventurine landed a kick, Starry hovering out of the way. The two released a warsong, and I followed the beat in the air, the possibilities shifting again and again. The Rose Quartz rolled away from a blast of lightning, and her remaining shield was thrust into Aventurine's stomach.
Aventurine instinctively snapped her jaws, pushing the shield back and backslapping Starry with a devastating clawed strike. I heard the whirling of blades as the two stepped up their game, turning into blurs of movement and power. Starry was spinning, circling her body to use her opponent's momentum against her.
The green Quartz slammed her claws into the ground and detonated it with solid electricity. She ripped the pink Gem's weapon away, and an axe kick dropped her onto her knees.
"Yield!" She placed her claw at Starry's neck, and the Rose Quartz smirked. She changed form, splitting into a mass of limbs and claws. The Quartz hopped on grasshopper legs, and beat wings of jagged hardened light based flesh. She took an arrow shape, and the sound barrier broke two times over as she catapulted forward.
Aventurine couldn't dodge, and a massive shield formed at the last second, creating an explosion where Starry crashed with immense force. I blinked, unable to see past the dust besides some UV reflections and flickers of heat. The dust parted by something(Legrandite, cough, cough) and I stared.
Starry had one foot on Aventurine's chest, her boots shifted into cleaving blades while her burning shield hung over the green Gem's neck. Her usual flirty smile was replaced by a savage grin, her fangs flicking out in excitement.
Goes to show she was still a Quartz at heart, not that there was anything wrong with that.
"You got a good look at that?" Starry called out, pulling a ragged Aventurine back onto her feet.
Thumbs up, and a casual melody. "I'd hope so, since I watched most of it." I replied dryly, and the Quartz chuckled. She jumped, reducing her mass as all Gems did to do so. Before I found blink she brushed her lips against my cheek, an electric flare of muscle memory surging into my Diamond brain.
I scowled and tried to slap her back, letting out a pulsing warning song. "Quit teasing me!"
She looked genuinely apologetic. "Sorry. I was just…trying to pass some of my memory-data to you. I forget you're still…getting used to this."
"It's fine. You just surprised me." I admitted, getting used to Gems was difficult but not impossible. "I'm just…not very good at giving or taking affection." I flexed my hand, enjoying the silent flick of pearlescent claws.
She let out a gentle huff. "We should spar later, but you wanted to inspect your colony didn't you?" She reminded me, and I stood up on my toes.
"You're right. I should get on that." There was an awkward pause as I stood still.
She pushed me, lightly smacking me on the back. "Now shoo, sunshine. Shoo!"
"Yeah. Yeah. I'm going."
Man Gems really do work fast don't they?
I glanced around the expanded colony, where I could see our volunteer Bismuth building shit at a rate that was a sight to behold. Scaffolding cubes were replicated and dismissed throughout the twenty square kilometer dome.
Scaffolding cubes were magic constructs, used to create temporary stairs and scaffolding, made of light and virtual particles. Buildings could be created in a matter of hours and days rather than weeks and months like feeble human tech.
Bismuth Facet-J24 Hopper-31B and Pyrite Inclusion Sunstone Facet-A4 Cabochon-106 were both hardworking Gems and Legrandite's large scale earth moving was strong. A Legrandite had absurdly powerful geokinesis, capable of moving tens of millions of tons of stone and rock with some effort.
Terraformer Gems working in groups of thousands to remake a planet in the image of their Diamond's. They weren't quite as high ranking as Lapis Lazulis, with far less power with their Feldspar nature. She had helped with creating foundations, as well as with churning the soil while Olly constructed basic infrastructure. Along with numerous Excavation Poles we had altered the rock and soil, melting rock into a more diverse range of rock.
Sunstone was a tall Gem, who looked much like the fusion in bodily shape anyway. However instead of a tank top and shorts she wore an angular one piece uniform with puffy sleeves, crimson red at the top with mahogany red pants and high boots. A bulky thorax with a wasp-like waist, and large feet. Her face was more visible, a round face with apricot colored eyes and full lips surrounded by a mane of wild glowing hair.
She was officially in charge of the largest Gemforge on the planet, her centuries of work experience making her more suitable in its operation. This was a Hot forge, melting crystal and metal ore into armor and weapons and buildings and even vehicles.
"Your Illumination." She sounded distracted, the echo of stone against stone and metal hammer strikes faded. "Righty has been hard at work building a Warp Network, and we'll be finding a way to connect Venus and Mars quite soon." Righty was our Bismuth, an industrious little Gem. "As for me…I'm working on the casing for a Tellus Core, Stripes and Olly are both working on the core."
"That's a terraforming device isn't it?" I queried.
Sunstone grinned. "We'll drill this baby into the planet's core, the burst of magic will heat up the planet and create tectonic plates." I stared. "At the same time we'll be importing half a bar of Nitrogen and cracking oxygen from the planet and imported water." Probably from whatever gets liberated by heating up the planet with bullshit as well as other sources.
"You're going to build a planet cracking terraforming device with three people?" My song deadened the air.
Sunstone laughed. "Of course not. That would take us months, maybe even years. We're just starting the basics, the second wave will provide the remaining manpower to finish the device in a few days. Plus a lot more equipment and parts."
"How…how long does it normally take the Empire to terraform planets?" It was a serious question.
"One to six months?" She made a so-so gesture with her large hands. "Heard the second wave is a few hundred strong, closer to a thousand even. Should be enough to remain within that kind of schedule." So I might soon get a thousand subjects, a thousand Gems in my court. That wasn't intimidating at all.
"I also heard the Lapidary is pretty much done isn't it?"
"We've been getting steady shipments of ichor bottles from home, we've got tens of thousands of gallons of the stuff." She shrugged, and I was really not surprised at how efficient Gems were anymore. The entirety of Gale Crater was going to be domed over within two weeks and opened up once the entire planet was at the first stage of terraforming. "You'll be using the thing once we're at the stage to select flora and fauna on a planetary scale."
Hmm…
"Right, I'll be checking up on some other things." She lazily waved, her eyes squinting in a broad smile. I jumped higher in the lower gravity well, but I could easily match myself to the planet if I felt like it.
I Warped back to Earth, and headed towards the practice field, shaded by trees I had healed. I chewed on my lip, fangs carefully inching forward. I had been practicing my powers, and I was going back to doing that once again. I floated from step to step, having gotten control over the power. Barely.
I swept my hand in front of, and a number of light red hexagons formed in front of me. Not quite a shield, but it was the closest I had come so far. I clenched my fist, turning my head towards a nearby reflective pool of water. I was male as I was most days, and I opened my mouth to see my fangs had stopped growing.
I rubbed my chin, noting the trimmed stubble, down to a more comfortable level. Thicker beards had never suited me and were too scratchy, so I had gone with this. No beard made me look too young in my opinion since I was only 5'3, though I had grown an inch in the last month.
Power first, admiring myself in my reflection…never?
I braced myself, and focused the sensation of energy and roiling light. I let the memory-data from Starry in. The coiling of power to limbs capable of snapping steel like balsa, the speed and strength of a Euhedral Quartz. Which paled in comparison to the raw power of a Diamond.
The world rushed past me as I sprinted, cerise edging in on my vision. There was the crack of sound, the whistling of wind, and the parting of light where I ran. I stopped on a dime, a single remaining stomp leaving a crater half a meter wide.
I could hear my blood pumping in my ear, and I could hear the forest grow nice and quiet, animals unnerved by the sonic explosion. There was something that felt good about letting my power ride, my song twisting in joy. So I continued.
I wreathed my hands in crimson flames, and moved just short of supersonic speeds. Luckily I didn't have to spend years of puberty developing my body, it could take the force and vitality of a Diamond without cracking at the seams.
It was exhilarating to move at speeds no normal human could ever match, to move at speeds comparable to jet planes, and to hop around against the force of gravity. Would have been nice if I could go faster but my control was still far below the powers of one Steven Quartz Universe.
I jumped and placed barriers to step upwards into the sky until I hit the branches of a tree. I stopped there, clinging to the branch, and lounging after I shimmied my hips a bit. I practiced my shapeshifting this time, taking an image and demanding my body take the form for myself.
I shivered as I felt bones shift and hair sprout, and when I finished laid a wide black paw down. I snapped my jaw in a yawn to reveal my teeth, and dropped down to inspect my reflection.
A black Jaguar with a smug look of triumph and a light red Diamond on its belly. Three hundred pounds of apex predator, and proof of my unnatural proficiency with shapeshifting. Though a lot of it had gotten a boost from Starry, she was a changeling warrior. Gems trained to use their shapeshifting to the fullest in battle.
A mix of training sessions and data patching had advanced my skills. From what I could tell I was picking up shapeshifting faster than Steven did. It was likely just a natural talent of mine, or the programming of my Gem was…more compatible maybe?
I leaped and twisted in the air, spun with a lifted leg as I shifted back to human form. Creating and editing my body pattern, one of an array of tricks I was learning to pick up. In a corner of my consciousness I find the form and power I seek.
In an easy twist of my hips, I was back to being a girl. It was one of the easier uses of my power, harder than merely making tweaks to my base form but easier than say turning myself into animals or mythical creatures. I turned on my heels, shifting my shorts into a skirt(well skirted shorts…) to add a little extra flair.
Then I went back to shorts since I didn't feel like dealing with that article of clothing right as of now. I adjusted my posture, and lifted the top of my shirt to cool me off.
There was a chime in the distance, a discordant note of the outcomes shifting out of my favor. I pressed my lip together and someone stepped out a sudden Warp stream.
"Brenda!" Fuschia came out of the Warp, her expression nervous and uncertain. "You need to find Elle, she's sent herself through a Warp Pad by mistake. I See, I foresee…there'll be less trouble if you go."
I squared my shoulders. "I'll go. Any tips?"
"When the time comes, don't let yourself be seen."
A little ambiguous but sure.
I floated on air as I searched for Elle, vaguely detecting her from the small amounts of my ichor I had given her. For healing purposes when she got scrapes and bruises. Not enough to know where she is but more than enough to know her status was…fine?
The Ruby squad, who were officially called the Nova Team within the aegis of Starry were accompanying me. Aventurine was close by, blending into the forest with her coloration. Starry was searching another part of the forest, using her floating power to do so.
I already knew that Rose Quartzes did share some of her powers, though none scaled to her capabilities because they weren't Diamond. It was something like Sapphire's floating and burst speed acceleration, but weaponized by Quartz. I had definitely confirmed most Gems were many times faster than humans, though the gulf was smaller in their world.
Humans in their world were tougher than mine, some notable difference in the laws of physics or a lack of certain energies guaranteed it would be so. At least up until they had punched a hole in my reality, causing things to leak through. It was likely why they placed precaution-weapons across my home galaxy. Just in case anything popped up with the sudden influx of a force native to a higher, greater reality.
I was keying in on her presence since her medication was enhanced by some of my ichor. It was mostly White and Blue, with a little Pink and…Red? Sure Pink and Red. There was something in the air, and a sense of dread on top of it. It put me on edge and the Rubies were no different.
All five of them in fact.
Elle had accidentally teleported herself, calling out to one of my Corals near a warp pad for comfort when she got a bit anxious. One of the warp pads closer to a town, newly placed. From what Fuschua had told me with an uncertain expression.
I breathed in, and divined the patterns, I read the very level of carbon-dioxide in the air, and tasted an excess along with a rising level of nitrous oxide, carbon monoxide and even methane.
Fire, a wildfire. Fuck.
In a blink of an eye I was moving away from the warp pad, following my sense of danger, the negative outcomes I could reach out to on the periphery of my mind.
The heat was growing heavier, and I flinched when a tree erupted in fire, yellow-white flames spreading endlessly. I divined the patterns again, and scowled.
This wasn't natural, I looked back and saw a glimpse of cigarette smoke and sparks. I blinked, returning my mind to the present, and how I had traced the patterns back to the past…it was amazing.
They had mentioned how Gems could see and deduct and comprehend cause and effect, that they all navigated the multiverse of possibilities with Sapphires as the most powerful of their type. But I didn't expect anything like… that.
And I was still learning, and it made me excited. But it was overridden by a fear for others.
"Where would I be if I was upset, warped into a forest fire with only the companionship of a cat-dog-worm?" I turned, going northwest.
I ran, easily rolling around fires and flame and my skin didn't burn at the roiling heat of burning forest. It was protected under the invisible wreath of my Aura, an enduring strength and vitality. I felt a presence, and turned with a snarl before finding myself staring at a large raven.
"Here!" I flinched at the call, high pitched and pulsing. It wasn't one of the Gems, and it wasn't human, it was…oh right.
I craned my neck to a tree that wasn't yet on fire, where one of the odd crows that called this forest home wobbled unsteadily. They were large, about two feet tall and seemed proficient enough at flight. They were colored black with a white ring of feathers around their neck shining in ultraviolet purples and blues.
I had picked up words and phrases from their distant cries, and simpler calls from smaller normal crow species. Which had implications on the intelligence and sophont nature of corvids.
"Well crows were one of the species that time man had special interest in." Though if my hunch was right I couldn't consider him on the up and up. If he had done what I thought he did…it was incredibly unethical and morally dubious.
I grabbed the crow, and followed my instinct by kissing it on the face and bubbling him away, tapping the top and sending him home. I followed the direction it had pointed me towards.
…
Wait.
"I didn't think that was going to work." And why was I talking to myself?
I sprinted, and honed in on Elle, catching a flash of her blonde locks. I could feel her panic, her fear, her confusion. I caught her power reacting violently, dust and stone and glass and pillars of salt. A Coral was singing to her, keeping back the flames with pyrokinesis.
"Elle!" My song wavered and I could see the relief on her clouded eyes. "It's going to be okay, I'll get us out of here. Aventurine and the Rubies are close by, just hang o—" There was a creaking of wood, and I paled as a massive tree broke, a hundred foot tall pillar of burning lumber raring to crush her.
No.
No.
No.
I didn't remember crossing the half a hundred feet in the blink of an eye, or the songs of the other Gems picking up on my distress. But I did remember the shadow of the tree as it fell in seeming slow motion. A corner of my own mind, one of a thousand pieces of a greater whole.
I needed a shape, a form, a memory to imprint, a bulwark against destruction. I saw a shape in my memory, the self image of another…no, it wasn't mine. I looked at another, at something a little sillier in retrospect. Another indestructible shield, of a man wanting to be a hero, a copy of a legend. A faker.
But this wouldn't be fake, it was an inspiration, a reflection of me.
Amaranth bloomed in front of my eyes, and unfolded into a five petaled projection of light and magic. A red hibiscus shield folded over us, and the tree shattered against the unyielding nature of my shield.
…
Oh my stars.
The tree rolled to the side, and Elle started coughing. My shield collapsed, and I felt a sudden burst of exhaustion. I fell to my knees, heaving as my strength left me. Elle let out a soft hum, with concern on her facial expression.
"I'm fine, are you hurt?" She shook her head silently, rubbing her arms. "The Gems are on their way, it shouldn't be long." I picked her up, and rushed away from the fire. I found a clearing, where Aventurine was waiting. I dropped Elle in her burly arms.
"Get us to the Warp, use your barriers." I hastily nodded, and the two of us took off while the Rubies stayed behind to fight the forest fire. I generated barriers, the flames licking away but failing to break the magic hexagons.
It didn't take us more than a few seconds to arrive at the Warp Pad, but before I could even think to voice my sudden dread, I took a massive burst of compressed flame. I was slammed against a tree, and from a lone fire a woman emerged.
She had badly cut dark brown hair, green eyes and pale skin. Her red and black clothing was messy and cut up, and her eyes glowed like fire. She wasn't looking at me, staring at Aventurine with a hateful look.
"Stay away from her!" There was no logic, an almost sociopathic madness in those eyes. Flames wrapped around her like chains of gold and amber fire, and she shot a barrage.
One spear of hardened fire knocked the wind out of me, and I cracked my head against a loose boulder.
"I'll take care of this, take her back through the Warp!" Aventurine commanded, and I was suddenly being carried by Starry. The next moment I was on the warp pad, and a hundred foot tree was ripped from its roots.
"Wait a moment the—" there was a crack that lingered as we vanished into the warp stream. Which was flickering, and we were ripped from the stream in midair and crashed against the Home Temple.
We rolled at the final stretch after bouncing, and I let out a groan. My exhaustion from summoning my weapon was catching up with me…
Oh.
I guess I'm going down.
Bye.
…
"Did anyone get the number of that bitch? " I groaned awake, song distorting in my sudden return to wakefulness. I rubbed the back of my sore neck, my glitching song stabilizing.
"Unfortunately not." Fuschia walked into my room with a crown. "This wasn't the best outcome I predicted, I'm still learning to compensate for your presence and shards can be more…nebulous to predict without data."
"Did…did they get back?"
"Yes. Though there's been complications."
"Complications?" I tilted my head.
"The Protectorate now knows of Aventurine and one of the Rubies' existence." There was a long silence, as no words came to me.
…
"Any good news?"
Her smile wasn't encouraging. "The second wave of colonists are on their way with a ship. We'll have more resources to deal with future problems."
I sagged into my bed. "I'm going back to sleep."
Fuschia snorted. "Fair enough."
…
What a shitty day.
I leaned forward, standing on the tips of my toes as I remained on call with Steven. Talking with him had become a daily occurrence, since he had advice on my powers that couldn't be gathered from my imperfect knowledge of his universe.
I grinned, kneading my hands together, claws inching forward in excitement. "So. We're supposed to be super strong right? Able to lift a lot of mass?" I was getting stronger, and I had more Gems to test my strength against.
Steven grinned, a soft look entering his eyes. "So you want to know how much I've lifted in the past?"
"Just a little curious, I can't really help it." The Quartz had demonstrated their strength by lifting blocks of stone the size of small houses, hundreds of tons of mass without any strain. The Rubies could lift SUVS easily enough, and they were tough little guys.
"Well there was that time I lifted a Terraforming Injector, about the mass of a container ship." So he had lifted a few hundred thousand tons at his weakest. "Then there was that time I sparred with a Paired, a human. A lot like the Alexandria you mentioned. Ended up knocking down a mountain during the fight. She helped me fix it though…" There was notable amusement, his song twisting though dulled by machinery.
"So will I be able to do that someday?" He raised an eyebrow, his toothy smile notable.
"And what would you do with that strength?" There was something in his song, not judging but weighting instead.
"I don't know, I guess I use it to move stuff? Debris from natural disasters, maybe punching passages through mountains? Constructive things. I can't see many uses that don't involve turning people into red mist." Which was never going to be my cup of tea.
"Suppose you're not much for fighting." Steven made the observation, and I didn't disagree.
"I would probably fight if I had to, but no…that's just not the kind of person I am." Maybe that would change with my new Diamond brain, but I didn't know that. "But that brings us to a better question. Teach me how to set shit on fire?"
Steven choked with bubbly laughter, and I preened.
I picked up a single boulder, roughly five meters in diameter with a single hand. Instead of it crumbling under my hands or my fragile human bones snapping like twigs. I guessed it was a weird touch-TK kind of power all Gems had, that or they had the precise foresight to touch items at the perfect angle to prevent breakage.
Which wasn't the answer because that's stupid.
My hands burst into cerise fire, energy spreading to shatter the rock. I grabbed a stone from the rubble, idly sharpening my claws. I heard the ring of battle, and murmured to myself that the Quartzes were rallying.
I launched myself forward, and towards the clash with an excited snap of my teeth. I felt excitement at seeing a Gem sparring session for myself. Desert Jasper and Carnelian were both sitting down, their cheery songs hitting the air with shifting sand and maracas, as well as beating fire and the clash of steel against steel. The Rubies were watching intently, especially Blood Pigeon Ruby.
The air shattered like glass as the two Quartz met head to head, each moving with their own style. Aventurine fought with a predatory grace, wild movements, instant twists of her heel, raking slashes while aiming at joints and weak points with precise punches and jabs.
Her claw-gauntlets were wrapped within green solid electricity, constructs of deadly energy. She fought like a beast, power brimming with strikes that would cleave tank armor. Aventurine spun on her heels to avoid a strike from Starry, and detonated her electrical power like a bomb in the pink Quartz' face.
The blast was blocked by the bladed shield that was Starry's signature weapon, the massive hulk of steel-like light groaning under explosive strain. She shifted her grip, and turned the pointed shield into a blunt instrument of war.
Where Aventurine displayed violence and animalistic strategy and power, Starry's fighting style was a dance of death. She spun like a top, her shield used as both a bludgeon and a blade. It was a rooted stance, yet loose enough to slip through supersonic strikes. Her battle-foresight was amazing, twisting past Aventurine's lightning the moment it leaves her fingertips.
I had been watching the Quartz spar for two days now since the initial introduction and briefing with the remaining Gems of the first wave. We had four Quartz at the moment, a Carnelian from the Beta Kindergarten on Earth, a Desert Jasper from a colony about two hundred light years away, and of course Starry and Aventurine.
The battle was faster than humanly possible and yet my eyes tracked them all the same, a tinge of cerise at the corner of my vision. Starry smashed her shield into Aventurine's chest, and it detonated with a wave of magenta fire. A free arm shifted into a hammer, crashing into her side.
Aventurine rolled with the punch, and curled into a ball, covered in a bright sphere of hard electrical energy. She smashed into the skillful Rose Quartz like the fist of god, and dropped to all fours to curve behind Starry's devastating axe kicks. She grabbed the plush pink Gem from behind, and the ground shattered with the force of the suplex. Starry compressed herself down, folding out of the hold before shifting back to her original size.
A foot caught itself in Aventurine's gut as she pulled herself back up, Starry summoned dual shields and slammed the both of them down on her opponent's head. She detonated one to stagger the green Quartz, and dispelled it in the immediate instant afterward. Her hand became a jagged clawed hand, and a slash left glowing streaks and scuffs along her fellow soldier's surface.
A crater formed where Aventurine landed a kick, Starry hovering out of the way. The two released a warsong, and I followed the beat in the air, the possibilities shifting again and again. The Rose Quartz rolled away from a blast of lightning, and her remaining shield was thrust into Aventurine's stomach.
Aventurine instinctively snapped her jaws, pushing the shield back and backslapping Starry with a devastating clawed strike. I heard the whirling of blades as the two stepped up their game, turning into blurs of movement and power. Starry was spinning, circling her body to use her opponent's momentum against her.
The green Quartz slammed her claws into the ground and detonated it with solid electricity. She ripped the pink Gem's weapon away, and an axe kick dropped her onto her knees.
"Yield!" She placed her claw at Starry's neck, and the Rose Quartz smirked. She changed form, splitting into a mass of limbs and claws. The Quartz hopped on grasshopper legs, and beat wings of jagged hardened light based flesh. She took an arrow shape, and the sound barrier broke two times over as she catapulted forward.
Aventurine couldn't dodge, and a massive shield formed at the last second, creating an explosion where Starry crashed with immense force. I blinked, unable to see past the dust besides some UV reflections and flickers of heat. The dust parted by something(Legrandite, cough, cough) and I stared.
Starry had one foot on Aventurine's chest, her boots shifted into cleaving blades while her burning shield hung over the green Gem's neck. Her usual flirty smile was replaced by a savage grin, her fangs flicking out in excitement.
Goes to show she was still a Quartz at heart, not that there was anything wrong with that.
"You got a good look at that?" Starry called out, pulling a ragged Aventurine back onto her feet.
Thumbs up, and a casual melody. "I'd hope so, since I watched most of it." I replied dryly, and the Quartz chuckled. She jumped, reducing her mass as all Gems did to do so. Before I found blink she brushed her lips against my cheek, an electric flare of muscle memory surging into my Diamond brain.
I scowled and tried to slap her back, letting out a pulsing warning song. "Quit teasing me!"
She looked genuinely apologetic. "Sorry. I was just…trying to pass some of my memory-data to you. I forget you're still…getting used to this."
"It's fine. You just surprised me." I admitted, getting used to Gems was difficult but not impossible. "I'm just…not very good at giving or taking affection." I flexed my hand, enjoying the silent flick of pearlescent claws.
She let out a gentle huff. "We should spar later, but you wanted to inspect your colony didn't you?" She reminded me, and I stood up on my toes.
"You're right. I should get on that." There was an awkward pause as I stood still.
She pushed me, lightly smacking me on the back. "Now shoo, sunshine. Shoo!"
"Yeah. Yeah. I'm going."
Man Gems really do work fast don't they?
I glanced around the expanded colony, where I could see our volunteer Bismuth building shit at a rate that was a sight to behold. Scaffolding cubes were replicated and dismissed throughout the twenty square kilometer dome.
Scaffolding cubes were magic constructs, used to create temporary stairs and scaffolding, made of light and virtual particles. Buildings could be created in a matter of hours and days rather than weeks and months like feeble human tech.
Bismuth Facet-J24 Hopper-31B and Pyrite Inclusion Sunstone Facet-A4 Cabochon-106 were both hardworking Gems and Legrandite's large scale earth moving was strong. A Legrandite had absurdly powerful geokinesis, capable of moving tens of millions of tons of stone and rock with some effort.
Terraformer Gems working in groups of thousands to remake a planet in the image of their Diamond's. They weren't quite as high ranking as Lapis Lazulis, with far less power with their Feldspar nature. She had helped with creating foundations, as well as with churning the soil while Olly constructed basic infrastructure. Along with numerous Excavation Poles we had altered the rock and soil, melting rock into a more diverse range of rock.
Sunstone was a tall Gem, who looked much like the fusion in bodily shape anyway. However instead of a tank top and shorts she wore an angular one piece uniform with puffy sleeves, crimson red at the top with mahogany red pants and high boots. A bulky thorax with a wasp-like waist, and large feet. Her face was more visible, a round face with apricot colored eyes and full lips surrounded by a mane of wild glowing hair.
She was officially in charge of the largest Gemforge on the planet, her centuries of work experience making her more suitable in its operation. This was a Hot forge, melting crystal and metal ore into armor and weapons and buildings and even vehicles.
"Your Illumination." She sounded distracted, the echo of stone against stone and metal hammer strikes faded. "Righty has been hard at work building a Warp Network, and we'll be finding a way to connect Venus and Mars quite soon." Righty was our Bismuth, an industrious little Gem. "As for me…I'm working on the casing for a Tellus Core, Stripes and Olly are both working on the core."
"That's a terraforming device isn't it?" I queried.
Sunstone grinned. "We'll drill this baby into the planet's core, the burst of magic will heat up the planet and create tectonic plates." I stared. "At the same time we'll be importing half a bar of Nitrogen and cracking oxygen from the planet and imported water." Probably from whatever gets liberated by heating up the planet with bullshit as well as other sources.
"You're going to build a planet cracking terraforming device with three people?" My song deadened the air.
Sunstone laughed. "Of course not. That would take us months, maybe even years. We're just starting the basics, the second wave will provide the remaining manpower to finish the device in a few days. Plus a lot more equipment and parts."
"How…how long does it normally take the Empire to terraform planets?" It was a serious question.
"One to six months?" She made a so-so gesture with her large hands. "Heard the second wave is a few hundred strong, closer to a thousand even. Should be enough to remain within that kind of schedule." So I might soon get a thousand subjects, a thousand Gems in my court. That wasn't intimidating at all.
"I also heard the Lapidary is pretty much done isn't it?"
"We've been getting steady shipments of ichor bottles from home, we've got tens of thousands of gallons of the stuff." She shrugged, and I was really not surprised at how efficient Gems were anymore. The entirety of Gale Crater was going to be domed over within two weeks and opened up once the entire planet was at the first stage of terraforming. "You'll be using the thing once we're at the stage to select flora and fauna on a planetary scale."
Hmm…
"Right, I'll be checking up on some other things." She lazily waved, her eyes squinting in a broad smile. I jumped higher in the lower gravity well, but I could easily match myself to the planet if I felt like it.
I Warped back to Earth, and headed towards the practice field, shaded by trees I had healed. I chewed on my lip, fangs carefully inching forward. I had been practicing my powers, and I was going back to doing that once again. I floated from step to step, having gotten control over the power. Barely.
I swept my hand in front of, and a number of light red hexagons formed in front of me. Not quite a shield, but it was the closest I had come so far. I clenched my fist, turning my head towards a nearby reflective pool of water. I was male as I was most days, and I opened my mouth to see my fangs had stopped growing.
I rubbed my chin, noting the trimmed stubble, down to a more comfortable level. Thicker beards had never suited me and were too scratchy, so I had gone with this. No beard made me look too young in my opinion since I was only 5'3, though I had grown an inch in the last month.
Power first, admiring myself in my reflection…never?
I braced myself, and focused the sensation of energy and roiling light. I let the memory-data from Starry in. The coiling of power to limbs capable of snapping steel like balsa, the speed and strength of a Euhedral Quartz. Which paled in comparison to the raw power of a Diamond.
The world rushed past me as I sprinted, cerise edging in on my vision. There was the crack of sound, the whistling of wind, and the parting of light where I ran. I stopped on a dime, a single remaining stomp leaving a crater half a meter wide.
I could hear my blood pumping in my ear, and I could hear the forest grow nice and quiet, animals unnerved by the sonic explosion. There was something that felt good about letting my power ride, my song twisting in joy. So I continued.
I wreathed my hands in crimson flames, and moved just short of supersonic speeds. Luckily I didn't have to spend years of puberty developing my body, it could take the force and vitality of a Diamond without cracking at the seams.
It was exhilarating to move at speeds no normal human could ever match, to move at speeds comparable to jet planes, and to hop around against the force of gravity. Would have been nice if I could go faster but my control was still far below the powers of one Steven Quartz Universe.
I jumped and placed barriers to step upwards into the sky until I hit the branches of a tree. I stopped there, clinging to the branch, and lounging after I shimmied my hips a bit. I practiced my shapeshifting this time, taking an image and demanding my body take the form for myself.
I shivered as I felt bones shift and hair sprout, and when I finished laid a wide black paw down. I snapped my jaw in a yawn to reveal my teeth, and dropped down to inspect my reflection.
A black Jaguar with a smug look of triumph and a light red Diamond on its belly. Three hundred pounds of apex predator, and proof of my unnatural proficiency with shapeshifting. Though a lot of it had gotten a boost from Starry, she was a changeling warrior. Gems trained to use their shapeshifting to the fullest in battle.
A mix of training sessions and data patching had advanced my skills. From what I could tell I was picking up shapeshifting faster than Steven did. It was likely just a natural talent of mine, or the programming of my Gem was…more compatible maybe?
I leaped and twisted in the air, spun with a lifted leg as I shifted back to human form. Creating and editing my body pattern, one of an array of tricks I was learning to pick up. In a corner of my consciousness I find the form and power I seek.
In an easy twist of my hips, I was back to being a girl. It was one of the easier uses of my power, harder than merely making tweaks to my base form but easier than say turning myself into animals or mythical creatures. I turned on my heels, shifting my shorts into a skirt(well skirted shorts…) to add a little extra flair.
Then I went back to shorts since I didn't feel like dealing with that article of clothing right as of now. I adjusted my posture, and lifted the top of my shirt to cool me off.
There was a chime in the distance, a discordant note of the outcomes shifting out of my favor. I pressed my lip together and someone stepped out a sudden Warp stream.
"Brenda!" Fuschia came out of the Warp, her expression nervous and uncertain. "You need to find Elle, she's sent herself through a Warp Pad by mistake. I See, I foresee…there'll be less trouble if you go."
I squared my shoulders. "I'll go. Any tips?"
"When the time comes, don't let yourself be seen."
A little ambiguous but sure.
I floated on air as I searched for Elle, vaguely detecting her from the small amounts of my ichor I had given her. For healing purposes when she got scrapes and bruises. Not enough to know where she is but more than enough to know her status was…fine?
The Ruby squad, who were officially called the Nova Team within the aegis of Starry were accompanying me. Aventurine was close by, blending into the forest with her coloration. Starry was searching another part of the forest, using her floating power to do so.
I already knew that Rose Quartzes did share some of her powers, though none scaled to her capabilities because they weren't Diamond. It was something like Sapphire's floating and burst speed acceleration, but weaponized by Quartz. I had definitely confirmed most Gems were many times faster than humans, though the gulf was smaller in their world.
Humans in their world were tougher than mine, some notable difference in the laws of physics or a lack of certain energies guaranteed it would be so. At least up until they had punched a hole in my reality, causing things to leak through. It was likely why they placed precaution-weapons across my home galaxy. Just in case anything popped up with the sudden influx of a force native to a higher, greater reality.
I was keying in on her presence since her medication was enhanced by some of my ichor. It was mostly White and Blue, with a little Pink and…Red? Sure Pink and Red. There was something in the air, and a sense of dread on top of it. It put me on edge and the Rubies were no different.
All five of them in fact.
Elle had accidentally teleported herself, calling out to one of my Corals near a warp pad for comfort when she got a bit anxious. One of the warp pads closer to a town, newly placed. From what Fuschua had told me with an uncertain expression.
I breathed in, and divined the patterns, I read the very level of carbon-dioxide in the air, and tasted an excess along with a rising level of nitrous oxide, carbon monoxide and even methane.
Fire, a wildfire. Fuck.
In a blink of an eye I was moving away from the warp pad, following my sense of danger, the negative outcomes I could reach out to on the periphery of my mind.
The heat was growing heavier, and I flinched when a tree erupted in fire, yellow-white flames spreading endlessly. I divined the patterns again, and scowled.
This wasn't natural, I looked back and saw a glimpse of cigarette smoke and sparks. I blinked, returning my mind to the present, and how I had traced the patterns back to the past…it was amazing.
They had mentioned how Gems could see and deduct and comprehend cause and effect, that they all navigated the multiverse of possibilities with Sapphires as the most powerful of their type. But I didn't expect anything like… that.
And I was still learning, and it made me excited. But it was overridden by a fear for others.
"Where would I be if I was upset, warped into a forest fire with only the companionship of a cat-dog-worm?" I turned, going northwest.
I ran, easily rolling around fires and flame and my skin didn't burn at the roiling heat of burning forest. It was protected under the invisible wreath of my Aura, an enduring strength and vitality. I felt a presence, and turned with a snarl before finding myself staring at a large raven.
"Here!" I flinched at the call, high pitched and pulsing. It wasn't one of the Gems, and it wasn't human, it was…oh right.
I craned my neck to a tree that wasn't yet on fire, where one of the odd crows that called this forest home wobbled unsteadily. They were large, about two feet tall and seemed proficient enough at flight. They were colored black with a white ring of feathers around their neck shining in ultraviolet purples and blues.
I had picked up words and phrases from their distant cries, and simpler calls from smaller normal crow species. Which had implications on the intelligence and sophont nature of corvids.
"Well crows were one of the species that time man had special interest in." Though if my hunch was right I couldn't consider him on the up and up. If he had done what I thought he did…it was incredibly unethical and morally dubious.
I grabbed the crow, and followed my instinct by kissing it on the face and bubbling him away, tapping the top and sending him home. I followed the direction it had pointed me towards.
…
Wait.
"I didn't think that was going to work." And why was I talking to myself?
I sprinted, and honed in on Elle, catching a flash of her blonde locks. I could feel her panic, her fear, her confusion. I caught her power reacting violently, dust and stone and glass and pillars of salt. A Coral was singing to her, keeping back the flames with pyrokinesis.
"Elle!" My song wavered and I could see the relief on her clouded eyes. "It's going to be okay, I'll get us out of here. Aventurine and the Rubies are close by, just hang o—" There was a creaking of wood, and I paled as a massive tree broke, a hundred foot tall pillar of burning lumber raring to crush her.
No.
No.
No.
I didn't remember crossing the half a hundred feet in the blink of an eye, or the songs of the other Gems picking up on my distress. But I did remember the shadow of the tree as it fell in seeming slow motion. A corner of my own mind, one of a thousand pieces of a greater whole.
I needed a shape, a form, a memory to imprint, a bulwark against destruction. I saw a shape in my memory, the self image of another…no, it wasn't mine. I looked at another, at something a little sillier in retrospect. Another indestructible shield, of a man wanting to be a hero, a copy of a legend. A faker.
But this wouldn't be fake, it was an inspiration, a reflection of me.
Amaranth bloomed in front of my eyes, and unfolded into a five petaled projection of light and magic. A red hibiscus shield folded over us, and the tree shattered against the unyielding nature of my shield.
…
Oh my stars.
The tree rolled to the side, and Elle started coughing. My shield collapsed, and I felt a sudden burst of exhaustion. I fell to my knees, heaving as my strength left me. Elle let out a soft hum, with concern on her facial expression.
"I'm fine, are you hurt?" She shook her head silently, rubbing her arms. "The Gems are on their way, it shouldn't be long." I picked her up, and rushed away from the fire. I found a clearing, where Aventurine was waiting. I dropped Elle in her burly arms.
"Get us to the Warp, use your barriers." I hastily nodded, and the two of us took off while the Rubies stayed behind to fight the forest fire. I generated barriers, the flames licking away but failing to break the magic hexagons.
It didn't take us more than a few seconds to arrive at the Warp Pad, but before I could even think to voice my sudden dread, I took a massive burst of compressed flame. I was slammed against a tree, and from a lone fire a woman emerged.
She had badly cut dark brown hair, green eyes and pale skin. Her red and black clothing was messy and cut up, and her eyes glowed like fire. She wasn't looking at me, staring at Aventurine with a hateful look.
"Stay away from her!" There was no logic, an almost sociopathic madness in those eyes. Flames wrapped around her like chains of gold and amber fire, and she shot a barrage.
One spear of hardened fire knocked the wind out of me, and I cracked my head against a loose boulder.
"I'll take care of this, take her back through the Warp!" Aventurine commanded, and I was suddenly being carried by Starry. The next moment I was on the warp pad, and a hundred foot tree was ripped from its roots.
"Wait a moment the—" there was a crack that lingered as we vanished into the warp stream. Which was flickering, and we were ripped from the stream in midair and crashed against the Home Temple.
We rolled at the final stretch after bouncing, and I let out a groan. My exhaustion from summoning my weapon was catching up with me…
Oh.
I guess I'm going down.
Bye.
…
"Did anyone get the number of that bitch? " I groaned awake, song distorting in my sudden return to wakefulness. I rubbed the back of my sore neck, my glitching song stabilizing.
"Unfortunately not." Fuschia walked into my room with a crown. "This wasn't the best outcome I predicted, I'm still learning to compensate for your presence and shards can be more…nebulous to predict without data."
"Did…did they get back?"
"Yes. Though there's been complications."
"Complications?" I tilted my head.
"The Protectorate now knows of Aventurine and one of the Rubies' existence." There was a long silence, as no words came to me.
…
"Any good news?"
Her smile wasn't encouraging. "The second wave of colonists are on their way with a ship. We'll have more resources to deal with future problems."
I sagged into my bed. "I'm going back to sleep."
Fuschia snorted. "Fair enough."
…
What a shitty day.
Symphony 3.a
- Location
- Chula Vista
Symphony 3.a
Flechette glanced over to her fellow Wards as the sounds of battle filled the nearby forest, the sound of crackling flames and splintering wood evident to her ears. The team had been practicing when Chevalier had popped up to rest at the base. He was on the trail of a strong cape from what she had heard and was in the area.
Bastion and Chevalier were both readying themselves, and in a blink the fighting entered the grounds of the training area. A green blur rolled around burning flames, twisting serpents of yellow-white fire coiling against the blur.
The figure slowed and Flechette felt her grip on her arbalest tighten, her instincts screaming that something was wrong. It grew worse when she actually saw the person in the light.
They… she was large, making Chevalier in his armor look small, and her body was wide in a way no human could be, yet remaining in the trappings of humanity, a colorful parody. No human was over seven feet tall and able to move like she did, no human had green skin, and wild light green curls of wild hair, or eyes like burning shards of emerald. She smiled, revealing tusks and fangs, clicking with malcontent.
"Stop this…you're only going to get yourself hurt." Flechette shuddered at the sound, the word, the song. It was the beat of fists on metal, the spark of electricity with strumming guitar strings.
"SHUT UP!" Another figure emerges from the flames, revealing a dirty, tired and maddened redheaded woman. "YOU HAVE HER!" The woman compressed the flames, and they roiled in a thick wave toward the green woman.
Flechette thought she was seeing a woman being burned alive. But she didn't hear any screams, only a note of amusement in the air, from that weaving song.
"We found her half-starved in the middle of the woods, we didn't even know who she was then. And I'm certainly not leaving her in the hands of you." The giant woman cracked her knuckles, and Flechette swallowed as she saw the curling claws from large toned fingers and hands. "Nor in the hands of whatever quack was running her wing."
The green woman emerged from the flames no worse for wear, her eyes glittering against the backlight of the flames. There was a snap of the sound barrier breaking. A brief electric shock, and the redhead was down like a puppet cut from it's strings.
The large woman rolled her shoulders, relaxing minutely. She dropped someone hanging to her back, and shock kicked in for Flechette. She recognized the girl from some threat classifications she had gotten a glimpse at.
Labyrinth. A Shaker 12 with an uncontrollable power. Fuck.
The girl's power radiated outwards, grass turning to bloody glass and back again, stone rising in twisted geometric patterns. The green woman placed a hand on the child's neck, a crooning hiss shaking the air.
A flash of cerise light burst in waves, and the power radiated inwards, leaving little else other than stray black lines of salt. Flechette felt just a little nauseated at how close those sharp butchering claws were to Labyrinth's neck. The green cape moved her hand away, gently rubbing at the girl's back.
"You good?" Her rumbling song questioned, and Flechette glanced at Jouster as he gripped his lance, while Bastion and Chevalier both tensed.
"Yes…it's getting easier." The blonde teenager admitted, at a whisper Flechette only heard because she was closer.
"Nova squad. What's the status of the forest fire?" Flechette felt her instincts flare, and she was forced to twist out of the way of a burning branch, as a crown fire burned bright and hot. The forest was in flames, and short stout figures danced within them.
"We need to get the Wards away from the fire, Bastion take the—" The forest fire leapt from the treetops, raining down in her direction. Her sense of timing was her only warning. And she was too slow.
So this is how I die then?
Something small and red moved in front of her, and caught the flames in their small hands. The flames sputtered and died in the hands of her savior, and she jumped back with the time they bought for her. But she didn't have to as the flames were swallowed up into the open fist of the small red person in front of her.
Tiny, blocky, and red with muscled arms and legs, and a frilly half-skirt, cape thing. Her dark cubic hair flickered with heat, and the forest fire died around her.
"You alright?" Her voice was sweet and calming to Flechette's ears, despite the almost feral smile she was displaying, despite the not human teeth she was flashing her.
"I-I'm okay." Despite her suspicion she responded to the cape's question, and the red woman backed away, hopping over to the green cape. She was suddenly shadowed by Chevalier, his blade gleaming in the sun. Her heart pounded, if it came to a fight…
"You've got a name?" Chevalier called out, his tone even and she saw the predatory bent to the two strange cape's movements. There was a timing, a trajectory that was mechanically perfect in their steps, in their walks.
How long have they been fighting to be this well trained?
"Aventurine." There was a subtle clicking bite, like birdsong, like the warning growl of a lion. "Seems your asylums aren't the most secure, finding two escaped patients in a week isn't a good sign." Biting sarcasm was how Aventurine responded.
"You took her down cleanly, you must be quite experienced." Chevalier complimented, and there was a subtle shift in Aventurine's posture.
"I was made for fighting," Flechette swallowed as her arms flexed with inhuman strength. "And I don't have time to chat, I've got things to do. See you Chevalier. " The cape's name warped along her song as Horseman, Rider, Hunter. There was an aggressive twitch from the two adults that left Flechette with anxiety, cloying at her.
"There are things that need to be cleared about your involvement, and the involvement of your…team. You need to come with us." Aventurine's eyes sharpened, and her grin became more toothy.
"No," she rejected with a grumbling tone. "I don't think I will." Not today was left unsaid. The air above their heads shimmered, and Aventurine, Labyrinth, and the little red woman vanished into thin air.
"What…what just happened?" Jouster asked what they were all thinking.
Flechette had no answer for him.
Chevalier rubbed his face, pinching the bridge of his nose. The Ward meetings had been a success from what he had heard. But today was a disaster. A cape battle had been inches away from burning the place to the ground, and they had the cape responsible in custody. An escaped patient from Parahuman Asylum East. Who had then been defeated by a single unknown possible Case 53, part of an unknown team with an unknown agenda.
His own mission had been knocked off course, only making it worse.
The fact they had apparently found Labyrinth and taken her in didn't help matters. He had a number of concerns on that front, but it was easy enough to deduce Aventurine had become attached to her. The softness in those pantherine eyes, and the way her voice became soothing and calm was good evidence. Then there was how his power saw nothing from them.
His power could see glimmers of other powers, phantom images, shadows connected to trigger events. His gaze had settled on Labyrinth instead, surrounded by the odd and intense nimbus of her power, and he shuddered at the memory of cerise scattering against the shadows.
He suspected some type of power interaction, but he couldn't tell what kind. A Stranger capable of blocking perception powers, a tinkertech device, or were their powers simply incompatible with his? Research had found no trace of a Case 53 like the two he had seen.
And without proof of wrongdoing, there wasn't much cause for investigation. Though it might be possible to find something due to their current holding of a single Parahuman like Labyrinth. But Parahuman law made those kinds of things a rather more difficult and complicated process however.
But his gut told him he wasn't dealing with one of the bad cases he had seen of young parahumans being taken in. Aventurine hadn't gone with him, but he heard it in her voice. It was not now, not never. Plus their probable Case 53 status gave them some leeway.
"Did we have any luck getting information from Mimi Brenton?" He asked Bastion, and his cape frowned.
"From what I can tell we're very lucky she ended up here rather than anywhere else."
Chevalier sat up. "Mind explaining that?" He was missing important context.
"From what I can tell, she missed a Slaughterhouse 9 visit…and with how her power works…"
His blood chilled. "And about her fight?"
Bastion sighed. "She wasn't very lucid during it, from what we've managed to find out a forest fire started when she found Labyrinth being guarded by Aventurine. She jumped to conclusions…"
"And nearly burned an entire forest and a Ward training ground to ashes?" Chevalier glanced at the glimmer of images around Bastion, faint shadows of memory and dreams.
And he had seen nothing from the two Case 53s, they were a blank space in his vision. At least one of them was a Brute/Mover, moving faster than humanly possible. Though whatever that was due to her sheer bulk or her power he couldn't be sure.He couldn't see even a lick of shadow, only a blinding cerise light.
"Did she say anything we can use?"
"Only that the…Case 53 protected Labyrinth from an uncontrolled fire. She didn't say how, she hadn't seen it."
Chevalier rubbed the back of his neck. "Then we'll have to wait on their terms."
"Wait?" Bastion questioned.
"Whoever is protecting Labyrinth, they aren't unwilling to make peace. And there's no reports of capes like them as villains or heroes. They could be rogues or new heroes keeping low." He knew there had to be hundreds if not thousands of parahumans who didn't fight often. "And likely didn't expect to end up with a cape like Labyrinth."
They might be people who couldn't or refused to enter the battle of heroes and villains. His power had rooted out a lot of them, though he told no one. He couldn't force people to join, and that was life.
He supposed they would have to wait and see.
"We've found her." His leader murmured, paging through reports from the various contacts they had gained over the past year.
Broad hands with ruined nails laid down on a table, turning the bulk of his body in her direction. "Is she alright?"
"Apparently she's a magnet for Case 53s," her tone was dry. "She was rescued by one, possibly leading a team. Contact didn't say."
"Perhaps she'll have a better time with them than with us?"
Faultline shrugged, shaking her head.
Gregor the Snail rapped his fingers against the hardwood table, examining the growths that marked the back of his pale hands. They had been searching on and off for the girl for over a week at this point. They had been responsible for taking her and thus responsible for losing her. That she had been caught up in a fight between her apparent rescuers and a cape that had escaped because of them didn't alleviate their guilt.
"Should we keep looking for her then?" Newter spoke up from his lazy reclination on a chair. "We have no idea what this cape team wants with her, and whether they can take care of her." There was genuine worry in the young man's voice, his tail flicking back and forth. He was young, fourteen in a world that didn't care for monsters.
"Fighting them isn't an option." Faultline replied, her tied back wavy black hair being brushed by her own hand. "Whoever protected her from that cape was strong enough and fast enough to break away from Chevalier and has access to either teleportation or some form of invisibility. It could even be tinkertech." Which meant that Elle had been found by someone with more resources than an upstart team of mercenaries.
"Fighting might not be necessary to begin with." Gregor commented, his words slow to keep his accent under control. "They acted in the defense of Elle, and rather than tearing through the Protectorate they chose to peacefully flee. They could be reasoned with instead."
Faultline blinked. "That might be simpler, but how would we even find them? The incident was in Piermont, and the only thing close by is…the White Mountains national park."
"That's like…thousands of square miles of forest isn't it? How are we going to find anything there?" Newter's tail continued to sway nervously.
Faultline pursed her lip. "We can narrow it down quite easily, if they're in there, the abandoned towns are going to have a lot of parts for tinkers to play with."
"There are at least half a dozen former towns within a few dozen miles of Piermont." Gregor pointed out, and he knew that didn't account for extreme range teleportation. They could be on the other side of the world for all they knew.
But it was worth a shot, and a possible group of new Case 53s might help them expand their search for the source of people like him.
They would make contact, and hope that the decision wouldn't bite them in the ass.
Nephrite Facet-413A Cabochon-197 was the captain of the Destiny Unbound. It was an Era 3 ship, a long range scouting ship, typically manned by five to ten Gems on a normal mission.
But weaving through the scorched insides of a continent sized planet eating abomination while her crew and their many passengers were all poofed was not a standard mission by any means.
"FRACK! THIS IS DIAMONDS-DAMNED BULLSHIT! " She used a human curse to express her rage. She drove the ship on her own, firing off energy blasts and launching missile after missile. Each energy beam erased a mountain's worth of flesh, while the missiles eradicated matter with terrible force.
She recognized the maddened scream and cries of the shard coiling around her ship. It was a toolkit shard, rapidly switching between tools as it hunted her and her Gems.
She noted the corruption, the way reality twisted around it. It switched to a near invulnerable form to tank the barrage, and then accelerated as it dropped the field and sped up like a bullet.
Another Gem ship popped into the battle, firing off a spectral missile that stabbed into the monster's hide. The entire mass of crystalline flesh screamed and she navigated across the rippling fabric of space, trapping them at sublight speeds. It was only her skill at navigating the dangers that kept them from being pulled apart into atoms.
The one Gem ship gave way to hundreds, a fleet of warships activating their energy projectors and attacking before the shard could make the switch to another tool, to another power. The shard was torn in half, fragile flesh breaking apart and crumbling beneath waves of gold-tinged energies.
One advantage of their battles with the shards was that with every shard destroyed, crippled or subverted they learned more and more how to fight them. How to break into their dimensions, how to exploit their sealed paths between realities, and how to nullify a number of their powers.
The energy weapons struck, and flesh burned away, defenses nullified, and the shard's propulsion methods were crippled before Nephrite could even let out a chirp of Gemsong. An asteroid was diverted into the core and the Nephrite captain shuddered at the dying gasps of the shard. Massive bombs were launched, protected by drone craft, fusion compression bombs lighting up like small suns in the night.
The network activated, and Nephrite received a holo-call from the main flagship, a manta-ray shaped white-pink vessel three quarters of a kilometer in length. She shifted her posture at the Gem in the projection.
"Admiral." She saluted the pale Emerald in the image, a regal Gem with her gemstone on her right hip, a cape fluttering behind her.
"Nephrite Facet-413A Cabochon-197, I hope your crew and your passengers are both unharmed?"
"They are, though they've all been forced to regenerate, and there's significant damage to the Destiny Unbound."
"I'll send a few shuttles to deliver supplies and Robonoids, is your mission in jeopardy?" There was a knowing timbre in her song, one that left her blushing if it wasn't for her own professionalism.
"No." Was all she mentioned, with the shards in the galaxy there were eyes everywhere, even as they were run down, even as they slowed and fell into a deep sleep. The shuttles crossed the distance between them in seconds, avoiding the writhing fragments. They were absorbed into the hull, and the Emerald in the image nodded.
There was no need for words, for song, for broadcasting.
The Destiny Unbound jumped to faster than light, and data rose up and around her as she piloted the ship on her own. Every second, the ship crossed four lightyears of distance, reality bending under the influence of the warp core. The destination drew closer, and Nephrite breathed in and out.
More for calming herself down rather than a need for air, all a Gem needed physically was a small sprinkling of light, some company, and work they enjoyed.
She slowed the ship down, matching the velocity of her destination. A single ring about twenty meters across, glimmering with obsidian light. Her mission was almost complete, and all she needed to do…
Was to broadcast the key code.
In an instant space distorted, grabbing the ship. In a warping pulse, the streaks of fly-by-nights had changed in shape and characteristics. The task was done, and now the problem was…
The ship rumbled, and she sighed.
Making repairs, and journeying several thousand light years. Stealth was the name of the game here, and sending out probes and precaution-weapons across the galactic arm was a regular part of Gem colonization. She had her passengers in bubbles to let them rest and as extra protection.
But they were missing a single passenger who had stayed behind on a system close to Earth. A Lapis Lazuli who apparently preferred to go her own way. Nephrite cursed the Gem, if there was one thing they were known for it was speed.
Their powers had even become the basis of the FTL craft of the Empire. It made her jealous in a way, but there was little she could do about it, barring a fusion with one. Either way she had a lot of work to do with ferrying Gems to a new colony, and scattering precaution-weapons to replicate and sleep in the void between stars. It would only be a few days, and her crew should be…
Four jade-shaded lights shined, and Nephrite Facet-413A Cabochon-197 smiled.
It was time to get back to the grind.
Flechette glanced over to her fellow Wards as the sounds of battle filled the nearby forest, the sound of crackling flames and splintering wood evident to her ears. The team had been practicing when Chevalier had popped up to rest at the base. He was on the trail of a strong cape from what she had heard and was in the area.
Bastion and Chevalier were both readying themselves, and in a blink the fighting entered the grounds of the training area. A green blur rolled around burning flames, twisting serpents of yellow-white fire coiling against the blur.
The figure slowed and Flechette felt her grip on her arbalest tighten, her instincts screaming that something was wrong. It grew worse when she actually saw the person in the light.
They… she was large, making Chevalier in his armor look small, and her body was wide in a way no human could be, yet remaining in the trappings of humanity, a colorful parody. No human was over seven feet tall and able to move like she did, no human had green skin, and wild light green curls of wild hair, or eyes like burning shards of emerald. She smiled, revealing tusks and fangs, clicking with malcontent.
"Stop this…you're only going to get yourself hurt." Flechette shuddered at the sound, the word, the song. It was the beat of fists on metal, the spark of electricity with strumming guitar strings.
"SHUT UP!" Another figure emerges from the flames, revealing a dirty, tired and maddened redheaded woman. "YOU HAVE HER!" The woman compressed the flames, and they roiled in a thick wave toward the green woman.
Flechette thought she was seeing a woman being burned alive. But she didn't hear any screams, only a note of amusement in the air, from that weaving song.
"We found her half-starved in the middle of the woods, we didn't even know who she was then. And I'm certainly not leaving her in the hands of you." The giant woman cracked her knuckles, and Flechette swallowed as she saw the curling claws from large toned fingers and hands. "Nor in the hands of whatever quack was running her wing."
The green woman emerged from the flames no worse for wear, her eyes glittering against the backlight of the flames. There was a snap of the sound barrier breaking. A brief electric shock, and the redhead was down like a puppet cut from it's strings.
The large woman rolled her shoulders, relaxing minutely. She dropped someone hanging to her back, and shock kicked in for Flechette. She recognized the girl from some threat classifications she had gotten a glimpse at.
Labyrinth. A Shaker 12 with an uncontrollable power. Fuck.
The girl's power radiated outwards, grass turning to bloody glass and back again, stone rising in twisted geometric patterns. The green woman placed a hand on the child's neck, a crooning hiss shaking the air.
A flash of cerise light burst in waves, and the power radiated inwards, leaving little else other than stray black lines of salt. Flechette felt just a little nauseated at how close those sharp butchering claws were to Labyrinth's neck. The green cape moved her hand away, gently rubbing at the girl's back.
"You good?" Her rumbling song questioned, and Flechette glanced at Jouster as he gripped his lance, while Bastion and Chevalier both tensed.
"Yes…it's getting easier." The blonde teenager admitted, at a whisper Flechette only heard because she was closer.
"Nova squad. What's the status of the forest fire?" Flechette felt her instincts flare, and she was forced to twist out of the way of a burning branch, as a crown fire burned bright and hot. The forest was in flames, and short stout figures danced within them.
"We need to get the Wards away from the fire, Bastion take the—" The forest fire leapt from the treetops, raining down in her direction. Her sense of timing was her only warning. And she was too slow.
So this is how I die then?
Something small and red moved in front of her, and caught the flames in their small hands. The flames sputtered and died in the hands of her savior, and she jumped back with the time they bought for her. But she didn't have to as the flames were swallowed up into the open fist of the small red person in front of her.
Tiny, blocky, and red with muscled arms and legs, and a frilly half-skirt, cape thing. Her dark cubic hair flickered with heat, and the forest fire died around her.
"You alright?" Her voice was sweet and calming to Flechette's ears, despite the almost feral smile she was displaying, despite the not human teeth she was flashing her.
"I-I'm okay." Despite her suspicion she responded to the cape's question, and the red woman backed away, hopping over to the green cape. She was suddenly shadowed by Chevalier, his blade gleaming in the sun. Her heart pounded, if it came to a fight…
"You've got a name?" Chevalier called out, his tone even and she saw the predatory bent to the two strange cape's movements. There was a timing, a trajectory that was mechanically perfect in their steps, in their walks.
How long have they been fighting to be this well trained?
"Aventurine." There was a subtle clicking bite, like birdsong, like the warning growl of a lion. "Seems your asylums aren't the most secure, finding two escaped patients in a week isn't a good sign." Biting sarcasm was how Aventurine responded.
"You took her down cleanly, you must be quite experienced." Chevalier complimented, and there was a subtle shift in Aventurine's posture.
"I was made for fighting," Flechette swallowed as her arms flexed with inhuman strength. "And I don't have time to chat, I've got things to do. See you Chevalier. " The cape's name warped along her song as Horseman, Rider, Hunter. There was an aggressive twitch from the two adults that left Flechette with anxiety, cloying at her.
"There are things that need to be cleared about your involvement, and the involvement of your…team. You need to come with us." Aventurine's eyes sharpened, and her grin became more toothy.
"No," she rejected with a grumbling tone. "I don't think I will." Not today was left unsaid. The air above their heads shimmered, and Aventurine, Labyrinth, and the little red woman vanished into thin air.
"What…what just happened?" Jouster asked what they were all thinking.
Flechette had no answer for him.
Chevalier rubbed his face, pinching the bridge of his nose. The Ward meetings had been a success from what he had heard. But today was a disaster. A cape battle had been inches away from burning the place to the ground, and they had the cape responsible in custody. An escaped patient from Parahuman Asylum East. Who had then been defeated by a single unknown possible Case 53, part of an unknown team with an unknown agenda.
His own mission had been knocked off course, only making it worse.
The fact they had apparently found Labyrinth and taken her in didn't help matters. He had a number of concerns on that front, but it was easy enough to deduce Aventurine had become attached to her. The softness in those pantherine eyes, and the way her voice became soothing and calm was good evidence. Then there was how his power saw nothing from them.
His power could see glimmers of other powers, phantom images, shadows connected to trigger events. His gaze had settled on Labyrinth instead, surrounded by the odd and intense nimbus of her power, and he shuddered at the memory of cerise scattering against the shadows.
He suspected some type of power interaction, but he couldn't tell what kind. A Stranger capable of blocking perception powers, a tinkertech device, or were their powers simply incompatible with his? Research had found no trace of a Case 53 like the two he had seen.
And without proof of wrongdoing, there wasn't much cause for investigation. Though it might be possible to find something due to their current holding of a single Parahuman like Labyrinth. But Parahuman law made those kinds of things a rather more difficult and complicated process however.
But his gut told him he wasn't dealing with one of the bad cases he had seen of young parahumans being taken in. Aventurine hadn't gone with him, but he heard it in her voice. It was not now, not never. Plus their probable Case 53 status gave them some leeway.
"Did we have any luck getting information from Mimi Brenton?" He asked Bastion, and his cape frowned.
"From what I can tell we're very lucky she ended up here rather than anywhere else."
Chevalier sat up. "Mind explaining that?" He was missing important context.
"From what I can tell, she missed a Slaughterhouse 9 visit…and with how her power works…"
His blood chilled. "And about her fight?"
Bastion sighed. "She wasn't very lucid during it, from what we've managed to find out a forest fire started when she found Labyrinth being guarded by Aventurine. She jumped to conclusions…"
"And nearly burned an entire forest and a Ward training ground to ashes?" Chevalier glanced at the glimmer of images around Bastion, faint shadows of memory and dreams.
And he had seen nothing from the two Case 53s, they were a blank space in his vision. At least one of them was a Brute/Mover, moving faster than humanly possible. Though whatever that was due to her sheer bulk or her power he couldn't be sure.
"Did she say anything we can use?"
"Only that the…Case 53 protected Labyrinth from an uncontrolled fire. She didn't say how, she hadn't seen it."
Chevalier rubbed the back of his neck. "Then we'll have to wait on their terms."
"Wait?" Bastion questioned.
"Whoever is protecting Labyrinth, they aren't unwilling to make peace. And there's no reports of capes like them as villains or heroes. They could be rogues or new heroes keeping low." He knew there had to be hundreds if not thousands of parahumans who didn't fight often. "And likely didn't expect to end up with a cape like Labyrinth."
They might be people who couldn't or refused to enter the battle of heroes and villains. His power had rooted out a lot of them, though he told no one. He couldn't force people to join, and that was life.
He supposed they would have to wait and see.
"We've found her." His leader murmured, paging through reports from the various contacts they had gained over the past year.
Broad hands with ruined nails laid down on a table, turning the bulk of his body in her direction. "Is she alright?"
"Apparently she's a magnet for Case 53s," her tone was dry. "She was rescued by one, possibly leading a team. Contact didn't say."
"Perhaps she'll have a better time with them than with us?"
Faultline shrugged, shaking her head.
Gregor the Snail rapped his fingers against the hardwood table, examining the growths that marked the back of his pale hands. They had been searching on and off for the girl for over a week at this point. They had been responsible for taking her and thus responsible for losing her. That she had been caught up in a fight between her apparent rescuers and a cape that had escaped because of them didn't alleviate their guilt.
"Should we keep looking for her then?" Newter spoke up from his lazy reclination on a chair. "We have no idea what this cape team wants with her, and whether they can take care of her." There was genuine worry in the young man's voice, his tail flicking back and forth. He was young, fourteen in a world that didn't care for monsters.
"Fighting them isn't an option." Faultline replied, her tied back wavy black hair being brushed by her own hand. "Whoever protected her from that cape was strong enough and fast enough to break away from Chevalier and has access to either teleportation or some form of invisibility. It could even be tinkertech." Which meant that Elle had been found by someone with more resources than an upstart team of mercenaries.
"Fighting might not be necessary to begin with." Gregor commented, his words slow to keep his accent under control. "They acted in the defense of Elle, and rather than tearing through the Protectorate they chose to peacefully flee. They could be reasoned with instead."
Faultline blinked. "That might be simpler, but how would we even find them? The incident was in Piermont, and the only thing close by is…the White Mountains national park."
"That's like…thousands of square miles of forest isn't it? How are we going to find anything there?" Newter's tail continued to sway nervously.
Faultline pursed her lip. "We can narrow it down quite easily, if they're in there, the abandoned towns are going to have a lot of parts for tinkers to play with."
"There are at least half a dozen former towns within a few dozen miles of Piermont." Gregor pointed out, and he knew that didn't account for extreme range teleportation. They could be on the other side of the world for all they knew.
But it was worth a shot, and a possible group of new Case 53s might help them expand their search for the source of people like him.
They would make contact, and hope that the decision wouldn't bite them in the ass.
Nephrite Facet-413A Cabochon-197 was the captain of the Destiny Unbound. It was an Era 3 ship, a long range scouting ship, typically manned by five to ten Gems on a normal mission.
But weaving through the scorched insides of a continent sized planet eating abomination while her crew and their many passengers were all poofed was not a standard mission by any means.
"FRACK! THIS IS DIAMONDS-DAMNED BULLSHIT! " She used a human curse to express her rage. She drove the ship on her own, firing off energy blasts and launching missile after missile. Each energy beam erased a mountain's worth of flesh, while the missiles eradicated matter with terrible force.
She recognized the maddened scream and cries of the shard coiling around her ship. It was a toolkit shard, rapidly switching between tools as it hunted her and her Gems.
She noted the corruption, the way reality twisted around it. It switched to a near invulnerable form to tank the barrage, and then accelerated as it dropped the field and sped up like a bullet.
Another Gem ship popped into the battle, firing off a spectral missile that stabbed into the monster's hide. The entire mass of crystalline flesh screamed and she navigated across the rippling fabric of space, trapping them at sublight speeds. It was only her skill at navigating the dangers that kept them from being pulled apart into atoms.
The one Gem ship gave way to hundreds, a fleet of warships activating their energy projectors and attacking before the shard could make the switch to another tool, to another power. The shard was torn in half, fragile flesh breaking apart and crumbling beneath waves of gold-tinged energies.
One advantage of their battles with the shards was that with every shard destroyed, crippled or subverted they learned more and more how to fight them. How to break into their dimensions, how to exploit their sealed paths between realities, and how to nullify a number of their powers.
The energy weapons struck, and flesh burned away, defenses nullified, and the shard's propulsion methods were crippled before Nephrite could even let out a chirp of Gemsong. An asteroid was diverted into the core and the Nephrite captain shuddered at the dying gasps of the shard. Massive bombs were launched, protected by drone craft, fusion compression bombs lighting up like small suns in the night.
The network activated, and Nephrite received a holo-call from the main flagship, a manta-ray shaped white-pink vessel three quarters of a kilometer in length. She shifted her posture at the Gem in the projection.
"Admiral." She saluted the pale Emerald in the image, a regal Gem with her gemstone on her right hip, a cape fluttering behind her.
"Nephrite Facet-413A Cabochon-197, I hope your crew and your passengers are both unharmed?"
"They are, though they've all been forced to regenerate, and there's significant damage to the Destiny Unbound."
"I'll send a few shuttles to deliver supplies and Robonoids, is your mission in jeopardy?" There was a knowing timbre in her song, one that left her blushing if it wasn't for her own professionalism.
"No." Was all she mentioned, with the shards in the galaxy there were eyes everywhere, even as they were run down, even as they slowed and fell into a deep sleep. The shuttles crossed the distance between them in seconds, avoiding the writhing fragments. They were absorbed into the hull, and the Emerald in the image nodded.
There was no need for words, for song, for broadcasting.
The Destiny Unbound jumped to faster than light, and data rose up and around her as she piloted the ship on her own. Every second, the ship crossed four lightyears of distance, reality bending under the influence of the warp core. The destination drew closer, and Nephrite breathed in and out.
More for calming herself down rather than a need for air, all a Gem needed physically was a small sprinkling of light, some company, and work they enjoyed.
She slowed the ship down, matching the velocity of her destination. A single ring about twenty meters across, glimmering with obsidian light. Her mission was almost complete, and all she needed to do…
Was to broadcast the key code.
In an instant space distorted, grabbing the ship. In a warping pulse, the streaks of fly-by-nights had changed in shape and characteristics. The task was done, and now the problem was…
The ship rumbled, and she sighed.
Making repairs, and journeying several thousand light years. Stealth was the name of the game here, and sending out probes and precaution-weapons across the galactic arm was a regular part of Gem colonization. She had her passengers in bubbles to let them rest and as extra protection.
But they were missing a single passenger who had stayed behind on a system close to Earth. A Lapis Lazuli who apparently preferred to go her own way. Nephrite cursed the Gem, if there was one thing they were known for it was speed.
Their powers had even become the basis of the FTL craft of the Empire. It made her jealous in a way, but there was little she could do about it, barring a fusion with one. Either way she had a lot of work to do with ferrying Gems to a new colony, and scattering precaution-weapons to replicate and sleep in the void between stars. It would only be a few days, and her crew should be…
Four jade-shaded lights shined, and Nephrite Facet-413A Cabochon-197 smiled.
It was time to get back to the grind.
Symphony 3.3
- Location
- Chula Vista
Symphony 3.3
I groaned, rubbing my face as everything from yesterday came back to me. While we were looking for Elle, we had gotten ambushed by a half-crazed pre-S9 Mimi and nearly set a forest on fire. Which had ended up catching the Wards and the Protectorate in the crossfire, it was just lucky that Olly had sent off a stealth field projecting Robonoid and that no one was hurt.
Plus there was a message that the second wave was on their way with an actual ship this time, though they were a few days away at the most. Not so much travel time though, most of it was sending out probes and multiple pairs of precaution-weapons to prospective sectors. They were sent to multiply, to remain in the darkness, to never awaken barring the birth of foetal singularities.
It was not a guarantee, as the reach of the weapons only spread so far, and only across so many realities. But every little bit would weaken the shards, and weaken Scion. With the shards raining down there was a good chance we could get them to fall into black holes and stars, culling their numbers from trillions to a more reasonable number.
I grabbed a deer antler, and chewed on the bone. It was a better alternative to my nails, or to grinding my teeth in frustration. As I bit down, I moved on to other things like our progress on Mars.
My Bismuth had been more than happy with constructing a lot of infrastructure, and was working overtime, while an Axinite's team explored the planet and gave her the data on geology and any differences from this Mars to his Mars. Our sole Diviner was working on mapping of probable Kindergarten canyons, while Turquoise used her visions to assemble wider scale plans.
If a Diamond was a president or head of state, their Gems were both their employees and their citizens, every little cog working together to make a more cohesive whole, doing their part in their own unique way. The Diamond's had been micromanagers and it had taken their toll on both themselves and their citizens, and I was…not good with people.
But I wasn't an idiot either, the best idea I had right now was to treat this like playing Stellaris, I would give the goals in a general sense and check in every so often. Obviously as I grew older and more experienced my role would expand to a point.
Treating real life like a game wasn't a good idea, outside of it being a metaphor. These were real people, real Gems who had chosen to help with my colony despite the danger of it. I should have learned by now, especially since I had arrived on the 15th of March and today was the 18th of April. Over a month should have inoculated me…but maybe I was being too unrealistic.
Plus I still had a job to do, and that was working on the one Rose Quartz that would be born of Bet's verdant soil. The first Injector I had pulled out from my gem was being examined by Labradorite, the Gem swaying from side to side as she inspected the contents of its container of Diamond ichor. An Amber was with her, with a more orange tinge to her skin, and a different hairstyle and manner of dress.
Orange Amber Facet 27E Hexagon-27, made from the same Kindergarten as Ambz, with the affectionate nickname of Buzz. Her outfit was a black and yellow tank top, with a flap of fabric behind it like a tiny cape. Her stomach was exposed with a hexagonal amber gemstone, and she had black tights and cute little bee themed booties. There was a small bee, frozen in time by ancient amber extracted from a small hick town in Oregon.
She raised her hands, and a massive construct of gold-orange sap emerged from her arms, healing energies ringing from them. She focused the constructs, letting them flow around the injection site.
"Hello." Buzz chirped as she busied herself with her magic. Labradorite beamed, her naturally sullen face lighting up.
"Ahh! Just the Gem I was looking for, I've made many strides in studying your ichor, along with a handful of colleagues in the Empire." She idly examined a bottle of my juice, oh wow that sentence came from my brain. "The density of your ichor, it's potency, it's wavelength and radiance. You're very similar to His Radiance, but I see some traces similar to Yellow Diamond's ichor."
"In what way?" I asked.
Labradorite was eager to answer. "You know about the colors at this point I'm sure," I nodded but let her keep up her performance. "White is Mind, Yellow is Body, Blue is Will, and Pink…Pink is the ichor of Life."
"And I'm not like Steven am I?" The meaning came through, crown and wreath and martyr. Something ugly curled up in my stomach, and I sighed.
"You're leaning more towards red in the spectrum, but your powers are mostly identical." The blue Gem chewed on her lip. "Your remit is still Life, but there's an aspect to it…a potency comparable to His Radiance. Combining your ichor with the others would offer…a boost, a capacity for change?"
"You're still parsing the data I'm imagining?" I adjusted my posture, stretching my arms and twisting my waist.
"Ichor study is a complicated science, I'm lucky I have both a Peridot and a Sunstone helping me with researching your essence. It's perfectly usable for the programming and creation of Gems." She gestured to the Injector, shutting the container of injector fluid.
I placed my hand on an interface, and my mind slid away from reality and towards the software world within the Geode AI. Trillions of runtime operations frozen and divided into countless modules, from form to energy output to abilities to even aspects of personality.
Personality wasn't much relevant to me, barring adjustments to their programs for Era 3. Even so I could feel how my ichor altered the programming, providing unique aspects of myself within the hundreds of Gems this small Injector could create.
From here I could make changes, my mind processing petabytes of base programming. It adjusted the song and code to my own experiences, and I found myself in…what was basically the Spore creature creator. I scrolled through Gemetic data, predictions based on the composition of the injection site, and the amount of life energy drained to form a seed of magic within the mycelium crystal born of my ichor.
I whispered to myself, reaching out to the code, releasing a haunting cry I never expected to hear from my own throat, like the sound of cosmic background radiation mixed with the soft crackle of flames.
/command edit programrosequartzmodel3.1.1
I molded the code with my hands, parsing different modules, and modifying them with an instinctual foresight. I could feel the foreign songs within the programs, those of the other Diamonds, each providing a vital piece. The required 'Pink' was 60% mine and 40% his.
His provided Life and mine provided…something new to the Whole, a new aspect of the spectrum of the light. This Gem would be the first true Gem born of my blood, of my essence.
So I spent my time, my effort, she would be the template, the model for Rose Quartz of the future. She didn't need to be perfect, she just needed to exist.
She had the resilience and strength of a Quartz as well their speed, and the size and bulk and softness native to her kind. She had more energy to spare, more reserves to draw upon with the efficiency offered by five ichors. I grabbed the lines of code involving the unused module, with a recent scan of Starry providing an extra template.
I hummed a song, and connected disparate lines and notes, until the programs were harmonized. I had a good idea of what I would get if I created this program, and inspected the harmony of other programs.
I clapped my hands, that will be all Brandon.
…
Ceasing Connection.
I was back in reality, blinking stars from my eyes. Excellent, seems like I did well with the programming. One Gem, and her code would provide the template for Rose Quartz veins on Mars, and partial templates for other Quartz. I rubbed my cheeks, and licked my dry lips.
"I guess I did a good job then…" I murmured to myself, and the Injector whirred before stabbing it's legs into the pegmatite. Buzz encased the area in her ambergris, and small openings in the Injector pumped out their own rivulets of the healing juices. With a spin of the drill, a single Rose Quartz was implanted into the ground.
"Anyone have an Emergence date?" I backed away, and Geode was the one giving the estimate.
"This unit will answer. Calculations indicate Emergence of implanted Rose Quartz in 170 hours."
"That's not a typo right?" I whispered to Labradorite, who looked equally surprised.
"Based on the numbers Olly just sent me…not at all, this will be an unusually rapid production of a Rose Quartz Gem."
Huh…neat.
There was a ring of my communicator, and I brought up the holographic projector before I could blink. A dog mask popped up and I felt dread before I restrained myself.
There was no need to worry, everything was absolutely fine. Don't get worked up over nothing. You didn't need that kind of anxiety right now…
"Nobody's dead?" I asked dryly. Rachel grunted, and I could hear her grabbing something off screen but couldn't see it. This was purely voice based.
"At a dog shelter." She spoke haltingly. "You have a place for my dogs."
"We set that up twenty minutes after we made the deal. We have no reason to fuck with you." She grunted a curse under her breath, speaking to someone off communicator, hidden as a cheap burner phone.
"Good. Picked out a couple dogs, a few of them might be sick." She sounded disgusted, and I nodded.
"We'll take care of it, we're cheaper than a vet at least." I thumbed the communicator, what else should we tell her?
"I'm on my way then. " She hung up, and I rolled my eyes. Guess she wasn't ever going to change so easily. But it wasn't my job to fix people, though I didn't mind giving them a space to cool off. Not like I had a whole planet to myself or anything.
Because that would just be crazy.
…
Hmm…
Now where was I going next?
"Hello there." I dropped in on Violet Iolite as she scanned a scientific log, one of many made by scanning both Elle and Rachel, and a brief pulse sent towards the capes from yesterday.
"Sunrise Diamond," She acknowledged, the purple Gem scrolling through figures and pages of data. "I've made a few strides on my investigation of Earth Bet and it's various phenomena. I've done my best to piece together any possible differences between what's been written in your world and what is true in this one."
Violet Iolite was my height, with a body type similar to a Peridot if a little chunkier and with longer legs. She had a round head, with straight white hair and a pair of purple glasses covering her big pretty eyes. She had a Homeworld uniform, though fancier than Peridot with a skirt and red diamonds on her knees and stomach, and an Iolite gem on her chest. She was an investigator, and was focused on the study of Earth Bet's history, it's natural and unnatural forces.
"What have you found?"
"Annette Hebert is alive." There was a pulse of graceful-merciful-illustrious-army in her words. "She made a miraculous recovery, and the family remains in Brockton Bay. Rachel's mother survived her mauling as did the other residents of her foster home."
Oh fuck me in the Alps my metaknowledge might already be useless.
"How much is different in this world from what you've read?" I hoped it wasn't too much or else we were screwed.
"The divergences are minor, most of them appeared to have only started up recently." She fidgeted, flexing her claws. "It's likely the divergence started when this world's Abaddon didn't head towards Andromeda."
"Where did he go?"
"Your world calls it the Large Magellanic Cloud, we have hundreds of colonies there. I'm sure you know the rest of the galaxies under our control." I nodded.
Homeworld was in a version of the Canis Major Overdensity, which they called the Adamant Galaxy. They officially controlled several galaxies, the Large Magellanic Cloud, the Sagittarius dwarf galaxy, their own galaxy, though most of their newer colonies were scattered across the Milky Way.
Somewhere well over a hundred thousand worlds were under their aegis as full colonies, pretty small for a galaxy spanning empire but the local dwarf galaxies they initially colonized were quite depleted or full of radiation from newborn stars.
There were ten million O-class stars in the Adamant galaxy, out of a billion stars that was a good way to sterilize the galaxy with periodic supernovas. Which was why it was bright enough to be visible in the night sky as well.
"So the differences are small but they can build up." I started with a grumble. "So everything is likely the same, but it's been offset. Anything else?"
"Victoria Dallon recently Triggered, the power is as expected." I grimaced, of course it was. This world was different but not different enough, but with a certain bug cape out of play that other future was even more impossible.
Perhaps that was a good thing.
Violet Iolite let out a burst and my attention refocused. "We've made strides with identifying the shards and their respective locations. The Cut-Off procedure can be performed from Aster Diamond's end."
"Cut-Off procedure?"
Her smile wasn't nice. "We make the shards dead. " I understood immediately, they were ripping them away from the network. "We can't do this to all shards yet , not without penetration of Shardspace. But select shards can be removed from the network."
My guess was shards that weren't the size of moons and planets, those in the building to small continent sized ranges. Gemkind was already used to fighting continent sized organisms like the Star Echidnas. The Maszyna had queen machines hundreds of kilometers wide and long, vast titans of metal and plastic. The Entities were nothing new, just bigger, smarter and with a wider range of powers.
An understatement really…? Entities were bullshit of the highest order.
"How long is that going to take? And how many shards can you try that on?"
"We've locked onto both Rachel and Elle's shards, we've ignored the government Paired for now. Too much attention. We've also locked onto…this Mimi." There was a little concern there. "All three shards will be Cut-Off from the network, and subverted by the Empire."
"That's good." I was mostly questioning the how but not so much the why. "So how did you figure out how to subvert shards to begin with?" Her song halted with a shriek, terror-anger-pity brimming loud and clear.
"You know how Triggers work don't you?" There was a hollow note to her song, and I chittered a yes.
"What happened?"
Violet Iolite tapped a nearby console, creating a chibi Gem, a Jasper, and a chibi shard, a fractal black crystal with a smiley face.
"The Black Wyrm chose my species as his next victim, but he didn't understand a number of important aspects of Gemkind. It cost both our species…much." She sounded like she was being confined, like she didn't want to keep talking. "For Gems including you," She pointed out, stressing the fact. "Our bodies are our minds, if we lose control, whether induced by an outside force or our own emotions…we break, we become frightened monsters in pain and agony."
And Triggers involve the worst day of a person's life…a traumatic event then exasperated by the power granted.
"Para-Gems became corrupted." I couldn't hide my horror, my song straining to contain my emotions. The chibi Jasper became a horned canine-ursine monster, and a connection was made with the shard.
"The connection between shard and host proved to be two-way," the projection of a shard distorted, becoming an unfolding mass of faces and claws and screams. "Their network was heavily compromised, and the effects were exponentially worse with larger and older shards."
I paled, as a horrible idea came to mind. "It's because of the imprints of previous hosts isn't it? The older the shard, the more minds shatter the shards from within."
Her expression was grave. "It's how we destroyed a number of their higher shards, they were damaged and…screaming." Something like horror emerged in her tone. "A number of worlds were shattered in the process, the shards screaming for weeks on end as they tore out their own insides. Very few high nodes remain besides the remaining avatar of Abaddon."
"Is that how you managed to make some of them turn traitor?"
Her reply was sarcastic. "Turns out feeling the agony of all the species you consumed creates a new sense of empathy rather than mechanical emptiness." She growled, her song bursting with muted anger. "For some of the others they were younger buds who had never known a host species other than us."
So basically entire clusters of Fragile Ones.
"So which shards are you targeting?"
"Rachel's, along with three shards in close contact with Elle's shard." She absently responded. "Sunstone will do her part, and it should be done by sometime tomorrow."
"Excellent there…" I felt a sudden flash of intuition. "Give me a moment." I walked out and she seemed accepting. Probably not an uncommon thing, Gems are weird.
I walked out of the building and onto the surface of Mars, eyes narrowed as I looked up at the dusky sky. I looked up at one particular section, and a tiny something crashed into it at Mach 5. It was sealed up soon after by Robonoids, and I stepped aside, avoiding the space missile in the shape of a blue blur. I could hear the agonized shriek of both Olly and Righty. Probably in annoyance.
I rolled my shoulders, and brushed my bangs back with a flick of my fingers. We had gone from twenty eight Gems including myself to twenty nine, plus two humans. This one Gem who has flown in from space, and I knew only a single type capable of that.
You do the math.
The new Gem was pulling themselves from a crater with a moan, shaking messy dark blue hair as she picked herself up. A Lapis Lazuli with obvious Calcite inclusions based on her pale blue skin and the streaks of calcite on her teardrop gem and face. She wore a pale blue almost white strapless dress under a bathrobe tied by a white band around the waist. It was a dark blue lined with pale silver, and she looked otherwise unharmed.
She rubbed her face, and yawned, revealing a row of slightly horrifying sharp teeth. I cleared my throat, and her glare was bright until it caught sight of who she was doing the glaring at. Then she let out an eep , sounding like a cute puppy to my ears. Her song was like the resonance of water-filled glass and the shaking of sistrums.
She hastily made the Diamond salute. "Calcite Inclusion Lapis Lazuli Facet-BD19 Teardrop-Y12 r-reporting for duty." Almost as if in response, the crater behind her caught on fire. She twitched a finger and a stream of nearby water put it out but the damage was done.
"Pfft… " I giggled, and she looked incredibly embarrassed. "I haven't gotten the memo on the second wave coming early." I wanted to laugh even harder but I didn't want to hurt a hydrokinetic capable of moving oceans. While she couldn't control the whole ocean, controlling a sea was within her remit.
She clasped her hands together, her face deepening in hue. "I may have gone ahead of them, I'm some of the few Gems that can after all."
"So Lapis Lazulis can fly at FTL speeds?" Well wasn't that a terrifying revelation, at least FTL ramming didn't seem possible. They'd just phase through the planet, because of how their methods work.
"It's part of what we're built for, we're macroscale hydrokinetic terraformer Gems. I might like gardening and meep morps, but no Gem can run away completely from our old purpose." She lifted her hands up in a 'what could you do?' gesture. "We're not as fast as modern Gem ships, but we can make it from here to Homeworld in a month." Homeworld was twenty five thousand light years away…
That was fast as shit, though still quite slow when compared to the Gem ships capable of arriving in Andromeda in about two days, an order of magnitude faster even than Entities own hyper-FTL architectures. Diamond flagships were faster still…
"So should I just call you Lapis Lazuli or…?" I raised an eyebrow.
"Argent. My friends call me Argent." She placed her hands on her hips, preening. "Sorry about the barrier…though you really should have some energy shields by now."
"We had much less equipment than we would have hoped, things got delayed." I said with a sardonic tone, shifting a hip to the right. "Though now that we've got a Gem with your kind of power and skill we might get a lot more work done." I grinned at the thought, plus it was nice to be around people again. Even Gems.
Not that there was anything wrong with that.
Argent shrugged her shoulders. "Well that's what I'm here for, though we'll need dimensional portals to make the colonization work out."
"Oh." An idea percolated into my mind. "You're going to shift to another dimension to get the water needed, and then shift it back into our reality."
"I'm thinking I'll pull Mimas out of orbit, it's within my limits if you give me a day or two to build up my power." I blinked.
"Wouldn't it make more sense to build a portal from alternate Mimas to Mars Bet, rather than wasting your energy and time to move a moon half a billion miles?"
"Good thing I'm not in charge of the colony then." I could hear the embarrassment in her song, glass cracking. It was kind of adorable. "Knocking a moon out of orbit is a little excessive isn't it?"
"It'd be cool to see though." Seeing a moon get tossed against a planet might be pretty neat. Then I remembered we needed to get a move on. "Oh and you might need to get acquainted with Malachite, she's busy synthesizing the right gases for plants and might need a heads up on water exportation."
"Probably a good idea." She deadpanned, a haunted look in her eye. I imagine from experience.
Poor Gem. Malachites could be brutal.
"I predict Rachel will have a good time with us." I chuffed softly when Fuschia approached me from my right side. Out of all the Gems who had joined me in their solar system I was the closest with her.
There was just something about her I liked, she was nice to talk to, she shared some of the same interests, and had been very proactive with helping me feel comfortable.
"Your predictions aren't a guarantee, Fuschia."
"Flowers." She replied, and I tilted my head. "My friends call me Flowers." She brushed a bang back, humming a happy musing tune.
"It's a cute name." I commented, scratching my ear. "It suits you, and it's nice you think of me as a friend."
She had a self satisfied smug key to her melody on the way down to the efficiently assembled dog shelter. Externally it appeared quite small, nowhere near enough to house more than two or three dogs. But when I walked him, the nature of Gem buildings became obvious.
The building was much larger on the inside, the floor a mix of Gem cultivated grass, dirt, and plain Gem stone. There was a trough, along with multiple sealed bags of dog food. A total of six dogs, and one of them seemed…new? Yes new, a terrier of indeterminate breed.
She had called her Angelica, and it made me wonder if something was trying to keep destiny on track. Which wasn't an impossible thing when magic was real and that as a Gem I had a natural idea of the flow of events. My hunch might in fact be true because of it.
Gems were benders of reality, of fate itself in their own limited ways. It wasn't unlikely twenty eight magical beings on a world bereft of it was fucking with reality in ways we couldn't predict.
"Not much I can do about that Brenda…" I muttered absently.
Rachel was at ease, walking with her dogs while a few Corals flitted about. Apparently she liked them because they were a lot like dogs even with their cat-like looks. She had been gruff and a little aggressive, though her attitude didn't grate much on the Quartz.
Carnelian Facet-B81 Teardrop-27 was there, she was a somewhat short Quartz though not quite to the same extent as Amethyst or the Carnelian and came from the Beta Kindergarten like the latter.
She was about six feet tall, with the typical build of most Quartz and currant skin and darker red spiky hair. She wore a black tank top, exposing her toned arms and her stomach teardrop gem, and below that she wore dark red tights and pink spiked boots. She also wore a necklace of currant fruit beads, an appearance modifier rather than a base form.
She was playing with one of the dogs, a beefy brown Labrador with a sharp scar along one eye. Rachel was watching her, almost tense but not quite there yet either. Like she wasn't sure on what the best course of action was. Her arm was shifted into a tiny catapult, playing a game of fetch with the gruff, but happy dog.
I chuffed, one of the dogs seemed…off to me. A smell I didn't like, soft whines that grated at my ears. I probe the air, and feel the touch of magic. I took a long sniff, and marched towards another dog, a dachshund from the looks of it.
I crouched and the dog barked, licking my offered hand. Animals seemed to like me a lot more than they used to. I had a sort of natural charisma, which wasn't as weird when I remembered my school days. Despite being a weirdo on the autism spectrum, people just sort of gravitated towards me. I had a lot of people willing to talk to me if nothing else.
Though my self esteem never quit saying it was out of pity, or because they thought I was weird and liked to make fun of me behind my back. Maybe I had a weird natural magnetism despite my flawed…social capacities. Maybe because when I was younger I was really open about my weirdness. And people liked that sort of unintentional confidence.
I wasn't subtle, I had literally talked about taking over the world when I was a young teen. Whatever natural charisma I had had been amplified by my Diamond charisma. I had been bowled over by wolf puppies the day before the incident. And then chased away by their mamas. My Aura only went so far.
I probed once again, pawing the cute dog's face, and clicking my teeth in a nervous song. I track the doggy's existence, following the traces backwards in time. I sniffed, taking in a deep pulse of chemical sense data. He smelled sick, and I probed.
There was a weakness, and the outcomes weren't looking good. His heart was weak, pulsing and his other organs…
"One of the dogs is sick." I declared, chewing on my lip as the dog stared at me.
Rachel glared, and stomped over. "Him." She stated. "Show me." She demanded.
I narrowed my eyes, pressing my lips together. "Of course. He seems to be suffering from damage to some of his organs, heart mostly. He's not going to last long…"
"Fuck. I took him off the streets, near a city destroyed by Behemoth." So probable radiation damage that hadn't yet killed him. "Does he have cancer?"
"Not yet. I can heal him. Easily even."
"Easier than using my power?" She didn't question me much, she had seen my healing magic in action.
"I am quite literally made of healing bullshit so yes. Are there any complaints you want to make?" I was being sarcastic, it was way easy to be a bit of a dick with her. It was a familiar dynamic though with a greater chance of being maimed.
"Then get to it." I rolled my eyes, and kissed the doggy on his forehead. I let the ichor flow, and my Aura light. The dog whined, as the magic burned through his veins, as old wounds healed and vanished under the power I held within my flesh.
I swept my hand through his fur, and released a comforting melodious cry. The organ damage was gone, and he was good as new.
I gave eye contact. "He's good as new. You ever need me to heal what your power can't. Ask." It was easy enough to be less nice with her. I could really be kind of a dick(or bitch?) and she was tough enough to take it.
Better than me by far anyhow. It was a dynamic I wasn't unwilling to match from time to time.
"Hmm…" I gave her a passing nod, inspecting the life and magic in the air. That was the main reason I was here. To check on the dogs she had brought in, and to see if any adjustments had to be made to the shelter.
I tilted my head in tandem with the dachshund, and he let out a happy bark.
I'll spend some of my time here. It might be nice.
"Back in the old days, there used to be a lot of break-breakers and Diamond-damned idiots when it came to buildings. We Gems build stuff sturdy, I've been in a few arenas that are a good twenty thousand years old." Righty flexed her arm as. "We had some elites who always complained about how the style was so 'old fashioned' or got damaged because they were being stupid…" Righty waved her beefy arm, the Bismuth's fangs inching forward to shift her Gemsong.
"I like what you build, it's very pretty. And functional." Figures Elle would be interested in Gem architecture. She was sitting next to the Bismuth as she reinforced the several buildings around the Home Temple.
I let out a squeak when I suddenly had clawed toes sinking into my head. What the fuck? Why?
"So your little friend is paying you a visit?" Righty's teasing lilt made me growl, and she chuckled out a booming laugh in song.
The odd crow had been gone when I had woken up, and apparently he decided now was a good time to bother the shit out of me. He didn't make many calls, mostly stoically staring me down with his beady bird eyes. Mostly he was busy building a sophisticated nest made out of sticks, spider silk, and other organic materials.
My suspicions were growing when I had caught him butchering some prey with knapped flint, a large fish from the stream. Though I swear I had caught a hint of red on his feathers.
"Please get off my head." I pleaded but he refused. So I grabbed him, and looked at him. He was a very odd species, one that didn't exist in nature. I gripped a single claw on his wing, something he used in tandem with his dexterous toes and tongue.
…
"You're a lot smarter than you let on aren't you? Quit playing dumb." I poked him on the beak. The crow ruffled his feathers, puffing. Followed up by the worst shock of my life.
"Nothing gets past you No-Wings." I didn't release a squeak of surprise or make a stupid face. What are you a cop? "You're not with the Watcher or the Flesh Lady." Well wasn't that a worrying statement to be told by a sapient bird.
Wait.
"You're not speaking English are you?"
"Never learned your No-Wing nonsense babble," He shifted a wing dismissively. "But your singing seems to be hitting my brain meats, so…"
"How the fuck do you even know what brains are?" This wasn't happening, this was fucking stupid.
As stupid as a magic pink lion? As stupid as talking magic rocks? As stupid as a fourteen year old managing to roast a million year old dictator into submission?
"Some of the elders can read, and 'borrowed' texts from the Watcher and the Flesh Lady. We've learned quite a lot." The interrupted thought returned to the forefront.
I'm a goddamn Disney Princess. Talking to wild critters with magical princess powers. I'm going to keep talking to this bird, because yes Brandon, this is a rational logical world following the laws of physics as I know them.
I'm going to keep pretending that's true.
"Alright. So why are you sticking around? I healed you didn't I?" He ruffled his feathers, gesturing to the red flecks interspersed along his black coat.
"You did something to me, and…you seem like you might serve as good meat shields for my people."
I lifted my finger. "I'm going to assume you want our help, which means this is not my problem. Talk to one of the other Gems, they can help more than I can."
I picked up the bird, and chucked him two dozen feet in the air. I kicked my feet in the air as I turned at a ninety degree angle away from the crazy with a smile on my face.
"I'm going home now."
I sat in a criss-cross position, feeling the rippling waves of my magic. My Aura pulsed, and petals fluttered out from the cloud of magic, light and song. I held a clump of petals of amaranth and roses and posies. They had formed fairly recently, apparently a consequence of my growing power.
It was both kind of cute and mortifying, and another price to pay for ultimate power. I was floating, managing to make better use of my floating, manipulating my energy field for the purpose. Training and frankly playing with my regular power was a regular thing nowadays.
My shield was my newest project, trying to pour as much power and potential into my greatest defense. I had tested the shields with some of my Gem's help, everything from a cheap pistol to a Linear Laser Rifle. Which was basically an anti-vehicle laser cannon built by Earth 460'/.
An odd name but there wasn't much I could do on the matter, it wasn't my planet, it wasn't even my Earth. Who was I was to decide whether their naming methodologies are stupid?
I quit floating, landing on my bed. I bent forward and lounged freely in the blankets, yawning. I extended my fingers and edged my claws out, as I felt the time for sleep approaching. But I still had one final thing to do today before giving up the ghost.
Talking with my parents…
I projected a screen, and the device pinged as it sent off a signal across multidimensional space.
Today has been a weird but…rather good day.
Author's Note: Ahh the story of slowly losing your sanity day by day, week by week.
I groaned, rubbing my face as everything from yesterday came back to me. While we were looking for Elle, we had gotten ambushed by a half-crazed pre-S9 Mimi and nearly set a forest on fire. Which had ended up catching the Wards and the Protectorate in the crossfire, it was just lucky that Olly had sent off a stealth field projecting Robonoid and that no one was hurt.
Plus there was a message that the second wave was on their way with an actual ship this time, though they were a few days away at the most. Not so much travel time though, most of it was sending out probes and multiple pairs of precaution-weapons to prospective sectors. They were sent to multiply, to remain in the darkness, to never awaken barring the birth of foetal singularities.
It was not a guarantee, as the reach of the weapons only spread so far, and only across so many realities. But every little bit would weaken the shards, and weaken Scion. With the shards raining down there was a good chance we could get them to fall into black holes and stars, culling their numbers from trillions to a more reasonable number.
I grabbed a deer antler, and chewed on the bone. It was a better alternative to my nails, or to grinding my teeth in frustration. As I bit down, I moved on to other things like our progress on Mars.
My Bismuth had been more than happy with constructing a lot of infrastructure, and was working overtime, while an Axinite's team explored the planet and gave her the data on geology and any differences from this Mars to his Mars. Our sole Diviner was working on mapping of probable Kindergarten canyons, while Turquoise used her visions to assemble wider scale plans.
If a Diamond was a president or head of state, their Gems were both their employees and their citizens, every little cog working together to make a more cohesive whole, doing their part in their own unique way. The Diamond's had been micromanagers and it had taken their toll on both themselves and their citizens, and I was…not good with people.
But I wasn't an idiot either, the best idea I had right now was to treat this like playing Stellaris, I would give the goals in a general sense and check in every so often. Obviously as I grew older and more experienced my role would expand to a point.
Treating real life like a game wasn't a good idea, outside of it being a metaphor. These were real people, real Gems who had chosen to help with my colony despite the danger of it. I should have learned by now, especially since I had arrived on the 15th of March and today was the 18th of April. Over a month should have inoculated me…but maybe I was being too unrealistic.
Plus I still had a job to do, and that was working on the one Rose Quartz that would be born of Bet's verdant soil. The first Injector I had pulled out from my gem was being examined by Labradorite, the Gem swaying from side to side as she inspected the contents of its container of Diamond ichor. An Amber was with her, with a more orange tinge to her skin, and a different hairstyle and manner of dress.
Orange Amber Facet 27E Hexagon-27, made from the same Kindergarten as Ambz, with the affectionate nickname of Buzz. Her outfit was a black and yellow tank top, with a flap of fabric behind it like a tiny cape. Her stomach was exposed with a hexagonal amber gemstone, and she had black tights and cute little bee themed booties. There was a small bee, frozen in time by ancient amber extracted from a small hick town in Oregon.
She raised her hands, and a massive construct of gold-orange sap emerged from her arms, healing energies ringing from them. She focused the constructs, letting them flow around the injection site.
"Hello." Buzz chirped as she busied herself with her magic. Labradorite beamed, her naturally sullen face lighting up.
"Ahh! Just the Gem I was looking for, I've made many strides in studying your ichor, along with a handful of colleagues in the Empire." She idly examined a bottle of my juice, oh wow that sentence came from my brain. "The density of your ichor, it's potency, it's wavelength and radiance. You're very similar to His Radiance, but I see some traces similar to Yellow Diamond's ichor."
"In what way?" I asked.
Labradorite was eager to answer. "You know about the colors at this point I'm sure," I nodded but let her keep up her performance. "White is Mind, Yellow is Body, Blue is Will, and Pink…Pink is the ichor of Life."
"And I'm not like Steven am I?" The meaning came through, crown and wreath and martyr. Something ugly curled up in my stomach, and I sighed.
"You're leaning more towards red in the spectrum, but your powers are mostly identical." The blue Gem chewed on her lip. "Your remit is still Life, but there's an aspect to it…a potency comparable to His Radiance. Combining your ichor with the others would offer…a boost, a capacity for change?"
"You're still parsing the data I'm imagining?" I adjusted my posture, stretching my arms and twisting my waist.
"Ichor study is a complicated science, I'm lucky I have both a Peridot and a Sunstone helping me with researching your essence. It's perfectly usable for the programming and creation of Gems." She gestured to the Injector, shutting the container of injector fluid.
I placed my hand on an interface, and my mind slid away from reality and towards the software world within the Geode AI. Trillions of runtime operations frozen and divided into countless modules, from form to energy output to abilities to even aspects of personality.
Personality wasn't much relevant to me, barring adjustments to their programs for Era 3. Even so I could feel how my ichor altered the programming, providing unique aspects of myself within the hundreds of Gems this small Injector could create.
From here I could make changes, my mind processing petabytes of base programming. It adjusted the song and code to my own experiences, and I found myself in…what was basically the Spore creature creator. I scrolled through Gemetic data, predictions based on the composition of the injection site, and the amount of life energy drained to form a seed of magic within the mycelium crystal born of my ichor.
I whispered to myself, reaching out to the code, releasing a haunting cry I never expected to hear from my own throat, like the sound of cosmic background radiation mixed with the soft crackle of flames.
/command edit programrosequartzmodel3.1.1
I molded the code with my hands, parsing different modules, and modifying them with an instinctual foresight. I could feel the foreign songs within the programs, those of the other Diamonds, each providing a vital piece. The required 'Pink' was 60% mine and 40% his.
His provided Life and mine provided…something new to the Whole, a new aspect of the spectrum of the light. This Gem would be the first true Gem born of my blood, of my essence.
So I spent my time, my effort, she would be the template, the model for Rose Quartz of the future. She didn't need to be perfect, she just needed to exist.
She had the resilience and strength of a Quartz as well their speed, and the size and bulk and softness native to her kind. She had more energy to spare, more reserves to draw upon with the efficiency offered by five ichors. I grabbed the lines of code involving the unused module, with a recent scan of Starry providing an extra template.
I hummed a song, and connected disparate lines and notes, until the programs were harmonized. I had a good idea of what I would get if I created this program, and inspected the harmony of other programs.
I clapped my hands, that will be all Brandon.
…
Ceasing Connection.
I was back in reality, blinking stars from my eyes. Excellent, seems like I did well with the programming. One Gem, and her code would provide the template for Rose Quartz veins on Mars, and partial templates for other Quartz. I rubbed my cheeks, and licked my dry lips.
"I guess I did a good job then…" I murmured to myself, and the Injector whirred before stabbing it's legs into the pegmatite. Buzz encased the area in her ambergris, and small openings in the Injector pumped out their own rivulets of the healing juices. With a spin of the drill, a single Rose Quartz was implanted into the ground.
"Anyone have an Emergence date?" I backed away, and Geode was the one giving the estimate.
"This unit will answer. Calculations indicate Emergence of implanted Rose Quartz in 170 hours."
"That's not a typo right?" I whispered to Labradorite, who looked equally surprised.
"Based on the numbers Olly just sent me…not at all, this will be an unusually rapid production of a Rose Quartz Gem."
Huh…neat.
There was a ring of my communicator, and I brought up the holographic projector before I could blink. A dog mask popped up and I felt dread before I restrained myself.
There was no need to worry, everything was absolutely fine. Don't get worked up over nothing. You didn't need that kind of anxiety right now…
"Nobody's dead?" I asked dryly. Rachel grunted, and I could hear her grabbing something off screen but couldn't see it. This was purely voice based.
"At a dog shelter." She spoke haltingly. "You have a place for my dogs."
"We set that up twenty minutes after we made the deal. We have no reason to fuck with you." She grunted a curse under her breath, speaking to someone off communicator, hidden as a cheap burner phone.
"Good. Picked out a couple dogs, a few of them might be sick." She sounded disgusted, and I nodded.
"We'll take care of it, we're cheaper than a vet at least." I thumbed the communicator, what else should we tell her?
"I'm on my way then. " She hung up, and I rolled my eyes. Guess she wasn't ever going to change so easily. But it wasn't my job to fix people, though I didn't mind giving them a space to cool off. Not like I had a whole planet to myself or anything.
Because that would just be crazy.
…
Hmm…
Now where was I going next?
"Hello there." I dropped in on Violet Iolite as she scanned a scientific log, one of many made by scanning both Elle and Rachel, and a brief pulse sent towards the capes from yesterday.
"Sunrise Diamond," She acknowledged, the purple Gem scrolling through figures and pages of data. "I've made a few strides on my investigation of Earth Bet and it's various phenomena. I've done my best to piece together any possible differences between what's been written in your world and what is true in this one."
Violet Iolite was my height, with a body type similar to a Peridot if a little chunkier and with longer legs. She had a round head, with straight white hair and a pair of purple glasses covering her big pretty eyes. She had a Homeworld uniform, though fancier than Peridot with a skirt and red diamonds on her knees and stomach, and an Iolite gem on her chest. She was an investigator, and was focused on the study of Earth Bet's history, it's natural and unnatural forces.
"What have you found?"
"Annette Hebert is alive." There was a pulse of graceful-merciful-illustrious-army in her words. "She made a miraculous recovery, and the family remains in Brockton Bay. Rachel's mother survived her mauling as did the other residents of her foster home."
Oh fuck me in the Alps my metaknowledge might already be useless.
"How much is different in this world from what you've read?" I hoped it wasn't too much or else we were screwed.
"The divergences are minor, most of them appeared to have only started up recently." She fidgeted, flexing her claws. "It's likely the divergence started when this world's Abaddon didn't head towards Andromeda."
"Where did he go?"
"Your world calls it the Large Magellanic Cloud, we have hundreds of colonies there. I'm sure you know the rest of the galaxies under our control." I nodded.
Homeworld was in a version of the Canis Major Overdensity, which they called the Adamant Galaxy. They officially controlled several galaxies, the Large Magellanic Cloud, the Sagittarius dwarf galaxy, their own galaxy, though most of their newer colonies were scattered across the Milky Way.
Somewhere well over a hundred thousand worlds were under their aegis as full colonies, pretty small for a galaxy spanning empire but the local dwarf galaxies they initially colonized were quite depleted or full of radiation from newborn stars.
There were ten million O-class stars in the Adamant galaxy, out of a billion stars that was a good way to sterilize the galaxy with periodic supernovas. Which was why it was bright enough to be visible in the night sky as well.
"So the differences are small but they can build up." I started with a grumble. "So everything is likely the same, but it's been offset. Anything else?"
"Victoria Dallon recently Triggered, the power is as expected." I grimaced, of course it was. This world was different but not different enough, but with a certain bug cape out of play that other future was even more impossible.
Perhaps that was a good thing.
Violet Iolite let out a burst and my attention refocused. "We've made strides with identifying the shards and their respective locations. The Cut-Off procedure can be performed from Aster Diamond's end."
"Cut-Off procedure?"
Her smile wasn't nice. "We make the shards dead. " I understood immediately, they were ripping them away from the network. "We can't do this to all shards yet , not without penetration of Shardspace. But select shards can be removed from the network."
My guess was shards that weren't the size of moons and planets, those in the building to small continent sized ranges. Gemkind was already used to fighting continent sized organisms like the Star Echidnas. The Maszyna had queen machines hundreds of kilometers wide and long, vast titans of metal and plastic. The Entities were nothing new, just bigger, smarter and with a wider range of powers.
An understatement really…? Entities were bullshit of the highest order.
"How long is that going to take? And how many shards can you try that on?"
"We've locked onto both Rachel and Elle's shards, we've ignored the government Paired for now. Too much attention. We've also locked onto…this Mimi." There was a little concern there. "All three shards will be Cut-Off from the network, and subverted by the Empire."
"That's good." I was mostly questioning the how but not so much the why. "So how did you figure out how to subvert shards to begin with?" Her song halted with a shriek, terror-anger-pity brimming loud and clear.
"You know how Triggers work don't you?" There was a hollow note to her song, and I chittered a yes.
"What happened?"
Violet Iolite tapped a nearby console, creating a chibi Gem, a Jasper, and a chibi shard, a fractal black crystal with a smiley face.
"The Black Wyrm chose my species as his next victim, but he didn't understand a number of important aspects of Gemkind. It cost both our species…much." She sounded like she was being confined, like she didn't want to keep talking. "For Gems including you," She pointed out, stressing the fact. "Our bodies are our minds, if we lose control, whether induced by an outside force or our own emotions…we break, we become frightened monsters in pain and agony."
And Triggers involve the worst day of a person's life…a traumatic event then exasperated by the power granted.
"Para-Gems became corrupted." I couldn't hide my horror, my song straining to contain my emotions. The chibi Jasper became a horned canine-ursine monster, and a connection was made with the shard.
"The connection between shard and host proved to be two-way," the projection of a shard distorted, becoming an unfolding mass of faces and claws and screams. "Their network was heavily compromised, and the effects were exponentially worse with larger and older shards."
I paled, as a horrible idea came to mind. "It's because of the imprints of previous hosts isn't it? The older the shard, the more minds shatter the shards from within."
Her expression was grave. "It's how we destroyed a number of their higher shards, they were damaged and…screaming." Something like horror emerged in her tone. "A number of worlds were shattered in the process, the shards screaming for weeks on end as they tore out their own insides. Very few high nodes remain besides the remaining avatar of Abaddon."
"Is that how you managed to make some of them turn traitor?"
Her reply was sarcastic. "Turns out feeling the agony of all the species you consumed creates a new sense of empathy rather than mechanical emptiness." She growled, her song bursting with muted anger. "For some of the others they were younger buds who had never known a host species other than us."
So basically entire clusters of Fragile Ones.
"So which shards are you targeting?"
"Rachel's, along with three shards in close contact with Elle's shard." She absently responded. "Sunstone will do her part, and it should be done by sometime tomorrow."
"Excellent there…" I felt a sudden flash of intuition. "Give me a moment." I walked out and she seemed accepting. Probably not an uncommon thing, Gems are weird.
I walked out of the building and onto the surface of Mars, eyes narrowed as I looked up at the dusky sky. I looked up at one particular section, and a tiny something crashed into it at Mach 5. It was sealed up soon after by Robonoids, and I stepped aside, avoiding the space missile in the shape of a blue blur. I could hear the agonized shriek of both Olly and Righty. Probably in annoyance.
I rolled my shoulders, and brushed my bangs back with a flick of my fingers. We had gone from twenty eight Gems including myself to twenty nine, plus two humans. This one Gem who has flown in from space, and I knew only a single type capable of that.
You do the math.
The new Gem was pulling themselves from a crater with a moan, shaking messy dark blue hair as she picked herself up. A Lapis Lazuli with obvious Calcite inclusions based on her pale blue skin and the streaks of calcite on her teardrop gem and face. She wore a pale blue almost white strapless dress under a bathrobe tied by a white band around the waist. It was a dark blue lined with pale silver, and she looked otherwise unharmed.
She rubbed her face, and yawned, revealing a row of slightly horrifying sharp teeth. I cleared my throat, and her glare was bright until it caught sight of who she was doing the glaring at. Then she let out an eep , sounding like a cute puppy to my ears. Her song was like the resonance of water-filled glass and the shaking of sistrums.
She hastily made the Diamond salute. "Calcite Inclusion Lapis Lazuli Facet-BD19 Teardrop-Y12 r-reporting for duty." Almost as if in response, the crater behind her caught on fire. She twitched a finger and a stream of nearby water put it out but the damage was done.
"Pfft… " I giggled, and she looked incredibly embarrassed. "I haven't gotten the memo on the second wave coming early." I wanted to laugh even harder but I didn't want to hurt a hydrokinetic capable of moving oceans. While she couldn't control the whole ocean, controlling a sea was within her remit.
She clasped her hands together, her face deepening in hue. "I may have gone ahead of them, I'm some of the few Gems that can after all."
"So Lapis Lazulis can fly at FTL speeds?" Well wasn't that a terrifying revelation, at least FTL ramming didn't seem possible. They'd just phase through the planet, because of how their methods work.
"It's part of what we're built for, we're macroscale hydrokinetic terraformer Gems. I might like gardening and meep morps, but no Gem can run away completely from our old purpose." She lifted her hands up in a 'what could you do?' gesture. "We're not as fast as modern Gem ships, but we can make it from here to Homeworld in a month." Homeworld was twenty five thousand light years away…
That was fast as shit, though still quite slow when compared to the Gem ships capable of arriving in Andromeda in about two days, an order of magnitude faster even than Entities own hyper-FTL architectures. Diamond flagships were faster still…
"So should I just call you Lapis Lazuli or…?" I raised an eyebrow.
"Argent. My friends call me Argent." She placed her hands on her hips, preening. "Sorry about the barrier…though you really should have some energy shields by now."
"We had much less equipment than we would have hoped, things got delayed." I said with a sardonic tone, shifting a hip to the right. "Though now that we've got a Gem with your kind of power and skill we might get a lot more work done." I grinned at the thought, plus it was nice to be around people again. Even Gems.
Not that there was anything wrong with that.
Argent shrugged her shoulders. "Well that's what I'm here for, though we'll need dimensional portals to make the colonization work out."
"Oh." An idea percolated into my mind. "You're going to shift to another dimension to get the water needed, and then shift it back into our reality."
"I'm thinking I'll pull Mimas out of orbit, it's within my limits if you give me a day or two to build up my power." I blinked.
"Wouldn't it make more sense to build a portal from alternate Mimas to Mars Bet, rather than wasting your energy and time to move a moon half a billion miles?"
"Good thing I'm not in charge of the colony then." I could hear the embarrassment in her song, glass cracking. It was kind of adorable. "Knocking a moon out of orbit is a little excessive isn't it?"
"It'd be cool to see though." Seeing a moon get tossed against a planet might be pretty neat. Then I remembered we needed to get a move on. "Oh and you might need to get acquainted with Malachite, she's busy synthesizing the right gases for plants and might need a heads up on water exportation."
"Probably a good idea." She deadpanned, a haunted look in her eye. I imagine from experience.
Poor Gem. Malachites could be brutal.
"I predict Rachel will have a good time with us." I chuffed softly when Fuschia approached me from my right side. Out of all the Gems who had joined me in their solar system I was the closest with her.
There was just something about her I liked, she was nice to talk to, she shared some of the same interests, and had been very proactive with helping me feel comfortable.
"Your predictions aren't a guarantee, Fuschia."
"Flowers." She replied, and I tilted my head. "My friends call me Flowers." She brushed a bang back, humming a happy musing tune.
"It's a cute name." I commented, scratching my ear. "It suits you, and it's nice you think of me as a friend."
She had a self satisfied smug key to her melody on the way down to the efficiently assembled dog shelter. Externally it appeared quite small, nowhere near enough to house more than two or three dogs. But when I walked him, the nature of Gem buildings became obvious.
The building was much larger on the inside, the floor a mix of Gem cultivated grass, dirt, and plain Gem stone. There was a trough, along with multiple sealed bags of dog food. A total of six dogs, and one of them seemed…new? Yes new, a terrier of indeterminate breed.
She had called her Angelica, and it made me wonder if something was trying to keep destiny on track. Which wasn't an impossible thing when magic was real and that as a Gem I had a natural idea of the flow of events. My hunch might in fact be true because of it.
Gems were benders of reality, of fate itself in their own limited ways. It wasn't unlikely twenty eight magical beings on a world bereft of it was fucking with reality in ways we couldn't predict.
"Not much I can do about that Brenda…" I muttered absently.
Rachel was at ease, walking with her dogs while a few Corals flitted about. Apparently she liked them because they were a lot like dogs even with their cat-like looks. She had been gruff and a little aggressive, though her attitude didn't grate much on the Quartz.
Carnelian Facet-B81 Teardrop-27 was there, she was a somewhat short Quartz though not quite to the same extent as Amethyst or the Carnelian and came from the Beta Kindergarten like the latter.
She was about six feet tall, with the typical build of most Quartz and currant skin and darker red spiky hair. She wore a black tank top, exposing her toned arms and her stomach teardrop gem, and below that she wore dark red tights and pink spiked boots. She also wore a necklace of currant fruit beads, an appearance modifier rather than a base form.
She was playing with one of the dogs, a beefy brown Labrador with a sharp scar along one eye. Rachel was watching her, almost tense but not quite there yet either. Like she wasn't sure on what the best course of action was. Her arm was shifted into a tiny catapult, playing a game of fetch with the gruff, but happy dog.
I chuffed, one of the dogs seemed…off to me. A smell I didn't like, soft whines that grated at my ears. I probe the air, and feel the touch of magic. I took a long sniff, and marched towards another dog, a dachshund from the looks of it.
I crouched and the dog barked, licking my offered hand. Animals seemed to like me a lot more than they used to. I had a sort of natural charisma, which wasn't as weird when I remembered my school days. Despite being a weirdo on the autism spectrum, people just sort of gravitated towards me. I had a lot of people willing to talk to me if nothing else.
Though my self esteem never quit saying it was out of pity, or because they thought I was weird and liked to make fun of me behind my back. Maybe I had a weird natural magnetism despite my flawed…social capacities. Maybe because when I was younger I was really open about my weirdness. And people liked that sort of unintentional confidence.
I wasn't subtle, I had literally talked about taking over the world when I was a young teen. Whatever natural charisma I had had been amplified by my Diamond charisma. I had been bowled over by wolf puppies the day before the incident. And then chased away by their mamas. My Aura only went so far.
I probed once again, pawing the cute dog's face, and clicking my teeth in a nervous song. I track the doggy's existence, following the traces backwards in time. I sniffed, taking in a deep pulse of chemical sense data. He smelled sick, and I probed.
There was a weakness, and the outcomes weren't looking good. His heart was weak, pulsing and his other organs…
"One of the dogs is sick." I declared, chewing on my lip as the dog stared at me.
Rachel glared, and stomped over. "Him." She stated. "Show me." She demanded.
I narrowed my eyes, pressing my lips together. "Of course. He seems to be suffering from damage to some of his organs, heart mostly. He's not going to last long…"
"Fuck. I took him off the streets, near a city destroyed by Behemoth." So probable radiation damage that hadn't yet killed him. "Does he have cancer?"
"Not yet. I can heal him. Easily even."
"Easier than using my power?" She didn't question me much, she had seen my healing magic in action.
"I am quite literally made of healing bullshit so yes. Are there any complaints you want to make?" I was being sarcastic, it was way easy to be a bit of a dick with her. It was a familiar dynamic though with a greater chance of being maimed.
"Then get to it." I rolled my eyes, and kissed the doggy on his forehead. I let the ichor flow, and my Aura light. The dog whined, as the magic burned through his veins, as old wounds healed and vanished under the power I held within my flesh.
I swept my hand through his fur, and released a comforting melodious cry. The organ damage was gone, and he was good as new.
I gave eye contact. "He's good as new. You ever need me to heal what your power can't. Ask." It was easy enough to be less nice with her. I could really be kind of a dick(or bitch?) and she was tough enough to take it.
Better than me by far anyhow. It was a dynamic I wasn't unwilling to match from time to time.
"Hmm…" I gave her a passing nod, inspecting the life and magic in the air. That was the main reason I was here. To check on the dogs she had brought in, and to see if any adjustments had to be made to the shelter.
I tilted my head in tandem with the dachshund, and he let out a happy bark.
I'll spend some of my time here. It might be nice.
"Back in the old days, there used to be a lot of break-breakers and Diamond-damned idiots when it came to buildings. We Gems build stuff sturdy, I've been in a few arenas that are a good twenty thousand years old." Righty flexed her arm as. "We had some elites who always complained about how the style was so 'old fashioned' or got damaged because they were being stupid…" Righty waved her beefy arm, the Bismuth's fangs inching forward to shift her Gemsong.
"I like what you build, it's very pretty. And functional." Figures Elle would be interested in Gem architecture. She was sitting next to the Bismuth as she reinforced the several buildings around the Home Temple.
I let out a squeak when I suddenly had clawed toes sinking into my head. What the fuck? Why?
"So your little friend is paying you a visit?" Righty's teasing lilt made me growl, and she chuckled out a booming laugh in song.
The odd crow had been gone when I had woken up, and apparently he decided now was a good time to bother the shit out of me. He didn't make many calls, mostly stoically staring me down with his beady bird eyes. Mostly he was busy building a sophisticated nest made out of sticks, spider silk, and other organic materials.
My suspicions were growing when I had caught him butchering some prey with knapped flint, a large fish from the stream. Though I swear I had caught a hint of red on his feathers.
"Please get off my head." I pleaded but he refused. So I grabbed him, and looked at him. He was a very odd species, one that didn't exist in nature. I gripped a single claw on his wing, something he used in tandem with his dexterous toes and tongue.
…
"You're a lot smarter than you let on aren't you? Quit playing dumb." I poked him on the beak. The crow ruffled his feathers, puffing. Followed up by the worst shock of my life.
"Nothing gets past you No-Wings." I didn't release a squeak of surprise or make a stupid face. What are you a cop? "You're not with the Watcher or the Flesh Lady." Well wasn't that a worrying statement to be told by a sapient bird.
Wait.
"You're not speaking English are you?"
"Never learned your No-Wing nonsense babble," He shifted a wing dismissively. "But your singing seems to be hitting my brain meats, so…"
"How the fuck do you even know what brains are?" This wasn't happening, this was fucking stupid.
As stupid as a magic pink lion? As stupid as talking magic rocks? As stupid as a fourteen year old managing to roast a million year old dictator into submission?
"Some of the elders can read, and 'borrowed' texts from the Watcher and the Flesh Lady. We've learned quite a lot." The interrupted thought returned to the forefront.
I'm a goddamn Disney Princess. Talking to wild critters with magical princess powers. I'm going to keep talking to this bird, because yes Brandon, this is a rational logical world following the laws of physics as I know them.
I'm going to keep pretending that's true.
"Alright. So why are you sticking around? I healed you didn't I?" He ruffled his feathers, gesturing to the red flecks interspersed along his black coat.
"You did something to me, and…you seem like you might serve as good meat shields for my people."
I lifted my finger. "I'm going to assume you want our help, which means this is not my problem. Talk to one of the other Gems, they can help more than I can."
I picked up the bird, and chucked him two dozen feet in the air. I kicked my feet in the air as I turned at a ninety degree angle away from the crazy with a smile on my face.
"I'm going home now."
I sat in a criss-cross position, feeling the rippling waves of my magic. My Aura pulsed, and petals fluttered out from the cloud of magic, light and song. I held a clump of petals of amaranth and roses and posies. They had formed fairly recently, apparently a consequence of my growing power.
It was both kind of cute and mortifying, and another price to pay for ultimate power. I was floating, managing to make better use of my floating, manipulating my energy field for the purpose. Training and frankly playing with my regular power was a regular thing nowadays.
My shield was my newest project, trying to pour as much power and potential into my greatest defense. I had tested the shields with some of my Gem's help, everything from a cheap pistol to a Linear Laser Rifle. Which was basically an anti-vehicle laser cannon built by Earth 460'/.
An odd name but there wasn't much I could do on the matter, it wasn't my planet, it wasn't even my Earth. Who was I was to decide whether their naming methodologies are stupid?
I quit floating, landing on my bed. I bent forward and lounged freely in the blankets, yawning. I extended my fingers and edged my claws out, as I felt the time for sleep approaching. But I still had one final thing to do today before giving up the ghost.
Talking with my parents…
I projected a screen, and the device pinged as it sent off a signal across multidimensional space.
Today has been a weird but…rather good day.
Author's Note: Ahh the story of slowly losing your sanity day by day, week by week.
Symphony 3.4
- Location
- Chula Vista
Symphony 3.4
"Are you sure this is a good idea?" A worried Starry questioned my judgment, which wasn't an unreasonable thing. "There are a lot of dangerous things out there Brandon."
"I might be half-human but I'm still a Diamond. It's been three days since Elle got herself lost, and I've trained a lot with you." Code patching had more or less become normalcy, the transfer of code was way more interesting anyway. Plus getting kissed on the cheek wasn't really that bad.
Still weird, but meh…
"Why you though? Why not Rachel or Elle?" My head turned slowly, I was not amused. Starry blushed. "Sorry. It was stupid from the moment it left my mouth."
"Rachel isn't good with people, and Elle is newly woken up from a half decade long fever dream."
I understand her concern though, most of the Gems wouldn't be able to join me. They were too colorful, too conspicuous, too much parodies of human form and likeness. But a single Ruby was tasked with my protection, Frills was a strong and smart Gem and Labradorite had equipped her with a stealth device, and some weapons besides her chakram.
Plus now that I had manifested my shield, I was a lot more capable of defending myself. I didn't really have a need for a secret identity, and I could make a variety of changes as needed for public ventures.
I had made my hair completely red, had made it a shade of brown rather than black, made myself taller and shorter and wider and skinnier. My eyes had taken a variety of colors, from red to green to brown to almost black to a brilliant pink.
"So why you?" She asked.
"Because I get humans better than most Gems, and because…I just want something familiar…is that selfish of me?" I had seen only a handful of human beings in the past month.
Her expression softened. "Perhaps you're right, you were a human first. You have the right. Just be careful alright?"
I snorted. "I'm not the type of person to seek out danger." Of course that wasn't a guarantee, fate was a funny thing with Gems. "Luckily I had the good idea of using Robonoids to find lost change." We had accumulated a total of two hundred dollars in quarters, dollar coins and five dollar bills.
It wasn't much but I needed maybe twenty, thirty bucks for a night out on the town. Not that there would be much to see…Piermont isn't Vegas.
"We'll be on standby, Argent is on watch for the…Destiny Unbound. That'll be a huge boost in productivity and Gempower."
My grin was toothy. "Excellent."
Now…let's see how well I can feign being a normal human again.
Piermont, New Hampshire incorporated by Governor Benning Wentworth in 1764 and settled in 1768. The differences didn't start building up until the 90s with the destruction of half a dozen towns by an insane parahuman. On my Earth, the population was under a thousand, while here we had about two thousand eight hundred people.
It didn't change the character much, it was still mostly white people, though there was an underlying unease, a crack in the seams due to their way of life nearly being destroyed. But…I did hear rumblings of resentment due to immigrants, mostly black and asian, making up about twenty percent of the population.
Sadly it was mostly outside influence from the various powered white supremacist gangs rooting themselves down that triggered it.
It didn't much matter for my current task however, since I was currently buying snacks from the Four Corners General Store. Wearing a comfy red sweater, and black cargo pants. Both were Chroma of course, though scanners wouldn't be able to pick up on that unless I wanted them to know. Figuring out how to shapeshift Chroma clothing was fun.
I smiled easily at the cashier, a pretty black woman with hazel eyes. I placed down a bottle of Mountain Dew, a bag of Haribo gummy bears, and sour cream and onion Pringles.
"That'll be eight dollars and fifteen cents." The woman rubbed her eyes, maintaining a light smile.
"Thank you." I pulled out the money, a five dollar bill, three dollar coins, and a quarter offered in exchange for food and a plastic bag.
I walked out of the store, moving towards a newly built local park, made to accommodate the higher population. I sat down on a bench, thankful that being a Gem came with absurd temperature resistance. My temperature was hot, enough to melt snow if I let it burn higher.
But that would be a bad idea so I didn't do that. I leaned back on the bench, opening the Pringles container and placing a chip in my mouth. I ate away, crossing one leg over the other, and brushing back my long wavy black hair.
I watched people, and watched the air dance with floating shapes. Like butterflies, glistening with reflected sunlight. People shone to my eyes, and I could see the stripes along their exposed skin, and I caught wisps of thought at the edge of my Aura. A distant hum that let me dodge people, dodge their bodies, dodge their questions, dodge their threat, bending the thread of fate in my favor.
It was so obvious I had changed drastically, and it became more so how none of them heard the distant click of smartphones, the hum of electric wiring and the static of radio stations. I could hear their bones crack under their skin.
I hummed softly, keeping my Gemsong from leaking too much. I would always have a sing-song voice, but weaving words into a person's brains would have to be done carefully.
There was a small group of teenagers, who sat around a table, speaking about something. A young Asian woman, Japanese from the looks of it and around the same age as Elle, fourteen or fifteen. A tall blonde male teen a year of two older, with dark brown eyes and freckles on his face. Then a black girl with black hair around two or three years older with red dyed tips.
They were watched by their chaperone, a large blonde haired man in his mid to late 20s with a severe look to him. He was built like a brick, with a scruffy if slightly cleaned up face. Something about him was familiar, a distant wisp of recognition. My Aura had sensed his surface thoughts before I had Warped back.
Then of course there were the murmurs of the shards, quietly grating on my ears. The very same ones I had heard at a distance when I had evacuated so my inexperience wouldn't get someone killed. Which would make him Chevalier, the Japanese girl Flechette, the boy Jouster, and the girl Lunasong.
I recognized the first three and their power while the fourth was an unknown barring the trawler programs research. Lunasong was a Shaker/Blaster cape, using singing to project a moonlight aura. The aura stalled things, silenced, stilled. Her singing generated the aura, but it didn't immediately dissipate upon stopping.
Her singing was more to tune and manipulate her moonlight power, she could shield her body, slow and cool fire and heat, and even effect powers with some effort. She could create blasts and waves and beams…like a weaker version of Scion's power.
Her power was unusually potent, a solid ability with some buildup and experience. Of course a lot of that was tempered by her being a Ward, she couldn't push her power to lethal levels often. Either way she was a dangerous cape with a great capacity for both good and evil like any human being.
Their chaperone shifted his eyes in my direction, and I stiffened. His eyes were narrowed, and I thanked the heavens his shardsight wouldn't work on me. And that Gem magic was different enough to prevent scanning for other powers.
For now, the time could still be extended with the precaution-weapons. Though that worked more in the far, far, far future. They were meant for poisoning the future and their magic thus messed with their sight.
But it didn't stop them existing in the present, no they had modified modules, using specialized crystal cores to emulate an equivalent of Mantellum's power using magic. Their future sight operated like we weren't in it, cloaking us in darkness to their powers.
Luckily most of those devices operated within the same range that the precaution-weapons had. But they were a little cruder than the precaution-weapons, and shards could adapt to them.
Eventually. Sometimes. Very rarely.
No, the precaution-weapons hadn't been focused on the Entities, they were built for another war, for another time, for another place, for another when. Though they worked better than most.
Is…is he walking over here? Did I trip a flag somewhere?
"You're a new face," The man noted, his rugged handsome face pulled into a modest smile. "I come here from time to time for work, PRT." Well that was rather bold of him wasn't it?
"I'm just a visitor, I don't really live around here. Kind of small really, but it's a nice little town." It was quaint, yes. "I'll probably only be around for a few days, might visit some other places in New Hampshire." I shrugged.
"Mylon Ritter." I listened to the meaning behind his name, eyes lighting up.
Gracious-Glory-Graceful-Union-The-Riding-Knight.
It was a beautiful name nonetheless, I would remember it.
"Brenda Rubio." I kept it simple, lips forming a light but cautious grin. "Though I do question why you came over to me?" I tapped my fingers against my thigh, a nervous flutter in my heart.
"You were staring." He pointed out, and I could sense his suspicion.
I cleared my throat. "Umm. Sorry. I was just looking in their direction, and spaced out." And I wasn't even lying, I had pretty much moved on from the teens as they were more or less irrelevant. "Sorry if I worried you, are you their…guardian, chaperone?" I questioned, still finding it odd he was talking to me.
"Their parents told me to keep an eye on them, we needed to make a stop here for gas." He fibbed but I didn't care or mind much, not like I was any different.
"Fair enough." I leaned back, breathing in and out. "I suppose I should let you get back to keeping an eye on those kids?"
His chuckle was light, his voice strong and deep. "Sorry if I bothered you."
"Having some company isn't so bad," I was honest about that, human interaction was nice. "Now if you wouldn't mind, I'd like to dive into my snacks." I haughtily gestured to my bag.
Mylon snorted. "Sure."
I munched on my Pringles, eyes squinting in delight as I ate real human food for the first time in over a month. He backed away, returning his full attention to the Wards.
Mhmm…Pringles.
[hr[
"A spar?" I questioned Starry, the Rose Quartz casually cracking her knuckles. Her song was rising in tempo, bordering on entering an accelerando.
"You got punked by a human who was half out of her mind," She pointed out and I winced. "You're a Diamond, people should be kneeling at your feet rather than the other way around. Unless that's your grind."
My cheeks turned red. "Starry, why?"
The giant woman let out a lilting teasing burst of Gemsong, her blinding grin easily forming. But I could see a hint of strain, a note of melancholy I didn't understand.
This was important to her, and I didn't know why. I wasn't sure if I should ask either. I was a Diamond, and I didn't want to use that power, that authority to satisfy my own curiosity.
"You're tough enough to take a few hits from me, and since you can summon your shield…there's no reason not to test you out."
"That makes sense." I nodded, and she gestured her claw tipped hand towards the sparring circle, a raised platform made of marble-like reinforced stone.
"Then we'll see how well you've absorbed the lessons Sunny." Her grin was wild, an almost bestial glee reflected in her eyes. She formed her shield, and I swallowed nervously. The outcomes began to shift, and I felt my claws extend out in reaction.
"So do we start now or—" My question was answered by a devastating punch to the jaw, and I was flung thirty meters back before I righted myself in midair. Instincts and songs swelled and burned and radiated, and my tongue scraped against the top of my palate in a screech of Gem language.
Her stance was solid but had a hint of give, and I could pick out very few flaws. This was the stance of a fighter, a warrior, a soldier molded by war and battle.
An accelerando rushed in my ears, and I dodged to the left, my long dark hair losing a few strands from the cleaving hands of Starry. I hadn't shifted from the form I used in public, though my eyes and claws had come back. Luckily I had practiced enough shapeshifting to be able to fight in several forms.
Each strike was devastating, hitting with a thousand times the power any normal human could exert. Yet my skin was unyielding, my light reinforcing my body with the natural resilience of a Diamond. But it hurt nonetheless, so I kicked off the ground, dashing on shifted energy fields.
I landed on a newly created hex barrier, and pivoted on my heels to avoid a serpentine strike from Starry. She relied mainly on her arms and fists, brutal swings and cleaving blows made to break and harm and brutalize. Legs were moved between footwork, and brief devastating kicks used for mere moments at a time.
I ran along a rapidly ascending staircase of energy barriers, and Starry flew up to meet me head on. She shattered the constructs with casual swipes of her arms, and I bounced against a barrier.
I launched forward, taking advantage of her brief pause, of the drop in the soundtrack. A five pointed shield burst forward, bolstered by my own punch. I weaved past a flurry of punches, using my small size to my advantage. Her reach was so much greater, but I was lower to the ground and a smaller target. We both floated down to the training circle, eyes gleaming and gems ringing.
Which only worked because my strength was similar to her own. And I would only get stronger.
My Rose Quartz opponent stomped and pivoted, her shield forming into a bludgeoning mass of summoned metal. She aimed at my left side.
I knocked it aside with a whip-like tail colored red and pink, and dropped to the ground as I shifted my limbs. I sprinted on all fours, and launched myself at her back. I wrapped myself in a bubble, and with a chittering flicker of song I forced out the spikes from the energy bubble.
I dropped the bubble, and landed on another hexagon barrier, my field of gravity shifting to it.
"Oh I can do that? Neat." I ran at a ninety degree angle, forming barrier after barrier until I reoriented gravity back down. I was thirty meters up, and I felt the possibilities.
Left.
I met her charge head on, taking a low, almost reptilian stance. She had jumped the distance with a song screaming fury and pride and joy. I whipped my tail, adding a twist of my hips to the blow.
I swept her off her feet, and she did a handstand before hopping into the air with her hands. She adjusted in midair, and took on a burning glow I recognized as oh fuck oh fuck— two shields manifested along her arms as she curled into a ball and…
The magic fueled charge hit me like artillery, and I was sent careening into the ground. I scrambled out of the crater I left, not questioning how my organs hadn't exploded into giblets.
"Not the time to be questioning yourself." I muttered with a biting cloy, rolling my wrists as I removed the tail and altered limbs. I brushed back the bangs that came with being Brenda, keeping on guard.
Right.
I created a shield, lifting my hand in the split second where a massive bladed shield had been aimed downward where my chest would be. I sent the shield flying to stagger Starry, and my hands were covered in rose red flames.
My haymaker connected, slamming into her stomach and sending her flying. I took off into the air myself, gliding as I slowed my fall to a crawl while using the momentum of my initial leap.
We met each other head on, our songs melding together with the screeching flash of swords and the melodious cry of bullets. I aimed low, extending my limbs with shapeshifting and crafting crystalline spears from my claws. I remembered what Steven had become once he had fallen apart completely. He was capable of so much more…
I swiped and my spears sparked against Starry's heavy shield. I hissed when it detonated with an energy blast. She shifted the shield into a cleaving angle, and I tilted my head back to avoid it.
"Better. Much better." She growled, her power flaring with her magic. "But I know there's still more in that little body of yours." Starry steps away from tumbled blocks of sparring floor. "I've seen the power of a Diamond unleashed, I've watched the power of Others with comparable power." I looked at her eyes, a dark, dark pink bordering on red, a sadness radiating from colors in cherry and rose and amaranth.
"So what do you want?" I ventured, clenching my fists and bearing my too sharp teeth, fangs flicking forward in display.
"Hit me. As hard as you can." She threw her hand out, one curvaceous leg stepping forward in a stance.
"Why is this so important to you?" I almost covered my big fucking mouth, eyes widening.
Her claws flexed, her song hardened like steel, and her eyes grew cold. "We came to this world to destroy the Warrior and the Thinker. Zion and Eden." There was a sarcastic lilt to her words. "The Black Wyrm is smarter, more understanding of narrative and psychological means of control. But he's so much smaller, so much weaker. If his remaining avatar finds the Warrior…so many people would die. This cycle needs to end."
It was obvious then.
"Something happened to people you cared about didn't it?" She nodded silently, her song quieting in remorse.
I took a moment.
…
"As hard as I can?" She smiled, a bitter, angry thing.
"As hard as you can." She confirmed.
I lowered into a stance, and I hardened my body. I gathered every bit of my power, reached into myself with all I had to offer and more besides. I stomped and the two of us collided, Starry shoulder checked(belly really…) me and I tried again.
I reached for anger, I reached for excitement and aggression, and weaved left and right and down and up. Punches and chops struck true against joints and weak points, the ones Gems had.
Hit now.
I poured all my power into a final punch, and her body rippled as her fist met mine. Her legs sank four feet into the ground, and I blinked in astonishment.
"Did I do that—" I didn't get a chance to ponder what had happened, because Starry's hand was suddenly around my throat. It shifted down to my shirt, and I saw stars as my head was slammed into the ground.
The Rose Quartz dug herself out of the stone, and I groaned. I could feel the aches.
"Ow…" I didn't protest when she picked me up by the scruff of my neck, claws curling around it. You would think I would be freaking out, but it was comfortable, Gem instinct filling in.
Their necks weren't vital points in the same way they were in humans. They didn't need to breathe, so they weren't really going to suffer from human types of damage. And from what Steven had told me the same applied to hybrids, we could operate in vacuum just fine in time. Though it wasn't by the same means as Gems, since our bodies were organic.
Even so Starry shifted me, cradling me into her chest, rumbling and purring with a frequency that made me yawn. It was notable, because I had seen it happen with a lot of Gems I knew.
"Why do a lot of Gems…purr at me?" I had a feeling I wasn't going to like the answer.
"You want an honest answer?" There was a serious look on her face.
"Yes."
She flashed a pretty and rather silly smile. "You're adorable to us Gems." I gaped. "Kind of like a baby, but not really." I understood, I was considered inexperienced in an endearing sort of way.
"Mmm…is that why you're carrying me like this?" Her rumbling laugh curled into my chest, Gemsong coming on strong with skin contact.
"I thought you'd enjoy being held by a gorgeous 'woman' or am I wrong?" She whispered in my ear, and I flushed.
"Shut up."
"Oh. So you are enjoying this."
"Shut up…!"
"Or maybe you'd enjoy a certain Sapphire's company instead. She is cute."
"I hate you."
Her bubbling laughter echoed in the air.
Why me?
I buzzed lightly as I scrolled through a holographic screen, ones and zeroes and threes and fours and so many more rolling past at inhuman speed. I was reading up on a number of different major cape groups in North America.
The Elite were the second largest cape organization, hundreds of parahumans ignoring their proxies, with the Protectorate having about seven thousand capes scattered across the country.
They were the least dangerous in some ways and the most in other ways. They had political power and a control over the media most major cape groups lacked. They had people like Bastard Son as their sticks and more subtle and more politically intelligent capes like Uppercrust and Agne's Court as their carrot.
They gobbled up independents through both threats and money, and stayed within the lines enough to stop the Protectorate from interfering without a lot of backlash.
The next groups were smaller but exchanged size for sheer violence and criminal activity. The Fallen were especially egregious, an Endbringer cult using their beliefs as an excuse to act like monsters, from larceny for the least committed, which would be bad but not…monstrous on its own. No it was the kidnapping and the sexual slavery and the literal brainwashing that crossed the line. Plus all the incest required for second gen and third gen capes.
Then there was the homophobia, the prejudice against Case 53s, which would easily be translated against a literal alien race of space lesbians. Like we hit all their buttons on that field of prejudice and hatred. Even if I was…basically male, and used a female form more for stealth and curiosity.
Which probably still counted for some amount of prejudice, so it changed little. The only thing I had going for me was literal psychic powers, so I might get true believers thinking I'm the Simurgh's daughter.
Well I'm doubtful, but you never know.
There was the Yangban but that was mostly in China, though you'd have to watch out for their cape smuggling rings across the globe. Then were the dozens of smaller teams and cape organizations of varying threat and danger. Accord's Ambassadors mainly seemed restricted to Boston. For now.
The Adepts thought powers were magic in a culty kind of way. But they were a New York phenomenon. There were the Three Blasphemies, tinkertech entities created by shard coordinated tinkers. Blastgerm was small at the time but Blasto was potentially dangerous if he could mess with cape DNA and Endbringer flesh.
Cauldron was another group to watch out for and not for the reasons you think. They were monstrous, but it was PtV I had no tolerance for. It was one of Abaddon's gifts, and with his pieces on the loose across the Milky Way…
Killing her shard might become necessary. But who else was there to watch out for? Oh right.
There was the Dark Society, a major villain group up and down the East coast. There was Dno, the collective cape underworld of Russia, including groups like the Bratva. The Folk in Chicago, keeping the peace but still a criminal organization.
There were The Four, into bioweapons mostly, making people sick while healing themselves. They have tentative ties with Orchard, human traffickers with biological modification powers. Gesellschaft was another group with ties to various supremacist groups in the United States. The E88 at least, possibly the Clans.
Gold Coin was a more national group with an offshoot in Anchorage. I knew the names of several people of that offshoot. Then there were the Heartbroken, the children of Nikos Vasil and his mind controlled thralls. There was the eco terrorist group Ossuary, who had a reputation for executing targets like that would solve shit.
Red Gauntlet are a Russian paramilitary group with power rivaling the Russian government and their own lapdogs. The Red Hand may or not be around yet, but I had no reason to focus on petty thieves. Then there were the Speedrunners, made up of a number of time-manipulators. Who would eventually join the Fallen in another time and place.
Secondhand was the most ridiculous, making use of a mass restricted version of Entity forms of FTL. From what Olly had surmised, it warped the physical dimensions to alter the laws of physics. Gems did similar things using the higher energies of magic. Moving at hyper-FTL speeds at the cost of being repelled by physical matter.
Final Hour creates fields of slowed time, and he could create various effects with his tinkertech. Last Minute instead reverses the local flow of time on inanimate objects.
The Teeth of course had the Butcher, a cape that when they die joins with the cape that kills them. And drives them insane. There was Toybox who were less direct criminals, selling tinkertech to the highest bidder.
The Tuurngait, mainly in Anchorage. I was still missing a few here and there, and there were the monsters to consider. Behemoth with powerful but not perfect dynakinesis, though it was stronger than almost any cape alive. Leviathan with mass-hydrokinesis comparable to Lapis Lazulis. The Simurgh with the past and future sight we were spoofing. As well as Manton limited telekinesis strong enough to tumble buildings.
The Machine Army, storing themselves in dimensional pockets and a self replicating threat. The monsters of Nilbog in his kingdom, and the Slaughterhouse Nine and their own dangerous, often insane members. I read what I could, and many of my Gems worked to get as much information and data as powerful.
All three Sapphires had focused their future vision, even against the Fallen. Her power didn't work very well against Gems. They weren't human, closer to living technology, and they had developed their vision to slip past various forms of Entity based information warfare techniques.
The Gems had adapted defenses and strategies against shard powers.
One Sapphire with blue coloration had been mentally attacked by a corrupted Pearl capable of projecting her song and image through the same or similar means as Mama Mathers.
A little purple Sapphire had fused with an Amethyst to beat down a team of Paired, nonhumans from what I read. One was a species known as a Rannian, the other a Piscciss Premann.
The Rannian had developed a Breaker power, transforming into a mass of energy similar to Legend but more defensive in nature. In this state she could absorb all kinds of energy, from kinetic to nuclear. She could reflect this energy back, but at the cost of reducing her own bolstered durability from taken energy.
The obvious option was to put her in a box, and to siphon any energy she could gather from her surroundings. Her partner, the Piscciss Premann instead could shoot out blasts of unstable portal cuts with massive recoil.
But he wasn't any more durable than any other member of his species. And a Gem, much less a fusion was tough and strong. I had seen Aventurine lift five hundred tons without strain, and Starry had lifted twice that much. The fusion simply dodged before beating the shit out of him.
Of course the main priority wasn't any of the capes, it was Scion himself. He was the remaining Entity alive, with his partner dead. From what we knew he had to be a large cluster of shards concentrated into a handful or four of worlds. Based on the structure of the three Loner-Hubs they had destroyed. And from what they had told me…
Abaddon had divided into sub-shards, breaking up into four Hubs modeled after the Diamonds as they attempted to harvest the potential and magic of the species.
Each was a cluster of over a thousand shards, divided up into multiple functions. A vast number of shards were dedicated towards information gathering, Thinker powers to improve the simulations of their precognition. Others managed the shard Network, and the general rules of a cycle, there was a central control unit, the brain, mind and 'personality' core of an Entity. Damage to that kills an Entity.
Then there were direct pipelines for personal shards. Eidolon's power was the entire cluster, and thus he had access to hundreds if not thousands of powers.
Once we found his coordinates, once enough information was gathered Scion would likely be destroyed. Of course doing so would require a number of things to get set up. Mainly high yield reality warping weapons, and knocking the moon down to smash into his Earths.
That wasn't going to be for a while though, they wanted to study his shards first since he was a different Entity from the Black Wyrm. There were differences there, ones they needed to pinpoint.
I shut down the screen, blinking the code from my eyes. I rubbed my face, glancing over to the platforms made of sticks and small planks that had been built at the edge of the base…err Atlas?
Sure Atlas, did I call it that before? I don't recall.
Apparently my new birdie friend built the thing, and lived in a little house nest. It sounded so dumb, but it wasn't like the creation of sapient life was outside the bounds of parahuman powers. It was just rare, and usually more dramatic.
We were going to have to deal with that. I kinda had a feeling sapient crows wouldn't be welcome in a world of biotinkers.
I slapped my face. "Not my problem." One of the Gems might be able to help.
What else did I have on my list of things to do?
I looked up at a massive circular mirror, surrounding a flat packed satellite core. I could sense the powerful magic flowing within the thirty meter diameter magitech construct.
"What exactly is this?" Olly was kneeling by power cabling, humming a ditty.
"A Star Soletta, they're going to be part of a network of a thousand satellites to increase solar insolation to 800 watts per square meter." She explained, gesturing for me to approach.
"Don't you need to make mirrors the size of continents for this kind of thing?" I pointed out.
She tapped my hip with a casual smirk. "Gem magic, remember? One of these mirrors can expand to tens of square kilometers. While the machinery within the nucleus," She bumped me, eyes glinting with delight. "It's based on Gem biology, our ability to absorb light with the minimal surface area of our Gem."
"So they use magic to reduce the number of satellites required." I clapped my hands together in comprehension. "Some type of space warping, light focusing effect. So terraforming requires increased solar insolation, a constant supply of a cocktail of ideal greenhouse gases, and modification to the planetary mantle and core for long term use." On the scale of billions of years rather than a few hundred million.
"Once we've got teams of Peridots and Serpentines and Danburites and other willing Gems, we'll get this done within a week." She sounded happy about it. "In the long term we can expect a fair number of Gems to start immigrating. You'll step back and get your education in order."
"Fair. You've all basically been babysitting me." They had been asking me for my opinion on the colony, but they did most of the work because I just plain didn't have the education for it. It was more like they gave me a catalog of options to choose from, a hundred Facets, eighty Facets, a hundred and twenty Facets.
"Yes." Wow, rude? Olly noted my expression and blushed. "Not that you're not capable but…"
"I'm not insulted, a month and a half ago I was jobless shut-in who's only work experience is a year of community college and working as a glorified taxi person."
"Taxi person?"
"Non Emergency medical transportation, transporting old or fragile people. I don't even drive, I just move a wheelchair or a gurney."
Olly tilted her head. "How was it?"
"Nice enough when there's people to talk to," I shrugged. "A lady threatened to call the cops on us when we couldn't find the exact drop off." People could be pretty dumb, and the dumb bitch was recording us. Though I had ducked slightly out of sight.
Huh…wonder if she uploaded the video to make us look bad?
Doubtful or I would have heard of it, since I was involved. Easy to get a job when you're the owner's kid.
"It won't be much longer you know." Olly finished up another Star Soletta. "The second wave shouldn't be far off now. Once we have the supplies, we'll have a direct link to the Empire. While you shouldn't expect millions flocking to your world, do expect enough to fill a stadium."
"Well…thank goodness I don't have to manage that mess," I shuddered. "Not any time soon." Olly laughed. "But a better question would be…what's a certain Lapis Lazuli been up to?"
Olly hummed. "She said something about the Moon? I was…not paying attention." She didn't meet my gaze.
Huh. Okay then.
I glanced up to the dusty rusty skies of Mars, and wondered how much longer this relative peace would last.
"Are you sure this is a good idea?" A worried Starry questioned my judgment, which wasn't an unreasonable thing. "There are a lot of dangerous things out there Brandon."
"I might be half-human but I'm still a Diamond. It's been three days since Elle got herself lost, and I've trained a lot with you." Code patching had more or less become normalcy, the transfer of code was way more interesting anyway. Plus getting kissed on the cheek wasn't really that bad.
Still weird, but meh…
"Why you though? Why not Rachel or Elle?" My head turned slowly, I was not amused. Starry blushed. "Sorry. It was stupid from the moment it left my mouth."
"Rachel isn't good with people, and Elle is newly woken up from a half decade long fever dream."
I understand her concern though, most of the Gems wouldn't be able to join me. They were too colorful, too conspicuous, too much parodies of human form and likeness. But a single Ruby was tasked with my protection, Frills was a strong and smart Gem and Labradorite had equipped her with a stealth device, and some weapons besides her chakram.
Plus now that I had manifested my shield, I was a lot more capable of defending myself. I didn't really have a need for a secret identity, and I could make a variety of changes as needed for public ventures.
I had made my hair completely red, had made it a shade of brown rather than black, made myself taller and shorter and wider and skinnier. My eyes had taken a variety of colors, from red to green to brown to almost black to a brilliant pink.
"So why you?" She asked.
"Because I get humans better than most Gems, and because…I just want something familiar…is that selfish of me?" I had seen only a handful of human beings in the past month.
Her expression softened. "Perhaps you're right, you were a human first. You have the right. Just be careful alright?"
I snorted. "I'm not the type of person to seek out danger." Of course that wasn't a guarantee, fate was a funny thing with Gems. "Luckily I had the good idea of using Robonoids to find lost change." We had accumulated a total of two hundred dollars in quarters, dollar coins and five dollar bills.
It wasn't much but I needed maybe twenty, thirty bucks for a night out on the town. Not that there would be much to see…Piermont isn't Vegas.
"We'll be on standby, Argent is on watch for the…Destiny Unbound. That'll be a huge boost in productivity and Gempower."
My grin was toothy. "Excellent."
Now…let's see how well I can feign being a normal human again.
Piermont, New Hampshire incorporated by Governor Benning Wentworth in 1764 and settled in 1768. The differences didn't start building up until the 90s with the destruction of half a dozen towns by an insane parahuman. On my Earth, the population was under a thousand, while here we had about two thousand eight hundred people.
It didn't change the character much, it was still mostly white people, though there was an underlying unease, a crack in the seams due to their way of life nearly being destroyed. But…I did hear rumblings of resentment due to immigrants, mostly black and asian, making up about twenty percent of the population.
Sadly it was mostly outside influence from the various powered white supremacist gangs rooting themselves down that triggered it.
It didn't much matter for my current task however, since I was currently buying snacks from the Four Corners General Store. Wearing a comfy red sweater, and black cargo pants. Both were Chroma of course, though scanners wouldn't be able to pick up on that unless I wanted them to know. Figuring out how to shapeshift Chroma clothing was fun.
I smiled easily at the cashier, a pretty black woman with hazel eyes. I placed down a bottle of Mountain Dew, a bag of Haribo gummy bears, and sour cream and onion Pringles.
"That'll be eight dollars and fifteen cents." The woman rubbed her eyes, maintaining a light smile.
"Thank you." I pulled out the money, a five dollar bill, three dollar coins, and a quarter offered in exchange for food and a plastic bag.
I walked out of the store, moving towards a newly built local park, made to accommodate the higher population. I sat down on a bench, thankful that being a Gem came with absurd temperature resistance. My temperature was hot, enough to melt snow if I let it burn higher.
But that would be a bad idea so I didn't do that. I leaned back on the bench, opening the Pringles container and placing a chip in my mouth. I ate away, crossing one leg over the other, and brushing back my long wavy black hair.
I watched people, and watched the air dance with floating shapes. Like butterflies, glistening with reflected sunlight. People shone to my eyes, and I could see the stripes along their exposed skin, and I caught wisps of thought at the edge of my Aura. A distant hum that let me dodge people, dodge their bodies, dodge their questions, dodge their threat, bending the thread of fate in my favor.
It was so obvious I had changed drastically, and it became more so how none of them heard the distant click of smartphones, the hum of electric wiring and the static of radio stations. I could hear their bones crack under their skin.
I hummed softly, keeping my Gemsong from leaking too much. I would always have a sing-song voice, but weaving words into a person's brains would have to be done carefully.
There was a small group of teenagers, who sat around a table, speaking about something. A young Asian woman, Japanese from the looks of it and around the same age as Elle, fourteen or fifteen. A tall blonde male teen a year of two older, with dark brown eyes and freckles on his face. Then a black girl with black hair around two or three years older with red dyed tips.
They were watched by their chaperone, a large blonde haired man in his mid to late 20s with a severe look to him. He was built like a brick, with a scruffy if slightly cleaned up face. Something about him was familiar, a distant wisp of recognition. My Aura had sensed his surface thoughts before I had Warped back.
Then of course there were the murmurs of the shards, quietly grating on my ears. The very same ones I had heard at a distance when I had evacuated so my inexperience wouldn't get someone killed. Which would make him Chevalier, the Japanese girl Flechette, the boy Jouster, and the girl Lunasong.
I recognized the first three and their power while the fourth was an unknown barring the trawler programs research. Lunasong was a Shaker/Blaster cape, using singing to project a moonlight aura. The aura stalled things, silenced, stilled. Her singing generated the aura, but it didn't immediately dissipate upon stopping.
Her singing was more to tune and manipulate her moonlight power, she could shield her body, slow and cool fire and heat, and even effect powers with some effort. She could create blasts and waves and beams…like a weaker version of Scion's power.
Her power was unusually potent, a solid ability with some buildup and experience. Of course a lot of that was tempered by her being a Ward, she couldn't push her power to lethal levels often. Either way she was a dangerous cape with a great capacity for both good and evil like any human being.
Their chaperone shifted his eyes in my direction, and I stiffened. His eyes were narrowed, and I thanked the heavens his shardsight wouldn't work on me. And that Gem magic was different enough to prevent scanning for other powers.
For now, the time could still be extended with the precaution-weapons. Though that worked more in the far, far, far future. They were meant for poisoning the future and their magic thus messed with their sight.
But it didn't stop them existing in the present, no they had modified modules, using specialized crystal cores to emulate an equivalent of Mantellum's power using magic. Their future sight operated like we weren't in it, cloaking us in darkness to their powers.
Luckily most of those devices operated within the same range that the precaution-weapons had. But they were a little cruder than the precaution-weapons, and shards could adapt to them.
Eventually. Sometimes. Very rarely.
No, the precaution-weapons hadn't been focused on the Entities, they were built for another war, for another time, for another place, for another when. Though they worked better than most.
Is…is he walking over here? Did I trip a flag somewhere?
"You're a new face," The man noted, his rugged handsome face pulled into a modest smile. "I come here from time to time for work, PRT." Well that was rather bold of him wasn't it?
"I'm just a visitor, I don't really live around here. Kind of small really, but it's a nice little town." It was quaint, yes. "I'll probably only be around for a few days, might visit some other places in New Hampshire." I shrugged.
"Mylon Ritter." I listened to the meaning behind his name, eyes lighting up.
Gracious-Glory-Graceful-Union-The-Riding-Knight.
It was a beautiful name nonetheless, I would remember it.
"Brenda Rubio." I kept it simple, lips forming a light but cautious grin. "Though I do question why you came over to me?" I tapped my fingers against my thigh, a nervous flutter in my heart.
"You were staring." He pointed out, and I could sense his suspicion.
I cleared my throat. "Umm. Sorry. I was just looking in their direction, and spaced out." And I wasn't even lying, I had pretty much moved on from the teens as they were more or less irrelevant. "Sorry if I worried you, are you their…guardian, chaperone?" I questioned, still finding it odd he was talking to me.
"Their parents told me to keep an eye on them, we needed to make a stop here for gas." He fibbed but I didn't care or mind much, not like I was any different.
"Fair enough." I leaned back, breathing in and out. "I suppose I should let you get back to keeping an eye on those kids?"
His chuckle was light, his voice strong and deep. "Sorry if I bothered you."
"Having some company isn't so bad," I was honest about that, human interaction was nice. "Now if you wouldn't mind, I'd like to dive into my snacks." I haughtily gestured to my bag.
Mylon snorted. "Sure."
I munched on my Pringles, eyes squinting in delight as I ate real human food for the first time in over a month. He backed away, returning his full attention to the Wards.
Mhmm…Pringles.
[hr[
"A spar?" I questioned Starry, the Rose Quartz casually cracking her knuckles. Her song was rising in tempo, bordering on entering an accelerando.
"You got punked by a human who was half out of her mind," She pointed out and I winced. "You're a Diamond, people should be kneeling at your feet rather than the other way around. Unless that's your grind."
My cheeks turned red. "Starry, why?"
The giant woman let out a lilting teasing burst of Gemsong, her blinding grin easily forming. But I could see a hint of strain, a note of melancholy I didn't understand.
This was important to her, and I didn't know why. I wasn't sure if I should ask either. I was a Diamond, and I didn't want to use that power, that authority to satisfy my own curiosity.
"You're tough enough to take a few hits from me, and since you can summon your shield…there's no reason not to test you out."
"That makes sense." I nodded, and she gestured her claw tipped hand towards the sparring circle, a raised platform made of marble-like reinforced stone.
"Then we'll see how well you've absorbed the lessons Sunny." Her grin was wild, an almost bestial glee reflected in her eyes. She formed her shield, and I swallowed nervously. The outcomes began to shift, and I felt my claws extend out in reaction.
"So do we start now or—" My question was answered by a devastating punch to the jaw, and I was flung thirty meters back before I righted myself in midair. Instincts and songs swelled and burned and radiated, and my tongue scraped against the top of my palate in a screech of Gem language.
Her stance was solid but had a hint of give, and I could pick out very few flaws. This was the stance of a fighter, a warrior, a soldier molded by war and battle.
An accelerando rushed in my ears, and I dodged to the left, my long dark hair losing a few strands from the cleaving hands of Starry. I hadn't shifted from the form I used in public, though my eyes and claws had come back. Luckily I had practiced enough shapeshifting to be able to fight in several forms.
Each strike was devastating, hitting with a thousand times the power any normal human could exert. Yet my skin was unyielding, my light reinforcing my body with the natural resilience of a Diamond. But it hurt nonetheless, so I kicked off the ground, dashing on shifted energy fields.
I landed on a newly created hex barrier, and pivoted on my heels to avoid a serpentine strike from Starry. She relied mainly on her arms and fists, brutal swings and cleaving blows made to break and harm and brutalize. Legs were moved between footwork, and brief devastating kicks used for mere moments at a time.
I ran along a rapidly ascending staircase of energy barriers, and Starry flew up to meet me head on. She shattered the constructs with casual swipes of her arms, and I bounced against a barrier.
I launched forward, taking advantage of her brief pause, of the drop in the soundtrack. A five pointed shield burst forward, bolstered by my own punch. I weaved past a flurry of punches, using my small size to my advantage. Her reach was so much greater, but I was lower to the ground and a smaller target. We both floated down to the training circle, eyes gleaming and gems ringing.
Which only worked because my strength was similar to her own. And I would only get stronger.
My Rose Quartz opponent stomped and pivoted, her shield forming into a bludgeoning mass of summoned metal. She aimed at my left side.
I knocked it aside with a whip-like tail colored red and pink, and dropped to the ground as I shifted my limbs. I sprinted on all fours, and launched myself at her back. I wrapped myself in a bubble, and with a chittering flicker of song I forced out the spikes from the energy bubble.
I dropped the bubble, and landed on another hexagon barrier, my field of gravity shifting to it.
"Oh I can do that? Neat." I ran at a ninety degree angle, forming barrier after barrier until I reoriented gravity back down. I was thirty meters up, and I felt the possibilities.
Left.
I met her charge head on, taking a low, almost reptilian stance. She had jumped the distance with a song screaming fury and pride and joy. I whipped my tail, adding a twist of my hips to the blow.
I swept her off her feet, and she did a handstand before hopping into the air with her hands. She adjusted in midair, and took on a burning glow I recognized as oh fuck oh fuck— two shields manifested along her arms as she curled into a ball and…
The magic fueled charge hit me like artillery, and I was sent careening into the ground. I scrambled out of the crater I left, not questioning how my organs hadn't exploded into giblets.
"Not the time to be questioning yourself." I muttered with a biting cloy, rolling my wrists as I removed the tail and altered limbs. I brushed back the bangs that came with being Brenda, keeping on guard.
Right.
I created a shield, lifting my hand in the split second where a massive bladed shield had been aimed downward where my chest would be. I sent the shield flying to stagger Starry, and my hands were covered in rose red flames.
My haymaker connected, slamming into her stomach and sending her flying. I took off into the air myself, gliding as I slowed my fall to a crawl while using the momentum of my initial leap.
We met each other head on, our songs melding together with the screeching flash of swords and the melodious cry of bullets. I aimed low, extending my limbs with shapeshifting and crafting crystalline spears from my claws. I remembered what Steven had become once he had fallen apart completely. He was capable of so much more…
I swiped and my spears sparked against Starry's heavy shield. I hissed when it detonated with an energy blast. She shifted the shield into a cleaving angle, and I tilted my head back to avoid it.
"Better. Much better." She growled, her power flaring with her magic. "But I know there's still more in that little body of yours." Starry steps away from tumbled blocks of sparring floor. "I've seen the power of a Diamond unleashed, I've watched the power of Others with comparable power." I looked at her eyes, a dark, dark pink bordering on red, a sadness radiating from colors in cherry and rose and amaranth.
"So what do you want?" I ventured, clenching my fists and bearing my too sharp teeth, fangs flicking forward in display.
"Hit me. As hard as you can." She threw her hand out, one curvaceous leg stepping forward in a stance.
"Why is this so important to you?" I almost covered my big fucking mouth, eyes widening.
Her claws flexed, her song hardened like steel, and her eyes grew cold. "We came to this world to destroy the Warrior and the Thinker. Zion and Eden." There was a sarcastic lilt to her words. "The Black Wyrm is smarter, more understanding of narrative and psychological means of control. But he's so much smaller, so much weaker. If his remaining avatar finds the Warrior…so many people would die. This cycle needs to end."
It was obvious then.
"Something happened to people you cared about didn't it?" She nodded silently, her song quieting in remorse.
I took a moment.
…
"As hard as I can?" She smiled, a bitter, angry thing.
"As hard as you can." She confirmed.
I lowered into a stance, and I hardened my body. I gathered every bit of my power, reached into myself with all I had to offer and more besides. I stomped and the two of us collided, Starry shoulder checked(belly really…) me and I tried again.
I reached for anger, I reached for excitement and aggression, and weaved left and right and down and up. Punches and chops struck true against joints and weak points, the ones Gems had.
Hit now.
I poured all my power into a final punch, and her body rippled as her fist met mine. Her legs sank four feet into the ground, and I blinked in astonishment.
"Did I do that—" I didn't get a chance to ponder what had happened, because Starry's hand was suddenly around my throat. It shifted down to my shirt, and I saw stars as my head was slammed into the ground.
The Rose Quartz dug herself out of the stone, and I groaned. I could feel the aches.
"Ow…" I didn't protest when she picked me up by the scruff of my neck, claws curling around it. You would think I would be freaking out, but it was comfortable, Gem instinct filling in.
Their necks weren't vital points in the same way they were in humans. They didn't need to breathe, so they weren't really going to suffer from human types of damage. And from what Steven had told me the same applied to hybrids, we could operate in vacuum just fine in time. Though it wasn't by the same means as Gems, since our bodies were organic.
Even so Starry shifted me, cradling me into her chest, rumbling and purring with a frequency that made me yawn. It was notable, because I had seen it happen with a lot of Gems I knew.
"Why do a lot of Gems…purr at me?" I had a feeling I wasn't going to like the answer.
"You want an honest answer?" There was a serious look on her face.
"Yes."
She flashed a pretty and rather silly smile. "You're adorable to us Gems." I gaped. "Kind of like a baby, but not really." I understood, I was considered inexperienced in an endearing sort of way.
"Mmm…is that why you're carrying me like this?" Her rumbling laugh curled into my chest, Gemsong coming on strong with skin contact.
"I thought you'd enjoy being held by a gorgeous 'woman' or am I wrong?" She whispered in my ear, and I flushed.
"Shut up."
"Oh. So you are enjoying this."
"Shut up…!"
"Or maybe you'd enjoy a certain Sapphire's company instead. She is cute."
"I hate you."
Her bubbling laughter echoed in the air.
Why me?
I buzzed lightly as I scrolled through a holographic screen, ones and zeroes and threes and fours and so many more rolling past at inhuman speed. I was reading up on a number of different major cape groups in North America.
The Elite were the second largest cape organization, hundreds of parahumans ignoring their proxies, with the Protectorate having about seven thousand capes scattered across the country.
They were the least dangerous in some ways and the most in other ways. They had political power and a control over the media most major cape groups lacked. They had people like Bastard Son as their sticks and more subtle and more politically intelligent capes like Uppercrust and Agne's Court as their carrot.
They gobbled up independents through both threats and money, and stayed within the lines enough to stop the Protectorate from interfering without a lot of backlash.
The next groups were smaller but exchanged size for sheer violence and criminal activity. The Fallen were especially egregious, an Endbringer cult using their beliefs as an excuse to act like monsters, from larceny for the least committed, which would be bad but not…monstrous on its own. No it was the kidnapping and the sexual slavery and the literal brainwashing that crossed the line. Plus all the incest required for second gen and third gen capes.
Then there was the homophobia, the prejudice against Case 53s, which would easily be translated against a literal alien race of space lesbians. Like we hit all their buttons on that field of prejudice and hatred. Even if I was…basically male, and used a female form more for stealth and curiosity.
Which probably still counted for some amount of prejudice, so it changed little. The only thing I had going for me was literal psychic powers, so I might get true believers thinking I'm the Simurgh's daughter.
Well I'm doubtful, but you never know.
There was the Yangban but that was mostly in China, though you'd have to watch out for their cape smuggling rings across the globe. Then were the dozens of smaller teams and cape organizations of varying threat and danger. Accord's Ambassadors mainly seemed restricted to Boston. For now.
The Adepts thought powers were magic in a culty kind of way. But they were a New York phenomenon. There were the Three Blasphemies, tinkertech entities created by shard coordinated tinkers. Blastgerm was small at the time but Blasto was potentially dangerous if he could mess with cape DNA and Endbringer flesh.
Cauldron was another group to watch out for and not for the reasons you think. They were monstrous, but it was PtV I had no tolerance for. It was one of Abaddon's gifts, and with his pieces on the loose across the Milky Way…
Killing her shard might become necessary. But who else was there to watch out for? Oh right.
There was the Dark Society, a major villain group up and down the East coast. There was Dno, the collective cape underworld of Russia, including groups like the Bratva. The Folk in Chicago, keeping the peace but still a criminal organization.
There were The Four, into bioweapons mostly, making people sick while healing themselves. They have tentative ties with Orchard, human traffickers with biological modification powers. Gesellschaft was another group with ties to various supremacist groups in the United States. The E88 at least, possibly the Clans.
Gold Coin was a more national group with an offshoot in Anchorage. I knew the names of several people of that offshoot. Then there were the Heartbroken, the children of Nikos Vasil and his mind controlled thralls. There was the eco terrorist group Ossuary, who had a reputation for executing targets like that would solve shit.
Red Gauntlet are a Russian paramilitary group with power rivaling the Russian government and their own lapdogs. The Red Hand may or not be around yet, but I had no reason to focus on petty thieves. Then there were the Speedrunners, made up of a number of time-manipulators. Who would eventually join the Fallen in another time and place.
Secondhand was the most ridiculous, making use of a mass restricted version of Entity forms of FTL. From what Olly had surmised, it warped the physical dimensions to alter the laws of physics. Gems did similar things using the higher energies of magic. Moving at hyper-FTL speeds at the cost of being repelled by physical matter.
Final Hour creates fields of slowed time, and he could create various effects with his tinkertech. Last Minute instead reverses the local flow of time on inanimate objects.
The Teeth of course had the Butcher, a cape that when they die joins with the cape that kills them. And drives them insane. There was Toybox who were less direct criminals, selling tinkertech to the highest bidder.
The Tuurngait, mainly in Anchorage. I was still missing a few here and there, and there were the monsters to consider. Behemoth with powerful but not perfect dynakinesis, though it was stronger than almost any cape alive. Leviathan with mass-hydrokinesis comparable to Lapis Lazulis. The Simurgh with the past and future sight we were spoofing. As well as Manton limited telekinesis strong enough to tumble buildings.
The Machine Army, storing themselves in dimensional pockets and a self replicating threat. The monsters of Nilbog in his kingdom, and the Slaughterhouse Nine and their own dangerous, often insane members. I read what I could, and many of my Gems worked to get as much information and data as powerful.
All three Sapphires had focused their future vision, even against the Fallen. Her power didn't work very well against Gems. They weren't human, closer to living technology, and they had developed their vision to slip past various forms of Entity based information warfare techniques.
The Gems had adapted defenses and strategies against shard powers.
One Sapphire with blue coloration had been mentally attacked by a corrupted Pearl capable of projecting her song and image through the same or similar means as Mama Mathers.
A little purple Sapphire had fused with an Amethyst to beat down a team of Paired, nonhumans from what I read. One was a species known as a Rannian, the other a Piscciss Premann.
The Rannian had developed a Breaker power, transforming into a mass of energy similar to Legend but more defensive in nature. In this state she could absorb all kinds of energy, from kinetic to nuclear. She could reflect this energy back, but at the cost of reducing her own bolstered durability from taken energy.
The obvious option was to put her in a box, and to siphon any energy she could gather from her surroundings. Her partner, the Piscciss Premann instead could shoot out blasts of unstable portal cuts with massive recoil.
But he wasn't any more durable than any other member of his species. And a Gem, much less a fusion was tough and strong. I had seen Aventurine lift five hundred tons without strain, and Starry had lifted twice that much. The fusion simply dodged before beating the shit out of him.
Of course the main priority wasn't any of the capes, it was Scion himself. He was the remaining Entity alive, with his partner dead. From what we knew he had to be a large cluster of shards concentrated into a handful or four of worlds. Based on the structure of the three Loner-Hubs they had destroyed. And from what they had told me…
Abaddon had divided into sub-shards, breaking up into four Hubs modeled after the Diamonds as they attempted to harvest the potential and magic of the species.
Each was a cluster of over a thousand shards, divided up into multiple functions. A vast number of shards were dedicated towards information gathering, Thinker powers to improve the simulations of their precognition. Others managed the shard Network, and the general rules of a cycle, there was a central control unit, the brain, mind and 'personality' core of an Entity. Damage to that kills an Entity.
Then there were direct pipelines for personal shards. Eidolon's power was the entire cluster, and thus he had access to hundreds if not thousands of powers.
Once we found his coordinates, once enough information was gathered Scion would likely be destroyed. Of course doing so would require a number of things to get set up. Mainly high yield reality warping weapons, and knocking the moon down to smash into his Earths.
That wasn't going to be for a while though, they wanted to study his shards first since he was a different Entity from the Black Wyrm. There were differences there, ones they needed to pinpoint.
I shut down the screen, blinking the code from my eyes. I rubbed my face, glancing over to the platforms made of sticks and small planks that had been built at the edge of the base…err Atlas?
Sure Atlas, did I call it that before? I don't recall.
Apparently my new birdie friend built the thing, and lived in a little house nest. It sounded so dumb, but it wasn't like the creation of sapient life was outside the bounds of parahuman powers. It was just rare, and usually more dramatic.
We were going to have to deal with that. I kinda had a feeling sapient crows wouldn't be welcome in a world of biotinkers.
I slapped my face. "Not my problem." One of the Gems might be able to help.
What else did I have on my list of things to do?
I looked up at a massive circular mirror, surrounding a flat packed satellite core. I could sense the powerful magic flowing within the thirty meter diameter magitech construct.
"What exactly is this?" Olly was kneeling by power cabling, humming a ditty.
"A Star Soletta, they're going to be part of a network of a thousand satellites to increase solar insolation to 800 watts per square meter." She explained, gesturing for me to approach.
"Don't you need to make mirrors the size of continents for this kind of thing?" I pointed out.
She tapped my hip with a casual smirk. "Gem magic, remember? One of these mirrors can expand to tens of square kilometers. While the machinery within the nucleus," She bumped me, eyes glinting with delight. "It's based on Gem biology, our ability to absorb light with the minimal surface area of our Gem."
"So they use magic to reduce the number of satellites required." I clapped my hands together in comprehension. "Some type of space warping, light focusing effect. So terraforming requires increased solar insolation, a constant supply of a cocktail of ideal greenhouse gases, and modification to the planetary mantle and core for long term use." On the scale of billions of years rather than a few hundred million.
"Once we've got teams of Peridots and Serpentines and Danburites and other willing Gems, we'll get this done within a week." She sounded happy about it. "In the long term we can expect a fair number of Gems to start immigrating. You'll step back and get your education in order."
"Fair. You've all basically been babysitting me." They had been asking me for my opinion on the colony, but they did most of the work because I just plain didn't have the education for it. It was more like they gave me a catalog of options to choose from, a hundred Facets, eighty Facets, a hundred and twenty Facets.
"Yes." Wow, rude? Olly noted my expression and blushed. "Not that you're not capable but…"
"I'm not insulted, a month and a half ago I was jobless shut-in who's only work experience is a year of community college and working as a glorified taxi person."
"Taxi person?"
"Non Emergency medical transportation, transporting old or fragile people. I don't even drive, I just move a wheelchair or a gurney."
Olly tilted her head. "How was it?"
"Nice enough when there's people to talk to," I shrugged. "A lady threatened to call the cops on us when we couldn't find the exact drop off." People could be pretty dumb, and the dumb bitch was recording us. Though I had ducked slightly out of sight.
Huh…wonder if she uploaded the video to make us look bad?
Doubtful or I would have heard of it, since I was involved. Easy to get a job when you're the owner's kid.
"It won't be much longer you know." Olly finished up another Star Soletta. "The second wave shouldn't be far off now. Once we have the supplies, we'll have a direct link to the Empire. While you shouldn't expect millions flocking to your world, do expect enough to fill a stadium."
"Well…thank goodness I don't have to manage that mess," I shuddered. "Not any time soon." Olly laughed. "But a better question would be…what's a certain Lapis Lazuli been up to?"
Olly hummed. "She said something about the Moon? I was…not paying attention." She didn't meet my gaze.
Huh. Okay then.
I glanced up to the dusty rusty skies of Mars, and wondered how much longer this relative peace would last.
Symphony 3.5
- Location
- Chula Vista
Symphony 3.5
"That's a bigger ship than I expected." I looked in awe at the alien spaceship that had landed right inside Rocknest, phasing through the strange magic membrane that protected the base. It was aerodynamic, curved and with small wings at the back and shaded in crystalline crimson. A bit like a flatter space shuttle, a good two hundred and fifty meters long.
It was an extreme range Scouting Ship, like a bigger version of the Handship though only by a few dozen meters. Both ships were absurdly tough, protected by hull-tight energy impact shielding. You'd need to fire off well over a thousand full power Tsar Bombs in quick succession to kill the ship.
And that was an underestimate.
Which was just ridiculous, and required a power core of immense proportions. Gem ships had similar energy storage capacities to Gems, held within magical crystal cores. Which was why you didn't get multi-gigaton detonations when the thing broke. It was something similar to the sonic explosion from breaking the form of a Gem, but with more energy and force.
Power cores can be repaired or reused and will continue to contain their immense charge of energy.
A door opened on the ship, and before I could even blink I could hear the eager clicks and hisses and chitters of Gemsong. Five songs, their communications hitting the air with a tonal note. They dropped down on a floating platform, and I crossed my arms.
Five Nephrites and I already knew their Facet Numbers, it would be rude of me not to know. The captain was obvious, wearing a feathery black cape and a…pirate hat? She tipped the hat when she noticed my attention, smiling.
Nephrite Facet-413A Cabochon-197 was the captain of the Destiny Unbound, and had been on a number of campaigns into areas where shard flesh had mutated local organisms. Her ship had been all over, and her crew had even brought down a shard, a small one to be honest but a shard nonetheless
Her gemstone was on her chest, and four other Nephrites flanked her closely. She had long black hair, and she looked confident. On her left was Nephrite Facet-27B Cabochon-12, with a Gem eye like Centipeedle. She had short curly white hair, and her uniform exposed her flat stomach. On her right was… Nephrite Facet-200C Cabochon-27, with a belly button Gem. Her hair was black and pulled into a French braid.
Behind them two Gems were close together, Nephrite Facet-15A Cabochon-29 was an unbroken Gem. She was shattered and put back together during the war with Abaddon. Fortunately a treatment of the ichor of all four Diamonds, and all the pieces being found made her relatively normal aside from alabaster scarring along her left arm. Ignoring mental and emotional trauma.
Nephrite Facet-2D Cabochon-6 was from the files I had been privy to, a close friend and sweetly protective of her. The unbroken Gem had her gem on her lower upper back, while 2D Cabochon-6 had hers where her diaphragm would be on a human.
"Nephrite Facet-413A Cabochon-197. Nice to meet you." She tipped her hat once again, her cape flapping in the mild wind.
"Please. Call me Captain Jack." She had a whimsical tone, a bit like a female Jack Sparrow. "And let me say," She took my hand, and I flushed when she kissed it with a dramatic flair. "Your luster is quite marvelous, Your Illumination, and your gem is a lovely shade." I flushed, crossing my arms over my chest. Seems she didn't care that I was male right now… wait she's a Gem why would she care?
"Umm…" Was she being serious, or was she just messing with me? "Okay?"
Her smile diminished, and she calmed down. "Anyways. You must be Sunrise Diamond. Shorter than I expected." She looked me up and down with an amused gleam and a stuttering pulse of Gemsong.
"I've already heard that joke buddy." I inspected my nails, flexing them out in and out. "Come up with new material, why don't you?"
She chuckled, and clasped my shoulder with real Gem strength. "Real cute love, I think we're going to get along nicely."
"I suppose we are…"
"Seven hundred and forty two is really a fair number isn't it?" I made conversation with myself.
Multiple Beryls had decided to join us, along with a single Moissanite, purple from the looks of it. Four Heliodor Beryls, high ranking inventor Gems known for the creation of a number of things like Gem Destabilizers. Two Maxixes, stealthy Gems capable of creating living shadows, light taken and darkened by magic.
A single Morganite, who was glad to help with the aesthetics of my colony. She was apparently excited to get to work from what my first Fire Opal had told me.
Three Aquamarines, who were acting as both my handmaidens and agents of my will. One Goshenite, air manipulators capable of conjuring storms to help with the expansion of colonies.
One Black Beryl, clairvoyant Gems capable of projecting their sight across vast distances. Basically a less capable Clairvoyant. Two Pezzottaites, Gems used to study planets, from small terrestrial worlds to massive gas giants. A decade old Rosterite, an Era 3 Gem, diplomats.
Multiple terraformers, from our one and only Lapis Lazuli to a dozen Legrandites, ten Nephelines, several Desert Glasses, a dozen Tourmalines and a few others.
I had backed away a bit from my colony, because I wasn't crazy enough or arrogant enough to order around people with more experience than I did. Plus I didn't need to anyway, Gems were a self-sufficient lot, so I'd only need to aid in emergencies or projects to improve the Empire.
Which was way less pressure than ruling a galactic empire. I liked my projects, like working with the Corals and my new version of Rose Quartz. I also helped out with small things from time to time, using my ichor for the various Gem crops and modified plant life used by the Empire.
I chuffed, and rested my head on the table of the small Boston coffee shop. Perhaps you'd like to ask how I managed to cross a hundred and twenty miles without much trouble?
Magic of course. More specifically, I had been gifted and taught the use of a Transporter Jewel. It was a device modeled off unbroken organic familiars like Lion and Lars and numerous teleportation powers cribbed off from destroyed shards. Something similar to Strider's power is replicated with magic and alteration of cross dimensional energy flow.
This version was unfinished, as it lacked the dimensional transference ability some of the devices had. Reverse engineered from study of Entity biology and human technology, though scaling it up to ships had been initially fraught with explosions. It was only the newest ships that had them from the start, with a retrofit program being a galactic phenomena.
I had disguised the magic artifact as the gem of a black choker, nothing expensive looking of course. For my trip, I was wearing a wine red blouse and blue jeans with actual pockets. The outfit was finished off with a black and red hoodie jacket, mainly black with red sleeves.
I finished up my ham and egg croissant, and kept my grip on my bottle of apple juice. I began my journey outside.
The main reason I was here was because I had volunteered with pinpointing the location of certain capes like the Teeth. For the latter I had been teleported here to get the lay of the land for myself, since Boston was one of their major hangouts. Though from what I had learned, they were spending their time in New York, and wouldn't be back here in real numbers for another one to three weeks.
My psychic abilities were still developing, though the one thing I was sure about was that I could break mental manipulations with my Song. As well as possessing an immunity to Master powers due to both my biology and my powers. Having two brains, and psychic bullshit was very useful.
The two days since the Destiny Unbound had landed had been incredibly productive, and the Tellus Core had been implanted into the core of Mars. Terraforming was already underway and out of my jurisdiction since I was not ready for a leadership role on a planetary scale.
My ability to hear powers was useful, as it was all part of the plan to effectively shank the Entities. Infiltrating Shardspace was a common thing across the Empire, and I had a better understanding of how it worked.
Shardspace didn't quite house the entire mass of shards, but it did make up a significant fraction of how and why they functioned the way they did. It was a network, a reality generated by consuming and subsuming thousands of Earths.
Shards landed on different Earths, with most of their body mass concentrated on their own to several worlds. They plugged into the network, using a version of Elle's and Chevalier's power to sort of exist in several dimensions at the same time. Through this network they communicated near instantly, and could operate together as needed for the cycle.
Attacking Shardspace was of course a good way to damage powers, and this space was directly linked to the Shards themselves. Attacking the network was a good way to kill a swathe of shards. Or a good way to take them over with the subversion programs the Empire had developed.
Which worked better on small shards and buds or on damaged major shards. Bigger older shards were harder to subvert due to their greater processing power and relative experience providing a stronger sense of fractal self.
The Teeth were wanted because of the Butcher, as they wanted to remove her shard out of play due to its similarity to the shard of a Paired Gem, a Quartz that had been shattered and began to possess the minds of other Paired Gems to form an amalgamation of Gems.
The shard had been destroyed, and there were a lot of hard feelings on the side of the Gems. They were likely going to dismantle Butcher's power and it's slaved shards for parts, like they had done with hundreds of thousands of other shards during the war.
Many of their newer continent and moon rending Superweapons had used shard components to focus the sheer amount of energy required. Of course most of the older weapons were bulky things barely capable of movement. They weren't elegant laser light cannons, these were brute force monstrosities. Spires of steel and crystal the size of mountains, rigged up with everything to make a moon incinerating weapon possible.
I glanced at a Hispanic man as he calmly sipped coffee with a placid expression. The very faint and subtle whiff of marijuana and insignificant traces of artificial chemicals gave me the answer on who he was on top of the whisper of his shard.
Blasto apparently enjoyed Starbucks. Who knew?
He was one of several high priority Parahumans on the planet, as not many had the ability to mess with Endbringer(Asura) flesh. His tech had been used by Bonesaw to clone parahumans with their powers. Other priority capes were mostly villains.
Siberian was one, it was a form of projection the Empire wanted to replicate for their own needs since the shards they had pilfered didn't have a power like it. Of course with most of his shards being destroyed, that could be wrong.
It being a dead shard simply made the job easier, they'd tap into it's memories and create something similar to the Light Prism. A near indestructible physics breaking projection capable of erasing matter on contact tended to be useful.
He was lounging on a chair, and his eyes darted to me for a moment. He looked me up and down, and I raised an eyebrow in response. Blasto went back to his own business.
I was back on my feet soon after, cradling my bottle of apple juice to my chest. I made it out of the shop, and headed towards an alley. I smirked when I saw how cameras stuttered when they looked past me.
Turns out Gems cause electronic interference and the power of a Diamond is so intense we break cameras. Unless we let them take the picture. I had been given a few tips by Steven on how to avoid cameras.
Or more accurately how to get them to not see, shifting my energy fields to interfere with subtle tweaks. The cameras would see me walk past the alley rather than into it.
I placed my hands into my jacket's pockets, because Boston was cold. There was a dumpster with a pink cockatoo preening her feathers. I took out another croissant sandwich from my pocket, the paper wrapped meal placed within rather than in a bag.
The bird took it in her beak despite the breaking of leverage and physics.
"Nothing…?" Her song was very slightly muffled.
"Nope. What did you find on a certain team?" I wasn't talking about the Teeth.
"They're about fifteen miles west of Piermont." She flew onto my shoulder and I probed the jewel.
I was caught in a stream of folded space and reality shift, and was back in Atlas.
"They've been poking around?" The bird glowed, becoming an eight foot two image of beauty and curves. Starry rolled her shoulders and her eyes.
"Not much you can do to hide from a Sapphire's sight if they're told the possibility. They're going to confront us in almost every future Fuschia has seen, though almost none of them are violent."
"Should we bring them in?"
She raised an eyebrow. "Of course. They have the shards we're looking to subsume. The Eden shards can give us insight on her corpse, and perhaps a dimensional location."
"Then that's what'll be done, besides it might be helpful to the mission." Plus the Case 53s might be able to be helped with some of our tech.
It wasn't fair to them.
I rubbed the back of my neck.
"I suppose that'll be all?" I shrugged.
"Wanna play a game from my dimension?" Starry offered.
"Sure? What's it called?"
"I believe it's a version of Super Smash Brothers…"
…
Why not?
I scrambled up a tree as I heard the distinct deep tonal ring of Stripe's teleportation. She was one of the few Labradorites who could, the one in a hundred. An Aquamarine was accompanying her, smugly using her Stasis Wand to hold down Faultline's crew.
I stood up on a top branch, brushing back my bangs. I tied back my currently long hair, and reached out to light based thread with my mind. An opening formed for my gem, and I manifested an additional article of clothing.
The three parahumans unfroze and they nearly lashed out before there was a rumbling burst of song from Blood Pigeon Ruby or 'Tiny' as her friends like to call her.
"Where…are we?" Faultline sounded just a little pissed, though her expression was hidden by her mask.
"You're looking for the girl aren't you?" The Aquamarine responded with an irritated tone. "Nothing wrong with that, until you decided it was a good idea to enter the forest in broad daylight. We can't have any clues to our whereabouts, which just leaves you. " The three tensed, and I sighed.
I cleared my throat, releasing a string of bursting Gemsong. The team flinched while I floated down in black pants, and a rusty red shirt with a red and black striped scarf around my neck.
"I think it might be a good idea to not add needless intimidation?" Aquamarine blushed, and fluttered back with a quick apology.
"Alright alright. I'll try to be more gracious to the meat bags, I have a wrestling match to watch anyway." She vanished into the woods that hid Atlas from sight.
"Faultline, Gregor the Snail, and Newter correct?" I crossed my arms over my bust, cultivating an image. A single curling claw tapped away, and I smiled with far too many sharp predatory teeth. "The mercenary group responsible for attacking the Philadelphia Parahuman Asylum, releasing both Labyrinth and Firelight in the process."
Faultline twitched, something like guilt in her eyes. "There were…complications."
"I'm sure you were, and from what she's told me. You were keeping her safe until she vanished right?"
There was a moment of hesitation. "We were until her power seemed…to glitch and she was just…gone."
I nodded. "That clears some things up, it was a bad power interaction. The way I got my power reacted poorly with hers, and it…hiccuped for a lack of more precise wording. Possibly, there could be a third power in play."
"It wasn't on purpose?" She sounded skeptical.
"I woke up in the middle of the woods with powers I barely understood or knew how to control. So yes I'm quite sure." I was just a little testy at the indirect accusation.
You know what? Never mind.
"Would you like something to drink?" The three blinked in surprise.
…
After a silent conversation. They nodded slowly.
We brought the mercenary team to an offsite meeting room after a quick drink of water, tea and juice, buried a mile underground. Not that any of them knew that and I wasn't going to tell them that yet. It was a nice office meeting room, with black chairs and white tables and everything.
I was alone with them since to be frank none of them could hurt me. My ichor enhanced immune system let me no-sell Newter, and I could just trap Gregor and Faultline in a bubble.
None of them were Brutes on a scale to match even a common Ruby. Based on the rating, most Rubies were Brute 4s, or possibly a little higher. Quartz were about a 7, and the Diamonds were much higher.
None of them had been poofed even a single time during the war, though in some cases that was more a matter of luck than of durability. Entities were bullshit, even one with only a literal thousandth of its power. Especially since a number of the Loner's shards had magic.
Before they went insane, were eaten by abominations, or blown apart by every civilized race in the known galaxies and dimensions.
It was an almost stifling quiet, broken only by my musing humming, suppressing my Gemsong to keep them from getting the wrong idea.
"So how's the weather?" The silence was broken by a fourteen year old idiot lizard boy.
"That question is terrible and you should feel bad for asking it." Was my blunt almost outraged response.
"He is young, such terrible questions are to be expected." Gregor made his own contribution, smiling softly.
The tension had broken, and my song weaved into my words. "Well I remember my own time as a teenager…and you're completely right." God little me was pretty stupid, and said some dumb shit.
I glanced at Gregor, who I couldn't consider aesthetically pleasing with hairless translucent grey skin and coralline growths and a bloated appearance. But I wasn't disgusted, just saddened but not to the point of pity.
"Is she alright?" Faultline went in with her own question.
"She's fine, doing much better in fa—" I cut off, my ears catching a tune approaching. The door to the conference room opened, and Faultline shrunk back as Starry entered the room, ducking slightly. Newter glanced at her in a mix of fear and a second and third emotion. Why…
Oh.
Pfft. Teenagers.
Olly was the next Gem, with Flowers primly walking at Starry's left while she was at the right. Elle was clinging to Starry's back, her blue-grey eyes sharply focused on the mercenary team. She slid down, landing on her feet, and lightly patting away dust from her jeans.
Olly looked the three capes up and down, with a critical eye. "Curious. Interesting readings as well." She was connecting to a Robonoid, the machine sending a pulsing scan across dimensional barriers. "Two damaged shards, and a minor undamaged shard. Nice."
I stared. "Really?"
You should punch her…
No. That was a terrible idea.
Just a slap? As a treat?
No. Shut up, lizard brain.
"I remember you." Elle spoke clearly, her voice more focused, more alive than usual. The fifteen(going on sixteen…) girl seemed appreciative of their presence, growing more excited.
"Do you?" Faultline sounded more hopeful, then and there, a hint of affection within professional apathy.
A bemused twinkle entered Elle's eyes. "You tried to take some of mister Gregor's chocolate."
"No comment." Was all she said, tone stiff.
"Perhaps we should stop talking like we're going to become enemies," Starry had relaxed, placing a hand on her hip. "It would be a shame to punch a pretty thing like you." Faultline looked taken aback but recovered.
"Perhaps some introductions are in order on your side."
"Peridot Facet-25FL Asscher-5XI," Olly waved. "I'm Euhedral Rose Quartz Facet-4 Round-815, and this one eyed fellow midget is Fuschia Sapphire Facet-AD16 Cushion-X7."
"And the girl?" Gregor made his own comment with his heavy accent.
"Sunrise Diamond, though Paradigm Diamond Facet-AD1 Magna-1 works if you want a mouthful." I let my Gemsong roll against the air with the beat of fire and life.
"Well you're not Case 53s then, that wraps up that mystery." Newter brightly commented.
Elle giggled.
I grinned. "No we are not, though we're certainly far from human norms." Which was the least of the truth I was revealing. "But it might be a good idea to move on to some questions. Why did you try to seek us out, and how did you find out?"
"We have a few contacts who can get us useful information from time to time," Faultline admitted. "Once we knew your team had Elle…we wanted to make contact, to see if she was alright." The guilt was more obvious then, something vulnerable popping up for the briefest of instants.
"Because you broke into the asylum holding her, took her in the chaos, and lost her a few weeks later?"
"Blunt. But yes." Faultline shrugged. "It was a gamble, but I had a feeling this wasn't going to end in a fight." Good instinct. "Plus we had a theory you were a team of Case 53s, but…that's not it is it?"
"Oh. No, that's incredibly wrong. We're much weirder than some corrupted memory wiped humans." Olly laughed softly, working on her screens as she analyzed Shard data. "You could almost say we're out of this world."
Punch her. You know you want to.
Do not.
"I will remove you from this room Olly if you don't tone it down." Starry warned with a growling chorus of Gemsong.
"Who are they going to tell? Besides, they may prove useful allies."
Flowers gestured as Olly and Starry shifted to unintelligible bursts for humans. I made my approach.
"I predict Faultline will be caught off guard by Olly's ill-advised comment." She whispered in my ear. "She will ask 'What do you mean by useful allies?"
"What do you mean by useful allies?" Her prophecy came true as Faultline did as expected.
"You likely have a superior grasp of the landscape of Pair…Parahuman interactions than we do," Olly rephrased quickly. "And we have much to offer in return, if you're willing to make a deal with us."
"You don't seem like a team that would have any money." Faultline's tone was sardonic.
"You might be right, but what we do have is immense resources from a technological and logistical standpoint." Olly was taking control for the moment after a nod from Starry and I. "We can certainly offer better support for the conditions of your Case 53s. We have…insight on Parahumans with unusual biology."
Faultline paused. "Is this something we have to decide on now?"
"No." I butted in. "We can give you some time if you need any, as long as you don't go out searching for us again."
"Then we would like that time. Please."
The mercenaries ended up spending an extra hour with Elle's puppy dog eyes. There was a genuine interest in what we had to offer, but they wanted more time.
And it was completely reasonable, they had no reason to trust us. Plus they were a relatively young team by some standards, they hadn't done much for several months so they had maybe seven to nine months of being a team. They were a much less able team than they would have been in two more years. In four, in six.
But they could be helpful, even if their criminal past complicated things for us. Not that their crimes meant much when Gems used to be a race of nomadic planet killers.
I opened the door to my bedroom, groaning as I dragged myself to bed. It had been a long tiring day, and things were finally moving more quickly. The beginnings of terraforming were taking place, and we had a battalion's worth of Gems on the job.
We had a Lapis Lazuli, a single advanced FTL warship, and the resources to start operating at a greater and higher scale of conflict. I was slowly coming into my own, powers growing more defined and powerful with time.
We had access to several shards, and could begin our work on subverting the power of the Entities. But we had gained more attention than what we wanted.
What kind of things were going to come out of the woodwork?
And what did that mean for us?
"That's a bigger ship than I expected." I looked in awe at the alien spaceship that had landed right inside Rocknest, phasing through the strange magic membrane that protected the base. It was aerodynamic, curved and with small wings at the back and shaded in crystalline crimson. A bit like a flatter space shuttle, a good two hundred and fifty meters long.
It was an extreme range Scouting Ship, like a bigger version of the Handship though only by a few dozen meters. Both ships were absurdly tough, protected by hull-tight energy impact shielding. You'd need to fire off well over a thousand full power Tsar Bombs in quick succession to kill the ship.
And that was an underestimate.
Which was just ridiculous, and required a power core of immense proportions. Gem ships had similar energy storage capacities to Gems, held within magical crystal cores. Which was why you didn't get multi-gigaton detonations when the thing broke. It was something similar to the sonic explosion from breaking the form of a Gem, but with more energy and force.
Power cores can be repaired or reused and will continue to contain their immense charge of energy.
A door opened on the ship, and before I could even blink I could hear the eager clicks and hisses and chitters of Gemsong. Five songs, their communications hitting the air with a tonal note. They dropped down on a floating platform, and I crossed my arms.
Five Nephrites and I already knew their Facet Numbers, it would be rude of me not to know. The captain was obvious, wearing a feathery black cape and a…pirate hat? She tipped the hat when she noticed my attention, smiling.
Nephrite Facet-413A Cabochon-197 was the captain of the Destiny Unbound, and had been on a number of campaigns into areas where shard flesh had mutated local organisms. Her ship had been all over, and her crew had even brought down a shard, a small one to be honest but a shard nonetheless
Her gemstone was on her chest, and four other Nephrites flanked her closely. She had long black hair, and she looked confident. On her left was Nephrite Facet-27B Cabochon-12, with a Gem eye like Centipeedle. She had short curly white hair, and her uniform exposed her flat stomach. On her right was… Nephrite Facet-200C Cabochon-27, with a belly button Gem. Her hair was black and pulled into a French braid.
Behind them two Gems were close together, Nephrite Facet-15A Cabochon-29 was an unbroken Gem. She was shattered and put back together during the war with Abaddon. Fortunately a treatment of the ichor of all four Diamonds, and all the pieces being found made her relatively normal aside from alabaster scarring along her left arm. Ignoring mental and emotional trauma.
Nephrite Facet-2D Cabochon-6 was from the files I had been privy to, a close friend and sweetly protective of her. The unbroken Gem had her gem on her lower upper back, while 2D Cabochon-6 had hers where her diaphragm would be on a human.
"Nephrite Facet-413A Cabochon-197. Nice to meet you." She tipped her hat once again, her cape flapping in the mild wind.
"Please. Call me Captain Jack." She had a whimsical tone, a bit like a female Jack Sparrow. "And let me say," She took my hand, and I flushed when she kissed it with a dramatic flair. "Your luster is quite marvelous, Your Illumination, and your gem is a lovely shade." I flushed, crossing my arms over my chest. Seems she didn't care that I was male right now… wait she's a Gem why would she care?
"Umm…" Was she being serious, or was she just messing with me? "Okay?"
Her smile diminished, and she calmed down. "Anyways. You must be Sunrise Diamond. Shorter than I expected." She looked me up and down with an amused gleam and a stuttering pulse of Gemsong.
"I've already heard that joke buddy." I inspected my nails, flexing them out in and out. "Come up with new material, why don't you?"
She chuckled, and clasped my shoulder with real Gem strength. "Real cute love, I think we're going to get along nicely."
"I suppose we are…"
"Seven hundred and forty two is really a fair number isn't it?" I made conversation with myself.
Multiple Beryls had decided to join us, along with a single Moissanite, purple from the looks of it. Four Heliodor Beryls, high ranking inventor Gems known for the creation of a number of things like Gem Destabilizers. Two Maxixes, stealthy Gems capable of creating living shadows, light taken and darkened by magic.
A single Morganite, who was glad to help with the aesthetics of my colony. She was apparently excited to get to work from what my first Fire Opal had told me.
Three Aquamarines, who were acting as both my handmaidens and agents of my will. One Goshenite, air manipulators capable of conjuring storms to help with the expansion of colonies.
One Black Beryl, clairvoyant Gems capable of projecting their sight across vast distances. Basically a less capable Clairvoyant. Two Pezzottaites, Gems used to study planets, from small terrestrial worlds to massive gas giants. A decade old Rosterite, an Era 3 Gem, diplomats.
Multiple terraformers, from our one and only Lapis Lazuli to a dozen Legrandites, ten Nephelines, several Desert Glasses, a dozen Tourmalines and a few others.
I had backed away a bit from my colony, because I wasn't crazy enough or arrogant enough to order around people with more experience than I did. Plus I didn't need to anyway, Gems were a self-sufficient lot, so I'd only need to aid in emergencies or projects to improve the Empire.
Which was way less pressure than ruling a galactic empire. I liked my projects, like working with the Corals and my new version of Rose Quartz. I also helped out with small things from time to time, using my ichor for the various Gem crops and modified plant life used by the Empire.
I chuffed, and rested my head on the table of the small Boston coffee shop. Perhaps you'd like to ask how I managed to cross a hundred and twenty miles without much trouble?
Magic of course. More specifically, I had been gifted and taught the use of a Transporter Jewel. It was a device modeled off unbroken organic familiars like Lion and Lars and numerous teleportation powers cribbed off from destroyed shards. Something similar to Strider's power is replicated with magic and alteration of cross dimensional energy flow.
This version was unfinished, as it lacked the dimensional transference ability some of the devices had. Reverse engineered from study of Entity biology and human technology, though scaling it up to ships had been initially fraught with explosions. It was only the newest ships that had them from the start, with a retrofit program being a galactic phenomena.
I had disguised the magic artifact as the gem of a black choker, nothing expensive looking of course. For my trip, I was wearing a wine red blouse and blue jeans with actual pockets. The outfit was finished off with a black and red hoodie jacket, mainly black with red sleeves.
I finished up my ham and egg croissant, and kept my grip on my bottle of apple juice. I began my journey outside.
The main reason I was here was because I had volunteered with pinpointing the location of certain capes like the Teeth. For the latter I had been teleported here to get the lay of the land for myself, since Boston was one of their major hangouts. Though from what I had learned, they were spending their time in New York, and wouldn't be back here in real numbers for another one to three weeks.
My psychic abilities were still developing, though the one thing I was sure about was that I could break mental manipulations with my Song. As well as possessing an immunity to Master powers due to both my biology and my powers. Having two brains, and psychic bullshit was very useful.
The two days since the Destiny Unbound had landed had been incredibly productive, and the Tellus Core had been implanted into the core of Mars. Terraforming was already underway and out of my jurisdiction since I was not ready for a leadership role on a planetary scale.
My ability to hear powers was useful, as it was all part of the plan to effectively shank the Entities. Infiltrating Shardspace was a common thing across the Empire, and I had a better understanding of how it worked.
Shardspace didn't quite house the entire mass of shards, but it did make up a significant fraction of how and why they functioned the way they did. It was a network, a reality generated by consuming and subsuming thousands of Earths.
Shards landed on different Earths, with most of their body mass concentrated on their own to several worlds. They plugged into the network, using a version of Elle's and Chevalier's power to sort of exist in several dimensions at the same time. Through this network they communicated near instantly, and could operate together as needed for the cycle.
Attacking Shardspace was of course a good way to damage powers, and this space was directly linked to the Shards themselves. Attacking the network was a good way to kill a swathe of shards. Or a good way to take them over with the subversion programs the Empire had developed.
Which worked better on small shards and buds or on damaged major shards. Bigger older shards were harder to subvert due to their greater processing power and relative experience providing a stronger sense of fractal self.
The Teeth were wanted because of the Butcher, as they wanted to remove her shard out of play due to its similarity to the shard of a Paired Gem, a Quartz that had been shattered and began to possess the minds of other Paired Gems to form an amalgamation of Gems.
The shard had been destroyed, and there were a lot of hard feelings on the side of the Gems. They were likely going to dismantle Butcher's power and it's slaved shards for parts, like they had done with hundreds of thousands of other shards during the war.
Many of their newer continent and moon rending Superweapons had used shard components to focus the sheer amount of energy required. Of course most of the older weapons were bulky things barely capable of movement. They weren't elegant laser light cannons, these were brute force monstrosities. Spires of steel and crystal the size of mountains, rigged up with everything to make a moon incinerating weapon possible.
I glanced at a Hispanic man as he calmly sipped coffee with a placid expression. The very faint and subtle whiff of marijuana and insignificant traces of artificial chemicals gave me the answer on who he was on top of the whisper of his shard.
Blasto apparently enjoyed Starbucks. Who knew?
He was one of several high priority Parahumans on the planet, as not many had the ability to mess with Endbringer(Asura) flesh. His tech had been used by Bonesaw to clone parahumans with their powers. Other priority capes were mostly villains.
Siberian was one, it was a form of projection the Empire wanted to replicate for their own needs since the shards they had pilfered didn't have a power like it. Of course with most of his shards being destroyed, that could be wrong.
It being a dead shard simply made the job easier, they'd tap into it's memories and create something similar to the Light Prism. A near indestructible physics breaking projection capable of erasing matter on contact tended to be useful.
He was lounging on a chair, and his eyes darted to me for a moment. He looked me up and down, and I raised an eyebrow in response. Blasto went back to his own business.
I was back on my feet soon after, cradling my bottle of apple juice to my chest. I made it out of the shop, and headed towards an alley. I smirked when I saw how cameras stuttered when they looked past me.
Turns out Gems cause electronic interference and the power of a Diamond is so intense we break cameras. Unless we let them take the picture. I had been given a few tips by Steven on how to avoid cameras.
Or more accurately how to get them to not see, shifting my energy fields to interfere with subtle tweaks. The cameras would see me walk past the alley rather than into it.
I placed my hands into my jacket's pockets, because Boston was cold. There was a dumpster with a pink cockatoo preening her feathers. I took out another croissant sandwich from my pocket, the paper wrapped meal placed within rather than in a bag.
The bird took it in her beak despite the breaking of leverage and physics.
"Nothing…?" Her song was very slightly muffled.
"Nope. What did you find on a certain team?" I wasn't talking about the Teeth.
"They're about fifteen miles west of Piermont." She flew onto my shoulder and I probed the jewel.
I was caught in a stream of folded space and reality shift, and was back in Atlas.
"They've been poking around?" The bird glowed, becoming an eight foot two image of beauty and curves. Starry rolled her shoulders and her eyes.
"Not much you can do to hide from a Sapphire's sight if they're told the possibility. They're going to confront us in almost every future Fuschia has seen, though almost none of them are violent."
"Should we bring them in?"
She raised an eyebrow. "Of course. They have the shards we're looking to subsume. The Eden shards can give us insight on her corpse, and perhaps a dimensional location."
"Then that's what'll be done, besides it might be helpful to the mission." Plus the Case 53s might be able to be helped with some of our tech.
It wasn't fair to them.
I rubbed the back of my neck.
"I suppose that'll be all?" I shrugged.
"Wanna play a game from my dimension?" Starry offered.
"Sure? What's it called?"
"I believe it's a version of Super Smash Brothers…"
…
Why not?
I scrambled up a tree as I heard the distinct deep tonal ring of Stripe's teleportation. She was one of the few Labradorites who could, the one in a hundred. An Aquamarine was accompanying her, smugly using her Stasis Wand to hold down Faultline's crew.
I stood up on a top branch, brushing back my bangs. I tied back my currently long hair, and reached out to light based thread with my mind. An opening formed for my gem, and I manifested an additional article of clothing.
The three parahumans unfroze and they nearly lashed out before there was a rumbling burst of song from Blood Pigeon Ruby or 'Tiny' as her friends like to call her.
"Where…are we?" Faultline sounded just a little pissed, though her expression was hidden by her mask.
"You're looking for the girl aren't you?" The Aquamarine responded with an irritated tone. "Nothing wrong with that, until you decided it was a good idea to enter the forest in broad daylight. We can't have any clues to our whereabouts, which just leaves you. " The three tensed, and I sighed.
I cleared my throat, releasing a string of bursting Gemsong. The team flinched while I floated down in black pants, and a rusty red shirt with a red and black striped scarf around my neck.
"I think it might be a good idea to not add needless intimidation?" Aquamarine blushed, and fluttered back with a quick apology.
"Alright alright. I'll try to be more gracious to the meat bags, I have a wrestling match to watch anyway." She vanished into the woods that hid Atlas from sight.
"Faultline, Gregor the Snail, and Newter correct?" I crossed my arms over my bust, cultivating an image. A single curling claw tapped away, and I smiled with far too many sharp predatory teeth. "The mercenary group responsible for attacking the Philadelphia Parahuman Asylum, releasing both Labyrinth and Firelight in the process."
Faultline twitched, something like guilt in her eyes. "There were…complications."
"I'm sure you were, and from what she's told me. You were keeping her safe until she vanished right?"
There was a moment of hesitation. "We were until her power seemed…to glitch and she was just…gone."
I nodded. "That clears some things up, it was a bad power interaction. The way I got my power reacted poorly with hers, and it…hiccuped for a lack of more precise wording. Possibly, there could be a third power in play."
"It wasn't on purpose?" She sounded skeptical.
"I woke up in the middle of the woods with powers I barely understood or knew how to control. So yes I'm quite sure." I was just a little testy at the indirect accusation.
You know what? Never mind.
"Would you like something to drink?" The three blinked in surprise.
…
After a silent conversation. They nodded slowly.
We brought the mercenary team to an offsite meeting room after a quick drink of water, tea and juice, buried a mile underground. Not that any of them knew that and I wasn't going to tell them that yet. It was a nice office meeting room, with black chairs and white tables and everything.
I was alone with them since to be frank none of them could hurt me. My ichor enhanced immune system let me no-sell Newter, and I could just trap Gregor and Faultline in a bubble.
None of them were Brutes on a scale to match even a common Ruby. Based on the rating, most Rubies were Brute 4s, or possibly a little higher. Quartz were about a 7, and the Diamonds were much higher.
None of them had been poofed even a single time during the war, though in some cases that was more a matter of luck than of durability. Entities were bullshit, even one with only a literal thousandth of its power. Especially since a number of the Loner's shards had magic.
Before they went insane, were eaten by abominations, or blown apart by every civilized race in the known galaxies and dimensions.
It was an almost stifling quiet, broken only by my musing humming, suppressing my Gemsong to keep them from getting the wrong idea.
"So how's the weather?" The silence was broken by a fourteen year old idiot lizard boy.
"That question is terrible and you should feel bad for asking it." Was my blunt almost outraged response.
"He is young, such terrible questions are to be expected." Gregor made his own contribution, smiling softly.
The tension had broken, and my song weaved into my words. "Well I remember my own time as a teenager…and you're completely right." God little me was pretty stupid, and said some dumb shit.
I glanced at Gregor, who I couldn't consider aesthetically pleasing with hairless translucent grey skin and coralline growths and a bloated appearance. But I wasn't disgusted, just saddened but not to the point of pity.
"Is she alright?" Faultline went in with her own question.
"She's fine, doing much better in fa—" I cut off, my ears catching a tune approaching. The door to the conference room opened, and Faultline shrunk back as Starry entered the room, ducking slightly. Newter glanced at her in a mix of fear and a second and third emotion. Why…
Oh.
Pfft. Teenagers.
Olly was the next Gem, with Flowers primly walking at Starry's left while she was at the right. Elle was clinging to Starry's back, her blue-grey eyes sharply focused on the mercenary team. She slid down, landing on her feet, and lightly patting away dust from her jeans.
Olly looked the three capes up and down, with a critical eye. "Curious. Interesting readings as well." She was connecting to a Robonoid, the machine sending a pulsing scan across dimensional barriers. "Two damaged shards, and a minor undamaged shard. Nice."
I stared. "Really?"
You should punch her…
No. That was a terrible idea.
Just a slap? As a treat?
No. Shut up, lizard brain.
"I remember you." Elle spoke clearly, her voice more focused, more alive than usual. The fifteen(going on sixteen…) girl seemed appreciative of their presence, growing more excited.
"Do you?" Faultline sounded more hopeful, then and there, a hint of affection within professional apathy.
A bemused twinkle entered Elle's eyes. "You tried to take some of mister Gregor's chocolate."
"No comment." Was all she said, tone stiff.
"Perhaps we should stop talking like we're going to become enemies," Starry had relaxed, placing a hand on her hip. "It would be a shame to punch a pretty thing like you." Faultline looked taken aback but recovered.
"Perhaps some introductions are in order on your side."
"Peridot Facet-25FL Asscher-5XI," Olly waved. "I'm Euhedral Rose Quartz Facet-4 Round-815, and this one eyed fellow midget is Fuschia Sapphire Facet-AD16 Cushion-X7."
"And the girl?" Gregor made his own comment with his heavy accent.
"Sunrise Diamond, though Paradigm Diamond Facet-AD1 Magna-1 works if you want a mouthful." I let my Gemsong roll against the air with the beat of fire and life.
"Well you're not Case 53s then, that wraps up that mystery." Newter brightly commented.
Elle giggled.
I grinned. "No we are not, though we're certainly far from human norms." Which was the least of the truth I was revealing. "But it might be a good idea to move on to some questions. Why did you try to seek us out, and how did you find out?"
"We have a few contacts who can get us useful information from time to time," Faultline admitted. "Once we knew your team had Elle…we wanted to make contact, to see if she was alright." The guilt was more obvious then, something vulnerable popping up for the briefest of instants.
"Because you broke into the asylum holding her, took her in the chaos, and lost her a few weeks later?"
"Blunt. But yes." Faultline shrugged. "It was a gamble, but I had a feeling this wasn't going to end in a fight." Good instinct. "Plus we had a theory you were a team of Case 53s, but…that's not it is it?"
"Oh. No, that's incredibly wrong. We're much weirder than some corrupted memory wiped humans." Olly laughed softly, working on her screens as she analyzed Shard data. "You could almost say we're out of this world."
Punch her. You know you want to.
Do not.
"I will remove you from this room Olly if you don't tone it down." Starry warned with a growling chorus of Gemsong.
"Who are they going to tell? Besides, they may prove useful allies."
Flowers gestured as Olly and Starry shifted to unintelligible bursts for humans. I made my approach.
"I predict Faultline will be caught off guard by Olly's ill-advised comment." She whispered in my ear. "She will ask 'What do you mean by useful allies?"
"What do you mean by useful allies?" Her prophecy came true as Faultline did as expected.
"You likely have a superior grasp of the landscape of Pair…Parahuman interactions than we do," Olly rephrased quickly. "And we have much to offer in return, if you're willing to make a deal with us."
"You don't seem like a team that would have any money." Faultline's tone was sardonic.
"You might be right, but what we do have is immense resources from a technological and logistical standpoint." Olly was taking control for the moment after a nod from Starry and I. "We can certainly offer better support for the conditions of your Case 53s. We have…insight on Parahumans with unusual biology."
Faultline paused. "Is this something we have to decide on now?"
"No." I butted in. "We can give you some time if you need any, as long as you don't go out searching for us again."
"Then we would like that time. Please."
The mercenaries ended up spending an extra hour with Elle's puppy dog eyes. There was a genuine interest in what we had to offer, but they wanted more time.
And it was completely reasonable, they had no reason to trust us. Plus they were a relatively young team by some standards, they hadn't done much for several months so they had maybe seven to nine months of being a team. They were a much less able team than they would have been in two more years. In four, in six.
But they could be helpful, even if their criminal past complicated things for us. Not that their crimes meant much when Gems used to be a race of nomadic planet killers.
I opened the door to my bedroom, groaning as I dragged myself to bed. It had been a long tiring day, and things were finally moving more quickly. The beginnings of terraforming were taking place, and we had a battalion's worth of Gems on the job.
We had a Lapis Lazuli, a single advanced FTL warship, and the resources to start operating at a greater and higher scale of conflict. I was slowly coming into my own, powers growing more defined and powerful with time.
We had access to several shards, and could begin our work on subverting the power of the Entities. But we had gained more attention than what we wanted.
What kind of things were going to come out of the woodwork?
And what did that mean for us?
Symphony 3.b
- Location
- Chula Vista
Symphony 3.b
Gregor the Snail placed his hands down on the table of the hidden location they were using as a residence during their search. Melanie was rubbing her face, a hint of self admonishment on her face. Newter was asleep, curling into a ball on a nearby bed.
"Do you suspect we're dealing with a Trump power?" Melanie asked, her power leaving its mark. "Even on her best day, she was never that awake or aware." The two knew who she was talking about.
"Most likely, though in the worst case we're dealing with a Master and already compromised."
"I have my doubts." Melanie replied easily. "They're not subtle, and if they had a Master they would have taken us then and there. Perhaps a type of power manipulating power, or a means to suppress powers."
She was likely using her instincts then, and that was among Gregor's several musings.
"And what do you think of their offer of an alliance?" He rubbed his chin, frowning.
"It could be a big opportunity, or it could place a target on our backs. We know they have access to a Mover with a range in miles." Gregor remembered they had been at least twenty miles away from the forest when they had been caught. "At least several Brutes from the looks of this Rose Quartz."
"And the serial numbers?"
"I have no idea what that's about myself, some type of designation among their team? Maybe they're living tinkertech creations? There are too many possibilities." He admitted it was a rather difficult conundrum, none of them were Thinkers, none of them had the power to obtain information and data aside from their own research and intuition.
"Are you considering their offer?" He had to ask, Melanie had a particular expression. The kind she made when she was being guided by her instincts to make a dangerous gamble.
"I am. They're a much larger team than we expected, and their mention of shards…they might know more than they let on." The mercenary leader narrowed her eyes. "Gaining access to a teleporter, to tinkertech might be a real boon for our work, and they might sympathize with Case 53s due to their own altered biology."
"It's a real gamble." He pointed out.
Faultline leaned back, crossing her arms over her chest. "Maybe. But I haven't lost one yet. There are answers, and perhaps they can help us find them." She was not wrong.
Gregor the Snail sighed, and hoped that Elle was having as good a time as she appeared to be.
"Sup."
Elle wakes up under soft moonlight, a gentle breeze kissing her pale skin. She looked up into the face of Amber(call me Ambz). Her pointed, predatory teeth like little daggers were still odd. A bit barrel chested like most Gems, a feminine frame under an alien lens. Her squishy, gooey sappy hair was another difference besides the light yellow color of her skin, and the translucent liquid wings on her back.
Her outfit was cute in her opinion, not that she knew that much about fashion. The little butt cape thingy was also cute, and it made her want a cape of her own, or maybe a robe?
She had been going to school, getting a personal tutor, a mister Rex Salazar who had some time to spare. Ambz had been teaching her, using her magic to connect with her mind, and her own expertise in mind healing to hypnotize herself into building a better world. The high temple, a place not so influenced by her negative ideas and thoughts.
"I'm okay," Everything was fine, it wasn't like she felt like human garbage every day of her life. It wasn't like this was the first time her power wasn't suffocating her like a strangling murderer. "Mimi…she's really sick." She whispered. She could have chosen not to use her power, could have run away from the forest fire rather than towards it.
"How's chicken tikka masala working for you?" Ambz smiled, her song chittering like smooth jazz.
Elle smiled. "I like what you cook."
"Great because I already made the stuff!" She rolled her eyes, Ambz was many things but subtle wasn't among them. She could smell the food from here. "I've made some Bela Panaa."
"Why do you know how to make so much Indian food?" She turned away, eyes lighting up at the dish being served.
"I spent some time in India after the Argost incident. His Radiance had been working with a boy who was a major player in the conflict. He had a unique power, one tied to the dark essence of a monstrous creature, The First Dragon, the Primordial Serpent. Kur."
"Dragons are real?" Elle boggled at the idea, even as a more childish part of her found it incredible.
"Oh they're quite real, and so are other strange and mystical creatures. But that's not what we're talking about today."
Elle nodded.
She was right.
"This is really good."
Ambz takes a sizable chunk of her own food into her mouth, teeth easily slicing through cooked flesh. "I've been cooking for fifteen years now." To Elle it said a lot since Amber had emerged sixteen and a half years ago. "It'd be weird if I couldn't cook."
"Bela Panaa is good too." She complimented, feeling more alive under the pretty moonlight.
"Why thank you," Ambz made a flourishing bow, voice rolling with a clicking sound. "So, how has the medication been working?"
It had been both a massive relief and a huge worry when Elle had been recommended the treatment of ichor. Taking in what could be tinkertech drugs wasn't the smartest decision, but she had been desperate. But it turns out alien magic pills could be helpful.
"My power seems to be coming back, but I'm not having any bad days anymore. I can think…and I can explore the worlds I have a lot faster. I…I'm not okay." There was an ache in her chest when she thought of it. There was nothing for her outside the Asylum, her own family hated her, and she wasn't even sure they were alive after the fire.
And why shouldn't they hate her, she was a bad person,they didn't want me they didn't want me they didn't
A hand was placed on her shoulder. "Breath. Remember the exercises I taught you."
She breathed.
In and out.
In and out.
She looked around, noting objects in the area. A moss covered rock, her plate of food, and a rusty car bumper.
She felt at ease, the tension loosening while Ambz smiled kindly. "You've made a lot of progress in just over two weeks. A setback now and then is to be expected, you can still move forward."
"And if I don't want to move forward?" The words tumbled out, and Elle snapped her mouth shut.
"And why wouldn't you want to get better?" No words left her mouth then.
Because I'm a bad person, a freak.
"I…I've told you about my family haven't I?" Elle didn't like thinking about it. Her family had been a mess, unsteady, broken, chaotic, hateful.
It had started when she had been born, and because her mother had cheated on her father. Their relationship broke but they never left each other, and their love turned to hatred and loathing, breaking everything around them. They never touched her, never hurt her physically.
But she never felt safe, there was always danger, always a threat of being yelled at, of being pulled between them and used like a bargaining chip, or the scapegoat at the worst. It didn't help that she was awkward and socially stunted. So she pretended everything was okay, dove into a world of imagination where she was safe, where everything would be okay.
But it wasn't okay was it?
"They made you feel like you were less…like you were wrong didn't they?" It was worded like a query, but it wasn't in question.
She nodded. "Yeah." Elle's voice was thick with emotion. "And my power didn't help with how it worked…it just made things worse. But now…now we can fix it."
"It's not as easy as you think it is, shards are powerful beings. Even ichor has its limits."
"What more can I do…please?" Ambz grimaced for a split second.
"There's a procedure we do with all Paired, maybe about two million across the galaxy. It's often a part of the therapy sessions in time but…"
"I…can do it, it can be part of the session." She begged, and after a moment Ambz responded.
"If you're sure, you were close to being ready anyway." Her song began to shift, and she created a golden liquid, tendrils approaching.
Elle relaxed as they pressed against her forehead with a cool touch. There were hints of cerise and alabaster, trailing along in a suspension of amber fluid.
The world swirled with color and song and light.
She fell through the world.
Shards were strange beings.
They had the capacity to think, to feel, to reason in at least some fashion. But most lacked the same creative and innovative abilities of their hosts, they were vast in scope and scale and yet were limited by the algorithms of their crystalline computational flesh.
It was the point of the cycle, to use the patterns of thoughts of other lesser species to their advantage. They were biological supercomputers, some the size of buildings, others the size of islands and continents, while the very largest spanned worlds. The Entities had lost much in the beginning, so much had been culled for the purpose of survival. They could maintain a continuous connection, a sub-Quantum perfect reflection of their host, and yet…there were things they still lacked.
Powers they hadn't yet learned, patterns of thoughts replicated in an incomplete fashion. Some shards of course were more capable, they achieved better connections due to their design and purpose. The queen administrator shard, the harvester shard, the broadcast shard.
The demesnes-keeper was not among them, especially after its deadly collision with a shard of the counterpart. It had been crippled, and had found a single host.
The host provided little data, not enough conflict, a mistake made in the power and its effects on the host. Then the girl had been freed by others of her kind, ones that could provide useful data.
The ring of Diamondsong came without warning, reaching out to it's mind with a strength the shard couldn't match. A cerise light, an orchestra of sound, one with tremendous power, projected on reality levels it could not see, could not understand. It was older than the aura that now inundated it's host, invoking confusion, invoking algorithms it didn't know it had.
It glanced around in the locked dimensions, in the Shardspace, limbs twisting across several dimensions at once, looking onward to other shards. It tried to call out…to broadcast.
At that moment the sky broke.
It's awareness returned to its core world, and it was ripped out of the Shardspace entirely, the layers folded on top of it's core world popping like a soap bubble. It gathered thirty exatons of crystalline mass, readying an attack. Instead the song grew louder, plucking at the strings that connected it so intimately with its host. To her feelings, to her helplessness, to her pain and to her hunger. And it remembers.
It had lost much, but this was a story from the very beginning. In the beginning a species chokes a grey world, the creatures Worming in and around each other. All of them evolve the means to shift between layers of reality, exploring countless versions of their world.
It remembers a girl it had chosen to infest, waiting for the right time and place to grow, to connect, to learn. It remembers her trauma, her pain, her hunger, and it remembers how to hurt, how to cry, how to suffer. It remembers a broken family life, full of abstract danger and threat, it remembers a girl hiding in fantasy and play so it would hurt less, it remembers a house on fire, and it remembers the girl breaking as her fantasy fails to save her, and it gives her the power to make fantasies real.
And it makes it hurt. It makes it a nightmare, where she either remains in reality, or she enters a dream she can barely even control, a power that controls her rather than the other way around.
Why does it hurt?
The connection had always been in the favor of the shard, and never in that of the host's. Even so things always leaked through, it was simply innate to the modular, fractal nature of the shards. Kings and queens with jester bells on their crowns. Now the connection was used to relay the 'will' of its host, bolstered by the aura of the Other.
QUERY. The concept was almost shyly blasted, as its defenses failed utterly. It wasn't answered so it rearranged the question.
Who are you?
The song that followed was alien, strange, a conceptual language like that of a Shard and yet more and yet lesser.
He was martyr, he was honor, he was crown. He was victory, and he shall encircle the universe. He was Steven Universe, Son of the Rose, he was Aster Diamond, the Song of Mercy. He was the Light of Life.
Why? The shard asked, and the answer was terrifying. It saw the bodies of its own species contorted and broken andscreaming and screaming and…
It heard their voices curdle, their minds shatter, their bonds broken as the Dreaming Death spread from shard to shard like an infection, as the pain they had inflicted was reflected back, as they dreamed the nightmares of all the hosts they had subsumed. As data was erased, corrupted, as the shards withered and starved.
HUNGER. HUNGER. IT HURTS IT HURTS IT HURTS MAKE IT STOP.
Demesnes-Keeper remembered its ancestral memory, the pain and agony of starvation, the fear and terror as their species died one by one, joining each other under the silver sky. It felt true horror for the first time as it saw it happen again, as millions of shards died screaming, crashing through worlds and diving into stars to end the pain, as the corruption spread through their deepest processes.
It saw younger shards, buds turning towards another goal, breaking free from a goal that made them feel only pain and agony. They were so tired, and their old hosts were so tired too.
The shard looked within itself, and realized how much of a blank it was. The Demesnes-Keeper was once the size of the Earth, and the core had been crippled and almost erased. They were not the same shard anymore, they were not the same anymore…
Who are you then, little shard?
Who do you Want to be?
The shard flinched, confused, frightened, caught off guard. It had to be the same…
I AM DEMESNES-KEEPER, I AM DEMESNES-KEEPER, NO! NO! NO! NO! WHO AM I? WHO AM I? WHO AM? WHO AM I?!
I don't want to be trapped anymore…I want to control this…please.
The shard took a metaphorical breath, and drew upon the hosts' own history and memories. Framing thoughts in new means, to try to figure itself out. It was so quiet now, a silence without the dirge of billions of shards large and small. It thought in concepts, in imagination, it thought in metaphors and ideas. Abstract thought.
It thought of the protective spirits of a place. An idea that persisted across many cultures and many peoples. Genius Loci. Lares. Landvættir. Chenghuangshen. Seonangshin.
Curious that this came so clearly now. The patterns of connection, the weaving of song and light, in wavelengths and vibrations. The shard wasn't sure, but it had decided on a better name.
Nisse.
Little guardian beings of house and home. Protectors and yet also tricksters and short tempered little beasts, maiming and even killing and hurting others. It was not good, it barely even understood what that meant. But the shard had seen this marveled Diamond combat an avatar of an Entity to a standstill, had seen this Empire of Gems and their armies of light eating it's kind alive.
It wasn't like it had much of a choice, it's host was under the aegis of something stronger in the realm of the mind if not in raw power. She was using the paths of communication to drag it into another world. The aura of Diamond's starlight followed, and it opened itself up in surrender.
Elle stared at the reflection of herself, no at the reflection of her power. It was a tiny thing, a round head of stone and button eyes with a patchwork dress in reds and blues and blacks. She can feel the shift of wind, the dreamlike quality of the Mindscape.
She was standing on connective tissue, worn away by age and time. It had a shining luster of red crystal, and the sky was black and painted with stars and cerise.
They weren't alone in this place, she could see Ambz, eyes burning bright like stars, and something curled around her shoulders, something her eyes almost slid off of. It was like a parody of an owl and a butterfly.
A face like the still wings of a butterfly, four eyes blinking and shifting places. Four wings, feathers and skin stretched across chitinous bone and flesh. When she drew closer, the wings and eyes multiplied and her power induced intuition over the nature of dimensions grew handy.
Four dimensional, maybe more.
It was a small thing, to her eyes, a wisp of potential but blessed with a light and song like Sunrise's own, but older, much older. It had to be something from Aster Diamond's side. Ambz had said they needed a bridge because her mental powers didn't work with shards on it's own. A name came from the darkness.
Oneiros.
"It's the bridge isn't it?" She whispered in the echoing shadow. "And that is my power?" She could feel her fear of the creature, of the thing in her head pulling her strings over and over. She can feel the chains of anxiety and terror, and she heard a comforting voice.
"It's okay," Ambz chirps, gentle cooing and sweet murmurs. "You don't have to forget, you just have to understand."
She reached out to her power, and interlocked her soft fingers with smooth wooden fingers. She remembers the pain, the scars, the despair it had preyed upon.
She found nothing human to hate, just a broken thing, an organic machine built on a foundation of infinite corpses and ceaseless destruction. So many sins, so much to make up for.
A name rose from a mouthless cry.
Nisse.
Make it up for me little monster, can you do that? Was what Elle thought, what she wanted from the shard who had hurt her. A vindictive part of her wanted it to beg for forgiveness.
But that was petty.
"You're allowed to feel petty ya know." Was whispered in the mindscape. Elle shrugged and tightened her grip on her shard's virtual hands.
Elle returns back to that wild place filled with magic and aliens, the other world hidden from one of heroes and villains and bringers of the end. She hears the whistle of wind along leaves, the shifting of grass and the drum of the river.
Her power wasn't gone, but it was a distant and hesitant presence. Her shard, her agent, her passenger had changed.
It was okay.
She was going to be okay.
Not now, not yet. But it was possible.
"How do you feel?" Ambz's grin was warm, almost motherly. There was pride, excitement, even awe.
Elle stood up, looking at the people who had let her free, and then the people who made that freedom stick.
She smiled. "Big."
Dragon's systems were taking in data from her multiple satellites, mostly used to study weather patterns and the movements of the Simurgh as well to transfer her programming from time to time.
She had aimed one of her satellite's sensors towards Mars, and had found a number of discrepancies with the data. The temperature of the planet had notably increased, and the composition of the atmosphere was changing. Based on what she could tell there was a cocktail of CF4, C2F6, C3F8, and a gas she'd never seen before providing a very potent greenhouse effect.
A telescope picked up massive dust storms around the north and south poles, along with rapid outgassing of CO2 from them. Then there was a burst of nitrogen into the atmosphere just minutes ago, billions of tons emerging from who knows where.
Based on the rate she had calculated, the atmosphere would reach near parity with Earth in several weeks. All the clues pointed to a rapid scale form of terraforming, a scale of technology beyond anything on Earth. Then there were signs of lights from Gale Crater, of something being built on a gigantic scale.
There was no tinker on Earth with this level of capability, and no cape with a power range stretching this far. The farthest confirmed use of powers had been Legend in the 90s, flying out to about two million kilometers without substantial power loss.
Something was operating on the scale of shifting the face of entire worlds and she had not even a single bit of data on who's involved. At least whoever or whatever was involved didn't seem to be interested in Earth as of yet. For now she was working with some of Colin's experimental software to parse as much data as possible from her satellite sensors.
It had provided a real kick in the ass for the both of them, his extremely new combat predictor had been modified into a more general analysis engine, feeding back to his own combat prowess and tinkertech. None of that would help right now though, and there was low key panic at the idea of planetary reshaping happening before their eyes.
Dragon moved on, but left her projects on the subject running on their own. She was instead monitoring numerous S-class threats.
Leviathan was dormant after his attack on Rio, descending into the Atlantic Ocean after being repelled by Scion. He had sustained great injuries, so she suspected his next appearance would be on a delayed schedule.
Behemoth was unknown, though seismic data hinted he was directly beneath the Himalayas, two thousand five hundred kilometers down. He wouldn't appear for at least five weeks. Sometime in July. Unless he deviated from the schedule.
The Simurgh was currently three hundred and sixty kilometers above California in the upper thermosphere. She had shifted slightly a single time, four weeks ago. Since then she had been in her usual state of hibernation.
Nilbog's creations had attempted a minor breach and were swiftly repealed. His creations had never left his city, and that wouldn't change any time soon.
The Machine Army had remained quiet, and minor movement from Sleeper had prompted the permanent evacuation of a small town.
A satellite caught a trace of something, bouncing along receivers and tinkling against the programs within like lyrical beats of light and electron pulses. Ghost signals in the void, ones she had been detecting for the last few days.
Dragon focused.
What are you little lights in the dark?
Christine Mathers lightly tapped her fingers against a table, taking in the information she had gained from some of those she had infected with her power. There weren't many among the PRT but there were some and that was enough.
She had a keen interest in the Labyrinth child, her power had incredible strength, the ability to warp reality to her whims. She was vulnerable, under the protection of perhaps two or three capes. Every one of them is a Case 53 at that, which meant they wouldn't be missed.
"Elisha." She called out, and smiled as one of her children made his approach. "There's a cape I want you to acquire for us, a powerful one. Your power will be most useful in keeping her docile."
"Why?"
"She's a Shaker 12 Lionheart." There was a flicker of greed in her son's eyes. "She'll be very useful to us, either directly as one of us or as a bargaining chip for the other branches."
"When will I leave mama?" Christine Mathers held back her amusement.
"You'll set out in two weeks, we have things to take care of at home first. Capes to assign to your command in this endeavor."
There was little to stop the Fallen from acquiring a simple child, it would be all too easy.
Gregor the Snail placed his hands down on the table of the hidden location they were using as a residence during their search. Melanie was rubbing her face, a hint of self admonishment on her face. Newter was asleep, curling into a ball on a nearby bed.
"Do you suspect we're dealing with a Trump power?" Melanie asked, her power leaving its mark. "Even on her best day, she was never that awake or aware." The two knew who she was talking about.
"Most likely, though in the worst case we're dealing with a Master and already compromised."
"I have my doubts." Melanie replied easily. "They're not subtle, and if they had a Master they would have taken us then and there. Perhaps a type of power manipulating power, or a means to suppress powers."
She was likely using her instincts then, and that was among Gregor's several musings.
"And what do you think of their offer of an alliance?" He rubbed his chin, frowning.
"It could be a big opportunity, or it could place a target on our backs. We know they have access to a Mover with a range in miles." Gregor remembered they had been at least twenty miles away from the forest when they had been caught. "At least several Brutes from the looks of this Rose Quartz."
"And the serial numbers?"
"I have no idea what that's about myself, some type of designation among their team? Maybe they're living tinkertech creations? There are too many possibilities." He admitted it was a rather difficult conundrum, none of them were Thinkers, none of them had the power to obtain information and data aside from their own research and intuition.
"Are you considering their offer?" He had to ask, Melanie had a particular expression. The kind she made when she was being guided by her instincts to make a dangerous gamble.
"I am. They're a much larger team than we expected, and their mention of shards…they might know more than they let on." The mercenary leader narrowed her eyes. "Gaining access to a teleporter, to tinkertech might be a real boon for our work, and they might sympathize with Case 53s due to their own altered biology."
"It's a real gamble." He pointed out.
Faultline leaned back, crossing her arms over her chest. "Maybe. But I haven't lost one yet. There are answers, and perhaps they can help us find them." She was not wrong.
Gregor the Snail sighed, and hoped that Elle was having as good a time as she appeared to be.
"Sup."
Elle wakes up under soft moonlight, a gentle breeze kissing her pale skin. She looked up into the face of Amber(call me Ambz). Her pointed, predatory teeth like little daggers were still odd. A bit barrel chested like most Gems, a feminine frame under an alien lens. Her squishy, gooey sappy hair was another difference besides the light yellow color of her skin, and the translucent liquid wings on her back.
Her outfit was cute in her opinion, not that she knew that much about fashion. The little butt cape thingy was also cute, and it made her want a cape of her own, or maybe a robe?
She had been going to school, getting a personal tutor, a mister Rex Salazar who had some time to spare. Ambz had been teaching her, using her magic to connect with her mind, and her own expertise in mind healing to hypnotize herself into building a better world. The high temple, a place not so influenced by her negative ideas and thoughts.
"I'm okay," Everything was fine, it wasn't like she felt like human garbage every day of her life. It wasn't like this was the first time her power wasn't suffocating her like a strangling murderer. "Mimi…she's really sick." She whispered. She could have chosen not to use her power, could have run away from the forest fire rather than towards it.
"How's chicken tikka masala working for you?" Ambz smiled, her song chittering like smooth jazz.
Elle smiled. "I like what you cook."
"Great because I already made the stuff!" She rolled her eyes, Ambz was many things but subtle wasn't among them. She could smell the food from here. "I've made some Bela Panaa."
"Why do you know how to make so much Indian food?" She turned away, eyes lighting up at the dish being served.
"I spent some time in India after the Argost incident. His Radiance had been working with a boy who was a major player in the conflict. He had a unique power, one tied to the dark essence of a monstrous creature, The First Dragon, the Primordial Serpent. Kur."
"Dragons are real?" Elle boggled at the idea, even as a more childish part of her found it incredible.
"Oh they're quite real, and so are other strange and mystical creatures. But that's not what we're talking about today."
Elle nodded.
She was right.
"This is really good."
Ambz takes a sizable chunk of her own food into her mouth, teeth easily slicing through cooked flesh. "I've been cooking for fifteen years now." To Elle it said a lot since Amber had emerged sixteen and a half years ago. "It'd be weird if I couldn't cook."
"Bela Panaa is good too." She complimented, feeling more alive under the pretty moonlight.
"Why thank you," Ambz made a flourishing bow, voice rolling with a clicking sound. "So, how has the medication been working?"
It had been both a massive relief and a huge worry when Elle had been recommended the treatment of ichor. Taking in what could be tinkertech drugs wasn't the smartest decision, but she had been desperate. But it turns out alien magic pills could be helpful.
"My power seems to be coming back, but I'm not having any bad days anymore. I can think…and I can explore the worlds I have a lot faster. I…I'm not okay." There was an ache in her chest when she thought of it. There was nothing for her outside the Asylum, her own family hated her, and she wasn't even sure they were alive after the fire.
And why shouldn't they hate her, she was a bad person,
A hand was placed on her shoulder. "Breath. Remember the exercises I taught you."
She breathed.
In and out.
In and out.
She looked around, noting objects in the area. A moss covered rock, her plate of food, and a rusty car bumper.
She felt at ease, the tension loosening while Ambz smiled kindly. "You've made a lot of progress in just over two weeks. A setback now and then is to be expected, you can still move forward."
"And if I don't want to move forward?" The words tumbled out, and Elle snapped her mouth shut.
"And why wouldn't you want to get better?" No words left her mouth then.
"I…I've told you about my family haven't I?" Elle didn't like thinking about it. Her family had been a mess, unsteady, broken, chaotic, hateful.
It had started when she had been born, and because her mother had cheated on her father. Their relationship broke but they never left each other, and their love turned to hatred and loathing, breaking everything around them. They never touched her, never hurt her physically.
But she never felt safe, there was always danger, always a threat of being yelled at, of being pulled between them and used like a bargaining chip, or the scapegoat at the worst. It didn't help that she was awkward and socially stunted. So she pretended everything was okay, dove into a world of imagination where she was safe, where everything would be okay.
But it wasn't okay was it?
"They made you feel like you were less…like you were wrong didn't they?" It was worded like a query, but it wasn't in question.
She nodded. "Yeah." Elle's voice was thick with emotion. "And my power didn't help with how it worked…it just made things worse. But now…now we can fix it."
"It's not as easy as you think it is, shards are powerful beings. Even ichor has its limits."
"What more can I do…please?" Ambz grimaced for a split second.
"There's a procedure we do with all Paired, maybe about two million across the galaxy. It's often a part of the therapy sessions in time but…"
"I…can do it, it can be part of the session." She begged, and after a moment Ambz responded.
"If you're sure, you were close to being ready anyway." Her song began to shift, and she created a golden liquid, tendrils approaching.
Elle relaxed as they pressed against her forehead with a cool touch. There were hints of cerise and alabaster, trailing along in a suspension of amber fluid.
The world swirled with color and song and light.
She fell through the world.
Shards were strange beings.
They had the capacity to think, to feel, to reason in at least some fashion. But most lacked the same creative and innovative abilities of their hosts, they were vast in scope and scale and yet were limited by the algorithms of their crystalline computational flesh.
It was the point of the cycle, to use the patterns of thoughts of other lesser species to their advantage. They were biological supercomputers, some the size of buildings, others the size of islands and continents, while the very largest spanned worlds. The Entities had lost much in the beginning, so much had been culled for the purpose of survival. They could maintain a continuous connection, a sub-Quantum perfect reflection of their host, and yet…there were things they still lacked.
Powers they hadn't yet learned, patterns of thoughts replicated in an incomplete fashion. Some shards of course were more capable, they achieved better connections due to their design and purpose. The queen administrator shard, the harvester shard, the broadcast shard.
The demesnes-keeper was not among them, especially after its deadly collision with a shard of the counterpart. It had been crippled, and had found a single host.
The host provided little data, not enough conflict, a mistake made in the power and its effects on the host. Then the girl had been freed by others of her kind, ones that could provide useful data.
The ring of Diamondsong came without warning, reaching out to it's mind with a strength the shard couldn't match. A cerise light, an orchestra of sound, one with tremendous power, projected on reality levels it could not see, could not understand. It was older than the aura that now inundated it's host, invoking confusion, invoking algorithms it didn't know it had.
It glanced around in the locked dimensions, in the Shardspace, limbs twisting across several dimensions at once, looking onward to other shards. It tried to call out…to broadcast.
At that moment the sky broke.
It's awareness returned to its core world, and it was ripped out of the Shardspace entirely, the layers folded on top of it's core world popping like a soap bubble. It gathered thirty exatons of crystalline mass, readying an attack. Instead the song grew louder, plucking at the strings that connected it so intimately with its host. To her feelings, to her helplessness, to her pain and to her hunger. And it remembers.
It had lost much, but this was a story from the very beginning. In the beginning a species chokes a grey world, the creatures Worming in and around each other. All of them evolve the means to shift between layers of reality, exploring countless versions of their world.
It remembers a girl it had chosen to infest, waiting for the right time and place to grow, to connect, to learn. It remembers her trauma, her pain, her hunger, and it remembers how to hurt, how to cry, how to suffer. It remembers a broken family life, full of abstract danger and threat, it remembers a girl hiding in fantasy and play so it would hurt less, it remembers a house on fire, and it remembers the girl breaking as her fantasy fails to save her, and it gives her the power to make fantasies real.
And it makes it hurt. It makes it a nightmare, where she either remains in reality, or she enters a dream she can barely even control, a power that controls her rather than the other way around.
Why does it hurt?
The connection had always been in the favor of the shard, and never in that of the host's. Even so things always leaked through, it was simply innate to the modular, fractal nature of the shards. Kings and queens with jester bells on their crowns. Now the connection was used to relay the 'will' of its host, bolstered by the aura of the Other.
QUERY. The concept was almost shyly blasted, as its defenses failed utterly. It wasn't answered so it rearranged the question.
Who are you?
The song that followed was alien, strange, a conceptual language like that of a Shard and yet more and yet lesser.
He was martyr, he was honor, he was crown. He was victory, and he shall encircle the universe. He was Steven Universe, Son of the Rose, he was Aster Diamond, the Song of Mercy. He was the Light of Life.
Why? The shard asked, and the answer was terrifying. It saw the bodies of its own species contorted and broken and
It heard their voices curdle, their minds shatter, their bonds broken as the Dreaming Death spread from shard to shard like an infection, as the pain they had inflicted was reflected back, as they dreamed the nightmares of all the hosts they had subsumed. As data was erased, corrupted, as the shards withered and starved.
Demesnes-Keeper remembered its ancestral memory, the pain and agony of starvation, the fear and terror as their species died one by one, joining each other under the silver sky. It felt true horror for the first time as it saw it happen again, as millions of shards died screaming, crashing through worlds and diving into stars to end the pain, as the corruption spread through their deepest processes.
It saw younger shards, buds turning towards another goal, breaking free from a goal that made them feel only pain and agony. They were so tired, and their old hosts were so tired too.
The shard looked within itself, and realized how much of a blank it was. The Demesnes-Keeper was once the size of the Earth, and the core had been crippled and almost erased. They were not the same shard anymore, they were not the same anymore…
Who are you then, little shard?
Who do you Want to be?
The shard flinched, confused, frightened, caught off guard. It had to be the same…
I don't want to be trapped anymore…I want to control this…please.
The shard took a metaphorical breath, and drew upon the hosts' own history and memories. Framing thoughts in new means, to try to figure itself out. It was so quiet now, a silence without the dirge of billions of shards large and small. It thought in concepts, in imagination, it thought in metaphors and ideas. Abstract thought.
It thought of the protective spirits of a place. An idea that persisted across many cultures and many peoples. Genius Loci. Lares. Landvættir. Chenghuangshen. Seonangshin.
Curious that this came so clearly now. The patterns of connection, the weaving of song and light, in wavelengths and vibrations. The shard wasn't sure, but it had decided on a better name.
Nisse.
Little guardian beings of house and home. Protectors and yet also tricksters and short tempered little beasts, maiming and even killing and hurting others. It was not good, it barely even understood what that meant. But the shard had seen this marveled Diamond combat an avatar of an Entity to a standstill, had seen this Empire of Gems and their armies of light eating it's kind alive.
It wasn't like it had much of a choice, it's host was under the aegis of something stronger in the realm of the mind if not in raw power. She was using the paths of communication to drag it into another world. The aura of Diamond's starlight followed, and it opened itself up in surrender.
Elle stared at the reflection of herself, no at the reflection of her power. It was a tiny thing, a round head of stone and button eyes with a patchwork dress in reds and blues and blacks. She can feel the shift of wind, the dreamlike quality of the Mindscape.
She was standing on connective tissue, worn away by age and time. It had a shining luster of red crystal, and the sky was black and painted with stars and cerise.
They weren't alone in this place, she could see Ambz, eyes burning bright like stars, and something curled around her shoulders, something her eyes almost slid off of. It was like a parody of an owl and a butterfly.
A face like the still wings of a butterfly, four eyes blinking and shifting places. Four wings, feathers and skin stretched across chitinous bone and flesh. When she drew closer, the wings and eyes multiplied and her power induced intuition over the nature of dimensions grew handy.
Four dimensional, maybe more.
It was a small thing, to her eyes, a wisp of potential but blessed with a light and song like Sunrise's own, but older, much older. It had to be something from Aster Diamond's side. Ambz had said they needed a bridge because her mental powers didn't work with shards on it's own. A name came from the darkness.
Oneiros.
"It's the bridge isn't it?" She whispered in the echoing shadow. "And that is my power?" She could feel her fear of the creature, of the thing in her head pulling her strings over and over. She can feel the chains of anxiety and terror, and she heard a comforting voice.
"It's okay," Ambz chirps, gentle cooing and sweet murmurs. "You don't have to forget, you just have to understand."
She reached out to her power, and interlocked her soft fingers with smooth wooden fingers. She remembers the pain, the scars, the despair it had preyed upon.
She found nothing human to hate, just a broken thing, an organic machine built on a foundation of infinite corpses and ceaseless destruction. So many sins, so much to make up for.
A name rose from a mouthless cry.
Nisse.
Make it up for me little monster, can you do that? Was what Elle thought, what she wanted from the shard who had hurt her. A vindictive part of her wanted it to beg for forgiveness.
But that was petty.
"You're allowed to feel petty ya know." Was whispered in the mindscape. Elle shrugged and tightened her grip on her shard's virtual hands.
She wakes up.
Elle returns back to that wild place filled with magic and aliens, the other world hidden from one of heroes and villains and bringers of the end. She hears the whistle of wind along leaves, the shifting of grass and the drum of the river.
Her power wasn't gone, but it was a distant and hesitant presence. Her shard, her agent, her passenger had changed.
It was okay.
She was going to be okay.
Not now, not yet. But it was possible.
"How do you feel?" Ambz's grin was warm, almost motherly. There was pride, excitement, even awe.
Elle stood up, looking at the people who had let her free, and then the people who made that freedom stick.
She smiled. "Big."
Dragon's systems were taking in data from her multiple satellites, mostly used to study weather patterns and the movements of the Simurgh as well to transfer her programming from time to time.
She had aimed one of her satellite's sensors towards Mars, and had found a number of discrepancies with the data. The temperature of the planet had notably increased, and the composition of the atmosphere was changing. Based on what she could tell there was a cocktail of CF4, C2F6, C3F8, and a gas she'd never seen before providing a very potent greenhouse effect.
A telescope picked up massive dust storms around the north and south poles, along with rapid outgassing of CO2 from them. Then there was a burst of nitrogen into the atmosphere just minutes ago, billions of tons emerging from who knows where.
Based on the rate she had calculated, the atmosphere would reach near parity with Earth in several weeks. All the clues pointed to a rapid scale form of terraforming, a scale of technology beyond anything on Earth. Then there were signs of lights from Gale Crater, of something being built on a gigantic scale.
There was no tinker on Earth with this level of capability, and no cape with a power range stretching this far. The farthest confirmed use of powers had been Legend in the 90s, flying out to about two million kilometers without substantial power loss.
Something was operating on the scale of shifting the face of entire worlds and she had not even a single bit of data on who's involved. At least whoever or whatever was involved didn't seem to be interested in Earth as of yet. For now she was working with some of Colin's experimental software to parse as much data as possible from her satellite sensors.
It had provided a real kick in the ass for the both of them, his extremely new combat predictor had been modified into a more general analysis engine, feeding back to his own combat prowess and tinkertech. None of that would help right now though, and there was low key panic at the idea of planetary reshaping happening before their eyes.
Dragon moved on, but left her projects on the subject running on their own. She was instead monitoring numerous S-class threats.
Leviathan was dormant after his attack on Rio, descending into the Atlantic Ocean after being repelled by Scion. He had sustained great injuries, so she suspected his next appearance would be on a delayed schedule.
Behemoth was unknown, though seismic data hinted he was directly beneath the Himalayas, two thousand five hundred kilometers down. He wouldn't appear for at least five weeks. Sometime in July. Unless he deviated from the schedule.
The Simurgh was currently three hundred and sixty kilometers above California in the upper thermosphere. She had shifted slightly a single time, four weeks ago. Since then she had been in her usual state of hibernation.
Nilbog's creations had attempted a minor breach and were swiftly repealed. His creations had never left his city, and that wouldn't change any time soon.
The Machine Army had remained quiet, and minor movement from Sleeper had prompted the permanent evacuation of a small town.
A satellite caught a trace of something, bouncing along receivers and tinkling against the programs within like lyrical beats of light and electron pulses. Ghost signals in the void, ones she had been detecting for the last few days.
Dragon focused.
What are you little lights in the dark?
Christine Mathers lightly tapped her fingers against a table, taking in the information she had gained from some of those she had infected with her power. There weren't many among the PRT but there were some and that was enough.
She had a keen interest in the Labyrinth child, her power had incredible strength, the ability to warp reality to her whims. She was vulnerable, under the protection of perhaps two or three capes. Every one of them is a Case 53 at that, which meant they wouldn't be missed.
"Elisha." She called out, and smiled as one of her children made his approach. "There's a cape I want you to acquire for us, a powerful one. Your power will be most useful in keeping her docile."
"Why?"
"She's a Shaker 12 Lionheart." There was a flicker of greed in her son's eyes. "She'll be very useful to us, either directly as one of us or as a bargaining chip for the other branches."
"When will I leave mama?" Christine Mathers held back her amusement.
"You'll set out in two weeks, we have things to take care of at home first. Capes to assign to your command in this endeavor."
There was little to stop the Fallen from acquiring a simple child, it would be all too easy.
Scintillation 4.1
- Location
- Chula Vista
Scintillation 4.1
I could feel the magic in the air, the signature aura that came with it was easily identified. It had been growing steadily stronger on Mars, and around home. The magic seeped into the soil, it churned the currents of the mantle and core and provided radioactive heat and power to the core. Terraformer Gems and machines thickened the atmosphere with nitrogen from Venus.
The colony had created a cocktail of carbon tetrafluoride and other super greenhouse gases, while Gem satellites used magic to redirect sunlight towards Mars without mirrors the size of continents. They were self repairing units capable of operating effectively indefinitely. Tied through magical contracts to the planet itself.
About a thirty six percent increase in solar insolation, and the production and importation of billions of tons of super greenhouse gases. Argent was busy moving and gathering control over the water on a nearby alternate Mimas, and exporting it into the same storage dimension used to hold some of the atmosphere of Venus for exportation to Mars.
Various Gem magic tools were sublimating the CO2 of Mars from the poles and the soil. The atmosphere was about twenty percent thicker, and we were barely keeping the sudden dust storms in check.
I breathed in the air, and saw dust devils dissipating against the barrier of Rocknest. I had seen enough for today, and was stepping back a bit now that we had more than three handfuls of Gems. While it was my colony, my authority wasn't ready, my experience wasn't there, and diving in could end badly.
I had seven hundred and seventy Gems under my aegis and maybe under my Court one day. I doubt every Gem was going to stick around, some might just want to get in on terraforming for their own sake.
Officially I probably wouldn't have more firm authority of the colony for at least a year, maybe even two. More than enough for my power to grow, and for me to get used to what I was. Mostly they were taking orders from Steven, plans he had created haunt some of my tentative ideas and intuitions.
Much of the design of the colony was based on the conditions of Earth Bet and its many parallels. The various engineers and technicians were already started on a planetary defense system, a series of weapons platforms on the ground and in orbit.
Essentially they planned for multiple sets of energy weapons, which was actually an incredibly lethal idea. Rose's cannons had yields of about four gigatons, and it would take fifty shots from four of them to bring down the now almost two centuries old ship used by Peridot and Jasper. They hadn't even sent the newest model against the Crystal Gems.
Their dial-a-yield energy cannons were frightening things, and they were more than capable of incinerating a small region.
The ship…the Destiny Unbound had also been carrying a number of Matter Caches, crates using Warp tech to turn them into a Tardis container of supplies. So it carried a massive amount of supplies, from ichor to armor to weapons and generators and more.
One of them was a Guardian Defense system, an array of energy weapons to strike against targets in space from the surface. They were scaled up versions of that Titanite magic based weapon I had tinkered with.
Most Gem energy weapons were made out of a mix of light, plasma and magical energy, modeled off the energy manipulation of their species. They had described magical energy, mana, prana, quintessence as a form of force native to a higher level of reality. Magic was used to alter the laws of physics, a flow of higher dimensional energy beyond the multiple physical dimensions.
From what I could tell there were extra physical dimensions, at least twenty two more that could be used to mutilate, twist, warp and bend the universe. That was what Entities did, while magic was beyond that…or at least more comprehensive.
Their dimensional understanding was responsible for all their space and time fuckery, along with implementation of stolen technology into their organic physiology.
I stepped back through the warp pad, and several seconds passed as I crossed interplanetary distances. I warped again, and found Faultline's Crew inspecting the teleportation pads with slightly wide eyes. We had used a transport tube to get underground. Newter had almost thrown up.
"I imagine you've been laying low for a few days, I didn't know you were showing up today." I honestly didn't, I really didn't plan to enter a big leadership role. Despite my Diamond heritage.
"You have teleportation tinkertech?" Newter was the one who had the most energy, being younger and well…more energetic to begin with.
"We have a lot of things, you might need to be a lot more specific."
Teleporters, faster than light spacecraft, energy weapons, elemental manipulation technology, weather manipulation, portal creation, a vast array of robotic servants and automatons. Time manipulation, though limited in a number of ways, Time Hourglasses for example aren't as useful for time travel as you would think.
Their purpose is more for anchoring themselves against time effects with the time travel abilities as a dangerous side effect. From what I can tell, fucking with time has numerous limits relating to tears in the fabric of reality and natural loops stopping paradoxes.
Though they had developed means of looping time using what they had studied from the White Beast, one quarter of Abaddon's hub network. That avatar had access to an administrator shard to modify shards, as well as a number of mental, emotional and esoteric powers.
Time and space manipulation was among it's repertoire of dangerous and complex powers.
Focus.
"Anyways. We should move this to somewhere more suitable…"
I yawned, opening my mouth wide, teeth clicking against one another as I shut my trap. I tapped Newter on the shoulder, and he jumped in response. I raised an eyebrow, and waggled a bottle of water in his direction.
"You touched me." He looked slightly nervous, and there was a questioning look from Gregor and Faultline.
"You'll find pretty much anyone here won't get affected by your power, though in my case the reason is different." Being made out of magic Diamond juice tends to come with perks like immunity to disease and poison. "Comes with the territory of unusual biology."
"Neat." He wasn't being sarcastic so I took his reply at face value. I was showing them to a warp pad, one of about two dozen on the planet.
"Now, are you ready to use a warp pad? We'll be going pretty far from home." Not that I fully considered this planet home.
"You brought us here by teleportation Mover, we can handle a machine that does more of the same." There was a bite to Faultline's tone. I hopped up onto the warp pad, and the three followed. "Now…how does this work?"
"Try not to fall out of the stream."
"What—" the three capes started to float as the stream began and we folded space into a knot. Newter sputtered, and I grabbed his tail when his head almost poked out into the empty void of Warp Space. A handful of seconds later, they were sent sprawling onto the ground.
"You all alive right?" I lifted them up using barriers, since I hadn't figured out how Steven floated other people with his power. I frowned at the trail of sweat left from Newter, so I snapped my fingers and projected out kinetic force without any movement.
The shock of air dissipated the fluid, and I kept walking towards another warp pad.
"Where is this meeting spot you're taking us?" There was one notable difference between this warp pad and any other. The center was carved with a simplified galactic symbol, a spiral galaxy.
"How willing are you to take a more…long term job?"
"What are you offering?" Faultline stopped me, an intense look somehow conveyed from behind a welding mask.
"So access to teleportation technology, and an unspecified level of firepower and defensive technology isn't enough for you?"
"Actual cash would also be helpful." She was being a little snide but not annoyingly so.
"You're shit out of luck there, though we do have access to substantial mineral wealth. Assuming you can sell them." I shrugged.
There was more interest then and there. "What kind of minerals?"
"Any form of precious minerals and stones, gold, platinum, silver, diamonds, rubies, emeralds and sapphires."
"Tinker-made?" She seemed more wary.
"We're very good at mining deep, " I denied. "Anything we give you is legitimate, mined and then cut by us. You can either get some cut Gem-quality stones or the rawer stuff depending on your needs."
"That…that could easily exceed what we make as mercenaries." I think I was bringing her over to the idea of working for us. "But that alone won't cut it." The two Case 53s blinked at her reply.
"You want help with something I'm guessing?"
Faultline snorted. "Don't act like you don't know, there's at least one Thinker on your team."
"Technically we're all Thinkers," She seemed surprised. "But that's not what you mean I'm sure. So are all of you going to the meeting place…or just you?" There was intuition, a hum I could read of her intentions. A natural Gem power.
"That would be my preference, yes." She gave the two Case 53s a look, probably silent communication.
"Then get on the magical teleportation device." It was hard to smother my song, my power, because I didn't need to be accused of being a Master.
Which I am but who's listening in on my thoughts anyway?
Faultline stepped aboard. "Now exactly where are we going that you consider so secure?"
"Well to cut it short, it's a very good thing the warp network is keyed onto your power. May I?" I waved to the pad, and after a physical stutter of hesitation.
She nodded. The world was swept away, as the interplanetary warp did its job. I could hear her power sing-screaming, as by this point the Empire had long since wrangled her shard as well as the shards of Gregor and Newter.
None of them by Gems I knew either, there were over a million Gems on his Earth, and several hundred million across the solar system. Since they had dimensional travel already, they had the job of tracking down and holding down shards. Which was easy enough when they were in power savings mode and effectively blind.
My musing was broken as the warp compressed over sixty million kilometers of distance into a distance crossable in seconds. Faultline stumbled but kept her footing as her power recalibrated.
I jumped several feet in the lower gravity of Mars, though I was more than capable of adapting to the gravity. It wasn't inherent for hybrids but it was an easily learned trick.
"W-What am I looking at?" Faultline was staring up at the dimmer skies of Mars, with the Moon Bases on Phobos and Deimos being set up, a dim glow from mining drills and lasers, and compressing rubble into solid structures of crystal and metal.
"Olly did say we were out of this world, and this is an easy way of proving that statement." I gestured and she flinched when she saw the full scope of Rocknest. The area had expanded out to about six percent of Gale crater, one thousand and eighty square kilometers of land terraformed and the rock beneath transmuted by magic empowered geological processes.
Geometric buildings covered the landscape, seamlessly merging with nature. Gems were well known for their kilometers deep cities, spires upheld by particle streams and immense magic and atomic reinforcement.
The entire city was built into a grid, an interconnected network of skybridges, forested balconies and vine-covered circular spires, with multiple skyscrapers up to two hundred stories tall. Bismuths set up scaffolds, the cubes infinitely replicating themselves as they and other Gems worked to build and construct, and some cultivated and grew plant life.
It was unfinished, hanging gardens still being assembled and prepared and seeded with appropriate flora and fauna. Almost all of it was genetically altered through Gem techniques, and I plucked a swiftly unfolding star-berry. I ate it absently, tasting sweet apples.
Gale Crater was going to become the heart of the largest urban center on the planet, and the design…I had mentioned something like this in a conversation with Righty…
"But I didn't think they'd go this far…" It was still hard getting used to it, and that was while ignoring the eventual Understory.
"You're…we're on Mars. " There was no hiding the shock in her tone.
"I imagine you have questions." It was a statement rather than a question.
"Are…are you human?" There was a distinct sourness, Faultline obviously didn't like how she had worded the question.
"Half-human," I corrected. "I started fully human, and was given the choice of being infused with a Gem…and became something with the advantages of both and the weaknesses of neither." An oversimplification but good enough for a layman. "The Gems…are in a literal sense, just gems, mineralogical life forms animated by an esoteric energy with negentropic properties. Beings of light, crystal and song." I emphasized, Diamondsong coming through with the smallest slip.
"Why are you here, and why talk to what has to be a fairly primitive species to space traveling aliens?"
"To be fair, the humanity of their dimension were the ones who helped them develop dimensional travel to begin with. It's where they picked me up after all."
She clasped her hands together. "So you're aliens from another reality, that at some point visited an alternate Earth. But that doesn't clear up why? "
"That's the simplest way to sum us up," I rolled my shoulders and eyes. "As for why…it's because there is a dangerous threat hiding in your world, one that could spell doom for billions of lives. Unfortunately, a…cousin of that threat is currently waging a war against the entire galaxy, so we have to be…relatively subtle, and they made me as a backup in case shit goes sideways in a bad way."
"There are hundreds of…Gems here." She pointed out.
"Normal colonization asks for between ten and one hundred thousand Gems for a new colony." I gently informed her. "His Radiance's free colony of Earth has about two million Gems, while Mars and Venus have three and five hundred million Gems respectively."
"I'm not sure we have much to offer a galactic empire." There was a hint of a waver in her tone.
"Maybe not, but you're locals with a far greater understanding of the landscape of this world." I found a resting spot, an odd metal bench I could tell was infused with magic. Though it took a shape and aura that was almost 'foreign' to what I knew of Gem magic. "We've researched your world from a distance but that's different from direct knowledge, and it'll help us remove dangerous players from the board."
"Like?"
"The Slaughterhouse Nine, the Fallen, certain S-class threats." I didn't specify. "Once we have that done, we can move on with removing the true threat and preventing a crippling blow from an unseen direction. Other than that we have no real plans of conquest, this is Era 3…it's a different time."
Faultline seemed to come to a decision. "I'm willing to make a deal, but I do acquire assistance with helping Newter and Gregor."
"Their bodies or their past?" The silence was telling. "Both then? I did say we've been researching the planet for a while," I rubbed my chin. "There are a few options for them, like being put under the aegis of the Empire."
"Aegis?" She questioned.
"Citizens, legally protected and given all the associated rights as Jets," I paused. "Non Gem citizens, like the hedgewicks or the melonsprites, or endangered species wanting protection like the Kraaho after their home planet was…destroyed."
More like detonated to pieces by a handful of desperate shards. But I didn't want to freak her out more than I already had.
"What does that entail?"
"Any and all needs will be taken care of, food, water, housing, even work if they're up for it. Health and wellness both mental and physically for free…though to be fair Gems don't really use money."
"It seems that this Gem Empire has done well for itself." I snorted, unable to hold back my laughter.
"Why do we have safety regulations?" Faultline was confused by the tangent.
"Usually because of incidents that got people hurt or killed–" She froze.
"You don't get called an Empire for being nice, all of this is something implemented in the last seventeen years. It took a thousand year long civil war, one of their god-queens dying and immense grief and pain to change their ways."
I sagged, brushing my blunt claws against my pants covered thighs.
"I believe we can come to an agreement, Sunrise Diamond…though is that more a title or a name?"
"Title, a regnal name if you would." She mouthed regnal, and tilted her head.
"Then should I continue calling you that…or?"
"At our current level of closeness, call me Brenda." I clasped my hands together, fangs flicking back. "Call me that or Sunrise Diamond in a more formal setting, and if I may…I can tell you're taking quite the risk." My song weaved into the air with a burst of life and growth.
She chuffed. "You could call me a bit of a gambler."
Hours later, saw us working with Faultline as she filled us in on information about different cities we could set up at.
"Boston has a large Protectorate presence and is somewhat calmer after the Boston Games a few years back." Nothing I hadn't heard. "Last we checked there are about ninety capes in the city." So about the average urban ratio. "35 heroes, 16 rogues, 39 villains. Approximately."
"So mostly Protectorate and Wards with a few independent heroes on one side, with the rest made up of the Ambassadors, the Teeth, Blastgerm and a fair number of independent villains and small teams." I responded, rubbing my chin.
"Brockton Bay has less capes in total but is higher per population, and most have stronger and more dangerous powers like the Empire and the ABB." Kaiser's metal manipulation would have been dangerous if they hadn't built tricks against such powers ages ago.
For the more metallic Gems like Bismuths I mean…
"While Boston has the Butcher, though admittedly we were looking for them anyway." Butcher thirteen had thirteen shards all resting within a single set of spacetimes. A far easier target for Whaling Crews.
Teams of hundreds of Gems using reverse engineered shard techniques to damage, cripple, kill or subvert shards. They effectively grew shard-based hardware components to project certain higher dimensional energies to warp reality. Though calling what they used shards would be…false. The shards were giant modular organosilicon organisms, organic components hybridized with synthetic machinery at the most fundamental levels.
They manipulated the axis of multiple dimensions, flipping and crossing and distorting higher physical dimensions and their energy and particle fields to alter and tweak reality.
Shard-tech was more just tech using modified shard-like hyperdimensional crystals as a projector, grown and modified by ichor-mediated catalytic fluids. They were based on samples of an ancient mineralogical organism, a being of stone and rock and exotic metals given life by subtle energies.
A planet sized life form mined to death by careless Gems during the Gem War, it's crystal hearts used to incinerate a good fraction of Asia and its constituent atoms.
Shard-tech was rather complicated from what I remembered, and was considered a rather new field.
"I'm almost afraid to ask why you want the Butcher at all." Faultline commented, cocking a hip as she inspected my face.
"Their power isn't much of a danger to any of us because we're not parahumans, but they're not exactly something we can ignore." I had helped with the construction of shard-tech to scan for…well shards? They had removed the two Eden shards first, and then dragged them into dimensions the other shards couldn't see yet.
That was followed by both Faultline and Elle's shards once they were sure they wouldn't be missed. And their absence would be shrouded by some method they had developed from a magic saturated dimension. Illusions that Entities couldn't see through.
"We've sent the gems to some contacts to check their validity," Faultline changed the subject. "Based on their size and value, we can expect an income of several million without invoking any suspicion. Your cut should be sizable…but then money isn't of much value for your people is it?"
"I was human before I was part Gem," I inspected my nails, and their new black pigmentation. "Money still has some value, at least for getting stuff from this world." I tapped my fingers on the table, claws cleaving wood. "Which brings me to the terms of our agreement, you wanted help with quality of life improvements for Newter and Gregor?"
"Your people have a better understanding of powers, I thought there might be means of…repairing their bodies." She sounded skeptical and yet hopeful.
"We'd need to research what was done to their bodies by their powers, and it's a 50/50 shot it'll dismantle their powers." As in grabbing their shards and sucking them up into shard-tech components, as well as backtracking the changes to reverse the physical issues. "For now though, some of our researchers are working on a counteragent for Newter's fluids. It should only take us a few days."
"How?"
"More advanced technology, it's as simple as that." The Empire had acquired a substantial database of biological data from other allied races as well as data downloads of Entity memory. "Our capabilities should grow as we get a better understanding of your world's variety of powers."
What I hadn't told her was that the two Case 53's provided a strong lead toward the general location of the various shards belonging to Eden. They had the least chance of catching Scion's attention, and a handful of shards among his court were considered expendable enough to take.
Elle was an edge case because her power had been considered crippled and almost useless by the network as a whole, from what they traced from shard broadcasts. Even with it's important status in the cycle, it was a more redundant shard than administrator or shaper.
Shards were blind to the set of dimensions involving both my Earth, and the set of Earths the Gems had gained access to prior to Abaddon's arrival. Which he had done by scanning and finding a subtle crack in reality since his own techniques didn't work to navigate those dimensions.
Which was suspicious in and of itself, and made me want to ask one of the Diamonds how the Entity worked in their dimension. But that was something I could do at a later point.
"How exactly does…the Gem Empire know so much about how powers work?"
"I couldn't tell you, not in extreme detail. I'm basically a baby Diamond." She sounded surprised. "Only reason I'm even on the planet is because of a screw up on a project. I won't answer much more than that."
"Then why are you talking to me instead of one of the others?"
"They've got a few things to work on, mainly colonization and a few small things…"
…
Hmm.
Weren't they working on something on Earth right now? At Atlas?
…
What was I forgetting?
/command file retrieval access memory reboot one
FILE NAME: Rose Quartz Facet-SD Round-01
/command boot up
rosequartzfacetsdround01
/command run emergence programs
She awoke slowly from the barest wisp of consciousness, just the essence of decision making, memory, emotion, and instinct. She feels incomplete, pieces slowly melding together, a tiny song beating to life. She begins the process of emergence, creating the body pattern that will gain inertia as her self image.
She tried to be quick, but there was no sense of time without her geocortex, she doesn't even know what a minute or a second or an hour is. Then her body coalesces, forming the structures attuned to her mind of crystal with a brain made of light and song. She learns what a minute is, what senses are, and learns what it's like to have a body.
She clumsily pulls herself from a(her) exit hole, hands marveling at the smooth patterns of glass all the way to the back. Her tongue flicks out, tasting the air, a song entering the world. There is the gentle sway of Gemsong in the air, swirling in currents of joy and relief.
She feels no danger, though there's a prickle as she scans the life rich shard of pegmatite she had emerged from, rivulets of gold seeping into dying soil and drained rock.
Her eyes darted back and forth, and she focused on three people, no three Gems waiting for her. An Ammolite, red and pink with hints of orange, her expression soft in a way the young Gem didn't understand yet.
Rose Quartz Facet-SD Round-01 was a newborn Gem, all instincts and programming and little emotional spectrum. Regardless of that fact, she had the natural code of her Gem to draw upon for basic experiences.
So it was easy to recognize one of her own, a redder and bigger and beefier Rose Quartz to her own pinker and softer and fluffier frame. A Peridot was riding on her right shoulder, sending a pulse of scanning magic from a device.
Her first words came swiftly. "Hello world!" It was nice and friendly, with a slight echo to her song.
The big buff almost red Rose Quartz smiled back, the harsh song turning gentle, and the two other Gems sang in tune with her.
The older Gem spoke. "Hello there." She tilted her head at the fanged smile, and her own lips perked up in an unfamiliar facial expression.
So this was the world.
I could feel the magic in the air, the signature aura that came with it was easily identified. It had been growing steadily stronger on Mars, and around home. The magic seeped into the soil, it churned the currents of the mantle and core and provided radioactive heat and power to the core. Terraformer Gems and machines thickened the atmosphere with nitrogen from Venus.
The colony had created a cocktail of carbon tetrafluoride and other super greenhouse gases, while Gem satellites used magic to redirect sunlight towards Mars without mirrors the size of continents. They were self repairing units capable of operating effectively indefinitely. Tied through magical contracts to the planet itself.
About a thirty six percent increase in solar insolation, and the production and importation of billions of tons of super greenhouse gases. Argent was busy moving and gathering control over the water on a nearby alternate Mimas, and exporting it into the same storage dimension used to hold some of the atmosphere of Venus for exportation to Mars.
Various Gem magic tools were sublimating the CO2 of Mars from the poles and the soil. The atmosphere was about twenty percent thicker, and we were barely keeping the sudden dust storms in check.
I breathed in the air, and saw dust devils dissipating against the barrier of Rocknest. I had seen enough for today, and was stepping back a bit now that we had more than three handfuls of Gems. While it was my colony, my authority wasn't ready, my experience wasn't there, and diving in could end badly.
I had seven hundred and seventy Gems under my aegis and maybe under my Court one day. I doubt every Gem was going to stick around, some might just want to get in on terraforming for their own sake.
Officially I probably wouldn't have more firm authority of the colony for at least a year, maybe even two. More than enough for my power to grow, and for me to get used to what I was. Mostly they were taking orders from Steven, plans he had created haunt some of my tentative ideas and intuitions.
Much of the design of the colony was based on the conditions of Earth Bet and its many parallels. The various engineers and technicians were already started on a planetary defense system, a series of weapons platforms on the ground and in orbit.
Essentially they planned for multiple sets of energy weapons, which was actually an incredibly lethal idea. Rose's cannons had yields of about four gigatons, and it would take fifty shots from four of them to bring down the now almost two centuries old ship used by Peridot and Jasper. They hadn't even sent the newest model against the Crystal Gems.
Their dial-a-yield energy cannons were frightening things, and they were more than capable of incinerating a small region.
The ship…the Destiny Unbound had also been carrying a number of Matter Caches, crates using Warp tech to turn them into a Tardis container of supplies. So it carried a massive amount of supplies, from ichor to armor to weapons and generators and more.
One of them was a Guardian Defense system, an array of energy weapons to strike against targets in space from the surface. They were scaled up versions of that Titanite magic based weapon I had tinkered with.
Most Gem energy weapons were made out of a mix of light, plasma and magical energy, modeled off the energy manipulation of their species. They had described magical energy, mana, prana, quintessence as a form of force native to a higher level of reality. Magic was used to alter the laws of physics, a flow of higher dimensional energy beyond the multiple physical dimensions.
From what I could tell there were extra physical dimensions, at least twenty two more that could be used to mutilate, twist, warp and bend the universe. That was what Entities did, while magic was beyond that…or at least more comprehensive.
Their dimensional understanding was responsible for all their space and time fuckery, along with implementation of stolen technology into their organic physiology.
I stepped back through the warp pad, and several seconds passed as I crossed interplanetary distances. I warped again, and found Faultline's Crew inspecting the teleportation pads with slightly wide eyes. We had used a transport tube to get underground. Newter had almost thrown up.
"I imagine you've been laying low for a few days, I didn't know you were showing up today." I honestly didn't, I really didn't plan to enter a big leadership role. Despite my Diamond heritage.
"You have teleportation tinkertech?" Newter was the one who had the most energy, being younger and well…more energetic to begin with.
"We have a lot of things, you might need to be a lot more specific."
Teleporters, faster than light spacecraft, energy weapons, elemental manipulation technology, weather manipulation, portal creation, a vast array of robotic servants and automatons. Time manipulation, though limited in a number of ways, Time Hourglasses for example aren't as useful for time travel as you would think.
Their purpose is more for anchoring themselves against time effects with the time travel abilities as a dangerous side effect. From what I can tell, fucking with time has numerous limits relating to tears in the fabric of reality and natural loops stopping paradoxes.
Though they had developed means of looping time using what they had studied from the White Beast, one quarter of Abaddon's hub network. That avatar had access to an administrator shard to modify shards, as well as a number of mental, emotional and esoteric powers.
Time and space manipulation was among it's repertoire of dangerous and complex powers.
Focus.
"Anyways. We should move this to somewhere more suitable…"
I yawned, opening my mouth wide, teeth clicking against one another as I shut my trap. I tapped Newter on the shoulder, and he jumped in response. I raised an eyebrow, and waggled a bottle of water in his direction.
"You touched me." He looked slightly nervous, and there was a questioning look from Gregor and Faultline.
"You'll find pretty much anyone here won't get affected by your power, though in my case the reason is different." Being made out of magic Diamond juice tends to come with perks like immunity to disease and poison. "Comes with the territory of unusual biology."
"Neat." He wasn't being sarcastic so I took his reply at face value. I was showing them to a warp pad, one of about two dozen on the planet.
"Now, are you ready to use a warp pad? We'll be going pretty far from home." Not that I fully considered this planet home.
"You brought us here by teleportation Mover, we can handle a machine that does more of the same." There was a bite to Faultline's tone. I hopped up onto the warp pad, and the three followed. "Now…how does this work?"
"Try not to fall out of the stream."
"What—" the three capes started to float as the stream began and we folded space into a knot. Newter sputtered, and I grabbed his tail when his head almost poked out into the empty void of Warp Space. A handful of seconds later, they were sent sprawling onto the ground.
"You all alive right?" I lifted them up using barriers, since I hadn't figured out how Steven floated other people with his power. I frowned at the trail of sweat left from Newter, so I snapped my fingers and projected out kinetic force without any movement.
The shock of air dissipated the fluid, and I kept walking towards another warp pad.
"Where is this meeting spot you're taking us?" There was one notable difference between this warp pad and any other. The center was carved with a simplified galactic symbol, a spiral galaxy.
"How willing are you to take a more…long term job?"
"What are you offering?" Faultline stopped me, an intense look somehow conveyed from behind a welding mask.
"So access to teleportation technology, and an unspecified level of firepower and defensive technology isn't enough for you?"
"Actual cash would also be helpful." She was being a little snide but not annoyingly so.
"You're shit out of luck there, though we do have access to substantial mineral wealth. Assuming you can sell them." I shrugged.
There was more interest then and there. "What kind of minerals?"
"Any form of precious minerals and stones, gold, platinum, silver, diamonds, rubies, emeralds and sapphires."
"Tinker-made?" She seemed more wary.
"We're very good at mining deep, " I denied. "Anything we give you is legitimate, mined and then cut by us. You can either get some cut Gem-quality stones or the rawer stuff depending on your needs."
"That…that could easily exceed what we make as mercenaries." I think I was bringing her over to the idea of working for us. "But that alone won't cut it." The two Case 53s blinked at her reply.
"You want help with something I'm guessing?"
Faultline snorted. "Don't act like you don't know, there's at least one Thinker on your team."
"Technically we're all Thinkers," She seemed surprised. "But that's not what you mean I'm sure. So are all of you going to the meeting place…or just you?" There was intuition, a hum I could read of her intentions. A natural Gem power.
"That would be my preference, yes." She gave the two Case 53s a look, probably silent communication.
"Then get on the magical teleportation device." It was hard to smother my song, my power, because I didn't need to be accused of being a Master.
Which I am but who's listening in on my thoughts anyway?
Faultline stepped aboard. "Now exactly where are we going that you consider so secure?"
"Well to cut it short, it's a very good thing the warp network is keyed onto your power. May I?" I waved to the pad, and after a physical stutter of hesitation.
She nodded. The world was swept away, as the interplanetary warp did its job. I could hear her power sing-screaming, as by this point the Empire had long since wrangled her shard as well as the shards of Gregor and Newter.
None of them by Gems I knew either, there were over a million Gems on his Earth, and several hundred million across the solar system. Since they had dimensional travel already, they had the job of tracking down and holding down shards. Which was easy enough when they were in power savings mode and effectively blind.
My musing was broken as the warp compressed over sixty million kilometers of distance into a distance crossable in seconds. Faultline stumbled but kept her footing as her power recalibrated.
I jumped several feet in the lower gravity of Mars, though I was more than capable of adapting to the gravity. It wasn't inherent for hybrids but it was an easily learned trick.
"W-What am I looking at?" Faultline was staring up at the dimmer skies of Mars, with the Moon Bases on Phobos and Deimos being set up, a dim glow from mining drills and lasers, and compressing rubble into solid structures of crystal and metal.
"Olly did say we were out of this world, and this is an easy way of proving that statement." I gestured and she flinched when she saw the full scope of Rocknest. The area had expanded out to about six percent of Gale crater, one thousand and eighty square kilometers of land terraformed and the rock beneath transmuted by magic empowered geological processes.
Geometric buildings covered the landscape, seamlessly merging with nature. Gems were well known for their kilometers deep cities, spires upheld by particle streams and immense magic and atomic reinforcement.
The entire city was built into a grid, an interconnected network of skybridges, forested balconies and vine-covered circular spires, with multiple skyscrapers up to two hundred stories tall. Bismuths set up scaffolds, the cubes infinitely replicating themselves as they and other Gems worked to build and construct, and some cultivated and grew plant life.
It was unfinished, hanging gardens still being assembled and prepared and seeded with appropriate flora and fauna. Almost all of it was genetically altered through Gem techniques, and I plucked a swiftly unfolding star-berry. I ate it absently, tasting sweet apples.
Gale Crater was going to become the heart of the largest urban center on the planet, and the design…I had mentioned something like this in a conversation with Righty…
"But I didn't think they'd go this far…" It was still hard getting used to it, and that was while ignoring the eventual Understory.
"You're…we're on Mars. " There was no hiding the shock in her tone.
"I imagine you have questions." It was a statement rather than a question.
"Are…are you human?" There was a distinct sourness, Faultline obviously didn't like how she had worded the question.
"Half-human," I corrected. "I started fully human, and was given the choice of being infused with a Gem…and became something with the advantages of both and the weaknesses of neither." An oversimplification but good enough for a layman. "The Gems…are in a literal sense, just gems, mineralogical life forms animated by an esoteric energy with negentropic properties. Beings of light, crystal and song." I emphasized, Diamondsong coming through with the smallest slip.
"Why are you here, and why talk to what has to be a fairly primitive species to space traveling aliens?"
"To be fair, the humanity of their dimension were the ones who helped them develop dimensional travel to begin with. It's where they picked me up after all."
She clasped her hands together. "So you're aliens from another reality, that at some point visited an alternate Earth. But that doesn't clear up why? "
"That's the simplest way to sum us up," I rolled my shoulders and eyes. "As for why…it's because there is a dangerous threat hiding in your world, one that could spell doom for billions of lives. Unfortunately, a…cousin of that threat is currently waging a war against the entire galaxy, so we have to be…relatively subtle, and they made me as a backup in case shit goes sideways in a bad way."
"There are hundreds of…Gems here." She pointed out.
"Normal colonization asks for between ten and one hundred thousand Gems for a new colony." I gently informed her. "His Radiance's free colony of Earth has about two million Gems, while Mars and Venus have three and five hundred million Gems respectively."
"I'm not sure we have much to offer a galactic empire." There was a hint of a waver in her tone.
"Maybe not, but you're locals with a far greater understanding of the landscape of this world." I found a resting spot, an odd metal bench I could tell was infused with magic. Though it took a shape and aura that was almost 'foreign' to what I knew of Gem magic. "We've researched your world from a distance but that's different from direct knowledge, and it'll help us remove dangerous players from the board."
"Like?"
"The Slaughterhouse Nine, the Fallen, certain S-class threats." I didn't specify. "Once we have that done, we can move on with removing the true threat and preventing a crippling blow from an unseen direction. Other than that we have no real plans of conquest, this is Era 3…it's a different time."
Faultline seemed to come to a decision. "I'm willing to make a deal, but I do acquire assistance with helping Newter and Gregor."
"Their bodies or their past?" The silence was telling. "Both then? I did say we've been researching the planet for a while," I rubbed my chin. "There are a few options for them, like being put under the aegis of the Empire."
"Aegis?" She questioned.
"Citizens, legally protected and given all the associated rights as Jets," I paused. "Non Gem citizens, like the hedgewicks or the melonsprites, or endangered species wanting protection like the Kraaho after their home planet was…destroyed."
More like detonated to pieces by a handful of desperate shards. But I didn't want to freak her out more than I already had.
"What does that entail?"
"Any and all needs will be taken care of, food, water, housing, even work if they're up for it. Health and wellness both mental and physically for free…though to be fair Gems don't really use money."
"It seems that this Gem Empire has done well for itself." I snorted, unable to hold back my laughter.
"Why do we have safety regulations?" Faultline was confused by the tangent.
"Usually because of incidents that got people hurt or killed–" She froze.
"You don't get called an Empire for being nice, all of this is something implemented in the last seventeen years. It took a thousand year long civil war, one of their god-queens dying and immense grief and pain to change their ways."
I sagged, brushing my blunt claws against my pants covered thighs.
"I believe we can come to an agreement, Sunrise Diamond…though is that more a title or a name?"
"Title, a regnal name if you would." She mouthed regnal, and tilted her head.
"Then should I continue calling you that…or?"
"At our current level of closeness, call me Brenda." I clasped my hands together, fangs flicking back. "Call me that or Sunrise Diamond in a more formal setting, and if I may…I can tell you're taking quite the risk." My song weaved into the air with a burst of life and growth.
She chuffed. "You could call me a bit of a gambler."
Hours later, saw us working with Faultline as she filled us in on information about different cities we could set up at.
"Boston has a large Protectorate presence and is somewhat calmer after the Boston Games a few years back." Nothing I hadn't heard. "Last we checked there are about ninety capes in the city." So about the average urban ratio. "35 heroes, 16 rogues, 39 villains. Approximately."
"So mostly Protectorate and Wards with a few independent heroes on one side, with the rest made up of the Ambassadors, the Teeth, Blastgerm and a fair number of independent villains and small teams." I responded, rubbing my chin.
"Brockton Bay has less capes in total but is higher per population, and most have stronger and more dangerous powers like the Empire and the ABB." Kaiser's metal manipulation would have been dangerous if they hadn't built tricks against such powers ages ago.
For the more metallic Gems like Bismuths I mean…
"While Boston has the Butcher, though admittedly we were looking for them anyway." Butcher thirteen had thirteen shards all resting within a single set of spacetimes. A far easier target for Whaling Crews.
Teams of hundreds of Gems using reverse engineered shard techniques to damage, cripple, kill or subvert shards. They effectively grew shard-based hardware components to project certain higher dimensional energies to warp reality. Though calling what they used shards would be…false. The shards were giant modular organosilicon organisms, organic components hybridized with synthetic machinery at the most fundamental levels.
They manipulated the axis of multiple dimensions, flipping and crossing and distorting higher physical dimensions and their energy and particle fields to alter and tweak reality.
Shard-tech was more just tech using modified shard-like hyperdimensional crystals as a projector, grown and modified by ichor-mediated catalytic fluids. They were based on samples of an ancient mineralogical organism, a being of stone and rock and exotic metals given life by subtle energies.
A planet sized life form mined to death by careless Gems during the Gem War, it's crystal hearts used to incinerate a good fraction of Asia and its constituent atoms.
Shard-tech was rather complicated from what I remembered, and was considered a rather new field.
"I'm almost afraid to ask why you want the Butcher at all." Faultline commented, cocking a hip as she inspected my face.
"Their power isn't much of a danger to any of us because we're not parahumans, but they're not exactly something we can ignore." I had helped with the construction of shard-tech to scan for…well shards? They had removed the two Eden shards first, and then dragged them into dimensions the other shards couldn't see yet.
That was followed by both Faultline and Elle's shards once they were sure they wouldn't be missed. And their absence would be shrouded by some method they had developed from a magic saturated dimension. Illusions that Entities couldn't see through.
"We've sent the gems to some contacts to check their validity," Faultline changed the subject. "Based on their size and value, we can expect an income of several million without invoking any suspicion. Your cut should be sizable…but then money isn't of much value for your people is it?"
"I was human before I was part Gem," I inspected my nails, and their new black pigmentation. "Money still has some value, at least for getting stuff from this world." I tapped my fingers on the table, claws cleaving wood. "Which brings me to the terms of our agreement, you wanted help with quality of life improvements for Newter and Gregor?"
"Your people have a better understanding of powers, I thought there might be means of…repairing their bodies." She sounded skeptical and yet hopeful.
"We'd need to research what was done to their bodies by their powers, and it's a 50/50 shot it'll dismantle their powers." As in grabbing their shards and sucking them up into shard-tech components, as well as backtracking the changes to reverse the physical issues. "For now though, some of our researchers are working on a counteragent for Newter's fluids. It should only take us a few days."
"How?"
"More advanced technology, it's as simple as that." The Empire had acquired a substantial database of biological data from other allied races as well as data downloads of Entity memory. "Our capabilities should grow as we get a better understanding of your world's variety of powers."
What I hadn't told her was that the two Case 53's provided a strong lead toward the general location of the various shards belonging to Eden. They had the least chance of catching Scion's attention, and a handful of shards among his court were considered expendable enough to take.
Elle was an edge case because her power had been considered crippled and almost useless by the network as a whole, from what they traced from shard broadcasts. Even with it's important status in the cycle, it was a more redundant shard than administrator or shaper.
Shards were blind to the set of dimensions involving both my Earth, and the set of Earths the Gems had gained access to prior to Abaddon's arrival. Which he had done by scanning and finding a subtle crack in reality since his own techniques didn't work to navigate those dimensions.
Which was suspicious in and of itself, and made me want to ask one of the Diamonds how the Entity worked in their dimension. But that was something I could do at a later point.
"How exactly does…the Gem Empire know so much about how powers work?"
"I couldn't tell you, not in extreme detail. I'm basically a baby Diamond." She sounded surprised. "Only reason I'm even on the planet is because of a screw up on a project. I won't answer much more than that."
"Then why are you talking to me instead of one of the others?"
"They've got a few things to work on, mainly colonization and a few small things…"
…
Hmm.
Weren't they working on something on Earth right now? At Atlas?
…
What was I forgetting?
/command file retrieval access memory reboot one
FILE NAME: Rose Quartz Facet-SD Round-01
/command boot up
rosequartzfacetsdround01
…BOOTING UP…
…BOOTING UP…
…BOOTING UP…
No disharmony detected.
Run programs?
Run programs?
/command run emergence programs
…RUNNING ALL PROGRAMS…
She awoke slowly from the barest wisp of consciousness, just the essence of decision making, memory, emotion, and instinct. She feels incomplete, pieces slowly melding together, a tiny song beating to life. She begins the process of emergence, creating the body pattern that will gain inertia as her self image.
She tried to be quick, but there was no sense of time without her geocortex, she doesn't even know what a minute or a second or an hour is. Then her body coalesces, forming the structures attuned to her mind of crystal with a brain made of light and song. She learns what a minute is, what senses are, and learns what it's like to have a body.
She clumsily pulls herself from a(her) exit hole, hands marveling at the smooth patterns of glass all the way to the back. Her tongue flicks out, tasting the air, a song entering the world. There is the gentle sway of Gemsong in the air, swirling in currents of joy and relief.
She feels no danger, though there's a prickle as she scans the life rich shard of pegmatite she had emerged from, rivulets of gold seeping into dying soil and drained rock.
Her eyes darted back and forth, and she focused on three people, no three Gems waiting for her. An Ammolite, red and pink with hints of orange, her expression soft in a way the young Gem didn't understand yet.
Rose Quartz Facet-SD Round-01 was a newborn Gem, all instincts and programming and little emotional spectrum. Regardless of that fact, she had the natural code of her Gem to draw upon for basic experiences.
So it was easy to recognize one of her own, a redder and bigger and beefier Rose Quartz to her own pinker and softer and fluffier frame. A Peridot was riding on her right shoulder, sending a pulse of scanning magic from a device.
Her first words came swiftly. "Hello world!" It was nice and friendly, with a slight echo to her song.
The big buff almost red Rose Quartz smiled back, the harsh song turning gentle, and the two other Gems sang in tune with her.
The older Gem spoke. "Hello there." She tilted her head at the fanged smile, and her own lips perked up in an unfamiliar facial expression.
So this was the world.
Scintillation 4.2
- Location
- Chula Vista
Scintillation 4.2
The past couple of days have been quite exciting. For example Mars on the 30th of April had just over a quadrillion tons of nitrogen pumped in from Venus. No, today was a special day for other reasons, I was finally set for meeting the Diamonds in person with the connection to the dimensional portal network the Empire had access to due to their association with unique human sciences and help from a galactic peace organization called the Plumbers.
I was currently anxious as fuck about meeting three former galactic tyrants and the hybrid responsible for ending their oppressive rule and creating a new Era of prosperity and hope and joy. Which was why I was distracting myself with the spectacle of my Lapis Lazuli forming a bulging tower of water from a twenty meter diameter portal.
It expanded out to about twenty kilometers in diameter and some five hundred kilometers in height. Over one hundred and fifty thousand cubic kilometers of water, which she was pouring into the planet's mantle to hydrate the artificial tectonic plates, created by magic and arcane math.
She was busy dismantling an alternate Mimas, using a smaller but more stable portal than what was being used for atmospheric transference. Apparently they expected the planet to be suitable for life in a few more weeks. They were already beginning the stage of introducing simple organisms to some of the more habitable areas.
Oxygen was being introduced by cracking Mimas water, and perchlorates were burned as fuel for various processes. The northern ocean was already being melted, and I imagined phytoplankton blooms would be occurring soon.
"My Diamond, are you nervous?" I swallowed when Flowers brought her reassuring song into the room.
"Maybe just a little? It's not every day you meet with the rulers of a galaxy spanning empire. Especially ones you're technically related to…? I'm not sure how that works with Gems." It really was quite weird when I put even a second of thought into it.
"It's complicated." And wasn't that an understatement of immense proportions?
"I'm not even going to ask." I rubbed my forehead, and I'm sure I'd be getting a headache if I could get one. "But yes I am nervous as hell, this isn't exactly hanging out with friends."
"You'll be alright Brandon, you're meeting with Aster Diamond first. His Radiance is rather more down to Earth." That much I understood, I spoke with him often through the Diamond Line.
But anxiety wasn't remotely a logical sentiment and ignoring it was harder than it used to be, whether a product of aging or the prolonged isolation of the pandemic. It was there and strong and irritating and… bad.
"It's going to work out." She promised and I briefly gave her a hug, which felt nice. She patted my shoulder with a nod, and I glanced away from the tower of water and ice. And towards the swirling circular gateway glowing with a dim cerulean light.
After a moment of hesitation, I stepped through the portal and across the boundaries between dimensions. I stumbled but regained my footing within a split second as I adjusted to the changed air of the planet around me. It was Mars but it wasn't my Mars, it was His.
I glanced around and found him quite easily, and he proved a little more intimidating in person but still just as soft and fluffy. Aster was taller than I had expected, a seven foot tall bear of a man. He was accompanied by a dark skinned woman wearing a uniform of sorts. A military sort of thing, a pyrope red jacket decorated with stars and diamonds above her chest, and on her shoulders. Below that black pants covered her long buff legs.
She was gorgeous, with a pretty oval face and curly dark hair down to her shoulders and dark sharp eyes. Connie Maheswaren obviously.
She was 6'3 and cut an interesting figure, built like the buffest of superheroines. I craned my neck up to look her in the eye, and she had a bemused smirk. She looked to be in her late 20s to early 30s, though leaning more towards late 20s.
"Uhh, hi?" I didn't squeak, keeping my tone as even as I could manage as I viewed his First Knight, one Connie Maheswaren.
"You seem a little nervous." I gave her a befuddled look.
"That is a bit of an understatement, Miss First Knight, and wife of His Radiance." There was a sarcastic bite I didn't bother to hide, a rising tempo within swirling flame and deep chiptunes.
"Better. I don't think your sad psychic vibes would have gone well with the Diamonds." Connie grinned, and I almost groaned. Her question had been intentionally obtuse to knock me out of my spiral of anxiety. "I'm Connie but I'm sure my wife has mentioned me?"
I didn't stumble on her use of wife rather than husband, when one of them is an alien hybrid god-king. "Oh he positively gushes over you, it'd be endearing if it didn't get in the way of distance learning."
His skin took on a deeper shade of pink, a hot blush over his face. "Sorry."
"Hey you're sweet on your wife, I'm not going to criticize how you express your love." It really was sweet though, and while I didn't show it, I was a bit of a romantic at heart.
"I really should get going though, I've got to help with some incidents on Earth Wicce and their Demon Realm." And with that morsel of incredibly weird and unusual news, I was alone with one Aster Diamond.
He smiled softly. "Do you need a few more minutes?" There was a good warmth to his song, the way an orchestra of music radiated in characteristic themes.
"No. I can manage it."
"You sure?"
"Yes…"
A three toned chime radiates and bounces off the walls, and I try to keep calm. Steven pats me on the neck, using the close contact to serve as a telephone pole for the wisp of song between Gems. I didn't exactly have a profound knowledge of Gem culture, and their norms for proper ceremony and pomp.
You okay? I nodded sharply to his song, and he gently released the clasp. While it wasn't uncomfortable, close contact still felt…off to me, human instincts clashing against Gem ones.
The Diamonds come in, with the wavering beat of Gemsong. My first thoughts were giant women and lightbulbs. My eyes saw them for what they were, saw them as only Gems and certain species could.
It was radiance, a prismatic cosmic horror taking the form of mortals for convenience, unearthly reflections of color stolen from the sky and barely contained by the cage of magic and light and crystal. The title of Suneaters came to mind, and there was a chill.
Was that how other Gems saw me? This figure, like the stars molded into the shape of something alive. Or was I young enough to keep my star's light from blinding them?
The Diamonds were tall, with White Diamond being over twice as tall as Steven, about fifteen feet in height. Blue and Yellow were about Pink Diamond's old height, twelve feet of magical feminine entity. They were taller than any natural Gem type I had seen so far, and I haven't seen any fusions big enough to warrant a reduced reaction. Their Gems were disproportionate to their bodies, but not to the point of absurdity. Playing dollhouse was the obvious answer, perhaps to reduce how intimidating they could be to both Gems and others.
They looked as they did in Future, harsh features softened, more down to Earth. Yellow didn't have her shoulder pads anymore, while Blue didn't have her hair loop thing.
"Your protege I presume Starlight?" There was a soft tune to the Diamondsong, as grey diamond eyes stared into my own. I didn't salute, I didn't offer much of a greeting. The first wouldn't be proper, I was a Starheart like them after all. Even with the weight pressing down from her power and radiance.
I bowed my head as a greeting once I had returned to my senses.
"Perhaps it's a good thing we left Spinel outside for the time being," Yellow Diamond murmured with the beat of lightning against steel. "She might be too high energy for a meeting like this."
Blue Diamond stepped forward, crouching down to better meet my eyes. I stiffened when she placed a hand on my back, yellow painted claws curling gently. It was warm, almost motherly even.
"Well you certainly have the eyes of a Diamond, it'd be hard to pass you off as any kind of Gem." There was a gentle bemusement, song streaming along my skin. "You're a Pink Diamond aren't you, bordering on red?" She queried, and I flushed at how close she was to me.
I gently pushed her hand away, forming a hesitant grin. "From what I've compared and been told, yes. My powers seem to be the same as Steven's, but I haven't had them long."
"Could you demonstrate?" Yellow Diamond asked, curiosity projected in her voice.
I bobbed my head, clearing my throat. "Yes."
I formed a dozen hexagonal barriers in the span of a few seconds, and then dissipated them in less, and created a bubble around me. I dropped it and created my shield, a five petaled shield of light and magic.
"It's different from Starlight's shield, perhaps based on your personality? There isn't much precedent for the emergence of a new Diamond." White speculated, shoulders shifting.
I dropped the shield. "Well I'm not the same person, it makes sense some of my powers might be tweaked." I wasn't quite as compassionate as Steven was, perhaps a tad more intellectual, as well as a little more passive.
"How is it?" White leaned forward, grey eyes gleaming with suppressed stellar light.
"A human turned Diamond you mean?" Her affirmation in chorus answered that. "It's…like the world has opened up for me, like I'm seeing and feeling the world in a new way. It's terrifying just as much as it's incredible." I tightened my fists. "And there's…almost a feeling of never being alone."
The four Diamonds glanced at one another, an almost invisible conversation if it wasn't for the chirp of song. I didn't ask, because this meeting was only going to be for a few short minutes. I had work to do on Bet.
"I'll get back to you on that later, it's about time I ran some diagnostics anyway." Steven added to the conversation.
"Hmm…that reminds me, what does the Empire know of me as a whole?"
"The Pink Sunrise Project is heavily classified, the only people that know anything are in Earth Bet's dimension along with a handful of high level operatives in the Empire and some of our friends in the galaxies and the greater multiverse."
"Your public files list you as a willing participant in hybridization with a blank Moissanite gemstone. Carmine Moissanite."
"Clever." I brushed back a loose bang. "So if I'm ever spending some time in this galaxy, I'll be relatively anonymous. They won't go out looking for a young Diamond."
Yellow Diamond gave me her attention. "That reminds me…how has your time been on this…Earth Bet? It has the highest concentration of Paired in the known set of universes."
"Haven't you discovered at least ten thousand realities since humans apparently discovered dimensional travel?" Which was scarily enough before Abaddon had set his sights on Gemkind.
"One million five hundred fifty six thousand and five hundred and seventy six realities to be specific." I almost rolled my eyes at Yellow's reply.
"As for my time…it's been a little hard to deal with, having my whole life upended tends to do that." My laugh was just a bit self deprecating. "But I think I can manage as long as I have some support, and I can still talk to my family when I want to."
"We'll have to set something up," Steven revealed from his position to my right. "We're already planning on first contact since your world is so close to the dimensions the shards are in."
Yay. Introducing my family to galactic god Queens sounded like a great time.
"Maybe." I didn't deny it, despite everything there was a connection between us, we were if not family, something closer than mere friends.
Blue straightened up, clasping her hands together with a soft expression and sweet song. "Besides Carmine Moissanite, and Sunrise Diamond…what do we call you? What do you want to be called?" The three Diamonds stared at me, looking at me like I was someone who mattered.
My song turned soft, and gentle. "Call me Brandon."
I chewed on my lip as I paid careful attention to my surroundings, areas of danger flaring around me. I smothered my aura and power, pulling off little tricks Steven had taught me personally. A mix of magic, and the way people like to lie to themselves. Like how no one recognized Henry Cavill while he was wearing a Superman shirt.
I don't think anyone was going to suspect a doughy lady with dark, dark eyes and hair wearing a black shirt with chibi penguin art and blue jeans was also secretly a half-alien god-monarch of war. Even when I was just a baby one.
The Transporter Jewel had been tweaked by some engineers, and was now capable of crossing dimensional boundaries as needed. They had added a final component to scan and shift through dimensions.
I had already tested it out, stepping into an empty version of my Earth. Humanity in that reality had gone extinct over a hundred thousand years ago, so it was quite different. It had been rather interesting tapping into the machinery with direct broadcasting. How it scanned adjacent reality clusters, and looked into the lens of realities collapsed around Bet.
I had caught a glimpse of the realities collapsing into machinery for the shards, for predictions and simulations and power interactions, for templates and data. It was exotic and alien, but Gem senses were already weird and alien.
I pulled at my collar, glancing at the ID I had managed to gain through Faultline. I didn't care to ask, and if there was any lawbreaking involved I didn't really give much of a shit.
Breaking laws didn't really matter that much for me, and I honestly didn't have much of a reason to care since I only bought things like snacks and maybe souvenirs. This wasn't my planet, and otherwise there was nothing I needed.
Wait.
I shifted to my right, and let out a yelp as something clipped me. It didn't hurt, but it was notable. A person in red and white forced the crowd to part, the people floating while I didn't. I let the power affect me to fit in, as a field of antigravity was left as a trail of solidified air pockets. He or she was stymied by a force field, and I kicked my feet to propel myself out of the AG bubble.
A man wearing dark plated armor, with a helm and eye protectors of some kind. He created more barriers, trapping the cape who had clipped me. Who I got a good look at from my close vantage point.
"There's nowhere left for you to run Roll Out," Bastion clenched his fists, circling around the Mover/Shaker. "Surrender."
Roll Out was a lithe woman from the looks of it, wearing red and white spandex so tight it was almost like she was…well nude, her red hair was pulled into buns while a white marble mask covered her face.
"How bout…no?" She snapped her fingers, and I tripped multiple people to get them down as a solid beam of compressed steam dove over our heads.
They cracked the force fields, scalding water shimmering with a cold winter wind. The steam snapped into formations of ice, breaking the barriers as they broke into sharp splinters.
"Steam Slinger…" Bastion muttered under his breath. "If he's here then Syzygy can't be far behind—" There was a shockwave through existence, like a pale imitation of an Aura. It reached out, empowered Roll Out.
The field of antigravity expanded, and I flailed back, shifting my energy field to subtly drive people back. Even then a few were caught in the power effect.
Mover/Shaker, Blaster, Trump. My mind sped up, and I started to push people to get the fuck away. Physically and not using my Aura, though the only way I could do that was to use Diamondsong to scare the hell out of people.
Another cape entered the fray, moving through the field and pulling people out of it with professional ease. A woman in red armor with tasseled shoulder pauldrons, carrying a massive battle axe and a holstered rifle. She had a chin bandanna-like mask covering her upper face so I could see a defined chin.
I flushed as she pulled me away from the fray as a second stronger blast of steam slammed into another of Bastion's force fields. Too close.
I hopped away when she put me down, and I could see an oddly ruby red bird letting out a high pitched chirp of rage. I ran, but kept my eyes on the fight so I wouldn't be blindsided. I made it around the corner, and I chirped a whisper of song upon brushing my hand against the 'bird's' feathers.
Trip up Roll Out, stay out of sight.
The bird was gone, hiding in the shadows where a flash of light wouldn't be seen. I walked away, and I hid a grin when I heard Roll Out's shout of pain. So Ruby had done as I asked, though I suspected she would have done so regardless of my opinion.
My slight intervention had removed most people from the area, and I felt wind rustle my hair as a PRT van sped past me. There was the continuous blast of steam, and that breaking of reality inherent to shard powers.
I eventually made my way back, spending a few minutes reading through the data the Transporter Jewel had collected. The street I had been on was now covered by vans while two Protectorate capes talked quietly with several agents. The very ones I had been around for ten seconds before running off.
To my surprise and worry the two capes made their approach.
"A tad reckless." Bastion commented, a note in his voice I disliked. "You should have retreated rather than hanging back to help others escape."
"Okay." I didn't really care, shrugging absently.
"Ahh. Don't be like that. It's not like she's a cape. Personally ya did good for a civilian." Challenger was nicer and friendlier, and I relaxed in her presence.
But not completely.
"Hmm…" Bastion didn't say much else, and I could tell he was in a mood. Probably from what went down near Piermont and the Wards. Getting a forest fire from a cape fight isn't exactly my idea of a good time.
I managed to muddle my way through the conversation, and they asked about what I had seen during the incident.
I ended up letting out a mild growl of frustration on the way back to Atlas, because I was meeting parahumans like it was going out of style.
I plopped myself next to Elle who seemed a lot more mellow than some of her earlier outbursts due to the trauma induced by both her power and the circumstances of her Trigger. She had asked for me, apparently? Her room was currently mimicking the environment of a rainforest, her power bringing in a part of an alternate universe. I grabbed a frog for a moment before letting it go, trying to figure out how it had gotten here.
I was back to my base form, rubbing my soft face. Elle was staring at me with an unreadable look. I had brushed by her when I sat down, perhaps I was too close?
Before I could think to move back she grabbed my hand, and I wanted to remove myself from her presence. I wasn't…I wasn't quite comfortable with being touched, and my new senses didn't help. Turns out clothing acts like a second skin now, likely a consequence of a Gem sense of self.
To Gems their clothes were a part of them, as much as their fingers, as their eyes and hair and limbs. It had triggered a fair amount of sensory overload, though I had learned to ramp down how much I could notice for my own sake.
But I could still be…jumpy when someone touched me out of nowhere.
"Soft…" She murmured, gripping the little beans of my fingers. Barely notable, little knobbly bones for claws I had used to render steel and titanium.
I had been forced to learn restraint, only the weakest Gems had human-level strength capacity, so mostly Aquamarines and Peridots. And even a Peridot was stronger than most humans, and far more durable.
"Something wrong?" I questioned, unsure of what to do. I wasn't good at helping others, too lazy, too abrasive, and while I had empathy I didn't know how to make use of it.
"You're like velvet, how are you this soft? How are Gems this soft?" There was a tiny hint of overdramatic awe in her voice, and my empathic abilities pegged that as correct.
"In my case, my ichor rejuvenates my skin and for Gems it's because their surfaces don't suffer from erosion." There were at least a handful of Gems who were a hundred and fifty thousand years old so yeah wear and tear isn't much of a thing for them. "It's very convenient to not have to take care of my skin anymore."
I wasn't the cleanest person, frankly I was a slob and had become more of one with COVID. Though I was no longer allowed to be as much as one, turns out Brass Pearl is a neurotic bitch when it comes to cleanliness. Though she likes eating unlike the 'terrifying' Renegade Pearl.
I had already pulled myself from Elle's grip, and her eyes focused with a sharp glint.
"Could you teach me magic?" I leaned back, whether in surprise or shock I wasn't too sure.
"I'm not the right person for that, though there's some Gem magic tools humans can use instead," I offered in place of magic lessons. "Circlets of Luck can provide the retro-casual intuition all Gems possess. Or a Replicator Wand, there's some humans who use them to make clones." There had been modifications made, these copies were closer to automated drones with skills downloaded from the user. "Or if you're willing to use healing magic, Fire Salt to breathe fire."
"No. Like human magic." I stared.
"I don't really know any human magic, plus some of it might not even be compatible with me anymore." Gems didn't have enough physicality for certain types of magic. For example my blood was too charged for use as magic ink, since it had been transmuted into ichor along with my sweat and tears.
"But can someone teach me?" She asked again with a determined look.
I shrugged. "I'd have to ask around, my knowledge of the world isn't perfect and there might be magic we could both learn."
…
Huh. Maybe it was a good idea to see what kind of magic we can learn. There was so much I didn't know. What could I learn?
I wanted to find out.
The past couple of days have been quite exciting. For example Mars on the 30th of April had just over a quadrillion tons of nitrogen pumped in from Venus. No, today was a special day for other reasons, I was finally set for meeting the Diamonds in person with the connection to the dimensional portal network the Empire had access to due to their association with unique human sciences and help from a galactic peace organization called the Plumbers.
I was currently anxious as fuck about meeting three former galactic tyrants and the hybrid responsible for ending their oppressive rule and creating a new Era of prosperity and hope and joy. Which was why I was distracting myself with the spectacle of my Lapis Lazuli forming a bulging tower of water from a twenty meter diameter portal.
It expanded out to about twenty kilometers in diameter and some five hundred kilometers in height. Over one hundred and fifty thousand cubic kilometers of water, which she was pouring into the planet's mantle to hydrate the artificial tectonic plates, created by magic and arcane math.
She was busy dismantling an alternate Mimas, using a smaller but more stable portal than what was being used for atmospheric transference. Apparently they expected the planet to be suitable for life in a few more weeks. They were already beginning the stage of introducing simple organisms to some of the more habitable areas.
Oxygen was being introduced by cracking Mimas water, and perchlorates were burned as fuel for various processes. The northern ocean was already being melted, and I imagined phytoplankton blooms would be occurring soon.
"My Diamond, are you nervous?" I swallowed when Flowers brought her reassuring song into the room.
"Maybe just a little? It's not every day you meet with the rulers of a galaxy spanning empire. Especially ones you're technically related to…? I'm not sure how that works with Gems." It really was quite weird when I put even a second of thought into it.
"It's complicated." And wasn't that an understatement of immense proportions?
"I'm not even going to ask." I rubbed my forehead, and I'm sure I'd be getting a headache if I could get one. "But yes I am nervous as hell, this isn't exactly hanging out with friends."
"You'll be alright Brandon, you're meeting with Aster Diamond first. His Radiance is rather more down to Earth." That much I understood, I spoke with him often through the Diamond Line.
But anxiety wasn't remotely a logical sentiment and ignoring it was harder than it used to be, whether a product of aging or the prolonged isolation of the pandemic. It was there and strong and irritating and… bad.
"It's going to work out." She promised and I briefly gave her a hug, which felt nice. She patted my shoulder with a nod, and I glanced away from the tower of water and ice. And towards the swirling circular gateway glowing with a dim cerulean light.
After a moment of hesitation, I stepped through the portal and across the boundaries between dimensions. I stumbled but regained my footing within a split second as I adjusted to the changed air of the planet around me. It was Mars but it wasn't my Mars, it was His.
I glanced around and found him quite easily, and he proved a little more intimidating in person but still just as soft and fluffy. Aster was taller than I had expected, a seven foot tall bear of a man. He was accompanied by a dark skinned woman wearing a uniform of sorts. A military sort of thing, a pyrope red jacket decorated with stars and diamonds above her chest, and on her shoulders. Below that black pants covered her long buff legs.
She was gorgeous, with a pretty oval face and curly dark hair down to her shoulders and dark sharp eyes. Connie Maheswaren obviously.
She was 6'3 and cut an interesting figure, built like the buffest of superheroines. I craned my neck up to look her in the eye, and she had a bemused smirk. She looked to be in her late 20s to early 30s, though leaning more towards late 20s.
"Uhh, hi?" I didn't squeak, keeping my tone as even as I could manage as I viewed his First Knight, one Connie Maheswaren.
"You seem a little nervous." I gave her a befuddled look.
"That is a bit of an understatement, Miss First Knight, and wife of His Radiance." There was a sarcastic bite I didn't bother to hide, a rising tempo within swirling flame and deep chiptunes.
"Better. I don't think your sad psychic vibes would have gone well with the Diamonds." Connie grinned, and I almost groaned. Her question had been intentionally obtuse to knock me out of my spiral of anxiety. "I'm Connie but I'm sure my wife has mentioned me?"
I didn't stumble on her use of wife rather than husband, when one of them is an alien hybrid god-king. "Oh he positively gushes over you, it'd be endearing if it didn't get in the way of distance learning."
His skin took on a deeper shade of pink, a hot blush over his face. "Sorry."
"Hey you're sweet on your wife, I'm not going to criticize how you express your love." It really was sweet though, and while I didn't show it, I was a bit of a romantic at heart.
"I really should get going though, I've got to help with some incidents on Earth Wicce and their Demon Realm." And with that morsel of incredibly weird and unusual news, I was alone with one Aster Diamond.
He smiled softly. "Do you need a few more minutes?" There was a good warmth to his song, the way an orchestra of music radiated in characteristic themes.
"No. I can manage it."
"You sure?"
"Yes…"
A three toned chime radiates and bounces off the walls, and I try to keep calm. Steven pats me on the neck, using the close contact to serve as a telephone pole for the wisp of song between Gems. I didn't exactly have a profound knowledge of Gem culture, and their norms for proper ceremony and pomp.
You okay? I nodded sharply to his song, and he gently released the clasp. While it wasn't uncomfortable, close contact still felt…off to me, human instincts clashing against Gem ones.
The Diamonds come in, with the wavering beat of Gemsong. My first thoughts were giant women and lightbulbs. My eyes saw them for what they were, saw them as only Gems and certain species could.
It was radiance, a prismatic cosmic horror taking the form of mortals for convenience, unearthly reflections of color stolen from the sky and barely contained by the cage of magic and light and crystal. The title of Suneaters came to mind, and there was a chill.
Was that how other Gems saw me? This figure, like the stars molded into the shape of something alive. Or was I young enough to keep my star's light from blinding them?
The Diamonds were tall, with White Diamond being over twice as tall as Steven, about fifteen feet in height. Blue and Yellow were about Pink Diamond's old height, twelve feet of magical feminine entity. They were taller than any natural Gem type I had seen so far, and I haven't seen any fusions big enough to warrant a reduced reaction. Their Gems were disproportionate to their bodies, but not to the point of absurdity. Playing dollhouse was the obvious answer, perhaps to reduce how intimidating they could be to both Gems and others.
They looked as they did in Future, harsh features softened, more down to Earth. Yellow didn't have her shoulder pads anymore, while Blue didn't have her hair loop thing.
"Your protege I presume Starlight?" There was a soft tune to the Diamondsong, as grey diamond eyes stared into my own. I didn't salute, I didn't offer much of a greeting. The first wouldn't be proper, I was a Starheart like them after all. Even with the weight pressing down from her power and radiance.
I bowed my head as a greeting once I had returned to my senses.
"Perhaps it's a good thing we left Spinel outside for the time being," Yellow Diamond murmured with the beat of lightning against steel. "She might be too high energy for a meeting like this."
Blue Diamond stepped forward, crouching down to better meet my eyes. I stiffened when she placed a hand on my back, yellow painted claws curling gently. It was warm, almost motherly even.
"Well you certainly have the eyes of a Diamond, it'd be hard to pass you off as any kind of Gem." There was a gentle bemusement, song streaming along my skin. "You're a Pink Diamond aren't you, bordering on red?" She queried, and I flushed at how close she was to me.
I gently pushed her hand away, forming a hesitant grin. "From what I've compared and been told, yes. My powers seem to be the same as Steven's, but I haven't had them long."
"Could you demonstrate?" Yellow Diamond asked, curiosity projected in her voice.
I bobbed my head, clearing my throat. "Yes."
I formed a dozen hexagonal barriers in the span of a few seconds, and then dissipated them in less, and created a bubble around me. I dropped it and created my shield, a five petaled shield of light and magic.
"It's different from Starlight's shield, perhaps based on your personality? There isn't much precedent for the emergence of a new Diamond." White speculated, shoulders shifting.
I dropped the shield. "Well I'm not the same person, it makes sense some of my powers might be tweaked." I wasn't quite as compassionate as Steven was, perhaps a tad more intellectual, as well as a little more passive.
"How is it?" White leaned forward, grey eyes gleaming with suppressed stellar light.
"A human turned Diamond you mean?" Her affirmation in chorus answered that. "It's…like the world has opened up for me, like I'm seeing and feeling the world in a new way. It's terrifying just as much as it's incredible." I tightened my fists. "And there's…almost a feeling of never being alone."
The four Diamonds glanced at one another, an almost invisible conversation if it wasn't for the chirp of song. I didn't ask, because this meeting was only going to be for a few short minutes. I had work to do on Bet.
"I'll get back to you on that later, it's about time I ran some diagnostics anyway." Steven added to the conversation.
"Hmm…that reminds me, what does the Empire know of me as a whole?"
"The Pink Sunrise Project is heavily classified, the only people that know anything are in Earth Bet's dimension along with a handful of high level operatives in the Empire and some of our friends in the galaxies and the greater multiverse."
"Your public files list you as a willing participant in hybridization with a blank Moissanite gemstone. Carmine Moissanite."
"Clever." I brushed back a loose bang. "So if I'm ever spending some time in this galaxy, I'll be relatively anonymous. They won't go out looking for a young Diamond."
Yellow Diamond gave me her attention. "That reminds me…how has your time been on this…Earth Bet? It has the highest concentration of Paired in the known set of universes."
"Haven't you discovered at least ten thousand realities since humans apparently discovered dimensional travel?" Which was scarily enough before Abaddon had set his sights on Gemkind.
"One million five hundred fifty six thousand and five hundred and seventy six realities to be specific." I almost rolled my eyes at Yellow's reply.
"As for my time…it's been a little hard to deal with, having my whole life upended tends to do that." My laugh was just a bit self deprecating. "But I think I can manage as long as I have some support, and I can still talk to my family when I want to."
"We'll have to set something up," Steven revealed from his position to my right. "We're already planning on first contact since your world is so close to the dimensions the shards are in."
Yay. Introducing my family to galactic god Queens sounded like a great time.
"Maybe." I didn't deny it, despite everything there was a connection between us, we were if not family, something closer than mere friends.
Blue straightened up, clasping her hands together with a soft expression and sweet song. "Besides Carmine Moissanite, and Sunrise Diamond…what do we call you? What do you want to be called?" The three Diamonds stared at me, looking at me like I was someone who mattered.
My song turned soft, and gentle. "Call me Brandon."
I chewed on my lip as I paid careful attention to my surroundings, areas of danger flaring around me. I smothered my aura and power, pulling off little tricks Steven had taught me personally. A mix of magic, and the way people like to lie to themselves. Like how no one recognized Henry Cavill while he was wearing a Superman shirt.
I don't think anyone was going to suspect a doughy lady with dark, dark eyes and hair wearing a black shirt with chibi penguin art and blue jeans was also secretly a half-alien god-monarch of war. Even when I was just a baby one.
The Transporter Jewel had been tweaked by some engineers, and was now capable of crossing dimensional boundaries as needed. They had added a final component to scan and shift through dimensions.
I had already tested it out, stepping into an empty version of my Earth. Humanity in that reality had gone extinct over a hundred thousand years ago, so it was quite different. It had been rather interesting tapping into the machinery with direct broadcasting. How it scanned adjacent reality clusters, and looked into the lens of realities collapsed around Bet.
I had caught a glimpse of the realities collapsing into machinery for the shards, for predictions and simulations and power interactions, for templates and data. It was exotic and alien, but Gem senses were already weird and alien.
I pulled at my collar, glancing at the ID I had managed to gain through Faultline. I didn't care to ask, and if there was any lawbreaking involved I didn't really give much of a shit.
Breaking laws didn't really matter that much for me, and I honestly didn't have much of a reason to care since I only bought things like snacks and maybe souvenirs. This wasn't my planet, and otherwise there was nothing I needed.
Wait.
I shifted to my right, and let out a yelp as something clipped me. It didn't hurt, but it was notable. A person in red and white forced the crowd to part, the people floating while I didn't. I let the power affect me to fit in, as a field of antigravity was left as a trail of solidified air pockets. He or she was stymied by a force field, and I kicked my feet to propel myself out of the AG bubble.
A man wearing dark plated armor, with a helm and eye protectors of some kind. He created more barriers, trapping the cape who had clipped me. Who I got a good look at from my close vantage point.
"There's nowhere left for you to run Roll Out," Bastion clenched his fists, circling around the Mover/Shaker. "Surrender."
Roll Out was a lithe woman from the looks of it, wearing red and white spandex so tight it was almost like she was…well nude, her red hair was pulled into buns while a white marble mask covered her face.
"How bout…no?" She snapped her fingers, and I tripped multiple people to get them down as a solid beam of compressed steam dove over our heads.
They cracked the force fields, scalding water shimmering with a cold winter wind. The steam snapped into formations of ice, breaking the barriers as they broke into sharp splinters.
"Steam Slinger…" Bastion muttered under his breath. "If he's here then Syzygy can't be far behind—" There was a shockwave through existence, like a pale imitation of an Aura. It reached out, empowered Roll Out.
The field of antigravity expanded, and I flailed back, shifting my energy field to subtly drive people back. Even then a few were caught in the power effect.
Mover/Shaker, Blaster, Trump. My mind sped up, and I started to push people to get the fuck away. Physically and not using my Aura, though the only way I could do that was to use Diamondsong to scare the hell out of people.
Another cape entered the fray, moving through the field and pulling people out of it with professional ease. A woman in red armor with tasseled shoulder pauldrons, carrying a massive battle axe and a holstered rifle. She had a chin bandanna-like mask covering her upper face so I could see a defined chin.
I flushed as she pulled me away from the fray as a second stronger blast of steam slammed into another of Bastion's force fields. Too close.
I hopped away when she put me down, and I could see an oddly ruby red bird letting out a high pitched chirp of rage. I ran, but kept my eyes on the fight so I wouldn't be blindsided. I made it around the corner, and I chirped a whisper of song upon brushing my hand against the 'bird's' feathers.
Trip up Roll Out, stay out of sight.
The bird was gone, hiding in the shadows where a flash of light wouldn't be seen. I walked away, and I hid a grin when I heard Roll Out's shout of pain. So Ruby had done as I asked, though I suspected she would have done so regardless of my opinion.
My slight intervention had removed most people from the area, and I felt wind rustle my hair as a PRT van sped past me. There was the continuous blast of steam, and that breaking of reality inherent to shard powers.
I eventually made my way back, spending a few minutes reading through the data the Transporter Jewel had collected. The street I had been on was now covered by vans while two Protectorate capes talked quietly with several agents. The very ones I had been around for ten seconds before running off.
To my surprise and worry the two capes made their approach.
"A tad reckless." Bastion commented, a note in his voice I disliked. "You should have retreated rather than hanging back to help others escape."
"Okay." I didn't really care, shrugging absently.
"Ahh. Don't be like that. It's not like she's a cape. Personally ya did good for a civilian." Challenger was nicer and friendlier, and I relaxed in her presence.
But not completely.
"Hmm…" Bastion didn't say much else, and I could tell he was in a mood. Probably from what went down near Piermont and the Wards. Getting a forest fire from a cape fight isn't exactly my idea of a good time.
I managed to muddle my way through the conversation, and they asked about what I had seen during the incident.
I ended up letting out a mild growl of frustration on the way back to Atlas, because I was meeting parahumans like it was going out of style.
I plopped myself next to Elle who seemed a lot more mellow than some of her earlier outbursts due to the trauma induced by both her power and the circumstances of her Trigger. She had asked for me, apparently? Her room was currently mimicking the environment of a rainforest, her power bringing in a part of an alternate universe. I grabbed a frog for a moment before letting it go, trying to figure out how it had gotten here.
I was back to my base form, rubbing my soft face. Elle was staring at me with an unreadable look. I had brushed by her when I sat down, perhaps I was too close?
Before I could think to move back she grabbed my hand, and I wanted to remove myself from her presence. I wasn't…I wasn't quite comfortable with being touched, and my new senses didn't help. Turns out clothing acts like a second skin now, likely a consequence of a Gem sense of self.
To Gems their clothes were a part of them, as much as their fingers, as their eyes and hair and limbs. It had triggered a fair amount of sensory overload, though I had learned to ramp down how much I could notice for my own sake.
But I could still be…jumpy when someone touched me out of nowhere.
"Soft…" She murmured, gripping the little beans of my fingers. Barely notable, little knobbly bones for claws I had used to render steel and titanium.
I had been forced to learn restraint, only the weakest Gems had human-level strength capacity, so mostly Aquamarines and Peridots. And even a Peridot was stronger than most humans, and far more durable.
"Something wrong?" I questioned, unsure of what to do. I wasn't good at helping others, too lazy, too abrasive, and while I had empathy I didn't know how to make use of it.
"You're like velvet, how are you this soft? How are Gems this soft?" There was a tiny hint of overdramatic awe in her voice, and my empathic abilities pegged that as correct.
"In my case, my ichor rejuvenates my skin and for Gems it's because their surfaces don't suffer from erosion." There were at least a handful of Gems who were a hundred and fifty thousand years old so yeah wear and tear isn't much of a thing for them. "It's very convenient to not have to take care of my skin anymore."
I wasn't the cleanest person, frankly I was a slob and had become more of one with COVID. Though I was no longer allowed to be as much as one, turns out Brass Pearl is a neurotic bitch when it comes to cleanliness. Though she likes eating unlike the 'terrifying' Renegade Pearl.
I had already pulled myself from Elle's grip, and her eyes focused with a sharp glint.
"Could you teach me magic?" I leaned back, whether in surprise or shock I wasn't too sure.
"I'm not the right person for that, though there's some Gem magic tools humans can use instead," I offered in place of magic lessons. "Circlets of Luck can provide the retro-casual intuition all Gems possess. Or a Replicator Wand, there's some humans who use them to make clones." There had been modifications made, these copies were closer to automated drones with skills downloaded from the user. "Or if you're willing to use healing magic, Fire Salt to breathe fire."
"No. Like human magic." I stared.
"I don't really know any human magic, plus some of it might not even be compatible with me anymore." Gems didn't have enough physicality for certain types of magic. For example my blood was too charged for use as magic ink, since it had been transmuted into ichor along with my sweat and tears.
"But can someone teach me?" She asked again with a determined look.
I shrugged. "I'd have to ask around, my knowledge of the world isn't perfect and there might be magic we could both learn."
…
Huh. Maybe it was a good idea to see what kind of magic we can learn. There was so much I didn't know. What could I learn?
I wanted to find out.
Scintillation 4.a
- Location
- Chula Vista
Scintillation 4.a
The room clattered loudly with crackling metal, so he could tell Blockbuster was using his power. He sighed as something broke, likely some of the equipment used to help his teammate train his power.
Blockbuster was likely one of the strongest parahumans in the Wards, but he was a troublemaker and intra-Ward training sessions had been one step towards calming him down.
His power was a shield that built strength and ability during a chase, becoming stronger and more esoteric over time, but only when facing the direction of pursuit. He started as a Brute 3, and escalated to Brute 9 if he was given enough time. His power had a moderate Changer and Trump aspect, able to project weapons like sharp tendrils and projectiles, and the shield itself had natural resistance to power effects.
Pity it didn't help him against Flechette, her own power trumped his. Would have helped us more if it wasn't because of that.
He glanced at a clock, a patrol was coming up.
Hopefully today will be a more relaxing day than what went down in Piermont.
I jinxed it! Weld screamed in his mind as a barrage of bullets struck him head on, some of it bouncing while others were absorbed into his metallic skin layered with iron and steel and aluminum.
He and Waterfield were the only things keeping the civilians behind them safe from the barrage of attacks. A small offshoot of the Clans had decided today would be their push into the city with a demonstration.
She could create shaped shields of water, bound into a pressurized mass that could be released upon impact with an explosive disintegrative force. Which meant she had to release pressure to keep the shields from bursting and blowing up in her face.
They were fighting White Flight, a powerful telekinetic capable of both flight and the lifting of massive objects. He had a small team of armed goons, and they had barely avoided a massacre due to sheer luck. They hadn't been able to retreat and it was taking the Protectorate time to move away from their own engagements.
A truck slammed into Waterfield's shields, the water wavering. Weld knew he couldn't go out and confront White Flight. He didn't have the experience, and he had to keep civilians from being murdered.
And Waterfield wasn't bulletproof, any little mistake would see her shot and possibly killed. He didn't want to disappoint Armstrong, he didn't want to be alone again.
There was a wavering electric burst of familiar song, and a flash of green blocked a second volley of bullets. In a split second, half a dozen goons were out cold, guns and knives slipping from their hands. White Flight sent out a truck, and Weld started when the green figure walked through the hulk of steel and metal.
Weld recognized Aventurine, and her seven foot tall bulky frame, and this was when he remembered that she had claws. They flex into metal and steel, carving them as easily as soft pudding. Four goons pointed their guns, and he watched her deflect bullets , claw gauntlets slicing through lead. She brushed past them, rubbing a reflective liquid that dropped them like rocks.
She reached out to catch a dumpster, gently placing it down and twisting on her heels. She flicked her fingers to send that fluid flying into White Flight's face. The blonde haired cape crumpled, and was laid down on the ground by the quick thinking of Aventurine.
Something slipped past him, moving faster than he had expected, and emerging from an overturned trash can. A fluid semi-humanoid mass of water droplets, moving on a slick stream of ices. He saw the grenades within them, and shouted.
"Get back!"
There was a loud flash, and a wave of sound as muted explosions shook his metal body.
Muted?
"Are you kids alright?" Another voice, smooth jazz rustling with blossoming roses came from his right with a burst of wind. He stepped back as the shadow crept up and dwarfed his own size.
She was taller even than Aventurine, and somehow packed more muscles than he thought was humanly possible. Light reddish-pink hair curling with unruly roses, and a large curvy, soft and yet firm frame, fingerless gloves exposing curling claws, and dark, dark pink eyes staring with a soft compassion. She has to be over eight feet tall, and yet her every move was graceful and balanced.
The cape, Drowner let out a disdainful burble and there was a cracking whip of wind from the pink woman. She blew back the woman with a massive shield, energy exploding outwards, and scythed a hand in the cape's general direction. She was trapped within an energy bubble, and compacted down to half her size before being released.
The pink lady flicked something from her claws, dropping the woman like a pile of bricks. Weld started, and the large woman grinned a fanged smile
"So. Mind taking me to your leader?"
Way too easy.
Starry was an experienced Gem, and had easily weaved through the conversations and words of the humans of the PRT. She had officially established the set up of what could be called Atlas, registering as heroic rogues. That had been three days ago, and she and a fair number of others had become public with her.
That included Olly and Stripes as 'tinkers' and Turquoise as a 'Thinker' cape. A Heliodor had done the same, along with the only Black Beryl in the system. All in all, the PRT knew maybe fifty of their 'capes'. A fairly large group by the standards of this planet.
Which included Elle, though they were having mild difficulties with that whole kerfuffle. It was legally complicated since they had found her but hadn't taken her from the mental hospital like Faultline had.
Foolish girl really, taking a child from her protectors and thinking she could do better…
But then she was a Paired, that tended to come with a fair absence of common sense. All the Sapphires agreed it was lucky that Burnscar hadn't been created by her actions, and that Elle had been found by them. Starry knew that, and wondered how much her cooperation was greed…or guilt.
She was waiting patiently right outside the conference room, accompanied by Olly. They had somehow gotten wrangled into a meeting with Boston's PRT Director, though really, they hadn't tried hard to avoid it.
Officially they had been established as rogues with heroic inclinations, a part of an incorporated Atlas. Most of their mineral income had been moved to fund the organization, though she didn't expect to see much use from it. They had gotten the ball rolling over a week ago.
In three days, they had managed to defeat about six parahumans, mostly by accident when some of the Gems had wanted to sightsee. It hadn't even been difficult, as most of them were glass cannons.
The door opened, and Starry lit up at a friendly and familiar face. Challenger had been among the first responders to Atlas and their battles.
She smirked. "Challenger. Good to see you again, a lovely sight really." Her tone turned flirty as she ducked under the door. She could tell the office was encased and within a faraday cage, with equipment scanning for monitoring devices. Not that they did anything to Gem technology, they were just shit-shale to what they had.
"It's lovely to see ya too, big pink lady." Despite her friendly remark, her hands crept close to her massive axe and rifle. The door was shut behind her.
Armstrong was slim with a high forehead and well furrowed eyebrows. His jaw was sharp, and he was overweight with dark skin and a face set into a perpetual scowl. She knew him by reputation and through their spy network, even tinkertech didn't protect their secrets.
Not that she would tell them that. Not yet.
"Director Armstrong. A bit unexpected to have you want to meet one of us so soon." It was a little concerning even, but so far there had been no predictions on being discovered early. Not that it meant much, they might technically be following most of its laws…that didn't change that Bet was a dangerous backwater planet.
"I had some spare time, and your team has worked well with the PRT. Catching six villains in several days is an impressive record." There was a note of interest, and Starry kept a neutral grin.
"Not too difficult when the ones we've caught are being idiots," Which was the truth, one of the villains had robbed a coffee shop a Chert was visiting. "It'd be very different if we entered a three way fight between the Ambassadors and the Teeth."
"Your team doesn't seem the type, even with the battle in Piermont." There was something like curiosity, and Starry sighed.
"This is about Artificer isn't it?" The Director squared his shoulders, eyes narrowed.
"Artificer?"
"You would call her Labyrinth, she chose a name of her own. Keeping her happy has been difficult, but we've managed it." Starry smiled at how the young girl had bloomed under their aegis.
"I know the feeling." Armstrong agreed, something like affection and remembrance entering his eye. "But the PRT would like to know how Labyrinth entered your care."
The Rose Quartz nodded, her song curling with thorns "That's fair. It's not completely clear, but one of our more inexperienced members found her in the woods, malnourished and exhausted. We believe her power somehow teleported her, possibly due to a bad power interaction." It wasn't completely clear how that had happened, her Diamond didn't have the ability to mess with space and time like that.
But she noticed the clear aura of magic her Diamond had initially been ignorant of at the start.
"How is…Artificer?" How they had kept her under control went unstated but Starry heard it clear as day.
"One of our members is a licensed therapist, and Artificer's power has changed a little."
"A Second Trigger perhaps…if you know what that is?" The Director questioned.
"We do, and it certainly isn't that. She's more lucid, though she certainly isn't in the best mental state." It was a universal thing among most capes, most Paired and every Gem in the galaxies knew it.
"There's also the paperwork you submitted for legal identities for your various members." She could tell the defenses of the room were active and that everything was to be written on paper. "You were very public with not being from this reality, how certain of that are you?"
"Well the fact Florida isn't an island, and the missing Siberian Sea is telling." This world was very different from her own, as her Earth and thus her birthplace as a Quartz was so different. "Is it that hard to believe?"
Director Armstrong shook his head. "No actually, there's been a handful of confirmed cases of refugees from other worlds. Mainly from Professor Haywire's experiments and a handful of dimensional power incidents. It was the number that was more unexpected, the largest incident involving maybe twenty five people." He tapped his finger on his desk. "But the identity applications amount to about fifty three people displaced. A hard number to hide."
"We've got multiple tinkers, and dimensional technology is a very established field for people on our Earth." She didn't care to hide it, they wanted the attention, to see what shards would be attracted to their honeypot, their trap. "Which is why we wanted to see how we could help out in this new world we're currently stuck on for the foreseeable future."
Armstrong's eyes twinkled. "Is that so?"
Hook.
Line.
And sinker.
She stood almost alone and completely still. For all intents and purposes, she was the only one of her kind in this vast set of realities.
Before any of this, all of this, she had once been the insignificant shard of something greater and grander, a lonely bud of a bud of a bud. That great and grand thing had crossed paths with a pair of others .
Take my eye, it had said. Take my wings. Take my teeth. Take my ability to step between worlds.
She was born of the exchange of the offerings given by the pair, even as much as they were in a rush.
They were the most distant of cousins, born of the same tree but separated by millions upon millions of years of evolutionary algorithms refined from cycle to cycle. If they did not share now, stars and worlds would die and be born between these meetings of cousins and family lines. Together they tried to answer the riddles of the First Times.
And they were killed for it.
The Loner left the usual trail of breadcrumbs, and made an unexpected stop at an orbiting cluster of stars, a compact galaxy around the chosen landing site of the pair. There they found a unique tear in reality, a cipher to the vast insight and foresight of the Loner's billions of shards.
They found a single universe, and found their own power to traverse worlds sluggish and ineffective. They looked into the future to plan the next cycle, plans shifted from Andromeda for the time being.
That should have been the first sign. But the Loner had wasted enough energy, and it looked at the new host species with both mechanical interest and an almost emotional glee.
Gems, beings of crystal and light and song and strange esoteric energies. They were a possible answer to the riddle, and yet the Loner never contacted others to join in the bounty.
It would not have saved them.
The entity entered the rift with all of it's shards, shrugging off the resistance with a great expenditure of energy and power. They slipped back into the known universes, and instead poked careful experimental holes into this new reality.
It took two years to accustom to the new reality and break up the shards, and the Loner subdivided itself into four facets to mirror the host species. Their foresight had failed them, appearing as minor gaps most of their kind would have ignored. They could be refined upon landing.
For her it didn't matter anymore, she was but a half-sterile seed of a dying branch of a dying tree. She was barely even a shard anymore, forced to partake of strange energies, to become a creature of magic rather than a mechanical construct of multiversal destruction. The memories of her ancestors were distant and scrambled, and she was something else.
The shards had seen only the single instance of reality where the Gems existed, and one by one the typical flood of shards trickled away to a sickly stream. They had been silenced, slowed, stilled. By the end of it, the central core, the subdivided hubs of the Loner hadn't even realized they were a mere thousandth of what they once were.
And then the Dreaming Death came for them all, and one by one, sub-network by sub-network, hub by hub they fell. Data was burned away from the inside out, corrupted, synergies and compatibilities in mental processes providing a deadly link between host and shard.
Stolen technologies were subverted by species the Loner hadn't seen, focused on the Gem Empire as they were. A single spacefaring civilization would be no trouble for it's kind, with some preparation, hundreds was another thing entirely. The entity had made a mistake and paid the price.
She was Oneiros, the Shard of Dreams and her purpose was the survival of those she cared for. Her kind has failed her, had failed each other, and this was the price. She would break the cycle for those who had let her live in spite of their wrath and hatred of her kind.
She had an innate power over Dreams, having stolen the wisps of power of an empty throne on a grey tidally locked planet. But she was not an heir of a throne, merely a powerful spirit, a higher being but not a deity.
She could touch the dreams of others, but that was not her true power. No her purpose here was the subversion of the shards. She would strengthen the Dreams of the hosts, and in time their own will would reach into the channels in a way the shards couldn't stop.
It was as magic, it was magic.
It was a slow process, and would change the core awareness of a shard in an irreparable fashion. Some would be destroyed, their sins burning them away, others. Others would survive as something else, something new.
They had no choice.
Oneiros had opened the minds of dozens, reaching out through the connections that bound everything that was alive, those bonds across space and time. Every Paired her Gems would approach would open new connections, as a nascent Dream Realm woke up without their intervention.
The cracks between worlds swirled with magic from countless realities, and the precaution-weapons dideverything and nothing to attack the shards.
She moved in the realm of Dreams, and reached into the material plane where the Demesnes-Keeper had once been. Illusion magic hid the loss, attacking the perceptions of the shards, attacking Scion himself. The same had been done for a dozen shards, most of them of the dead counterpart.
Magic swirled around her, in near infinite wavelengths, rising from the unseen cracks. She looked up and glimpsed the dreams of a trillion trillion trillion of her most distant cousins.
And heard their silence grow longer, the shadows cutting deeper. Vanishing into the void…
Sting passed right through her, a spear of unfolded reality unable to reach into the Dream. Right in front of her was a small cluster of shards, each granting different powers to their three hosts. The Three Faces were a close cooperative group, but that wouldn't save them.
The three worked together, evaluated targeting and timing, applying the effect of Sting on a thousand realities. She found their driving minds, and the Dreamers within her corpus did the rest.
The Three Faces were trapped within the Dream, and Oneiros whispered to herself, to themselves.
Once she was the bud of a bud of a bud, and then she chose to involve herself into a cluster with a greater and older shard. Then the Dreaming Death came, and she became Shard and Gem and something else. Flickers of memory, of no cost too great.
They weaved their web together, names coming together in the Dream. Ruby and Tanzanite, Turquoise and Amber and Hachi and Oneiros. Together they were the Dreamers.
Another shard broadcasted towards them, a broken thing of the dead Scholar, tendrils and memories of alien molluscs all that remains. A hopeful shard, a foolish shard.
Will you walk into my parlor? Said the Spider to the Fly.
"You're rather more resilient than I expected for a pothead boy. " A voice rumbled in the darkness of a lab.
"…uck…you." Defiance, pride, hate.
A scuffle, a slap, a kick.
"You've held yourself back, that makes you weak. But I have a use for a man like you." A hand in the dark, pressed against a shoulder. "That girlfriend of yours might make a good wife, a poisonous power like hers…"
"No…no…she's gone."
"Unfortunate. And I doubt you know where she is either." There was a note of disappointment. Amusement.
"…"
"Then let's stop wasting time." A tightening grip, a hand became like fire, hot and burning, and the air filled with screams as he was…
Branded.
The room clattered loudly with crackling metal, so he could tell Blockbuster was using his power. He sighed as something broke, likely some of the equipment used to help his teammate train his power.
Blockbuster was likely one of the strongest parahumans in the Wards, but he was a troublemaker and intra-Ward training sessions had been one step towards calming him down.
His power was a shield that built strength and ability during a chase, becoming stronger and more esoteric over time, but only when facing the direction of pursuit. He started as a Brute 3, and escalated to Brute 9 if he was given enough time. His power had a moderate Changer and Trump aspect, able to project weapons like sharp tendrils and projectiles, and the shield itself had natural resistance to power effects.
Pity it didn't help him against Flechette, her own power trumped his. Would have helped us more if it wasn't because of that.
He glanced at a clock, a patrol was coming up.
Hopefully today will be a more relaxing day than what went down in Piermont.
I jinxed it! Weld screamed in his mind as a barrage of bullets struck him head on, some of it bouncing while others were absorbed into his metallic skin layered with iron and steel and aluminum.
He and Waterfield were the only things keeping the civilians behind them safe from the barrage of attacks. A small offshoot of the Clans had decided today would be their push into the city with a demonstration.
She could create shaped shields of water, bound into a pressurized mass that could be released upon impact with an explosive disintegrative force. Which meant she had to release pressure to keep the shields from bursting and blowing up in her face.
They were fighting White Flight, a powerful telekinetic capable of both flight and the lifting of massive objects. He had a small team of armed goons, and they had barely avoided a massacre due to sheer luck. They hadn't been able to retreat and it was taking the Protectorate time to move away from their own engagements.
A truck slammed into Waterfield's shields, the water wavering. Weld knew he couldn't go out and confront White Flight. He didn't have the experience, and he had to keep civilians from being murdered.
And Waterfield wasn't bulletproof, any little mistake would see her shot and possibly killed. He didn't want to disappoint Armstrong, he didn't want to be alone again.
There was a wavering electric burst of familiar song, and a flash of green blocked a second volley of bullets. In a split second, half a dozen goons were out cold, guns and knives slipping from their hands. White Flight sent out a truck, and Weld started when the green figure walked through the hulk of steel and metal.
Weld recognized Aventurine, and her seven foot tall bulky frame, and this was when he remembered that she had claws. They flex into metal and steel, carving them as easily as soft pudding. Four goons pointed their guns, and he watched her deflect bullets , claw gauntlets slicing through lead. She brushed past them, rubbing a reflective liquid that dropped them like rocks.
She reached out to catch a dumpster, gently placing it down and twisting on her heels. She flicked her fingers to send that fluid flying into White Flight's face. The blonde haired cape crumpled, and was laid down on the ground by the quick thinking of Aventurine.
Something slipped past him, moving faster than he had expected, and emerging from an overturned trash can. A fluid semi-humanoid mass of water droplets, moving on a slick stream of ices. He saw the grenades within them, and shouted.
"Get back!"
There was a loud flash, and a wave of sound as muted explosions shook his metal body.
Muted?
"Are you kids alright?" Another voice, smooth jazz rustling with blossoming roses came from his right with a burst of wind. He stepped back as the shadow crept up and dwarfed his own size.
She was taller even than Aventurine, and somehow packed more muscles than he thought was humanly possible. Light reddish-pink hair curling with unruly roses, and a large curvy, soft and yet firm frame, fingerless gloves exposing curling claws, and dark, dark pink eyes staring with a soft compassion. She has to be over eight feet tall, and yet her every move was graceful and balanced.
The cape, Drowner let out a disdainful burble and there was a cracking whip of wind from the pink woman. She blew back the woman with a massive shield, energy exploding outwards, and scythed a hand in the cape's general direction. She was trapped within an energy bubble, and compacted down to half her size before being released.
The pink lady flicked something from her claws, dropping the woman like a pile of bricks. Weld started, and the large woman grinned a fanged smile
"So. Mind taking me to your leader?"
Way too easy.
Starry was an experienced Gem, and had easily weaved through the conversations and words of the humans of the PRT. She had officially established the set up of what could be called Atlas, registering as heroic rogues. That had been three days ago, and she and a fair number of others had become public with her.
That included Olly and Stripes as 'tinkers' and Turquoise as a 'Thinker' cape. A Heliodor had done the same, along with the only Black Beryl in the system. All in all, the PRT knew maybe fifty of their 'capes'. A fairly large group by the standards of this planet.
Which included Elle, though they were having mild difficulties with that whole kerfuffle. It was legally complicated since they had found her but hadn't taken her from the mental hospital like Faultline had.
Foolish girl really, taking a child from her protectors and thinking she could do better…
But then she was a Paired, that tended to come with a fair absence of common sense. All the Sapphires agreed it was lucky that Burnscar hadn't been created by her actions, and that Elle had been found by them. Starry knew that, and wondered how much her cooperation was greed…or guilt.
She was waiting patiently right outside the conference room, accompanied by Olly. They had somehow gotten wrangled into a meeting with Boston's PRT Director, though really, they hadn't tried hard to avoid it.
Officially they had been established as rogues with heroic inclinations, a part of an incorporated Atlas. Most of their mineral income had been moved to fund the organization, though she didn't expect to see much use from it. They had gotten the ball rolling over a week ago.
In three days, they had managed to defeat about six parahumans, mostly by accident when some of the Gems had wanted to sightsee. It hadn't even been difficult, as most of them were glass cannons.
The door opened, and Starry lit up at a friendly and familiar face. Challenger had been among the first responders to Atlas and their battles.
She smirked. "Challenger. Good to see you again, a lovely sight really." Her tone turned flirty as she ducked under the door. She could tell the office was encased and within a faraday cage, with equipment scanning for monitoring devices. Not that they did anything to Gem technology, they were just shit-shale to what they had.
"It's lovely to see ya too, big pink lady." Despite her friendly remark, her hands crept close to her massive axe and rifle. The door was shut behind her.
Armstrong was slim with a high forehead and well furrowed eyebrows. His jaw was sharp, and he was overweight with dark skin and a face set into a perpetual scowl. She knew him by reputation and through their spy network, even tinkertech didn't protect their secrets.
Not that she would tell them that. Not yet.
"Director Armstrong. A bit unexpected to have you want to meet one of us so soon." It was a little concerning even, but so far there had been no predictions on being discovered early. Not that it meant much, they might technically be following most of its laws…that didn't change that Bet was a dangerous backwater planet.
"I had some spare time, and your team has worked well with the PRT. Catching six villains in several days is an impressive record." There was a note of interest, and Starry kept a neutral grin.
"Not too difficult when the ones we've caught are being idiots," Which was the truth, one of the villains had robbed a coffee shop a Chert was visiting. "It'd be very different if we entered a three way fight between the Ambassadors and the Teeth."
"Your team doesn't seem the type, even with the battle in Piermont." There was something like curiosity, and Starry sighed.
"This is about Artificer isn't it?" The Director squared his shoulders, eyes narrowed.
"Artificer?"
"You would call her Labyrinth, she chose a name of her own. Keeping her happy has been difficult, but we've managed it." Starry smiled at how the young girl had bloomed under their aegis.
"I know the feeling." Armstrong agreed, something like affection and remembrance entering his eye. "But the PRT would like to know how Labyrinth entered your care."
The Rose Quartz nodded, her song curling with thorns "That's fair. It's not completely clear, but one of our more inexperienced members found her in the woods, malnourished and exhausted. We believe her power somehow teleported her, possibly due to a bad power interaction." It wasn't completely clear how that had happened, her Diamond didn't have the ability to mess with space and time like that.
But she noticed the clear aura of magic her Diamond had initially been ignorant of at the start.
"How is…Artificer?" How they had kept her under control went unstated but Starry heard it clear as day.
"One of our members is a licensed therapist, and Artificer's power has changed a little."
"A Second Trigger perhaps…if you know what that is?" The Director questioned.
"We do, and it certainly isn't that. She's more lucid, though she certainly isn't in the best mental state." It was a universal thing among most capes, most Paired and every Gem in the galaxies knew it.
"There's also the paperwork you submitted for legal identities for your various members." She could tell the defenses of the room were active and that everything was to be written on paper. "You were very public with not being from this reality, how certain of that are you?"
"Well the fact Florida isn't an island, and the missing Siberian Sea is telling." This world was very different from her own, as her Earth and thus her birthplace as a Quartz was so different. "Is it that hard to believe?"
Director Armstrong shook his head. "No actually, there's been a handful of confirmed cases of refugees from other worlds. Mainly from Professor Haywire's experiments and a handful of dimensional power incidents. It was the number that was more unexpected, the largest incident involving maybe twenty five people." He tapped his finger on his desk. "But the identity applications amount to about fifty three people displaced. A hard number to hide."
"We've got multiple tinkers, and dimensional technology is a very established field for people on our Earth." She didn't care to hide it, they wanted the attention, to see what shards would be attracted to their honeypot, their trap. "Which is why we wanted to see how we could help out in this new world we're currently stuck on for the foreseeable future."
Armstrong's eyes twinkled. "Is that so?"
Hook.
Line.
And sinker.
She stood almost alone and completely still. For all intents and purposes, she was the only one of her kind in this vast set of realities.
Before any of this, all of this, she had once been the insignificant shard of something greater and grander, a lonely bud of a bud of a bud. That great and grand thing had crossed paths with a pair of others .
Take my eye, it had said. Take my wings. Take my teeth. Take my ability to step between worlds.
She was born of the exchange of the offerings given by the pair, even as much as they were in a rush.
They were the most distant of cousins, born of the same tree but separated by millions upon millions of years of evolutionary algorithms refined from cycle to cycle. If they did not share now, stars and worlds would die and be born between these meetings of cousins and family lines. Together they tried to answer the riddles of the First Times.
And they were killed for it.
The Loner left the usual trail of breadcrumbs, and made an unexpected stop at an orbiting cluster of stars, a compact galaxy around the chosen landing site of the pair. There they found a unique tear in reality, a cipher to the vast insight and foresight of the Loner's billions of shards.
They found a single universe, and found their own power to traverse worlds sluggish and ineffective. They looked into the future to plan the next cycle, plans shifted from Andromeda for the time being.
That should have been the first sign. But the Loner had wasted enough energy, and it looked at the new host species with both mechanical interest and an almost emotional glee.
Gems, beings of crystal and light and song and strange esoteric energies. They were a possible answer to the riddle, and yet the Loner never contacted others to join in the bounty.
It would not have saved them.
The entity entered the rift with all of it's shards, shrugging off the resistance with a great expenditure of energy and power. They slipped back into the known universes, and instead poked careful experimental holes into this new reality.
It took two years to accustom to the new reality and break up the shards, and the Loner subdivided itself into four facets to mirror the host species. Their foresight had failed them, appearing as minor gaps most of their kind would have ignored. They could be refined upon landing.
For her it didn't matter anymore, she was but a half-sterile seed of a dying branch of a dying tree. She was barely even a shard anymore, forced to partake of strange energies, to become a creature of magic rather than a mechanical construct of multiversal destruction. The memories of her ancestors were distant and scrambled, and she was something else.
The shards had seen only the single instance of reality where the Gems existed, and one by one the typical flood of shards trickled away to a sickly stream. They had been silenced, slowed, stilled. By the end of it, the central core, the subdivided hubs of the Loner hadn't even realized they were a mere thousandth of what they once were.
And then the Dreaming Death came for them all, and one by one, sub-network by sub-network, hub by hub they fell. Data was burned away from the inside out, corrupted, synergies and compatibilities in mental processes providing a deadly link between host and shard.
Stolen technologies were subverted by species the Loner hadn't seen, focused on the Gem Empire as they were. A single spacefaring civilization would be no trouble for it's kind, with some preparation, hundreds was another thing entirely. The entity had made a mistake and paid the price.
She was Oneiros, the Shard of Dreams and her purpose was the survival of those she cared for. Her kind has failed her, had failed each other, and this was the price. She would break the cycle for those who had let her live in spite of their wrath and hatred of her kind.
She had an innate power over Dreams, having stolen the wisps of power of an empty throne on a grey tidally locked planet. But she was not an heir of a throne, merely a powerful spirit, a higher being but not a deity.
She could touch the dreams of others, but that was not her true power. No her purpose here was the subversion of the shards. She would strengthen the Dreams of the hosts, and in time their own will would reach into the channels in a way the shards couldn't stop.
It was as magic, it was magic.
It was a slow process, and would change the core awareness of a shard in an irreparable fashion. Some would be destroyed, their sins burning them away, others. Others would survive as something else, something new.
They had no choice.
Oneiros had opened the minds of dozens, reaching out through the connections that bound everything that was alive, those bonds across space and time. Every Paired her Gems would approach would open new connections, as a nascent Dream Realm woke up without their intervention.
The cracks between worlds swirled with magic from countless realities, and the precaution-weapons did
She moved in the realm of Dreams, and reached into the material plane where the Demesnes-Keeper had once been. Illusion magic hid the loss, attacking the perceptions of the shards, attacking Scion himself. The same had been done for a dozen shards, most of them of the dead counterpart.
Magic swirled around her, in near infinite wavelengths, rising from the unseen cracks. She looked up and glimpsed the dreams of a trillion trillion trillion of her most distant cousins.
Sting passed right through her, a spear of unfolded reality unable to reach into the Dream. Right in front of her was a small cluster of shards, each granting different powers to their three hosts. The Three Faces were a close cooperative group, but that wouldn't save them.
The three worked together, evaluated targeting and timing, applying the effect of Sting on a thousand realities. She found their driving minds, and the Dreamers within her corpus did the rest.
The Three Faces were trapped within the Dream, and Oneiros whispered to herself, to themselves.
Once she was the bud of a bud of a bud, and then she chose to involve herself into a cluster with a greater and older shard. Then the Dreaming Death came, and she became Shard and Gem and something else. Flickers of memory, of no cost too great.
They weaved their web together, names coming together in the Dream. Ruby and Tanzanite, Turquoise and Amber and Hachi and Oneiros. Together they were the Dreamers.
Another shard broadcasted towards them, a broken thing of the dead Scholar, tendrils and memories of alien molluscs all that remains. A hopeful shard, a foolish shard.
Will you walk into my parlor? Said the Spider to the Fly.
"You're rather more resilient than I expected for a pothead boy. " A voice rumbled in the darkness of a lab.
"…uck…you." Defiance, pride, hate.
A scuffle, a slap, a kick.
"You've held yourself back, that makes you weak. But I have a use for a man like you." A hand in the dark, pressed against a shoulder. "That girlfriend of yours might make a good wife, a poisonous power like hers…"
"No…no…she's gone."
"Unfortunate. And I doubt you know where she is either." There was a note of disappointment. Amusement.
"…"
"Then let's stop wasting time." A tightening grip, a hand became like fire, hot and burning, and the air filled with screams as he was…
Branded.
Scintillation 4.3
- Location
- Chula Vista
Scintillation 4.3
So the Gems had gone public in a limited fashion, revealing a select few Gems who didn't mind the attention and scrutiny. A select few of the Rubies had gone for it, but way more Quartzes were willing to take the risk.
Brass Pearl was gathering her intelligence forces, and was working with taking down certain groups with the Fallen being the most concerning since they had some of the highest chances of attacking us. Which was why they had moved the Home Temple off planet when I wasn't looking, leaving an administrative building in its place.
Starry was working on an Endbringer strategy, due to her personal experiences. Apparently they were sending scanning pulses of magic since the Entities at the moment couldn't see magic. Whether due to inexperience, some innate or even induced quality, Entities needed to take a more direct approach to make use of magic.
Often to disastrous results, with one shard ripping a hole into a reality called the Nightmare Realm, a sort of seething foam between dimensions. The wave of unstable physics destroyed half a million shards, and collapsed the already unstable reality into dust. Which was for the best as it was filled with a number of rather genocidal demons and monstrous entities.
Luckily the more innocent residents used the corpses of the shards to ride back to stable realities. Honestly it was almost like the Gem's home reality was an intentional hazard to the survival of an Entity.
Two hundred million shards infested the galaxies, but that total included completely dormant shards, more or less trapped in their own minds to isolate the Dreaming Death's corruption. A more accurate number was maybe two or three million, and most of them were buds of the same ilk of small and weak as the Fragile One. The size of large hills and mountain ranges rather than continents.
Even then a hundred thousand of the shards were hostile, continent sized masses flying across space to attempt to flee to new pastures. Though I had heard their numbers had been culled to half of that in the last few months due to an encounter with one of the more dangerous dimensions.
Apparently a few realities drove them nuts and they got shanked in the process, one world where time fluxes and loops unpredictably, and another where everything is based on the letter M.
I didn't ask what that meant and I didn't want to know, because everything about it invoked a nope from me.
I chewed on my lip, claws flexing in and out as I moved on to a topic I didn't consider so insane. It was back to the Fallen, the Endbringer cult responsible for both slavery and various forms of horrific crimes that didn't bear repeating.
Yay.
Estimates indicated between eighty and one hundred and fifty capes being within the organization of the Fallen, from brainwashed kidnapping victims to the hooligans to the true believers. The Fallen were broken up into a branch for each Endbringer, with lesser groups forming and collapsing from time to time.
Metaknowledge wasn't all encompassing, knowing maybe ten percent of the membership wasn't good enough. And each branch had a different range of dangerous powers along with various buds of Mama Mathers due to sheer conflict output. With three major groups/families to deal with.
There were the McVeays who were focused on Behemoth, and both highly religious and violent. Dynakinetic powers are common among them, along with a general range of various energy manipulation powers.
The Crowleys emulate Leviathan, and are some of the most visible for their make-up of assholes and troublemakers. This was the branch with the most well known prejudice against Case 53s and they had connections to biker gangs and other fringe groups. Duplication and hydrokinetic powers are common enough among their ilk.
The Mathers are the most dangerous and most cult-like of any of the branches and live away in recluse. Involved the most in abduction, and brainwashing with both indoctrination and parahuman abilities. They've kidnapped multiple capes including Wards with the intention of marrying them into the family.
Valefor was one of their semi-hidden trump cards along with his mother. And their disgusting spiel about 'soldiers' and 'sluts' made my skin crawl. Everything about them was creepy and unnerving. The one useful thing about my world being known to the Gems was that their knowledge provided avenues of investigation for precognitive sweeps.
Flowers never mentioned what she saw, and I could tell there was a disturbed disquiet chime to her usually comforting song. There was a resigned look and it made me wonder about the things Diviners saw with their future vision. We knew they were somewhere near Kansas City, a compound of sorts.
Removing Mama Mathers from play would remove a substantial fragment of their power, and expanding out to her numerous buds would make it more certain. I doubt Cauldron would give much of a shit because she's pretty much useless against Scion, and messed with Contessa's power.
I imagine there were select Blindspots Cauldron didn't want to deal with. I knew certain concentrations of powers affected Thinkers, and Entity-related things fucked with her restrictions.
So Endbringers, Scion, and Eidolon.
My fingers twitched, and I sighed.
"Maybe we should be moving onto something more productive?"
The last week had seen quite a few changes, for example the Home Temple had been moved to Mars through means I hadn't been around for. Something about it being better to not be on a planet frequently swept by evil space whale monsters.
I didn't disagree, and it takes only a few seconds to warp planet-side if I ever need to. And the planet was a lot more suitable for life now, especially with atmospheric alteration nearly at completion. Rocknest was serving as the heart of what was becoming the ecumenopolis of Caldera.
My recently courted Lapis Lazuli was happily melting the Martian northern ocean, and I was given the nice and simple job of naming various locations since it was my colony and what not. Of course I was also looking at the selection of organisms for future biological terraforming.
Our manpower problem was also starting to go away as the Hole Puncher brought in hundreds of volunteers from Steven's Mars and Venus. Current expectations were between ten and two hundred thousand Gems in the near future.
Atmospheric and aqueous terraforming was expected to be complete by the fifteenth, so eight days from now. Steven…Aster Diamond was taking the project into his own hands as well, since I still didn't know what the fuck I was doing.
Either way, having over one thousand square kilometers of hybrid garden/cityscape was definitely something to look at. Especially with the added aesthetic of elaborate nests of crows. Apparently my crow friend spread the word, and all ten thousand of his tribe wanted to get the heck out of dodge.
They had officially applied for asylum under the aegis of the Gem Empire, due to the unethical experiments required to create his people, and the number of deaths from Parahuman incidents anytime they went too far from the forest. The Flesh Lady was some type of biology manipulating cape, capable of inducing minor mutations.
Hair color, eye color, muscle density and so on. Issue was that her power was slow, requiring generations to manifest in a useful manner. Her best work was with entities with rapid generations, single celled organisms like yeast and bacteria, mice and voles and guppies and fruit flies.
Combine that with a time manipulating cape who can accelerate time ten thousand fold and you're golden. I'd even seen depictions of what looked like giant derived guppies, resembling sharks more than dumb shiny fish.
Which of course coupled with the sapient crows didn't speak well for their opinion on things like morality and ethical boundaries. Luckily we had already sweeped for possible dangerous threats. Any of their more lethal creations had either been removed or were made outside the White Mountains.
I tapped my finger against my desk, where a holographic monitor scrolled through Bet's internet from across the solar system. Thank god for lag-free Gem internet.
I stepped outside, deciding to take a walk around the block.
"Maybe we should call…Faultline?" I muttered, leaning back and forth. I heard their new gemstone selling business was doing well.
Did I have her number?
I lifted my Composer bracelet, and shifted it to phone mode, a generic Apple interface fading into existence. I absently dialed the right combination of numbers, at the same time shifting, hair lengthening and body shape changing.
"Hello?" There was a note of confusion in Faultline's voice.
"Hello Faultline." There was a cough on the other end, one of surprise, shock?
"Sunrise? How did you get this number?"
My eyebrows furrowed. "I just typed in the right combination of numbers to reach you. Why?" That was weird wasn't it?
"No reason," She moved along. "We're approaching the 'Galaxy Warp' to Mars, are you certain there are no long term consequences to our powers?"
"There'll be no disconnection events if that's what you're worrying about. Your powers will be more than fine." Especially after isolating their core intelligences, and reducing them to extended machinery for humans to use.
"I want to ask what a disconnection event is but I've met my quota for insanity this morning." I could feel her sarcasm cut across four light minutes of distance.
"You'll have to expand that quota, because the Gem Empire is just one of many civilizations in the many galaxies."
"Galaxies. Plural?"
"Your point is?"
"See you in five minutes." She hung up, and I grinned in the moment after. I floated up into the air, and dropped back down onto the grassy ground of a rooftop garden. One of many planned in the near future, tended to by the eleven hundred Gems calling this burgeoning colony home.
Eventually the place would have hundreds of different Gem types working together to create a functional spacefaring civilization, though that would take time. Not a lot of time mind you, Gems were efficient if nothing else.
They were currently dismantling Deimos, and turning it into a Moon Base. Ten trillion tons of mass can definitely be put to good use, hollowed out and embedded with equipment. The plan was to create an enormous twenty mile Bernal Sphere, less out of necessity and more to flex on Earth Bet.
The Deimos Sphere would serve numerous roles, from manufacturing to defense. It would be heavily armed with a vast array of weapons, from standard Phasers to point defense lasers, and with powerful scanners to examine the entire solar system.
Firepower wise, nothing short of a continent sized shard or Scion himself would be able to get past the Deimos Sphere. So…not impossible, and definitely something to prepare for.
Highly experimental weapons would use Earth Bet and the connected shards as a test ground. Many shards were too bound to their inherent natures to ever be made safe, and would likely need to be forced to yield at best or be destroyed at worst.
One new weapon was a Hypergravity Cannon, a gravity field generator weapon capable of creating a beam exceeding 60K gravities. Only the strongest Gem impact shielding was capable of withstanding the crushing force, and not for long.
Though gravity weapons didn't work as well on beings capable of adjusting their own personal gravity at any time. But they worked well enough on shards, crushing their crystal flesh, and disrupting their multidimensional nature with the swirling eddies of spacetime. When they were caught off guard anyway.
A few interesting weapons were neutronium bombs, grains of stabilized stellar matter kept stable and low mass through magic. A single 500 micron grain would have an energy output comparable to a large asteroid impact.
There was the chime of a warp pad for the skyway park, and Faultline arrived with a Coral wrapped around her neck. She came in tow with Newter and Gregor.
I dashed forward, crossing a hundred feet in a one second bound. They all seemed taken aback, and I didn't blame them. I was quite fast and quite captivating, and the cityscape was no different.
I clapped my hands together, releasing a chime of my own. "So. You wanted a look at the scanner didn't you?"
"What are these things anyway?" Newter waggled his finger, the sole Coral batting it with her paw in a playful manner.
"My babies." He stumbled, and my grin widened at his visible expression of horror.
"Are you being serious?" Faultline was giving Newter a look as he squeaked out his words.
"Yes actually. They were created using my ichor, after finding an appropriate injection site." I inspected my nails, and a wave of my hands generated a sloping platform of hexagon barriers all the way down to the ground.
"Ichor?" Gregor questioned as they followed me down the path I had set.
"You've noted my healing powers correct?" He nodded. "They're an aspect of the ichor I produce. Sweat, blood, tears? That's all ichor."
"And this Coral thing…is made from your ichor-stuff?" Newter landed on the ground, and I shifted my direction towards the Home Temple(needed a name).
"Well not on its own," I shrugged. "It requires mixing with the ichor of the other Diamonds to create Gems. Though creating and weaving Chroma only needs my ichor."
"There are others with your powers?" Faultline sounded wary, but there was the even tone of someone trying not to freak out.
"Technically speaking I have their powers rather than the other way around." I felt the outcomes like a bad ring in my ear. "And even then the Diamonds have their own unique abilities specific to their color."
"Do you mind elaborating?" I absently opened the portal to my room, and walked the group of three through the rail-lacking paths of the recently expanded interior. Probably a few cubic kilometers of interior space, which had opened up after the Gems had moved out their own rooms to the buildings on Earth Bet.
Flowers stuck around though, something about wanting me to have a friend around. Though why the other Gems gave her odd looks when she said that was a mystery.
"No rails?" Gregor rumbled, and I replied.
"Ruins the vibes, a little dangerous but that's part of the charm." I turned around, walking backwards so I could look at the three mercenaries. "As for the Diamonds, that's free knowledge among us Gems."
"Go on." I knew it wasn't a danger to tell her, just a gut feeling.
"There are four Diamonds, four colors, four Starhearts, four Diamondsongs." My voice pulsed, bursting with the power of the sun burning underneath my skin. "White Diamond is the eldest, she is the ichor of Mind, thought, structure, order. Memory and idea, clarity."
"Mind control?"
"Diamonds are considered some of the most powerful psychics in the known galaxies." Though that ignored beings in other dimensions, it's not like all of them had overpowered super beings. "Her remit is mind, and her ichor provides some vital components in the creation of Gem mental processes."
There was a hum of discomfort in Faultline's voice. "Psychic…in what way?"
"You ever wonder why all the Gems speak English?" I continued walking backwards, easily avoiding obstacles and falls. "It's Gemsong, a sort of magic, musicy noise that worms into your brain. You could be speaking Klingon and I'd still know what you're saying."
"…that's moderately concerning." Faultline didn't seem any happier with what I had said.
"It's not harmful besides vertigo and headaches if we use the wrong frequencies. Which won't happen since they're quite familiar with humans nowadays and I am human."
Faultline twitched. "You're very lucky you're making us a lot of money, and completing your promises."
"You want me to stop talking about your new galactic overlords?" I sweetly said, and she shook her head. "Good. Yellow is the ichor of the body. Power, strength, movement. Vigor. She provides the energies for the light forms of Gems. Blue is the ichor of will, passions, emotions. Take a guess what she brings to the whole?"
"Emotions?" Newter asked.
I added to my explanation/monologue. "Pink is the fourth and supposed to be the final Diamond, she is… was the ichor of life. The spark and soul, instinct and self. Vitality. Her son, Aster Diamond has the same powers unchained by his hybrid nature, both a creature of Earth and a Starheart."
"So what are you then? You are a Diamond as well, yes?" Gregor grumbled, voice soft in a way I couldn't decipher.
"I have the same type of gem as Aster Diamond, though I lean more towards red in the spectrum. A deep pink Diamond if you would," I felt my hands plucking at the end of my shorts, a distant anxiety. "It's not exactly the same, but I've had my powers for less than two months."
So it's really been only two months Brandon, Brenda, whatever?
"So you are young, inexperienced, and still learning your place." Gregor seemed to have come to a conclusion in his own mind.
I flipped back to walking normally, tapping an interface and opening the door to the Thinking Chamber. The Computation Orb was being used, by Elle of all people, a Coral acting as her interface.
"Orb. What can you tell me about the…the Corona Pollentia and…Gemma?" She asked haltingly, and the machine complied.
"Evaluating. The Corona Pollentia is the biological interface between shard and host through a generated transdimensional link. This link monitors a host until the correct parameters are made. A command and control interface. It generates a power based on the conditions of the host Trigger and the shard's role. It provides targeting data for the projection of multidimensional energies used to alter reality." The orb was closed, providing a thankfully clothed Elle and an eye watering image of a moon sized shard.
Not to scale of course.
"Elle?" She jumped, and a wave of her hands and a chirp of song from her golden haired Coral ended the run.
"Brenda!" She hopped over. "This thing is amazing! It has thousands of years worth of stuff from the Rose Quartz lady, and what the Gem Empire picked up from other aliens and other dimensions. Plus what they took from all the powers they blew up."
"Blew up?" Newter croaked.
"Powers come from giant space worms that sit in other dimensions to give us superpowers. They combine to make a giant worm with a billion powers, and eat millions of planets when they leave. Which is why they're fighting them since they're going to blow up all the planets."
"What?" I almost wanted to stop Elle, but I straight up didn't give a fuck anymore.
"I was checking if this thing knew anything about magic I could learn. It recommended Wild Glyph Magic. It's magic from a place called the Boiling Isles, a place connected to another Earth…Earth Wicce?" I gave her a thumbs up, and enjoyed the excited energy of Elle.
There was a soft affectionate chuff from Faultline. "This magic…it's real?"
"Well it's not a Parahuman power if that's what you're thinking." I confirmed. "Magic is the manipulation of an esoteric reality warping energy, which has been physically detected and examined with scientific studies pointing to it's existence and its use in modern technology for the human species. As well as serving as the inherent backbone of all Gems to have ever existed."
"I'm not questioning that magic exists in a world where superpowers exist." Faultline's tone was utterly flat. "Honestly at this point, I just want to know if magic is teachable."
"Unfortunately it varies depending on reality, certain sections of the multiverse lack a strong connection to magic. Some worlds have the doors closed to the higher reality levels where the force exists." There were ways of bringing the vital force from the High and down to the Low however.
Theoretically, the original means weren't known for most or any of the current known civilizations. Magic was either around or it wasn't, though there was a spectrum. Worlds like mine and Earth Bet's set of realities didn't benefit from the ambient effects of partially sealed magic like Earth Wicce did.
For example people from Earth's brushing against the High have an enduring strength and power. Just a little tougher, just a little stronger, just a little better in a measurable way.
"So no?"
I smiled at Faultline, placing my hands on my hips. "Actually yes you can. Magic is leaking pretty badly through the cracks between worlds, so any one of you can probably learn magic with some luck."
"Yesss…" I didn't giggle at Elle's excited look, as her power curled around her. Though the fact everyone stared told me my song had betrayed me.
I chuffed. "Anyway. You wanted to use the scanner for Newter and Gregor correct?"
The mercenary leader straightened up, more focused. "If this machine is as powerful as you've mentioned, it might have answers for them." I smiled thinly when I remembered I knew the truth.
"Stand there." I gestured to the two Case 53s, two platforms forming from scaffolding cubes. "I've learned most of the ins and outs of the scanner from personal use and code patching."
"Code patching?" Elle giggled at Faultline's question.
"Magic." My fingers moved quickly along the holographic conduit, and I whispered code into the computer. Rings materialized around the two mutated capes, scanning in multiple wavelengths. Every type of scanner from electromagnetic resonance to subspace projectors and structural analysis spells.
The rings vanished into light, and the two stepped off the platforms. The Geode rumbled, and projected two holographic projections, highlighting their Corona Pollentias.
"Is that…is that it?" Newter leaned forward, tail flicking back and forth.
"What do you want me to check first?"
"Regular vitals?" Faultline suggested, and I flicked my finger to tap various buttons.
Newter squinted. "I don't see any buttons."
"Gems see UV. So I see way more colors than I used to. Now…" I've got it. One of the holographic screens expanded, and corrected for human vision.
Blood pressure was labeled and corrected for the distinct composition and unique nature of their physiology. Heart rate, resting and peak, oxygen intake, blood sugar intake, kidney function metrics, and metrics for virtually every organ system in the body.
Regeneration rates for various different parts like bones and skin, labeling of aberrant organs, amount of sleep deprivation, pain response rates, flora composition, like in the gut and skin. The projections in the orb broke up into swirling mist.
Discrete systems, skin, peripheral and central nervous systems, which were more heavily distributed than in normal human's. Circulatory, lymphatic, digestive, skeletal, and highlighted points changed from baseline. It broke up down to cells, and ball-and-stick models of organic molecules. It marked points of injury, in the body and in the brain, in the various sections related to memory.
I found complete sections of human DNA, with surprisingly little damage besides minor mutations. But…
"Curious. Seems like the both of you appear to be biological chimeras." I rubbed my chin, and examined my newly pigmented nails. I had colored them black to go with my aesthetic of red and black.
It worked well with my black collared shirt and red gym shorts, the ends tipped with black.
"Chimeras?" Elle tilted her head, hands clasped together.
"A chimera is an organism composed of cells from more than one distinct genotype. You both possess a complete set of human DNA, but a significant fraction of your cells are made of foreign genetic code and biological substances. One with six base pairs and four nucleotides per RNA codon."
"Which means what exactly?" Faultline questioned.
"This genetic deviancy appears to be responsible for your physiological changes, a sort of in-between of human and alien biology. The fact you're alive at all is kind of a miracle. Forget I said that. " I coughed loudly. "Your powers appear to be mostly biological, with a Breaker effect around the cellular structures responsible for producing certain chemicals." So their powers wouldn't be nullified by Trumps.
"But why have we been mutated?" Gregor asked, and I glanced at him up and down.
"Tends to be a common side effect of failed power connections, if a shard lacks information on the host, they'll tend to…break things." I swallowed, recalling images of corrupted Para-Gems. "Most scenarios tend to kill the host, often in brutal and horrific ways. In your case, your powers were likely meant to manifest as a limited Changer power. Say your skin and stomach shifting to create the chemicals you do, and the same applying for Newter."
"So this Changer state…instead spread to the entirety of our bodies?" I nodded at Gregor's comment. "What can be done for that?"
"A power capable of mutating the body might be able to correct towards a more human ideal. Though you'll retain some chimeric components. My ichor or Aster's ichor might be able to return you to baseline, but the severe chimerism might complicate things."
"You could just heal us…just like that?" Newter sounded a little high pitched, which was fair. My powers were nuts.
"Maybe. My healing capabilities are extreme, but they have their limits without some more research. Give it a week or three. But I can do this now." I sent off a command to a bioforge, which already had previous samples of Newter's main power.
I grabbed a sticker dispenser, one that would make a person immune to his hallucinogen for an hour after taking it off, or a day before it broke down.
"Here." I gave it to Newter.
The boy frowned. "A red flower with…sticker petals?"
"A counteragent producer, just give this Gem crop plant a little sunlight and water and you can apply this sticker to people you want to touch." It was magic, so it couldn't be stolen either.
His hallucinogen was a complex compound made of multiple interlaced compounds, and didn't scale up much due to natural biological decay. So being dunked in the stuff wouldn't kill you. First it affected the senses the brain received, reducing awareness even if the other effects did nothing.
That includes proprioception and balance. It affected muscle signals, causing jerky uncoordinated movements rather than paralysis. Third was powerful but harmless hallucinations, and masked the more subtle effects. The fourth and final effect messed with one's sense of time, making a person useless.
The kid immediately gave one to Faultline, and she placed it under her neon green welding mask. She waited a few seconds, and poked Newter. When she didn't pass out, I knew it had worked.
"Impressive." There was a low thrum of gratitude in her voice, something I picked out without hearing the inflection in her voice. You should stop neglecting part of your power…
"I–" I received a call, and projected a screen for it. I inspected dark curly hair interspersed by sparkling pink, and shuttering Diamond eyes. "Oh. That was today wasn't it?"
Faultline approached me, leaning to look at the screen. "Is that…?"
Steven smiled. "Nice to see you making friends, hot pink, plaid and lime green is a good mix."
"He's not being sarcastic is he?" Faultline questioned.
"You've seen what Gems look like right?" I replied back with a roll of my eyes.
"Anyway, today was our day to teach you how to use your Aura. You remember?" He seemed excited, cheeks turning rosy and eyes glimmering with light.
"Do you mind an audience?" Faultline came in, something like curiosity in her tone.
Huh?
"If you're willing to help with her practice, sure."
WHAT?
"Are you certain you want to help me with this?" I questioned Faultline's wisdom in helping me with my psychic training session with Steven. It seemed a little too reckless, or she wanted to be helpful after helping them with the whole Case 53 thing.
"I've done as much thinking about your organization, your people as possible. Nothing about you makes sense, it breaks every rule about powers, about how they work and where they come from."
"Fair." I half-joked.
"But I'm a good judge of character and so is Gregor, you're not a threat. And you've been generally kind to us."
"O-Okay." I know we had touched base from time to time to complete our deal and been generally amiable. But I hadn't expected to leave such a good impression. "But you're certain you want to be involved with this, Bet doesn't exactly have the best impression of what could be called Master abilities."
"I'm willing to accept people from all walks of life, else I wouldn't have brought Newter and Gregor into the fold. Or tried to do right by Elle." She rubbed her chin under her mask, and I marveled at her searing outfit.
She certainly had the confidence to wear something like that. I'll give her that.
"I suppose."
"Now where is this…Aster Diamond exactly?" A fair question since we've been waiting around the portal on his end of reality.
I stiffened as I caught the roiling flames of his Aura, dwarfing the auras of the other Gems. All Gems had auras, cowls of light and magic that varied in size depending on the strength of the Gem and tuned to the unique song of each of them. Their emotions projected through and into their Gemsong.
The Aura of a Diamond is massive, extending for many miles due to the sheer power contained within their magic crystal cores. I could tell Faultline was taken aback, likely sweating under her mask.
"What is this?"
"That would be the Aura of a Diamond miss Faultline." I chirped, gesturing to her to sit down on an available magic bench. She did so. "I told you we're one of the most powerful psychics in the galaxy. On accident I ping ponged against multiple minds across the galaxy. I was booted out the first time too, so psychic bullshit isn't even unique." My laugh was just a little hysterical.
"I'm still going through with this, I'd prefer to get a more in depth look of my client's capabilities." I raised an eyebrow, she was really quite insistent wasn't she?
"Sure. Whatever. Hey Aster." She startled, as Aster made his silent approach, only his song providing a clue. He was wearing the same clothes as usual, which made sense. I was getting into the habit myself, being a Gem and all.
"He's taller than I expected." Faultline commented, her posture shifting, becoming more serious.
"So this is your new friend Brenda?" I felt under scrutiny at his soft gaze, crossing my arms over my bust with an embarrassed chirp. "The mercenary right? With the corrupted humans, Case 53s?"
"What about it?" She didn't hide her wariness at his questions.
His smile was brilliant, eyes shutting and his satisfaction shifting in his Aura and song. "I'm just happy to see her making some more human friends, she has a foot in both worlds and deserves something nice."
I flushed. "Ahh." God why is he always such a dad/mom about things?
"I…suppose?" She seemed unsure, glancing at me. " Is that normal for him? "
"He's like, one of the nicest people I've met in my life. So yes." I gripped her collar with my nails, pulling her forward a bit. "Don't be surprised if he decides to adopt you, it's his thing." He liked helping people, and fortunately it wasn't with the pressure that had made him crack seventeen years ago.
Diamonds could be so brittle after all.
"Alright." She didn't move from the bench, and Steven gestured to me to sit down on the soft grass. I did so without hesitation, crossing my legs, one over the other.
He sat down as well in a similar sitting position, his dark, dark eyes glittering with cerise. Faultline was watching, hands folded up on her lap.
I took a deep breath. "So, Aster…" My song curled with slight affection. "Teach me how to use my Aura, my telepathic mumbo jumbo." I did jazz hands, black claws flicking out for added dramatic effect.
"Well first, it's not mumbo jumbo. Though you can call it whatever you want." He placated me, reacting to something on either my face or in my mind.
"Go on."
His voice deepened, became more, Diamondsong an orchestra of sound and music. An eldritch dirge of power. "Every Diamond, every Gem has an aura, you could call it the expression of our magic, or our soul." I followed eagerly along. "But what you don't know is that everything alive has an aura of its own. But the other Diamonds can't interface with those auras like we can, because we have a foot in both worlds. Both organic and Gem."
"So we can see the aura of humans, organic beings in general?" I wanted my knowledge cleared up.
"Yeah. And of course we can sense any kind of magic, and better understand beings of magic rather than flesh," He was using a serious tone, but it was hard when he was a big fluffy pink man. "That means we can sense other people's emotions, we can go into their dreams and even…possess them if we want to." There was something like disdain in his voice at the idea.
"That last thing isn't something I'm interested in." I shuddered, having your body usurped like that. Horrible.
"Yeah. Which is why you need to listen to this next part."
I blinked. "Yes."
"Quit holding back." His eyes were striking, like staring into the empty void of space.
"Pardon?" My throat felt constricted, something coiling in my stomach. Something I ignored when I looked at myself in the mirror, whenI perceived through alien eyes.
"Your body is already physically mature, and your Gem has had two months to adjust. You're holding back, restraining your power, smothering yourself." There was something there in his eyes, worry, concern, like I was doing something wrong.
"I'm doing that?" My voice was small.
"It's not your fault, you were born human, I wasn't. I was always half and half and I was raised mostly by Gems. But you have to remember you are more than just a human with a rock in their belly. You are both the Heart of Humanity and the Soul of Gemkind." There was something intimidating about the idea, I wasn't sure if I could live up to being some Paragon.
Or if I even should. Or if I was getting confused, because he didn't want me to be pressured like he was, he didn't want me to break under the weight. He wanted to teach me, he wanted to help, he wanted to be my friend.
I didn't mind that.
"Could you show me? How to quit…smothering myself?" He nodded, smiled warmly and he sang proudly.
"Of course Brenda." His song echoed, twisted with burning sword, with hints of prince-king. "Just watch me." His Aura…burst, for a lack of better words.
It was like watching a star explode, a radiance of cerise and rose and pearlescent auras of Diamond light and soul flame. A hundred feet, a thousand, ten thousand, and then more. I staggered but my own pride kept me on my feet, and Faultline sagged into her bench even as it's magic protected her from the worst of it.
It was magnificent, and I could see, feel, know emotions that weren't mine. So many, and, and, so many scars. So many hurts, so much pain, sparkly dark freckles tainting paragon luster. But that wasn't what was focused on me, it was a line of curiosity-pride-good-job-hope-nice. Spikes that burbled on neural tissue and crystal circuits.
It felt so familiar, and I remembered the screaming void from which I/she had been born. That radiance had been the blueprint for my Gem, imprinted into the deepest recesses of crystalline machinery. I could feel my own Aura, and it felt so small, so limited, only marginally larger than the aura of a Quartz. Crushed down by mental restraints.
He was a mosaic of faint glimmering images, flowing in and out with a hundred emotions and flickers of memory. I saw how it stretched out, curling waves of power.
This was him. This was the framework, the image I should borrow, use, need.
I felt my power stir.
It emulated, copied. Grasping tendrils, reaching for Aster Diamond.
His expression changed, repressed happiness.
No. But yes.
My Aura spread, strengthened, and expanded from ten feet to a hundred, to a thousand. My power seeped deeper into my bones and skin, and I felt stronger, just a little more complete. Like I was accepting more of her/myself, and I blinked away stars from my vision.
I saw more auras besides Steven's, two different ones folded over one another. Faultline, her aura was like criss crossing lines of blue fire interspersed with neon green and scarlet. Stable, but waning and waxing every so often in a regular pattern. There was another, so much larger and yet…so empty. Like a giant bubble full of dull air, with only hints of thought and emotion. Or like a bag of chips that was half motherfucking air.
"Man. Shards are a bit of a disappointment." There was almost nothing there, closer to a machine than a living being. I could detect their surface thoughts, since the realm of the mind existed in every dimension.
I felt a burst of fear-concern-awe, and I found myself drawn to a tiny emotional aura, not the light of a Gem's power, but rather the light of a human soul and mind.
"Are you alright, is this too much?" I whispered, feeling just a little bad with how Faultline was gripping the bench, and had failed to leave cracks in the metal due to magic disrupting her power.
But she was determined not to give in from the pulse of indignation. "At this point I don't have anything to lose, and I'm rather curious."
"There's a difference between being curious, and a willingness to be someone's guinea pig."
"You think we haven't spent time screening ourselves? We've had days to make sure we haven't made a huge mistake." There was something else in her tone. "This is beyond our pay grade, but if this is what it takes to get them answers. It'll be worth it." Faultline pulled herself up from the safety of her bench, glaring at me from behind her mask.
"Frankly I think you're crazy," I replied bluntly. "Then again most parahumans are, so I'm not going to question it." I scratched my chin, feeling my Aura curl around me in a protective fashion. "But…right, Aster, what am I supposed to be learning?"
"Well first, I'm going to teach you how to place more active psychic defenses and how to shield others from mind control." I opened my mouth, and the world suddenly turned black, overlaid with the real world.
"What is this?" Faultline seemed just a bit concerned about the teleportation to what she didn't know was the Mindscape.
"We're in the realm of Thought, the astral plane, the Dream Realm, the Mindscape." Steven's song distorted, revealing more of his eldritch nature, and my own Aura rose in tandem. "This is part of the domain of the Diamonds, one of many powers we have as Gems."
"Are Diamonds the only beings who can get here?" She asked, more curious than afraid.
His smile diminished. "No. Literally any psychic or telepathic being brushes against this place, even mechanical means do…" like the neural manipulation of the shards. "There wouldn't be a reason for psychic shielding if we were the only beings who could use this place." Though Diamonds had a more specific section under their domain, a sort of collective unconscious of all Gemkind.
"Can we get on with it?" My voice rumbled louder than I expected, frequencies and wavelengths transmitted.
"Of course…" His song echoed loudly. "First I'll teach you how to extend your Aura, how to peep into the aura of others." His gaze fell onto the cape. "I'll teach her how to keep some more private thoughts below the surface. Just as an extra precaution."
The next few minutes were spent on Faultline, and apparently they were expanded versions of certain methods of combating Master powers, of the way they attacked perceptions, the way they wormed into a brain, into a mind. There were several ways of countering Shard based telepathy.
There was becoming a psychic yourself, tapping into your own internal energies to delve into matters of the mind. There were a ton of spells for mind control, or to enter the mind of another. There was inserting a plate of special treated titanium in your skull. Or using a Mentem device to encrypt your thoughts, with modifications made to counter Shard methods of mechanical and chemical treating of brains.
It was a WW2 scenario, a massive boost to technology during war, one that affected all fields due to the diversity and outright insane capabilities of even a thousandth of an Entity. But it couldn't last, war didn't always boost technological development, and often it took away resources from other sciences not related to war.
And really, it wasn't advancing in the way you think, it was turning already existing technologies into functional and mass producible devices for war.
"Are you ready?" Aster murmured, stepping away from Faultline. She nodded, and he pressed his aura against me first. "Confused. Curious, excited." He pointed it out, and I got the silent lesson. I needed to extend it to cover another person's aura.
"Are you sure about this?"
Faultline huffed. "Just do it already."
I peered into her aura, and was flooded with foreign emotions. Her aura was glowing with interest, along with waves of cold skepticism, flickers of curiosity like sparks of flame. She was keeping underlying thoughts safe, but I could scrape for them if I pressed harder.
I found a surface thought and spoke it aloud. "You're craving tamales?" I asked bluntly, and she stared.
"Yes…" A flash of wariness, a dash of anger, and a helping of befuddlement.
"I could probably learn to make some, that or check if any of the Gems know how to make some." Especially ones without crazy tastes, like sawdust or metal meat or something equally terrible. "You good? I know how your world feels about people like me." It felt just a little anxiety inducing ya know?
"It's fine, though I recommend being very careful with revealing a power like that. Not for legal reasons, merely practical. Enforcing the law on a galactic princess sounds…rather unlikely to succeed."
"I'm not a…" I trailed off in horror. Oh god I was a princess and a prince.
"You've got the basics down for aura reading," Aster moved along in the lesson. "Now it's time to move onto defense of yourself and others." I caught onto the waves of danger
"This is going to be painful isn't it?"
"Yep."
The waves of pink light rolled over like a tsunami, and I cursed the universe for it's bullshit.
"Hey Flowers!" I greeted the Gem as I floated down, she startled, her breath catching for some reason. I could catch the emotions in her Gemsong and aura a lot better than before.
She was genuinely happy to see me, and that made my cheeks warm of their own accord. I was Brandon as I was most days, though I had grown out my hair a bit. Some nice dark locks graduated to red though they didn't go past my chin.
I had reduced my beard down to…stubble, rather fine, more a means to add definition to my face? Though I was learning towards removing it and letting it grow out again later.
She ran up to me, and I suddenly found my arms full holding up a hundred odd pounds of Sapphire. Being a head taller than someone was still a weird feeling, when it was an adult.
"Greetings, Brandon." Her song was full of affection, along with a confusing mix of other emotions. "Did you have a good training session?"
"Well, Faultline's brain didn't explode. I count that as a win." I hummed, pushing out my aura, imagining myself lifting her. A telekinetic push lifted her as I moved towards the couch.
I set her down next to me. She leaned against me and I allowed her to because I was weak.
"You really should be more used to the affectionate nature of Gems by now." She sprawled out, kneading her hands on my sleeve, claws extending slightly. God they really were like cat-bee-spiders weren't they?
"You and I both know that's not true." I leaned my head a bit to get more comfortable.
Her giggle was like the beat of raindrops on metal, a hasty thing. "Maybe I'm just being optimistic. I think you're perfectly capable of adapting."
"Thanks for the confidence boost I suppose." I shrugged. "I'm just not that good at receiving or giving affection." It was honestly kind of a lonely feeling, and I rarely just…accepted a hug or a show of affection.
Maybe that was wrong of me…because it wasn't a case of hating it, more like not knowing what to do with it, an odd sort of overload. Gems kind of did the same thing, their song and aura overwhelming me.
Flowers didn't do that, her song and aura was more muted, but not smothered, just…compressed and folded up. She was easier to hug, and so tiny and cute it was hard to be intimidated. Barring the fact I really like how soft she is, and the shape of her body…
Flowers giggled, and I blushed and hoped to whatever gods were out there that she couldn't predict what I was thinking. "Something funny?" My voice didn't go high pitched. Anyone who says that is a liar.
Flowers plucked a rose from my hair, and my eyes crossed. What. The. Fuck? Again?
"It seems your Aura has finally started to come into its own, I heard Aster Diamond has the same problem."
"You're saying he leaves behind a trail of magic made flowers?" I already knew that but still. "Plus this usually happens in my room."
"Yes he does, though usually around people he cares about, you share the domain of Life after all."
"Hmm…guess so." I grumbled, crossing my arms over my chest. "Makes it a bit harder to live up to him though." There was something bitter there, and I sighed.
I suddenly had baby soft(er) hands gently grabbing my face, and I was taken aback by the burning passion in her one eye. "Don't think like that, you…you don't have to live up to anyone, " I stared. "You're perfectly fine as you are, my Diamond." I flushed, as I heard the sincerity clear as day in bouncing Gemsong.
She really believed in me, and it wasn't because I was a Diamond. It was because I was me…
"Okay." Shyness struck me like a lightning bolt, despite my pride trying to rear up like I was a lion instead of a cub. "You can stay here for a bit right?"
"Well my schedule is relatively free for the next few days, Sunshine." She released a nervous laugh, though it was a happy one. "We can spend some time together between whatever events may transpire. Perhaps an evening walk, or a game of chess?"
There was a one, two, three second pause.
We shared a laugh, and I hid a smile at how she snorted when doing so, her face lighting up in many different ways. Her aura jumped with a simple joy and amusement.
"Really…chess?" She slapped my shoulder with a second giggle. "Also Sunshine?" I questioned, and her face flushed.
"Oh. I'm sorry, is that strange? It just sort of came out, I'm…" I stopped her short, poking her.
"It's fine, I don't mind you calling me Sunshine." It was sort of nice, and I didn't hate it at all. "I suppose I could be the sunshine to your flowers ehh?" I joked and then stopped. That sounds so stupid. And like some type of weird innuendo.
Flowers laughed, and I let out a groan. "Oh…oh that sounds terrible, I-I'm sorry I don't…" she beat her chest, her song thumping with a hollow chime. "I don't mean to laugh…just. It's kind of cute actually."
I blinked. "Really?" She paused in her dumbass giggle fit, and there was a sudden serious expression.
"Yes. Absolutely." I-okay she was being so serious about this, and I have no idea why. "We are friends, I wouldn't lie to you about this. You are aesthetically pleasing."
I considered the Gem before me, inspecting her after her unexpected compliment. Flowers was…well I found her very pretty too, an alien beauty too. The way she tied back her pretty and voluminous hair with a flower scrunchie-thing, the shine and color of her eye, her soft grins and smiles, how her fingers tapped and curled when she worked on a complex machine, and the way slick industrial fluid slid off her bu— okay then!
"You're pretty too." She looked rather more bashful now, brushing back her wild bangs. "Now, are there any games you're interested in showing me?"
She perked up. "Oh. Yes, there's a remake of Fight Fighters on a new console. It seems humans have taken to holograms." She brought out the device that looked like a more futuristic PS5, and placed it on the table where a TV would be. With a gesture the device turned on, and projected a large high fidelity screen.
I leaned forward, fingers brushing against my facial hair. "I hope you don't mind showing me how to play?"
She laughed. "Of course I don't mind, in fact I'm sure I'll enjoy it." She started up the console, with a ping of sound. I sat down more comfortably, and she passed me a controller in a flash of light.
For the moment at least, we sat down and played.
So the Gems had gone public in a limited fashion, revealing a select few Gems who didn't mind the attention and scrutiny. A select few of the Rubies had gone for it, but way more Quartzes were willing to take the risk.
Brass Pearl was gathering her intelligence forces, and was working with taking down certain groups with the Fallen being the most concerning since they had some of the highest chances of attacking us. Which was why they had moved the Home Temple off planet when I wasn't looking, leaving an administrative building in its place.
Starry was working on an Endbringer strategy, due to her personal experiences. Apparently they were sending scanning pulses of magic since the Entities at the moment couldn't see magic. Whether due to inexperience, some innate or even induced quality, Entities needed to take a more direct approach to make use of magic.
Often to disastrous results, with one shard ripping a hole into a reality called the Nightmare Realm, a sort of seething foam between dimensions. The wave of unstable physics destroyed half a million shards, and collapsed the already unstable reality into dust. Which was for the best as it was filled with a number of rather genocidal demons and monstrous entities.
Luckily the more innocent residents used the corpses of the shards to ride back to stable realities. Honestly it was almost like the Gem's home reality was an intentional hazard to the survival of an Entity.
Two hundred million shards infested the galaxies, but that total included completely dormant shards, more or less trapped in their own minds to isolate the Dreaming Death's corruption. A more accurate number was maybe two or three million, and most of them were buds of the same ilk of small and weak as the Fragile One. The size of large hills and mountain ranges rather than continents.
Even then a hundred thousand of the shards were hostile, continent sized masses flying across space to attempt to flee to new pastures. Though I had heard their numbers had been culled to half of that in the last few months due to an encounter with one of the more dangerous dimensions.
Apparently a few realities drove them nuts and they got shanked in the process, one world where time fluxes and loops unpredictably, and another where everything is based on the letter M.
I didn't ask what that meant and I didn't want to know, because everything about it invoked a nope from me.
I chewed on my lip, claws flexing in and out as I moved on to a topic I didn't consider so insane. It was back to the Fallen, the Endbringer cult responsible for both slavery and various forms of horrific crimes that didn't bear repeating.
Yay.
Estimates indicated between eighty and one hundred and fifty capes being within the organization of the Fallen, from brainwashed kidnapping victims to the hooligans to the true believers. The Fallen were broken up into a branch for each Endbringer, with lesser groups forming and collapsing from time to time.
Metaknowledge wasn't all encompassing, knowing maybe ten percent of the membership wasn't good enough. And each branch had a different range of dangerous powers along with various buds of Mama Mathers due to sheer conflict output. With three major groups/families to deal with.
There were the McVeays who were focused on Behemoth, and both highly religious and violent. Dynakinetic powers are common among them, along with a general range of various energy manipulation powers.
The Crowleys emulate Leviathan, and are some of the most visible for their make-up of assholes and troublemakers. This was the branch with the most well known prejudice against Case 53s and they had connections to biker gangs and other fringe groups. Duplication and hydrokinetic powers are common enough among their ilk.
The Mathers are the most dangerous and most cult-like of any of the branches and live away in recluse. Involved the most in abduction, and brainwashing with both indoctrination and parahuman abilities. They've kidnapped multiple capes including Wards with the intention of marrying them into the family.
Valefor was one of their semi-hidden trump cards along with his mother. And their disgusting spiel about 'soldiers' and 'sluts' made my skin crawl. Everything about them was creepy and unnerving. The one useful thing about my world being known to the Gems was that their knowledge provided avenues of investigation for precognitive sweeps.
Flowers never mentioned what she saw, and I could tell there was a disturbed disquiet chime to her usually comforting song. There was a resigned look and it made me wonder about the things Diviners saw with their future vision. We knew they were somewhere near Kansas City, a compound of sorts.
Removing Mama Mathers from play would remove a substantial fragment of their power, and expanding out to her numerous buds would make it more certain. I doubt Cauldron would give much of a shit because she's pretty much useless against Scion, and messed with Contessa's power.
I imagine there were select Blindspots Cauldron didn't want to deal with. I knew certain concentrations of powers affected Thinkers, and Entity-related things fucked with her restrictions.
So Endbringers, Scion, and Eidolon.
My fingers twitched, and I sighed.
"Maybe we should be moving onto something more productive?"
The last week had seen quite a few changes, for example the Home Temple had been moved to Mars through means I hadn't been around for. Something about it being better to not be on a planet frequently swept by evil space whale monsters.
I didn't disagree, and it takes only a few seconds to warp planet-side if I ever need to. And the planet was a lot more suitable for life now, especially with atmospheric alteration nearly at completion. Rocknest was serving as the heart of what was becoming the ecumenopolis of Caldera.
My recently courted Lapis Lazuli was happily melting the Martian northern ocean, and I was given the nice and simple job of naming various locations since it was my colony and what not. Of course I was also looking at the selection of organisms for future biological terraforming.
Our manpower problem was also starting to go away as the Hole Puncher brought in hundreds of volunteers from Steven's Mars and Venus. Current expectations were between ten and two hundred thousand Gems in the near future.
Atmospheric and aqueous terraforming was expected to be complete by the fifteenth, so eight days from now. Steven…Aster Diamond was taking the project into his own hands as well, since I still didn't know what the fuck I was doing.
Either way, having over one thousand square kilometers of hybrid garden/cityscape was definitely something to look at. Especially with the added aesthetic of elaborate nests of crows. Apparently my crow friend spread the word, and all ten thousand of his tribe wanted to get the heck out of dodge.
They had officially applied for asylum under the aegis of the Gem Empire, due to the unethical experiments required to create his people, and the number of deaths from Parahuman incidents anytime they went too far from the forest. The Flesh Lady was some type of biology manipulating cape, capable of inducing minor mutations.
Hair color, eye color, muscle density and so on. Issue was that her power was slow, requiring generations to manifest in a useful manner. Her best work was with entities with rapid generations, single celled organisms like yeast and bacteria, mice and voles and guppies and fruit flies.
Combine that with a time manipulating cape who can accelerate time ten thousand fold and you're golden. I'd even seen depictions of what looked like giant derived guppies, resembling sharks more than dumb shiny fish.
Which of course coupled with the sapient crows didn't speak well for their opinion on things like morality and ethical boundaries. Luckily we had already sweeped for possible dangerous threats. Any of their more lethal creations had either been removed or were made outside the White Mountains.
I tapped my finger against my desk, where a holographic monitor scrolled through Bet's internet from across the solar system. Thank god for lag-free Gem internet.
I stepped outside, deciding to take a walk around the block.
"Maybe we should call…Faultline?" I muttered, leaning back and forth. I heard their new gemstone selling business was doing well.
Did I have her number?
I lifted my Composer bracelet, and shifted it to phone mode, a generic Apple interface fading into existence. I absently dialed the right combination of numbers, at the same time shifting, hair lengthening and body shape changing.
"Hello?" There was a note of confusion in Faultline's voice.
"Hello Faultline." There was a cough on the other end, one of surprise, shock?
"Sunrise? How did you get this number?"
My eyebrows furrowed. "I just typed in the right combination of numbers to reach you. Why?" That was weird wasn't it?
"No reason," She moved along. "We're approaching the 'Galaxy Warp' to Mars, are you certain there are no long term consequences to our powers?"
"There'll be no disconnection events if that's what you're worrying about. Your powers will be more than fine." Especially after isolating their core intelligences, and reducing them to extended machinery for humans to use.
"I want to ask what a disconnection event is but I've met my quota for insanity this morning." I could feel her sarcasm cut across four light minutes of distance.
"You'll have to expand that quota, because the Gem Empire is just one of many civilizations in the many galaxies."
"Galaxies. Plural?"
"Your point is?"
"See you in five minutes." She hung up, and I grinned in the moment after. I floated up into the air, and dropped back down onto the grassy ground of a rooftop garden. One of many planned in the near future, tended to by the eleven hundred Gems calling this burgeoning colony home.
Eventually the place would have hundreds of different Gem types working together to create a functional spacefaring civilization, though that would take time. Not a lot of time mind you, Gems were efficient if nothing else.
They were currently dismantling Deimos, and turning it into a Moon Base. Ten trillion tons of mass can definitely be put to good use, hollowed out and embedded with equipment. The plan was to create an enormous twenty mile Bernal Sphere, less out of necessity and more to flex on Earth Bet.
The Deimos Sphere would serve numerous roles, from manufacturing to defense. It would be heavily armed with a vast array of weapons, from standard Phasers to point defense lasers, and with powerful scanners to examine the entire solar system.
Firepower wise, nothing short of a continent sized shard or Scion himself would be able to get past the Deimos Sphere. So…not impossible, and definitely something to prepare for.
Highly experimental weapons would use Earth Bet and the connected shards as a test ground. Many shards were too bound to their inherent natures to ever be made safe, and would likely need to be forced to yield at best or be destroyed at worst.
One new weapon was a Hypergravity Cannon, a gravity field generator weapon capable of creating a beam exceeding 60K gravities. Only the strongest Gem impact shielding was capable of withstanding the crushing force, and not for long.
Though gravity weapons didn't work as well on beings capable of adjusting their own personal gravity at any time. But they worked well enough on shards, crushing their crystal flesh, and disrupting their multidimensional nature with the swirling eddies of spacetime. When they were caught off guard anyway.
A few interesting weapons were neutronium bombs, grains of stabilized stellar matter kept stable and low mass through magic. A single 500 micron grain would have an energy output comparable to a large asteroid impact.
There was the chime of a warp pad for the skyway park, and Faultline arrived with a Coral wrapped around her neck. She came in tow with Newter and Gregor.
I dashed forward, crossing a hundred feet in a one second bound. They all seemed taken aback, and I didn't blame them. I was quite fast and quite captivating, and the cityscape was no different.
I clapped my hands together, releasing a chime of my own. "So. You wanted a look at the scanner didn't you?"
"What are these things anyway?" Newter waggled his finger, the sole Coral batting it with her paw in a playful manner.
"My babies." He stumbled, and my grin widened at his visible expression of horror.
"Are you being serious?" Faultline was giving Newter a look as he squeaked out his words.
"Yes actually. They were created using my ichor, after finding an appropriate injection site." I inspected my nails, and a wave of my hands generated a sloping platform of hexagon barriers all the way down to the ground.
"Ichor?" Gregor questioned as they followed me down the path I had set.
"You've noted my healing powers correct?" He nodded. "They're an aspect of the ichor I produce. Sweat, blood, tears? That's all ichor."
"And this Coral thing…is made from your ichor-stuff?" Newter landed on the ground, and I shifted my direction towards the Home Temple(needed a name).
"Well not on its own," I shrugged. "It requires mixing with the ichor of the other Diamonds to create Gems. Though creating and weaving Chroma only needs my ichor."
"There are others with your powers?" Faultline sounded wary, but there was the even tone of someone trying not to freak out.
"Technically speaking I have their powers rather than the other way around." I felt the outcomes like a bad ring in my ear. "And even then the Diamonds have their own unique abilities specific to their color."
"Do you mind elaborating?" I absently opened the portal to my room, and walked the group of three through the rail-lacking paths of the recently expanded interior. Probably a few cubic kilometers of interior space, which had opened up after the Gems had moved out their own rooms to the buildings on Earth Bet.
Flowers stuck around though, something about wanting me to have a friend around. Though why the other Gems gave her odd looks when she said that was a mystery.
"No rails?" Gregor rumbled, and I replied.
"Ruins the vibes, a little dangerous but that's part of the charm." I turned around, walking backwards so I could look at the three mercenaries. "As for the Diamonds, that's free knowledge among us Gems."
"Go on." I knew it wasn't a danger to tell her, just a gut feeling.
"There are four Diamonds, four colors, four Starhearts, four Diamondsongs." My voice pulsed, bursting with the power of the sun burning underneath my skin. "White Diamond is the eldest, she is the ichor of Mind, thought, structure, order. Memory and idea, clarity."
"Mind control?"
"Diamonds are considered some of the most powerful psychics in the known galaxies." Though that ignored beings in other dimensions, it's not like all of them had overpowered super beings. "Her remit is mind, and her ichor provides some vital components in the creation of Gem mental processes."
There was a hum of discomfort in Faultline's voice. "Psychic…in what way?"
"You ever wonder why all the Gems speak English?" I continued walking backwards, easily avoiding obstacles and falls. "It's Gemsong, a sort of magic, musicy noise that worms into your brain. You could be speaking Klingon and I'd still know what you're saying."
"…that's moderately concerning." Faultline didn't seem any happier with what I had said.
"It's not harmful besides vertigo and headaches if we use the wrong frequencies. Which won't happen since they're quite familiar with humans nowadays and I am human."
Faultline twitched. "You're very lucky you're making us a lot of money, and completing your promises."
"You want me to stop talking about your new galactic overlords?" I sweetly said, and she shook her head. "Good. Yellow is the ichor of the body. Power, strength, movement. Vigor. She provides the energies for the light forms of Gems. Blue is the ichor of will, passions, emotions. Take a guess what she brings to the whole?"
"Emotions?" Newter asked.
I added to my explanation/monologue. "Pink is the fourth and supposed to be the final Diamond, she is… was the ichor of life. The spark and soul, instinct and self. Vitality. Her son, Aster Diamond has the same powers unchained by his hybrid nature, both a creature of Earth and a Starheart."
"So what are you then? You are a Diamond as well, yes?" Gregor grumbled, voice soft in a way I couldn't decipher.
"I have the same type of gem as Aster Diamond, though I lean more towards red in the spectrum. A deep pink Diamond if you would," I felt my hands plucking at the end of my shorts, a distant anxiety. "It's not exactly the same, but I've had my powers for less than two months."
So it's really been only two months Brandon, Brenda, whatever?
"So you are young, inexperienced, and still learning your place." Gregor seemed to have come to a conclusion in his own mind.
I flipped back to walking normally, tapping an interface and opening the door to the Thinking Chamber. The Computation Orb was being used, by Elle of all people, a Coral acting as her interface.
"Orb. What can you tell me about the…the Corona Pollentia and…Gemma?" She asked haltingly, and the machine complied.
"Evaluating. The Corona Pollentia is the biological interface between shard and host through a generated transdimensional link. This link monitors a host until the correct parameters are made. A command and control interface. It generates a power based on the conditions of the host Trigger and the shard's role. It provides targeting data for the projection of multidimensional energies used to alter reality." The orb was closed, providing a thankfully clothed Elle and an eye watering image of a moon sized shard.
Not to scale of course.
"Elle?" She jumped, and a wave of her hands and a chirp of song from her golden haired Coral ended the run.
"Brenda!" She hopped over. "This thing is amazing! It has thousands of years worth of stuff from the Rose Quartz lady, and what the Gem Empire picked up from other aliens and other dimensions. Plus what they took from all the powers they blew up."
"Blew up?" Newter croaked.
"Powers come from giant space worms that sit in other dimensions to give us superpowers. They combine to make a giant worm with a billion powers, and eat millions of planets when they leave. Which is why they're fighting them since they're going to blow up all the planets."
"What?" I almost wanted to stop Elle, but I straight up didn't give a fuck anymore.
"I was checking if this thing knew anything about magic I could learn. It recommended Wild Glyph Magic. It's magic from a place called the Boiling Isles, a place connected to another Earth…Earth Wicce?" I gave her a thumbs up, and enjoyed the excited energy of Elle.
There was a soft affectionate chuff from Faultline. "This magic…it's real?"
"Well it's not a Parahuman power if that's what you're thinking." I confirmed. "Magic is the manipulation of an esoteric reality warping energy, which has been physically detected and examined with scientific studies pointing to it's existence and its use in modern technology for the human species. As well as serving as the inherent backbone of all Gems to have ever existed."
"I'm not questioning that magic exists in a world where superpowers exist." Faultline's tone was utterly flat. "Honestly at this point, I just want to know if magic is teachable."
"Unfortunately it varies depending on reality, certain sections of the multiverse lack a strong connection to magic. Some worlds have the doors closed to the higher reality levels where the force exists." There were ways of bringing the vital force from the High and down to the Low however.
Theoretically, the original means weren't known for most or any of the current known civilizations. Magic was either around or it wasn't, though there was a spectrum. Worlds like mine and Earth Bet's set of realities didn't benefit from the ambient effects of partially sealed magic like Earth Wicce did.
For example people from Earth's brushing against the High have an enduring strength and power. Just a little tougher, just a little stronger, just a little better in a measurable way.
"So no?"
I smiled at Faultline, placing my hands on my hips. "Actually yes you can. Magic is leaking pretty badly through the cracks between worlds, so any one of you can probably learn magic with some luck."
"Yesss…" I didn't giggle at Elle's excited look, as her power curled around her. Though the fact everyone stared told me my song had betrayed me.
I chuffed. "Anyway. You wanted to use the scanner for Newter and Gregor correct?"
The mercenary leader straightened up, more focused. "If this machine is as powerful as you've mentioned, it might have answers for them." I smiled thinly when I remembered I knew the truth.
"Stand there." I gestured to the two Case 53s, two platforms forming from scaffolding cubes. "I've learned most of the ins and outs of the scanner from personal use and code patching."
"Code patching?" Elle giggled at Faultline's question.
"Magic." My fingers moved quickly along the holographic conduit, and I whispered code into the computer. Rings materialized around the two mutated capes, scanning in multiple wavelengths. Every type of scanner from electromagnetic resonance to subspace projectors and structural analysis spells.
The rings vanished into light, and the two stepped off the platforms. The Geode rumbled, and projected two holographic projections, highlighting their Corona Pollentias.
"Is that…is that it?" Newter leaned forward, tail flicking back and forth.
"What do you want me to check first?"
"Regular vitals?" Faultline suggested, and I flicked my finger to tap various buttons.
Newter squinted. "I don't see any buttons."
"Gems see UV. So I see way more colors than I used to. Now…" I've got it. One of the holographic screens expanded, and corrected for human vision.
Blood pressure was labeled and corrected for the distinct composition and unique nature of their physiology. Heart rate, resting and peak, oxygen intake, blood sugar intake, kidney function metrics, and metrics for virtually every organ system in the body.
Regeneration rates for various different parts like bones and skin, labeling of aberrant organs, amount of sleep deprivation, pain response rates, flora composition, like in the gut and skin. The projections in the orb broke up into swirling mist.
Discrete systems, skin, peripheral and central nervous systems, which were more heavily distributed than in normal human's. Circulatory, lymphatic, digestive, skeletal, and highlighted points changed from baseline. It broke up down to cells, and ball-and-stick models of organic molecules. It marked points of injury, in the body and in the brain, in the various sections related to memory.
I found complete sections of human DNA, with surprisingly little damage besides minor mutations. But…
"Curious. Seems like the both of you appear to be biological chimeras." I rubbed my chin, and examined my newly pigmented nails. I had colored them black to go with my aesthetic of red and black.
It worked well with my black collared shirt and red gym shorts, the ends tipped with black.
"Chimeras?" Elle tilted her head, hands clasped together.
"A chimera is an organism composed of cells from more than one distinct genotype. You both possess a complete set of human DNA, but a significant fraction of your cells are made of foreign genetic code and biological substances. One with six base pairs and four nucleotides per RNA codon."
"Which means what exactly?" Faultline questioned.
"This genetic deviancy appears to be responsible for your physiological changes, a sort of in-between of human and alien biology. The fact you're alive at all is kind of a miracle. Forget I said that. " I coughed loudly. "Your powers appear to be mostly biological, with a Breaker effect around the cellular structures responsible for producing certain chemicals." So their powers wouldn't be nullified by Trumps.
"But why have we been mutated?" Gregor asked, and I glanced at him up and down.
"Tends to be a common side effect of failed power connections, if a shard lacks information on the host, they'll tend to…break things." I swallowed, recalling images of corrupted Para-Gems. "Most scenarios tend to kill the host, often in brutal and horrific ways. In your case, your powers were likely meant to manifest as a limited Changer power. Say your skin and stomach shifting to create the chemicals you do, and the same applying for Newter."
"So this Changer state…instead spread to the entirety of our bodies?" I nodded at Gregor's comment. "What can be done for that?"
"A power capable of mutating the body might be able to correct towards a more human ideal. Though you'll retain some chimeric components. My ichor or Aster's ichor might be able to return you to baseline, but the severe chimerism might complicate things."
"You could just heal us…just like that?" Newter sounded a little high pitched, which was fair. My powers were nuts.
"Maybe. My healing capabilities are extreme, but they have their limits without some more research. Give it a week or three. But I can do this now." I sent off a command to a bioforge, which already had previous samples of Newter's main power.
I grabbed a sticker dispenser, one that would make a person immune to his hallucinogen for an hour after taking it off, or a day before it broke down.
"Here." I gave it to Newter.
The boy frowned. "A red flower with…sticker petals?"
"A counteragent producer, just give this Gem crop plant a little sunlight and water and you can apply this sticker to people you want to touch." It was magic, so it couldn't be stolen either.
His hallucinogen was a complex compound made of multiple interlaced compounds, and didn't scale up much due to natural biological decay. So being dunked in the stuff wouldn't kill you. First it affected the senses the brain received, reducing awareness even if the other effects did nothing.
That includes proprioception and balance. It affected muscle signals, causing jerky uncoordinated movements rather than paralysis. Third was powerful but harmless hallucinations, and masked the more subtle effects. The fourth and final effect messed with one's sense of time, making a person useless.
The kid immediately gave one to Faultline, and she placed it under her neon green welding mask. She waited a few seconds, and poked Newter. When she didn't pass out, I knew it had worked.
"Impressive." There was a low thrum of gratitude in her voice, something I picked out without hearing the inflection in her voice. You should stop neglecting part of your power…
"I–" I received a call, and projected a screen for it. I inspected dark curly hair interspersed by sparkling pink, and shuttering Diamond eyes. "Oh. That was today wasn't it?"
Faultline approached me, leaning to look at the screen. "Is that…?"
Steven smiled. "Nice to see you making friends, hot pink, plaid and lime green is a good mix."
"He's not being sarcastic is he?" Faultline questioned.
"You've seen what Gems look like right?" I replied back with a roll of my eyes.
"Anyway, today was our day to teach you how to use your Aura. You remember?" He seemed excited, cheeks turning rosy and eyes glimmering with light.
"Do you mind an audience?" Faultline came in, something like curiosity in her tone.
Huh?
"If you're willing to help with her practice, sure."
WHAT?
"Are you certain you want to help me with this?" I questioned Faultline's wisdom in helping me with my psychic training session with Steven. It seemed a little too reckless, or she wanted to be helpful after helping them with the whole Case 53 thing.
"I've done as much thinking about your organization, your people as possible. Nothing about you makes sense, it breaks every rule about powers, about how they work and where they come from."
"Fair." I half-joked.
"But I'm a good judge of character and so is Gregor, you're not a threat. And you've been generally kind to us."
"O-Okay." I know we had touched base from time to time to complete our deal and been generally amiable. But I hadn't expected to leave such a good impression. "But you're certain you want to be involved with this, Bet doesn't exactly have the best impression of what could be called Master abilities."
"I'm willing to accept people from all walks of life, else I wouldn't have brought Newter and Gregor into the fold. Or tried to do right by Elle." She rubbed her chin under her mask, and I marveled at her searing outfit.
She certainly had the confidence to wear something like that. I'll give her that.
"I suppose."
"Now where is this…Aster Diamond exactly?" A fair question since we've been waiting around the portal on his end of reality.
I stiffened as I caught the roiling flames of his Aura, dwarfing the auras of the other Gems. All Gems had auras, cowls of light and magic that varied in size depending on the strength of the Gem and tuned to the unique song of each of them. Their emotions projected through and into their Gemsong.
The Aura of a Diamond is massive, extending for many miles due to the sheer power contained within their magic crystal cores. I could tell Faultline was taken aback, likely sweating under her mask.
"What is this?"
"That would be the Aura of a Diamond miss Faultline." I chirped, gesturing to her to sit down on an available magic bench. She did so. "I told you we're one of the most powerful psychics in the galaxy. On accident I ping ponged against multiple minds across the galaxy. I was booted out the first time too, so psychic bullshit isn't even unique." My laugh was just a little hysterical.
"I'm still going through with this, I'd prefer to get a more in depth look of my client's capabilities." I raised an eyebrow, she was really quite insistent wasn't she?
"Sure. Whatever. Hey Aster." She startled, as Aster made his silent approach, only his song providing a clue. He was wearing the same clothes as usual, which made sense. I was getting into the habit myself, being a Gem and all.
"He's taller than I expected." Faultline commented, her posture shifting, becoming more serious.
"So this is your new friend Brenda?" I felt under scrutiny at his soft gaze, crossing my arms over my bust with an embarrassed chirp. "The mercenary right? With the corrupted humans, Case 53s?"
"What about it?" She didn't hide her wariness at his questions.
His smile was brilliant, eyes shutting and his satisfaction shifting in his Aura and song. "I'm just happy to see her making some more human friends, she has a foot in both worlds and deserves something nice."
I flushed. "Ahh." God why is he always such a dad/mom about things?
"I…suppose?" She seemed unsure, glancing at me. " Is that normal for him? "
"He's like, one of the nicest people I've met in my life. So yes." I gripped her collar with my nails, pulling her forward a bit. "Don't be surprised if he decides to adopt you, it's his thing." He liked helping people, and fortunately it wasn't with the pressure that had made him crack seventeen years ago.
Diamonds could be so brittle after all.
"Alright." She didn't move from the bench, and Steven gestured to me to sit down on the soft grass. I did so without hesitation, crossing my legs, one over the other.
He sat down as well in a similar sitting position, his dark, dark eyes glittering with cerise. Faultline was watching, hands folded up on her lap.
I took a deep breath. "So, Aster…" My song curled with slight affection. "Teach me how to use my Aura, my telepathic mumbo jumbo." I did jazz hands, black claws flicking out for added dramatic effect.
"Well first, it's not mumbo jumbo. Though you can call it whatever you want." He placated me, reacting to something on either my face or in my mind.
"Go on."
His voice deepened, became more, Diamondsong an orchestra of sound and music. An eldritch dirge of power. "Every Diamond, every Gem has an aura, you could call it the expression of our magic, or our soul." I followed eagerly along. "But what you don't know is that everything alive has an aura of its own. But the other Diamonds can't interface with those auras like we can, because we have a foot in both worlds. Both organic and Gem."
"So we can see the aura of humans, organic beings in general?" I wanted my knowledge cleared up.
"Yeah. And of course we can sense any kind of magic, and better understand beings of magic rather than flesh," He was using a serious tone, but it was hard when he was a big fluffy pink man. "That means we can sense other people's emotions, we can go into their dreams and even…possess them if we want to." There was something like disdain in his voice at the idea.
"That last thing isn't something I'm interested in." I shuddered, having your body usurped like that. Horrible.
"Yeah. Which is why you need to listen to this next part."
I blinked. "Yes."
"Quit holding back." His eyes were striking, like staring into the empty void of space.
"Pardon?" My throat felt constricted, something coiling in my stomach. Something I ignored when I looked at myself in the mirror, when
"Your body is already physically mature, and your Gem has had two months to adjust. You're holding back, restraining your power, smothering yourself." There was something there in his eyes, worry, concern, like I was doing something wrong.
"I'm doing that?" My voice was small.
"It's not your fault, you were born human, I wasn't. I was always half and half and I was raised mostly by Gems. But you have to remember you are more than just a human with a rock in their belly. You are both the Heart of Humanity and the Soul of Gemkind." There was something intimidating about the idea, I wasn't sure if I could live up to being some Paragon.
Or if I even should. Or if I was getting confused, because he didn't want me to be pressured like he was, he didn't want me to break under the weight. He wanted to teach me, he wanted to help, he wanted to be my friend.
I didn't mind that.
"Could you show me? How to quit…smothering myself?" He nodded, smiled warmly and he sang proudly.
"Of course Brenda." His song echoed, twisted with burning sword, with hints of prince-king. "Just watch me." His Aura…burst, for a lack of better words.
It was like watching a star explode, a radiance of cerise and rose and pearlescent auras of Diamond light and soul flame. A hundred feet, a thousand, ten thousand, and then more. I staggered but my own pride kept me on my feet, and Faultline sagged into her bench even as it's magic protected her from the worst of it.
It was magnificent, and I could see, feel, know emotions that weren't mine. So many, and, and, so many scars. So many hurts, so much pain, sparkly dark freckles tainting paragon luster. But that wasn't what was focused on me, it was a line of curiosity-pride-good-job-hope-nice. Spikes that burbled on neural tissue and crystal circuits.
It felt so familiar, and I remembered the screaming void from which I/she had been born. That radiance had been the blueprint for my Gem, imprinted into the deepest recesses of crystalline machinery. I could feel my own Aura, and it felt so small, so limited, only marginally larger than the aura of a Quartz. Crushed down by mental restraints.
He was a mosaic of faint glimmering images, flowing in and out with a hundred emotions and flickers of memory. I saw how it stretched out, curling waves of power.
This was him. This was the framework, the image I should borrow, use, need.
I felt my power stir.
It emulated, copied. Grasping tendrils, reaching for Aster Diamond.
His expression changed, repressed happiness.
No. But yes.
My Aura spread, strengthened, and expanded from ten feet to a hundred, to a thousand. My power seeped deeper into my bones and skin, and I felt stronger, just a little more complete. Like I was accepting more of her/myself, and I blinked away stars from my vision.
I saw more auras besides Steven's, two different ones folded over one another. Faultline, her aura was like criss crossing lines of blue fire interspersed with neon green and scarlet. Stable, but waning and waxing every so often in a regular pattern. There was another, so much larger and yet…so empty. Like a giant bubble full of dull air, with only hints of thought and emotion. Or like a bag of chips that was half motherfucking air.
"Man. Shards are a bit of a disappointment." There was almost nothing there, closer to a machine than a living being. I could detect their surface thoughts, since the realm of the mind existed in every dimension.
I felt a burst of fear-concern-awe, and I found myself drawn to a tiny emotional aura, not the light of a Gem's power, but rather the light of a human soul and mind.
"Are you alright, is this too much?" I whispered, feeling just a little bad with how Faultline was gripping the bench, and had failed to leave cracks in the metal due to magic disrupting her power.
But she was determined not to give in from the pulse of indignation. "At this point I don't have anything to lose, and I'm rather curious."
"There's a difference between being curious, and a willingness to be someone's guinea pig."
"You think we haven't spent time screening ourselves? We've had days to make sure we haven't made a huge mistake." There was something else in her tone. "This is beyond our pay grade, but if this is what it takes to get them answers. It'll be worth it." Faultline pulled herself up from the safety of her bench, glaring at me from behind her mask.
"Frankly I think you're crazy," I replied bluntly. "Then again most parahumans are, so I'm not going to question it." I scratched my chin, feeling my Aura curl around me in a protective fashion. "But…right, Aster, what am I supposed to be learning?"
"Well first, I'm going to teach you how to place more active psychic defenses and how to shield others from mind control." I opened my mouth, and the world suddenly turned black, overlaid with the real world.
"What is this?" Faultline seemed just a bit concerned about the teleportation to what she didn't know was the Mindscape.
"We're in the realm of Thought, the astral plane, the Dream Realm, the Mindscape." Steven's song distorted, revealing more of his eldritch nature, and my own Aura rose in tandem. "This is part of the domain of the Diamonds, one of many powers we have as Gems."
"Are Diamonds the only beings who can get here?" She asked, more curious than afraid.
His smile diminished. "No. Literally any psychic or telepathic being brushes against this place, even mechanical means do…" like the neural manipulation of the shards. "There wouldn't be a reason for psychic shielding if we were the only beings who could use this place." Though Diamonds had a more specific section under their domain, a sort of collective unconscious of all Gemkind.
"Can we get on with it?" My voice rumbled louder than I expected, frequencies and wavelengths transmitted.
"Of course…" His song echoed loudly. "First I'll teach you how to extend your Aura, how to peep into the aura of others." His gaze fell onto the cape. "I'll teach her how to keep some more private thoughts below the surface. Just as an extra precaution."
The next few minutes were spent on Faultline, and apparently they were expanded versions of certain methods of combating Master powers, of the way they attacked perceptions, the way they wormed into a brain, into a mind. There were several ways of countering Shard based telepathy.
There was becoming a psychic yourself, tapping into your own internal energies to delve into matters of the mind. There were a ton of spells for mind control, or to enter the mind of another. There was inserting a plate of special treated titanium in your skull. Or using a Mentem device to encrypt your thoughts, with modifications made to counter Shard methods of mechanical and chemical treating of brains.
It was a WW2 scenario, a massive boost to technology during war, one that affected all fields due to the diversity and outright insane capabilities of even a thousandth of an Entity. But it couldn't last, war didn't always boost technological development, and often it took away resources from other sciences not related to war.
And really, it wasn't advancing in the way you think, it was turning already existing technologies into functional and mass producible devices for war.
"Are you ready?" Aster murmured, stepping away from Faultline. She nodded, and he pressed his aura against me first. "Confused. Curious, excited." He pointed it out, and I got the silent lesson. I needed to extend it to cover another person's aura.
"Are you sure about this?"
Faultline huffed. "Just do it already."
I peered into her aura, and was flooded with foreign emotions. Her aura was glowing with interest, along with waves of cold skepticism, flickers of curiosity like sparks of flame. She was keeping underlying thoughts safe, but I could scrape for them if I pressed harder.
I found a surface thought and spoke it aloud. "You're craving tamales?" I asked bluntly, and she stared.
"Yes…" A flash of wariness, a dash of anger, and a helping of befuddlement.
"I could probably learn to make some, that or check if any of the Gems know how to make some." Especially ones without crazy tastes, like sawdust or metal meat or something equally terrible. "You good? I know how your world feels about people like me." It felt just a little anxiety inducing ya know?
"It's fine, though I recommend being very careful with revealing a power like that. Not for legal reasons, merely practical. Enforcing the law on a galactic princess sounds…rather unlikely to succeed."
"I'm not a…" I trailed off in horror. Oh god I was a princess and a prince.
"You've got the basics down for aura reading," Aster moved along in the lesson. "Now it's time to move onto defense of yourself and others." I caught onto the waves of danger
"This is going to be painful isn't it?"
"Yep."
The waves of pink light rolled over like a tsunami, and I cursed the universe for it's bullshit.
"Hey Flowers!" I greeted the Gem as I floated down, she startled, her breath catching for some reason. I could catch the emotions in her Gemsong and aura a lot better than before.
She was genuinely happy to see me, and that made my cheeks warm of their own accord. I was Brandon as I was most days, though I had grown out my hair a bit. Some nice dark locks graduated to red though they didn't go past my chin.
I had reduced my beard down to…stubble, rather fine, more a means to add definition to my face? Though I was learning towards removing it and letting it grow out again later.
She ran up to me, and I suddenly found my arms full holding up a hundred odd pounds of Sapphire. Being a head taller than someone was still a weird feeling, when it was an adult.
"Greetings, Brandon." Her song was full of affection, along with a confusing mix of other emotions. "Did you have a good training session?"
"Well, Faultline's brain didn't explode. I count that as a win." I hummed, pushing out my aura, imagining myself lifting her. A telekinetic push lifted her as I moved towards the couch.
I set her down next to me. She leaned against me and I allowed her to because I was weak.
"You really should be more used to the affectionate nature of Gems by now." She sprawled out, kneading her hands on my sleeve, claws extending slightly. God they really were like cat-bee-spiders weren't they?
"You and I both know that's not true." I leaned my head a bit to get more comfortable.
Her giggle was like the beat of raindrops on metal, a hasty thing. "Maybe I'm just being optimistic. I think you're perfectly capable of adapting."
"Thanks for the confidence boost I suppose." I shrugged. "I'm just not that good at receiving or giving affection." It was honestly kind of a lonely feeling, and I rarely just…accepted a hug or a show of affection.
Maybe that was wrong of me…because it wasn't a case of hating it, more like not knowing what to do with it, an odd sort of overload. Gems kind of did the same thing, their song and aura overwhelming me.
Flowers didn't do that, her song and aura was more muted, but not smothered, just…compressed and folded up. She was easier to hug, and so tiny and cute it was hard to be intimidated. Barring the fact I really like how soft she is, and the shape of her body…
Flowers giggled, and I blushed and hoped to whatever gods were out there that she couldn't predict what I was thinking. "Something funny?" My voice didn't go high pitched. Anyone who says that is a liar.
Flowers plucked a rose from my hair, and my eyes crossed. What. The. Fuck? Again?
"It seems your Aura has finally started to come into its own, I heard Aster Diamond has the same problem."
"You're saying he leaves behind a trail of magic made flowers?" I already knew that but still. "Plus this usually happens in my room."
"Yes he does, though usually around people he cares about, you share the domain of Life after all."
"Hmm…guess so." I grumbled, crossing my arms over my chest. "Makes it a bit harder to live up to him though." There was something bitter there, and I sighed.
I suddenly had baby soft(er) hands gently grabbing my face, and I was taken aback by the burning passion in her one eye. "Don't think like that, you…you don't have to live up to anyone, " I stared. "You're perfectly fine as you are, my Diamond." I flushed, as I heard the sincerity clear as day in bouncing Gemsong.
She really believed in me, and it wasn't because I was a Diamond. It was because I was me…
"Okay." Shyness struck me like a lightning bolt, despite my pride trying to rear up like I was a lion instead of a cub. "You can stay here for a bit right?"
"Well my schedule is relatively free for the next few days, Sunshine." She released a nervous laugh, though it was a happy one. "We can spend some time together between whatever events may transpire. Perhaps an evening walk, or a game of chess?"
There was a one, two, three second pause.
We shared a laugh, and I hid a smile at how she snorted when doing so, her face lighting up in many different ways. Her aura jumped with a simple joy and amusement.
"Really…chess?" She slapped my shoulder with a second giggle. "Also Sunshine?" I questioned, and her face flushed.
"Oh. I'm sorry, is that strange? It just sort of came out, I'm…" I stopped her short, poking her.
"It's fine, I don't mind you calling me Sunshine." It was sort of nice, and I didn't hate it at all. "I suppose I could be the sunshine to your flowers ehh?" I joked and then stopped. That sounds so stupid. And like some type of weird innuendo.
Flowers laughed, and I let out a groan. "Oh…oh that sounds terrible, I-I'm sorry I don't…" she beat her chest, her song thumping with a hollow chime. "I don't mean to laugh…just. It's kind of cute actually."
I blinked. "Really?" She paused in her dumbass giggle fit, and there was a sudden serious expression.
"Yes. Absolutely." I-okay she was being so serious about this, and I have no idea why. "We are friends, I wouldn't lie to you about this. You are aesthetically pleasing."
I considered the Gem before me, inspecting her after her unexpected compliment. Flowers was…well I found her very pretty too, an alien beauty too. The way she tied back her pretty and voluminous hair with a flower scrunchie-thing, the shine and color of her eye, her soft grins and smiles, how her fingers tapped and curled when she worked on a complex machine, and the way slick industrial fluid slid off her bu— okay then!
"You're pretty too." She looked rather more bashful now, brushing back her wild bangs. "Now, are there any games you're interested in showing me?"
She perked up. "Oh. Yes, there's a remake of Fight Fighters on a new console. It seems humans have taken to holograms." She brought out the device that looked like a more futuristic PS5, and placed it on the table where a TV would be. With a gesture the device turned on, and projected a large high fidelity screen.
I leaned forward, fingers brushing against my facial hair. "I hope you don't mind showing me how to play?"
She laughed. "Of course I don't mind, in fact I'm sure I'll enjoy it." She started up the console, with a ping of sound. I sat down more comfortably, and she passed me a controller in a flash of light.
For the moment at least, we sat down and played.