Incendium, Book 1, Chapter 4: Rendezvous

'''Black Opal felt the burning sting on top of his skin, a familiar feeling common to gems right after reforming. Nothing to write home about, and as usual, his core felt cold as the Arctic. Some would say he felt “Cold, yet very very hot”, a phrase that most likely holds no significance whatsoever in this situation. Or, in this plotline at least. He awoke reformed into a newer outfit. Three piece black suit, dapper as usual.'''

'' He stood up and took a look around. He stood in the center of an ocean, on a large, flat rock that seemed like an island. Towering colorful waterfalls drained out into the sea, and to him it seemed all a bit bizarre. Before him was a white stone bridge that led to a door.''

''Of course, he was in a room in a temple of some sort. It split down the middle and opened, and from it came Zircon, who was holding a green leather book. She looked up to find her captain.''

ZIRCON: Oh! Opal, you’re back! I didn’t expect you to wake up at this time…

OPAL: Am I interrupting something?

ZIRCON: No, not at all. I just would hope you would reform when I was here. This place seems a bit strange to you I’m guessing.

OPAL: I’ve seen weirder. Is this a temple room of some sort?

ZIRCON: On the nose, my room, really. We’re on Earth. When you were out I took you in here to allow you some time away from everything.

OPAL: And the others?

ZIRCON: Somewhere in this palace of a temple. I hope at least. In time one will wander off, and I’ll have to rally them up again.

OPAL: Hmm… Alright. I’m gonna go call a meeting.

ZIRCON: But you just came back, shouldn’t you rest a little?

''Opal disregarded Zircon’s warnings and pushed passed her and out the door. It lead to a large, circular hall with a dome-like ceiling. All around were doors, each one leading to a different gem’s room. 12 in all, one for each member. In the center of the hall was a warp pad, and an entrance to the room toward the southern corridor. Zircon caught up to him.''

ZIRCON: We all have our rooms. Would you like me to show you to yours?

Suddenly, a large crash sounded through the room, the floor shaking.

OPAL: What exactly was that?

ZIRCON: Don’t worry, it’s jus-

''Another crash sounded, this time Opal lost his footing. By the time he gathered his bearings, Zircon was already rushing through the rooms exit, heading outside. Black Opal followed.''

Beyond the room was a sort of meeting hall. It was another circular room ringed with a colonnade, but with a round table in the center. Zircon passed this place as well, and Opal wondered how large the temple was. Zircon went further down to find herself walking down a long hallway that lead to the entrance. She exited the large, gold-rimmed double doors that lead outside, and opened up to the mountainous landscape on which the temple stood.

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''Clouds passed here and there across the blue sky, and at the foot of the mountain, almost too far down to see was a human settlement. For a moment everything seemed serene and nonchalant. That was until Opal saw the four gems and monster that brawled before him.''

OPAL: What the hell is going on out here???

''Oligoclase, Orthoclase, Charoite, and Sunstone Feldspar stood before an enormous, green worm-like beast, with teeth like talons and eyes red as fire. It’s head was white, but it’s body shining emerald. It would appear to be a corrupted gem, about the size of the temple itself. However there was no gem to be seen on the beast. It was massive, and yet none of the four seemed alarmed.''

OLIGOCLASE: Weapons at the ready!

All gems summoned their weapons.

OLIGOCLASE: Alright Charoite, go wild.

CHAROITE: Gladly.

''Charoite took a drink of wine from his bottle, capped it, and set it on the ground next to him. He summoned his clubs, and stepped forward before the monster. The monster roared, Charoite’s eyes went red, and then went into action.''

''Charoite jumped into the sky, above the monster’s head, and fell promptly like a meteor. He landed one of his clubs on the beast’s forehead with such force that the beast itself came falling down. It crashed against the floor in such a way that the entire mountain seemed to shake. Charoite landed on the ground, and grabbed his bottle of liquor from the floor, watching the rest of the match uninterested. His time was done, but the battle wasn’t over. The beast got back up, and Orthoclase summoned his whip. He ran toward the beast, and with a single lash, drew a bloody line across the beast’s torso horizontally. He continued to distract it, in a manner that seemed to be as if he were playing with it.''

''Opal, meanwhile, was quite impressed. Zircon came to Oligoclase’s side.''

ZIRCON: Do you desire my help?

OLIGOCLASE: Nope. Just stay here.

''Oligoclase saw Black Opal in the corner of his eye, looked back, and winked. Subsequently, he ran straight toward the monster, jumping onto its stomach, and running vertically up it’s body. He reached the head, jumped off of it, and got it’s attention. Midair, he summoned his scythe, and came down like a comet. The blade of it came running down the beast’s body, complementary to the line Orthoclase had drawn already.''

OPAL: Showoff.

''Sunstone drew a bow and his arrow, aiming at the X drawn out for him by Oligoclase and Orthoclase. He fired, and the arrow of light pierced straight through the beast and out the other side. It swayed from side to side, then finally fell with a thud. It exploded into dust, but among the remains was no gem to be found.''

~End Music~

Opal clapped slowly as the four came toward him.

OPAL: Wonderful performance.

ORTHOCLASE: Well that was fun.

OLIGOCLASE: Look who slept in, eh Opal? Anyway, good work crew.

''Oligoclase brushed passed Opal rudely, Orthoclase following. Charoite and Sunstone met up with Opal.''

SUNSTONE: Welcome back sir, it’s been some time without you!

CHAROITE: Yeah, welcome back, Blackjack.

Charoite ruffled Opal’s hair, who then smacked away Charoite’s hands and tried to re-straighten it.

OPAL: Alright, alright. So can I guess that Oligoclase has been “Head Control Freak” while I was gone?

ZIRCON: Unfortunately so. He is not quite a leader in my eyes. You were a better control freak, to me at least.

CHAROITE: He wouldn’t even let me drink on missions.

SUNSTONE: You say that like it's a bad thing.

ZIRCON: That was actually a good decision he made in hindsight.

OPAL: Wait, missions, plural?

SUNSTONE: Yeah, rounding up those beasts, like the one we just killed. Most of them have been in our own backyard so to speak. A lot of these guys don’t even give us gems.

OPAL: Alright. Also, why are you all dressed so casually?

''Opal was just now noticing how subtle they looked; Sunstone wore an open white button-up shirt and some pants, Charoite wore a deep purple sweater and some jeans, and Zircon a grey, fur-trimmed cardigan and long white dress. Somewhere on each of their outfits was a Yellow Diamond Symbol, obvious to anyone with eyes.''

ZIRCON: Oligoclase insisted we wear these to “fit in” with the human population if we ever come across them. A unique change of pace… but these two are a fashion disaster.

SUNSTONE: Oh, come on, we don’t look that bad.

OPAL: Actually, yeah, you do. For goodness sake Sunstone button up your shirt.

SUNSTONE: Oh, fine.

He followed Opal’s orders and buttoned up his shirt with a less than enthusiastic look on his face.

ZIRCON: Why don’t you unwind a bit in a new outfit, Opal?

OPAL: I’ll worry about that later. Everyone inside, we’re going to have a meeting.

Sunstone and Charoite left, but Zircon remained put.

OPAL: You too Zircon.

ZIRCON: Okay, but, don’t you think you should take it easy for a moment?

OPAL: Zircon, I don’t need to rest.

ZIRCON: You don’t need to prove yourself either.

OPAL: Huh?

ZIRCON: Look, I know you have trouble coping with Oligoclase, but there is no reason to try and prove yourself to us that you are better than him. I know having him have been our temporary leader might have “set you off” a bit, but that is no reason to overreact.

OPAL: It’s not that, it was the mission!

ZIRCON: The mission was a group collaboration, it’s not only you who failed… Not that I mean that you failed, just... You know what I’m going for, right?

OPAL: Not a clue.

ZIRCON: Just let go is what I’m saying. Let’s just live and move on, okay?

OPAL: Alright.

''Opal sat down looked into the skyline. It was beautiful now that he saw it. The small city below, the lush grasslands, and the sight of the snowy mountain tops that peaked across the horizon. Zircon sat with him.''

OPAL: So this is Earth, huh?

ZIRCON: Indeed.

OPAL: How long was I out?

ZIRCON: Several weeks.

''Opal turned his view toward the temple. It was huge, to say the least. It consisted of a central dome structure, a smaller one before it, presumably the meeting room, and large corridor before the entrance, all golden roofed. Twelve round keeps surrounded the central dome structure, in a ring connected to the central dome by gateways. The result was a sizable castle, nearing palace-like, that sat at the summit of the mountain, with stained glass windows, towers, etc. And it all looked so new.''

OPAL: How long did it take to make the palace?

ZIRCON: It was pre-ordered I believe, by Yellow Diamond herself. In a sense, it seemed that she foresaw our…. Failure, and made this for us.

OPAL: Incredible real estate.

ZIRCON: Agreeable.

Black Opal stood up, and motioned toward the entrance.

OPAL: Alright, I think that’s enough sight seeing.

ZIRCON: Were we not having a “moment”?

OPAL: I think the moment’s about over.

ZIRCON: Pitty.

OPAL: Meeting starts in 20 minutes.

'''The 12 were amassed in the meeting hall. Everyone was there, except Black Opal.'''

''Opal then came in from his room in his casual wear, a bit more loose than what he had reformed in. He sat down next to Agate awkwardly, who seemingly looked away in disgust. Black Opal had no idea what he did wrong. Sigh, women.''

ZIRCON: Look who finally decided to loosen up?

OPAL: Whatever. Are you all ready for the meeting?

ALL: Yes.

OPAL: Alright. As you all should know I have been absent these past few weeks. Can someone bring me up to speed on what has been happening?

OLIGOCLASE: You called us all here for an update?

OPAL: Not only that but so that we can plan our next move.

OLIGOCLASE: Sure.

AGATE: Boys, please, not now. In short, we received a message from Yellow Diamond that we were to head to Earth for the next Light mission.

OPAL: Who are we after this time?

ZIRCON: Green Light. It appears there is more than one Light in existence.

OLIGOCLASE: Yellow Diamond is hiding something from us.

OPAL: We need to focus more on our mission of recovering the Light. Zircon, do you have any information on it?

ZIRCON: No, other than the fact that it should be somewhere on this planet.

OPAL: What about a tracking device? Hessonite, can you make one?

HESSONITE: It will be hard to pinpoint the exact location of it. This is a larger planet than where our previous mission took place, and is full of things that can put off the signal. Cities, towns, et cetera.

OPAL: But can you do it?

HESSONITE: In time, yes. But I will need some help.

''Instinctively, everyone turned their heads toward Oligoclase. It was a known fact that other than Hessonite, Oligoclase was the most mechanically inclined.''

OLIGOCLASE: Did I really have any choice in this?

OPAL: Nope.

OLIGOCLASE: Alright, I’ll help.

ZIRCON: Then I guess I will do more research on the subject.

OPAL: Fantastic.

AGATE: And what are all us “bystanders” supposed to do?

''Black Opal immediately recognized the irritation in Agate’s voice. Handling her from now on, he decided, would be a delicate challenge.''

OPAL: If and when the time comes, you guys will be doing missions related to our goal.

Murmurs sounded about the room until a general consensus was reached.

SUNSTONE: Seems legit…

BLOODSTONE: As long as I can fight monsters….

APATITE: I’m okay with that….

OPAL: Happy we’re all agreeing.

OLIGOCLASE: And what will you be doing?

OPAL: I will be leading and keeping the crew together.

OLIGOCLASE: I’m pretty sure I’ve shown anyone can do that job.

OPAL: Oligo, nobody needs your bravado right now.

OLIGOCLASE: I’M THE ONE WITH BRAVADO ??? Says the dude who’s bravado got himself killed out there. Not to mention it cost us the mission.

OPAL: Oligoclase, can you do us all a favor and shut the hell up? We’re all stressed, I get it, but nobody wants to hear you bull-

AGATE: Oh my god you two really need to cool it.

Moonstone leaned next to Sunstone, the two whispering.

MOONSTONE: This escalated quickly.

SUNSTONE: For real.

OPAL: *Sigh* You know what? Meeting adjourned. You two start on the tracker tomorrow.

The twelve split up, no one wanting to stay at the table any longer and face Opal and Oligoclase’s feud.

''As they all went to their respective rooms, Black Opal decided to see what was up with Agate. He followed her into her room. He knocked on the doorway. Opal then stepped inside the room, and the door closed behind him. It was a floating island with a grassy plain. Below it was an abyss. He took note of the caution. On the other end of the island was a large weeping willow tree, and skirting the island were white roses.''

OPAL: Agate?

AGATE: What do you need?

OPAL: You were acting weird toda-

AGATE: Acting weird? Acting weird?!

OPAL: Well you were!

AGATE: Stop saying that as if you don’t know what I’m “acting weird” about!

OPAL: Well I don’t!

AGATE: ARGHH, Oligoclase was right about you! You’re so ignorant of your actions, blinded by your own ego!

OPAL: Well if that’s the problem, then I’ll change it!

AGATE: No, you will not, you haven’t change and you probably never will.

OPAL: I’m not sure why I’m being screwed over here! If you’re talking about the mission, I took them on to defend you.

AGATE: IT’S NOT JUST ABOUT THE “MISSION”!

Agate knelt before the weeping willow, head down, trying not to show tears.

OPAL: Agate, I’m sorry.

AGATE: I was so worried about you.

OPAL: I just wanted you to be safe.

AGATE: Just get out of my room.

''Opal left the room, and found himself in the main room. He looked at himself in the warp pad’s reflection. Opal then stepped passed it and opened his room’s door.''

''The room was large, like all the others he’s seen. And by others, that is to say Zircon’s and Agate’s. It was a room full of floating clouds, and when he looked up he saw what looked like the night sky. He stepped on a cloud, but wasn’t surprised that he didn’t fall through. Palpable clouds are not hard to come by these days, Opal guessed. He lied down on the cloud and looked skyward at the stars.''

''He decided it was about time he take a moment away from the perpetual slurry of drama that was his crew. He was on awkward standings with Agate, but decided he’ll fix that all later. Zircon had been acting weird around him supposedly. It just sort of confusing him why she of all the gems had taken him in. Why not Nephrite? Why not Moonstone? Then there was that whole noise about Oligoclase being leader. What’s his deal? Black Opal was simply too emotionally exhausted for it. He closed his eyes and mentally drifted off.''

And just like that, in the two hours he was awake, he was back to sleep.