The Opal: By xGaaraRulesx (Emily)
Introduction
Smoke rose from the burnt grass, small flames dying down in the severe chill that hung in the air. Flags mounted on spears were pierced to the ground, and bodies lay, motionless, coated with black ash. A single wild phoenix soared in the air above, it's cry echoing the sorrow that lay in each and every dead body. The battle had ended.
The last known survivor walked across the war ground, no expression on his face betrayed his emotions. His army had fought well, risking their lives for the peace of others. Their opponents didn't deserve their Gemstones. But they were mere humans against the dark sorcerers. The survivor let out a deep sigh. He had not been there to help them. He could have stopped the endless lines of death, but because of his absence, the cries of his army had not been heard. The darkness had clouded through the silver-lining, and the most powerful sorcerer of them all had unleashed his wrath. Little did he know of the severe consequences this would cause for him and his army.
The whole fighting plain had lit up with flames, rain fell from the sky, ice crept across every body, and the ground shook fiercely. The sorcerer quickly realized his mistake, and he too fell, his own elements too powerful for one to hold control of.
The survivor lingered over the body of his aarch-enemy. His powers had been the strength of a single opal, about the size of a pound-coin. No powers were gifted from the heart, except for the small light of faith, hope, love and loyalty. These tiny aspects had kept the survivors' army going. They had no possession. No Gemstones.
The survivor raised his arms into the air, and every single sorcerers Gemstone flew into the air. All of them were perfectly preserved, apart from one. The Opal. The survivor knew that the Opal was the only Gemstone out of the rest that could choose who took control of it. It's past owner had forced it to let him take control, with his own dark powers, increased by rage. Now that the Opal was broken, not even the fiercest creature on Earth could use it as their own.
The survivor thought. He would have to let all of the Gemstones go. Their powers were individual, created by the single light of a star, grain of blue sand, tear of a unicorn, and ash of a phoenix. He threw his hands up into the air, and the Gemstones dispersed into the blue sky; landing in all different places of the Earth.
"They will fall into the hands of anyone they wish. The Opal, the most powerful of Gemstones, will choose it's controllers. A war will rage again, both opponents equally balanced with a Gemstone. There will be betrayal, hope, despair, life, death, and most of all, faith." and those were the survivors last words before he let his own Gemstone join it's dark siblings.
This story begins 100 years after the famous War Of The Gemstones, where both sides defeated their enemies and friends, fighting with their eyes blinded by faith, anger, and hope. This is the story of the second Gemstone War, declared by 'the survivor' and carried out by his descendants.
This is the story of The Opal.
Chapter One – The Ring
"Cary, where are you going?" Anne Brooke called down the stairs as her sixteen year-old daughter rushed out of the front door.
"To the village," came the reply. "I'm going to spend my £10 from work on a necklace." and with that, Cary Brook had slammed the door behind her and stepped out into the fresh spring air.
Many cars sped across the lane, pulling out onto the village road. Cary could hear the usual bustle of people buying their weekly items, and saw children rushing across the roads with balls, dogs and skipping ropes. It was usually this busy on a Friday afternoon.
Cary worked at a small Cafe on the corner of the busy village. She had finished school only last month, and had quit her given job as a checkout-girl in Next for the quiet work at Talon Cafe.
She sighed and crossed the lane, turning to a tight alley-way. The shade of the trees sent shivers across her back, and she was pleased to emerge into the daylight again.
"Hey – watch out, you dozy girl!"
Cary drew her attention away from the bright blue sky and saw three boys around her age rushing past, a ball at their feet. She shook her head and pushed through the never-ending crowd of people, stopping at a Jewels shop. She looked at the expensive gold and silver necklaces, and then something glistened in the corner of her eye. She turned and saw a tall lady placing a white-gold ring on her finger. It had a glistening stone encrusted on the top.
"It's too tight." she moaned, twisting the beautiful ring from her thin, delicate index finger and giving it back to the stall-tender, a pale fifteen year old girl with tumbling long blond hair. The tall lady shuffled off and the stall-tender smiled and placed the ring back in it's holder. She didn't seem bothered that the ring had not been sold.
Cary approached the stall, her eyes fixed on the ring. It had a pale pink and grin swirled opal on top; which was about half the size of a 5p coin, and seemed jagged around the edges, like it had been broken from a bigger stone.
"May I help you?"
Cary drew her eyes towards the stall-tender. Her hair was almost white, and her eyes reflected the blue-sky, as if she was the weather herself.
"Er, I'd like to try on that ring. It's very pretty." Cary said. The stall-tender nodded.
"Sure." she picked up the ring with extra care and passed it to Cary, who held it in her hands. It was heavy, and felt freezing cold, like it was ice. She placed it on her index finger. To her surprise, it fit perfectly, although the tall-girl that had tried it on before her had much smaller and thinner fingers. The opal let of a bright green glow, and Cary looked at the stall-tender. Her eyes were wide with surprise, but then softened.
"My name is Tor - - er, Claudia. Would you like that ring?" Claudia said, swallowing. Cary nodded eagerly.
"My name is Cary – and I would love it! Yes, yes! How much --"
"Nothing – take it for free." Claudia said quickly. Cary looked at her, surprised. The sun seemed brighter, and Claudia's eyes seemed to glow, matching it's rays. Cary shook the thought away, and grinned.
"Thank you!" she said, walking away into the crowd of people, very pleased with her new ring. She didn't notice Claudia had left the stall as soon as Cary turned round.
As she walked towards her Cafe, she heard her name from the open door. She slowly peeped inside, and saw Claudia with two other girls. One was tall with dark brown hair and two white gloves – around sixteen. The other was around twelve, with bushy red hair. She had tiger-like black highlights. When Cary approached, they stopped mumbling to each other and began talking about something completely different, although Cary caught the twelve year-olds eye. It had a slit, like a cat, and for a moment Cary thought she was going mad, but a split-second later the girl blinked and the slit was a deep black pupil.
Cary swallowed and walked past, slipping behind the counter. She began to serve some customers, when she heard Claudia speaking again. The words 'ring' and 'chosen her' were mentioned.
She gritted her teeth and gripped onto the glass of coke she was holding, trying to ignore them. Why were they talking about her so much? Maybe Claudia wanted the ring back.
"Should we tell her?"
"No – not yet. We don't even know if it's actually chosen her yet."
"I see your point."
Cary felt anger boiling up inside her. Tell me what? She thought to herself, narrowing her eyes at the girls. They saw her and began talking about nonsense again. Cary gripped tighter to the coke glass and heard a chinking sound. The glass of the coke had become freezing cold.
"Ouch!"
She retracted her hand quickly, and noticed that the coke inside the glass had frozen, and was rattling against the sides of the glass. She frowned. It wasn't frozen before she had taken it onto the counter... she began browsing through possibilities, when she heard an impatient cough from in front of her. She looked up.
"Excuse me – is this my coke?" a customer said, drumming his fingers on the counter. Cary opened her mouth to say something, but then nodded and handed him the glass. He stared at the coke and then at Cary before walking off.
Cary looked at her hand and saw the opal glinting, although no light was shining on it.
"Hmm," she mumbled, confused. First – the ring had fit on her finger but had been too tight for a thinner girl. Second, Claudia and her friends are talking about 'telling her' something, and third – the ring was glinting with no light just after a glass of coke had mysteriously frozen under her hand. She sighed and continued serving, annoyingly aware of Claudia's watchful gaze.
Cary decided to go home early that day, to sort out her thoughts. She felt tired, confused and annoyed. As she approached the door, a flood of tiredness swept through her, and she reached out for the handle, twisting it. Suddenly, Cary felt a cold, wet surface. She pulled away her hand, and saw the handle of the door, dripping with water. She looked at her hand, and saw the opal on her ring flash again. She felt her heart thud, and heard Claudia's voice from the back of the Cafe.
"See that? It's chosen her alright. We'll catch her tomorrow sometime."
Cary closed her eyes to control her anger, and pulled the door open, ignoring the water dripping from the handle. She slammed it shut and stepped into the cool air outside.
"It's nothing – really, they're probably just winding me up.." she mumbled to herself on the way home. But she knew she was wrong. She knew something was fishy about the ring, Claudia, her gloved-friend and the feline-like girl. Something she hoped she would find out the next day.