Prologue: Glimmering Mirrors
A faint ringing in my ears slowly pulled my eyes open for the first time. My body, suddenly feeling the coldness of the dark blue floor below me, awoke in shock.
My eyes were wide open as my hands quickly brought me to my feet. I looked around frantically for something familiar, or something that I knew. It was my brain that knew nothing of what was around me, and it was my heart that started to be distressed.
I looked at my hands. They appeared to be normal, as were my clothes: jeans that rode around my legs tightly-a single shooting star wrapping around from up the ankle to the thigh-, a shirt with a symbol that meant nothing to me, and a warm leather jacket with the inside being a super soft fur. The fur coming out in a trim around the decorative buttons which seamlessly folded over to the hood part of the jacket. My hand slowly felt down the fur, and my cold cheek felt its softness. Soft beads slowly bent around my other cheek as my eyes looked up to examine what was around me.
My eyebrows furrowed, "There's gotta be something here for me to go off of..."
Looking around I could see these crystal platforms scattered around the room. They naturally jut up from the ground; with little steps around them for easy access. The crystal looked strangely glossy, however, as the outside of the room was dark and blue with what appeared to be water. I looked upwards following the horizon, and finding that the sky was an azure blue with darkened clouds. The cosmos was glaring back down to the ground to which I stood.
A sharp pain pulled through my right arm causing me to grip it out of instinct. I could feel this hard rock affixed to my arm, although it didn't appear unnatural to me. The rock felt as though it was supposed to be there. I pulled my jacket off, noting how soft it felt on the inside in contrast to the smooth outer texture, and made a closer inspection of the rock on my arm.
"What...?" Taking a short breath, my hand went over the smooth angled surface of the rock. Well, it was more of a gem the more I looked at it. It was a heptagon in shape, the deep blue of the gem was striking and glossy. It was located on my wrist, but it was embedded into my skin. It didn't hurt more so that my body suddenly became aware that it existed. "It's... blue..." Checking my other arm, there was indeed a second gem but it was a greenish blue color instead. It appeared to be a hexagon in shape with the center as an angled raised pentagon. The gems themselves appeared to be cut to perfection, and incredibly beautiful and clean. "What are the gems for though...?" I spoke to myself with no answer to reciprocate.
It was at this moment I was faced with a very pressing question, "What is my name?" I closed my eyes, and held my jacket close to me to think. A hall of blank paintings and empty shelves were what was returned to me in my thoughts. There was nothing to hide, and nothing to remember. The walls were white and bland, and the rooms were vast and cold. Not a name to be found. I took a deep breath, "I need to just stay calm. Surely I'll find my answers soon."
"...hm." I slowly sat down with my thoughts to eventually guide me to a compromise. I continued to keep my eyes closed; holding my jacket close to me.
The sound of the room was filled with just the light rush of clean mysterious air. I could feel its fingers brush through my boyish hair like a long lost friend trying to reach out for me.
"I'm alone... Obviously." I opened my eyes and looked around again in vain. "... I wonder if there's a way out." I slowly got up but not before putting my jacket back on after feeling a chill go passed my arms.
I took a look around, moving around the crystal platforms, I investigated the edges of the room. A wall of wind, it seemed, rushed up from beyond the room, and prevented me from proceeding any further. Not that I would want to as it seemed to be a steep drop into black unknown. My face was engulfed in an inquisitive expression as I searched the rest of the room.
Quickly I went around each crevice, examined each rounded spire, and looked over each mirror like platform. The center of the room had a larger platform that commanded attention, albeit was gravely cracked and broken beyond repair it seemed. My hand felt down the cold, albeit new and smooth, rock that seemed to form stairs to the platform in the center of the room.
I climbed up to the center platform, noting the decorative rocks around the platform, to continue to investigate. "These glass platforms... There's something strange about them." I knelt down and lightly placed my hand on it so my fingers touched the smooth glass. The other side of it was cracked beyond repair it seemed. "Hmmm... Are they all broken?" I took a sweeping glance all the way around the room. Being this high, I could see pretty much everything there was in the room.
It was then I noticed a glass platform that was untouched. The only one in the room, it was completely solid, and upon closer inspection was fairly used. A variety of faint foot scuffs were on the glass like surface. The markings were varying in sizes with 4 in total.
"Someone was here recently, I could guess but... how? There's no way out of this room." I narrowed my eyes and decided to place my feet in one of the marked spots. I clenched my fists, "Is it a teleporter?" I pulled back the sleeves on my jacket and looked at my gems, "Do these work on it?" Closing my eyes again I concentrated on activating the platform, but nothing happened.
I stepped off the platform, and knelt down to take a closer look. My hand felt over the smooth surface to see if there was some kind of secret to it. "A hand print maybe? Is it activated by a foot print signature...? I didn't see any feet on the other ones...then again those are broken. ...Why am I still talking to myself? Heh."
Just as I was about to give up a sudden flash of light blinded my eyes and caused me to fall backwards.
The platform was the source of the light which quickly faded out of existence almost as quickly as it appeared. When the light faded it left behind someone.
I looked up to see two tall bodies standing on the platform. A rather tall woman with dark clothing that seemed to meld with her black cubed afro. Her body verbatim was incredibly curved, and more specifically her torso and legs. It was as if she was made of small ovals and cylinders. She seemed to give a sense of authority and power with a decisive nature.
The other body also appeared to be female; her hair slicked back but was incredibly clean despite it. Her body was slender and almost stick like as were her clothes of a small skirt and blue tang-top combo. The graceful nature she exuded was not lost on me.
They looked around for a moment without noticing me. The darker one spoke, "There was a disturbance here I detected this morning." Her voice was commanding but chilled. She kept hidden what her emotions were, but her motives and reasoning were incredibly clear by how she spoke.
The other one replied, "But you broke the main home warp, so it would be impossible for anyone to have gone through... Oh, I really hope it hasn't begun again." A sense of worry in her voice as she over thought the situation.
"Stay calm." She walked over to the larger raised platform in the middle. "It was just a disturbance, it could be anything."
Startled and terrified to say anything I kept still. I clenched my teeth tightly and took small breaths. I could feel my body shake with fear and bewilderment.
What if they know who I am? ...Is that really important right now though? What if they try to destroy me...!
Suddenly, the slender female took notice to me as she looked over the platform nearest to the working one. "Wah-! O-oh..."
The powerful one quickly turned towards us, and thus noticed me. "... Who are you?" She commanded.
"I'm... um..." I slowly got up, and looked over at the slender female who looked at me warily. I suddenly noticed she had a white rock on her forehead. It reminded me of the ones on my arm. "... I'm not sure who I am." I replied. The larger of the two became defensive and slowly raised her fists.
"What...?" She looked at the taller one as if to ask what was up. She shrugged, and the slender one's wariness turned to pity as she stepped forward. "Are you feeling ok? What happened?"
"I woke up in this room, whatever it is. Nobody else was here. And..." I pulled up my sleeves. "There's these weird rocks on my wrists. Kinda like what's on your forehead, whoever you are." Slowly I started to calm down, now having been able to talk out my feelings to someone else. Albeit, someone I don't know yet. Having heard my testimony, the larger one seemed to be sufficiently satisfied.
The slender one started to think to her self for a moment as the powerful one walked over, her glasses completely obscuring her eyes with a pinkish mirror surface, and took a look at my rocks. She grabbed my hand with an unexpected tenderness. "...Mm." She looked back at her friend. "He's a Gem."
"Well, of course, but where in the world did he come from!? All the warp pads are broken! It's not like he just... fell... ...from...space..." She looked up at the sky and suddenly came up with an idea. "Space! He came from space mid-warp!"
The powerful one put her hand to her face in thought, "It's... Possible, but not probable. The Warps are linked via a proxy dimension."
"Remember the fight at the Inter-Stellar Warp? All the Gems that tried to warp away had to recede back into their gemstones because the warp broke..." She started to think more about it. "...But but...!"
Garnet thought to herself, as if contemplating something huge, and groaned in thought. "... I think we should help him."
"Garnet?" The female put her hand onto the rounded shoulder.
"... There's a lot of possible outcomes that... could lead to something big. But... I can't see what for sure yet."
"You said that with Amethyst, remember?"
She nodded, not saying anything. She crossed her arms in agreement with herself for whatever reason. "Yes, I do." Her face was stoic as she turned towards me, "We'll help you."
I sighed in relief, "Thank you. I don't know... what you really mean, but if it helps me find out who I am, I'm sure I can repay your kindness somehow." I nodded.
I smiled weakly being unsure of my future and of my own health. Trusting these two people was my only option, it seemed.
"Introductions are in order!" The slender female chirped in. She smiled softly, "I'm Pearl, and this is Garnet. Back at the temple there's two more Gems I'm sure you'll get along with just fine." She seemed more excited that there was another Gem than actually helping me.
Garnet looked at me for a moment before cutting in, "Just one thing. A name." She gestured at me.
"My name? ..." I looked down dejected, and unable to remember a name. Pulling my jacket closer to me I couldn't help but notice there being a slightly opened pocket. My curiosity got the better of me, and I slipped my hand into the zippered pouch. There was a piece of paper, to which I quickly revealed to myself. "...What the heck?" I pulled it out so they could read it.
It was just a bunch of blocked text-language I couldn't decipher, and a name at the bottom corner of the paper. It read, "Azurite."
"Azurite." I spoke aloud.
"That settles it. Your name is Azurite." She helped me onto the platform giving me a decisive nod.
Pearl interjected, "Just hold still for one moment as we warp back to the temple."
I gave her a strange expression, but only to be replied with a confident smile and closing eyes. Pearl seemed to focus for a moment before the platform started to activate. My body jumped a little bit as a beam of light engulfed us.
The light brought us up high, and obscured our vision of the world around us in a seemingly endless tube of bluish light. It was as if all weight had been lifted off my body. I marveled at the beautiful crystal like blue the light gave off as we continued. Pearl and Garnet, standing still and looked as if this was completely normal, kept their arms down and their feet firmly together as if preparing for something.
Its glorious shimmering splendor quickly dissipated as it dropped us in a new location. Pearl and Garnet landed on their feet almost effortlessly while I was unprepared for the sudden gravity. All my limbs seemed to drop to the floor, and I was forced to kneel down quickly to catch myself. Slowly, I got back up to observe my new surroundings.
A similar flooring from the previous area stops right after the crystal platform which quickly led into a wooden flooring. The walls made of glossy rock and stone also cut off right at where the wood begins. Following the wood is what seemed to be a kitchen: complete with a fridge, stools, counter and cabinets which follow the wall to a screen door. It was all well kept but also highly trafficked; as if it was cleaned in vain most of the time.
The left side of the wooden area seemed to lead into what seemed like a bedroom as a small staircase led up to a bed with a small television set at the end of it. Toys strewn around that particular area, and video games by the television made it seem as though this child had just been there. A partial wall painted expertly with red slightly divided this side of the room with the edge of the platform area. It was strange to really look around the area as it was juxtaposed with a mature and mysterious area.
I started to walk through the room to get a better look, "Um... where are we exactly? I understand this is a child's room but..." I looked back at Pearl and Garnet. "This is...strange." I took off my jacket to put it down somewhere as a warm summer like breeze went into the room.
"This is our friend Steven's room." Pearl explained. "Steven is...special. He's a crystal gem like us, and a short but definitely capable young man for our team."
"I'll try to keep the questions to a minimum for now, but...um, what is a Gem?"
She looked at me with a grave expression then returned it to Garnet. Garnet, having been silent this whole time, gestured for us to sit at the counter in the kitchen. Pearl replied, "You...really don't remember anything...do you...?"
"It's strange... I understand simple concepts like... This room is like a part of a house, but... Those platforms that transported us I have no recollection of. I don't even remember where I came from." I looked down at my gemstones as my arms pulled closer together on the counter. My elbows supporting my upper body, I sighed. "I don't know... Maybe it's these gemstone things?"
Garnet went over to the screen door, "I'm going to get Steven and Amethyst." Without another word she was off.
Pearl took my wrist and examined my gemstones. "You have two, which is fairly uncommon..." She released me once more. "If you want, I could give you a crash course on Gems. You are a Gem, so knowing the basics is a great building block, and maybe it might jog your memory."
She stood up and gestured out into the air. Her gem acted accordingly, and produced what looked like a floating image made of blue light from her gemstone. Her eyes closed, and her mouth started to speak to me about what Gems are and what all Gems are capable of: Summoning a Weapon, Shape-shifting, Fusion, Regeneration...
End of Prologue.