Chapter 3: Tangled Threads
The sun was high in the sky, it's radiant rays of light burning any and all clouds in the sky, leaving a wide scape of blue. Below this wide range of beauty was a large spread of green leaves of mighty trees. Such a sight from a bird's eye view is enough to take one's breath away, but it's what lies underneath this canopy, a world that man can only comprehend in myths and legends. This is a sight that attracts both man and gem alike, for this forest holds secrets that any and all living being would die to see, to experience. Ruby and Sapphire looked onwards from the edge of this ancient forest, and wondered what would lie between the trunks of these mighty plants that spent decades growing.
"I got to admit, this is a step up from Russia. At least it's warm here." Ruby said with a smile on her face.
"Aw, I actually like the cold, but this is a pretty nice sight as well." Sapphire replied warmly.
"Not that I'm complaining!" Ruby said modestly, "I grew up a cold environment, so it's just nice to be somewhere...not frigid is all!"
"Hehe, it's fine Ruby, I get where you're coming from." Sapphire said as she turned her attention to Tourmaline, lying on his back and staring at the sky, "So why are we here exactly? 'This is going to be an awesome place!' Doesn't really explain much." She said as she impersonated Tourmaline.
With those words, he sprung up from his lazy position and walked up to the girls. He looked up at the trees and gave a small grin.
"Since you ask, we're looking for a tree!" He said excitedly.
The girls happy faces gave way to sarcastic looks and disappointed expressions.
"Any in particular? Cause I see like forty of them already." Ruby said sarcastically.
"As a matter of fact smartass, yes. There's an ancient tree somewhere in this forest, where there is told to be a beautiful fairy. But she is held prisoner but a wicked spirit of the forest. Our adventure is to find that forest and save that fairy!" Tourmaline explained.
"So we're basing our adventure off of something you read in a children's book?" Sapphire said jokingly.
"I didn't hear this from a children's book! Granted it was from a book, but not a kid's!" Tourmaline replied annoyed, "Besides, do you have a better idea for our next adventure?"
The girls looked at each other for a second, thoughts racing through their heads to think of a comeback against him. But alas, they had nothing. They looked back at him with defeated expressions.
"Fair enough." The two of them said.
"Alright then, we wasted enough time. Let's move out!" Tourmaline said proudly as he led the girls into the forest.
As they entered the forest looking only onwards at the vine covered, prismatic new world, they felt a sudden rush of bliss. The scent of various flowers and other plants in bloom overwhelmed them and created a sense of inner peace for all of them. Their senses were on high, and everything felt so right with the world. With this rush of exuberance, the young gems began to bound over the giant roots of the ancient trees and went off to explore this wondrous new land. They were so caught up in their emotions, they didn't even notice the vines closing around any and all openings that allowed them to escape back to the real world. Like Alice before them, it appears our the gems have found themselves lost in Wonderland, but this time, something more sinister seems afoot.
The gems were frolicking in what felt like paradise. The air tasted like honey, and it smelled of the most wonderful carnations and roses. The forest flower felt like the plushest of furs, and the sound of the fauna soothed their hearts. Everything felt wonderful, the gems were laughing and a strong sense of euphoria rushed through them. Tourmaline spun in place as he raised his hands to the sky and laughed with a blissful look on his face. He was so captivated by this high, he failed to notice the tree root on the ground, as he backed up, tripped and smashed the back of his head against the dense bark.
Everything in his little world stopped in an instant. He slid down the tree and sat in a slump, his head pounding and his eyes aching. He closed his eyes for a second, and when he opened them, he saw that his fantasy world was nothing but smoke and mirrors. The plush forest floor was covered in twisted, sickly long grass, the air was thick with the smell of decay, the animal's heartfelt growls and chirps were twisted sounds of pain, and the forest was a black, decrepit place of rotting wood and fetid fungus. Yet Ruby and Sapphire were still gleefully prancing around like they were in a meadow. Finding the whole thing strange, Tourmaline looked up to see a dark orange cloud of some mystery gas.
"That's probably what probably made me trip out." Tourmaline thought to himself.
His headache now only a mild nuisance, he got up to his feet and walked towards the two drugged women. He grabbed the laughing Ruby by the hand and brought her to the exuberant Sapphire. The two looked at each other with their large smiles and turned to Tourmaline.
"Isn't this place wonderful!?" Ruby shouted, "I love this beautiful forest!".
"Yeah, lets stay here forever!" Sapphire shouted.
Their eyes were flushed orange, clearly a sign of the drug, and it seemed that reasoning with them wasn't also going to help. So Tourmaline took a deep breath, grabbed the two of them by the sides of their heads, and then slammed them together as hard as he could. The collision shook their heads to the core as they fell back from the harsh attack. Before they could yell at Tourmaline, their eyes cleared up, and they saw the true form of their paradise.
"I...what happened? Where did we go?" Ruby asked, feeling her sore spot.
"We're in the same forest, just without our rose colored glasses on." Tourmaline said, as he pointed towards the discolored air.
"So that gas made us feel this way? Hold on, I have something for this." Sapphire said, as she reached inside of her backpack.
She pulled out 3 gas masks, and handed one to Ruby and one to Tourmaline.
"These should block out that gas." She explained.
"Good thinking, but what are you doing with these?" Tourmaline asked.
"I work with chemicals, so it's good to have something as a sort of...safety precaution." Sapphire replied.
"Cool, so do you think you can deduce what this gas is then?" Ruby asked curiously.
"It seems to be some form of hallucinogenic stimulant. Sort of like an airborne LSD. The difference here is, is that it seems to be natural. There are no traces of any man made thing, like smog or smoke. Some sort of plant or animal is producing this." Sapphire elaborated.
"What kind of thing could make something like this?" Tourmaline wondered.
"I don't know, but we should find it and destroy it. If this gas has this kind of effect on gems, imagine what it could do to other life. We have to stop it before it spreads any further." Sapphire declared.
The other two gems noded in agreement and looked up at the gas. They saw that the wind was carrying it across the forest, so they went against it to hopefully track this mystery gas down at the source.
"Told ya this adventure would be fun." Tourmaline said jokingly.
"Yeah, we only would have gotten drugged and possibly lost here forever if it weren't for the fact that you're such a klutz." Ruby replied sarcastically.
With those words, Tourmaline clammed up and looked onwards at the gas trail, wondering what they would find at the end of it.
The trio began their trek through the dead Wonderland, moving against the gust that is carrying the odd toxin through the air. As they walked through the woods, they came across a very peculiar sound. It didn't sound like the fauna they were used to, it sounded more...insectile. Tourmaline rushed towards the noise and ducked behind a tree. He motioned to signal Ruby and Sapphire to come by. The two ran towards the adjacent trees and looked at each other. Tourmaline gave them each a quick nod and leaned over to get a peek at the mystery creatures. He got what he wanted, but it wasn't entirely what he expected.
There were about 8 of the things, shiny black shells with emerald gems on their lower halves, covered in legs and had a pincer on both ends. One end however held a singular eye within, flushed with the same color he saw in the girl's eyes when they were gassed, and their actions confirmed Tourmaline's suspicions. They were frolicking in whatever fantasy world they are perceiving. One was continuously picking up brackish water from a filthy stream, amused by the feeling/sight of the water rushing out of it's lower jaw. Another was rolling on it's back like a dog, making it's already black back even darker with the mud on the ground. The others were just staring at the sky, leaping, rolling and playing like they were earlier.
"Ruby, do you know what those things are?" Tourmaline asked.
"They're centibeetles. Little juvenile ones from the looks of it." Ruby answered.
"Juvenile? So this is like a litter of kids?" Tourmaline asked curiously.
"Yeah, so the mother should be nearby." Ruby responded grimly.
"I don't think that'll be a problem. I mean look at the kids, they're tripping balls! The mother is probably incapacitated as well." Sapphire declared.
Tourmaline looked at the playful monsters and his stern look turned to a grimace. "Should we kill them?"
"If we clear out this gas, they might turn hostile. It's best that we take them out now before they sober up." Sapphire said.
With a sigh, Tourmaline gave a nod and rushed towards the nearest one. He summoned his weapon and delivered a kick that cleaved the oblivious creature in two. Sapphire and Ruby followed up with their weapons, slashing and stabbing at the poor beasts. It was over in seconds, a veritable slaughter. The beasts poofed away, but the gems were still on guard. As Ruby said, the mother had to be close. The group advanced but proceeded with caution. Looking all around for what could be the killer beast that would want to avenge it's young.
The group walked for what felt like hours, waiting in anticipation for it to strike. They kept going and going until they came across something that would break even their heightened focus. They found the source of the gas. It leaked from a giant tree, completely white and covered in silk. The trunk was as wide as a bus and the top was not visible amongst the other foliage. Giant white bags hanged from it's branches, their contents were anyone's guess.
The gems walked up to the silk soaked tree, mystified by it's presence. As Ruby walked up with her friends, a large drop of green liquid fell in front of her. She looked up to see that one of the bags was leaking.
"Hey guys, check it out!" She shouted as she pointed upwards.
The other's looked up and saw the white bag with the large green splotch.
"Huh, wonder what's inside." Tourmaline pondered.
"Lets find out." Ruby declared, as she drew her weapons.
She took one sword and threw it at the thread holding the large bag afloat. The blade spun faster and faster whirling through the air and it sliced through the thread cleanly. The large white sack fell fast, it only took a few seconds for it to come crashing down to the forest floor. Leaves, twigs and other debris went flying with the impact of the now massive sack. The gems approached the bag with a newfound sense of curiosity.
"Wonder what's inside." Sapphire said nervously.
"I don't know, but something is off about this sack. I mean, there was already something weird about it but now there's something else." Tourmaline said.
"What do you mean?" Ruby asked.
Tourmaline pointed at the egg shaped sack. A closer look revealed a large mark in the sack, almost like a seam closed shut. "It looks like this thing had been opened and closed up."
"W-Why would something do that?" Sapphire asked, stuttering.
"Only one way to find out. Lets rip this thing open and see what's inside." Ruby declared, as she drove her other blade into the seam.
The blade slid through the weakened slit like a hot knife through butter. Once at the other end, the bag tore open and something thumped out of it. Something big. They looked over and saw the same familiar black shell and green gems and pincers. It was the mother, or what was left of her. Her body was littered with strange bite marks, chunks of her lower and upper sections were missing. Her white mane was stuck to the silk and her eye...well there wasn't one. The strangest part was that each of her wounds, save for the one that made the green spot in her bag, was completely dry. No liquid, no sign of clotting, it was as though it was drained of it's blood.
"Well, that answers one question but raises soooo many others." Tourmaline said, perplexed by the sight.
"What kind of gem beast could do something like this?" Ruby asked as she looked over the carcass.
"Maybe it was a spider. The silk threads are kind of a dead giveaway." Tourmaline dryly said.
"Yeah but what kind of spider I mean. And what kind of spider makes a gas, let alone a hallucinogenic kind." Ruby continued on.
Just then, a kind of light screech was heard from above. The gems tensed as they drew their weapons and looked up. What they saw was unexpected. It wasn't a spider, but a giant moth. It's coat white as the silk that covered the tree, it's eyes a deep black-green. It's wings were odd though, each one had four black lines, one on the top, on on the bottom, and two cutting through the forewing and the hindwing, leaving two black gems in-between them. It flew above spreading a pollen that evaporated into the familiar gas. Then it disappeared above the cloud to high above the other trees at the top of the massive white one.
"One question raised, many others answered." Sapphire said.
"Care to elaborate?" Tourmaline asked.
"What we are witnessing is a symbiotic relationship. This moth is obviously spreading this pollen and gas around the forest. Why? To repay the…thing, that is inhabiting this tree. The...spider," She shuddered as she said this, "created this home for itself, and it's friend. To repay it for a home to raise it's own young, it spreads this pollen, making it a breeze for spider to get it's prey." She explained.
"Also to avoid the spider eating it." Ruby explained.
"Yeah...that too." Sapphire replied grimly.
"Well the point is, is that we found our culprits for causing the destruction of this forest. Lets find the spider first and kill his buddy later. Not much it can do to us anyway, considering we have these masks." Tourmaline said, "Come on, lets get climbing."
With those words, he leaped onto and grabbed a hold of the silk and began his ascent. The others quickly followed, although Sapphire seemed a bit hesitant. Ruby looked at her friend with concern.
"You alright Sapphire? You're acting a little weird." She asked.
"Oh no I'm fine! Just, getting a feel of the place." Sapphire responded chipperly.
Sapphire gave an enthusiastic smile as she waved at Ruby. Ruby gave a shrug and returned her attention to climbing the white tree. As soon as she turned her head away, Sapphire's warm expression faded away to an upset frown. Groaning to herself, she walked up to the tree and began her trek to join up with the others.
"Ooooooh why did it have to be a spider!?" She thought to herself, "Why couldn't I just have a giant butterfly to deal with and be done with that!?"
The climb was long but fairly easy due to the webbing. They reached what could only be called the heart of the tree, a large carved out area with some small silk sacks here and there. The air was thick with the sickly smell of decay and rotting strands of web. The inside looked more like a dungeon of white than an animal's nest. The group scanned the area to find the giant menace but to no avail. There was nothing here. The gems nearly decided to check higher when they heard a small noise coming from one of the sacks. They turned towards the sound to see it moving, as if something still alive was trapped in there. Tourmaline ran over to it with one kick, slit open the sack and leaped back as it's contents spilled out. It wasn't a centibeetle, but a young blue girl, her dreads matted with webs.
"What the hell?" Tourmaline exclaimed.
She turned over, still in shock from her sudden rescue. She scurried back against the wall of the tree, her breathing heavy. It was now that her chest was viewable, revealing a blue gem.
"Who are you!?" She asked, still scared.
"Whoa whoa whoa, easy! It's okay, we're...friends I guess. I'm Tourmaline, and this is Sapphire and Ruby." He said as the others waved with welcoming smiles, "We came here to find out what's up with this forest. We're gems."
"What...you're gems?" She asked in astonishment. As she looked down, she noticed the two rectangular gems of tourmaline covering the young man's shins. As soon as she saw them, she heaved a sigh of relief.
"Oh my god, it's hard to believe there are others out there, let alone here. Sorry for freaking out earlier, it's just that your masks are kind of...creepy." She said, pointing at Tourmaline's gas mask.
"Yeah, I guess so. Hey Sapphire, is it okay if we take these off?" He asked, facing her.
"I would say so, she doesn't appear under the effect of the gas, so it should be fine." She clarified as she took of her mask, revealing her face.
"Okay good." Ruby said as she took of hers.
They took of their masks and gave them back to Sapphire to hang onto. Then they turned their attention back to the girl. She looked a bit younger than Tourmaline and was wearing what could be called some form of greek garb, much like what an oracle would wear, except less revealing.
"My name is Tanzanite." She said as she walked up to Tourmaline, "I suppose you're wondering why I was caught in that mess."
"Spider. We got it already. It's working with that moth we saw earlier, a kind of boss/employee relationship. We're going to squash the spider first. Also why didn't you get eaten by it?" Tourmaline spat out.
"I wouldn't make much of a meal for it. It was probably saving me for...it's young." Tanzanite said, as she shivered.
"That thing has young!?" Sapphire yelled.
"No no no, not yet anyway. It spent it's time making this into a form of nesting ground, supplying it with leftovers and occasionally some live stuff. If it had kids, I think I would know first hand." Tanzanite explained.
"OH thank goodness." Sapphire said with a sigh of relief.
"By the way you're only half right. There is a relationship between that moth and spider, but it's beca-" Tanzanites words were cut short by the sound of giant wings beating.
The moth came flying into the area, flying around for a minute, circling around and looking down at the intruders. It then landed in front of them blocking the only exit. It gently flapped it's wings, but gave off no pollen. Then it's wings bent. The black gems slid to it's sides and the webbing became tufts on the now thick legs. It's thorax swelled up, and it's white coat shed, revealing a purple cortex. The two big eyes separated into 3 eyes each, now glowing yellow. Lastly, it's featureless face stretched like a sheet of skin being ripped apart, revealing a mouth hiding a sharp set of mandibles and fangs, dripping with venom. The creature opened it's mouth and let out a hissing shriek at the gems.
Tourmaline went into an offensive pose, as did Ruby. Sapphire stood there for a second, paralyzed with fear. But she quickly shook it off and summoned her weapons. They were the only thing standing between this monster and Tanzanite, and they weren't going to let if off easy.
"I...I can fight too!" Tanzanite exclaimed as her gem glowed, summoning a small sword.
"If you say so." Tourmaline said, his attention turning to the bothered Sapphire, "Hey, you okay?".
"Ju-just fine! Just wasn't expecting something like...this." She said shakily.
"You have an issue with spiders?" Tourmaline asked.
As she heard this, the beast gave off a mock lunge, leaping forward with it's forelegs swiping forward and it's mandibles dripping venom, all while giving the same horrific screech.
"Gah! *sigh* Okay tough guy yes! I am scared of spiders! HAPPY!?" She shouted at him, obviously upset.
Tourmaline was taken back a bit by her sudden outburst, her morale was obviously low and he had to do something about it. Time to put on the charm that he was building up.
"You know, I have a bit of a problem with spiders too." He admitted. Sapphire then looked at him in surprise. Was he serious? Or was he just saying that to make her feel better?
"Yeah, they're pretty nasty but hey, my foot was designed to squash these freaks!" He said confidently.
Yeah, he was saying it to make her feel better, but it worked. Her confidence was back, and she was ready to slash her personal fear's face to shreds. It's time to fight, and she's raring to go more than ever before.
Tourmaline was the first to charge at the beast. He leaped at it, spinning to prepare a massive roundhouse kick. But before it could connect, the arachnid leaped out of the way, latching onto the wooden walls of it's domain. Tourmaline landed and looked up at the beast, amazed by it's agility. The beast then leaped at the girls, causing each of them to leap back from it's clawed legs and massive weight. It may have been surrounded but the gems had been scattered, and it's attention was on Sapphire.
The beast rushed her, jaws opened wide and liquids still leaking. For a moment, she froze in place, but she snapped out of her fear induced trance and slid under the beast, stopping directly underneath it's abdomen. She stabbed wildly with her claws, puncturing it's shell and ripping out bit of soft flesh and black blood from it. The best shrieked in pain and raised it's body up. Ruby acted quickly and pulled Sapphire out before the beast could slam it's massive body down, pulverizing her. The beast felt confused, not feeling the squashed gem on it's underbelly, and just splintered wood. In it's daze, Tourmaline delivered a midair axe kick, splintering it's hard shell, blinding two of it's eyes, and enraging the beast beyond comprehension.
Tourmaline leapt back as the creature's mouth began to foam and leak even more green venom. A cracking sound was made more and more apparent, and then it happened. The mandibles in it's mouth shot out, splintering parts of it's shell and revealing it's deadliest weapon. These pincers were covered in blunt spikes that oozed the green liquid. If a cut didn't kill what those things touched, the venom would.
"That explains how it could cut it's sacks and gut it's victims." Tourmaline thought to himself.
But he didn't have much time to think, as the beast charged him with it's mouth wide open. Tourmaline jumped out of the way of the slicing mandibles as they came together in an instant, scissoring motion. Tanzanite and Ruby took their advantage and attacked it's back legs, severing them from it's body. The spider screamed and stumbled back, trying not to lose it's balance. It regained its footing and swung the giant blades towards them. They leaped out of the way, but it's attention was now focused on Tanzanite. The young gem landed and blocked the first mandible as venom dripped onto her shirt and arms. The beast tried it's best to slip them over her head, but she resisted as hard as she could. She couldn't afford to get in-between them; she would be slaughtered.
Before the creature could accomplish this, Tourmaline leaped onto the creatures back, jumped of off it, and came crashing down onto the creature's already cracked skull. Bits of shell and wood splintered from the impact and the mandibles dropped giving Tanzanite some breathing room. Tourmaline hopped off of the creatures head as it slowly retracted it's mandibles, now cracked from biting down on them, and stumbled about, giving a painful roar. The creature fell to the ground, it's legs no longer able to support it's massive weight. It turned it's head to look at a stunned Tanzanite, and that's when it made one little screech, signaling it's last attack. Like a gunshot, the mandibles shot out of it's mouth straight ahead, aiming at Tanzanite. Not able to react fast enough, she could only stare as time itself felt like it slowed down, as she anticipated her fate. That's when she felt something push her.
She fell to the ground, and looked back to where she was standing. Only this time Tourmaline was where she was standing, and he was the one who took the attack. The mandibles sticking in his stomach poking out the back, green blood would have spilled out in a deluge if it weren't for the thick spiked blades plugging the holes. His mouth was one of disbelief and pain, as blood came trickling out of the corners of his mouth. The other gems stared at their comrade for what felt like ages, and then this moment was shattered with the shrill cry of Ruby.
"TOURMALINE!" She cried as she gripped her swords and ran towards the monster.
Tanzanite's disbelief was replaced with a swelling anger, as she gripped her sword and ran towards the beast, yelling along with Ruby. She leaped over the mandibles and drove her blade into the creature's cracked skull. The creature let out a pain filled cry, but it was cut short by Ruby stabbing both of her blades into the spider's skull. It lied motionless, and their attention turned to Tourmaline, coughing up green.
"Well this feels...awesome." He said as he chuckled and coughed to himself.
"Don't move Tourmaline!" Sapphire shouted, "We'll get you out of there safely."
"Nah it's fine I got it." He said as he started pulling himself away from the pincers in his belly, "I just gotta pull myself out of this and get bandaged up. Sure I'll be out of commision for a day or three, but-".
Just then, the spider's corpse spasmed. The mandibles flew apart, and so did Tourmaline. It happened so fast, just a flash and they spread apart and with a horrible, crunching, tearing noise and a flash of green, Tourmaline was now in two. His torso fell onto the ground, a pained and surprised look on his face as his eyes bulged. The gems just stared at him, in sheer shock of seeing their friend being ripped in half. He weakly raised his head up, more blood leaking from his mouth, and looked at his friends.
"Guess I'm gonna need more than a few days." He said with a smile.
The creature burst, leaving behind a few gems, and so did Tourmaline. As he poofed away, the last thing he could see was Ruby running towards him, a horrified expression on her face, as his entire world went black in an instant.
To be continued...