Part 1: The Mission
Chapter 8: Ghost Town
By the time the two gems reached the outskirts of the ruins, the smoke had died off; all that was left were wooden structures transformed into charcoal.
"w-what is this?" Ruby ran her hand over a fallen beam, "we weren't briefed on any Homeworld or rebel bases in this area."
"Well it must be made by the rebellion," Sapphire reasoned, "it's not in Empire sensibility to use organic matter in structure." Ruby turned over the log and uncovered a small skeleton. The two stared at it for a moment, trying to work out what it was until Sapphire gasped.
"This was an Earth creature," She gently removed the bones from the soil, "this is what they leave behind when they can no longer exist."
"Oh yeah, I see it now." Ruby held the skull, turning it over in her hands, "it looks like one of the wolves, but… smaller." Ruby and Sapphire shared a concerned look and hesitantly tread further into the burning compound of wood and fiber cloths. Entering one of the many burnt-out structures led to them finding yet another skeleton, this one sprawled out over a central mound of dirt. This one was larger, more… familiar.
"It's a man." Ruby said with confidence, circling around it, "you can tell by the… head part."
"Yes, but… look at this." Sapphire pried the lid off an earthenware pot, revealing a mildewed stew of roots and meat, "it was probably going to consume this… I think it lived here."
Ruby's eyes widened, "n-no way. Humans don't build structures like us, they're not smart enough-"
"So said the reports, yes." Sapphire looked through several artifacts of the shelter, including unused weapons, "but it was wrong about the men before. It seems there's a lot our superiors never told us."
"Ok… but if this was a compound for men, then what do we care?" Ruby wondered aloud. It wasn't within her skill set, as a brute, to study things unknown. But if she were to be honest with herself, she was more than a little curious.
"Ruby, something happened here." Sapphire stared at her escort, unmoving, "if we don't find out what, it could very well compromise the Empire. At the very least we could learn more of earth life. Doesn't any of that matter to you?"
"I…. I guess it does." Ruby shrugged, not making the connection that her interest in part stemmed from Sapphire's.
/
The two gems searched every structure within the ring-shaped compound. In every structure they found many, many artifacts; weapons, pots, simple tools, cloth coverings, and oddly enough inert gems suspended on cording that, from what Sapphire could guess, were what humans used to denote status among the different men.
"Whatever came here, it wasn't here to take anything." Sapphire mused, observing a blade of obsidian. "I think I used to know an obsidian" she thought, setting it where she found it.
"They were here to wipe these men out, isn't that obvious?" Ruby held up a skull, one that was no bigger than her hand. She had found at least a half dozen this size and usually accompanied by a bigger man, and something about it made her very, very uneasy.
"I see that, but…" the blue gem sighed, "why? What does anyone gain from this? What is the point of destroying so many beings?"
"I don't know what to tell you Sapph." Ruby admitted, cringing, "believe it or not, not all brutes enjoy destruction and death. For me, it's just a part of the job. Maybe men are different…."
Sapphire sighed, sitting upon a fallen wall, "even so, something about this isn't adding up to me…" She stared out at the center of the compound, where many of the bodies were strewn. Ruby sat beside her, and as she did Sapphire made a connection with the skeletons she saw and the ones she saw before: they were all face down.
"This was an ambush." She stated, turning to Ruby, "most of the men her had no idea they were being attacked, and those that did all tried to run." The red gem's eyes widened, realizing that her charge must have been right.
"B-but how many men would that even take?" Ruby wondered, "To catch this entire group both outnumbered and off guard?"
Sapphire sighed, nearly groaning, "That's just it. I think… I think this ambush was done by gems." She stood, and trod across the ash-filled clearing of the compound.
"G-gems?!" Ruby balked, standing, "that makes no sense. Maybe the monster that attacked us could do this, or something like it but… not ones like us, right? Right?!"
Sapphire just stared at Ruby across the way, her face betraying pain unspoken. She cleared away excessive debris where another round wooden structure had been. She then kneeled, gasping.
"Ruby, come look at this one." Her voice was grave and hollow, and this was enough to send the Red gem running to her side. This one still had flesh, though it was dried out and wrinkled by the smoke of the burnt wood beams that covered it; it was obvious to both of them however this one had died from precise blade marks to its neck and abdomen.
"Look at these marks, none of the tools we've found could cut this cleanly. This HAD to be the work of a gem." Sapphire turned over the withered corpse, "it looks like it was a sword, or dagger was used, likely as soon as it tried to exit the-"
She was interrupted by her red escort snapping one of the thinner logs of the structure over her knee. Her eyes were full of anger; of a hate and fury that caused Sapphire to back away.
"Those. Rebel. MONSTERS!" the brute gem screamed heat radiating from her, "you killed them all, didn't you Blood Diamond?! They did nothing to you and you MURDERED them!"
"Ruby, please calm down." Sapphire whimpered, her voice drowned out by the inner din of Ruby's malice against the rebellion. Her bracer was summoned and the red gem practically flew into the nearest standing wall, demolishing it. The logs and rope fell aside and ignited in her wake.
"I am going to destroy you!"
/
Never had Sapphire felt as helpless as she had watching her red escort continuing the destruction of these ruins of men. Ruby leveled the remaining buildings, scorched artifacts and the ground itself; she would not harm the bones of the fallen men but the skulls of the animals they seemed to own were fair game. All the while, the air was filled with shouts such as "curse you Blood Diamond!" and "I'll kill you all like you killed them all!" in the voice of the red ball of impudent rage that was paradoxically destroying what she lamented destroyed. None of this destruction phased Sapphire; however it agonized her to see the yellow veins of Ruby's corruption spread over her chest and down to her thigh. Deep within her she knew that the Empire would not accept her corrupted state; and with no cure…. The blue gem turned away, towards the sea.
"I'm sorry Ruby." A single tear rolled down from her eye, "I am so, so sorry." She hoped that Ruby's anger would burn out and subside, and that she would catch up to her at the Spire but… her future visions told her this could well be where the corruption takes full hold of her friend, and Sapphire would not let herself see that live.
"And yet…. Why are my visions telling me I'm about to discover something new as well?" she thought as she crested the hill, puzzled and concerned. And then her jaw dropped, as she discovered where the remaining skeletons of the village had gone.
"RUBY!" the terrified blue gem shouted, and for the first time in several hours, the red gem noticed. She stopped pounding a decorative elk skull into dust and looked up; in that moment her trance of hatred ended and she realized she could not find her charge anywhere.
"o-oh no- SAPPHIRE!" Ruby ran to where Sapphire had previously been, and then she stopped, eyes widening. Below her were nearly fifty skeletons, very carefully cleaned and arranged into one large triangle tessellated into four, with each outer skull containing a painted skull; one blue, one yellow and one white. Even the most dim-witted of brute gems knew this symbol by rote memory, for this was the new symbol of the Gem Empire.
"S-Sapphire…" Ruby sidled down to the edge of the effigy, where the blue gem was crumpled over, sobbing gently.
"t-this must be a coincidence." Ruby began, cracking a broken smile that the blue gem did not respond to, "No, no I know what this. This is a trick by the rebellion. They're framing the Empire, trying to make us look evil, you know…."
"Ruby," Sapphire whimpered, "that doesn't make sense. And you know it doesn't make sense."
Ruby opened and closed her mouth a few times, and then took a deep breath.
"Ok, so…. The Empire thought this village of men was too close to the Kindergarten. They also wanted to send a message to the rebels that they won't leave any survivors, and also wanted to hide from the Homeworld populace how advanced the life on Earth has gotten." Ruby turned up Sapphire's chin, her eyes heavy with pain, "do you agree with that?"
Sapphire blinked, then swallowed gently, "that was a wise assessment. Yes… I do."
Ruby smiled weakly, then looked down at herself, "wow, look at me…. I let myself go." She traced the veins of her corruption down her body with her eyes, "they're gonna destroy me when I get to the Spire."
"No." Sapphire insisted, her gaze determined, "I won't let them do this to you."
Ruby laughed softly, but with pain in her voice, "no offense, but how are you going to stop them?" to this Sapphire stood and began sorting through the Diamond Authority's bony sigil.
"We can hide it, the way the men hide themselves in pelts and woven fibers." She let out a happy gasp and unearthed a patchy square of burlap, "here, tie this around your shoulder, so it covers your right side." Ruby's face twisted in disgust but she complied.
"Well, does it hide it?" the red gem asked, and Sapphire looked her over closely. The brown cape covered even the farthest veins and absorbed the faint glow of the corium, further it gave Ruby what was in her opinion a rugged appeal. Her face burned blue and she nodded.
"I-it looks perfect." She responded, biting her lip. The red gem sighed, then turned towards the west.
"Let's just get to the Sea Spire, ok? No more stops." Sapphire nodded, and they left the ghost town to finish its natural decay into dust.