Chapter 5

The Visitor

Not even two days had passed since Chrysoberyl took flight, soaring through the countryside and right over the states. He smiled at the cities far below - they looked like an ocean of light from where he was. All the while, he made sure to avoid planes, or any radar he could detect - he wondered if the humans could see him. He grew irritated after a while, and never realized how long the ship had been inactive. He was more than thankful that it was functional, but did not take notice of the kinks that were left from the greenery. The vines must have mishandled the controls, because at some points, Chrysoberyl felt himself falling from the sky. Fortunately, he was able to stay airborne, but had gotten a little too close to the ground at times.

Due to the lack of inactivity in the ship, Chrysoberyl had to slow down the speed, using the clouds to hide because the cloaking device was idle. When nightfall arrived, the control screen showed the engine to be fully functional. Chrysoberyl smiled, and pulled the controls towards him. The ship ascended, climbing the sky, shoving past the clouds and exiting the atmosphere. The screen showed a chart of the atmosphere getting smaller and smaller, and soon enough the ship egressed the earth . . . then plummeted out of the sky.

Red lights flashed in all directions, the control room tossed into a state of panic. Chrysoberyl looked around, trying to come up with a solution as to why this was happening. He scanned through archives, and the screen said the ship had lost power.

Of course it did, Chrysoberyl thought to himself. This pile of garbage is too old to be flying.

The wind pounded against the vessel, as if attempting to slow its descent. The ship started to tilt, and the world turned upside down. Chrysoberyl's hands were trapped in the controls as the room started to spin. He gritted his teeth, his mind fumbling with the pressure against his head while trying to take control of the ship. The vessel did not vomit smoke, but at the pace it was going, it could be mistaken for a shooting star about to collide with the earth. The glass erupted in flames, which soon got into the room - although it couldn't affect a Gem's consciousness like humans, upon physical contact however, it could reduce them to their original state, and for Chrysoberyl's condition, he didn't want to imagine that sort of agony.
He planted his feet on the ground, placing his focus on the control panel. It continued to say "error," but Chrysoberyl went to a page that showed him the condition of the engines; they were breaking down with every passing second, jumping from functional to inoperable - he was skipping across the air. His eyes caught on the outside, and realized he was not far from impact.

Chrysoberyl glanced back at the screen, doing whatever he could to fix the engines manually. Mere inches from the ground, knocking down trees and tearing up the terrain - he hoped no humans were nearby. All of a sudden, the screen flashed green, but that was when a loud metal clang caused the ship to spin in circles. The vessel bounced off the ground, then hit a large rock which threw Chrysoberyl into the ceiling. The ship did a flip in the air, and smashed the earth. Water was thrown into the air, and plummeted into the control room, dousing the fire, then everything went silent.

Chrysoberyl was on the floor, eyes wide, breathing heavily. A warning sign continued to flash red while the vessel sat motionless. He looked at the screen to see the engines were out completely, and a few seconds later, the room went dark.

Chrysoberyl kicked down the hatch and jumped outside. He trudged through some water and stepped up on dry land - he found himself crash landed on a beach. The ship was tilted with its back facing upwards. Luckily for him it was easy to open a hatch, and examine the engines. He was instantly assaulted with smoke and steam, and coughed up a storm. He waved his hand and found the engines to be covered in a black smudge.

Boiling inside, Chrysoberyl threw his fist hard at the ship - the ache shot up his arm, but he didn't care. He stepped out from under the ship to let out his anger by clenching his fists and gritting his teeth. It did not help him. He had a chance to kill Red Diamond for what he did years ago, but now he couldn't even leave the atmosphere.

Chrysoberyl lifted his head to the sky, and screamed. He summoned his sword and thrashed the ground as if he was torturing someone. A fog of sand floated in front of his feet while agony surged up his arm, reaching his head. He didn't care - everything always hurt him.

After a moment he stopped, hung his head, breathed heavily through his nose. He closed his eyes, and let out a breath. His arm beat with pain, and tried to fight it back. Chrysoberyl turned around, his gaze falling on the sky, and paused. Maybe it was only the darkness, so he didn't mind much at first. When he squinted his eyes however, he grew befuddled.

A large bird was flying right over the ocean, but something felt off. This bird was large; from his point of view, Chrysoberyl guessed it was about the same size as him. As it grew closer, he soon realized it was . . . a person? Chrysoberyl reeled back, his krystal starting to glow, tackling the idea of fight or flight. What if the humans did detect him? If so, why weren't they coming with helicopters or vehicles? Could they have reached a level of technology where they figured out how to fly? It didn't make sense, and before he knew it, the figure stopped.

By the silhouette, it was definitely a person, with real wings. Chrysoberyl stood motionless as a statue, meeting eye contact with the figure. They tilted their head, studying him. Slowly, Chrysoberyl summoned his sword, but it disintegrated right when it appeared. He gasped, his eyes catching on something: The krystal had gotten worse to the point where his skin turned a dark red, and had reached his shoulder blade. He tried to summon his weapon again, but yelped in pain and fell to his knees. His krystal was beating with light, yet it did not appear to be krystal any longer - it almost resembled flesh.

A quiet sound grabbed his attention, and turned his head towards the ocean. The water was boiling; steam rose and crept onto the beach. Chrysoberyl took a step back. He looked up at the figure - their arms were raised, their head aimed towards the sky. Their wings flapped vigorously, as if ready to attack.

Before Chrysoberyl saw it coming, a hand shot out of the water, and grabbed him. He yelped in surprise, his mind frantic as to what was happening. The hand was as large as him, and crushed him like a helpless bug. He was lifted off the ground, and brought to the figure. Chrysoberyl tried to wriggle out of its grasp, but could hardly move. Once again his krystal started to glow, lighting the night sky. As he was brought closer to the figure, he suddenly paused in doubt, but his eyes went wide at who he saw. He couldn't believe it, and even thought his eyes were playing tricks on him. But no, he was not deceived by the krystal on the figure's shoulder. Except, he couldn't come to a conclusion as to how it was possible. Chrysoberyl laid eyes on a Lapis Lazuli.

His krystal blinded him, bringing the sun to the night. The hand exploded, and Chrysoberyl fell into the water. He was submerged, and about ten feet from shore, and swam as fast as he could. The ocean then fought against him, tossing him side to side like a ragdoll. The air was stolen from him, and the pain induced was just as much as his krystal was giving him. He was thrown out of the water, then a giant fist lunged at him, throwing him back to the shore.

Chrysoberyl groaned and placed his hand on the ground to pick himself up, and then a water sword skimmed past his head and drove into the sand. He looked over his shoulder to see the Lapis had summoned a swarm of blades, aimed right at him. Chrysoberyl leaped out of the way as dozens of swords dove into the sand. One blade got ahead of him, but he managed to stop at the last second. Except, this distracted him, and he was exposed for only a fraction of a second. Lapis took her chance and threw a sword, which drove straight through Chrysoberyl's back.

He fell to his knees and screamed in pain. Lapis smirked and threw a whip which latched onto the sword, tossing Chrysoberyl into the air. She swung him around, and summoned solid walls of water. Chrysoberyl was smashed through these walls, his body going limp - Lapis had a huge smile plastered on her face.

At one point, something snapped inside of Chrysoberyl, something that Red Pearl insulted him with: You insult your Diamond with your lack of his teachings.

At an instant, Chrysoberyl righted himself, and planted his feet on the next wall of water. Lapis was taken aback by this, and watched as her enemy summoned a sword from his wrist, which brought her to the conclusion that this was not a resident of this planet. He threw the weapon at her, followed by a chain which she managed to grab. Chrysoberyl gripped the chain with both hands, using all his strength to pull her out of the sky. It proved to be no use, as Lapis yanked on the chain, tossing him straight at her. Although, he backfired this by reeling back, and kicked her in the head, leaping into the air. He turned, wrapping the chain around her body. He managed to tie her wings, sending both of them plummeting into the ocean.

A loud splash could even be heard underwater as Chrysoberyl gripped the hilt of his sword, and brought it down on his enemy. A miss; Lapis kicked him in the stomach, and she sped through the water. Chrysoberyl swam after her, wrapping the chain around his arm. Lapis faced him with burning white eyes, and held her arms out. All of a sudden, Chrysoberyl couldn't move. Bubbles formed around him, as if he were in a giant pot of water, boiling alive. The bubbles faded instantly but his vision was blurry, then Lapis was right in front of him. His arms and legs were bound, and his arm was crushed, increasing the stinging pain and disintegrating his weapon. He locked eyes with Lapis, and her expression changed. She tilted her head, the anger disappearing, replaced with utter confusion.

Chrysoberyl gritted his teeth, and once again his krystal started to glow. Lapis took notice of this, and tightened the grip she had on him. The light burned like fire itself, and erupted in an explosion of light, sending both of them out of the water. Chrysoberyl landed on the beach with a loud thump. He groaned and forced himself to stand. Again, the water was boiling, and Lapis shot out of the ocean with four wings instead of two. She summoned giant hands from the water, straining their fingers and balling them into fists. Chrysoberyl held out his arm, his krystal glowing.

The right arm rose up, and slammed down on the beach. Pounds of sand were tossed in the air, but Chrysoberyl had gotten away from the strike. The next fist threw a punch; Chrysoberyl jumped, and landed on the arm. It was moving at a hundred miles an hour, forcing him to run. The arm redirected itself, turning like a car and speeding after him. He summoned his sword, and thrashed, cutting the fist in half, dissolving the water. Lapis waved her arms in the air to summon another weapon, but Chrysoberyl saw this coming. He called a second blade, and spun them around with chains. He threw them into the air, latching onto Lapis' arms and legs.

Chrysoberyl pulled on the chains, misdirecting Lapis' flight pattern. She flapped her wings hard, trying to keep herself in the air. He grabbed the chains and managed to pull her down inch by inch out of the sky. Thinking fast, Lapis craned her neck and made the water broil. A gigantic sword floated out of the ocean. Chrysoberyl saw this and paused, watching it like a hawk. The massive blade staggered back, preparing for a strike. Lapis met eyes with her enemy, and let out a warcry, slashing the blade. Chrysoberyl disintegrated the two chains, and summoned a sword, impacting with the giant blade.

Sparks fell like rain on the Gem as he kept his stance. The water sword was gigantic, almost the same size as his ship, and was weighing down on him until it touched his forehead. Chrysoberyl fell on his knee, summoning a second blade to prevent the strike from happening. The infection in his arm grew worse every second he kept fighting - he couldn't stand it any longer. The struggle to keep going on, the agony influenced on him, how he forced himself to stay alive throughout all these years of solitude, changing name after name, living different lives one after another, all leading to pain - it was the only thing he could live by.

Losing the strength to fight back, and to keep fighting, Chrysoberyl dropped his mouth open, and shrieked as loud as he could.
He destroyed the water sword, dismantling his own blades in the process. He fell to his knees, breathing heavily, the stinging feeling in his wrist becoming a knife driven through his krystal - as of now, it was a lump of flesh; pieces of organs packed together to make an abomination. He was already dead - there was no point in shattering, what good would it do? His Diamond's death will never be avenged - there was no reason to even try. He will die with Red Diamond free to roam the galaxy, leaving him as nothing but another Gem, cursed to live a fate worse than any other known to Krystal Kind.

Chrysoberyl lifted his head, and there stood Lapis Lazuli. Her eyes were no longer burning. Instead they were blue as the ocean, painted with concern. Her long hair swayed in the ocean breeze as waves toppled each other behind. Chrysoberyl jumped up, trying to summon his weapon but couldn't. Lapis stepped forward, but strangely enough, she did not appear to be hostile. She turned her attention to his krystal, and gasped.

"You are a male Gem!" Lapis said. "I-I thought they were all extinct?"

Chrysoberyl's warrior instincts suddenly dwindled. "What?"

Lapis looked him up and down. "What is happening to you? Did you crack your gem?"

"Stay back. This is a trick, isn't it? It's been used on me before, it won't work."

"No! Y-You really are a male Gem. I thought I was the only Gem here."

"The only Gem?"

"Yes. I was sent here by the Great Diamond Authority."

Chrysoberyl tilted his head. "Authority? What happened to the Supremacy?"

Lapis paused, staring at him with wide eyes. "We do not speak of the Supremacy any longer - it is forbidden."

"No words are forbidden under our Lord Black Diamond's name."

Lapis ran up to him, covering his mouth with her hand. She backed away, saying: "White Diamond does not allow us to make any mentionings of him, or anything that has to do with his tyranny."

Chrysoberyl took a step back, narrowing his eyes. "You dare disrespect the God of All Gems?"

"We must not speak his name! White Diamond and her allies made it perfectly clear that he is erased from our history. They banished him, and all male Gems back to Creation World. Why did they keep you hidden?"

"That's not possible. Homeworld has been left in devastation since the death of Fenicos, Erloden, and Rofahl."

Lapis paused, staring at him with a worried expression. "Y-You don't know?"

"Know what?"

"How long have you been here?"

Chrysoberyl stared at her in disbelief. What was she talking about? Krystal Kind could not have forgotten the reign of Black Diamond. Right?