Chapter Text
"Ok, Gem. Let's start with a simple spell of transmutation." The teacher moved a mini block of clay in front of her. "Now, I need you to take this block and convert it into any other material that you want. It could be dirt, stone, it could be even some plushie filling."
11 years old Gem took the block in her hands, sighed, and placed all her focus on it. The candles in the room flickered, and the papers flew up a bit. The block of clay turned brown, and several lamenting whispers started to be heard. A mini block of soul sand was now on little Gem's hands. She smiled at her results. The teacher looked scared of the result.
"I did it! I transmuted a block!" Gem excitedly exclaimed.
"Yes you did..." The teacher grabbed it with the tips of his fingers, and left in another place. "Now let's try something else, I need you to light this candle for me, please..." Gem nodded.
She hovered her hands around the wick, she closed her eyes, and began thinking of fire, of the fire of all the candles in the room, of the flames in the big chimney, of the fire of a burning towe-. Two hands grabbed hers, interrupting her train of thought, her eyes opened, and she saw the purple flame that now crowned the candle.
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"I have heard them, Fwhip. Ever since that Cliff's teacher came last year, I have heard how they want to send me away because they are afraid of me" Gem couldn't finish talking without sobbing.
Fwhip moved closer to her, sitting by her side now, he hugged her and let her cry on his shoulder. "If anything is worth it... I'm not afraid of you, I have never been afraid of you. I think your abilities are really cool."
Gem smiled at that, and a weak chuckle came out of her mouth.
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Gem was sent to the Crystal Cliffs not long after, her parents said that it was for her own good, that she would learn how to have a better control of her magic, learn how to use her magic in... Non harmful ways.
The years went by, and even when he was promised he was going to be able to go see her sister, all the promises made were kept empty. Never fulfilled, until 6 years passed, and the time for her graduation ceremony arrived.
Fwhip went directly to find her, asked every student, teacher, janitor that he met, where could she find Geminitay? And after a few bumps, and embarrassing falls, he finally found her.
She saw him too, so Fwhip ran quickly to give her a long owed hug. His arms barely touched her, and she stepped back faster than what Fwhip could react, her stance went from friendly to defensive, her eyes were terrified.
Fwhip got closer slowly, without trying to touch her. "Gem, it's okay. It's just me, your little brother... I missed you so much..."
Gem slowly relaxed, and looked at Fwhip in the eyes, tears began forming, and she ran to give him the hug both of them had been waiting for 6 years. "I missed you too."
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Gem was finishing some tests when she heard a familiar voice saying "Knock, knock" on the classroom doorway.
She turned around and saw Fwhip reclined against the doorframe, watching her with an affectionate smile. "Count Fwhip. What a nice surprise. What brings you to the Crystal Cliffs?" Gem said without looking away from the last tests that she needed to grade.
"What? Do I now need a reason to visit my favourite sister? And also, where's my hug? Eh?" Fwhip walked inside the room, and opened his arms.
Gem rolled her eyes and stood from her desk, running to Fwhip and hugging him. "You obviously don't need a reason to come visit." She got deeper into the hug.
"hehe, yeah..." a sad sigh escaped his lips. "I wish I could really say I came here today without reason." His voice sounded... worried.
Gem got out of the hug, and watched him in the eyes, eyes that were also worried.
"I heard the news... are you really sure you want to go on with that?"
Gem's eyes widened, and then looked at the floor, her right hand went to stroke her other arm, and from her mouth some babbbles escaped when trying to find the correct words for the moment. "I- well... I think... maybe, I think I could be a lot of help here if I do it, even with everything that happened..." Gem looks over Fwhip's shoulder as a student runs through the hallways laughing. Gem smiles. "I owe it to the next generations..." She looks at Fwhip again. "So they don't have to experience anything of what I had to."
Fwhip wiped his own tears away. "Alright, if that's what you want to do." He slowly moved his hand to her face, she flinched a bit, but she let him wipe the tears that had formed on her eyes. "And always remember, if for anything it is worth it, I never thought of you as a monster."
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The others members of the alliance where talking about things related to their feud with the cod father and his allies, to Gem, she couldn't care less about whatever the details were, her head was occupied with other stuff, she needed to finish the academy's renovations, a lot of teachers were retiring, and a new wave of students were arriving in the next weeks.
"... So I found this spellbook" Gem started paying attention at the mention of a spellbook by Sausage, he had been always curious on learning magic, he had some innate ability, and if it wasn't for his kingly duties, she thinks that he would have been a full time student of the Crystal Cliffs. "that contains some interesting spells, that could help us get at Jimmy with better pranks." Everyone was listening to him. "For example there was this spell that could transform some of his land into soul soil-"
Gem's chair fell as she stood up suddenly, extending her hand, which made the spellbook fly from Sausage's hands to hers. "I will take this book to the Crystal Cliffs and seal it away for good." Her voice was dry, and her eyes weren't happy.
"Gem?" Fwhip got close to her, and placed a hand on her shoulder, she jumped into flight of fight at this. Fwhip eyes widened, he hadn't gotten this reaction from her for several years at this point.
Gem was trembling, and kept looking at the floor. "This book contains dark magic spells. I have explained it to you before." She looks at everyone. "Dark magic is dangerous." She looks at Sausage. "You should have come to me at the moment you found this book." She straightened herself, and went directly to the door.
"I'm sorry everyone, see you next meeting, I'll go make sure she is okay." Fwhip ran to the door to catch her before she flew away. Fortunately she was just a few hallways away, sitting on the floor. Fwhip sat beside her, but with enough room so he wouldn't touch her accidentally. "Are you okay?"
Gem eyes filled with tears. "I'm sorry for reacting like that."
"Do you want a hug?" Gem nodded, and Fwhip placed his arm around her shoulders, and let Gem recline against his. "You don't need to apologize for anything. You did nothing wrong, we all here know what you went through. You don't need to say sorry to anyone."
Gem hugged him by his side. They sat there for several minutes, being joined also by Pearl and Sausage in a moment.
Gem arrived at her tower a few hours later, she took the book from her inventory, and left it on her desk. She went to a seemingly blank wall of her study. A glyph appeared in it as she moved her hands casting a spell, and a few seconds later the previously empty wall now held a variety of magical artifacts. She then turned around to grab the book that... wasn't there anymore.
"Oh, this one is a classic." A voice said from behind her.
"What the he-?" Gem said while turning around, only to face a black and red demon, who was reading the book she was supposed to lock away.
"Why would you want to lock away such a great source of power, of knowledge." The demon shut the book with the hand they were holding it with. "Hello Wizard, my name is Xornoth." They extended their hand.
Gem looked at the hand with a mix of fear and disgust. She invoked her staff and trained it to them. "You exude dark magic... so I assume that your intentions here aren't good at all, am I wrong?"
"Totally wrong, Wizard. I'm not here today to cause any harm... I came here because I was able to feel a great source of dark magic emanating from this tower." They got close to the wall containing the artifacts, hovering their finger over some of them. "And even when this collection is impressive." They turned around to face her. "But the dark power that you... how did you just say it?... ah, yes, the dark magic you exude is one of the most impressive things I have ever seen, so... why is it all trapped? Screaming for freedom..."
Gem tried to swing her staff at the demon, who promptly dissipated in the air.
"Hey, hey, I'm just here to help, Wizard." Xornoth said from behind her.
"And why should I believe you? You are a monster!" Gem's voice came out raspy.
Xornoth stood in silence for a while. They then crouched a bit to get to Gem's eye level. "Is that what they told you? That you were a monster...?" Gem reluctantly nodded. He stood up. "I will leave you alone for now, I hope that you reconsider my offer to help you, because I know how much that locking sigil hurts." The candles illuminating the room went out, and when they came back Xornoth had disappeared.
Gem looked at the place where they stood, only the spellbook she was supposed to lock away remaining in their place.
She hid the magic vault of dark artifacts, picked up the book, and went to her room.
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"Wooooow... DO IT AGAIN!" A 9 year old Fwhip said with a shine in his eyes.
Gem nodded with a smile on her face, and took another lettuce on her hands, and after the candles flickered a bit, the lettuce began turning black and fading with a breeze that formed on the room, Fwhip followed the trail of the withered plant fascinated, Gem smiled watching at how happy her brother was.
The joy suddenly stopped when the room's door opened, a person shadowed by the lights of the hallway spoke. "Gemini... is time to say goodbye."
Fwhip turned his head back to Gem. She nodded, and her eyes filled with tears as she looked back at him. They looked at each other for a few seconds, until Fwhip decided to bury his face in her shoulder while wrapping his arms around her. Tears had already been shed several times, the both of them had already accepted the reality, but it still hurt. "Please Gem, always remember, you have never been a monster" The younger one said.
"Why have you never seen me as a monster?"
Fwhip turned his head at the sudden question coming from his sister. They had been watching the Cliffs in silence for a while, after Fwhip had come to make sure Gem was alright. "No, I never have, and never will, you didn't choose to be born with those powers, so you didn't deserve all the shit you went through for having them, and-!" His rant was interrupted by the hand on his shoulder, and the understanding eyes of his sister. He sighed. "It doesn't matter anyways, you already know already how I feel about all that."
"Yes, I know" She sighed. "And even if I don't fully agree... I'm glad you are there trying to remind me of my humanity" She let her head on his shoulder, and continued to watch the Cliffs for a few more hours.
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"What are you doing here?" Gem didn't lift her eyes from the book she was reading.
"I said I was going to come back. I see you decided to take on an interesting reading." Xornoth stood in front of the desk.
She closed the book, and looked up to Xornoth. "Before I can lock it away, I need to know exactly what I'm locking up. Now, why are you here?"
Xornoth took a seat. "Tell me Wizard, what does dark magic mean to you?"
Gem started reciting an answer memorized long ago. "Dark magic is chaotic, unpredictable, dangerous, it cannot be left alone to flourish, as it will consume everything and -" Xornoth raised their hand.
"I don't want the answer they made you repeat over and over again. I want to know what you felt when dark magic flowed freely through you."
Gem took a while to talk again. "I... it made me feel like a monster... like I didn't fit in with the rest of my family, like-"
"No, Wizard. That's not what dark magic felt like, that's what the opinions from the rest felt like. I'm asking you to remember what dark magic felt like when you used it."
Gem pupils lowered to the left. "I don't remember how it felt..."
Xornoth got closer to her. "You don't remember or you don't want to?"
She wanted to refute them, she wanted to tell them to go away... "From what I remember... it felt natural... it felt... right?" Her voice got a younger tone, like her 11 year old self was talking for her. "It felt... aaagh." She started screaming in pain, and fell down her chair. "MY BACK. It burns!" She tried to reach it, but touching the zone made her hands feel like burning too.
"The sigil..." Xornoth eyes widened, they stood up, and walked around the desk. Gem backed away from them.
"You... agh... you don't try anything. You provoked this... agh" The pain had begun to expand to other parts of her body.
"I was not the one that conjured a locking sigil on you, but I may be able to remove it." Xornoth crouched in front of her, leaving them eye to eye. "Do you want me to leave you here to suffer, or do you want me to remove it?"
Gem tried to move back, taking all the distance she could from the demon, but stopped short by the wall behind the desk. She glared at Xornoth. Every breath is more painful than the last. Her back kept hurting. and now her limbs began to feel numb. All the pain really made it easy to... consider it.
"Dark magic and its users have always been misunderstood, they fear the knowledge and power we hold, they fear the vision of the world we have. Tell me, have you ever had dreams about a beautiful crimson world where darkness reigns, and all those who have wrong us suffer for it?"
Gem slowly nodded. "mooore... like... niiight- mares..." She painfully managed to say.
Xornoth grinned and shook their head. "If that's what you want to tell yourself... Do you want to stop the pain?"
The glaring continued. "Whaaat... do you waant... in exchange?"
"Nothing, having you realize the magnificent power you hold inside will be enough for me. Do you want me to remove the sigil?"
Gem glared for what she felt like ages. She closed her eyes, and nodded. Xornoth's grin became a full smile. They hovered their hand over her head, and the sigil appeared glowing, and after manipulating it for several long minutes, the sound of thunder entered the room when the sigil over Gem shattered.
Xornoth stood up, and Gem remained seated on the floor as the dark magic began flowing again through her body. They stared, as her body got used to the long forgotten sensation. When she stood from the floor, a big smile appeared on her face.
"This power..." Gem flexed her fingers. "This knowledge…” Her eyes gleamed. “I have suffered for so long, all because they feared what I could have done with it." She chuckled. "This rush of magic is awesome… why didn’t I tried to… unlock it myself before?” She looked at Xornoth “I'm not dumb... you are looking for allies, what are your plans?"
Xornoth smiled.
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Pixlriffs was cleaning the surroundings of the vigil the moment she observed how a storm formed over the rest of empires.
"Oh, that's peculiar, I don't think it's storm season yet." A strong wind hit him, which made him turn his attention to the vigil, and specifically the candles, which all started to flicker with the wind, but in particular, Gem's central candle, which went out, before returning, now with a black flame. "Now, that... that cannot be good."