The Prophesy of the Gems
Prologue
There was darkness in the tunnel. If there were stalagmites or cave creatures or anything at all, no one was able to see them. All was still. All was silent. All was dark.
A bright light suddenly filled the cavern. Formations that had taken millions of years to grow were suddenly illuminated by the glow of a white portal. THe portal was enormous, filling up an entire wall.
A dark figure was suddenly thrown out of the portal. He coughed for a moment, his hand immediately going to his chest, expecting a bloody hole to be there. But there was none. He was confused for a moment. The last thing he remembered was the vampire stabbing him with the Fire Blade, the blade that should have been his.
A vengeful anger filled the mage's heart as he stood up. With the light of the portal behind him, his dark cloak and huge hat seemed to cast the cave in shadow once again. His yellow eyes peered at his surroundings.
Everything suddenly came back to him. He had died several years ago. Neshae, the brother of his arch enemy, Rayman, had stabbed him half to save the world and half for revenge for their parents' deaths. Dark had spent the last few years in the spirit realm. But why was he back now? He turned around to look at the portal. Why had he gone through it in his body completely healed? Intending to find out, he turned away from the portal and started through the cave.
Aside from discovering the reasons behind his return, the mage had another objective to fulfill. He would pick up where he left off. He would slay the two limbless rats that caused his death, steal the Snake Cross Amulet from the limbless bitch that was always a step out of his reach, and then take over.
Chapter 1
"Awwwwwww! They're so cute!" Aneishen wailed.
Rayman had met the weather sorceress before during their battle with the witch, Figuya, but it had been a while since then. This was the first time for her to meet his children.
Yehaiel was in Rayman's hands. His son was a year old and had inherited Rayman's blonde hair and deep blue eyes, but also Ly's limbs and fairy tail. THe one-year-old looked up at Aneishen curiously and sucked on his thumb.
Amej, Yehaiel's twin sister, was asleep in Ly's arms. She had the same purple hair and green eyes that her mother had, but was limbless like her father.
"When are you gonna have some little babies?" Aneishen's gaze fell upon a tall figure standing next to Rayman.
Neshae snapped from his trance. Being Rayman's twin brother, he looked generally a lot like him. But not being an identical twin, he also looked very different. Like Rayman, he was limbless, but his hair was black and his eyes were green. Instead of a purple shirt with a white ring on the chest like Rayman wore, Neshae wore a black shirt with a red bull's eye on it. And where his brother's shoes were yellow with an orange swirlie, his were green with splotches of gray. THough the biggest difference between the two were the large bat-like wings that wrapped around his body almost like a cape. Neshae had been bitten years ago by a vampire and been turned into one.
"Huh?" He asked, only just realizing he had been asked a question.
"Eh, he'll have them sooner or later." Alaesia spoke for him.
Alaesia and Aneishen looked close enough to be sisters. Both had black hair, though Aneishen's was considerably longer than Alaesia's. Alaesia's hair was only about the length of Ly's. Aneishen's hair also had streaks of silver going through it, sparkling like her violet eyes in contrast to Alaesia's orange ones. While Aneishen was clad in mostly black leather, Alaesia wore more casual clothing of jeans, a green shirt, and black tennis shoes. Around her neck were two necklaces. THe one on the outside of her shirt was a gold chain with a "D" charm. THe necklace that was hidden under her shirt was a black chain that held a blue cross of two snakes bound together by a ring that surrounded them.
Aneishen shrugged and returned her attention to Rayman's children. "You're just too cute!" she told Yehaiel who continued to stare at her.
"Hate to break up this nauseatingly sweet overly cute moment here," Neshae said, "but I'm starved. There anything to eat around here?"
Aneishen almost seemed to cringe, the thought of Neshae's fangs piercing her neck flashing through her mind. "What did you have in mind?"
Neshae shrugged. "I dunno, a burger maybe? I'm hungry for just about anything. I haven't eaten since three in the morning and you day people have me up already well into the afternoon now."
Suddenly, Ly tensed. "Something just happened..." she said, catching everyone's attention.
"WHat?" Rayman asked. Being a fairy, Ly was able to sense the presence of magic in the air, such as when a spell had just been cast.
"I don't know." Ly said, "But it isn't anything good."
As if to prove her words, there was a sound of shouting down the hall. A man dressed in a sand colored cloak skidded to a halt and turned to race down the hall towards the small group. His hair was dark and short and his eyes white and sightless. In his hand he carried a staff which he did not seem to need just then. Behind him, the person who was shouting came into view and ran after him. She was dressed in a light blue dress, her hair and eyes both gold.
"Shigyu!" the woman called. "WHat are you doing?"
Shigyu did not listen to the woman. Instead he came to a stop when he apporached the group. He leaned against his staff as if her were tired and stared into space.
Bujit, Shigyu's wife, came to a stop next to him. "What's going on?" she asked. Despite being blind, Shigyu knew exactly where he was going and who he was standing next to. He did not answer her. Instead, continuing to stare somewhat towards the ground, he began to do what he was well known for.
"THe diamonds have collided with us." he began. "The trio of gems must find the bone of a thousand men. The dark sapphire returns and comes for the light. The five worlds must be warned for a sixth world has approached. The white onyx summons the ruby lord. And all shall bow before him. A dark emerald shall come and tempt the light emerald. Fire ruby and light sapphire shall be betrayed. Amethyst hurry and prepare for battle. In the end, diamond must return with bone, for no one should return once sent back. Only then can the ruby lord shatter while sapphires shatter the onyx."
"Um..." Bujit said. "I....am not sure what all that meant." Shigyu was well known for his insight to the past, present, and future, but he spoke in riddles. Only his wife, Bujit was able to understand him and translate his prophecies. But this time, even she was slightly confused. "But something not very nice is apparently going on.
Shigyu suddenly straightened. He looked directly at Alaesia for the first time. The intensity of his sightless stare unnerved her, sending a chill down her spine. He pointed to his right. "THe Prophecy of the Gems begins. Hurry. If Tempistus returns and helps them, we may not succeed."
"Tempistus?" Alaesia asked. "But didn't Dark kill him years ago?"
Shigyu was silent. He once again leaned against his staff and stared at the floor.
Bujit took him by the arm. "COme on, let's go tell Fhuyt what you saw."
Chapter 2
Fhuyt paced around his office. His light hair was tied back to keep out of his face while he thought. His pointed ears twitched occasionally in concentration. Alaesia, Shigyu, and Bujit stood in the room with him. Alaesia leaned up against a wall by his desk while Shigyu and Bujit sat in a pair of leather chairs along another wall. On the other side of the room from the two was a long bookshelf and on the back wall was a giant map of the known regions of their world. Shigyu miraculously managed to repeat his prediction word for word and also added a line about one thousand diamonds bringing the ruby lord.
"Well it's obvious that the gems represent certain people..." Fhuyt said more to himself than the rest of them. "Who they are I can't say. But what interests me the most is the 'bone of a thousand men' and the prediction of Tempistus' return."
"THe diamonds have collided with us..." Alaesia repeated. "Maybe someone broke through to the spirit world."
"That doesn't make much sense either, for ghosts and other spirits can travel from the spirit world to any world they choose and back." Fhyut said. "However, if someone managed to raise the dead that might be interesting."
"So what is this 'ruby lord'?" Alaesia asked.
"Well if the diamonds represent people being brought back from the dead and a thousand of them bring him, I'm afraid it has to be some powerful spirit lord. And since the prophesy obviously wants us to defeat him he can't be good." Bujit suggested. "But why one thousand diamonds? If this person wishes to raise the ruby lord wouldn't he just raise him first and be done with it?"
"Maybe he has no control over the spell and is merely waiting for him to appear somewhere among the diamonds." Fhuyt said.
"Either way, it sounds like we have to defeat him so lets figure out what this bone thing is." Alaesia said.
Fhuyt nodded. "Any ideas, anyone?"
"I'm kind of interested in how one thousand men share the same bone." Alaesia said in a slightly joking tone.
"Inheritance?" Bujit suggested.
"A family passing down a bone through the generations?" Alaesia winced. "Isn't that a little gross?"
Fhuyt looked up suddenly and started walking toward a bookshelf across the room from Shigyu and Bujit. "Unless it's a weapon. And weapons made for defeating the undead are usually made of bone." He took a book from the shelf and opened it, flipping through the pages.
After a moment he began to read speak. "Legend of the Starbone. It says that the ancient Ianishians created a throwing star boomerang out of the skull of their first deceased leader, Aopheir. It was fused with five gems, each one representing the magical elements fire, water, air, earth, and spirit. With the power of the first four gems the fifth would be activated and used to seal up portals to the spirit world. It was passed down through the clan for generations, always going to the heir to the throne. At one point there were four who wished to claim the throne and each tried to take the Starbone, causing it to break into five pieces. It was decided that the center piece would remain in their temple and whoever could put all five pieces back together would gain the throne. Unfortunately, none were willing to give up their pieces and loose their change to rule and so the Starbone was never fixed. But this is the only thing that even resembles a bone of a thousand men."
"So we find the pieces and this portal to the spirit world that dead people are supposedly popping out of and throw it in?" Alaesia asked.
"Along with a sacrifice." Fhuyt said. "Both the book and the prophesy say that a 'diamond' has to be returned to the portal with the Starbone."
"So when we do that do all the people who came out die again?" Alaesia asked.
"I'm not sure. I doubt it. It closes the portal, not undoes the spell. But we must find them quickly before this 'ruby lord' comes out. And Lord knows when Tempistus will come out and join them like Shigyu said."
"So where are the pieces?" Bujit asked.
"I'd assume in the land of the Ianishians." Fhuyt said, pointing at a spot on the map. "Ianishua. Very large place. I recommend we split up once we get there to save time." He turned around to face the three again. "Get the others ready. We leave tomorrow."
