Cry Wolf (closed)

[njrk97]

The insignificant sound of splashing echoed through the frozen caverns. Its blue shrouded everything in sight giving a alien feeling to this planet which prided itself on a such a vibrant colour pallet. Taking those colours away created something extraterrestrial and alien but its beauty could not be overstated. Alex stopped in place letting the ripples on the shallow water he was stepping in settle. He glanced around observing his surroundings. The catacombs seemed to stretch on for miles underneath the glacial rock formation with several branches leading off in different direction. Some continued the shallow stream of water that Alex was walking through while others rose up slightly to dry rocks paths. The entire roof and walls were a form of slightly transparent blue ice. It was not clear enough to see through making navigation hard but it was clear enough to allow a small amount of light to cascade through it and down to where the young gem was standing. This provided ample illumination on his trek through these ever expansive caves.

Alex continued at his brisk pace through the shallow water that barley made it up to his heels. He decided though that progress would be quicker on the dryer banks of this stream and elected to move to them. As with the last few days Alex just felt 'lost' he knew Meta would go on mission from time to time and the amount of time he spent waiting was relatively small but this was honestly the worse time for her to vanish. That whole transmission thing had happen and several gems labelled themselves as defenders of the Earth. Big things were happening and Meta needed to know about this stuff, yet there was nothing from her, no sign of her return. Alex didn't even have any idea where to look for her so he just chose a warp stream and looked around. At this time had had gone to about 20 or so different locations around the world to no avail and with no clue of where she would of gone. It didn't help that Alex found himself getting more exhausted as the weeks progressed. It was small and did not make much of a difference now but he knew that it would start becoming a problem at some stage. It wasn't natural fatigue either, somehow Alex had the feeling that he was now on borrowed time.

Alex gave up on walking for a bit and ended up leaning against the icy wall. A fresh spike of pain lanced across his back from his damaged stone. His new reform meant that his hair now concealed both his back gemstones while leaving his front stone exposed but it didn't stop the occasional pain that was created by the damaged stone.Its just another reminder of how defective Alex was. At least though he gained access to both his abilities now thanks to Meta.His weapon, was a different story.

OOC Information:

SPOILER: Click to show

Alex's New Redesign Post "Learning from Icarus"

Environment Inspirations

[Hemimorphite]

Twigs snapped and fresh grass was smushed beneath the feet of a massive white beast, its breath pushing its way through its massive maw and fogging in the cool crisp air. It ran, it ran faster than usual, as if it was hunting for prey. Although this beast had lacked a pack, it seemed perfectly capable of chasing down the small blue figure before it.

Hemimorphite could feel the cold breath run down her spine, even colder than the tense air surrounding them. This would be her second time being chased down by such a large corrupted gem, the first time she needed help to dispose of it, and that only ended up with her sauntering away. This time, it was much different, which was to be expected since close combat is not her favorite kind of tea.

The terrain beneath her feet began to grow rougher, colder, speckled with white snow and damp water that fell from the... Ice above her? Upon a much more extensive realization, she had figured out that she was at the entrance of an ice cavern, the home of the wolf perhaps? Or maybe a lone natural structure with many twists and turns beneath its iridescent blue surface. If it weren't for the fact that Hemimorphite was currently attempting to accurately plan her survival escape, she would have admired such vibrant colors and the mysterious capabilities of earth. Sadly, that would have to wait when the wolf was properly disposed of or distanced from.

The barking and snarling of the corrupted gem echoed throughout the vast space of the cavern, disrupting the relaxing sounds of dripping and distant water streams. The beast exhaled deeply, its breath sparking with active energy. Its throat rumbled as it crouched down slightly, its maw gaped open as it spewed ice that had churned within the wolf's body. Hemimorphite ducked down, icicles whizzing past her head and slamming against the walls behind her, causing several cracks to run along the surface.

[njrk97]

The powerful resonating snarl had echoed through the caverns and travelled on for as much as the caves themselves seem to reach. Naturally this meant that the sound reached Alex quickly and as much as he did not care to admit it, fear crept into him as his head shot towards the direction of the sound. Even now he still had that sensation of dread, fighting alone was something he wished to avoid, and although he had become accustomed to corrupted fights, their was still something uncomfortable about fighting his own kind in that form.

Alex decided though to stay where he was. He couldn't summon a weapon well and he was tired. So  let the creature come to him. If it wanted a fight it would have to work in finding a target at least. Alex was pretty sure that it would be unlikely to find him through this winding caves anyway and even if he did. The wind had a very particular edge that Alex could use. Just because he couldn't summon his weapon didn't mean he didn't have talents. Although you wouldn't get him to admit that.

[Hemimorphite]

She needed to act quickly, this beas was far more powerful than she had expected. The blue gem but the bottom of her lip and spun around on her heels, quickly making her way down the cavern and glancing around in a hurried panic for any sort of pathway other than the obvious one ahead of her.

Aha! To the left of her was a crevice, or rather a pathway big enough for her to slip past in order to be free of the wolf after her. Without a second thought she slipped through, letting out a surprised huff as the wolf's powerful paws scraped along the caverns walls since it was far too massive to fit through. Thus, to its dismay it began passing around the entrance of the small pathway.

Hemimorphite took this time to gather her thoughts and bring her wits together. 'Unbelievable, I have to find another way out...' She thought to herself, rubbing a hand on her forehead. Slowly, she looked up and spotted the gem before her, a colorful one... Had they always been there?

"Uh..." She whispered, keeping her voice hushed as to prevent agitating the wolf. "Hi?"

[njrk97]

Alex heard it before he saw it. The loud thumping foot steps and the lighter ones woven in between. They were getting closer, much closer. Alex poised himself on his heels. Ready to jump up if the situation warranted it. The sound was echoing from a smaller cracked entry way. Only a small gem would be able to fit though easily and as the sound got closer that was what happened. A blue gem, shorter then Alex, had darted through the crevice skidding to a halt facing the entry way. Out side Alex could see something massive, a corrupted gem it seems passing out the front of it. No doubt it was too big to fit but Alex had seen corrupted gems with abilities before so anything was possible.

He let out a small sigh as the other gem seemed to gather her wits and then finally noticed him. Alex didn't answer straight away as he observed the blue gem before him. She seemed to be wearing some sort of robe like attire, complete with a hood, all of which was in a blue hue. He assumed she was blue, the lighting in here gave everything a blue saturation so you couldn't really be sure. He looked nervously past her back through the entry way before slowly rising up and speaking "I..." He trailed off "think we should move away from the giant monster thing" before he began moving backwards more into the heart of the cave system. The creature let out a powerful and loud howl, causing Alex to flinch, let out a small squeak and jump slightly.

[Hemimorphite]

She lifted a brow and peered over her shoulder, her curious expression quickly turning sour as the corrupted gem howled. "Right right..." Hemimorphite whispered, following behind him as they began to head deeper into the caverns. She was lucky she hadn't ran into a dead end, that would have left her to hide for a long time or face the beast unwillingly, which could have ended horribly. She crossed her arms to keep warmth flowing through her body as she continued along, occasionally glancing over her shoulder to watch as the entry way grew smaller as they went further away from it. That figure from behind the wall resumed its sauntering around, waiting for its prey to come out.

"Erm, if I could possibly ask... What are you doing here? And who are you?" Well, she didn't want to be wandering around with a stranger, if they were to both make it out in one piece, it would be best to comply and at least be somewhat acquainted, at least that was what she had thought. "I'm Hemimorpite, by the way." The blue gem quickly added, lifting her index finger as she spoke. Well, they were far enough now to speak normally, so she ceased her whispering. "Do you happen to know a way out, dear?"

[njrk97]

As they continued trekking along further and further away from the beast Alex began to slow down slightly. He had not had much time to rest beforehand and was trying his hardest to hide the creeping edge of exhaustion that was clinging onto him. At this rate though they would have to stop at some stage again.

"Erm, if I could possibly ask... What are you doing here? And who are you?"

Alex wasn't quite sure what to say. He was somewhat comforted by contact with another gem but he was still somewhat tense around her. He had plenty of encounters with more morally ambiguous gems and had been in his share of fights with and against them. His loneliness was getting somewhat overwhelming though so he did opt to answer.

"What i'm doing here is not important, what is important is not being here with that 'thing' stalking us" He responded. Through proximity some of Meta focused disposition and aura had rubbed off on Alex, and he could at least fake professionalism for the sake of this other gem.

"Alexandrite though. If you must know my Gemstone" Secretly though Alex really wasn't feeling up to the task of being so, blunt. He just didn't feel like himself acting like that. He was listening though as she spoke of her name. Alex seemed to like odd gemstones as Company, between her, Meta Autinite and Industrial Diamond he seemed to have a ensemble of unique gems.

"Do you happen to know a way out, dear?"

"That would be a negatory Ms Hemimorphite, I intended to exit out off the way you came" Alex puffed

The path up ahead seemed to dip down again as it merged onto a intersection of sorts. Water seemed to gently flow and branch off into the other pathways that were lower down then the one they were standing on. Given three options Alex stopped walking. His pausing hiding the fact that he needed to stop soon, he decided to let the other gem make the decision of what path to take. Regardless all of the paths had ample room on the banks to avoid the shallow water.

[Hemimorphite]

At his answer, she furrowed her brows a bit, even though he was right he didn't have to be so rude... Well, it wasn't necessarily rude in a way though, she just wanted a reason as to why he was here. But, she digressed, at least she was able to get his name and an answer to her last question... Which, sadly, he did not know the way out of the ice cavern. Hemimorphite gave a slow nod as she glanced towards the walls of the ice cavern, her reflection distorted and faded. "Well... Alright then I suppose..."

As they continued on, she seemed to relax a bit more due to how distanced they were currently from the corrupted gem. Although, one may never know, this may as well be its home, so it may know every nook and cranny of the seemingly endless tunnels of ice and water.

The pair appeared to stop at a few intersections, to which Hemimorphite squinted and looked at all of them; The pathways looked roughly the same, but where they lead were all different, and perhaps different exit points?

"Eh... Let's try the one on the left, Alexandrite was it?" Hemimorphite finally said, pointing and beginning to walk towards the pathway she had chosen. She hadn't yet realized her new friend was tired, but then again, he was doing very well with masking his ailments.

[njrk97]

"Eh... Let's try the one on the left, Alexandrite was it?"

"I have no sense of direction now, so whatever feels right" He replied

Alex ended up following trying his best not to trail behind the other gem. He stayed up on the bank to make sure he wasn't slowed by the water. The walkway they were taking seemed to do a sharp right angled turn a few meters ahead. As they rounded the corner the walkway continued for a few feet before dropping off. The water toppled down over the edge and the sound of it hitting rocks could be heard echoing across. It seemed that something had shifted the rock downwards causing the massive drop off. It seemed to go down for so long that even the bottom couldn't be seen and it extended length wise for about 45 feet so jumping was out of the question. The walkway continued on the other side though, albeit without water.

Alex stood near the edge looking down, he hesitated before turning around. He was tired but the last thing he wanted to do was double back the way they came so he did not have much of a choice. He spoke up again "Do you have way to get across this, falling is not a option unless you like having your gem shattered and I personally want to avoid doubling back? You got any bright ideas?"

Alex waited for her response before letting out a tiny sigh. He hoped his training paid off now more then ever. He opened his arms out before closing his eyes. He felt his body tipping backwards as he fell over the edge. His body naturally twisted so he was facing the darkness below. He inhaled deeply as the gems on his back glowed through his hair, small veins of crystal began growing out and extending further and further past his body. The mass of the wings extended from those aswell and covered over them. On his right side the wings formed several crystal patterns in a order patterned, leading off into sharp crystal feather. On the left side though the wing was much more fragmented, with random sized segments and blunt wings. Both though had the vibrant mixing wave of green and purple.
 

[Hemimorphite]

Upon stopping at the crevice, canyon? Or rather a very deep trench, Hemimrophite peered down over the edge, grimacing. "Aha..." She let out a small, dry chuckle as she could feel her limbs stiffen. Although it wasn't that deep, the damage of the fall could be threatening her very existence.

"Well, I couldn't possibly just jump for it. Do you happen to have any other means as to getting around-" Hemimorphite paused, lifting a finger as Alexandrite fell over the edge, practically causing her soul to leave her body and traverse into another realm. All the color seemed to drain from her face as her once raised finger, drooped down into a sad fist. She continued to peer over the edge, worried that he might have actually killed himself.

The blue gem spotted the wings sprouting from his back, relieving her quite a bit and restoring the color to her face. She lightly patted her upper brow with her sleeve and shook her head. "My word, well, now there is a way across..." Hemimorphite whispered. She didn't want to admit it, but the other gem's wings were... Odd, in a sense that one seemed to be more malformed than the other, but it's not like she was going to suddenly bring it up, that would be rude of her. Hemimorphite cleared her throat and gathered her composure.

[njrk97]

Alex swerved back upwards so that he was facing Hemi again, this time though floating over the edge. The dull sensation of pain kept flaring back up every-time his damaged wing moved but that was more of a minor irritation right now. Regardless his wings seemed to work rather well on their own. He applied very little thought to keep himself airborn like he was.Now would be the interesting part, getting both of them across.

"Well,umm. I guess" He sorta trailed off as he extended both of his hands out for the blue gem to grab onto. It wasn't the safest method but it was the easiest for the flight and it would minimise any injuries if for some reason he lost control and crashed into the ground. The strain though was starting to get to him. They would need to get across quickly or risk having to double back.

"Grab on i guess" Alex said somewhat unsure of himself, and with a tint of green blush on his cheeks. He never really carried someone before so the situation was somewhat awkward for him.

[Hemimorphite]

He seemed to be quite the interesting gem, what with his crystalized wings. Not many gems seemed to have that ability of flight, so it was a nice change to see something so unique.

She looked up at him and clapped. "Great!" With that said, she wiped her hands on her dress before hopping over the edge and grabbing onto his wrists, gripping onto them with all of her might, keeping them firm since if she were to have a slip, she wouldn't plummet to her death. "Alright, I'm good, let's make this very quick, hm dear?" Hemimorphite said, giving a small nod. The blue gem could feel her limbs dangling in the air as she simply stood there, or to be more precise, hung there. To keep herself from freaking out on the spot, she refused to look down and shut her eyes, trying to tame her nerves from flailing and making a huge mess, causing him to lose balance and fall... Well, that was the worst that could happen, Hemimorphite couldn't seem to prevent all of the bad outcomes from flooding her mind and causing her to grow a little paranoid of getting across. "Heh... It's a little deep down there, isn't it?" She whispered.

[njrk97]

Alex waited abit as the other gem wiped her hands. Do gems perspire, he never did it, or did he but never noticed it, he never needed to breath yet did it more as a comfort thing so perhaps it was the same as that. Alex was somewhat distracted and nearly jumped as the blue gem grabbed on. Okay with the additional weight he needed to minimise the time, but he couldn't go too fast or risk hurting Hemi.

"Alright, I'm good, let's make this very quick, hm dear?"

He began gliding over at a moderate speed. Trying his hardest to ignore the stinging sensation from his gem as he maintained flight, on top of the general fatigue he already felt latching onto his body

"I don't generally leave people hanging" He said quietly, before realising how stupid of a joke that was and picking up the pace slightly. He glanced down himself as Hemimorphite mentioned how deep it was and felt a little uneasy, luckily his phobias did not include heights or this would of been far more difficult.

As he kept moving across he began feeling heavier and heavier, the wings seemed to be draining more energy than he planned but he was now only two or three feet away and committed to one last burst of speed to get them on solid land again.He was flying low enough that Hemimorphite would feel her feet touch the ground on the other side and as soon as they were a foot or so over land he loosened his hands and let go of her.

Alex though was not blessed with such a graceful landing. The additional energy to create the wings and carry another gem across the gap took his toll and one of his wings cramped up as he quietly wheezed in exhaustion. He wasn't far off the ground but he still did half a spiral before crashing face first onto the hard rock a few feet away from Hemimorphite. His right wing had clipped the ground and shattered into several hundred shards of allexite¹ while his other wing also shattered but still left about 2 feet of damaged wing still attached. Alex groaned and managed to get up on his hands and knees.

1:Allexite: The name of Artificial Alexandrite, the material Alex's wings are made out off. Also a insult for him, since it's basically calling him fake.

[Hemimorphite]

Although she felt unsure of this little flight, she couldn't help but laugh at his rather bad joke. In all honesty, even if it didn't fit in appropriately at the moment, it still was rather funny. For a moment it seemed she ignored the fact that she was dangling in the air, only to be slipped back into reality and slip into a fearful silence once more.

It was no deep ocean, however it was a deep trench. If it weren't for Alexandrite's ability to fly, she might have turned back around and chosen a different route instead. Actually, the more she thought about it, the more plausible it seemed.

Hemimorphite's feet finally felt solid ground, and she soon sighed in relief, only to inhale sharply as the other gem didn't have such a safe landing. "Oh my goodness! Are you alright?" The blue gem ushered to his side and knelt down, lifting a brow. Picking a different route seemed like a much better choice in the end after all, maybe he wouldn't have had to end up as such a mess.

The blue gem kicked away the small shards of Allexite to keep herself from stepping all over it and potentially slipping. "Ah, was it because of my weight?" She added to her last sentence.

[njrk97]

"Oh my goodness! Are you alright?"

"I've been through worse" He winced as managed to get back onto his feet "i still am" He whispered almost inaudibly. His hands and face had a few small grazes scatter across them now. Healing those would have to wait for now. Despite the rough landing at least they were now on the other side of the crevice and had come out relatively unscathed. What was left of his crystal wings glowed and returned into his gemstone, hiding under his thick, albeit now messed up hair.

He glanced down at the ground noticing the shards that now laid scattered across it. He bent down and picked up a small shard twisting it in his fingers idly. He felt more exhausted then ever now but he couldn't afford to let it weigh him down now. They still needed to get out of this cave and clearing that obstacle may not of even been a step in the right direction.

"Ah, was it because of my weight?"

Alex managed to let out a small chuckle at this, "No, its..." He trailed off "Im stronger then i look" He said as he moved the Alexite down into his palm before snapping his hand shut quickly. The intended effect was to crush it and prove a point but things didn't go exactly as planned. As his hand compressed around it, his palm and fingers glitched out around it causing it to phase though his closed hand and fall onto the ground with a echoing 'chink'. Alex stood their in silence the colour evident in his cheeks as he looked down at the ground, at this very moment his gemstone and eye colour shifted to purple aswell.

"Lets just keep moving" He said quickly, stumbling slightly as he began moving.