The sun rose over Arcane's hidden cove, golden light spilling across dew-speckled leaves and the crystalline walls of the refuge. Seraphine stirred first, perched high on a sculpted ledge of coral and stone, scanning the horizon with sharpened eyes. Something had shifted in the air overnight. Not danger exactly—yet not peace either.
Below, the others slowly emerged from their rest. Jinx yawned as she stumbled out from her hammock-like netting of vines and cloth, her gem flickering erratically in the morning light.
"I had a dream," she muttered to no one. "There were voices underwater. They were laughing. Not in a fun way."
Citrine jotted something into a worn leather notebook she'd claimed from Oni. "Dreams are rarely just dreams," she murmured, eyes narrowed.
Breakfast was simple: roasted fruit, steamed roots, and clean water pulled through crystal filtration. Oni hummed a soft tune while passing out portions. "Today's a good day for expansion," he said, bright-eyed. "We should map the north cliffs—see if there's room for an observatory. Maybe even set up the harmonic sensors."
The others agreed, but Lapis stood still at the edge of the clearing, watching a flock of birds scatter too quickly into the sky.
---
The cliffs were breathtaking, etched with wind and time. Moss clung to sheer faces of stone, and veins of old gem structures pulsed faintly beneath the surface—harmless now, but not forgotten. The team split up: Seraphine and Citrine climbed higher for a vantage point, Jinx and Oni explored lower ledges, and Amara tended to a patch of iridescent flowers clinging to a slope.
Amara knelt in the soil, fingers brushing against soft petals that glowed faintly under her touch. She smiled. "You're adapting faster than we are," she whispered to them.
A faint snap of branches made her pause.
Her head rose. A rustle of fabric. A muffled cry.
She was on her feet in seconds.
"Someone's here!" Amara called.
Seraphine leapt down from above, Citrine right behind her. Oni scrambled up the incline, Jinx bounding after him. Lapis hovered above, expression unreadable.
In a shallow ditch beyond the rise, they found her.
A human girl—no older than seventeen—lay sprawled among shattered crystal and damp earth. Her leg was twisted unnaturally, her jacket torn. Cuts glistened along her arms and cheek. Her eyes fluttered open as Seraphine knelt beside her.
"Who is she?" Oni whispered, stunned.
"No clue," Jinx said, crouching beside the girl and examining the fractured edge of what had once been a hidden gem conduit, now crumbled.
"She must've stumbled into a pocket collapse," Citrine said, scanning the area. "There's unstable tech here. Fault lines."
"But how did she get past the veil?" Seraphine muttered. "No human should even see this place."
The girl moaned softly, her voice hoarse. "I… I saw the sky change. Then the ground—glowed…"
"She's bleeding too fast," Citrine said. "That cut on her side—"
"Let me," Amara said suddenly, kneeling beside the girl. "She's not going to make it if we wait."
Lapis watched from the edge of the group. Her eyes stayed locked on Amara.
Amara placed her hands gently over the worst wound, a jagged line across the girl's side. Her gem began to glow.
Healing others wasn't new to her. But healing a human...It was risky. It hadn't been tested. The fusion of organic tissue and gem light was unpredictable, maybe even irreversible.
Still, she focused.
Warm golden-pink light pulsed from her palms, enveloping the girl's body. The forest held its breath. Even the birds fell silent.
Amara closed her eyes. Please…
A flicker. A reaction.
The girl's back arched.
A scream tore from her throat—sharp, unearthly.
Then—stillness.
She slumped in Amara's arms.
"Did it work?" Oni asked, voice barely audible.
Slowly, the girl stirred. Her eyes opened, wide and clouded, then clear. She looked straight at Amara.
"I saw you," she whispered. "In the light."
The air grew cold. Even the wind stopped.
Imani—the name later discovered stitched on a tag inside her jacket—sat up shakily, blinking. Her skin shimmered faintly near the wound. A faint crystalline formation had appeared just beneath her ribcage, gleaming with a soft lavender hue.
"…That's not possible," Citrine said, taking a step back.
"She's… like me," Oni whispered. "But more."
"Half-gem," Lapis murmured. Her voice was quiet. Too quiet.
"She's changing," Amara said, breathless.
They brought Imani back to the cove, fashioning a stretcher from vines and bark. Jinx hovered protectively, curiosity burning in her expression. Oni never left her side.
Imani slept for hours. When she finally woke, she remembered very little of the fall—but she remembered the light.
"I was afraid I was dying," she said, gripping Amara's hand. "Then I felt… a thread. Like someone caught me before I fell too far."
"You weren't meant to be here," Seraphine said. Not accusing—just true.
Imani's lips trembled. "I didn't try to find this place. I was following the stars. They flickered wrong."
Seraphine and Citrine exchanged glances.
"She's connected," Citrine said. "Maybe from birth. Maybe now because of the healing. But she's part of this."
Seraphine nodded slowly. "Then we protect her."
Amara sat with Imani late that night, sharing roasted fruit and honeyed roots by the fire. The others slept nearby, shadows tangled in hammocks and driftwood bedding.
"Do you think I'm a mistake?" Imani asked suddenly.
Amara blinked. "What?"
"I wasn't born like this. You changed me. What if it's wrong?"
"I don't think you were changed," Amara said softly. "I think you were awakened."
Imani looked into the fire. "Then what am I supposed to do now?"
Amara smiled. "Live. Be the first of what's next."
Far above, Lapis sat alone on a pillar of obsidian at the cliff's edge, her eyes on the sea. Wind tugged at her robe.
A small crystal in her palm pulsed faintly. Long dormant, now awake.
"Secretary L-9," it whispered, the voice of a memory long buried. "Awaiting report."
Lapis closed her fist around it.
"No," she whispered. "Not yet."
Behind her, the ocean churned.
End of Chapter Four.