Light In the Universe DX

Chapter 16: Next mission.

Lily took one of the spell books from the shelf, the entire case being untouched since Robert's mom disappeared. "Perhaps these logs have something-."

"Don't touch those!" Percy shouted, taking the book. "Those ain't just normal books. They're your mother's..." he paused, realizing that if he wanted to keep his wife's identity secret, he would have to come up with some excuse.

"I assure you, Dad these information blocks will be unchanged after my analysis," Lily assured robotically. 

"That's not the point," Percy replied, snatching the book. "Those...are your mother's spellbooks." he sighed, realizing there was no dancing around it. "They ain't no normal books."

Pearl's eyes widened, and Lily was unphased. 

"I'm sure your "spellbooks" will remain unharmed by a simple scan," Lily said, Pearl, yanking it out of her hand before she could open it.

"Hey! What problem do you all have? They're just information logs!"

"We can't do magic, so if we open 'em, really bad stuff happens," Michael replied. "Like I opened one and we had to shovel out sand for the rest of the day." 

"Yeah, and when I opened one, it turned the couch into an alligator," Robert added. 

"So how do we extract the information?"

"We need a wizard." Percy replied. "But... I don't think I've seen your mother for a while..."

Robert averted his gaze, not sure how to explain what he saw, or even how he was a psychic.

"So, lets get another "wizard", how hard can it be?"

"Most magic folk don't like gems-." Pearl explained awkwardly.

"If that's the case, then why did they come to you to talk to you?" Michael replied. "Before you shooed them away, of course."

"They were saying something about demons and that maybe Rose's room held something useful." Pearl said "I tried to tell them it was a sacred place, but they kept trying to blow the door open themselves."

"They wanted Steven too, but that's never going to happen." Garnet said. 

"Considering that tentacle monster thing was pretty demon-like, I wouldn't put it past anyone to say maybe we should ask for help from them?" asked Michael.

"We have no idea where they are." Garnet said  "Even my future vision can't see their lair."

"I think Arya might know" Robert replied, heading to her house.

The gems followed, careful to keep themselves behind Robert as he talked with the girl.  Though the gems have seen their fair share throughout their eons alive, magic seemed to remain a mystery to them.

Robert knocked on the door. Soon enough, Arya answered it, 

"Your training's not until tomorrow." Arya said. "And is there a reason the Gems are here. 

From the outside perspective, it looked like Robert was giving Arya the silent treatment until Arya suddenly got the message: The Gems needed to find a wizard or witch who would willingly help them.

"Are you sure there is no other way?" Arya asked "They would rather ground the gems for spells than talk with them."

"Well, it's that or have these things take over the universe" Robert replied, showing a glass tube of the remnant of the large beast they fought.

Arya looked like she was having flashbacks staring at the remnant. As if she knew exactly what that was, and did not like it one bit.

"Are you alright?" Pearl asked. 

"I...think I can show you the way..." she said with shallow breath. "Once they see this, any Magic guild would see this as the bigger threat."

Arya showed the gems to the edge of the wooded area on the other side of beach city, walking for half an hour to eventually hit a mossy stone wall. 

"This- this is it?" Amethyst asked, unimpressed

"Wait a moment." Arya assured.

The bricks stacked themselves to the side with a wave of Arya's hand, revealing a stretch of dusty road, glowing with magical energy. 

Along the way, the group noticed creatures only thought possible from the works of Tolkien, Martin, and Lewis. Fairies, Goblins, among other creatures walked in the woods to a town that looked straight from the pages of the Brother's Grimm 

The Gems made sure to hide their gems, be it by shapeshifting so their gems stayed on the inside of their forms or simply wearing something over them. 

Even still, the group got quite a few stares. Even though many walked with small caged dragons and owls, brewing in cauldrons the size of cabinets what could be described as unsafe for consumption, it was still unusual to see humanoid-like creatures with naturally purple and green skin.

Arya guided them to a steep tower at the edge of the trade center, sitting crooked at the peak of the village. 

"They should be in there." Arya didn't turn around, keeping her eyes on the crumbling tower. 

As Robert, Steven, and the Crystal Gems stepped inside the tower, they could only guess what awaited them. 

When the rotting door swung open the gems were greeted by children waving wands in colored robes, some crowded around bubbling pots with ingredients alien to the aliens. They locked eyes with the gems as the door highlighted them with an agonizingly long creek.

"Have any of you seen Rosenberry?" Arya asked, hoping they wouldn't freak out too much about gems in their safe haven. 

"R-Rosenberry's--"

"We're not telling a bunch of gems!" a rude boy cut off a shy girl.

Steven pulled out the bag containing the dark creature's tentacle, hoping this would convince them. 

"And what's that supposed to do?" he asked. 

"That is a ocean squelcher from the Realm of Darkness." Arya replied, having little patience. "It was found in the Non-magical realm, it somehow reached the size of an adult kraken!" 

"What was all of this about?" Rosenberry asked, coming down the stairs with the girl from earlier. She got an eyeful of the gems who shooed her out earlier as well as Kalinka's firstborn son, as well as the hybrid.

"It attacked the beach! it tried to destroy the gems!" Steven said 

"So, still think we eat kids?" Rosenberry asked smugly 

"No...No you don't." Pearl sighed, swallowing her pride. Rosenberry smirked. 

"Now, where were we? Oh, yes. The Dark Ocean Squelcher. Follow me." She said, leading the group upstairs and into the study.