Awaken (Hermitcraft Fanfiction)

XII. Parallel Timelines

TW: fighting, injuries, probable death

^-^

Pearl held the crystal, weighing her options. She shivered; the cold of the Void was more than a chill. It was a cold that kept you alive by feeding you enough energy to continue moving but canceled any bodily attempts to warm your freezing system. There was no wind. It was a still, eerie silence, with nothing for light to shine on in its icy reaches. Even the slight squelch of her boots was muffled by the Void.

She looked at her communicator, trying to discern a direction or coordinates she could use to mark her location. It displayed no information. The compass spun aimlessly, numbers scrolled through the coordinates like lightning, and the clock moved at different paces every moment; hours moved like seconds, and then the seconds moved like hours. She huffed, lowering her arm.

A statistic caught her eye. The temperature gauge on the device was the only stable feature. She brought it closer to her body, and it increased slightly. She held it further away, and it dipped dramatically. Pearl grinned wryly, unclasping the crystal from her neck and holding the ruby in her palm.

"Circumspice corpo calor," she whispered, wrapping the chain around her wrist like a bracelet. It moved subtly in her direction. She turned, watching it track her movement. She pinched the bridge of her nose with her opposite hand, keeping the jewel on her outstretched palm. "Non hic," she said, watching it move away from her with satisfaction. (Look around for body heat [...] Not here.)

She unstrapped her sword from the side of her pack and buckled the sheath to her belt on her left hip. She loosened the blade in its sheath, ensuring she could draw the razor-sharp obsidian in a heartbeat. She shrugged the inventory onto her back and buckled the straps that redistributed the weight to her hips. She forced her muscles to stop shivering and took her first steps forward, the crystal dangling from her wrist tilted unnaturally forward as she began her trek.

Her combat boots squished and squelched disturbingly as she hiked onward, the heat from her movement barely keeping her at a reasonable temperature. She scowled, shifting the straps on her backpack so her wings could unfold from her back. The magically sealed slits on the back of her shirt opened as the feathered limbs opened to their full width, stretching the cramped muscles and relieving the pain of being compressed for an undetermined amount of time. She pumped her wings, lifting into the air and hovering as her wings settled into a rhythm.

Pearl glanced at the direction the crystal tilted and shot off, following its subtle angle deeper into the Void. As she traveled, the ruby began to glow a soft red. Steadily, it grew brighter until an orb of red rested beneath her palm. A gentle lavender glow emanated from the Void ahead, and she swooped toward it, following the crystal's direction. She landed, dropping to one knee to absorb the impact. She stood, grimacing at the sticky substance that covered one knee.

She stood on the edge of a field of crystals. She moved to the first one and jumped back in shock. Behind the transparent mineral, asleep in a magically induced coma, was Fwhip. Every wound, burn, or scar he ever had was wiped away, leaving him unmarked by the trials of his life. She forced herself to breathe, concluding that since she had laid the spell across all of them, they would land in the Void.

Pearl moved between the jewels, looking mournfully at the faces of her friends as they rested, waiting for a more peaceful time to live. She swallowed, forcing the tears away. The ruby swung around, confusedly pointing at each crystal cocoon, identifying each of them as a source of warmth that resulted from their life and connectedness to the code.

"Non hic," she whispered each time her pendant swung to a new person. Finally, she reached the last one. She nearly broke down as she recognized Gem's serene features behind the glass. Her clothing had changed, an oddity Pearl was unsure of. Her hand brushed the jewel as she whispered an apology. She wished she could have done more to save her friends. She wished she did not have to see them like this.