Robert woke up sweating, the cackles of the night witch still echoing in his head. He had no idea what this creature was or why he kept appearing in the realm of eternal night, but they seemed to only get more and more intense, this time his poor mother not even having the will to fight against the dark one anymore.
Robert slunk out of bed and down the stairs. He wasn't sure how he could live with himself, knowing he failed so miserably. It had been years since she disappeared and he spent his time doing what? Moping around? Waiting for her to just reappear?
His psychic training with Arya felt too little, too late at that point. He wondered what the point in even going on was, trying to imagine if he wasn't there, maybe things would be different.
The gems were gathered in the front room with his father, everyone having serious looks on their faces, talking in low murmurs.
Robert tried to see his mother again, hoping it wasn't true, but it was.
"These things just keep coming and fizzling out under sunlight," Pearl said, presenting the shriveled creature on the table.
"And what d'you want me to do 'bout it?" He asked. "I'm just a guy. I ain't like you superheroes."
"We're just trying to look for answers," Garnet said
"You were high up in the military, right?" Amethyst asked, "Did they ever see anything like this?"
"Nope, just terrorists," he said.
"There has to be something in your wife's spell books about this." Pearl suggested, "These things didn't just suddenly appear, probably."
"Either way we must act fast." Garnet said, "Whatever these things are after, they get closer and closer to the temple each time."
"What are you all talking about?" Lily asked, coming down the stairs, limb enhancers still on.
"That thing your Dad just dropped in like a minute we couldn't even scratch" Amethyst replied
"I'm gonna be honest, I just blacked out the minute I saw that thing throttlin' my kids," he said. "When I woke up, it was gone."
"The dark creature? I've been trying to analyze it." Lily brought up her finger screens, showing a black sample and some information about it written in gem. "Its DNA doesn't match with anything from your world or any of the ones the diamond's colonized, it's completely alien by my logs."
"The only thing I've found though is these things, while vulnerable to raw light can absorb the energy that gems produce," Lily explained, hovering her logs towards Pearl. "I think they're after you."
"And...what does it do with that energy?" Pearl asked nervously. If she could have gotten any paler, she would have.
"We don't know yet, my best guess is to sustain itself." Lily said, "Like how humans consume plants for the energy they get through photosynthesis."
"So, we're food to them?" Amethyst asked
"Basically," Lily replied
"What about Steven, w-will he be okay?" Pearl asked
"As a partial organic, like myself, he isn't in danger of being fully drained by the dark masses." Lily said, "Though they could drain our gem's energy, leaving beings like us with fatigue."
"Then why was it trying to eat the humans?" Pearl asked
"That's a question I have yet to uncover, though it may have something to do with this "soul" the humans speak of." Lily read from her notes "Though some more extensive research is required, I'm not even sure if it's trying to "eat" them, in the traditional sense."
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.