Collapse and Converge

Birth is awful

Opening my eyes I felt weird. What is happening? Why does everything feel sore and like my body parts will crack open and fall off?

An urge inside me bloomed and started screaming to me. Like a scratching deep in my bones. I couldn't see. What even is seeing? How do I know these things, are they shadows of my past?

Barely sitting on my knees I fell on the grainy ground. Ruthlessly it smeared on my jagged face not giving rest.

Trying to move my limbs I started crawling. Where do I wish to go? Would anyone even find me? Hopelessness started to set in. Still I tried to move myself, because I don't wish to stay in one place and waste away.

With no idea how much time passed, distress eating me alive and hearing small cracks in my 'body' structure it couldn't get worse. I thought. But then I heard footsteps. What are those weird sounds?

Thump. Thump. Thump.

How horrible. Dreading the sound that's nearing me, I stopped moving. Perhaps it was my survival instinct. The ruthless grating on my jagged skin stopped too and that gave me absolute relief.

The mysterious sound stopped and a shadow was cast upon me. I still couldn't see! What's going on? The being knelt down and started staring intensely. Where they assessing me?

After a stressful moment the mysterious being started speaking. "How surprising, another gem in a short time."

What? A gem? What's a gem, is it a thing or an object? No way I got called an absurd name from a strange being. How could I even understand them in the first place.

They didn't notice the gemstone's distress and continued talking. "A refined quality too. Perhaps you will survive quite the time. Hmm. It looks like your name will be Sapphire. The deep blue of your shine is an admirable look."

What kind of illegible stuff are they telling? My name is Sapphire? Sounds cool, but the way it was said was weird. It implied, I had a pre-existing name chosen for me.

"You can call me Sensei." The weird being picked me up and the grating of my skin returned. It's horrible, I wish for the dull ache to disappear.

Sensing my irritation they changed the position and eased my ache a bit.

Sensei started moving away and I didn't like that. There was no way I could even voice out my annoyance so I kept it to myself. What I didn't expect was to hear a small crack. Huh? Even Sensei looked down at me. Surprise flashed through their eyes.

"That seems unusual for a gemstone like you." They looked down with a small frown I could feel.

What could that mean? Is it not normal to crack? I don't feel pain so it can't be anything bad in the first place. I looked up and questioned them silently.

Sensing my gaze they continued, "With your hardness which is 9, It should not be possible to crack with no reason at all."

How absolutely boring. I looked away not interested in the explanation. I could see a building that looked quite funny. More then anything it was unfinished. How could I even tell? No idea. Getting closer the establishment got larger which was unsettling. Oh well.

I could 'see' a red figure in the distance which was waving at us. I could only guess it was for Sensei. When we finally arrived the colourful red gem was oozing happiness.

"Woow! Another gem? That's great news, we will have another member. It's wonderful to meet you my name is Red Diamond!" They expressed their thoughts cheerfully.

I could feel it. The pang deep in stomach was real. They were a kind gem. It did seem they would be the first one to up-lift sad spirits so that's reassuring.

"Yes, that's true," Sensei stated with a small smile on their face, "We should start to smooth their skin, would you like to help?"

The effect was immense. The blindness was real. The place lighted up so brilliantly fast I could believe it. It was like sun gave a kiss on my jagged skin so i relaxed a bit.

And so i was carried away and placed down on a make shift table. I could hear tools rustling. Will they use them on me? That's wonderful. I won't have to feel the rough patches whenever I moved an inch.

The process was horrible. While Sensei had masterful hands Red Diamond didn't and cracked my surface more times than I could count. Sensei didn't even say anything to that. Pitiful. But with time I could sit better and more comfortably so that was a plus. Then came the moment Sensei put in my eye sockets a pair of eyeballs. Honestly? Horrible to the last grain of sand that got in my body.

I could see dark blue pieces around me that I could only assume where on my body. How fun. Red Diamond still looked very cheerful so that was a thing. Sensei was concentrated on smoothing out the edges so I couldn't care less.

Since looking got boring I observed my surroundings. The structure was really beautiful. It still didn't look finished so that's a thing. I had a small suspicion I'll need to help building it.

Diamond started talking to me, "You know you're the third gem that has been born! The second one is Flourite and they have pretty light pink hair. But one thing that is a bit sad is that their hardness is only 4. That means they are fragile to touch, so you should be careful around them." They continued chatting to me while I soaked up the information.

It seemed Sensei was satisfied with his handiwork since they stepped back and went somewhere. Red Diamond saw the look in my eyes.

"Oh don't worry, " they stated, " He tends to do that sometimes." They smiled like the world was colourful. And for a moment I believed them.

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1007 words