The Gem Lords

Lord Sapphire - Part 1

   "Here it is," said Lord Ruby, holding up a large blue gem that glittered and shone with its own inner light. "Your soul gem."

     The two Tharians stared at it in mingled fascination and loathing. "My soul's now linked to that thing?" asked Thomas. "Forever?"

     "Yes," confirmed the Gem Lord. "Until the day you decide to destroy it. Then you will complete the interrupted process of dying and your soul will go to the next world, to be judged by the true Gods. We just have to strengthen it now, protect it from accidental destruction, but unlike us you'll still be able to end your life if you want to. There's no need for you to share our curse of unending life."

     He placed the gem in its protective casket, handling it gingerly as if afraid something might happen to it while it was still fragile and vulnerable. No more than a common crystal. Thomas reached out for it, but the Gem Lord instinctively held it back as if it were a newborn baby that some stranger in a crowd had made a grab for. Thomas reached out for it again, though, and this time the Gem Lord let him take it. "Please be careful with it..." he couldn't help himself from saying, although with a rueful smile as if he knew how ridiculous it must sound.

     Thomas stared at it through the transparent side of the casket. "My soul," he said, his voice soft with awe. "My soul's even now trying to go to the next world, to the judgement of the Gods. Only this thing's stopping it, keeping it in my body."

     "No," said Lirenna, staring at the gem as if it were the very essence of evil, which, to her, it was. "No, it can't be true." She stared at Lord Ruby, silently beseeching him to take back what he'd just said, to tell her he'd made it up, that it wasn't true. Just a joke. He just stared sadly back at her, though, and Lirenna shook her head, her eyes empty of the life and vitality that had always been there. Thomas saw with aching sorrow and pity that the best part of her was dying. All she could do was deny Thomas's condition to herself. Try to make herself believe that it hadn't happened.

     The jewel was right there, though. Right in front of her. Shining, glittering proof. Seeing the pain it was causing her, Thomas placed it gently on the table and drew a cloth over it, and then he moved next to her and slipped his hand into hers.

     "I wish there was another way," he said, "but the fact is that this was the only way to save my life. If they hadn't done what they did, I'd be just a pile of bones now, and the only way I can stop being a rak is by dying. My life is over. There's nothing I can do about that. The choice I have is between rakhood and death."

     "You used to despise wizards who tried to cheat death that way," said the demi shae, wiping a tear from her eye.

     Thomas stared at her in pained horror. "Are you saying you'd rather I was dead than like this?"

     "No, of course not!" She rubbed her eyes with the heels of her hands. "I just wish... I wish..." Suddenly she spun around to glare at the Gem Lords. The other Gem Lords. "I hate you!" she cried. "Why couldn't you have left us alone? What did we ever do to you?" Then she gave a sobbing gasp of anguish and fled from the room.

     "Sounds like she's beginning to get used to the idea," said Topaz confidently. "It might take her a little while, but eventually..."

     "Shut up!" screamed Thomas, advancing on the gem rak with his fists clenched and his face contorted into a mask of maniacal fury. "Why did it have to be me? Of all the people in the world, why did it have to be me?"

     "Only you are compatible with the seed, the remnants of Tak's soul," replied Barl. "We tried several others before you, but they rejected it and we had to remove it before it was destroyed. Your soul accepted the graft, though. We were lucky to find you."