Watching and Listening - An Empires SMP AU

Festival of the rift

           Gem woke up, bright and early, just in time to see the sun rising over the mountains of Dawn. She smiled, greeted the sun a good morning, did her chores, and then went to eat breakfast. Sitting at a polished dark oak table, she ate half a batch of pancakes drowned in strawberry jam and honey.

           The other half was reserved for Apollo, who really liked her pancakes, if only because of the honey that she poured on it. So she took the plate and went to find her bear mount. He was waiting for her by his favorite scratching tree, lazily scratching an itch on his back by rubbing against a branch. Apollo immediately stopped doing so when he spotted Gem coming with the pancakes. 

           Gem giggled when Apollo bounded over to her and started giving her big, slobbery bear kisses. "Apollo!" She yelped. "You're covering me in slobber!" Apollo eventually turned his attention to the pancakes that he had been thanking the princess for, and started eating them, one by one.

           It was always so funny to watch him eat the pancakes. For whatever reason, the bear became incredibly self-conscious when he ate them, but not with any other food. Apollo would pick up one pancake at a time, bite into it, pause to chew, and then bite again, finishing the pancake off after the second chomp. 

           Gem picked up the plate and turned to go back into her house, when something in the corner of her eye caught her attention. A small blue flame, floating a few feet off the ground, just glowing there, as if waiting for her. She groaned. Not the wisps again... 

          The wisps were these strange floating balls of blue fire that came to visit her every once in a while. She didn't know where they came from, or why they were in Dawn. They always formed a chain, leading her out of Dawn to somewhere else. They usually lead her to good things, like when she followed them and found her kingdom's banner, or when she boated to Sanctuary and got her butterfly wings. 

           But Gem did not relish the idea of having to drop everything and follow them because they beckoned her to. She wanted to have her own schedule, a schedule that wasn't interrupted by strange blue wisps. But at the same time, she didn't want to miss out on any of their gifts either. So she put the dishes in the sink to be washed later, spread her wings, and followed the trail of blue wisps.

         They always vanished when she got close enough to see the next one, so Gem had to keep her eyes peeled. Luckily, she had very good eyes. The trail of wisps lead her far away from Dawn, moving towards spawn, when all of a sudden, Gem saw a wood and copper truck driving in the same direction she was. Curious, she stopped flying and approached it. 

           The driver of the truck was False, and Jimena was sitting in the backseat. Gem did not like that fact at all. "Oh, hi, Princess Gem," Jimena said. False stopped driving and waved awkwardly at her. "Uh, do you want a ride?" She asked. Gem thought for a second. "Okay, thanks." She said, and got in the front seat.

          False looked out the window at the wisps. "Do you know what those are?" She asked. "We've been seeing them for a while now. Are they following us?" "No, the wisps are my thing," Gem said. "They make a trail and lead me to gifts that they've got for me. Like these wings." She flapped her butterfly wings as much as she could inside the truck. 

           Gem looked in the rear mirror and noticed that Jimena was staring at her wings. She frowned and lowered them as much as she could, hiding them from view. "So the wisps are good?" False asked. "Well, I guess. They're mysterious." "Yeah, we can relate," False nervously chuckled. "I've got a scarecrow that follows me around when I'm not looking, and signs that pop up and tell me things. And Jimena's being haunted." Gem glanced at Jimena, who nodded stiffly, not saying anything. Gem looked away. Haunted, eh? Interesting...