Dan & Phil: Not of This Earth

04 | Our Existence Together

Word Count: 901  

     Twenty years passed. Twenty years of banter and laughter. Now, Dan stood with his head limp in slumber. Black Opal had just awoken from his own nap, and he was left staring at Dan's bare, freckly back. His gem gave a small glow when he slept and it was rather hypnotic.

     Black Opal's gaze drifted from Dan's gem that day to the obsidian broadsword on display. For some time, he thought about how afraid Dan was of being shattered. Personally, Black Opal couldn't decide whether or not it would be worse to be shattered or to be put into an object. It wasn't something he pondered often, and its presence in his mind was short lived then.

     Do I have a weapon? Dan has an awesome sword, but what do I have? First thing's first, how would I go about summoning anything? Hm.

     The glow of Dan's gem caught his eye again. I'll just focus my energy to my gem. Yeah, that sounds good. Let's try it...

     Black Opal closed his eyes and held a hand over his gem. Every particle of his being tingled with a soft, warm buzz. It became more pronounced around his gem and he could feel his inner desires and might manifesting around his hand and wrist. Black Opal peeked at his hand from behind his eyelashes, his eyes soon popping in amazement. A fingerless glove with razor-sharp claws protruding from the knuckles was fashioned to his right hand. "Whoa..."

     With no restraint, he held his left hand in the same place and a second glove shined into existence before his very eyes. Curiosity pulled him to his feet turned him to face the wall that had faithfully watched his back for as long as he had inhabited there. Inhabited. That wasn't right – he was imprisoned.

     Black Opal swung his arm backwards, his fist tightened and his talons ready for the taste of freedom. With the swiftness of a sapphire, the talons launched towards the glass and, to his disbelief, the glass didn't break. Panic overcame him, the reality that his arm was somehow stuck in the glass smacking him. He lurched backwards in attempts to free himself but it only sent pain shooting up his arm and into his shoulder.

     "Dan!" he shouted. "Dan! DAN!" Black Opal yanked on his arm and threw a panicked glance Dan's way. His gem still softly glowed and his head was left hanging in a comatose slumber. "DAN!" Black Opal screeched, his efforts seemingly fruitless.

     No progress had been made; his limb hadn't budged a single centimeter. He groaned and let his legs go limp. He thumped his forehead against his greatest enemy.

     "Oh, what do you want?" Phil picked his head up and tilted it back to see brown irises squinting at him. "What did you do?!" He dug his hands into his curly hair and his eyebrows shaped themselves in worry. "Opal, what did you do?!"

     "Not important!"

     Dan's hands swung to the sides of his head. "Clearly, it is!" He walked to the back of the glass dome to gawk at the mess his friend had gotten himself into. He gave the talons on the glove a gentle poke. "You summoned weapons? Were you trying to escape?"

     "Wha-ha-hat, I would never! What are you talking about? Heheh...mmm." Not once in that answer did his voice remain consistent. Instead, his voice pitched and cracked with nearly every word.

     His companion bit his lip and his eyes darted to the floor. "While I can respect that, I'm supposed to protect you. I can't let you leave. I'll be shattered, and I'm sure you would face the same fate when you were caught."

     Black Opal placed his free hand flat on the glass. "She would never shatter me and I'm not too sure she'd shatter you either," he stated glumly.

     The shorter of the two shrugged his shoulders in exasperation. "I told you I'm defective. If you escape, it would be on my head for my incompetence. That would be the final thing to get me shattered. I'm not special like you think I am, alright?" There was resent and fear curdled around his voice.

     "Dan, stop saying that. You're crazy special...especially to me." Black Opal gulped and struggled to smile. "I was best friends with the mystic topaz that used to guard me but it took thirty thousand years to get a single word out of her. I miss her every day," his voice and eyes lifted into a true embodiment of joy, "but you've lessened the pain by – I don't know – lightyears! You spoke to me on day one and, with a little perseverance, we've been talking ever since! You're my best friend, Dan," Black Opal insisted with an assured nod. He watched as Dan's face scrunched in an internal conflict.

     He finally shook his head and looked directly into Black Opal's soul. "I am not going to be shattered." Dan's sword swung above his head and delivered a crooked slice to Black Opal's arm. It broke off in slow motion before Black Opal's eyes, and he felt every particle of his being loosening until it became too much for his form to bear.

     Poof!

     The black heart, freckled with flicks of every color the eye could conceive, fell to the velvet pillow and slid to its center.

     "I'm sorry... I'm so, so sorry..."