When Worlds Collide (Blue Diamond x Reader)

Chapter 11: Enlightenment

You all went down a long series of corridors, through numerous security gates. You didn't know what an Umbran was, but you became uneasy based on the fact that the last few gates required a Diamond's security clearance. Finally, at the end of a long corridor, was an elevator of ordinary size.

"Oh, right. Of course," Blue muttered, before shrinking down to human height. The other gems averted their eyes quickly and shrank themselves to preposterous small size, except for Aquamarine, who evidently figured she was impractically short normally. Blue sighed. "You needn't do that." Pearl and Jay returned to normal size. "I didn't want to be rude, but DON'T do that. You look ridiculous," she told Holly, who then also returned to her normal height, embarrassed. You entered the lift. The doors slid shut, and Blue pressed the lowest button on the panel. "It's a very long way down. (Y/N)... I must caution you. I know this isn't in your character, but you must feel no pity for what you are about to see. An Umbran is a creature of pure evil. If you look for the good in one, you shall be looking your entire life... and if you let down your guard for even an instant, it shall be a very short life. Our race was created to fight theirs, for their very existence threatened the entire universe. We did eventually wipe them out... but at great cost. That Eidras still exists by means unknown is an insult to quadrillions who lost their lives."

"My predecessor lived through the Umbran Wars," Holly noted. "She said the Umbrans didn't have names. That they didn't even recognise individuals."

"That's correct. Eidras is, from what our scholars have gathered, a Cantrofan name. Cantrofax," she explained, turning to you, "was a world sacrificed along with its people to destroy the Umbran Horde."

"How deep are we going?" Jay asked, noticing the elevator ride was taking a rather long time.

"All the way to the planetary core," Blue replied.

"Yikes, you really don't kid around with these things!" you remarked. "I don't mean to question your judgement, but was it really necessary to imprison him so deep?"

"We didn't do that," Aquamarine answered. "He was down there before the facility was built."

You pondered on this while the lift continued to descend for what felt like half an hour. Finally, you felt it stop with a small bump.

"We're here," Blue said grimly. "Everyone be on your guard. It may be bound and weakened, but this is still the most evil and dangerous creature known to exist."

You stepped out into a dimly lit cave. A path was cleared through the stalagmites, leading into the shadows. You could hear an odd, unsettling noise coming from that direction, but approached anyway. Reaching the centre of the cave, you saw a small mound with a large stalagmite upon it. Chained to it under a spotlight was Eidras.

Everyone gasped at what they saw. It appeared at first glance to be a robot. It had four vaguely insectoid mechanical legs, and a humanoid upper body. However, much of the upper section looked to have been blown away; the head and left arm were missing, along with most of the front. The remaining right arm hung limply, which was probably a good thing considering it had a menacing-looking cannon in place of a hand and forearm. The body sat unmoving, the legs stiff and obviously long immobile. But it was what sat in the exposed innards of the construct which shocked everyone.

A blob about the size of a human head sat inside the suit. It was pure black - no, yet darker. It almost looked like it had an aura around it where it sucked the light from the surrounding air, radiating darkness. It was roughly in the shape of a head, but in place of a neck had numerous short, thin tentacles. These rose and fell without any sign of intelligent intent, the overall effect of the creature reminding you of a pool of bubbling tar. Two yellow catlike eyes glowed upon what served as his face, the left one much smaller than the right. Below his eyes opened a terrible circular mouth. The inside was red and full of rings of pointed teeth which seemed to go on forever. Some damaged wires and cables were still hooked to a few of his tentacles, some apparently linked to a speech synthesiser. You realised now what that unsettling noise was. As his tentacles twitched and his eyes rolled about at random, Eidras was laughing giddily, a high-pitched mindless, deranged, demented sound, distorted by the damaged vocal hardware of his mechanical suit. You froze when his eyes locked onto yours, your breath catching in your throat. Blue Diamond put a hand on your shoulder to reassure you.