The Agate Program

Prolouge

     Shadow Grove. A place long known to the locals as a hideout for all the spirits in the country, no one dared to go in there. It was damp and dreary, with odd sounds and looks, with the impression of someone watching your every step. The crunches of the leaves made you feel like someone was watching you, and even the most brave scientists couldn't bare to take more then a couple steps in there.

Which is why it was the perfect place for the strange woman.

Unknown to the public, she had traveled in the forest in the dead of night, looking for a structure. A structure that she had read about in her history books, a place ahead of its time, built way back in 2021 to be a shelter for the apocalypse. There was none, of course, but it had certainly felt like it. Now that it was abandoned, it was about to be occupied.

The woman grabbed the branches of a tree and hoisted herself up to the bare tip of the tree, seating herself at the top, holding on to two branches so she wouldn't fall. She surveyed the area, looking for the slightest shimmer of the now-rising sun hitting metal- and then was momentarily blinded. Shielding her eyes, she looked forward to see a spark of white in between the dark browns of the trees. She climbed down and ran toward it, the crunches of her feet hitting the leaves, the bare trees becoming a blur of brown, the sunrise slowly running before her.

Suddenly, she stopped.

To a normal eye, all one would see was a dusty old cabin, leaves and sticks blocking most of it from view. But the woman wiped some of the dust off, and was greeted by a shiny metal door. Taking a bobby pin and a MetaTron, she scanned the lock on the door, a tiny electronic keypad, and switched it into the lock she held in her pocket. The bobby pins quickly allowed her in, and she scanned the door for a handle, but there was none.

She stepped back, and the doors slid open like elevator doors.

The woman stepped inside to see a lab that looked like it had just been cleaned before. On a table in front of her were labeled jars of different crystals - Amber, Amethyst, Apatite, Ruby, Malachite, Pyrite, Lapis Lazulli, Obsidian, Quartz, and Opal. The crystals were bright, as if a light was placed inside of them and they were inside sparkling water. The woman didn't take much notice of them, and while going past them, she accidentally bumped into the jar full of Opals. It clearly had the least amount of gems, and when she bumped into them, the jar fell off the table and the top flew off. The woman quickly turned back and started to clean up the opals, but the sparkling water was now scattered across the floor. The woman tried to clean it up, but soon gave up and left scattered opals and sparkling water all over the floor, now with only a couple opals left. Behind the woman back, the opals soon lost their light, then shrunk into the ground.

While looking around, the woman felt a tingle. She ignored it, still surveying the place. It came back again, but still the woman took no notice to it, only shook as if she was shaking off a bug. Then, she heard a slam. Then a voice.

"I did it! I'm in! I'm in!" called out a young boys voice. Then, cheers, obviously from his friends.

The woman was scared. She turned back to see a small, red haired boy with freckles. All of a sudden, she felt the tingle again. She turned around and focused on the boy, trying not to be seen. Her head starting hurting, a lot. Her thoughts were swarming, then gone. In a tiny pocket in the back of her brain, they hid, and scattered, unknown thoughts came in.

My friends will never believe me!

Wow, am I hungry.

I hate Mr. Williams!

Oh great, what are my parents gonna say?

The woman couldn't take it. She was traveling in an odd world, and screamed, "ENOUGH!"

But no sound came out. Instead, she was back in the lab she had found, and the boy's eyes were as wide as dinner plates. You could hear his heart pounding.

The woman smiled. She had an idea where this was going.

She focused on the boy again, and did the same mouth-scream.

"LEAVE! LEAVE NOW, OR I WILL COME GET YOU!"

The woman thought it was stupid, but obviously the child didn't. He screamed, turned around, and shot out the door like a tiger was chasing him.

The woman smiled. She now knew why those gems were glowing, and why they were in that sparkling water.

A criminal could very well make an army with this, she thought.

Soon enough, she very well did.