It was far against the wall, in a remote area of Polaris, that one of the many amethysts across the caves had been growing a few inches off the ground. Slowly, for a cycle, it grew from a shard to over a foot in width. It was shaped oddly - not round, but distorted. Deformed. Whatever was inside was beginning to press against the walls too. And, finally, it was too much for the chrysalis to handle and a loud crack split the silence.

Golden eyes snapped open as consciousness flooded the new creature's mind. She blinked a few times, caught up in being surrounded by darkness for now. There was a crack in front of her, where light spilled, and she realized that she wanted to chase that light.

She tried to move forward on instinct, to press her paws against that crack and push until it broke out. But even as her muscles strained to pull forward, she couldn't move. She couldn't do anything. Panic started bubbling in her chest as she realized that she couldn't breathe. This dark place she was in was filled with fluid that threatened to spill into her lungs that now needed air. She tried to move, she tried to push, but nothing happened.

But it seemed the chrysalis wasn't intending on keeping her trapped as the cracks spiderwebbed out further, reaching farther and farther around the crystal until with a final, shattering sound, it burst open. The young leopard let out a cry as he lungs met air and her body fell from the chrysalis without her consent. Her body tried to twist as it fell, but no luck. She felt her feet bang hard against the stone, sending a wildly unpleasant feeling throughout her entire body and she bounced, the second landing sending her crashing onto her side.

She fought to get up, she tried to pull herself to her feet, but she couldn't move! She was completely helpless, totally stiff, and she couldn't even look down at herself to see what was wrong. She strained her eyes to try and see what was going on, but all she could see was purple. She mewled and whined pitifully, calling out into Polaris for help.

Xevir was walking in Polaris, looking for the driest, toughest grass she could find. Tough grass tasted wonderful for Gemsbok Oryxs. She was about to give up, until she heard the crying of what sounded like a newly hatched feline. The calf rushed over, shocked at the sight she saw. It was a leopard, with its own stone covered around it like armor. Its head was the only thing that was free of this skin armor. Xevir rushed over, using all her might to push the stone covered leopard up to her feet. Once she was up, Xevir spoke to the small cub. "What happened?! Are you ok?! How are you supposed to move like that?!" These questions were not meant to be rude. They were out of pure concern for the cub's well being. Well, everyone was different after all.

@Seshat

By the time the oryx arrived at her side, the leopard cub was thoroughly freaking out, muscles thrashing desperately to try and get her body to move but the stone wasn't giving way at all. Not even a quiver came from her body despite all of her struggling. She was stuck on her side, totally helpless. She couldn't even get back on her feet. Why is this happening? Why is this happening?! She'd been so ready to chase that light and now she couldn't even tell what was wrong with her!

The new thing came up in her vision and her cries for help got louder. "H-hey, help, please? I can't move!" Her eyes glittered with fear. "I d-don't know I just...I was in...darkness and then when I got out I just fell and n-now...I'm stuck!" She stopped moving when she felt the stranger begin to push at her, nosing under her body and pushing her onto her feet again. She let out a terrified whimper when she wobbled getting back on all fours. She trembled, but only her head had the capability of this movement, ears pressed back against the back of her skull. "L-like what? What do you mean? What's wrong with me?!" She tried against to turn her head, to look at herself, but it was no good. Her head was totally stuck in this one position.

@Xevir

Xevir felt sorry for this gembound. But at the same time, if she was going to live, this leopard needed to be strong for herself and understand her situation. The calf took a deep breath, ready to explain the leopard's situation. "Look this isn't going to be easy to hear, but you need to hear it. You and me, along with a lot of other creatures in the cave are called gembounds. Gembounds are born with a stone, which is a vital part of their body, and provides them with magic, their life force. The stone could be found on any part of their body, and usually does not hinder their movement. Removal of the stone results in death, and damaging it is quite dangerous to your life." The calf turned to the side so the leopard could see the stone on the middle of her stomach. "But it seems in your case, your purple stone has covered all of your body, up to your head. That's why you can't move. Your stone has you frozen in place, and I think your stuck like that. If you try to break or remove yourself from your stone that has covered you, you would be putting yourself in grave danger, even risking your life to death." She added another note which she forgot to mention. "We may be known as gembounds, but their are different types of gembounds. All gembounds have different diets. For example, I am a Gemsbok Oryx, and I am a herbivore. As a leopard, leopards eat meat. Now as for your stone issue, you're going to have to accept it. I think you can use magic to nourish yourself, as I cannot hunt due to me being a herbivore."

@Seshat

Her breaths were coming in sharp, rasping pants, heart spiraling out of control. This thing was talking too much, way too much, the words were flooding in and she was processing them but every little bit she said just seemed to wind her up more and more. She coped with it, though, by focusing intensely on the words she was saying, calming herself little by little by trying to focus on what she was saying and not how it was relevant right now. And her words at least interested enough to get the cub to look over her body with interest to try and see where her gemstone was. She couldn't see it from her position, or maybe it was internal.

It took a moment, however, for Xevir's words to really sink in. That her own gemstone, what everyone has that nourishes their life, stimulates their magic (magic? She had magic?!) was actually hurting her more then doing good. She was stuck - stuck in this one place, one position, because that purple she'd seen in the corner of her eye wasn't just a color. It was hard stone covering her muscles, holding her down like the cage she'd just broken free from.

Eyes widened with horror when she realized her predicament. That light...the light she'd seen through the cracks, the glowing that she could just faintly see in the distance from her peripheral vision...she would never be able to reach it. She couldn't run like she wanted or hunt or see things...no...No! No, this wasn't possible, she wasn't just going to accept it. She strained again against her body, trying to move herself, even just a little bit!, but the gemstone wouldn't budge. Not even a shiver ran across her stone skin.

Tears began collecting in her eyes. "No..." she whispered with horror. "I'm...I...no please, that can't be right, it's not..." but it was sinking its claws in deeper and deeper and at last she stopped. She stopped moving, stopped fighitng. She just sat there and stared off blankly, her sorrow spilling down her cheeks. "I can't...I can't move. I won't ever. I can't even feed myself? Or drink water? Or...do anything?! I...how am I...supposed to live, then? By relying on magic I don't know how to use?"

She sniffled, eyes moving down to train on the oryx. She didn't want to think about this. She liked it when the oryx talked. She wanted that, not condolences or cold truths. "H-hey...what's your name? Who are you anyways?"

@Xevir

It didn't make Xevir feel good to see the leopard in this state, but she needed to hear it. Putting of off the truth would not help the matter. "My name is Xevir. I am a gembound, who hatched not too long ago. I am one cycle old. Look, I know it's hard to hear, and even harder to accept. But, what I said is the truth. I wouldn't come up with stuff like this out of nowhere. But, if you choose to just accept it, and live your life, it will hurt less. Try using your magic, see if you can use it to feed yourself from what's around you. Focus." The calf was ready to help this leopard out. She needed to overcome this. She remembered what Astraea told her. The job for the young was to stay healthy and grow strong.

@Seshat

The cub nodded - or, at least she tried to, but she barely managed to wiggle her ears a bit. Instinctual knowledge, it seemed, wasn't used to living in a body made of hard gemstone. She'd have to relearn things that she was hatched with. That would be a pain. The thoughts were stinging, though, and the more and more she thought about it, the more it hurt. She managed to squeak out an "Okay," but it was so heavy with despair and broken in a hundred places. It would take time for her to fully accept this as her reality.

She closed her eyes for a second as more tears ran trails through her fur, trying to take in shuddering breaths. Even that was difficult to do, the gemstone not allowing for much expanding of her chest and a feeling of tightness pressed against her. She began to feel claustrophobic, which only served to bring her heart back up to panic mode. She tried to do what Xevir had told her - focus, absorb from the world around her. Feed herself with magic. She felt a tugging sensation across her whole body as the faintest, colorless glow emanated from the gemstone wrapping around her muscles. She felt a surge of energy and relief in her body as whatever nutrients in the stones around them were siphoned away and collected in her body. It was filling and whatever hunger she'd been experiencing before was quickly quelled.

The was a relief, but it still kept her far too in the now where panic still threatened to consume. So she opened her eyes and turned them to Xevir. "H-hey...c-can you...tell me a st-story? Something that h-happened to you or something. Or something made up. J-just...talk to me? Please?"

@Xevir

Xevir decided she had time to tell the leopard a short story. After all, she was going to be lonely sometimes, or perhaps most of the time. Xevir nodded her head and spoke kindly. "Sure. Actually, let me tell you something that actually happened to me, and something I just found out not too long ago." Xevir began to tell a scary truth that happened in her life.

"I have always had questions about the caves, wondering if there was more than just what we were experiencing, or what we were seeing. In order for gembounds to reproduce, we do it magically, by giving life to a stone. Once that happens, a gembound grows and hatches from a chrysalis. Sometimes gembounds are simply created from random stones in the caves, but nobody created them, they are just made on their own. I always asked myself if there was a way to reproduce without stones or magic. That was when I came across a weird looking creature, who I hoped had the answer to my question."

Xevir took a sigh before continuing.

"It was a weird looking creature with a bow and many arrows. It had a body with four legs, and an upper torso with two arms, and a head with cat like ears. I asked her if there was a different way for gembounds to reproduce, not using magic, but just their bodies. It sounded weird, but I wanted to know. The creature got mad at me, saying that we couldn't. It said if we tried, our children would die, for that's how it was in the caves. It seemed it saw gembounds reproducing differently without magic before. The creature called us gembounds pests, saying that we needed to disappear."

Xevir shook her head in dismay as she spoke. "I begged it to give me more insight, then it asked me a question. It asked me if I liked magic. I said yes, keeping my answer vague out of fear, and hiding the truth, fearful of it harming me. She hated my answer. Then she spoke of our magic, sucking the life out of this planet., causing creatures and plants to perish. I didn't know what our magic was sucking the life out of, because I have never seen this planet before. It said the only way to stop it was from the source. Before it could hit me with its arrow, a wall of ice appeared. Someone saved me with their magic, but I did not know who. The creature walked off in frustration, and as she did, I stated that this planet of hers may be important, but so was the caves and the gembounds. That was when I ran off."

Xevir decided to leave the leopard with a word of advice. "Look, I have to get going soon. But don't see this stone as a hindrance. Find your path in life. Every gembound has magic. Use it to find freedom within yourself. It doesn't matter whether you can move or not, because you are a gembound like everyone else. I can do one more thing for you before I go, if you want that is"

@Seshat

Seshat focused keenly on Xevir's words, despite the fact that it wasn't, well, a very riveting tale. It was interesting enough but she seemed to be reporting it more then telling it like a story. Not that it mattered much to the cub. As long as she was speaking, staving off the panic, then she was okay. As long as she could listen to something and try to forget she was like this.

"That sounds scary," she offered, her voice far more level now that she was calming down a little. "Did you get her name?" More out of curiosity then anything. She wasn't sure why Xevir was interested in reproducing without the help of magic, especially if the system in place worked fine, but maybe it was like her wanting to eat food instead of absorb it. No, don't think about that right now. Deal with it later. She quickly pushed her mind on.

Her ears perked. "Planet? What's that? I don't know that word." She knew the word "cave" and "tunnel" and "world" but planet? Nope. That wasn't something she knew. "She sounds mean. You shouldn't listen to her. If you see her again, don't talk to her."

But Xevir was suddenly talking about leaving? B-but...but wait, she'd only just gotten here! "Wait, you're leaving?" If she left, Seshat couldn't follow! "Wait, don't leave me alone, please! Not yet I c-can't...I don't know what to do." She paused, panting again. "What is it? What are you gonna do?"

@Xevir

"No I have not gotten her name. But it seems she was a major figure within the caves." She had to be, how else would she have known all that information, and seek to annihilate gembounds and their magi. She piratically wanted to destroy the caves! "I don't know what planet means either. But I know one thing for sure. I think it is a place that leads away from the caves. Like all of the caves, to a different realm, I think. And trust me, next time I see her, I'm not just gonna stay silent. I'm running." All of a sudden, the leopard started crying for her to stay. She decided to be kind, but also firm with her words. If this leopard was going to survive, it needed to be strong. It was tough love Xevir was giving, and hopefully it would toughen this cat up, despite the odds against her. "Look, I have to go. I know it's hard, but all gembounds are alone at times. You need to find a way to make it, and I'm confident you will. I won't abandon you. I'll come to visit you every now and then. What I'm doing is that I am trying to work up the courage to go to a different cave called Hydra. I was told that it has salt flats, and salt is a huge part of a Gemsbok Oryx's diet. So I can't build up courage staying here. You need to build up courage too. Before I go though, do you want to be friends? Even when you're alone, you can have me to think about a friend. I promised to come visit you when I can, and not leave you alone for too long. Deal?" She wanted to be this leopards friend. It would give her some courage knowing that someone cared for her.

@Seshat