Within Polaris, on a broad slab of flat floor not far from the Spire, energy coalesces. Cracks begin to appear in the floor: spiderweb-thin, and then spreading, widening into narrow black chasms.

The cracking grows louder, and becomes a rumbling like thunder. It grows, a bellow, a beast's roar: a quake that shakes walls and roofs throughout the caves. Lessers flee Polaris in droves, eyes rolling white in terror. The Spire reacts as if sensing a fellow, turquoise flashes of energy lashing for the darkness.

The growling becomes deafening, and something begins to thrust upward from the floor of Polaris: a vast blue crystalline structure, not unlike the Spire itself yet... hollow, somehow. Different. It rises, higher and higher, twisting as it comes. It mirrors the Spire, facing it, a strange and alien twin--the rumbling grows even louder, and stones begin to cascade from old wounds in Polaris's ceiling. The crystal's planes shimmer, fresh and newly birthed, gleaming in perfection.

At last, there is a hush, the rumbling gradually falling still, until even a whisper might be heard. But it isn't over.

There's a lull in the air, a latent promise of magic. Something is about to happen.

_________

The Quest Emergent Influence has begun!

Gembounds may join this thread at any time, though in the interests of speedy GM posting, sooner is better! (They are also encouraged to use any magic to prepare for combat in advance... just in case.)

She wasn't far from Polaris when the rumbling began. Confusion turned to concern, and she was taking off to Polaris at a dead sprint, the shimmering cosmic wings sprouting from her shoulders and pushing her along as she rushed to the source of the commotion.

At last, she burst through the entrance of Polaris just as the crystalline structure was finishing its ascension and her eyes widened with terror. A second Spire? What was the meaning of this? She approached as fast as she could, whipping through all the knowledge she had, but nothing could have predicted this second pillar of Skystone. Was it Skystone? It was the right color, wasn't it?

She stood near it, but not too near, knowing the consequences of standing too close to the regular Spire, and just stared. The energy of the room was palpable and she found herself calling on her magic to tell her something - what the hell was this thing, what was it here for? What was it going to do?

There is cracking, and then something rising out of the floor. Esther hadn't come to this cave expecting something to raise up above their head - just to wander - but now they're stuck watching as a stone breaks its way through the floor into their vision. Stones fall around them.

The only thing in Esther's head is pure confusion. They've never seen something like this before - but what is it? And so close to the other one. There's a strange feeling as the stone settles before them, like something is going to happen.

What is it?


Esther notices another silent gembound nearby - clearly she has no idea what it is either. They frown and pull their magic forward.

Well she had been hoping for something interesting to happen - life in a world without the structure and control they'd had in eras long past was dull as shit. Before, she had a job - keep everyone in line, keep them working, reward and punish as needed. But now it was fuckin. Nothing. Maybe she should just say fuck it and join Master Vargas's Forge. That would give her some purpose. But something in her wanted to do her own thing, make her own rules. Use this odd freedom to bring back the old ways as she saw fit.

Great job she was doing at that.

But then the deafening sound from Polaris had her leaving her post in a heartbeat. It wasn't far and she was a big valkhound, reaching the center of Polaris as the...crystal thing was appearing.

Now, Tectus did not know anything about the Spire, not really. She knew about the old one well enough but this? Way different. She remembered seeing cracks of the old one in the ground at its base, but why it had replaced their old Oilstone was beyond her. But this was something fucking else. Her eyes narrowed as she approached without fear, standing tall over the other gembound that were gathering, and flicked her eyes around the base. What was causing this? She didn't have much in terms of sensory or detection, and what she did have failed to be useful in the moment. So the Overseer just stood before the now twin Spires and tensed her muscles, preparing for what shit was about to happen.

"Be careful," she grunted to the Gembound that were gathering. "Be ready!"

Tourmaline, too, had felt and heard the earthquake. Running along on frantic paws, she'd come, the charge in the air urging her faster. But she'd only arrive as the world settled into silence.

There were others, too. Of course, no one else would miss the commotion. And the energy given off by twin spires charges the air into a dizzying crescendo. She can't miss the anticipation so thick in the air.

She attempts to call her magic, to be able to see and hear anything and everything about to happen. But instead, a searing needle drives itself into her skull. It's too bright. It's too loud. It's too suffocating. The magic is too much to be perceived, and she collapses into the dust with a keening wail.

Sitting not far from the new twin, Asterius watches Gembound congregate. She sits perched upon a rock overlooking it all. As if they had been waiting.

Maybe they had, or maybe they simply hadn't been noticed taking her place there.

The energy of the Skystone resonates with her own. The memory of the one that placed her here flashes distantly in their mind. Is this too sent by that gloomy figure, distant in her mind?

The only way to find out is to wait.

It wasn't often that anything could rival the ever-present roar of Pisces' grand waterfall. To live there meant growing accustomed to the noise, embracing it so thoroughly that it served less as a nuisance and more as a lullaby, a familiar presence to drowse off to. In fact, many a time, Fahl had found himself unsettled when sleeping elsewhere, silence deafening in the absence of crashing water. For that endless assault on one's hearing to be so suddenly drowned out was completely unprecedented. Nobody could ignore such an upset, especially not when locating its source resulted in almost being trampled by a mass exodus of Lessers fleeing the scene.

He avoided the worst of the chaos through use of the curious gift of flight. White light fashioned into feathers bore him aloft and sent him swooping down the tunnel leading to Polaris. Nevertheless, not all who let their fear guide them to safer places were landbound; plowing through a swarm of insects left the not-so-marine iguana sputtering. More than a few fiery cusses were uttered from tasting an unwanted helping of bug guts. However, a swift death befell this attitude when confronted by the reason for the great commotion.

Drenched blue in the eerie glow of the now twin spires and cowed by an odd sense of inevitability resonating throughout the area, Fahl alighted a cautious distance from the site. Locating his own magic amongst the impressive sea amassing here proved difficult. Limbs shook and eyes narrowed in deep, strained concentration, but eventually bark began to emerge from beneath scales, weaving itself into thin plates over his backside.

When faced with the unknown, much as he wished to prod and pry, it truly was better to be safe than sorry.

Zephiran hadn't seen Daphne in a while. He had briefly looked for her where they were supposed to show, and didn't see her. A frown upon his face, yet he proudly wore the necklace. The stone in the middle shone a light blue.

The pup heard a crackle, energy collapsed. Hackles of his fur rose. Bright cyan eyes darted to the spire. Growling and something moves along the floor. Thrashing about. Something was moving around.

All his mind could go to— Is Daphne okay? Claws dug in at the stones underneath him. Ears pinned hard at his head. Should.. he run? Does he run? Does he fight? For now the pup laid quiet, hackles risen. A swift flicker of his tail, uncertainty rose in his chest.

---

"Speaking"

A beasts roar could be heard, a gentle mew echoed through the chrysalis. As the cracking grew louder, the white pup sought it on herself to push and fold. The quake shook, causing a final blow to aide the white pup out of the chrysalis snugged into the ground. Big paws plopped onto the ground, claws digging into the stones as the ground quaked. Panic rose to keep herself on her pass. Red eyes immediately sought to the largest blue crystal. The Spire. Energy lashing about. Stones crashing down.

Tail tucked between the white wolf's legs as she narrowed to the sounds. The hatchling moved quick on her paws, trying to steady herself. Although she was wobbly from just hatching. Red eyes darted from all those who had been around. One of the creatures nearby said to be ready. For anything she wondered. Her heart beat heavily in her chest, heat reaching to her ears.

For the moment she judged if she should fight. Adrenaline coarsed through her veins. Silently calling to anything that could help her. Her eyes finally turned back to the spire. Awaiting. For now she dared not to speak.

---

"Speaking"

Diem arrived a little later, but hurriedly, his feet shuffling quickly on the rock. In his arms was Bitey, the ghostly alligator hatchling, staring up as raptly as Diem was himself. He came to a halt at the rear of the gathering Gembounds, sparing a glance around to see who had gathered. Strangers? Awesome! That was almost as exciting as the... what was it?

"Is that a new Spire?" he asked, amazement in his tone. That hadn't been something he'd... expected. Had he? (It was hard to remember, sometimes; everything Before was as if it lay behind a thick fog, and that was okay.) Either way, it was sort of an honor to be here to see it. Whatever "it" would turn out to be.

"We should probably stay back a bit," he offered up, as an afterthought. The kind of energies the Spire could put out were... altering, to say the least.

They could straight-up melt a dude, to say the... most.