Star Cursed (Madeira Citrine Book 1)

by C. Swallow

  "You have a spaceship full of diamonds?" I ask, gasping. The crowd, obviously, hears, making the crowd all stand up in an uproar, "Don't drop them, you'll kill every Dark Gem in the Stadium including the male Gems in the crowd."

  "It's a threat; it won't happen... as long as no one touches you," Pharis stands, crossing his arms over his chest, "...and the spaceship isn't just full of diamonds... it's full of humans... and other various gems that will make us all rich by the time I fly us all back home. To Earth."

  "So that's what you've all been busy doing," Seraphine yells out to the girls on the field, "Saving humans and stealing treasure?" she bursts out laughing, "You're a little late to the party, Hybrid," Seraphine turns to Pharis, "Hraken is now King. We succeeded in overthrowing the dictator without you, but your presence is always welcome," she grins but he frowns.

  "Gosh, damn it, I wanted to sprinkle you lot with pretty diamonds as all you pretty girls deserve... sorry, friends, friends, I didn't mean to sound derogatory in any way, please don't kill me," Pharis lifts his hands in surrender and Seraphine just shakes her head.

  "I've heard a lot worse, calm your tits," she tilts her head and he gasps.

  "That's my saying, Seraphine... well, I taught you well, didn't I?" Pharis jokes and I see Traegr on the field becoming impatient.

  "Enough chit-chat," he calls out, "We have a portal to open. Bring out Val," Traegr requests for her presence, and not one soldier responds, nor are any walls lifted.

  "Bring out Val," Hraken repeats, and then people jump into motion while Traegr just rolls his eyes.

  "I think I'll stick around to watch this," Pharis shrugs, "A portal? That's too cool to miss."

  "Do you know how to fly that?" I ask.

  "The co-ordinates for Earth are computed into the spaceship, all I have to do is press auto-pilot, it has enough fuel... well enough to get to the atmosphere... from there we can crash-land on Earth or something... we'll figure it out. Princess," he shrugs, "No matter what, I'm taking the humans home."

  "I understand," I nod, "You'll be the only one to use magic on that planet, you know?–"

  "I'll be a superhero," Pharis grins, "That's the plan, anyway."

  "The reverse Gems on that planet will stop your magic source," Seraphine points out, lifting her brows until she stops, thinks and realises, "...you clever bastard."

  "You listened!" Pharis exclaims, happy-go-lucky as he continues, "I have a spaceship full of Kiyrgems and diamonds. I think it's safe to assume I'll be bringing humans and magic back to Earth," he wriggles his eyebrows now, proud of his plan.

  "You seem pretty confident about crash landing," Seraphine adds.

  "I'll use my mind control over this scrap of metal to make it land slower, or I'll try, but first I want to watch this portal thing happen. No way am I leaving for that!" his holographic hand points to the field, "Who are they? Are they going to open the portal?"

  I turn to see who he is motioning towards.

  Jared is walking out with Val, who is walking like a zombie behind him, her eyes closed and head down turned.

  "The input codes!" Jared commands Traegr as he stands by Hraken. Hraken then steps forward, his arm out to stop Jared's approach towards the portal.

  "Jared Lapis Luzuli, you killed one of our own," Hraken speaks in critical judgement, "What have you done to Val? Surely she will not meet the same fate as Kaelyn?"

  "Her mind is gone, but her magic remains," Jared tries to speak solemnly as he leads Val closer to Hraken, "See? My... progressive experimentations completely phased out her ability to... live. She is basically a vegetable with minimal with brain capacity. I am sorry, my methods are not conventional, but I am only doing what I can, for our future," Jared can see the fire in Hraken's eyes and he speaks more quietly, "Val's magic is the only safe way to open this portal. Any Royal female Gem too close will cause the portal to fail. It will shut down and may permanently damage the quartz pillars which withhold the sensitive technology I created to further our race's ambitions," Jared tries to step past the new King, but Hraken puts out a quick hand, grabbing Jared's neck. However, Hraken pauses and quickly let's go of Jared in shock, even as the scientist turns to face him once more, "Anything else I can confirm for you, my new King?"

  "Will Val be harmed?" Hraken asks, quietly, shaken by the touch of Jared's skin... whatever he felt, has my own mind running in circles.

  He was one strange scientist if he could faze Hraken.

  "No, Val will not be harmed. She will stand to the side of the portal where the field will not be interrupted. All energy will be expelled through the front. This will all be very safe, you may stand where you like, I only request that Royal females do not stray near lest they break the mechanics by their residual aura," Jared steps, "I found out through my research, all of you have one. Some have stronger forces surrounding them than others. Royal female Gems, for obvious reasons, cannot get close."

  "You have my word," Hraken nods at the Royal female Gems on the field and they shrug and make their way to the podium to join us, directly out of the portal's way. Hraken then follows Jared as does Traegr and they all approach the quartz pillars together.

  "I saw the battle. Perhaps I should not have granted Traegr my Ametrine enhancement," Jared mutters, but the mic picks up and the words float all the way around the stadium and to Celeste's ears.

  "What do you mean?" she asks in a monotone, she comes over to me and forcefully takes my mic from around my ear to place it around her own, "I am curious, Mr. Lapis Luzuli... what Ametrine enhancement do you speak of?"

  "Uh..." Jared sighs, turning to the Ametrine podium he also stays near Hraken so she will overhear, "Liquefied Ametrine, injected into his blood stream... it is safe to say that he may have enhanced emotions and a turbulent void. I administered it in junction with his request of his curiosity to the enhancement. I could not refuse a King," Jared adds the last part in to make sure he cannot be blamed for anything.

  One thing was for sure; Jared liked to avoid blame of any kind.

  "When did you administer this?" Celeste asks.

  "This morning," Jared smiles, emotionlessly and then turns back around to face the portal.

  Celeste unexpectedly jumps down onto the field and throws the mic back up at me, before running for Traegr. I just watch on in confusion.

  "Jared affectively drugged him," I mutter, "...it wasn't a true fight."

  "Traegr wasn't himself? Isn't that a surprise...?" Seraphine shrugs and Sabir's eyes abruptly light up in realisation.

  "You're right. Ladonna," Sabir calls out, "You know the rules better than anyone. Am I not the only Gem present that knows the laws of combat, including exceptions which null a battle of any bets and rewards?"

  "Enhancement is forbidden," Ladonna speaks, truthfully, "...which means the battle is void... and Traegr is still the rightful King. You are correct."

  I watch as Lilo, beside me now, smacks her palm to her forehead, before facing the other girls. They all look worried.

  By this point, Traegr is simply smirking as he puts in the code to the portal on the side of the quartz pillar.

  Before anyone can respond to such allegations including Hraken himself, there is a sudden appearance of white distorted mist in the middle of the pillars, floating about sporadically and it grabs everyone's attention.

  "Too often, scientists focus on dark matter, they want to study it but they don't realise it's dead white matter," Jared points to the portal and speaks loudly enough for all to hear through Hraken, "This is what will be the basis of our permanent portal."

  "Traegr," Celeste has run up to her bonded-partner and grabs onto Traegr's arm as he turns to face her with a confused gaze, "Take my magic."

  "Not now," Hraken growls at Celeste.

  "Scared of a re-match?" Traegr asks, grabbing a hold of Celeste's hand.

  "Excuse me, please be quiet," Jared interrupts both of them, "This is the second stage, I mustconcentrate."

  Everyone shuts up
and faces the mad-scientist, who goes to grab Val's arms, as all she wears is one flimsy hospital gown. He grabs out a metal tube with a needle and goes to stick it in her arm. He jabs one in and holds it over a hole in the quartz pillar. The camera's focus is now on red-orange blood seeping out of the needle into the jagged hole of the quartz.

  The white matter starts to turn the same red-orange, the colour of twilight in the final moments before sun-down.

  As Jared is about to stick in the second needle, he unfortunately doesn't get his chance.

  Brain dead Val, suddenly comes to life.

  She abruptly straightens her back and steps away from the mad scientist. He looks up in confusion as she jerks out the needle and jabs it straight into his arm in retaliation.

  She is shaking and weak as she tries to back off further, and all I hear is Jared's hissed words, "I just need your blood, you don't matter otherwise," I watch in slow motion as he lunges forward, grabs the back of her neck and throws her violently towards the quartz pillar.

  Her forehead makes contact and cracks open against the jagged quartz. Jared then jumps forward to hold her there, in place, so more blood gushes in and the portal starts to loudly crack and whine.

  Hraken is about to intercept, while Celeste is trying to heal Traegr but is now simply standing back in shock at the violent act before her.

  The portal abruptly starts to crack like thunder.

  The portal was opening.

  It was finally happening but only after a brutal murder of an innocent young girl just trying to defend herself.

  "Stand back!" Jared yells out over his shoulder, sounding surprisingly calm.

  "Are you a liar and a murderer, Mr. Lapis Lazuli?" I ask through my mic, "No one listen to him, he's clearly up to something and doesn't want any of you to get close so he can do whatever he is planning. Hraken, please, stop this," I ask, pleading before something else violent happens.

  However, the exact opposite occurs.

  The cracking swirling portal soon discolours back to white, and the power abruptly dies off.

  "No, no, no!" Jared yells out, hitting his fist on the quartz pillar, "Not enough blood... not enough damn blood," he throws Val's body off the quartz hole and I watch as a sparkling orb comes falling from above, "Get that bloody spaceship out of here," Jared yells as the diamond lodges into the ground right between Traegr and Hraken.

  The two contending Kings fall, their eyes abruptly roll back into their heads and they collapse, unconscious in seconds.

  But Jared doesn't fall.

  "Oh, shit," Pharis gasps, "That wasn't meant to happen. The evil dude was meant to fall too... how did he not... I mean... what the hell? He's not affected by the diamond at all? So much for trying to save the day."

  Pharis has a point.

  And it has me nothing but confused why the scientist is still standing.

  Jared now turns to see the diamond lodged into the soil with a curious gaze, mildly amused that the two Dark Gem rivals were unconscious because of it.

  Celeste is the only one left near Jared now.

  "Give me his mic," Jared speaks, his voice fading from the distance, as he talks to Celeste while he points to Hraken, "Now, please."

  "Why should I give it to you?" Celeste reaches down to pick it up regardless, to wear it for herself, "You're a monster, why should I trust you?"

  "I'm a genius, actually," Jared laughs and puts his hands out, as if surrendering, "Regardless of what you think of me, you need me to open the portal. I wish to communicate what I need calmly but I shall yell it since you do not want to pass me the microphone. So... Queen Sapphire!" he yells out, "Send that spaceship away, it's interfering with the field. We have one more shot. Send it away now."

  "Go," I turn to Pharis, "Once this portal is open... I have this handled, he'll face the right punishment," Jared would be dead, but I don't say it directly. For now, I had to make sure he trusted me enough to open it properly.

  "Good decision," Sabir nods at me and speaks quietly, "We have to open this portal while he is alive and none of us want him around longer than necessary. Let's get this done. What other motive could he possibly have?"

  "So long, princess," Pharis nods and his tone is solemn as the spaceship slowly rises and heads up further into the atmosphere.

  His hologram fades with it, and Jared sighs loudly.

  "Finally, we needed the hybrid gone regardless," Jared yells out, "Planetary species cannot breed together, it is better the hybrid is not present on this planet when we connect to CU."

  "Shut up and get on with it," I growl, "We're waiting."

  Jared turns his back wearily on Celeste to pick up Val's dumped body. We all cringe as he hoists her up and brings another arm over the hole, putting in another needle to drip in some more blood into the quartz pillar.

  "Get that diamond Pharis lodged, out of the ground, Celeste," I tell her, just in case we need Hraken and Traegr with us.

  "Yes, princess," Celeste picks up the pretty rock and throws it towards the middle of the field, to give space for Hraken and Traegr to find consciousness.

  "We wait," Seraphine stands beside me as do the other Royal female Gems.

  The crackling and sparkling from the portal starts again, more intense this time.

  All eyes watch as the portal finally begins to open. It takes minutes of draining in more blood of a murdered innocent, but we didn't know any other way to fuse the magic with the white matter.

  As soon as the portal seems stable, Jared throws Val to the side once more.

  And the portal starts to shrink exponentially.

  "It needs more power," Jared cries out, over his shoulder, towards Celeste.

  She looks back at me and I nod.

  "Safely," I murmur.

  "It's out last shot," Jared adds as he calls out, "It is not dangerous, Celeste, just don't stand directly in front. Add your magic as purely as you can. Now. The only risk is the portal will shut down... and I know none of you want that to happen."

  "I've got this," Celeste steps forward and raises her palms cupped together, she grows a glowing, luminescent flower, which lights up half the stadium with her magical light, "I've seeped all my magic into this one daisy, it should work," she chucks it up into the portal, just as Hraken and Traegr both groan back to life and get back to their feet, looking half-wrecked.

  The two Dark Gems get up just in time to see the white innocent flower disintegrate into the portal with the loudest thundering boom anyone has ever heard. It was the type of thunder crackle that instills instant fear even into the bravest of hearts.

  The portal blooms beautifully, now, far more stable as it grows out.

  It finally looks like a success, reaching the edges of the quartz pillars.

  However, as it touches the quartz...

  ...again... it slowly shrinks back in.

  "Your portal failed, Jared," I call out, "All that violence for what, a broken malfunctioning masterpiece?"

  "It doesn't make sense," Jared turns and watches Celeste as she wanders forward, closer, her hands on her hips.

  "I've had enough of your crazy ranting, Mr. Lapis Lazuli," Celeste points to the portal, "It failed exponentially and at great cost."

  "Add in more power and it might work," Jared pleads, "We just need a bit more."

  "I gave it everything I had," Celeste shakes her head, "I'm empty of magic for the rest of the night. But let's not forget your crimes... as you so obviously want to avoid them. Kaelyn's dead because of you, Val's dead because of you, and you're about to die too... because you have no further value to us."

  As Celeste finishes speaking, the portal has shrunk to the point it's completely fizzled out.

  The portal is dead and the air is still.

  "Take this man away," Hraken calls out, pointing to Jared.

  "You're not the King, my 'king'," Traegr mocks. Hraken rolls his eyes.

  "Let's not ponder about leadership, while that man still walks and breathes," Hrak
en continues to point to Jared as the scientist frantically runs to the other side of the portal's second quartz pillar, tinkering with the other end of it while out of harm's way.

  Celeste glances at Hraken and Traegr while she rolls her eyes.

  She takes a few brave steps to stand in front of the portal, on purpose.

  "Oh, well," she shrugs, "Too bad your portal won't work with a Royal female Gem standing in front of it."

  "My calculations were misaligned," Jared calls out, new light in his eyes, "The aura of a Royal female Gem doesn't disconnect the white matter; it keeps it stable. Stay right where you are. You're perfect, right there in the middle."

  This was unexpected news.

  But he isn't lying.

  I watch as the portal, though seemingly empty, has a visible and slight shift in the air. The air between the pillars almost looks like a mirage, the type you see in a scorching hot desert.

  "That looks more like a portal," Seraphine grins, "Third time lucky?"

  By this point the two leaders don't even realise it's working.

  They are fighting right next to the opposite quartz pillar.

  "Hraken, Traegr," I snap, watching both of them, nose to nose with their hands in each other's leather gear after one clearly tried to hit the other.

  "Not now, princess!" Traegr yells out as he shoves Hraken backwards away from him. He rolls his shoulders backwards to stretch before he attacks and his palm almost hits the damn controls of the portal behind him.

  "Traegr," I gasp, "Don't stand so close to the controls!"

  "What?" Traegr roars out, frustrated at my constant interrupting of their ensuing second battle; which had the worst possible timing.

  Typical.

  Except this time that I've caught his attention, he's turned to face the podium and his knuckles dobrush the controls – pressing a single button.

  "Traegr," Celeste snaps, after the portal cracks unexpectedly, "Listen to Sapphire."