“Hey time wake up Crystal.” I heard someone say as I slowly woke up. I opened my eyes to the sight of a crimson haired little girl with a horn that came out of the right side of her head and then curled around her ear. Her mismatched gold and silver eyes staring into my gold ones. “Are you awake yet?” She asked with a smirk showing off the fang hanging out of the left side of her mouth.
“Yes, I am awake,” I answered as I sat up on the bed I was lying on. “What time is it?” I asked as I let out a yawn and rubbed the sleep out of my eyes.
“About six thirty in the morning. But you told me to let you know when we got close to the kingdom. We are currently about forty minutes away.” She answered as she floated upside down in the air beside me. It was at this moment that I noticed that she was completely naked once again her body being covered only by light blue colored fur.
“ Can you please put some clothes on?” I asked Surprise averting my eyes, knowing full well she only does this to get a rise out of me.
“Why? You are the only one who can see me. Not to mention that my fur hides my private parts.” She asked with her head tilted to the side.
“You know how I feel about seeing other people naked. So can you please put some clothes on?” I beseeched Surprise.
“Okay but only because you asked nicely.” She pouted as a pink Qipao dress with a red floral pattern on it appeared on her. “There you happy?” She asked as she stuck her tongue out at me.
“Thank you, Surprise, No matter what everyone else says I appreciate having you as my friend. Whatever I did to have a chaos spirit like you follow me I will never know.” I said with a smile on my face. Surprise just laughed and popped out of view. I let out a sigh as I got off my bed and headed to the bathroom attached to my bedroom.
After I had dealt with my morning business I left the bathroom and took off the green nightgown I wore to bed leaving me in a pair of white bra and panties. I opened a trunk next to my bed and put my nightgown in it. I then took out a crimson colored shirt, a black colored skirt, a pair of crimson socks, and a pair of black leather gloves. Each finger of the gloves had a different gem embedded in the knuckles.
I took a second to look at myself in the mirror on the back of the door leading out of my room. I saw a twenty-year-old elf with chestnut colored skin. My turquoise tipped black colored hair covered my left eye and traveled halfway down my back. In the center of my chest stood my red heart-shaped gem inscribed with a silver pentagram destiny mark. I sat there for a few minutes thinking back on the day I got it.
I had just got done successfully enchanting a gem with a light rune allowing it to glow if mana was poured into it. I then felt a warmth in the center of my chest. I then pulled the front of my shirt away from my skin and there sitting on my ten-year-old chest was a destiny mark. I got excited and rushed to my mother to tell her the good news. “Mother I was practicing my enchantments and you will never guess what happened,” I said as I entered the kitchen and saw her at the counter making lunch.
“What Crystal? Did you finally complete the runic array correctly?” My mother said as she continued to prepare lunch.
“Yes I did but not only that but I got my destiny mark after doing it!” I proudly exclaimed to her which caused her to stop what she was doing and put her full attention on me.
“Well let's see it.” She said as she came closer. I then lowered the front of my shirt just enough for her to see the majority of my mark. But as soon as she saw it she gasped and her face turned sad. “Go to your room and stay there until your father gets home.” She said sternly as tears ran down her face. I was about to asked what I had done wrong to make her cry when she yelled, “Now!” At that, I rushed to my room and closed the door and fell on my bed crying.
A couple of hours later I heard my father come home and he and my mother proceeded to have a heated conversation. After about twenty minutes of yelling, I heard a knock on my door followed by my father's voice. “Crystal can I come in?” he asked me. I got up from my bed and walked to the door and opened it. In the hallway stood my dad with a tired look in his gold eyes. I moved aside as he walked into my room and sat on my bed. He then patted a spot next to him on the bed telling me to sit there next to him. He waited for me to sit down before he started talking. “Honey do you know what the destiny of someone marked with a crystal heart in our clan is?” He asked to which I shooked my head no. “It is the duty of the one so marked to lead our clan.” He said as he looked out my window.
“Oh, that's why my friend Cadence became a princess,” I said as I let that sink in.
“However in the event that someone attains a crystal heart mark when an heir has already been approved what do you think happens?” He asked as he looked at me his face filled with sadness. I sat there looking back at him with confusion.
“I don't know,” I answered honestly.
“There is only need for one leader at any given time. In this time and age, we can't afford for the clan to be split. So the second person with the mark is killed to preserve the peace within the clan.” As he said this I suddenly grew afraid.
“You mean they are going to kill me?” I asked in a quiet voice almost too afraid to say it.
“If they find out about your destiny mark yes. However, if you leave before they know about it you have a chance to survive. Unfortunately, your mother and I are blood bound to the clan leader so neither of us can leave the clan so you must leave on your own.” He answered as he rubbed my back while I cried my eyes out.
“Fifteen minutes till We are at the ruins of the crystal kingdom.” Surprise said from behind me snapping me out of my memories. “You might want to finish getting dressed, unless you are going to explore dangerous ruins in your underwear.” She taunted me as she disappeared again. I rolled my eyes and then quickly got dressed. Before I left my room I took one more look in the mirror and noticed that Surprise had changed my shirt on me. What used to be a blank shirt now had writing on it that read I love Surprise!. I let out a chuckle as I left my room and proceeded to the kitchen where I saw a silver-haired eighteen-year-old human female wearing dark blue jeans with a light blue shirt that said I am Loud and Boastful!. To top off the outfit she had a blue colored cloak and witches hat. She was currently eating scrambled eggs with bacon with an agitated look on her face. As soon as she saw me huffed.
“Could you please ask your associate to leave Trixie’s stuff alone. While Trixie is patient enough she draws the line at messing with Trixie’s clothes. Trixie is not loud nor does she boast!” Trixie asked me in an annoyed tone. Surprise was floating behind Trixie making faces at her while Trixie complained.
I let out a small sigh and started to make myself some breakfast. As I put some eggs in the frying pan I lit the magic powered stove. “I’ll talk to Surprise tonight,” I told Trixie. “Though you know the only reason she messes with you is that you react poorly to it right?”
“ Of course Trixie knows but Trixie can't just change her personality. So Trixie hopes for moderation from the chaos spirit.” She replied.
The eggs were just about done so I add some cheese and let it finish cooking. I then put the cheesy eggs on a plate and joined Trixie at the table. I then proceeded to eat my eggs in silence.
After breakfast, Trixie and I went to the armory to get our weapons and gear. “Though Trixie can’t see or interact with the chaos spirit Trixie is glad that the spirit lets us use her chaos dimension for our house. It makes traveling much easier.” Trixie said as she grabbed a staff with a crescent moon design on the head. I for my part grabbed some throwing knives, a long spear, and a black katana that had three different stones in its hilt, a sapphire, a ruby, and an emerald. Each stone was more the just decorative as each was enchanted with a couple of spells.
I also put on some chimera leather armor that I had made sure to put a shield enchantment on when I made it.
“Are you sure I couldn't make you a suit of leather armor? It wouldn't be too much trouble as I have left over from making mine last week.” I asked Trixie as I strapped my armor on.
“Trixie is sure. Her cape is heavily enchanted to protect her from all kinds of danger so adding armor that Trixie is not use to will only slow Trixie down.” She replied. I just shooked my head at her stubbornness and left the armory Trixie exited right behind me. As we came to the front door to the house Surprise popped out of thin air in front of me.
“Okay, we are at the meeting place however we appear to be the first ones here. I tried to check out the ruins ahead but I found that the ruins are steeped in order, so much of it in fact that I can not get near it without hurting myself. This means I have no way to help you if you get in trouble Crystal. Please be careful I don't want to lose my only friend.” She said as she gave me a hug.
I returned the hug and then ruffled her hair. “I promise to be careful Surprise I didn't live this long while being hunted by my clan because I was stupid. I will come back.” I reassured Surprise.
“Tell the chaos spirit that The Great and Powerful Trixie will make sure of it.” Trixie boasted as she opened the door to reveal a swirling pool of energy. She then walked into the pool and disappeared. After a couple of seconds, I followed. When I exited the portal I found myself in a forest just outside a guard tower on the outskirts of the Crystal Empire. The ground was covered with a foot of snow and snow also fell softly from the sky. I took a minute to look at the ruins of the crystal kingdom. Everything was made out of crystal so there was very little damage to buildings that I could see. The longer I looked at it the more I got a feeling of nostalgia. It was like I had been here before even though I know for a fact that I never have.
“A bit of your thoughts,” Trixie said as she came up beside me.
“I don't know why but I’ve got this weird feeling when I look at those ruins. It kinda feels like I am coming home as strange as that sounds.” I answered. She looked at the ruins with me for a couple of minutes.
“No Trixie doesn't think that is strange. You have your own clan hunting you down, a chaos spirit for a friend and partner with a powerful witch who is directly descended from Starswirl the Bearded. Feeling as if you are coming home when you see a ruin is a drop in the bucket compared to the rest.” Trixie said in a serious tone.
I look at her and chuckled. “Thanks for putting it into perspective Trixie,” I said as I lightly punched her arm.
“No problem, Trixie is always glad to help her friends,” she said with a smile. It was then that we heard the sound of footsteps coming our way. We turned toward the forest and saw two people exit it. One was a giant of a person looking to be about eight feet tall. I couldn't tell much more than that because they were wearing a cloak that covered all of their body. The other was an aerian woman with green colored hair. Her skin was black almost as black as the feathered wings on her back marking her of the Raven tribe. She was wearing a green robe with a plunging neckline to it that left little to the imagination. The left side of the robes had a cut down the legs to allow more freedom of movement. She had her green hair done up in a cattail. She looked at me and Trixie with an appraising gaze. After a minute she smiled.
“So you must be Crystal and Trixie it is a pleasure to meet both of you.” The woman greeted us. “ I am Starry Skies.” She said as she took a bow showing off her cleavage. “And this fellow is my bodyguard Iron Bull.” She introduced as she waved a hand in her companion’s direction. For his part, Iron Bull just stood still.
“I take it since you are here that you will take the job?” Starry asked us.
“While we are interested in the job we would like to know a little more about it,” I answered. “Like what are we retrieving, and if what you said about my reward for doing this job is true,” I questioned with a raised eyebrow.
“I can't tell you what we are after but I can assure you that your rewards are exactly what was discussed.” She replied then snapped her fingers, as she did Iron Bull reached a hand into his cloak and pulled out a big burlap sack and threw it on the ground in front of Trixie. Trixie opened the bag and gasped.
“There must be Fifty thousand bits here. There is enough that Trixie could pay for the rest of her school loans and still have bits left over.” She said excitedly.
“Actually there is one hundred thousand bits there.” Starry corrected. “ And for you Crystal.” she said as she pulled out a scroll from her robes. “A royal writ freeing your family from servitude to the Amor clan and rescinding the assassination contracts currently out on you. Signed by Her holiness Empress Sunset Shimmer the sixth.” She told me as she unrolled the scroll and turned it around so I could read it. Sure enough, it was legit even had the sun seal of the Neo-Solar Empire on the bottom of the scroll.
“You will get the writ upon acquisition of the item that the empress wants. However, the bits are yours to take when you accept the job. So are you in.” She asks us again. I looked to Trixie as she looked at me. We stood there having a silent debate for about five minutes before we came to a conclusion.
At the same time, we looked back to Starry Skies and said, “We take the Job.”
