“Come this way.”

The Elder with his massive diamond and eight long limbs motioned Geode to follow him up the chamber steps and away from the rainbow Heart-Crystal. The narrow, carved passageway they entered felt cold in comparison.

“What did I do wrong? Why don’t they like me?” Geode asked, his worry too great to remain silent.

The Elder looked down at him with compassion. “You did nothing wrong, my little one. You were simply born into a cruel world. You will find that sometimes we will do everything right and it will still all fall to pieces.”

“That doesn’t seem fair.”

“No.” The Elder shook his head sadly. “Not fair at all. I have found that parts of life are twisted, corrupted, and broken despite the sense of rightness that sits in each of our hearts. But don’t be discouraged, what we may lack in perfection we make up for in perseverance and hope. Never forget that tomorrow can be better, that with a great deal of work we can make tomorrow better.

“However, this is not what I have come to talk to you about. A crisis has crashed down over our brotherhood. I need your help.”

Geode stopped, confused. “You need my help? But you’re the Elder! What could I ever do that you can’t?”

The elder chuckled. “Oh, a great many things. Here we are.”

They left the narrow passageway and entered into a small, rounded cave. In the rear, four square pillars sat against the wall, each with a different phrase carved into the polished stone.

“Did Aggite discuss with you our tenants?”

Geode nodded. “Yes, something about guarding the crystal, digging, patience, and waiting?”

The Elder nodded. “Yes. That is a good enough summary. Written on these stones are those tenants, the laws our Maker set out for us to live by. Since we were created they have served our brotherhood well and have never been broken. Today, I will ask you to break one.”

Geode was confused. “That doesn’t seem right. Why do you need to break one of the rules?”

“It’s, it is complicated. Many of my brethren believe what I do is in error. You met two of them, Ragnar and Kag’urr. However, as Elder, I and I alone have been given additional instructions, orders that I am not allowed to speak of except to you.”

“Why me? What makes me so special?”

“You were born special, unique. You are a Forerunner. The only one. You were created to travel outside of these rocks and lead us to a new home.”

The Elder’s answer confused Geode more, “What’s a Forerunner?”

The Elder shook his head. “I am sorry. I have set events into motion that limit our time. Even now I delay to our peril. I’m afraid it also means this is the last time you and I may ever speak. When you understand more, please forgive me.”

Geode still didn’t understand. “What events? What is going on?”

Instead of answering, the Elder gripped onto the fourth of the large stones with two of his legs and tugged. With great straining he shifted it away from the wall by just a crack, sending a cool breeze through the chamber air.

“Geode, can I trust you?”

“Yes,” Geode spoke slowly then reaffirmed his statement. “Yes, of course.”

“I thought so.” The Elder nodded as if he wasn’t sure that would be the answer.

“Your orders are thus: Find Martell Havel Remington the Third and bring him back to us.”

Geode stepped towards the crack between the polished stone and the cavern wall. The air beyond felt sticky and wet. He stepped back.

“How? What does he look like? How do I get him to come back with me?”

“I must leave the search up to you.”

“But what if –“

Muffled voices echoed in from the passageway.

“We are out of time.” The Elder pushed Geode towards the opening. “Go little one. My fate be on your side.”

“But I don’t think –“

The Elder shoved him in. “Go!”

Geode turned around to ask more questions, but the Elder had already pushed the stone back into place, sealing him out. Despite the solid tablet barring his way, he could still hear what was happening on the other side.

“Where is he?” A deep voice growled, one that sounded like Rangar.

“Who?” The elder asked.

“You know who.” Another voice hissed, Kag’urr’s.

“He is beyond your grasp.”

The ground shook as Rangar shouted. “Where is he? Where did you hide him?”

“I suggest you stand down Rangar. You cannot speak to me this way. I am still your Elder.”

“No, you are not.” An unfamiliar voice said. “The council has voted. You are no longer High Elder. You must step down.”

“Is that so? The same council that agreed to let me handle our current situation?”

“That was before we knew what you were willing to shatter. It is there, right there above your gemstone. ‘Wait for my return’. The tenants must never be broken.”

“I agree. And so, we shall wait.”

“Where is the youngling?” Kag’urr hissed, “You still haven’t told us.”

“Did you ask Aggite? I assigned him to the training of our newest brother.”

“Yes. He said you took him.”

“That’s odd. It would be highly unusual for anyone to interrupt a Scallionites training. We don’t do such things.”

“You go too far, Elder.”

“Have you looked in the Pit? Maybe you’ll find him asleep with the other younglings.”

“I’ve had it with your games.” Rangar growled. “Until we find him you will be taken into custody.”

“You don’t have that authority, Rangar.” The Elder spoke calmly in return.

“I’m afraid he does,” an unknown fourth voice spoke softly. “Until we find the youngling and put an end to, to whatever it is you had planned for him, we cannot let you wander freely.”

“Very well.” The Elder sounded sad. As he continued to speak his voice began to fade. “Though I disagree with the council’s decisions, I will follow their suggestions until this misunderstanding is fixed. I’m sure … find little Geode… maybe in the …”

Geode waited at the other side for a long time. He didn’t like that the Elder was in trouble and did not like that he couldn’t help. Eventually, he turned towards what lay ahead. The narrow passageway looked barely large enough for him to fit though.

“Well,” Geode spoke to himself. “I can’t go back, even if I wanted to. I hope I don’t get stuck.”

He began slowly at first, scooting gemstone first into the unknown, carrying the rocks that made up his legs behind him. After some distance the floor began to slope downwards. Geode was soon focused on not skidding forward too quickly or else he wouldn’t be able to stop himself. When the floor grew too steep for even that, he stopped to consider his options.

“I can’t go back.” He muttered. “And I don’t know what is in front of me. But the Elder is in trouble and needs to be to do this. Here goes nothing.”

Geode let go of the walls and let gravity do the rest. He tried to keep hold of his pebbles but as he picked up speed he lost all control. He began rolling over and over until he fell into thin air. The sensation of falling felt oddly like floating as darkness surrounded him. He had no sense of where the bottom might be, but he could hear a distant roaring. Suddenly, he plopped into a body of water and became pulled no longer by gravity but by the river’s turbulent flow.

As the river tossed him around he tried and failed to gain some measure of control. He was but a single stone caught in its mighty arms, bouncing him along the bottom then up to the foam near the surface at the current’s will. This fight took all of his strength and then some, eventually sending him into unconsciousness as the water pulled him ever forward.

—

The next thing Geode could comprehend was a tug and pull all around him. He awoke fully and found himself to be at the bottom of a watery world, lodged snuggly between two other stones and the sandy bottom of the river. He shifted the smaller of the two stones away only to have the river take hold of him again, banging him around on the bottom before wedging him between another few rocks.

This time, instead of thoughtlessly throwing himself back into the water’s arms, Geode took the time to look around. The first thing he noticed were two large creatures with shiny skins made from many little pieces that floated above his head. They swam against the river’s pull with wide tails and a back-and-forth moment. Maybe he could do the same.

Geode found a few pebbles on the river’s bottom. He quickly learned that he needed to maintain a firm grip on each, or else they would be swept away. He fashioned a small, flat tail out of the stones then gently pushed off of the rocks and back into the flow. Almost instantly the power of the water ripped his tail apart and he found himself yet again rolling along with the current.

For his second attempt he added a top tail and two side fins, doing his best to mimic the swimming creature’s shape. This time he held together a few moments longer before breaking apart. His third through ninth attempts to swim were largely the same. It was in his tenth try where he removed the top tail and made his side fins wider that he felt a breakthrough. By his twelfth try he was able to use his side fins to remain upright and his tail to float up and down in the water, letting it pull him ever onward.

Curious as to what other new things there were to see, Geode rose to the top of the water and popped his head through. The first thing he found was a blindingly bright ball above him. And the color! Instead of caverns of gray stone, the river was lined by hundreds of large, brown objects holding millions of green things which danced about. And beyond that the whole ceiling was painted blue and white.

Suddenly something grabbed him out of the water! It was so fast that he lost all of his hard-fought pebbles in the process. He quickly found himself high above the river, higher than the masses of dancing green around the river and found rolling hills filled with reds, purples, blues, yellows, and white. He then looked up and saw a magnificent mountain range filling the whole horizon, countless peaks topped with white.

As quickly as he was snatched up into the air he was falling again, falling faster and faster into the great green sea.