Seven Gems of Sin

[Spirit of DMG]

[spoiler=Chapter 1-Inside the Chamber]

Crystal walked into the chamber. She didn't know why she was there, or how she had gotten there, just that she was there. It didn't matter why anymore, she was already there. She looked around the chamber. There were beautiful, ornate columns that were designed to look like vines wrapping around other vines stretching from the floor to the ceiling. There were six in all, spread around the room.

There were paintings on the wall. She looked around at the beautiful landscapes, then she noticed the right-hand wall. This one contained portraits of people. Almost all of whom she had not recognized. However, there was one she did recognize, if only because she had thought it was actually an odd mirror. It would have been odd, because it showed the front view, while she was looking with a turned head, her body facing front. Then the frame was crafted of gold, with curved edges stretching out, like the horns of a ram. Quite a feat for a simple mirror, however strange.

However, thats not what this was. It was, in fact, a painting, nearly 5000 years old, in fact, yet the subject very strongly resembled herself. The blue kimono the subject wore very closely resembled Crystal's own. It was a light shade, with a soft shade of gold on the sash. The difference was that Crystal's kimono had a Cherry Blossom print in a slightly darker shade of blue on it.

The dark hair and amber eyes of the subject reminded Crystal of herself. Mostly because they were what Crystal herself possessed. The delicate features and fit physique on the canvas and Crystal's own matched perfectly. She walked over to the painting, closed her eyes, and shook her head to shake the sensation she was dreaming out of her head. Somehow, it just didn't seem possible that this was real. Yet the feel of the canvas beneath her fingers was definitely real.

"You aren't dreaming," a low, silk-smooth, male voice said behind her as she slapped herself in a last-ditch effort to wake up. "All of this is real," the man said, walking toward her as she turned around. He looked at the figure in the painting, smiling, "Best I ever had." Crystal didn't ask, she didn't need to, the expression on her face said it all. "Guardian, Crystal, guardian." Again, she didn't ask. He smiled, and walked over to the largest of the landscapes. A forest, it appeared ancient, filled with tall Oaks, Maples, and Ash trees.

He effortlessly removed the painting from the wall, revealing a large safe. A combination safe. His twists and turns of the knob were fast as lightning. She didn't know how many times he'd turned the knob, but he opened the door as effortlessly as he removed the painting. She had no idea just how heavy they were, but the paining, with its massive size and ornate frame must have been heavy, and the six-inch thick safe door can't have been much lighter. In the safe, there were only seven gem stones, which could have fit on a ring, or in a necklace.

 

[spoiler=Chapter 2-The Watcher of the Cursed Stones]

Crystal looked at the gems, then at the man. "Isn't that just a little overkill?" she asked, "I mean, they're just little stones. Pretty, but, they'd fit on a ring. Or a necklace." The man just smiled, looking at her through his light blue eyes. They were the color of ice, yet strangely warm. "They easily could, but they'd be highly expensive, as any jewlery made from these gems will be one of a kind. And cursed," his voice, though inviting at the beginning, turned to ice during the final two words.

Crystal said nothing at first, only looking at him as if she thought him crazy. "What do mean, 'cursed'? Just what are these things? Come to think of it, who are you? And where are we?" she asked, without waiting for an answer to her questions. The man chuckled, a sound that washed over Crystal, making her tense muscles relax. His smile was one that drew her eyes to his lips.

"Out of order, my name is Kemmin. This place is known as the Chamber of Sin." "Woah. Can you repeat that last part?" Crystal said, interrupting him. Kemmin smiled, and chuckled a little, "the Chamber of Sin. The name is quite misleading. You see, sins are not committed here. In fact, they are prevented, or at least, watered down substantially. These gems are, in a sense, the Seven Deadly Sins in their raw forms. Only a select few are able to touch these things without being overcome by the sins which they hold within. Thus, any jewelry made of these stones will be cursed."

Crystal just stared, her mouth hanging open. She started blinking rapidly, repeatedly. "Ummm, okay. So, Kemmin, was it? just where are we? I get that its called the "Chamber of Sin" but, where exactly is that, and exactly who are you?" Kemmin just stood and stared into Crystals eyes with those ice-blue eyes of his. Smiling, he said, "Where the Chamber lies isn't important at the moment. Nor do I believe it ever will be." He brushed his long black hair out of his eyes, and Crystal noticed his white suit-it easily could have been a tuxedo-didn't have so much as a wrinkle, nor did it show any signs of being stained. Odd, since a suit that white should have at least had a coffee stain somewhere.

"As for who I am, though I don't think it important, I will tell you, as I can see you need to know to trust me. I am the man who keeps watch over the Chamber, and the Gems. I have been around for nearly ten-thousand years. As have the Gems. I have kept watch over these Gems for my entire existence," he said, answering Crystal's questioning look. "At times, however, I require a guardian. A mortal human who can watch over the stones while I gather certain herbs." Once more, Crystal looked confused.

"You see, in order to keep those who can not touch the stones from finding the Chamber, I require a special barrier around it, and I need herbs to erect and sustain the barrier. However, herbs and other plants come and go. They appear, survive a while, and then die out. When the herb I use to erect and keep the barrier up dies out, I must find a new herb or plant that can sustain the barrier. When this happens, I must leave the Chamber. However, should the barrier break while I'm away, the Gems could be stolen by a human. This is where you come in. While I search for a new herb, you must keep watch over the Gems.

"I can not, however, force you to keep coming back to the Chamber every day, nor do I trust you, or anyone, well enough to allow you to, or to stay here. On the other hand, I am forced to trust you with the Gems one way or another, thus I will give you the Gems for a while. Even if you do try to steal them, I have ways of tracking these down," he finished, handing a discerned Crystal the seven Gems.

"After that conclusion, what makes you think I'll want to be your guardian?" she said, holding the Gems in her clenched fist. "Because if you don't, it won't have any repercussions on me, but the pure, raw power of the Seven Deadly Sins will overrun your world." Crystal stared wide-eyed at Kemmin, "Uhhh, okay. That actually makes sense." she said after a few seconds. Kemmin smiled, and Crystal was convinced. "So, um, how do I get home?" she asked, taking the gems.

 

[spoiler=Chapter 3-Home]

Kemmin looked at Crystal, those Ice Blue eyes seeming to be searching through her soul. "That," he started, "is the easy part of your job." Crystal merely blinked, and Kemmin merely smiled. His gaze wandered over to the door of The Chamber. Crystal followed his gaze. She walked over to it, and looked out. She felt something push her in the back.

Crystal fell to the floor with a thud. She got up and looked behind her, about to punch someone in the face. Then she noticed something. She wasn't just outside The Chamber. She was on the floor in her living room, with her little brother standing in the doorway. "Where did you come from?" he asked, blinking his Golden eyes repeatedly. The slightly aged look to the color added to the intensity of them. Crystal looked around one more time to make sure she wasn't dreaming.

She walked over to her little brother, and put her hand on his short, messy Black hair. "Well, Romin, that's not really any of your business, is it?" she said in a classic older-sister voice. Romin just looked at her the way kids do when told something like that, and walked across the room to his bedroom. Crystal went into the kitchen to fix herself a snack, a bowl of cereal and a piece of toast. After which, she went up the stairs in the hallway and to her room.

Once she was in her room, she took off her jacket. One of the gems fell out of her pocket. She picked up the purple stone and looked at it in her hand. It really didn't seem special in any way, but apparently, it was dangerous. "What the heck kind of stone is this? It doesn't look like any gem I've ever seen before. Certainly I'd remember seeing a purple stone before." she said, talking to the stone. She sighed and took out the other stones, taking time to look at each one. The other six were Red, Blue, Green, a Lighter shade of Blue, then Yellow and Orange.

"Just what are these things?" she asked herself, "three of them aren't even a natural color for gems to be." she said, holding the Orange one up to the light of her lamp. She noticed a faint swirling in the stone, and squinted, moving it closer to her face. The swirling appeared to be coming from smoke. "Just what are you?" she asked the stone, in a whisper. She set the stone down on her table, with the others.

"And I was half-way expecting to see some kind of glow," she said to herself, half-sarcastic. She rolled over on her back and staring at the ceiling. The gems did nothing. Crystal rolled back over and began moving them around, arranging them into patterns. The gems still did nothing. She finally gave up and remembered her snack, which she began to eat.

Once her cereal was done, she bit into the toast. With that hanging in her mouth, she moved the gems from the tabletop to a drawer in the same table. "Wonder how long I'm gonna have to do this 'guardian' thing. Its simple enough, but still. Those stones freak me out," she said, once more on her back, eating her toast, held in one hand. When she had finished her toast, she realized she was still in her kimono. Kemmin had done whatever he had done while she was at a festival celebrating ancient tradition, so she had worn that particular kimono.

She quickly got out of bed to change. What she changed into was nothing fancy, just a pink tank top with nothing on it and a pair of gym shorts. She opened the drawer to look at the gems. Perhaps they had done something since she had left them. Still nothing. "Maybe these gems don't react to each other," she said, closing the drawer and walking over to the door.

She withdrew her hand from the knob when she was about to open it. She walked over to the table and got the bowl she'd eaten her cereal out of, and proceeded down to the kitchen. "I wonder if its wise to leave those things there," she said out loud to herself as she placed her bowl in the sink. "Leave what things where?" she heard Romin's voice say behind her. Turning around to face him, she said, "Again, that isn't any of your business." "If it's none of my business, why are you talking out loud around me?" he asked in response. "Because I didn't know you were there, and you need to stop spying on me," she offered as an answer.

"You're acting weird," Romin began, "even by your standards." Crystal walked past him, taking the time to place her hand on his head and say, "Well, maybe your weird to me, ever think of that?" Romin watched as she walked outside, and looked out the window as she walked down the driveway and turned down the road. Crystal looked back just before she turned, and noticed Romin in the window, but didn't make anything of it. At the end of the street, she turned and walked into an arcade, where her friends greeted her, and they began to play games.

 

[spoiler=Chapter 4-Romin]

Romin walked into Crystal's room to see what she'd been doing. He found nothing laying out where he could see it just from standing in the doorway. "Well, should have known that wouldn't work," he said under his breath. Moving into his sisters room, he looked around to see what he could see. He knelt down to look under Crystal's bed, and found nothing out of the ordinary. A few plates, a cup, several forks and spoons, but nothing he didn't expect to see. Same thing under her pillows, minus the plates, cup, forks and spoons.

He walked over to her dresser and looked under everything. Nothing. Behind her perfume bottles, he found nothing. Papers and clothes that had yet to be put up were moved, and to no avail. In the drawers, there were only clothes. The underwear drawer only revealed underwear, the sock drawer only socks. Shirts were to be found in the shirt drawer, pants in her drawer of pants. The two junk drawers on the bottom of the dresser contained just that: junk. Random things that fit nowhere else: a few rocks that looked pretty, some watches that no longer worked, but nothing that looked very interesting, and definitely nothing she wasn't supposed to have.

Her bedside table told the same story. At first glance. The papers on top were only school work, while the space in the middle was filled with uninteresting junk. Lifting the lamp revealed only the wood it sat on. Then he opened the drawer. There they sat: the Seven Gems. Romin looked, and blinked. He knew she kept the pretty rocks in the junk drawer of her dresser, "So then why are these here?" he asked.

He moved his hand above them, looking at the strange colors of three in particular: Yellow, Orange, and Violet. "Those aren't natural colors for a gem to be," he said, still looking at them and moving his hand over them. He picked up the Violet Gem, and held it up to the light. He squinted, and saw nothing. "Well then, whats so special about this?" he asked himself, "Is this just a pretty glass bead?" He moved it closer to his eyes.

"It must be. I wonder if she put them in here because they're breakable," he said, putting it back, "better not to find out," he noted, walking over to the door, unsatisfied. "Oh well, I was expecting some big, important secret, but, can't always get what we want," he said, closing the door behind him as he went into the hallway. He walked down the hall, into the kitchen to look out the window.

He didn't see any sign of Crystal returning, or anything out of the ordinary. His father and mother were both at work, judging from the fact both cars were missing. He let out a sigh and went into his room. He looked at the posters on his wall: most of them rock band and movie posters. He laid down on his bed and brought out a book to begin reading. "Well, this is sure to be another boring day," he said, still reading his book.

He caught a glimpse of himself in a mirror, and looked away from his book. He saw what he was wearing: a soft blue T-Shirt, and a pair of Khaki shorts. Somehow, he knew he'd liked it that morning, but now, not so much. He got up and looked through his dresser to see what he could find. Eventually, he settled on a pair of loose fitting black jeans and a black polo shirt.

After changing his clothes, he went into the kitchen to check the window again, and got the same result as earlier. Rather than wait in total boredom, he fixed himself a bowl of aerial, and started to eat at the dining room table. After he finished, he walked over to the sink and began to wash the bowl. Glancing out the window, he saw a dog running through the neighbors yard, and a car drive by, but no sign of anyone coming home. He had finished washing the bowl and spoon, so he put them up and went to continue reading.

Placing a bookmark on his page-he was only half way finished with the book- he began to think about those gems in his sisters table drawer again. "What is so special about those stones? Its not like they really do anything, and they look hollow," he said out loud, rolling over to look out his bedroom window. "She must have them seperate just because they're breakable. Well, easily breakable, anyway. More breakable than anything else she's got," he reasoned. Though, for some reason, he wasn't satisfied.

He got up and walked over to the window, placing his hands behind his back, placing his right wrist in his left hand. He looked out over the town. His room was on the ground floor, so he couldn't see much: the same dog as earlier playing, the neighbors yard was covered in leaves that needed to be raked (not that they could see that, their curtains were drawn.) "I need an upstairs bedroom," he said to himself, "Oh well."

It was mid-day, and he felt like going outside, so he did. He went to the local basketball court, and started shooting hoops. A group of other boys appeared, and began to play a game. "Hey, Romin, why don't you join us?" one of them asked him. "Sure, what are we playing?" he responded, showing that they clearly knew each other. "Half court, first to 20, hows that sound?"

"Sure thing, Joey," Romin said, "you and I will be captains." Joey agreed, and soon the entire group was divided into two teams for the game. The game went on for about an hour, with the score ending in a victory for Joey's team, 20-18. Romin shook hands with Joey and walked home, a little upset about losing the game. Not that he'd ever actually been able to beat Joey at basketball, anyone who knew him would claim he'd practically invented the game.

Romin reached home and unlocked the door. That it was still locked showed no one had beaten him home. He walked into the kitchen for about the fortieth time that day, and looked out the window for the thirty-fifth, and just watched. Just as he was about to go into his room, Crystal came back, and walked into the living room. "I was at the arcade," she said, seeing Romin watching her. "Oh, okay," he said, walking into his room, as Crystal walked to hers.

 

[spoiler=Chapter 5-Lost]

Crystal walked into her room and opened the drawer. All seven crystals were still there, and she examined the Orange one. The smoke still swirled inside, just as she remembered. "Well, they seem to be just fine," she said, her voice betraying confusion, "Still, just what are these things? It doesn't seem they do anything. Still, best to keep them hidden here, from what Kemmin said."

Replacing the gem, Crystal closed the drawer and went downstairs. It was Sunday, so she had to get ready for school the next day. She picked up her lunch bag from the table in the living room, and went to the kitchen to pack her lunch, sandwich, an orange, and a thermos full of juice. Finished with that, she placed her bag in the refrigerator so that nothing would spoil over night, at least she could blame the school if her lunch spoiled at school. She went back upstairs to her room to lay out her clothes for in the morning.

"This will be fun," she said, opening her dresser drawers, looking at what she had. After about two minutes of fussing around with several different combinations of shirts and pants, she settled on one she liked, and went to her bed. "Now for a fun rest of the day with nothing to do," she said, turning on her TV. Flipping through the channels, she began looking for something-anything-she wanted to watch.

A few hours later, she fell asleep, Shrek playing on the television. Her dreams were not sweet, nor were they peaceful. She saw visions of swords, dragons, fire, and an army, led by a man with Black hair and eyes the color of Old Gold, wearing Black armor. She saw a castle, crafted from Graphite, with what looked like Onyx around the windows, and on the huge doors leading into it. She woke up to the sound of a blaring alarm, a sharp, loud buzz.

Sleepily, she looked at the clock making the offensive noise, half-way praising the hated alarm for rousing her from her unpleasent dreams. "Weird, just weird," she said, letting out a huge yawn. She looked at the TV and turned it off. "Always weird dreams when that thing is playing," she said, tossing her shirt to the corner of the room. She got out of bed, shedding her shorts, and slipped into her new outfit: a Violet shirt, paired with Emerald Green jeans.

She grabbed her bag, and was about to head out the door when she remembered her job. "Oh, better take those, just in case," she said, placing them in a side pocket on her bag. She ran down to see if Romin was ready-he usually wasn't until 3 minutes before it was time to leave- and found him sitting in the chair in the Living Room, completely dressed. Crystal looked at his attire, Moss Green jeans, and a Dark Purple Polo Shirt, then simply walked away to the kitchen to grab her lunch bag. Back in the Living Room, she noticed that Romin hadn't fixed his lunch yet. "Don't you plan on eating today?" she asked him.

"Yes, I do," he responded, "a friend of mine bet his lunch today that I couldn't climb a rock last week, and I did. So, I get lunch free today." Crystal smiled and shook her head, and sat down on the couch. Looking at the clock, she noticed they still had five minutes to go before mom took them to school. They both sat in silence for that time.

Their mother came down the stairs and greeted them both with a friendly "Hey, ready to go?" Both of them nodded, got up, and began heading to the door. It was a quiet ride to school, and only a 3 minute one, Romin in back, Crystal in front. When they got to the school, they kissed their mother goodbye, and walked toward the building. The school itself was nothing fancy, just a normal looking, brown-brick, 4-storie building.

Crystal's class was on the second floor of the building, with the rest of the Junior Class. Romin was on the top, the Freshman Class. Crystal's first period class, English, was located on the far end of the building's second floor. The layout of the room was very simplistic. Two rows of 4 desks on the far side, facing the center, two rows of 4 on the near side, facing center, then two rows of 4 in the center, facing forward. Altogether, it could seat 24 students, plus the teacher.

On the walls, there were a few posters, one of which was a black dragon attacking a castle, then a poster of William Shakespear. There was a few posters, taped to a background, framed, depicting 5 scenes from the Tale of the Wife of Bath from The Canterbury Tales. A few tables holding an arangement of books were pushed against the walls. Crystal didn't look at any of these, she'd seen them all before, many times. She walked to her seat, second row from the door, in the center, facing forward.

She set her bag down beside her, and waited for class to begin. When it finally did start, it seemed to drag on forever. They taught nothing of any particular interest. What happened was the class read a play, and discussed various elements working as symbolism. Crystal was all too releaved when the bell finally rang announcing the end of class.

A fight began to break out in the hallway. Crystal didn't know why it had broken out, but the crowd was already forming. She wasn't particularly interested in the fight and knew that if she tried to break it up, it'd only end badly. So, she tried to force her way through the crowd without falling or causing anny kind of problem. It almost worked. Of course, almost only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades.

She hit her face on the floor, and her books whent flying. One minute until the bell and she had to get to the other side of the bulding, not that it was that far. She gathered up her books and left the scene. The sound of hundreds of people chanting "Fight! fight! fight!" could be heard in the room through the door. Crystal just picked a seat at the far end of the class and settled in, seconds before the bell.

 

[spoiler=Chapter 6-Too Little, Too Late]

Crystal went through her day as normal. The students who decided to fight earlier were nowhere to be seen. Not surprising, since it was an automatic suspension. Crystal was walking down the hall when she noticed, though. It was a stone, a gem, very small, like it could fit on a ring, perhaps a necklace. It was orange.

"Oh, no," she said, immediately looking where they had been in her bag. Nothing. "Wait, maybe in this one," she said, looking in another pocket. "No, no, no, no, no," she repeated to herself as she looked furiously through her bag. "Great, isn't that just fantastic," she asked herself furiously. She picked up the stone and held it to the light in front of her eyes.

"Great. Absolutely perfect," she all but yelled, seeing that it was in fact one of the Seven Gems, minus the swirling smoke-like substance that had previously inhabited it. She looked around. Obviously this was the area she had fallen, but no other gems were present. She flopped down next to the lockers, and sighed. "Kemmin is going to kill me for this," she said softly, resigned. Then she remembered what he had said.

"Because if you don't, it won't have any repercussions on me, but the pure, raw power of the Seven Deadly Sins will overrun your world," Kemmin's voice resonated in her head. "Oh, right, he's such a nice guy, I'm the one whos got to fix this. First, they've obviously all been taken. I just have to find the ones who touched them, get them back to the Chamber, and get Kemmin to fix this," she said, slapping her self, "If only it were that easy." She started looking around, "How did I get myself into this mess?"

Crystal got up off the floor and walked to the front of the building. She looked around to see if anyone was displaying signs of having been consumed by the Seven Deadly Sins. Several people were hungry, a few were tired, a few were frustrated. All of which were perfectly normal for after school. She exhaled sharply. "As if this were going to be that easy."

Romin was leaning up against a tree next to the walkway were students got dropped off and picked up, and their mother was just pulling into the drive. She got to the drop off/pick-up area, and Romin pushed off the tree with his shoulders, and Crystal walked over to the car. They sat in the same formation as before, and drove in silence the entire way home. Crystal rode sitting upright, Romin rode with his back against the door, one foot up on the seat. Upon arriving home, Crystal was placed in charge of waking up the now sleeping Romin.

Once more in her room, Crystal dropped against her closed door, not even bothering to take off her bags, or shoes. Her face was burried in her hands. "Great. Now what am I going to do? Do I just sit and wait for them to completely take over?" she said out loud, to herself, "It'll be much easier to find the ones possessed or whatever if I do that." She looked up at the ceiling and let out a sigh. She threw her bag off her shoulder without even carring where it landed.

"Well, I lost the gems, now I can't even find who took them," she said, slapping herself. "At least I have ways of tracking those," Kemmin's voice resonated again. Crystal gave herself a good whack. "A fat lot of good tracking the stones does when I don't even know for a fact the people who took them kept them," She sighed heavily, "Wonderful." She walked over to her bed, and took something out of her pocket.

It was the orange gem. She looked at it carefully. "If only you'd react to the other gems," she said to it a little angrily, then suriously, "wait, do you?" She thought for a minute. "Perhaps, when someone other than me touches them, they will react," she thought. "Well, that won't be very useful since I can't just wave you around in front of people."

She let her arm fall to her side and laid down on the bed, on her back. She laid there for about five minutes. She got a small board and carved seven small holes in it. She placed the orange gem in one of them, and placed it in her drawer. She exhaled slowly, but still loudly, through her nose, with an annoyed expression on her face.

"Well, now what? That doesn't help me at all in finding them," she said, resigned to defeat. She sighed and sat up. She looked around, she'd been chosen, probably fated, to protect them, so surely she must have something- anything-that could help. She was able to find nothing. She flopped onto the bed and burried her face in her hands again.

There was a knock at the door. The sound startled her for a moment; at first, she didn't realize what it was. Then it came again. "Yes?" she said loud enough for whoever it was to hear them. Romin let himself in, and looked at her confused.

"What's going on in here?" he asked, "Mom sent me up here to tell you dinners ready, and you were talking to yourself."

"Tell mom I'll be down in a minute, and stop eavesdropping."

"Stop talking to yourself, and telling me what to do, and I won't be able to."

Crystal just stared at him through squint eyes. Romin shrugged and left. "Perfect," she said, looking up at the ceiling, "How much of that did he hear?" She walked downstairs to the kitchen and and joined her family at the dinner table. Her mother looked at her through light blue eyes, resting her red-haired head on her hand.

Her father passed her some mashed potatoes, his dark blue eyes fixed on her amber ones, and she thanked him. After Crystal had fixed her plate, Romin asked her about what he had heard. Turned out it wasn't much, just the last sentence. She answered him by saying she was looking for a pair of old sneakers, and that she wantd to give them to a friend of hers who knew a homeless shelter she wanted to give them to. "Ah," her father said, running his fingers through his hair, which looked a lot like Romin's, "I think I know where a pair of those are, I can get you some after dinner."

 

[spoiler=Chapter 7-The Stones are Found]

After the meal had finished, Crystal's father had wrangled up a pair of old shoes to give to Crystal. She thanked him, and walked out the door. "Now I have to actually find a homeless shelter to give these to," she said to herself. She kept walking down the street, not quite knowing where she was going. She reached the edge of town, and stopeed, looked around, and sighed.

"Well, now what?" she asked the air. "This is getting me nowhere," she said. She squatted down into the fetal position and punched the ground as hard as she could. She stayed there silently for about five minutes, and then spoke again. "I can't just do nothing, but what else can I do? I'm just one person, and there are seven gems, all but one of them missing. There's nothing I can do."

A child walked up to Crystal, his Brown eyes staring at her face. His coffee colored skin almost glowed in the sunlight, he'd clearly been running around, as children do, for a while. "Hello, are you looking for things like this?" he asked in a soft voice, holding out a small purple stone. Crystal took it gingerly and looked at it carefully. The gem was solid, not one of the gems.

"No, its not, sorry," she said, handing it back to him, "where did you find it?" she asked. He pointed to a small shop. "Its a small piece of Amethyst. You can get some there if you want. They have a hollow stone like this one they found laying around, but its a bit more expensive than this one," he explained. Crystal took notice of this last statement. She looked at him as if he'd said something life-changing.

"Thank you," she said in a shaky voice. He nodded in recognition and ran off to join his friends. Crystal stood up and walked into the small shop, and began browsing through the small purple stones the child told her were called Amethyst. She found one stone which cost more than the others, and examined it closely. It was indeed hollow, and one of the gems.

To get it back without actually taking it would cost her one-hundred and fifty dollars. She placed it back, and walked back to her home. Once in her room she sat down on her bed, and stared at the ceiling. "Well, how about that: The Purple Gem is right there, but I'll either have to steal the stone from the shop, or steal one-hundred fifty dollars from mom," she said to herself. She continued staring at the ceiling, silently, for several minutes.

"I wonder." she began. "The orange and purple stones didn't travel too far, maybe the other five haven't either." She sighed, closing her eyes. "Sounds so simple. Guaranteed to make it difficult." She sat up, and propped her arm on her hand, her elbow resting on her knee. A couple tears ran down her face. "How did I get myself dragged into this? I'm still just a kid!"

She fell. "Mind explaining why the gems have been scattered all over your town?" a familiar voice asked her, as she barely managed to stand, rubbing her butt to ease the pain.

"Wh-who are you?" she asked, not managing to place the voice. She looked at his face with her blurred vision. "Ke-Ke-Kemmin!" she shouted surprised. She fell again.

He smiled, and laughed. "Well, you seem a bit more...klutzy than I remember," then his smile faded. "but now is not the time for antics. As we speak, the roots are taking place." he said, gravely. His Ice Blue eyes penetrated Crystal's soul, as she remembered.

"Well, maybe you didn't notice, but I don't know much about any of this. Only that I know where to find the purple gem, I have the orange one, and I don't know where to find any of the others."

"So then we already have Pride and Greed in our possession," Kemmin said. He walked over to the forest landscape, and opened the vault again. "Come over here, and focus on the two gems and their location." he said sternly. Crystal complied, and the orange gem appeared in its place in the vault. "Crystal, where is the other gem?"

"Um, well, I kind of never got it back. I know where it is, but its on sale at a pawn shop. If I just take it, that'd be stealing," she explained. Kemmin sighed.

"Crystal, there is a lot more at stake here than a crime of petty theft! If I don't receive all seven gems there is nothing I can do! Now, I'll make sure that the shop is compensated for later, now put the Gem of Pride back in its proper place!" he said, coming as close to yelling as Crystal had seen so far. She looked at him, scared, but did what he said, believing him for a reason she didn't understand. Then the purple gem appeared.

"Kemmin, you called them 'Pride' and 'Greed,' do you mean the gems have names?" she asked.

"Crystal you are the most naive person I've ever met," he sighed. "Yes, the gems have names. The same names as the Sins they are supposed to house. You don't need to worry about that, but you can tell them apart by their color. For instance, Pride is Purple, Greed is Orange," he explained

"That makes sense, I guess." she said, looking at them. "You said that you have ways of tracking them down. How exactly do you do it, that way we can have them back sooner."

"Well, first of all, that wasn't entirely accurate. You see, I track down what the Gems contain, not the gems themselves. In my entire history, this is the only time this has ever happened," he began. Crystal looked toward the floor in shame. "However, I can tell they are all in your town, so you just need to go back, and find them. You don't need to take them, but it would help. If you can't get it, just remember where it is, and come back here."

She looked up at him. "So, there is still hope that I can fix this?" she asked, her voice shaking.

"Yes, there is still hope. However, by the time you are able to trap them back in their stones, the Sins will have germinated, and begun to gain power. The plus side is, you will know how to track them down, and the individuals will be much easier to spot in a crowd."

Crystal just looked, a little annoyed. "I can't tell if you're joking or not, but it seems like this will take years."

"It will. However, you will be fine." he opened the door, revealing the building was situated on what appeared to be a mountain, high up enough that Crystal could see nothing but a massive amount of snow. Kemmin closed the door. "Tibet. Highest mountain anywhere, and we are at the top."

"We're at the top of Mt. Everest?" she asked, still wide-eyed.

"Indeed, my magic is much stronger here than anywhere. In fact, my barrier not only stops anyone from finding this place, but it protects it, and consequently, us, from the ravages of time." he explained, calmly.

"Who are you?" Crystal asked, amazed. Kemmin smiled. "Anyway, so, I just have to find the remaining five stones, and then you'll pull me back here, right?"

"Indeed."

"Then I'm ready."

Kemmin nodded, and Crystal was suddenly standing at the foot of her bed, Romin standing at the door. "Must you always do that?" Crystal asked him, picking up something to throw at him.

"Okay, now I know something is going on, what is it?"

Crystal knew she wouldn't be able to talk her way out of this now, so she explained everything about Kemmin, but refused to speak of the stones. That information was better kept from Romin, and everyone.

"But, what's so special about them?" he asked, for she had to at least mention them.

"Well, he wouldn't say."

"Then you might want to take these" he said, holding out three of them. "I found them on the side of the street when I was walking around town."

Crystal took them, and they were indeed three more of the Gems. "Thank you, Romin." she said, messing up his hair. He smiled and ran off to his room, and Crystal put the Gems in her drawer. "Only Red and Green left." she said, walking out of her room, only to be stopped in the living room.

Chores. The fate of the world was practically hanging by a thread, and her parents were worried about chores! Well, rather than argue or try to reason with them, she just did them. She had to wash the dishes, vacuum the down stairs, and put the laundry in the machine. All of that took three hours to complete, and then she was free to search for the remaining two Gems.

She checked the park in the middle of town. Stuff was lost there all the time, and she hadn't checked it. Romin had said he'd found them on the side of the road, and there was plenty of space in the park not by a road. She began to climb a tree. Not because she was expecting to find one there, but to look around and maybe be able to spot one on the ground from there.

"Now how did this get here?" he asked, finding the Red stone in a bird's nest. She looked carefully, and was satisfied it was hollow. She pocketed the stone, and looked around, finding nothing. "As if I'm going to find a Green stone in Green grass," she said, jumping down out of the tree. She landed in a hole, and fell on her head. "Why does the whole world hate me?" she asked, looking at the hole. Then she saw it. There was no way she could have gotten it out, but it was there: the Green gem. "Found them." she said, as she began to stand up. Then she knocked her head on something.

"Careful," Kemmin said, rubbing his chin. He opened the vault, and Crystal took the Red Gem out of her pocket, and handed it to Kemmin, who placed it where it went. Then she did as instructed with Pride and Greed, and all seven were in place. "Perfect. Now, we can begin," Kemmin said, walking away from the vault. Crystal instinctively followed.

 

[DL]

Interesting...

 

Alot of good imagery.

 

Although I feel as if I can see what clothes crystal is wearing, I can't actually see Crystal herself...

 

A few grammar mistakes.

 

All in all, it's got my interest.

[Spirit of DMG]

Although only one person commented, chapter 2 is up.

[DL]

I like this.

 

Even though I have an obsession with the seven deadly sins, this might prove to be interesting.

 

You might want to space it out a bit more.

 

Makes it easier to read.

 

Can't wait for ch 3.

[Kailyn Leona Kyosuke]

Like I said before...good imagry with location. Now that ive read thouroughly i can tell you that I can sorta feel like i know what Crystal looks like, but i still dont have a definate image in my mind.

The story itself seems like it really picked up once i read Chapter 2. All i can ask you to work on is (if) there will be more characters with any importance, try to describe them a bit more elaborately the first time. Other than that, i think your fic is progressing well.

[RyanAtlus]

I've only got two remarks to make so far:

 

"Blah blah blah card games blah." Pegasus yelled out. "Blah blah blah attack mode." Yugi replied.

 

Two different sentences said by two different people should be on 2 different lines:

 

"Blah blah blah card games blah." Pegasus yelled out.

"Blah blah blah attack mode." Yugi replied.

 

Second: you chapters are a bit short. Part 1 and 2 should be 1 chapter. And that would still be a short one. Don't worry; my chapters were also way too short when I started writing.

 

I'll try to keep an eye on this; it looks interesting enough.

[Spirit of DMG]

Added Chapter 3

[DL]

Hmm...

 

again, good imagery, yet I have no idea what Romin looks like.

 

This is weird now.

 

I want to see where it ends up.

 

It's got my interest.

[Spirit of DMG]

Still working on chapter 5, but a preview is up.

[DL]

Let's see...

 

ALOT of comments.

 

The good:

 

Realistic

Plausible

 

The bad:

 

WAAAY too much tell!

You skipped the basketball thing (it's not about the basketball, it's the fact you basically simply told us it happened, isntead of a good opportunity to show us at least a bit of it.)

You told us Romin picked up the book to BEGIN READING, and after the small piece of dialogue, it said 'He continued reading'. Yet he never started reading, unless people can now read while they talk. You should have said he began reading.

The ending seems a bit rushed, as there were grammatical errors.

 

I could go on for awhile, but...

 

the point is, the story is good, but the way it's being told is... not that good.

[Spirit of DMG]

Right, I'll try working on that. Anyway, I didn't add in the basket ball game because, well, that's not important. The important thing about the basketball game is Romin's feelings when he lost.

The book thing, yeah, that could use a little work.

Thanks for the comment(s).

[Spirit of DMG]

Finally updated the story

[Spirit of DMG]

So, yeah, the most long overdue update is finally here.