Crystal Clear: A tale of two outcasts

Once upon a time, there lived a young lady.  She was seductive and beautiful.  She had a lavender tinge to her hair.  Her skin was as pale as the winter snow, interrupted only by smooth, ebony swirls.  She had been labelled a parasite, a monster, and a user, due to her malign actions.  However, she wasn’t solely driven by spite and manipulation.  Deep down, she was just another being who just wanted love and understanding.  Time and time again, her love was rejected by those around her, until it got to the point that she forced others to serve and care for her, as though they loved her...but it wasn’t the same.  Though she relished the small revenges and the fun that came with controlling others, she still had an empty place in her heart.  She could not escape her desire to be loved.  Frustrated, she departed for parts unknown, so that she could rearrange her thoughts...

Once upon a time, there lived a young “man”.  He was tall, strong, and tough, but ugly and menacing.  His “hair” was spiky and white like teeth.  His tough crystalline body was blackened by dark magic, interrupted only by wavy, ivory lines.  He had been labelled a menace, a brute, and an evil abomination, due to his service under a corrupt conqueror.  However, he was not the beast everyone made him out to be.  Though he served an evil lord, he never once killed anything, not even a flower.  He had the utmost respect for life...but because life would not respect him, he grew cold and heartless, submitting to the whims of his lord because he simply felt his existence to be futile.  However, despite his depression, a small glimmer of hope remained, fuelled by his inescapable desire to be loved and respected.  One day, his lord ordered him to capture a being that escaped from the kingdom...

“Why do I feel such sadness?” the young lady asked herself.  “Why do I feel such anguish and pain?  Am I really that starved for this pitiful emotion called love?  I hate this...helplessness,” she said, her frustration reaching its peak.   She paused briefly before lowering her head in despair.  “Is this,” she mumbled, “...what it is like to feel alone?  Why can’t I control these troublesome emotions?”  The young lady raised her head, but it wasn’t long before her eyes started to water.  The dim light of her mountain retreat began to reflect along her rose red irises.  Then, lowering her head again, she felt a tear drop from her eye.  She clenched her fists, trying to control the emotions within, but eventually, she succumbed to her sadness and started weeping into a rock...

The young man looked up to the summit of a mountain.  His lord told him that the being who had escaped the kingdom had retreated to this place.  He was told that he was the only being who could capture her, on account of the fact that his body was endowed with the same magic that was used to seal the being away prior to its escape.  “Curious that the being would come here,” he said, as he began his ascent up the mountain, “If I were this being, I wouldn’t hide out in such an obvious place.  Then again, perhaps the being has traps set out for me...I’d best keep an eye out for anything suspicious.  The young man eventually arrived at the base of the steeper part of the mountain, and began to climb his way to the top...

The young lady, having finished her emotional outburst, resigned herself to a corner in a nearby cave.  She managed to gather a few dozen luxuries for herself.  Some items were stolen, others were “appropriated” from her willing slaves.  No amount of frills could make her feel better, though.  That didn’t stop her from trying, though, as she gulped down a whole package of chocolates and emptied a few buckets of ice cream, all the while listening to some classical orchestra on a radio.  “To think that I would cry over something so small,” she said with the utmost disbelief, “I am one of the most feared beings in this world, and yet, I cry because of something as petty as...ugh...love.”  She growled and scowled a bit before sulking in her corner again, bringing a pillow to lay her head on.  She lay back on the floor, looking at the ceiling of her cavernous lair.  The stalactites dripped water around the cave, sometimes falling into rocky “cups” of water and producing dripping noises that echoed throughout the cave.  Diminutive crystals dotted the roof and stalactites, sparkling from the dim light within the cave.  A storm began to form outside...

Halfway up the mountain, the young man noticed clouds forming.  “Hmph, that’s all I need right now,” he exclaimed, “Still, I do love the snow...it is so soft and white and beautiful.”  He looked up towards the summit of the mountain.  The peak still looked like it was a few hours away at best.  “I do hope I can get there before this storm freezes up my joints,” the young man said.  As he began to climb, he noticed two birds performing what looked like a mating ritual in the sky.  The male bird would chase the female bird around, and the female would occasionally hide in trees or shrubs, prompting the male to find her before pursuing her again.  “I wonder if my master’s pursuit of that Coco creature is much the same,” the young man said.  “He has been playing ‘cat and mouse’ with her a lot, to be sure.  I just hope the same thing does not happen when I confront my quarry.”  As he began to approach the summit, a blizzard started to toss gusts of wind at him.  Eventually, he lost his grip and fell onto a nearby ledge...

The young lady was half asleep when she heard a muffled noise coming from outside. “What was that?!” she exclaimed as she jumped in surprise.  “Hmph, it figures that wretched cat would try to capture me for his selfish goals.  You know, at one point, I thought he might make me his queen, but sure enough, that lout had to go and start chasing around some mouse.  Oh well...I’ll have fun toying with him before I send him to his doom.”  She started to walk towards the entrance to her lair with a smug grin on her snow white face and a swagger to her walk.  She curiously poked her head out of her cave, looking around to see some sign of her would-be captor...

The young man got up and assessed his body for damages.  “Arms...okay,” he said as he began to examine his body, “Legs...good.  Torso...fine.  Feet...all right.  Hands...chipped but functional.  Head...is clearly fine.”  After performing his inspection, he looked towards the summit.  “Hmm, I think I might try a different approach this time,” he said as he rubbed his chin, “My target has no doubt heard my fall and is probably investigating.  By the sound of things, it appears there is a cave up there.  Perhaps I should try and get the drop on my quarry at said cave’s entrance.”  With that, the young man jumped up high and landed softly atop the summit, near the cave entrance...

The young lady heard a noise coming from the left.  She quickly ran to the source of the noise, only to have a rocky-looking beast grab hold of her.  She laughed at the feeble attempt to restrain her, but quickly realized she was losing power.  It was as though she was being sucked into the beast.  “No!” she shouted, “I will not go back!  I WILL NOT!”  She broke the beast’s hold, and threw him over her shoulder and into the cave.  She readied herself for battle, generating goo to stick her opponent in place when it came out...

The young man felt dazed for a moment as he attempted to stand up.  His target was obviously stronger that it appeared.  He looked around the cave a bit as he prepared to rush outside to fight the being who threw him.  It was lavish and extravagant, not what one would expect from someone who lived in a place like this.  He could hear some sad classical music playing in the background.  “I suppose this being must have been near my master for quite some time,” he said as he picked up an empty bucket of ice cream, “This cave reeks of decadence and neglect.”  He paused for a moment.  “What if this being is...no, it couldn’t be like me, could it? “he thought as he stared out the cave door.  He thought for another moment or so.  “I know what I must do,” he said, crushing the ice cream bucket, “I will finish this once and for all!”  With that, the young man quietly walked outside with his hands in the air.

The young lady was confused to see her assailant with its hands up.  She was even more confused when she saw how strangely attractive the foe looked when in the light of the cave.  She did a quick double-take, and interrogated her would-be captor.  “Who sent you?” she asked.  “My name is Morion Quartz,” the foe said, “I was instructed by Lord Julian to find you and seal you up inside my body, being endowed with the same magic that sealed you away the first time.  However, upon seeing your ‘room’, I felt inclined to surrender.”  The young lady approached the tall, rocky brute.  “Oh,” she said as her form began to reveal itself to her opponent in the light of the cave, “Is that so?  Well, I guess I’ll have to kill you, then...or make you my slave.  I’m not really sure what I should do.”  The crystalline figure gazed at her with amazed eyes...

“What?” the clearly feminine being said to the young man, “Why are you staring at me like that?  You want to beg for mercy or what?”  He stared at her intently, a feeling of pure bliss entering his heart.  “Y-you,” he stuttered, “You’re beautiful!”  His opponent reared back in surprise.  “W-what?” she said as she began to blush, “You...you think I’m beautiful?  Why?  Don’t you find me threatening?”  He smiled at her.  “No, that’s not who I see,” Quartz said.  “I see a wonderful person whose only real fault was that she never got to know how it felt to be truly loved, and suffered all her life because of it.  I never thought I would meet someone who felt as I did...neglected and alone.”  She gazed at him with a glazed look, and began to laugh.  “Ha!” she said as her eyes began to water, “You are a f-f-ool, I w-w-ould n-never...”  She tried to say more, but she felt a wave of raw emotion pass over her, and she hugged her rocky kindred with a love that she had always wanted to feel, but never could until now.  “Th-th-th-thank y-y-y-yoooo-hoo-hoo-hooooo,” she sobbed, tears pouring from her eyes like rain.  After a long, tearful embrace, they returned to the cave to sort things out.


“So, where are you going from here?” the young lady asked.  “I don’t quite know,” Quartz replied, “The fact is, if I return empty handed, Julian will no doubt deconstruct me.  If I stay with you, he will only build more golems to attempt to capture you.  Even I won’t last long against several of my kind.”  The young lady lowered her head, and quickly sliced her long hair short, handing the cut hair to her new lover.  “Here,” she said, “This should contain enough of my essence to fool Julian into thinking he’s got me.  I should be able to channel my infection ability into it, so he’ll be able to raise ‘his’ army.  That way, you can prove your loyalty to Julian and we can still be together.”  Quartz smiled.  “Brilliant!” he exclaimed, “Why didn’t I think of that? I’ll absorb it before I leave.  Oh, before I go, I’d better give you this...”  Quartz proceeded to rip off his left hand, and gave it to his new partner.  “But,” she said, “Don’t you need this?”  Quartz looked at her and smiled again.  “It will grow back,” he said, “Besides...Julian will find it much more convincing if I come back with battle scars.  Well, I’d best be off.”  As Quartz began to leave, the young lady called out to him.  “Wait!” she said, “I never told you my name!”  Quartz peered over his shoulder curiously.  “What is it?” he asked.  She smirked at him and said, “Its Obsidian...Snowflake Obsidian.”  Quartz sighed lovingly.  “Ah...a fitting name,” he said, “You know, I love the snow.  It’s so soft and white and beautiful.”  With that, Obsidian watched as the only creature that had shown her love walked out into the blizzard, eventually disappearing from sight.  She sighed as she lay down on the cave floor; her lover’s severed hand held close to her chest...