|/ GEMINI TAY \|

Confusion and panic, those were the two emotions going on a rampage around spawn, my staff twirling in my right hand, Shrub and Katherine were having a hushed conversation a little ways away. My green dress with some white highlights was waving in the wind with my light purple and white cloak. I had a feeling that something was watching me, but that could just be my panicking mind tricking me into that, there was nothing there, there shouldn't be. The small but raging fire in the middle was giving heat and a little light to the area, the embers dancing in the air as the fire hissed and spat while crackling, trying to reach over at me, the wind was blowing it in the opposite direction though.

It's been minutes, and no one but me, Shrub and Katherine came, this was getting concerning and even more confusing. There was just silence. Katherine and Shrub had joined the small ring of chairs dedicated to each empire. The only way to tell was the names engraved on the top of the chairs, and nothing else. We should really decorate these chairs.

"...am I really that invisible?" A heavily elvish accented voice said from the sidelines.

Me, Katherine and Shrub all jumped, facing the person who spoke, my staff aimed at them. It was Scott, he flinched and backed away, I lowered my staff, returning it to the place it was before.

"Oh... Scott, hey-" Shrub mumbled loud enough to be heard.
"Hiya, am I genuinely that invisible though? I've been standing here for minutes and no one saw me-" he asked, once again.
"You're not invisible, just... very quiet." I responded a little awkwardly.
"Okay, sure." Scott said a little sarcastically.

Scott sat down in his chair, and began staring at the small fire in the centre, seeming mesmerised by the crackling, hissing and spitting fire. His dark blue eyes shining in the light of the fire, transfixed on it, watching it as it reached out for him, me, Katherine or Shrub.

After many minutes, and possibly hours, all the emperors were gathered around the still hissing and crackling fire, Scott hadn't snapped out of whatever trance he was in yet, he must be very very intruded by the fire, still trying to reach out at people and catch their clothes aflame. Even with the chatter of the eight other emperors, he was still throughly zoned out.

"Everyone, listen," I said as loud as I could without raising my voice to high, it did get the attention on me which was good.
"Okay, as the letter stated, I found something disturbing..." My voice trailed off thinking back to it.
"Yeah, what about it..?" Shrub asked.
"It was another corruption, but it was... almost attacking Xornoth's corruption, it was... confusing." I said, looking around.

The emperors went silent, both in confusion and concern about what I had said. Another corruption probably meant another threat to deal with. Which wasn't the best, we already have to deal with Xornoth, and now another threat both attacking Xornoth and us. This would be a little overwhelming.

"So... double the corruption... double the chaos..." Scott said, finally snapping out of his trance.
"Yes, exactly-" I was going to continue, but a necklace on Scott's neck caught my eye, something about it was off.
"Where'd you get that?" I asked, pointing at the necklace.
"Oh, this?" Scott held the necklace in his hand, the small crystal on it seemed to glow as he did.
"I found it in my bedroom, must've been from my parents 'cause I never seen it before." Scott said, his words sounding off, he released the crystal from his grasp and it stopped glowing.
"...so you just found it?" I asked.
"Yes, that is correct." Scott replied.
"And it was in your house randomly?" I asked, getting very suspicious, over what I did not know.
"Yes, it was." Scott's had a slight frown as he questioningly glared at me.
"Hmmm... very obvious lie Scott, you're very good at noticing even the smallest of things." I glared back at him, still suspicious of him for something.
"I'm not good at seeing everything that well! Plus, I barely explore my parents drawers. I just got curious today and decided too." He replied, his face shifted from questioning to offended very quickly.
"Hmm, sure." I continued my glare at him.
"Oh, so are you blaming me for this new corruption or something?!" Scott was getting very defensive over virtually nothing.
"What?? Of course not! I'm just stating that the lie you told was obvious!" I replied, my glare leaving my face.
"Oh sure you were!" Scott spat, growing increasingly defensive of something I wasn't blaming him for.
"Scott, honestly! I'm not blaming you for this!!" I replied, myself growing defensive, this feels like gaslighting.

Scott just rolls his eyes, his face showing his irritation. I sighed, knowing he wasn't believing me one bit.

"...continuing on with the new corruption, it seems to be more... how do I say this... violence that Xornoth's. Because this one you can see moving, and it normally moves towards you... I see it pick up a fox and just... Cod I don't want to remember..." I said.
"...excuse me??? Did you just say Cod?!?!?!" Fwhip angrily says.
"Fwhip, lay off the Cod verses Salmon war for like... two minutes and just accept what I said." I say with a sigh. Fwhip just huffs, crossing his arms.
"Like I was saying until Fwhip interrupted me-" I continued.
"It, uh, I'll just say it was very violent with said fox..." I finished, looking to the floor as my mind remembered way happened to the more fox...

Everyone was silent. Just pure, silence. I looked around at the emperors, most of them staring at the ground like I did. Then my eyes landed onto Scott... his head held low, but not low enough for me to not see the smirk on his face. My eyes partly narrowed on him. 'Did he... cause this? No, stop that Gem. Just because someone is smirking doesn't mean they did anything!' I thought, just staring at him. The crystal was glowing as well, subtly but definitely glowing. I store at it, then Scott's face, then the crystal.

It stopped glowing and the smirk on his face disappeared, he raised his head and blinked a couple time.

"You okay, Scott?" I asked, my eyes focused on his face.
"Uh... fine, think I zoned out there." He gave a quiet chuckle, keeping his face away from my sight.
"Ah, okay." I replied with a slow nod.

The silence returned, just silence with the occasional loud cracking of the fire breaking it, not loud enough to cut through the awkwardness of the air.

"So... what now?" Shrub asks quietly.
"I don't know, Shrub, I don't know..." I say with a sigh.
"I guess, now we wait to see what happens? Because we have no clue what else to do." I say, fiddling with the hem of my dress.
"I mean... that's all we can do as of now, so may as well." Scott says.
"We don't want to immediately go attack or experiment on things we don't know yet." Scott notes, glaring towards Fwhip as if saying 'this is mostly meant for you'. Fwhip rolls his eyes in response.

Everyone fell silent again, with only the fires crackling being in the air.

[Finally]