"Father?," Jay asked, looking from Millie to her 'father'. "Is he the king?"

  Millie's father nodded. "Yes, I'm the king."

  Jay rubbed his back. "Uh... I kinda forgot your name, sorry about that."

  The king laughed, long and loud. "I like you, kid. No respect for authority, just like Diamond. I haven't had anyone but him talk to me like that for a while."

  Jay nodded. "So... how am I supposed to talk to you?"

  The king thought for a moment. "You're supposed to be incredibly respectful and act like I'm above you, but I really don't care."

  Jay nodded. He walked to the bar and got the king a bowl of food. "Let's eat, then."

  The rest of the students gaped as the king sat down and ate food that most nobles, including the noble kids among the students, would label as 'tasteless'. "So, why didn't you accept the position?," the king asked Jay.

  "I... uh... you'll have to ask Diamond about that."

  The king listened to something for a brief moment. It was probably Diamond. Jay waited as they had a conversation. "Really? But he's so young."

  "Yeah, I get that, but it's really early."

  "Oh, wow. He did that?"

  "I wanted him though."

  "Eh, fine. You can have him. I gather he's decided?'

  "Cool. Talk later."

  "Wait, what happened?"

  "We need to remedy that. Come here immediately."

  Diamond appeared in front of them, Jay still confused from hearing only half of a conversation. The king grabbed his scepter, and unexpectedly, whacked Diamond over the head as hard as he could. Jay stepped back, wondering what was going on and if he needed to kill the king, but Diamond didn't budge, simply groaning in place. "That's far better. Your class is a massive help."

  The king patted him on the back. "You're fine now. And don't go off letting that happen again."

  The rest of the eating room made no illusions that they were actively listening to what was going on at their table. The king stood. "Well, I see you won't take the position. When's the event happening?," The king asked Diamond.

  Jay immediately knew what this event was. His promotion. "Tonight. That's the earliest time I have the opportunity to do this."

  The king nodded. "Port me there, then."

  Diamond nodded, abruptly disappearing. The king smiled at the table. He pointed a finger at Jay. "You're intriguing. What's your Omen?"

  Amon created an image of a shield in Jay's hand, after he gave her an indication of what he wanted. After he was certain the king saw it, he had Amon suck the liquid back into his body. "Interesting. Well, I'll be going now," the king said, getting up and stretching. He turned to Millie. "Last words. You have good friends there. I can tell that all three of you are good people, even the person that I don't know and didn't speak a word," he said, looking at Xera.

  "Thanks!," Millie said. "He's good at killing things," she pointed at Jay, "She's good at killing things," the finger turned to Xera, "And I can kill things!"

  The king chuckled, probably used to things like this. "Amazing," he said, fading into specks of light.

  The entire room erupted with chatter, swarming their table. Jay disappeared, having run away as fast as he could. Xera pulled out her warhammer, discouraging everyone from swarming her, and all Millie had to do was stare sleepily at them. The crowd abruptly reversed. You do not provoke Millie while she's drowsy.

  Millie instantly perked up when they had left. She got up, walking out of the room, Xera following her. "Do you think the missions will be fun?," she asked Xera.

  "I don't think killing people is going to be 'fun'. It'll be fun running around and having adventures, but the good that we'll do is more enticing to me."

  Millie stuck out her tongue at Xera. "Bah. Too solemn."

  Xera ignored her, looking at the sky. "A few hours to go before we find out what this ceremony is.

  Jay walked towards Diamond's office. Reaching the building, he confidently walked in. A guard posted in front attempted to stop him. "I'm the Onyx candidate. Let me through," Jay said, stepping around the surprised guard.

  He found Diamond's office, his memory of the last time he'd been there guiding him. Politely knocking, Jay waited for Diamond to respond. "Come in."

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  He stepped inside and immediately asked his question. "What did the king heal you from?"

  "It was just a friendly smack. No need to worry," Diamond said, shuffling files over his desk.

  "I heard part of the previous conversation. The king healed you from some condition, released a curse you had, or did something similar."

  Diamond sighed. "Can't lie to you, can I?"

  Jay triumphantly shook his head. "Nope!"

  "Well, then. Do you know what the Chains of Sanity are?"

  A memory tickled the back of Jay's head. He reached for it, grabbing onto the end. Pulling it into his brain, he suddenly remembered. He had been taught this by a professor... two millennia ago? Jay shook his head. Impossible. It was probably from one of the stories he had read. "Yes. Though I just know what they are, no specifics."

  Diamond turned to him, looking him in the eyes. "Then I'd better get into the specifics."

  A chair appeared for Jay, and he sat down. "There are eight chains keeping your consciousness tied down inside your body. Not your soul. Your consciousness, the base for all your thoughts. As you lose chains, you get closer and closer to losing your consciousness, and not simply fainting-that's different and unrelated-losing your consciousness, which means you turn into a meat puppet with only the urge to DO something. It always results in death and a rampage, as the body always wants to do more, and is never content with what it is doing. It has no mind. It has no feelings. It's a husk."

  Jay sat back. He had simply been told that the Chains of Sanity were things keeping you from going insane. "Example of a rampage, please."

  Diamond waved his hand, two pictures appearing in front of Jay, in thin air. One was labeled 'before' and the other was labeled 'after'. The before picture was a peaceful village next to the ocean. The after picture, however... showed a village coated in blood. All the buildings were red. The part of the ocean he could see ran red as well. "Oh."

  "This person was a Gemstone, actually. Then they lost it," Diamond said, looking sadly at the picture.

  Jay nodded. "Please continue."

  "The eight chains each have a specific thing which they are a conduit for, other than the last one, which keeps your consciousness in your body. The first chain. It's a conduit for emotions. Without it, you can still practice Spiritspeech, though no one knows why, given that it's driven by emotions. The second chain. It is a conduit for creativity. The third, speech. The fourth, perception of time. The fifth, sight. The sixth, the rest of your senses." Diamond took a deep breath. "The seventh, your personality."

  "At which chain would someone be insane?"

  "It's hard to say. Everyone also loses a... bit of themselves with each chain. Depending on the person, they have different insanity points."

  Jay nodded. "So, you never want to break any of the chains, ever."

  Diamond shook his head, sighing. "Each chain you break multiplies your power. When a chain breaks, whatever its keeping active is no longer active, so the energy its using is transferred to you. As a last resort, you may break a chain. Only ever one. Never more. If you break a chain, it gets weaker. Each time you break it, it gets weaker and weaker, until it doesn't reconnect anymore. To reconnect a chain is a massive effort. The king's class lets him do it, but to do it yourself... is a truly giant undertaking. So, yes. Don't break chains."

  Jay sat back, shuddering slightly. "So, you broke a chain before?"

  Diamond shook his head. "Someone else did. And two of them. Breaking someone else's chain takes massive power, let alone two. You remember I told you Onyx defected?"

  Jay nodded. "Yeah, he joined the Metallics."

  "Yes. He broke seven chains. This is a truly horrific number. It means his power is massive, massive enough to catch me and break two of my chains. He also escaped from the prison I had him stuck in."

  Jay leaned back. "Can you beat him in an even match?"

  Diamond shook his head. "I need to go on a very long trip to get strong enough. That's why I'm leaving someone else in charge for a while. No, not you," he said, seeing Jay's aggrieved expression. "Even if you're the youngest Gemstone ever, I'm not putting you in charge just yet. I'm going to do Tourmaline, most likely."

  Jay sighed in relief. "So, the ceremony's tonight?"

  Diamond nodded. "About that as well, we have a few things to discuss. Traditionally, you are given the emblem of the previous Gemstone, but we don't have Onyx's old one. So, we made you a new one that'll be presented to you in the ceremony. There are no lines you have to memorize, nothing. You'll know exactly what to say."

  Jay nodded, butterflies starting in his belly. Diamond looked at the wall. "Ah, it's night. I'm bringing everyone to the site."

  He and Diamond got separate portals, teleporting to a plain, grassy field, with a single elevated stone platform. It was circular, with a single hole in the center of the platform. Diamond appeared there and people started popping in, appearing from nowhere around him. Jay recognized the complete Gemstone Council, gathering for the inauguration of a new member. After quite a few people arrived, Diamond started speaking. "This is the ceremony for the inauguration of a new Gemstone. We will have a new Onyx. What does Onyx represent?," he asked.

  Diamond pointed to someone in the crowd. "The Void and the Night."

  He pointed to someone else. "To not fear."

  "To do what is necessary."

  "To be calm."

  "To stand tall and do right."

  "To protect people from the monsters of the night."

  Diamond spoke once again as night fully descended, a full moon barely starting to flow up the sky. "Onyx is all of that, and more."

  He waved his hand, and the moon sped up, finding its place at the top of the sky, its light shining down on all of them. Diamond took something off his shirt. Jay squinted to see what it was. He'd taken off his diamond emblem! Diamond knelt, dropping his emblem into the slot on the platform. A tower suddenly rose, the platform making up its roof. It was made of solid stone, with no openings visible. Diamond called from above. "Jay, step forth."

  He stepped forward, feeling the entire crowd fixate their eyes on him. He turned around. Everyone stood on the grass, watching him. The king waved at him from the back of the crowd, mouthing 'good luck'. Jay smiled. "Do any of you believe he is not worthy of the Onyx?"

  No one raised a hand. "Very well, then. Jay. This is your last trial. Traverse the tower to claim your Onyx. Step forth, applicant."

  Diamond's last words contained power which meshed with Jay's spirit. The butterflies in his stomach calmed, and he knew what to reply with. "I accept you challenge, and ask only for permission to start my journey."

  Diamond spoke again from above. "You have my permission, the Moons' permission, the Night's permission, and your gem's permission. Enter, applicant. I will see you at the top."

  Diamond didn't speak again, and Jay felt no need to talk. He turned to the crowd, seeing Xera and Millie next to the king. Why hadn't he noticed them before? They waved at him. Jay waved back, before turning. Part of the tower faded away, darkness remaining. He sensed that the tower was bigger than it seemed. This challenge would not be easy, and this was his last chance out.

  Jay steeled himself. He solemnly strode into the tower, ready for anything.