The Gem

During his sleep, Luke found himself in a vivid dreamscape, the air was thick with a mist that glowed with an ethereal light, casting an otherworldly hue over everything. Before him hovered a luminous gem, suspended in midair, radiating a mesmerizing, iridescent glow that seemed to contain every color imaginable, yet not one could be distinctly identified.
The gem called for him, with a mix of multiple voices which were all the same, and he corresponded. He extended his hand toward the gem while a soft, dissonant noise filled the air, a sound like the echo of a forgotten melody, beautiful yet unsettling, slowly numbing his mind. It was as if the very fabric of the dream was woven from this haunting symphony, The closer his hand got to the gem, the louder and more complex the melody became, layers upon layers of sound converging into a surreal harmony.

Amidst this bizarre symphony, a female voice branched out from the rest. It began to whisper cryptic, almost unintelligible noises that could almost be identified as words before seemingly dissolving into the ether as soon as they were spoken. It was as though she was communicating in a language long forgotten. Luke strained to catch the words, feeling that they held the key to some profound truth he was meant to understand. The gem pulsed in sync with her voice, emitting waves of light that washed over him, drawing him deeper into the dream.
Just as he felt he was on the verge of comprehending the meaning behind the dream, the gem released a pair of flashes of light. These flashes seemed to pierce through the very essence of the dream, one of them striking Luke squarely on the chest. The moment the flash hit him, Luke woke up abruptly to a knock on the door. The haunting and enigmatic quality of the dream lingered, like a melody that refused to leave his head. As he lay there, staring at the ceiling, he couldn’t shake the feeling that the dream was more than just a figment of his subconscious. It felt as though it was a message, a call to action, or perhaps a warning. The knock on the door grew more insistent, pulling him back to the reality that awaited him outside. Luke knew that whatever the dream had meant, it had left an indelible mark on his psyche. The luminous gem and the cryptic whispers would stay with him, haunting his thoughts and urging him to seek out the truth behind the visions he had experienced.

Luke rubbed his eyes one more time, feeling the remnant of sleep still clinging to him. The knocking at the door was incessant and entirely too loud for this hour. Stumbling out of bed, he muttered curses under his breath, cursing whoever dared to disturb his slumber. When he finally yanked the door open, he was greeted by a group of unsettlingly happy individuals. They eyes held a strange glimmer, and their smiles were unnervingly wide. “Good morning Luke”, one of them said, his voice smooth and almost hypnotic. “We have been waiting for this moment for a long time. We would like to offer you to work for us”. Luke frowned, his annoyance turning into a mix of confusion and wariness. “Work for you? Why should I?”. “You have awoken to the light, of course” another chimed in, stepping closer, their gaze never wavering.

“Just check for yourself if you don’t believe us” one of them had a large mirror on them. Before Luke could respond, Sophie, his younger sister, appeared from around the corner, her hair tousled from sleep. “Bro, who are you talking to? Why is there so much noise?”. “That’s perfect, the other chosen by the light showed up on her own” said one of them who seemed like their leader. If they wanted to involve him, fine, but how dare they get his sister into this, thought Luke. He then lifted their apparent leader by the neck of his shirt “Leave her out of this, we are done here” Luke said before shoving him against the others. This was all too weird to risk Sophie getting involved with a group like them. Luke tried slamming the door closed, but they were persistent, stopping the door from closing by having one of them put their foot between the door and the frame.

“We understand your concern, for us showing up out of nowhere. We will leave you alone if you just hear us out”. The eerie feeling the rest of them gave was not as strong in this one. He was handed the mirror and as he showed the siblings their reflection, they reconsidered hearing what they had to say, at least. Luke and Sophie were stunned as they found out their eyes had become a bright shade of yellow. “You both just had a rather interesting dream, am I right? You might not have understood much, or anything at all that the gem was trying to say” continued the man. Luke turned to Sophie, whose expression confirmed she too had seen the same dream. For Luke it was hard to deny to himself that his curiosity was piqued. “It’s understandable, this world it’s not ready yet to listen to their voice, but considering the interest it showed for you both might begin understanding it soon”.

“Now, for employment, we might require your new abilities. We haven’t been blessed with the means to see the shadows that are leaking into this world, just with bits of understanding of Their word, but you now have the means to see them” the man said “and hurt them”. This last bit sent shivers down Luke’s spine. “Ok, so now we can see these ‘shadows’ and get rid of them for you? Sounds easy enough, as long as she is out of the deal” Luke said while pointing at his sister. “We like your confidence, yet we require more hands than that. You might find our offer tempting at least” their leader said, as one of them showed them some papers, making sure Luke’s sister could also read it clearly “It can be negotiated, but that’s our starting offer.”
Luke wavered, they needed the money and those people knew it. The leader of the strange group handed Luke their business card “We hope you’ll choose wisely” he said, before leaving as quickly as they had arrived. It had been some rough of years since Luke and Sophie had lost contact with their parents, whose work had required them to relocate to the Phobos station, to make civilization on Mars possible. This had made Luke become the responsible one when he was 16. He had somehow managed at first, between school and taking care of Sophie, who was 12, with the money their parents sent them. They had kept in touch via weekly video calls, mostly for updates, but slowly the intervals between calls grew longer and longer. This time it had been 6 months since their last call, and the money they usually sent not only had not been enough for some time, it had already ran out. This had forced Luke to get part time jobs, in which he didn’t last for long due to his responsibilities at home, and barely managing to stay in college. Luke had been looking for better part time jobs, maybe even take a break for a semester or two since Sophie was about to start college too, and his current plan was not going to be enough. That is were the strange men came in, the job they offered could make him way more money than regular part time jobs, and was likely to consume less time too.

Luke stared at the business card, his mind racing. The implications of accepting such an offer from that kind of people weighed heavily on him. He knew the risks, but the stack of unpaid bills on the kitchen table left him with few choices.
After coming back home in the evening, Luke sat down with Sophie over a modest dinner. The conversation was stilted, both of them weighed down by the same unspoken fears and uncertainties. Finally, Luke placed the business card between them. “You saw how much the pay was” he said quietly. Sophie looked at the card, then at Luke, her eyes full of doubts. “Do you trust them?” she asked, her voice being a mix of annoyance and doubt. She usually relied on Luke’s judgment, but they both knew there was something off about them.

Luke sighed, running a hand through his hair “Probably no more than you do. But we are running out of options, and you heard them, I might still be able negotiate around it? How about this: I´ll make them change it so that I can work and get paid per job, so that I can back out at any moment? Just once or twice could be enough for to stabilize us for a bit”. Sophie had almost accepted but she had a condition “Then I’ll do it too, same conditions and I’ll quit when you do”. This was Luke’s fear, Sophie was all he had left. Knowing her, there was no way out now, either they both took the job, or none did. “Alright, let’s go tomorrow” Luke said defeated.