Our lives are defined by moments, especially the ones we never see coming
- from The Next Three Days
~

5 minutes earlier...

The streets of Drasill were alive, not because of the celebration, but because of the fact that no one was able to use their powers.

Avalkyra found it so strange, because she could still see fiery orb of power in her mind, raging and glowing, mocking her to just light up a candle.

She rounded a corner to an alleyway before she felt a burning sensation in the pocket of her trousers. She touched it and took her birth-opal out, which was glowing brightly. She stated at it, extremely confused by what was happening.

And in a quick motion, her stone flew from her palm and floated to the wall, tracing a circle.

And before she could register anything, a portal glowed in front of her.

Meanwhile in the opposite part of Drasill...

"Mika, why is my birth-opal glowing?" Rey asked Mikaello.

Her stone was burning and glowing with a bright yellow light.

"Mine is burning my thigh," Mikaello said, pulling his stone out. Damn, it was glowing brightly too.

And before Rey could reply, both the stones flew towards the wall of Rey's room, tracing a circle on the wall, creating a portal.

"...Are birth opals supposed to do that?" Mikaello asked after a moment of shock that both of them felt.

The opals flew back to their hands and Rey felt a tug on her hand, as if the portal was pulling her towards it.

~

No one in Gleriana had noticed anything different in the celebration.

That was before Kaito's birth opal, flew towards the banner created for the graduates when they came home and created a portal.

People were gasping and point at the circle glowing brightly.

"How did that happen?" Kaito heard a voice.

"Look! Another!" Another voice yelled and Kaito's eyes looked at where the person was pointing.

Dai's birthstone was flying back to his hand, after creating a portal glowing bright orange.

Now he didn't know this was a part of the Graduation Day festivities. He was only supposed to cater. He did not sign up for this.

Dai felt a tug on his hand where the opal was resting, as if the portal was pulling the opal from his hand.

Meanwhile in a small house on the coast of Gleriana...

"Lauren! Are birth opals supposed to fly?" Lia called out to her caretaker, her voice garbled because of a small unchewed piece of durian in her mouth.

It was making a circle of Lauren's handmade tapestry which Lia was supposed to deliver later.

What the hell was happening? Lia was more confused than she had ever been. And in that confusion her wings opened behind her back and began flapping, as if they were taking her towards the yellow portal.

~

The forests of Schlore were lit up with an array of multi-coloured lights

Arbor walked around, holding a glass of fruit punch in her hand, admiring the decorations put up for the celebration.

That was when she saw a figure in the shadows, a tall boy with green eyes glowing even in the darkness. He stepped a little into the light a frown on his face, as if he would want to be anywhere other than the party. Oh he was Zarren, the boy whose manners Mother always criticized.

Zarren just wanted to go home and sleep in his fucking bed. But no, his parents had to drag him out and get him to meet a girl because they were desperate for grandchildren.

His eyes scanned the party until they settled on Arbor who was looking directly at him.

He was about to tell her to quit staring but his trouser pocket began to get really hot.

What the-

Arbor's skirt was stuffy as usual but the weather was not that hot that day. Then why...?

She tapped a pocket of her skirt and yelped when she felt it's temperature. She pulled her birth opal out, which was glowing with a bright green hue. She turned her head upwards to see the exact thing happening to Zarren.

Her stone flew to the nearest tree and began tracing a green circle of the trunk. And before she knew it, a portal gleamed in front of her. She titled her head sideways to see Zarren facing a portal as well.

She turned towards the party where no one had noticed what just happened to her and the boy.

"W-Whats happening?" She directed her question at Zarren.

He shrugged, "I'm gonna go find out. This party sucks balls anyway."

And with that he stepped into the portal.

~

There was an unusual silence in the streets of Eredium considering everyone was at the celebration...

Minakshi had been having the time of her life at the party, eating, socialising. And her mother, being the party pooper that she was, decided that she was being too social for her own good. What was that supposed to mean?

So there she was, walking through the quiet streets under the moonlight. Her coat pocket began growing insanely hot. She pulled out her opal to see it glowing with a bright light

What...?

To make the situation even more confusing the opal flew to a brick wall and began tracing a circle.

~

The people of Alette were to buzzed to notice anything strange....

But Coralline could sense something different in the air. Something threatening.

Maybe it was just nerves, or the fact that she really needed some fresh air away from all the uptight people of the world crowded into one room.

Everywhere that she looked she could see the golden glimmer of champagne or the rose gold hue of wine.

She walked onto the balcony to get some fresh air. What she hadn't noticed was that the lower half of her body was getting way more stuffy than the upper part.

She reached her hand into the embroidered pouch tied around her waist and pulled her opal out, which was shining brightly.

And she gasped a little when it flew to one of the closed double doors and began tracing a red circle on the door, creating a portal.

~

People in Illoria were beginning to sense something was wrong...

Augustine was leaning against a tree in one of their famous parks. The inn-keeper had told him to have a look before he left.

There were just statues everywhere. Some of the men-statues were buck naked and it was scarring. Especially the fact that it was dark.

What if they came alive and killed him?

He noticed the girl he had seen in the morning, sitting near one of the other trees listening to music. Just like he was.

Maybe he could make a friend.

Well his stupid opal ruined the plan when it flew out of his pocket.

Rachelle just stared at the white coloured portal in front of her. What in the world...?

She looked around to see if anyone noticed this or if she was hallucinating. And she saw a pink-haired boy with a portal in front of him as well.

Okay she was definitely hallucinating because just as the boy's eyes connected with her, he was dragged into the portal with god knew what.

She looked at her own portal and wasn't allowed to make a decision as she herself was dragged into the portal by her opal.

~

The army celebrations of Fillian were brilliantly wild...

In one corner, two men were engaged in an intense match of arm wrestling. In another corner, a group of men were throwing darts at, Valerie suppressed her giggle, at General Atticus' head. He was not very liked, was he?

There was a big hoard of them dancing around in the middle of the camp, around the campfire.

Everyone was strictly prohibited from using their magic, because last year the kitchens got set into an uncontrollable fire and they lost one of their best cooks to that.

But all in all, the celebration was a sight for sore eyes.

Valerie walked to the kitchens to ask if they needed any sort of help when her inside of her armor flashed with a brilliant light, and she reached in to take out the source of light... her opal.

Meanwhile in the Hall of Gems of Fillian....

Augustus sat on the floor, tears streaming down continuously from either side of his face as he stared at the only remains of his father.

Father's birth opal was hanging on one of the lowest branches of the Tree of the Dead, glimmering in the moonlight which was streaming in from the open ceiling.

He remembered the time, five summers ago. Father had been smiling and watching the celebrations. He had gone to get some extra wine.

And then never returned when one of the drunks set the whole camp on fire.

Everyone in the camp except for Father was immune to the fire...

And he was not able to save the man in time. He...he was gone before Augustus had a chance to heal him. And that damned bastard Atticus didn't let Augustus resurrect him. Said it was against the laws of Nature, that it would come at a great cost.

He was ready to give his own life up, just to get Father back. But now there he was, staring at the opal which once used to glow so bright because it symbolised Father's life. His charm, happiness, carefree nature. The way he used to light up a room just by walking into it.

"It's not fair, Father. Nothing's fair!" Augustus cried out, another tear escaping his right eye as he continued to stare at the white opal in front of him.

And then he felt the pocket of his shirt burning, where his birth opal was supposed to be.

His opal was different from every other opal that there was on the tree. There were orange coloured fire opal, white and yellow air opals, blue water opals and forest green earth opals, all reflecting different shades of their respective colours as you changed the angle you were watching them from.

But his opal reflected the same shade of golden light when seen from every direction.

And right now it was glowing brighter than he had ever seen it glow.

It flew from his palm before he could stop it. And began drawing a circle on wall nearby. A portal gleamed in front of him, and he felt a pull, as if a rope was tied around his chest, pulling his into the portal.

What kind of a trap was this?

His birth opal flew back into his hand and he clutched the stone tightly as he continued to watch the portal glimmer with a golden light, similar to that of his stone.

It looked beautiful and deadly all at once.

Maybe he should just leave it there and then hope someone would come and take care of it?

Well, he didn't get the chance to do what he had planned when his opal flew directly towards the portal at breakneck speed, dragging him along with it.

~
I'm always so proud when I'm able to fit all the OCs into one chapter. It's so difficult to keep track of 14 characters. Maybe it'll become easier when I start killing them off one by one
*cue evil laughter*