The hole in the earth was dark and silent, so very silent, until the small, smooth cabochon quivered and tapped against its stone surroundings. The gemstone, which had been completely still for so many centuries, continued its strange activity for several more seconds, looking somewhat like a little red egg that was finally ready to hatch. And then, as quickly as it had begun, it stopped, filling the cliff cavity with light. 

The hole was so small that the humanoid shape sprouting from the gem broke some of the surrounding rock just by forming. The fracture calved off a large segment of wall from a cliffside, which crashed noisily onto the ground below and flooded the cave with daylight. Carnelian squeaked with fright and covered her face as if to shield her eyes from the sudden onslaught of sunshine. 

It was so quiet... except for very soft footsteps down below. The gem brushed the dust off of herself and peeked down out of the hole. There was someone there, bigger than she was, clad in blue. No one else. She shuffled back from the entrance of her cave and then slowly, [i]slowly,[/i] poked her head out again. The stranger was still there, and there was still no one else in sight in this horrible, eerie, dusty, abandoned-looking place. She let her eyes wander along the holes that dotted the cliffsides. Maybe there was someone just like her in one of them. 

Casting one last glance down at the gem at the bottom of the cliff, she called out: "Anybody home?"