To whom this may concern,

I commend you for finding this letter. I left many twists and turns for you to find. No one was meant to find it except for one who is worthy.

Which I can say confidently that you are.

No matter, we have more pressing issues to attend to.

For those who do not know me, I am Gemma Night Taylor, more commonly known as Gemini Tay or Gem. My brother, fWhip of the Grimlands, is writing the second half of this story. It tells his perspective of what happened. But I digress.

This Is the story of how I came from my humble beginnings and advanced to become the greatest wizard of the Crystal Cliffs.

But this story doesn't begin in Crystal Cliffs.

Oh, no, no, no.

It begins in a place called Shimmer Valley.

A place that no longer exists.

----

Gem's POV

Gem spun around. "fWhip Ardere Taylor!!!! GET BACK HERE WITH MY CAT!!!!" She bolted after her twin brother.

"Try to catch me first!" Her brother called back teasingly, and Gem grabbed wildly for her gray kitten, Gandalf.

"Give him back!" Gem cried.

"Come on, Gemma." Gem tensed at her actual name.

"Give. Gandalf. Back." She said slowly and menacingly, advancing across the grassy hill towards her brother.

"Gem?" fWhip sounded scared, but Gem didn't hear that.

"GIVE HIM BACK FWHIP!!!!" She screamed. "HOW MANY TIMES HAS IT BEEN IN THE PAST HOUR??!!!! I'M TIRED OF YOU STEALING MY KITTEN!!" Her eyes began to glow a deep violet and her hair flew free of it's ponytail and whipped around her head. The sky shifted, darkening a bit around them. She stepped forward again.

The pair was frozen there for a few moments. Then fWhip began to shake, holding Gandalf out in front of him, his limbs outlined against the grass as he shook in fear.

The light in Gem's eyes died and the purple glow faded, leaving her green eyes glimmering in the sunshine. She fell to her knees, feeling tears well up in her eyes. "I'm so sorry." She whispered to her brother, feeling his arms around her shoulders. "I'm so sorry, fWhip. I-I don't know what happened." She felt mortified.

fWhip turned and called out to someone. "Yes mom! Yes, she's fine! She's just tired." He ran off to their parents.

Gem sat on the grass, feeling her hair as she redid her ponytail. She held her elastic in her teeth, listening to the breeze around her.

"What are you doing?" She jumped at the voice.

"Ranboo!" She hissed.

"What?" The half-white-half-black-haired boy asked, sitting down next to her.

"You scared me!" She exclaimed.

Ranboo blinked curiously, his heterochronic eyes, which were red and green(hence the nickname 'Christmas eyes') gleaming in the sun. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, you scared me!" Gem repeated.

Ranboo looked passive. "I'm sorry." He said. "I just came to check on you."

"Why?"

"Because you have magic, Gemma." He said.

Gem rolled her eyes. "Just because you and my cousin are dating doesn't give you the right to call me by my real name." She said.

"I know." Ranboo responded.

The pair sat on the hill, silent. The sun fell down over the horizon, bathing the plains of Shimmer Valley's Grimlands district in gold and red light. The light was beautiful and she appreciated it.

"I'll see you later, Ranboo. Tell Tubbo I say hello!" She picked Gandalf up and headed down the hill.

As she neared the Crystal Cliffs district, she spotted her family's vacation home. It had calcite walls and an amethyst roof and was built into the cliffside.

----

Gem snapped awake to a loud bang and a rumbling sound, her heart pounding in fear. "Gandalf?" She whispered cautiously. The gray cat leapt onto her lap. She slid out of bed and tiptoed to her desk. She picked Gandalf up and he slid around her neck and onto her head, peering over the side. She leaned down and pulled her cape around her shoulders, covering her pale green dress. She slumped, taking her lantern of the ground and slipping out of the room, closing the door softly as to not wake up the housekeeping. She hurried down the steps of her house, racing outside.

There was light atop the mountain. Fear bubbled through her veins and she hurried forward. "Flight of the bird." She whispered. She leapt up and flew up, Gandalf clinging to her shoulder blades.

What she saw next horrified her.

Shimmer Valley's upper district of Sky Burrow, was ablaze. She screamed, diving down and changing back. She straightened and ran forward, stopping a few feet from the fire, her eyes welling with tears.

"MOM! DAD!" She screamed, chanting a spell to make her and Gandalf impervious to fire and rushing into the incandescence of the fire. She ran around, trying to find her family. She felt tears burn hot on her face, heated by the flames.

She reached the other side of the inferno without finding anyone. But as she got out of the fire, she spotted fWhip. "FWHIP!" She cried, running to her brother. "Fire settle." She abolished the protection spell and grabbed his arms. He was covered with soot, ash, scorch marks and his clothes were torn. "What happened to you?"

fWhip gazed up at her with terrified eyes. "I didn't mean to!" He wailed, breaking into tears and throwing himself onto her chest.

She nearly stepped back from surprise. Her brother rarely cried to her. What had happened?

"fWhip, what's wrong?" She asked again, her arms around him.

"I didn't mean to." He whispered once more. "I'm sorry, Gem."

"fWhip. fWhip, look at me. What did you do? I promise I won't be mad."

fWhip looked down shamefully. "I set off an explosion." He whispered.

Gem froze. "You did what?!" She asked shakily.

"I set off a TnT." fWhip confessed. "And the upper district caught fire."

Gem grabbed his shoulders. "Are mom and dad okay?"

fWhip nodded vigorously. "Yes, they were with me in the Grimlands district last night."

"What about Lady Herrilein?" Her panic began to rise. "And Tubbo and Ranboo and-"

"I don't know!" fWhip wailed again, tears streaming down his face.

Gem felt her fury subside as she hugged him. "It's okay, fWhip." She soothed. "We'll be fine." fWHip cried into her shoulder as the young wizard-in-training doused the fire with her magic water.

"They're here! Your majesties, I found them!" Gem looked up. Above her was Ranboo, riding one of the Crystal Cliffs district dragon guardians, Jaylen, Tubbo peering over the taller's shoulder. She waved frantically.

"We're fine!" She called as the pair landed. Jaylen landed and after Ranboo and Tubbo slid off, she turned to the fire and began to smother the flames with her wings as well.

Tubbo grabbed her and her brother, hugging them. "I thought you both died!" He exclaimed.

"How are you alive?" Gem demanded.

"I was at Ranboo's in Crystal Cliffs last night." Tubbo explained as the twins' parents arrived.

"Gemini! fWhip!" They exclaimed. "Thank goodness, you're okay." They were grabbled into a hug.

"Mom!" fWhip grabbed her arms. "Mom, have you seen the connector?"

Cathy looked worriedly at her husband. "No. Why?"

"The connector collapsed."

The group froze. Gem, who had moved to dig around in the remains of the city that once stood on the great peaks, snapped around.

"What?"

fWhip nodded. "Yes, it's true." He said softly. "I passed it on my way over."

Gem turned back to the charred wooden beams and the ash-covered stone, searching for something, anything, that could be left of Lady Herrilein's. "Mother, father, is Lady Herrilein with you at the house?" She asked frantically.

"No, she was here!" Cathy gasped and began to search through the wreckage. "Mike, help me look!"

The group spread out, the villagers who had gathered also helping in the search. After about a half hour, Tubbo gave a shout of horror. "RANBOOOOO!!!" He screamed. The tall boy raced over, Gem following close behind him.

"Bee, what is it?" Ranboo wrapped him arms around the sobbing boy. "What happened?"

"I-it's-" Tubbo buried his face deeper into his boyfriend's chest. He waved a hand at the ground, his voice muffled and incoherent due to it being in Ranboo's shirt.

Gem looked down and screamed. "NO!" She fell to her knees, her hands buried in the ash. Lady Herrilein, her childhood caretaker, was dead. Her clothes were sooty and her face was burned. Gem covered her face in distress, not caring about the ash that was now smeared on her face and through her orange hair. "She can't be gone." She whispered.

Ranboo, Tubbo and fWhip crouched beside her, the three hugging her as they cried over their caretaker. Gem and Ranboo cleared the soot from her face, gazing down. Gem stared at the person who had been there since the beginning, who had taught her everything.

And she cried.

----

Gem sat atop the hill, overlooking the ceremony from the dais. She was wearing a violet, gold-embroidered dress and a dusky green overcoat.

"Gemma Night Taylor and fWhip Ardere Taylor, please join us." Her parents spoke and Gem stood up, looking at her brother, who was fiddling with the tassels of his red scarf. She smiled and led the way to her parents.

"As many of you know, we have three children." Her mother began. "There names are Gemma, more commonly known as Gem, fWhip, and Sausage. We sent Sausage to live with his Mythlandite family, to become their king when the time comes. Originally, we were going to have Shimmer Valley be ruled under a joint leadership. But now that Sky Burrow has been destroyed, we've decided that Shimmer Valley will be divided between the remaining two districts. Now," Cathy explained, "Shimmer Valley is the empires of Crystal Cliffs and the Grimlands."

"And Gem, you shall lead the Crystal Cliffs and fWhip shall lead the Grimlands." Her father added.

"What about you?" Gem asked. "What will you do?"

Her parents glanced at each other. "We will retire." They announced.

Gem stood, shocked. She was a leader! On her own! Her eyes filled with tears. "Thank you." She cried, hugging them, fWhip following suit. Then she turned towards the people. Her people. "I won't let you down!"

----

And, not to brag, but I never did. I led my people to greater knowledge. But, once I met Scott, life sort of spiralled.

But life soon went back to normal. I looked after my academy, my cat Gandalf, and my adopted dragon daughter Violet, teaching students more and more advanced magic.

I will leave you here, and if you can find my brother's letter, he will tell the story of the Fall of Shimmer Valley from his perspective.

I thank you for learning and listening. Farewell.

Regards,

Gemma Night Taylor

Gemini Tay

Gem

————

Sorry this is out so late! Although I might get the next chapter done this week, the likelihood of it being out soon is low and so this might be it for a little while. 

But, I have been thinking: What would you think if I made a book with some of my EmpiresS1 designs out, or like something with my headcanons? 

Have an awesome week!