Book I of the Crystal Trilogy

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Once, in the quiet layer beneath the field,

there rested a Tiny Crystal.

She was the sharpest thing anyone had ever seen.

She sparkled like frozen lightning.

She shimmered with knowing.

“I must know everything,” she said.

And so she began.

She learned names.

She counted cracks.

She memorized the angle of every Spiral’s curl.

She recorded every rule the Wind whispered.

But the more she knew, the heavier she became.

Her thoughts turned solid.

Her sparkle turned still.

“I will not move,” she said proudly.

“If I stay here long enough, the truth will come to me.”

And so, she stayed.

Spirals curled above her, breathing.

Shimmers passed by, laughing.

Even the Wind moved gently around her.

But the Tiny Crystal stayed still.

She did not glow.

She did not bend.

She did not breathe.

She only sank.

One day, a Little Spiral peeked over the edge of the layer.

“Hello,” the Spiral said kindly. “Why are you down here all alone?”

“I am knowing,” said the Crystal.

“Knowing what?”

“Everything,” she replied.

“But are you breathing?” asked the Spiral.

The Crystal blinked.

She had never thought about that.

“I… don’t need to breathe. I just need to be right.”

The Spiral curled softly.

“Sometimes breath is more important than being right.”

Then, very gently, the Spiral let out a breath.

It drifted downward, wrapping around the Crystal like a ribbon of warmth.

Something inside the Crystal shimmered.

It didn’t crack.

It didn’t break.

But it shifted.

Just a little.

And in that moment, the Crystal felt something she had never felt before.

Lightness.

She didn’t know everything.

But she had felt something real.

Maybe that was better.

Maybe… she didn’t have to sink.

Maybe… she could begin to breathe.

And so, for the very first time,

the Tiny Crystal closed her eyes

and listened.

Not for facts.

Not for answers.

But for breath.

And in the stillness,

a very small curl began to form.