Depths of the Earth

The gem stirred, or rather the flow of mana around it became... different. More agitated, pretty much the same as Lan's emotions actually.

'What in the- Did I just bloody die?!'

As he tried to look around, he only saw darkness and heard only silence, which only amplified his confusion.

'Okay, okay, calm down, deep breaths..'

As Lan tried to calm himself down, he tried to breathe but realized that he couldn't. Which instead, amplified his panic. Then, he also realized that he couldn't move or feel his limbs. Now that freaked him out even more on top of all the previous stuff.

He didn't know how long it took him to reorganize, maybe it took him 10 minutes, or maybe it was an hour. Who knows, it's pretty hard to tell the time in a place of perpetual silence and darkness.

'Haa... Okay, what now then? Am I dead? Pretty sure I was just singing along, enjoying my bloody time, and then what? Something fell on me, right? Oh yeah, there was the construction site in the neighborhood, guess something must have fallen on me there, no way to know now really.'

Lan struggled to remember the memories he now recognized as his final moments. As he dealt with the fact that he was now quite probably dead. And it hit him pretty hard at first, he had yet to truly live, but he was already dead.

'So... What's next? The afterlife? Reincarnation? Is there going to be a goddess greeting me, giving me cheats, and sending me to be a hero in another world? No? Anything?'

As Lan kept guessing, nothing really happened, no matter how long he waited. And, eventually, he started making guesses that made him uncomfortable.

'...It's not the eternal darkness and nothingness, right? That would suck. I'm probably going to lose my mind because of boredom if it's like that... At least it's quiet. And peaceful. Just the way I like.'

As time passed, with absolutely no changes whatsoever, he began feeling... Bored.

'I mean I like it when it is quiet but jeez, at least give me something to do! Who even likes just staring into the darkness? And then there's the saying 'Stare into the abyss long enough, and the abyss will stare back'. Don't think I'd want any of that nuh-uh... So uh... What exactly am I supposed to do?'

As Lan tried doing something, nothing exactly worked: He couldn't turn his head, move his limbs, or do pretty much anything.

After an unknown period of time of frantic attempts to do anything, he eventually began to feel...

Something.

'...Huh? What's this?'

The feeling was... Interesting, to say the least. At the same time, it felt like a breeze, a warmth, water running against his 'skin', if he still had it anyway.

With nothing else to do, he tried just feeling.

Instead of doing nothing, at least it was something. So he did that.

He didn't know when he began feeling, nor did he have any signs to measure time by, but eventually, the feeling became part of himself.

And that's when 'shit went from 0 to 100 really bloody quick'.

'Hey hey hey... Now this feels weird... Is this how you would feel after eating some funny mushrooms?'

Indeed, as his 'senses' merged with 'the feeling', the all-encompassing darkness began moving, swirling, going away, as he began to feel not only 'himself', but also what was around him.

Totally weird. Like a lot of weird.

And what he felt around him... Wasn't some heavenly garden or a hellish landscape. What was around him was mighty, absolute, all-encompassing...

Rock.

That's right, nothing special, he was surrounded by dirt and rock. 

'Heh, I could say that I am buried alive if I knew whether I am still alive or not. Still, better than just Darkness. Still feels weird though.'

He didn't exactly 'see' what was around him, but rather felt around him, he knew what was around him, the same way you know that 2+2=4.

'Now, what the hell do I look like? Am I a floating soul or what?'

And as Lan turned his attention to himself, he found out that he did, in fact, have a body. However...

'Now I was expecting a lot of things, but not this. Of all things I could be reborn as I was reborn as..'

A gemstone. A teal, irregularly shaped gemstone, the size of a small pebble, just around 10 centimeters in diameter.

'Okay... So I guess I am a rock now as well. At least I'm pretty... No wait, I'm handsome, yeah that's right.'

However, as the moment of novelty passed, questions began to arise in Lan's head, or rather, gem.

'So if I am a rock, what kind of rocky stuff am I supposed to do? Go fight the demon king of rocks and find myself some rock ladies? But I still can't exactly move... Welp, I figured out how to see, I'll figure out how to move. For now, I guess I'll just... Breathe? Guess I can call it that.'

So, he kept Breathing. In and out. Again and again. Not that he could do much other than breathe and stare at rocks. Occasionally weird thoughts popped into his head.

'Heh, you ugly rocks, I am a handsome rock, I grant you the right to be jealous. Hehehe...'

Eventually, as he kept Breathing, he noticed that his, what he decided to call, 'perception range' was increasing, and the amount of 'air' he was Breathing, was increasing as well.

At first, he didn't notice it, but with nothing else to focus on, he found out that he could see 'further', because... He was counting the small individual rocks around him, which he didn't really need to do as he was aware of them. And so, eventually, Lan began to feel more of them.

As for the amount of 'air', he just noticed that each 'inhale' was bigger than the last.

'So... I guess the more I breathe, the more I see. Guess the local oxygen is good for me. Breathing's good for you kids, keep on breathing! Heh, beginning to talk to myself.'

So Lan just kept on breathing. It was pretty nice to see more, even if it was rock after rock, some dirt mixed in, and then more rock. And he kept on going.

He just kept on breathing until he hit a 'limit'

Lan tried to 'Breathe' as usual, but nothing changed, no more expansion, no increase in 'air intake'.

'Oh come on! First, you show me the fun stuff, and now you take it away? Now that's not cool at all. I mean monotony is the opposite of progress but still... Now, I gotta find something new to do...'

So, he was 'looking around' his 'domain' as he began to call it, because 'perception range' was too uncool of a name, and eventually, he settled on himself.

'I've come to the conclusion, I can deny it no longer!'

'I am small.'

Yes, with all of the expansion he has been on about, he remained the same. The same pebble-sized, teal-colored gem.

So, he thought, maybe it isn't the world that is a problem, but himself.

In the end, he began wondering, what could he do about it then.

'So, I 'breathe air', which lets me see further... If I see myself as a balloon, I am stretched to the limit. If it is like that, then I don't want to find out what will happen if I try to force myself further. I need to expand the 'balloon' itself.'

'How do I exactly do that though? Breathe in a super large amount of 'air'? No, that's exactly what I shouldn't do... Gaagh! My head- my Gem's empty!'

Lan kept going through different ideas, the good ones didn't work, and he didn't want to try the bad ones. In the end, he turned to absurd ones.

'In the name of the Power of Friendship, I want to grow!'

'I will have growth!'

'In this entire rock society, I alone am the growing one!'

But, try as he tried, nothing worked. Lan grew more frustrated the longer this kept on going.

'Dammit, I just want to bloody grow!'

However, before he could add any more spicy words, he noticed something that filled him with elation.

The tiny gem, which was Lan, had grown. By about half a millimeter.

'YES! Haha, I did it! I just have to get angry, that's all. Or maybe I must want to grow very much for it to work? Whatever, I'll figure it out along the way.'

And so Lan, Gem Extraordinaire, kept on using the power of anime protagonists - growing when wishing for it really hard.