Chapter 13B: The Sanctuary of Stone and Fire — Part 2
Rayman stepped on a large platform and it crashed, taking him from open air to a new part of the temple. More lava. Ugh.
He caught a bouncing plum and rode downwards, down the lava stream, hitting some swaying vines poking out of holes in the ground to keep them out of the way. He also shot in the opposite directions of yellow pools of lava to keep from falling into them. Maneuvering the plum was easy, once he got the basics. But avoiding vines and lava pools while going downstream is tricky.
At the end of the stream, the plum fell down a large hole and a lavafall (a waterfall of lava), and Rayman just kept ridin' and shootin'. He went into a small lava alleyway, bounced and climbed up some webs and broke cage number 46. "YEAH!" he cheered. Then he rode the plum to the end of stream a second time and jumped into a hole in the wall.
He found himself in a dark temple of some sort. He picked up the orange sphere on the ground and tossed it to the next platform. He shot some black "nightmare balls" to keep them away and dodged rotating prisms spitting out fire from two sides, carrying that sphere at the same time. He and the prism reached the last platform and he walked into the door.
He crossed a straight lava pit by tossing the sphere into the air, shooting the far-away plum to make it come towards him, then stepping onto the plum. He then faced the other direction (backwards), tossed the sphere upwards again, threw a shot, and caught the sphere just as the plum started moving forwards in the lava. He then threw the sphere towards the ground ahead of him and jumped off the plum, and he successfully crossed the lava pit.
After chasing away some more nightmares he put the orange sphere onto the orange base in the next room. A circular shape in the wall began rotating and the hole in the shape revealed where to go next. Rayman now had to find a blue sphere to put on the blue base in the same room. He climbed up to the shape and jumped in. He was back at the lavafall and the lava stream.
To find the blue sphere he had to cross the lava stream, shoot at and break open a hole in the wall blocked by stones, slide on the most slippery surfaces in the temple, and swing on purple lums to cross more lava pits at the end of the slide. He fell back into the "base room" and saw the blue sphere on top a tall block of stone. He grabbed it and put it onto the blue base below and the statue of Umber (the Guardian of the Sanctuary of Stone and Fire) came to life in that room.
Rayman jumped onto Umber's stone head and Umber took him to some stairs across another straight lava pit. Rayman then emerged before another stone structure, which opened up to reveal the second Mask of Polokus. Rayman took the mask and held it up high, and found himself before Polokus again.
"Ah, you have found the second mask. Good for you!" Polokus took the mask and added it to his stone seat. Then he created another portal and let it slide through Rayman's body. "Be careful! Your task will only get harder," Polokus warned as Rayman disappeared back to the Hall of Doors.
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That was possibly the most time-consuming and HARDEST level Rosalynn had ever played in a classic video game dating before 2000. And also the level with the highest number of cages to smash so far. Eight cages! Four more to her current total "smash count" and she'll get another maximum energy level extension. Rosalynn couldn't remember exactly where each cage was located in all those levels, but smashing each one AND extending Rayman's life points was purely rewarding. She was halfway through the game. And what better way to celebrate and take a break than to with a cup of tea (she IS British, after all) and to cuddle with her Korean boo?