When the sun sets on the Bejeweled City, the whole thing lights up as if it were part of the sun itself. The city is built in round layers, each higher layer with a smaller circumference than the one before it. Water flows from the top and all the way down into the water where the city rests. Elazul and I said nothing as we waded to the entrance. We walked up a flight of stone stairs, and found ourselves on a sandstone terrace, studded all over with jewels.
"This is the Bejeweled City," Elazul said, solemnly. "The world that Blackpearl tried to protect." His core gave what almost seemed a desperate cry.
I hardly knew what to say. "It's beautiful," I told him.
"The locks are probably on, so we'll need to collect the keys," Elazul said. It went way over my head, and he didn't bother to explain further, but I was pretty sure we'd manage.
We made our way through the glowing corridor until we reached a door with a large archway above it. This was decorated with a giant ruby. Elazul led me inside, where we fought off two Chobin Hoods and a Shadow Zero. That was simple enough. When I was finished, I noticed a large ruby sitting on a rock formation in the back of the room. With Elazul's approval, I took this.
There were four such rooms on this level of the city; the others contained an emerald, a topaz, and a sapphire. When I'd collected all four, Elazul led me to the gate between floors.
"Sappho's gate," he whispered.
I examined the door, and heard a sound from within.
"Leora," Elazul said, "this looks like some kind of trap." He paused, looking around. "Something lurks within..."
His core shone. Just then, yet another of Sandra's jewel beasts barreled around the corner. The fight was as simple as it had ever been... Elazul was hit by a rock, and I got fried up by a beam, but we survived.
There were two pedestals surrounding the doorway. I put the ruby and emerald on them. "Is this the right combination?" I asked.
Elazul pushed the door, which chimed twice, quickly, and then opened. "Yeah," he said. "First try. Nice work."
We went and collected another ruby and emerald before continuing up the stairs. Somewhere along the glowing corridor, we stopped. Did we hear voices? Investigating further, we found that we could see shadows of the Jumi talking to each other.
It was all merely a memory.
"How is Florina doing, Rubens?" asked a Jumi girl. She looked a lot like Esmeralda, save that her basic color scheme was blue. "She seems to be so tired... what about a new knight for Florina?"
The shadow of Mr. Rubens smiled wryly. "No need to worry," he said. "Think of Alexandra as a substitute for Blackpearl."
A red girl who looked much like the blue and Diana faded into view. "Diana!" cried the girl.
"What is the matter?" asked Diana's memory.
"Florina is not in her chamber!" the red girl replied. All four Jumi flashed their cores in unison, then faded from sight.
"An illusion," Elazul said, gruffly, trying to hide his emotions. "of when everyone was still alive." He reached out with his core; there was no response. It truly was an illusion.
On that floor, I gathered an aquamarine and an amethyst, and took these to the gate. There was yet another jewel beast guarding this one! When would they end? We took it out easily, hoping there wouldn't be any more. I, for one, was getting sick of them.
I placed the ruby, aquamarine, and amethyst on the pedestals. The door chimed once. I supposed that meant that one of these was correct. I switched the ruby with the emerald... still just one chime. Then I replaced that with a sapphire, and got two chimes.
I moved on to the amethyst. I switched that with the topaz, but there were still two chimes, so I put it back and replaced the aquamarine with topaz. The door chimed thrice and opened up.
Up on the next floor, we had to fight a Machine Golem to claim the diamond. It packed a punch, and by the time we'd defeated it, both of us had a few burns, and Elazul's face was bruised. I took an ice pack from my knapsack and he pressed it there, and we both rubbed Poto oil on the burns. While Elazul was nursing his wounds, I climbed into the crevices in the wall, located the running water, and refilled my canteen. We both had a long drink before continuing.
As night fell, we came across a room that Elazul identified as Mr. Rubens' room. Once again, the memory shadows returned, and we watched them, spellbound.
The red and blue girls from before were there, accompanied by one in yellow. Rubens stood upon a slightly raised platform, listening to them.
"The city cannot stand without the tears of Florina," declared the blue girl. "She must be brought back."
"We shall bring her back," concluded the girl in yellow.
"No," Rubens said. "You three sisters have yet to be knighted."
The red girl scrunched up her face. "That is true, but..."
"I shall ask Lady Blackpearl," her sister in blue said.
"Lady Blackpearl has been expelled from the city," Rubens told them, looking slightly annoyed.
"Officially, yes," admitted the yellow girl.
"Lady Blackpearl is looking for the Mana Stone by Florina's order."
"We did not know," the red girl said. "Where is Lady Blackpearl?"
Rubens thought about this. "Probably Leires," he mused. "She said there was a powerful sword there. I'll go to the tower. Take care of Diana."
"Yes," the sisters agreed.
Esmeralda's shadow walked onto the scene--I knew it! They were her sisters after all.
"Going somewhere?" the emerald girl asked. "Are you going outside?"
"We are not going on vacation," one sister chided her.
Esmeralda bowed her head. "Oh..." she said. "Are you headed to Geo, too?"
Her sisters looked shocked, and the blue one spoke up. "That's a scary place!"
"The shop that sells our cores is there," added the yellow.
"But the academy is there too, right?" Esmeralda said. "I really want to learn magic."
"Yes, yes," her sisters said, waving her off. "Farewell, Rubens. We are off."
"Hmph!" Esmeralda pouted, as her sister's shadows left the scene.
Rubens smiled at the young Jumi. "Why would Esmeralda want to learn magic?" he asked.
Esmeralda smiled the smile I had learned so well. "I'm a guardian," she explained, "but I can't cry. That's why I want to be a knight like Lady Blackpearl."
"I see," Rubens smiled. "You're a good girl, Esmeralda."
Their cores chimed in unison, and they faded.
Elazul shook his head. "Esmeralda... Rubens... Dammit!" his core glinted, and once more, there was no reply.
We fought the last jewel beast at the gate, then fooled around until we found the combination (emerald, amethyst, aquamarine, diamond). With that, we entered the top level of the Bejeweled City--where the room of the Clarius was.
iSomeone!/i Came Florina's voice, sensing us. iOur sparkle will go out!/i
Elazul and I rushed in; there was Florina on her throne, Sandra standing it in front of it.
"Florina!" cried Elazul.
"You're finally here," Sandra said, coolly.
"Sandra?! You were Alexandra?" Elazul cried. I realized that he must have known the identity of the jeweler, but not the Jumi knight.
"That's right," Sandra replied; her core chimed in unison with Elazul's.
"What are you trying to do, hunting the Jumi?" Elazul asked, softly. "Is it revenge?"
"That, too," Sandra said, moving a lock of hair out of her eyes. "But that is not all. Let me show you."
I gasped as the strange creature from Mekiv appeared on a ledge. He bowed to us; I knew it was the same creature.
"You were at the cave!" Elazul exclaimed.
"I am the Lord of Jewels..." he said, slowly.
Sandra grinned. "My master has the power of a black hole... to fuse together everything that is swallowed..."
"Oh, Goddess," I whispered, not feeling too well anymore.
Elazul looked just as sick as I felt. "You ate the Jumi's cores?" he asked, sounding a lot less brave than he had before.
Lord Jewels smiled mildly. "Everything becomes one inside me. I will retrieve your cores, and the light of the stars in space."
"My master," Sandra said, "has already swallowed nine-hundred ninety-eight Jumi cores. It takes a thousand cores to save Florina."
"So the nine-hundred ninety-ninth core is..." Lord Jewels produced, from behind his back, a round, white, shimmering stone. My heart froze, and I watched in terror as the horrible beast swallowed it.
"No..." I whispered.
"Pearl!" Elazul cried. His face was so strained; he would have been crying if he could. I wanted to cry myself, but I remembered the legend. Don't cry, don't cry, I told myself.
"Do not be saddened," drawled Lord Jewels, "for all Jumi will become one."
"You demon!!!" Elazul screamed, his voice distorted. "How could you do such a thing to her?" Elazul got out his weapon, and I followed suit. I was simply furious... mostly at myself. I couldn't protect Rubens, I couldn't protect Esmeralda, and Pearl just took the cake. It was my choice, too. I chose her to die over Elazul. I felt like a demon myself...
The Lord Jewels seemed to have accepted our challenge. In a dazzling display of light, he transformed himself into a large serpent-like creature. He then produced a large orb (it looked like the moon) set into a golden staff, and wound his body around this. He then began his attack.
Elazul and I were both fighting using our fury as a crutch; he was shouting obscenities, and I might have been, as well. I was on such a rush of anger that I can't even remember. The serpent snapped at us with his fangs, and created laserbeams reflected from jewels. Jewels that were probably created from nine-hundred ninety-nine Jumi ilives/i!
It's probably because we were so angry that Elazul and I were able to defeat that form. Admitting defeat, Lord Jewels reverted to his normal form.
"I only need a little more strength," he said.
I moved to protect Elazul. Like ihell/i he was getting his core. However, there was no need.
"Master!" Sandra cried. "Take my core!"
Before he could stop her, she reached inside her dress, and pulled out a purple gem. Her body disappeared in a flash, leaving the gem floating there in midair.
"Sandra..." murmured Lord Jewels, thoughtfully.
iIn exchange, Master, please win!/I Came Sandra's ethereal voice. I shivered. What a last plea that was!
The core floated over to the Lord Jewels, who caught it in his hand. Just before he swallowed it, it turned green. And then, with the thousandth Jumi core, our world melted before us...
The vortex was filled with blue mist and sparkling stars. It went on forever in every direction; there was no real solid ground to speak of, but Elazul and I found that we could walk... it was like walking on a mattress, though.
Lord Jewels had become such a giant and ugly creature that it was hard to look at him anymore. I suppose his basic shape was that of a whale--a large, green whale. Orange boils rose up from his skin, and there were several green and lavender growths popping out in strange places... they almost looked like extra limbs, but that couldn't have been it. This creature floated above us in midair.
However, this beast was slow, and Elazul and I were still furious. We fought it, on and on, taking any of the hits it threw at us. Energy beams, whatever, we didn't care anymore. I'm sure we both felt like complete failures by now. That didn't stop us from wanting to kill this wretch, either, though.
Its skin was tough; so I performed my Shield Breaker technique on it, and immediately after Elazul carried out his Bird of Prey. The beast staggered, and we finished it off with a pair of strong slashes at its underbelly.
The explosion was great. As the beast dissolved into nothing, we saw the image of a humungous jewel of all colors... many tiny jewels flew towards it, and after all of them had gone by (perhaps there had been a thousand), there was a final flash and Elazul and I found ourselves back in the throne room, to the great relief of Florina.
Elazul's eyes looked hollow and dead. He gazed at Florina, and then me. "Florina and I," he began, "are all that is left of the Jumi."
I felt like there was a volcano inside me waiting to erupt. I was shaking, and thinking about everything, and I just couldn't stop the overflow. I covered my hands with my face and began to sob.
"Stop, now!" Elazul cried. "You'll turn to stone!"
The ears that his cry fell upon had already become deaf.