Brilliance, a Legend of Mana Story
Chapter Seventeen -The Tower of Liars- (The Brilliance of Pearl, Part Three)
Pearl stood before the final door, feeling her heart in her throat. There was so much...so much she wanted to say. So much she wanted to do. Stepping through the door, and completing the spell would end her life. Would end...her.
She glanced at the stairs, watching the Sproutling stumble comically over itself, rolling across the floor. It stood, dusted itself off, and carefully checked the contents of the bag, before grinning at her. "Its okay," it said, and that was all. Strangely, she felt comforted. Blackpearl however, was not.
Oddly lucid for a Sproutling. He was rambling like a soft-headed idiot before.
Pearl wasn't listening. She felt so calm...the Sproutling was right, after all. It was okay. After she did the spell, everything would be okay. Everyone would be saved...
Something's wrong. We need to wait a moment...Pearl?
Blackpearl's voice in the back of her mind faded to a distant, unpleasant whisper. But it didn't matter. Pearl smiled dreamily, and put her hands on the door.
It was okay.
She pushed open the door, and stepped inside.
Everything was finally okay.
Pearl/Blackpearl set one hand on her hammer, and one clutched her core. Kneeling in the center of the room, in the center of a magic circle. The scented candles, and the burning mixture in the dish she had mixed was supposed to lessen the pain, and keep her from dying when she removed it. To heal the fracture, she needed to be free of it. With a grimace of pain, she started to pull.
They both shrieked in one voice, blood and power running out over her hands. They fell forward, and her hand loosened. But images came rushing forward, urging her on. Images of the Nanten leader breaking Etansel's gates with a bare tap of his hand, the brave Onion Knights who fell defending them...Riven and Elleira and Elazul all fighting for their lives.
She tightened her grip, and clenched her teeth, and pulled the core free with a cry of agony and desperation. Then they lost their strength, and she swooned, collapsing. The core rolled across in front of her eyes, and Blackpearl/Pearl realized they were going to die.
The Sproutling appeared in her line of vision, and the core floated gently into the air before it. "This...this will do nicely. Well done...you whimpering clod."
The Sproutling changed, shifted, and its illusion fell away. Nunuzac chuckled darkly, the sound causing his glass body to rattle.
"Y-you..." they whispered, reaching out. "Thesenis..."
"I switched bags when you weren't looking. I also took care of a little guest that was trying to track you down. Y'know...I actually feared that Gato kitten would kill our other guest before she arrived."
They were blacking out, unable to understand what the man trapped inside the mirror was saying.
"But it doesn't matter now," he continued, oblivious to the fact that she were dying, "You wanted to help save Fa'diel, correct? And you have. With this stone, I can summon the Freymold. The great Wyrm...I burned that old shell of a Wisdom's jungle once...I can do it again." The mirror shivered, the colors it reflected changing too quickly to make any sense of. "If it means the Mana Fortress is destroyed, then I can."
Pearl fell back and away, into the recesses of her mind, unable to hang on any longer. Blackpearl's persona surged to the forefront of their consciousness, and her hand clutched her hammer tightly. "I'll kill you..." she swore, fighting to her knees.
The sorcerer turned, refracting candlelight throughout the room. "Am I supposed to be afraid? You can't stop me. Not...without...this." The core floated forward, and suddenly Blackpearl was wracked with pain. She howled in agony, and dropped her weapon. She was lifted into the air by his dark magic, unable to even flinch as he lashed her with his power.
"You're a useless clod of dirt! A clump of mud, whose only purpose is to serve as a walking carrying case for these...these!" The core hovered, flicking towards her briefly, spattering her face with her own blood. "These ultimate tools for magic! You serve to guard the cores, which hold the last vestiges of true magic in this world." Nunuzac flung her away, and she slammed against the wall. "I am stunned that your determination brought you this far. I think I'll have to put you in my garden when I'm finally finished with you!" the mirror man cackled. "You'll fertilize some very hearty vegetables!"
Her core flashed, and the circle she'd drawn began to burn. "Freymold! Wyrm of Fire! Come forth! Your master summons you!" Nunuzac chanted. The flames flickered, black to white, without any sense of transition or the slightest hint of red. Unnatural fires...unnatural as the Wyrms themselves.
Years had passed since the great war...when Nunuzac had last summoned Freymold. But surely, if Irwin -and now the Nanten- could resurrect Lucemia, a sorcerer of Nunuzac's power could cause another to be reborn. Blackpearl stared on in horror as a massive snakehead, formed from liquid fire started to rise from the center of the circle. It was enormous...probably as big as Lucemia. The room was impossibly hot...she'd burn to ashes if he completed the summoning.
The world would burn.
Nunuzac paused, turning towards the door. "You can't stop me, Sandra. You can't enter this circle. You can't stop me.'
His answer was a masculine chuckle, which took even the mirror-bound sorcerer off-guard. The young man at the door pushed up his glasses with a smile. "True, true..." Alexander nodded, and lifted a large hammer. "At least, if that's what I was going to do, it would be." He flung the hammer into the circle, straight at Nunuzac.
He screamed, and then a loud crack reverberated through the room. Black lightning burst from his body, wracking the Wyrm with power. It screamed, and began to retreat into the ground. Blackpearl was suddenly freed, and she lunged forward, not giving herself a chance to think about it. She caught the hammer and brought it up and around in one smooth motion. The demon belched flame, enveloping her completely, but she burst through it and brought the hammer down on its face.
Nunuzac was still screaming, and she raised the hammer again, swinging it as hard she could, not stopping until she had silenced him. Blackpearl fell to her knees, trying to breath. She hurt. She was horribly burnt, and her core was gone; she could feel her soul escaping.
Glass crunched loudly underfoot as Alex entered the circle. He reached down, fingers brushing against Pearl's core, and changed. His change was violent, not a quick flash of light as she'd seen before, in Etansel. Sandra fell to her knees as well, clutching the core with everything she had. Seeing the expression on Blackpearl's face, she smiled weakly.
"We're a lot alike, you and I. Only I can't ever be free of my other half." Her eyes lowered, a flush of shame turning her face red. "I envy your strength. No one else in our entire race could've fought as hard as you did. You want to save the world..." It was then that Sandra looked up, eyes shining. "But all I want is to save Florina. I'm her Knight...I won't let them kill her."
"You love her..." Blackpearl whispered.
"I...I..." Sandra squeezed her eyes shut and forced a smile, tears slipping despite her effort.
Pearl took the hammer, and brought it up between them, bashing Sandra in the chest, squarely on her core. Unable to even cry out, Sandra slumped forward wordlessly; falling into Pearl's arms. Sandra lifted her hands weakly, pushing Blackpearl's core back into Pearl's chest. The Jewel Thief cried freely, and she wiped at her eyes weakly, before she brought her fingertips to her mouth.
Before Pearl could react, Sandra leaned forward, kissing her. Pearl felt herself healing, the burns fading, even the wound around her core. Sandra slumped forward, collapsing into her arms with a sigh. For several moments, Pearl didn't know what to do. Then her core pulsed, and she realized what had happened. This core was black. Sandra had reversed her core.
She couldn't feel Blackpearl in her mind. She couldn't feel Pearl. Was she Pearl, or Blackpearl? Or someone else? Her head swam, but she realized she had been saved. Carefully laying the Jewel Thief to one side, she then got to her feet a bit unsteadily.
Pearl stumbled towards the door, then hesitated, looking back. The hammer Sandra had brought. She picked it up, turning it over in her hands carefully. There was a word on it: Lasdanac.
The name of the Holy Knight who had defeated Freymold. She held it reverently in both hands, and headed for the door.