Legend of the Jumi Part I, Chapter 1
Sparkling City of Ruin
By The Mana Priestess
"Sparkling City of Ruin" is the name of the song in the Jumi city in Legend of Mana.
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The sparkling radiance of this city is beautiful, thought the young knight, and doubtlessly it would have been a stunning sight to those who are unused to it, had strangers ever been admitted to the city; the eternal glow of the clear, colored stones set into the pavement and walls of the city is rich and resplendent, providing it with constant illumination. Yet this light is, to me, also harsh and grating, the cold light of a prison cell, for it is the light from which I have been attempting to distance myself for a long, long time.
Dawn was just a few hours away, and the young knight knew that the morning sunshine would dim the bright play of lights a little; but in the chilled darkness of the post-midnight hour they preyed on his mind, followed him persistently like tiny wil-o-wisps, haunting and tormenting him with morbid thoughts. He paused for a moment, leaning against a bright wall, perspiring with fatigue. He was unsure what made him wander the city streets this way, when everything was cold and still. Seeking the darkness, perhaps, the darkness that never existed within this eternally bright city.
You tried to escape once, he thought to himself, ten years ago you embarked on that ill-chosen adventure, from which you returned scathed and weak, straggling like a rag doll back to the city, the marks of the wounds dealt to you by so many jewel-hunters scarring your body. You were lucky; not many young Jumi who venture out return, because, by the decree of Lady Black Pearl, made the law of the city, they are never looked for.
A moving body, a stealing shadow, caught his eye and interrupted his thoughts. He was still leaning against the gemmed wall, and has almost closed his eyes with weariness, but that fleeting irregularity, marring the brightness, caught his eye and drew his attention. Nothing could remain hidden for long in the city of sparkling lights; the merciless glare brought everything into view sooner or later. What puzzled him, however, that he did not sense the other person's presence. His jewel core should have alerted him to the presence of another Jumi, so close nearby.
Elazul had no doubt that this person was a Jumi. No other creatures or races were admitted into the city, nor were any ever known to break through. Its strong magical barrier kept them out. He was therefore not alarmed, but curious about this person, and a little irked that he or she would lurk in the shadows this way, like a thief. There should be nothing to prevent Jumi from confronting each other within their own city. He unsheathed his sword, but this was merely a matter of precaution, induced by the lurker's unusual behavior. And perhaps, he thought to himself, perhaps I am no longer a true Jumi, perhaps the policies of the Lady Black Pearl are right, perhaps I've been corrupted by my contact with the outside world into suspicion and fear of a fellow Jumi, something another Jumi would never dream of; and innocence lost can never be regained.
"Show your face," he said calmly, in a clear, carrying tone. "And state your purpose."
The figure stepped from the faint darkness into a blaze of colored light, and Elazul found himself facing a young man of about his own age, perhaps a little younger. With Jumi, one can never tell, because they are able to live hundreds of years, and a disparity of a decade or two made no difference. He examined the youth silently, and was answered by an equally searching gaze, whose sharp scrutiny was nevertheless mellowed by a hint of a smile inside the bright, dark eyes. The young man's eyes were for a moment illuminated by the white light of diamonds, which decorated the side of a flanking wall, and Elazul could see that their color was green. He was wearing dark colors, a purple bandanna, that Elazul recognized to emulate the style of thieves and pirates, winding about his head and concealing his hair completely except for straight chestnut forelocks that swept across his forehead and into his eyes. He wore, besides, a loose green shirt half-covered by a dark purple vest, dark pants and knee-high leather boots. His appearance, on the whole, bespoke a foreign style that Elazul once again recognizes from experience, and all at once his interest was awakened at this strange-looking youth.
"My name is Alex," the youth said, answering Elazul's stern summon. "And I was looking for you because--" But here he hesitated, as if unsure of his words. Elazul did not wait for him to complete his sentence, but asked, "What kind of a Jumi are you? I have not sensed your Jewel." His eyes traveled to the laced shirt the young man wore, and he could discern the cantors of a dark stone barely glimmering through. A true Jumi, then. Elazul relaxed; for some strange reason, he had the lingering fear that someone had managed to break through uninvited, that the barrier had somehow weakened after all-- because, for all his burning desire to escape the city, he cared about his people strongly, and his experience in the world outside the city had taught him that the danger threatening the Jumi was not a nebulous mirage, but a very real threat, the policies of Black Pearl not random acts of tyranny, but a hard-headed practical solution. Somehow the knowledge that they were all safe inside the city, inside this beautiful structure that was their prison and their haven at the same time, was both heart-achingly painful and strangely reassuring.
And still, he was unsure of the proficiency of this prison; for what shocked Elazul most profoundly upon his return was the reduced population of the Jumi. Ten years ago when he wandered the streets at night he had to take the side-streets and back alleys and upper balconies on the higher levels of the city to acquire peace and escape, to avoid the people wandering the streets for night-time strolls. But nowadays, on nights such as these, he wandered almost alone. That such a change would have been wrought during his ten years of absence, that in such a short time, in Jumi terms, could make so much difference, reduce the number of Jumi so greatly seemed to him a sickening fact, a realization that hit him nastily, like a blow to the stomach. And he could not help but wonder why this happened.
The young man's voice-- his name was Alex, he had said-- recalled Elazul to the present. "This is my stone--" and he parted the lace of his shirt at the neck slightly-- "it's green by day, but purple by night, and its powers are much weaker then. No wonder that you did not sense it." Indeed the stone remained dark and sullen, refusing to shine in the city's light, as if rejecting, or perhaps absorbing, its intense and beautiful glow.
Elazul examined the stone. The name Alex made sense to him now. It did not, however, detract his suspicion, awakened as it was by the youth's foreign style. "Well? You said you were looking for me. Why did you, then? And who sent you? I have been outside the city before, and your style of clothes does not seem like the style of a Jumi to me."
This question was partly asked from curiousity. The youth replied, "Nobody sent me. I--" again, that slight hesitation, though the corners of his mouth twitched in a seemingly irrepressible smile-- "Truly, I have been outside for a long time, but now I return to the city. I have asked people for the best warrior they know around these lower parts of the city, and they named you, and said that you have recently returned from the outside world. I have come with a request to you, to train me to be a Jumi knight."
Elazul felt a sympathy stirring at their similar circumstances, and he wondered why the youth left the city-- perhaps the same reasons that he did-- if nothing else, it denoted courage. The city always received dissenter Jumi back, because sometimes young Jumi knights stole out before being assigned with a guardian; but the Jumi had not the manpower to waste on seeking out those young adventurers and rescue them from any scrape they might have fallen into. Those who came back stronger for their experience were received without comment and re-integrated into the city life; those who did not come back were never mentioned again. Dissenters were therefore few.
He betrayed none of these reflections, however, and answered calmly, "I am surprised that they gave you my name. I had not known my skill is in such renown in the city. What is the extent of your former training?"
"I was a part of a gang of robbers," the youth replied with what seemed to Elazul a shameless cheerfulness, "and I survived pretty well. I did learn much from them in the way of swordsmanship, but it was far from professional level, certainly not enough, I think, to become a knight in this city. And it seems to me that you devalue your own merits; Elazul, they told me, is one of the best swordsmen around-- he had been, they said, to foreign parts, and became a warrior to contend with. I requested for your description and based on it I have been seeking for you for many days." The answer seemed plausible enough; but something about a sly side-glance, a quirk of the smiling mouth, rendered Elazul uneasy.
He nevertheless relaxed his hold on the hilt of his sword and sheathed it. He was not afraid of this slender youth called Alex, could imagine no reason for this boy to begrudge him or have a design on his life. And if he was seeking him out for some undisclosed purpose, well, it was better to have him nearby and under surveillance than stalking him secretly.
"I'll see about your skills for myself," he said discouragingly. "I shall see if training you will be a worthy investment, or a waste of time."
An inexplicable laugh shook Alex, but he said, "I can only suppose that this city needs warriors. Think of doing this for the benefit of your city, then."
A smile curled Elazul's mouth at this intrepid answer. "I suppose that I will teach you a few skills, then. Are you planning to contend for a guardian?" Being knighted or named a guardian was the mark of adulthood, and a Jumi who acquired the appropriate status was given greater rights and privileges. Elazul himself had been knighted a long time ago, but he deterred from applying for a guardianship, though a pairing of a knight and a guardian bestowed an even greater status on a Jumi. This was because with each elevation of status, one had greater duties, and lost some of one's freedom-- yet another sign of being integrated deeper into the Jumi's rigid social structure, which Elazul sought to escape.
Alex, however, seemed surprised at this question. "I had not thought of it," he confessed. "I wish to be knighted first."
"Then let me test your skills and see whether you are qualified for this title," Elazul said. "Come, follow me."
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It was a day of liquid gold in spring, a day when the air flows into the senses like an intoxicating draught and the world flowers into life after the white winter sleep. Elazul could sense all that vibrant energies flowing around the borders of the city like a lurking creature, a living thing; and as in every spring he longed to leave this city, whose static glitter was set in dead stones, the magical barrier blocking the dangers and intense energies rampant in the outside world. The Jumi sought to distance themselves from it, enclosing themselves in an invisible sparkling shell of magic, devised by the power of Black Pearl herself, a shell designed to protect them, a shell that, Elazul thought with desperate anger, disguised a city of dying people. But he's been in this place over two years now; surely he can leave one day, sometimes soon.
"Alex," he begun on that day, as they were practicing their swordsmanship in a sunny courtyard just above the eastern section of the city, the section Elazul preferred to all others because it received the most sunlight, seemed to him like one of the relatively healthier places in the city. "I have a question for you."
Alex had been practicing under Elazul's tutelage for several months by now, and his proficiency in using the sword had considerably improved. Elazul had been secretly impressed with Alex's talent, but he rarely complimented him, and only made corrective remarks as needed. He knew Alex didn't wish to be complimented, he only wished to be taught-- and he learned all Elazul could teach him quickly and avidly. His slim body, already agile, hardened with practice. Though at first his strength quickly wore out, he always set his teeth stubbornly and practiced on, on, through the long evenings, through nights, and sometimes Elazul found him worn out and pale and sweating with exhaustion.
At one such night-- it was after midnight-- Elazul found him lying on the floor with his face turned towards the ceiling, staring upwards with a blank, abstracted expression. He hurried towards him at first, thinking Alex might have injured himself, but then Alex directed his gaze towards him and his mouth bent into a smile.
"I can't move, Elazul," he said. "My muscles gave out."
"I can see that," replied Elazul, kneeling at his side and peering down at him with a slight smile.
"I was lying here and dreaming for a long time," Alex continued, his intent gaze once again turning towards the ceiling. "I dreamt the strangest dream. Want to know what it is?"
"Not in particular."
"I dreamt I was in a tall tower, with hundreds of sparkling mirrors reflecting the moonlight. And my father took me by the hand and said, this is the tower of Leires. My father said, this was the forbidden tower, and none can enter it save those who are meant to enter it. We were in the wastelands, and the moon made the craggy valley glow strangely below."
"There really is such a tower," remarked Elazul offhandedly.
"Then an angel appeared, holding a sword of white flame, and the angel said-- what?"
"The angel said 'what'?" Elazul repeated dryly. "A strange sort of angel."
"No, I meant, is it true? Is there really such a tower?" Alex's eyes lost their dreamy expression and they searched Elazul's face eagerly.
"Yes."
"Then-- it must really have happened!" Engrossed with this exciting discovery, Alex attempted to rise to his feet, but his sore and exhausted muscles couldn't take the strain and he immediately collapsed. He lay back with a long sigh, then smiled at Elazul roguishly. "Serves me right, I suppose. But I think, Elazul, that my father might really have journeyed there. Perhaps he told me the story when I was very, very small, and then the story came into my dreams. The part about the angel, though," he added as an afterthought, "really WAS a dream. It must have been because of something that..." But he left the sentence incomplete and his voice trailed off.
"I can't say that I'm surprised," Elazul commented. He did not pay any particular attention to Alex when he rambled on in such a odd manner, though he found it both interesting and strange; but at that hot hour of spring he found himself admiring his fortitude. Especially, he thought, when I know that Alex is--
Alex paused in the act of practicing a new technique Elazul had lately taught him and said, "What is it?"
"Would you like to leave the city and journey with me?" Elazul asked shortly.
This seemed to give Alex a pause. After a short silence, which might have indicated hesitation, he said, "But I have only arrived a short while ago. I have yet to be knighted."
"I'll get you knighted within a month," said Elazul. "It will require an application to Rubens, and a test. It's a very difficult test, and the council of knights supervise it very strictly, but you'll pass it well enough."
"Will Black Pearl test me?" asked Alex.
Elazul was slightly surprised at this question. "No, why should she? She has enough to do without a private supervision of every new knight."
"I am rather curious to see Black Pearl, she who is so famed for her beauty," Alex said with a mischievous smile. "They say that she is over a thousand years old, the oldest Jumi in the city, but she doesn't look that old. I am curious to see this extraordinary woman with my own eyes."
"So they say, but I've never seen her myself," said Elazul shortly. He was not particularly interested in Black Pearl.
"Also--" Alex paused suddenly, but then he said quickly, "I wish to participate in the contest for Lady Florina's guardianship. Do you think I could do it?" For Lady Black Pearl has lately announced of a summer tournament; in mid-summer, she was to temporarily relinquish her rights to Lady Florina's guardianship and pass it on to the best contender of the younger Jumi knights. It was really more of an opportunity for the young knights to show off their skills, for everyone knew that the duration of Black Pearl's absence would be short. A public contest, testing the skills of all applicants, was to be held during the summer festival. The tournament provided food for much talk and speculation in the city, especially in regards to Black Pearl's reasons for her temporary leave.
The question about Florina's guardianship caused Elazul to glance at Alex with a curious expression. "You're ambitious. Yes, you might be able to do it. But it'll take a little more practice."
Alex was silent for a moment, swinging the sword aimlessly. "They say Florina is dying," he suddenly remarked.
"She is, "Elazul replied briefly, his gaze maintained on Alex's sword hand. "And if you keep swinging the sword this way, you won't be able to pass the first round of the contest."
Alex gave a small laugh; but then he halted in his practice for a moment, and directed a full gaze of inquiry at Elazul, speaking in an unusually grave tone. "But if her energies are worn out, if her core is falling apart, why don't they replace her?"
"Because--" this was a sore subject for Elazul, a truth that, ever since he understood it, he preferred not to think about, preferred to run away from-- "because she is the only one of sufficient age that has the power to heal Jumi so thoroughly. But you must know that."
"Well, I do," replied Alex somewhat testily. "But still, I didn't know that they made her go on until her core fell apart."
"They have no choice. All the other Jumi capable of healing tears are at present too young, and those old enough are not of sufficient powers. Once the Clarius Florina dies, they will replace her with the one most fit for the task. But as of now, they don't wish to burden the younger Jumi with it."
"If Florina is doing it knowingly, then she must be a good person," Alex commented.
"She must be," Elazul said neutrally. He glanced at Alex and noticed his expression seemed abstracted, and perhaps a little angry, and he thought with surprise, he feels the same way about it as I do, and yet he's shocked too. I wonder why-- he must have been very young when he left this place.
"About my question, then, will you come with me only for the spring?" he asked. "We can return in the summer, and you will have sufficient practice during the travels."
Alex smiled. "Well, all right," he said.
Elazul examined Alex covertly, and recalled that day, not long ago, when he entered Alex's dwelling in mid-afternoon unbidden-- Jumi never lock their houses, having no need to, and he had thought that he would find him at home; and he noticed, among the scattered papers on Alex's desk, a piece of paper upon which the word "Sandra" was inscribed in bold, black letters. The name caught his attention at once, for it reminded him of something that happened some years ago-- he approached and pulled it out. He felt no qualm about this; Alex's secretive character justified his caution, and the coincidence of the name seemed, to him, a questionable one.
The letter was written in the Common language, but Elazul's years in the outside world has taught him many things, and it took him very little time to decode the missive. It was very short, and went thus:
"My dearest Sandra,
"Your handsome blue-eyed Jumi knight is certainly back in the city; I met him so I am quite sure.
"Your devoted A.R.
"P.S. I hope your fascination with his blue eyes isn't serious-- you know that you are much better off marrying me."
Elazul lay the missive down quietly, carefully fitting it into its former place. There was a curious expression on his face, but he did not indicate to Alex that he had found it by the slightest change of manner; though he seemed more thoughtful, querying, on his guard when Alex didn't seem to pay attention.
He knew there was a mystery to solve here somewhere; but he had yet to figure out what and why.
And as he walked down the glittering pavement studded with glowing gems that night, Elazul thought to himself, so what do you seek here, Alex, you who managed to escape, like me-- but came back-- and how do you see this city, this dark and bright place that imprisoned its own people who are dying even now for their lack of healing; what do you think of it now that you came back with your new eyes that have seen the wide, dangerous, vigorous world, do you see it like me, do you think of it as a glowing, shining, beautiful, sparkling city of ruin?
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