'Jewel of the sea,' were the words that rang in my ears since her voice stopped. It rang continuously when I wept on her bed covers while hugging her. I was eventually pulled away for her to be taken away on a stretcher to the hospital.
"She will be alright," my father consoled me. "She's still alive, so be grateful."
I went into my room to think more about those words when all at once, I noticed the conch shell.
'Could it be that if I took it to the sea it would help me?' I pondered. 'After all, the jewel must be in the sea to start with.'
Taking it in my hand, I scrutinized it earnestly. Within its spirals, rolled up carefully, was a small piece of parchment paper, like that of a sticky note but larger. I pulled it out with a paper clip scrupulously, ensuring all the time that the frail paper didn't tear. It was a most tricky job to get that wettish paper out.
I unfurled the paper and set a paperweight on it. The characters should have been smudged as it was written in ink. I felt the top and bottom of the paper and realised that the wax coating had kept it intact.
The long, jagged letters were rather illegible but eventually, I discerned that the language itself was different. I willed myself to translate it from Taulorus, the ancient language of the sea which Mother had taught, into my own words.
The little note read, "Call upon me when distress seeks thee."
That was enough to make firm my belief in asking the sea for the remedy my mother needed, and for the gem. It was my last hope in finding anything valuable that would cure her.
I turned in for the night and tried to sleep as peacefully I could. I wanted to be up early, helping out my father and getting what was needed of me. But alas, my worried mind could only sleep for a few hours, as I kept waking up abruptly in between.
When morning arrived, we were out before dawn and casting the nets before everyone else. Father was teaching me the art of fishing while I arranged the catches on the deck of our boat when I gave a sharp cry.
Father turned around in despair, thinking some beast had attacked the boat. But that was not so. I had found in the throat of one of the fishes a small stone of the size of a marble, that was faded and colourless.
"What's it?" he asked me when I was groping for it.
"Jewel of the sea, if I'm not mistaken," I responded, amazed at having found it so quickly. "But I think there's more to that. This is just a regular diamond that looks ridiculously fragile, for I can't see its brilliance in the light to guarantee that it's real. And what Mother wanted must be some kind of Elixir of Life, or else why would she ask for it?"
"If it's such a precious stone, wouldn't we have enough money for a comfortable life?"
"It is transparent and a little more luminescent. But we wouldn't get anything if it turned out to be fake, which I hope isn't the case."
After winding a thin wire around it to form a ring, I carefully wrapped the diamond in my handkerchief and pocketed it. I would have to take it to the jeweller to get it verified, although I was afraid that he would cheat me.
We set up our catch at our spot and then let my father deal with the buyers. I needed to find the real jewel. Otherwise, I couldn't go anywhere without the thought of my beloved mother dying without any aid or without her last wish being fulfilled, if it was her last.
I reached my room breathless to take the shell out to the shore with me. But I noticed that the paper beside the lamp had shrivelled up like a dried petal. I grabbed the crumpled paper and the shell and looked at both of them tentatively.
'Very odd,' I thought. 'Which beast thought it was alright to enter our threshold?'
I backtracked my path but found only some shoe marks as proof, which might have been one of us. Deciding that the evidence wasn't enough and that I didn't have time for it, I left the matter for later.
I journeyed back to the seashore and went to the farthest part of the sea, as I didn't want to be seen or heard. I blew into the conch shell very hard, creating a tremendous sound for my own ears. When the ringing had cleared and the sound of the waves returned, I saw in the distance a green bottle floating its way onto the shore.
I waded against the gushing waves as quickly as I could before the glass bottle sank into the depth of the sea. After grabbing it and walking back to the beach, I noticed that the bottle contained a script. I uncorked the bottle and tried to pull it out. When it wouldn't give away, I smashed the bottle against a rock, breaking it to bits.
The paper was nearly washed away by the sea, as I was trying to stop the bleeding hand with another handkerchief. I caught it just in time, but some of the contents were smudged. Translating it from Taulorus to my own, I understood that it was a map, with a part of the coastal side smudged. It was then that I realised with dread that I could only get to the treasure if I crossed the treacherous stretch of the sea and entered the Cave of Terror, where it was kept guarded by something deadly.
"This journey is more dreaded than I thought," I said out loud in frustration. "I have nothing to keep me from losing my life, along with my mother's."
'Losing a limb won't kill you. Besides, you already have what you need to combat,' stated the bothersome voice in my head.
'You have got some guts to speak like that,' I grunted.
'Oooh, I like your spirit now. Let's go and get some killing done.'
'You have got to be kidding me! This is the most insane adventure any person would go on.'
'But you are going on this because you trust me, right? So get moving and get yourself one or two nice weapons for safety.'
After braiding my hair, I grabbed the nearest shortsword that my father kept in his boat for cutting up bigger fishes and trudged along the steep slope that led to the cave. I had only one wooden shaft to support me against the strong winds that blew and pushed against me.
The sea hit the rocks dangerously, and for sure with one strike, a person would be dashed against the jagged rocks and killed instantly. This was the most treacherous part in the whole land of Adrian, and possibly the entire continent of Erna, with howling winds. Therefore, nobody dared to come here by boat or otherwise.
The path to the cave got rockier by the minute as I paced on, to the extent that I had to be on my hands and feet to get through. To avoid getting cuts on my hand which I needed for any upcoming battle, I tore my spare napkin into two and wrapped the pieces around them.
I reached the cavern, breathing raggedly. Turning around to take in the view, I sat at the edge of a boulder, catching my breath and fixing up my lose napkin and laces. Treading slowly and cautiously, I held my breath as I took in the scene in front of me.
The grotto had a small trail of water, like a little stream, flowing through its middle about a yard inside from the entrance. The pitch-black stream became wider as it extended inwards. It was completely dark inside. I was thankful that I always carried a torchlight with me.
Switching on the torch was definitely the worst decision, for right then, the water formed many ripples on its surface. I gave a sharp cry. Out of it came zombie-like creatures, coming straight for me, or rather, my legs.
I screamed at that wicked voice, "In what hell did you drag me into?! I thought there were going to be some kind of traps. This is a zombie apocalypse!"
I nearly took to my feet when the voice said, 'Coward! Traitor! You promised your mother to bring it! And I supported you until now. Yet now, you will run from mere creatures?' Filled with shame, I took my stand and fought with all my might.
The sight of them and the blood was appalling as I slashed their necks and faces. I couldn't think of hurting any creature, living or alive. But the voice said, 'Chuck their heads off or slit their throats. Whatever you do, they must bleed like a pig.'
"What are you saying?! Are you insane?"
'Do you want to live and see your mother? Do it or else you are finished. Besides, you are more powerful than them than you know.'
So I did what I could. Pushing the sword through their mouths and bodies was horrifying, but I told myself to not look or think about it. When I finished off the last one closest to the jewel, I knew that from that night onwards, I wouldn't be able to sleep in peace.
I quickly walked up to the raised marble platform. The jewel was kept in a dirty glass box fastened with an old lock. From what I could see, the jewel was embedded in gold on a chain. It shone in different colours as it received different intensities of my electrical torchlight. Seeing no key to open the deadlock, I picked up the sharpest stone I could spot and broke the box with three strikes.
Just when I was hanging the chain around my neck, another set of those beasts started heading towards me. But when I accidentally shone it on the pendant, many of them backed off. Only the most gruesome of them stayed around approaching me from the farthest corners.
'Just amazing,' I cursed. 'Now tell me, what am I supposed to do?'
'The ring,' it responded. 'Shine the light on that and then on the Regalia.'
'Regalia?' I asked in surprise. But it didn't speak anymore, and I didn't have a second to waste.
I immediately took out the makeshift ring and illuminated it. The light from the diamond shone a hundred times brighter than my weak torch. And when that was transferred to the jewel, every single creature decided it was best to back off from me at all costs.
I ran from there and didn't stop until I reached the beach. Hiding the necklace under my dress shirt from all eyes, I decided to head straight to the nearest jeweller to sell the diamond. I smiled as I planned out what I was going to do when I got there.