Even after Jazel regaining her memories, she still didn't know how to get to the 2nd Layer.
As the days passed, she continued her routine: going to school, hanging out with classmates, and still wearing her mask in front of others.
Every day, Jazel still saw the clone of her stepbrother, Zelaive, and she said to herself, "You'd never really notice that the one eating, going to school, and spending time with the family every day is just a clone of the real Zelaive."
Jazel arrived home from her walk, her mind filled with thoughts she didn't know how to process.
It was dark when she got home, and upon entering, she found food prepared for her with a note:
"Just heat this up, Jazel. Don't push yourself too hard with whatever you're doing. You've been coming home late from school lately. - Zelaive"
Who do you think is responsible?
She heated up the food and ate.
She felt a sense of loneliness and remembered eating with her father. "It's awful to eat alone, Dad."
After finishing her meal, she went up to her room, changed into her pajamas, turned off the lights, and went straight to bed.
While lying in bed, Jazel wondered if this was all she would do every day, without thinking or finding a way to get to the 2nd Layer.
"I want to take off the mask that's been stuck to me since I was a child. But how can I remove it?"
As Jazel lay there, she saw a dragonfly in her room. She let it land on her hand, and it did. Outside her window, the moon was incredibly bright, and the wind blew into Jazel's open window, filling her room with light.
"I'm going to make my own decisions, even if it means swallowing my pride."
The dragonfly on Jazel's finger suddenly exploded, releasing tiny, glowing particles that scattered throughout the room.
Startled, Jazel stood up and was amazed by the beauty of the lights.
The tiny particles gathered in one spot and slowly approached Jazel's right hand, as if marking her transformation.
She looked at her hand as the glowing particles approached and gave her a mark on her index finger – the image of a dragonfly where it had landed.
Jazel looked at her finger and saw the mark. "What is this? A dragonfly?"
Out of curiosity, Jazel touched her index finger. As she did, her skin cracked, revealing a glowing gold color underneath.
It slowly spread through her body, and her skin gradually turned to dust, replaced by a glowing golden skin.
Jazel wanted to scream for help, but she couldn't. She lost her voice, and her heart stopped beating as the golden glow spread throughout her body until it hardened completely, leaving Jazel standing, encased in glowing gold.
When dawn broke, she woke up on her bedroom floor, lying naked.
As she got up, she immediately noticed that it was morning, and sunlight streamed into her room, hitting her face.
"When did I fall asleep, and why is my window open?" Her head hurt, and she couldn't remember anything that had happened the night before.
She noticed the time: 8:11 AM.
"I'll just go to my second subject."
Jazel went downstairs, finding the house in complete disarray. Suddenly, someone appeared behind her, and she felt a gun pointed at her.
"Yes or no is all you can answer. If you say anything else, you die."
Jazel was uneasy because she couldn't find Fluer and Marisse. "Before I answer your question, where are the people who live in this house?"
The questioner tripped Jazel, causing her to fall. He grabbed both of Jazel's hands tightly with one hand, pressed her head to the ground, and pointed the gun at her.
"Didn't I tell you that you have no right to ask questions while I'm asking them?"
Jazel laughed at what he said. "Hasn't anyone told you that I won't speak if I don't know the condition of Fluer and Marisse?"
Footsteps approached them. "That's enough, Brudo. I'll take it from here."
"What do you mean, 'enough'? Don't interfere with me."
A calm voice spoke from the newcomer. "You won't get anything from her if you ask like that, do you understand?" The man who had just arrived gave Brudo a terrifying look that made Brudo move and sweat. Jazel could sense it even though she couldn't see him yet.
After Brudo released Jazel's hands, the mysterious man in a top hat and formal attire approached.
The mysterious man offered his hand and helped her sit up.
"I am Muzord Vallante, and what is your name, miss?"
"I'm Jazel."
Vallante spoke calmly, "Jazel, your family is fine, so don't worry about them. They'll be home soon. We've finished interrogating them, and they have nothing to do with what we want to know."
Vallante's voice changed and suddenly turned cold. "So, I think you should worry about yourself because if you know anything about what I'm going to ask, your answer will determine whether you live or die."
Vallante took out a bell.
"Okay, what's a good first question?"
Vallante smiled and asked, "What do you know about the clone named Zelaive?"
So that bell is part of his ability. It probably rings when I lie, so I have no choice but to tell the truth to his questions.Jazel thinking
Jazel answered his question, "I don't know much about how that clone works. All I know is that Zelaive created it," as she stared seriously into Vallante's eyes, as if she were the one in the bad situation now and could escape from them at any moment.
But Vallante was not fooled by her gaze because he knew that Jazel could do nothing to them because he felt Jazel's zeal was blocked so she could not use it.
Vallante looked at the bell, and nothing happened.
"Ohhh, so you don't know how his clone works." Vallante thought about his next question. "Hmmm, where is Zelaive now?"
"In the 2nd Layer," Jazel answered quickly without hesitation.
Brudo was surprised by what Jazel said because going beyond the 1st Layer and going to the 2nd Layer is like going to your own grave.
"Ohhh, he's outside the 1st Layer, in the most beautiful place a person can go," and Vallante wrote in his notebook as if he wasn't surprised by what he heard.
"Have you ever been to the 2nd Layer, Jazel?" Vallante asked calmly.
Jazel answered directly, "Not yet."
"I have many more questions I want to ask you, but for now, that's all I'll ask."
Vallante and Brudo left after Vallante questioned Jazel.
Before Vallante left, he gave Jazel something and whispered to her, "If you plan to go to the 2nd Layer, go to that address. I'll help you get to the 2nd Layer or even higher layers."
Jazel looked at it, and what he gave her was a card with "G.G.G" written on it and an address.
As Vallante and Brudo walked, Brudo asked Vallante, "Why didn't you ask her about the glowing golden color surrounding her room? Isn't that why we were even there?"
"Oh, that? I don't know either. Why didn't I ask?"
"So you don't know why you didn't ask? Wait, what do you mean, 'I don't know'?" Brudo replied, annoyed.
"Ugh, you're too loud. Can you just be quiet?" he answered lazily.
Brudo asked again, driven by his curiosity, "Is the bell part of your ability? Because you keep looking at it every time Jazel answers."
"Oh, this?" she said, holding up the bell. "It's just a normal bell. I just passed by it while I was going here."
"Huh? Just a normal bell?" Brudo said, utterly shocked.
Is this person really the one I was so afraid of earlier? he thought. Out of all the bad people I've met, people who are willing to kill or lie just to exploit someone's weakness, I can say that this man is even more terrifying than them.
As they passed through a small alley, Vallante stopped and looked back at Brudo with a serious face. "Hmm, you know, I don't like it when you don't obey me immediately, Brudo. When I said I'd take care of it, and you asking me if the bell was part of my ability... it's like you're being fishy."
"What are you talking about?" Before Brudo could say anything more, he suddenly exploded, his blood splattering on Vallante and scattering throughout the alley.
"I wonder what I'll say is the reason Brudo died," Zelaive said, worried.
"Hmmm, why am I even worried? I'll just deal with them when there are more of them asking me questions." Vallante continued walking away as if nothing had happened.
Before the accident happened
Before they reached Fleur's house, Brudo and Vallante felt an extremely strong zeal coming from where Jazel lived, which attracted them. Brudo and Valla traced it back to its source.
Upon entering Fleur's house, they saw Zelaive's clone begging for help as she slowly melted away due to the intense zeal emanating from Jazel's room.
The two were shocked because it was the first time they had seen a clone cry and beg for help as if it had its own life.
Using his censoring ability, Brudo detected that there were three more people upstairs, two of whom had no ability to use zeal.
Brudo immediately went upstairs to save Fleur and Marrise. When he got there, the two were unconscious. He carried Marrise on his back and carried Fleur in his arms. As he was leaving Marrise's room, he saw Vallante standing at Jazel's door, where he could see the golden light surrounding her room.
Brudo ignored it and went straight outside to take them to the hospital. Brudo was annoyed because Vallante didn't care about the innocent people and was more concerned with finding out where that extremely strong zeal was coming from.
As Brudo remembered Vallante face, he became even more annoyed. That face is so irritating. He even looks amazed at what he saw.
When Vallante returned to Fleur's house, the golden light could be seen through Jazel's open window.
When Brudo entered, he saw Vallante just sitting on the sofa.
Brudo asked him, "What happened? Did you find anything out?"
Vallan smiled and said, "Jazel's zeal has formed and become crystallized. It's so hard and surrounds her as if it's protecting her, like she's a cocoon in the middle of a transformation."
Brudo was frightened by Vallan's sharp mind when it came to zeal. So he promised himself, I will kill Vallante in the next G.G.G. game.