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Prologue Alchemy is the force that comprises all things. It is the Science that studies the elements: Earth, Fire, Wind and Water, which are represented by the gods Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Mercury respectively. Together these elements make up all things in our world. Ages ago, or so the legends tell, Alchemy was the ruling force. People built great civilization, possibly more advanced than those we have today, and, through the power of Alchemy, people developed the ability to control the elements with the force of their minds. This was known to the common man as psynergy. After many years, they built the elemental lighthouses to honor the elemental gods and to help control the great powers of Alchemy. The lighthouses were built on the most active points of Alchemy in all of Weyard. Eventually, however, wars bean to break out. Dreams of eternal life, limitless power, and dominion over all that lived spread across the land. The world of Weyard became in danger of being destroyed. That is until several brave adepts planned to seal away the power of Alchemy. They built a sanctum inside Mount Aleph, which was the most active point of Alchemy in all of Weyard. Sol Sanctum was supposedly created to honor the sun god, Sol, hence it’s name, but it had a much deeper purpose than that. The adepts planned to travel to each of the lighthouses and transfer the elemental energy there into the specially made psynergy stones, which they called the Elemental Stars. These stars were sealed inside a room just below the crater of Mount Aleph and Sol Sanctum served as the only gateway to this room. The secret of Alchemy nearly passed out of all knowledge. About five years ago, a large group of Mars adepts from the northern village of Prox, which is located near Mars Lighthouse, invaded Sol Sanctum to steal the elemental stars. They were unsuccessful, however, and in doing so, caused a large storm to arise on Vale, which lays at the foot of Mount Aleph. Only two members of the raiding party survived: Saturos and Menardi. Thy managed to save the several residents of Vale who were thought to have died in the storm. They were all taken to Prox. Three years later, Saturos and Menardi returned along with Felix, the youngest of the captives, and an experienced Mercury adept, Alex. This time, they managed to manipulate several villagers into going into Sol Sanctum instead. The town elder, Kraden, along with several teenagers from the town, by the names of Isaac (whose father supposedly died in the storm), Garet, and Jenna (whose whole family supposedly died including her brother, Felix), were the ones who managed to gain entrance to the secret chamber where the elemental stars were held. Saturos and company followed them into the sanctum and stole the Venus, Jupiter, and Mercury stars along with Jenna and Kraden. The Mars star was not stolen. Isaac and Garet were tasked to find Jenna, Kraden, and the other elemental stars by the Wise One, the guardian made to protect the elemental stars. They were told that the power of the lighthouses was dangerous and could cause the destruction of Weyard. Along the way, they met both Ivan, who was a Jupiter adept, and Mia, who is of the Mercury Clan. Saturos and the others who traveled with him managed to light the beacons of both Mercury and Venus lighthouse. Along their way, they captured a Jupiter adept by the name of Sheba. She was needed to enter Jupiter Lighthouse, for to enter each lighthouse, an adept of that clan is required. Isaac and his friends fought with Saturos and Menardi atop Venus lighthouse and Saturos and Menardi fell into the well of the lighthouse, into which the elemental stars are thrown to light the lighthouse’s beacon. The lighthouse then ruptures and Sheba and Felix are thrown into the sea. Felix, Jenna, Sheba, and Kraden eventually meet Piers, a Mercury adept who hails from the legendary city of Lemuria. Together, they lit the beacon of Jupiter Lighthouse. After lighting it though, they fought with Agatio and Karst, both Mars adepts from Prox. Agatio and Karst were injured and returned to Prox to light the beacon of Mars Lighthouse. After the battle, they joined up with Isaac and his friends and went to Prox after Agatio and Karst. They were killed in the process, and Felix, Isaac and their party went on to light the lighthouse. At the Aerie, they met the Wise One, guardian of The Elemental Stars, who had tasked Isaac and Garet to recover the elemental stars. The Wise One informed them that Alex was waiting at the peak of Mount Aleph for the Golden Sun to form and give him the power of limitless life and limitless power. He said that when all of the beacons were lit, they would gather their light above Mount Aleph and form the Golden Sun. They managed to light the lighthouse anyway, and The Wise One went to Alex. He told Alex that he had put a portion of the Golden Sun’s power into the Mars Star, which was then transferred to Isaac. Mount Aleph was then drawn into the Earth along with Alex. Next, came Acheon and Faruth from Altaria who sought to destroy the lighthouses. They succeeded in destroying Venus and Mars. They then returned to Altaria and were followed by Felix, Isaac, Garet, Jenna, Sheba, Ivan, Mia, and Piers along with Feizhi from Xian, Susa from Izumo, Ami, Faruth’s daughter, and Chester of the Underworld. They killed Acheon and Faruth and fought with Alex who had managed to survive. Isaac somehow used the power of both parts of the Golden Sun to summon Sol. The Golden Sun was destroyed and Alex was killed. The reconstruction of the Lighthouses is underway, but some problems are arising. A council of representatives from every town in Weyard is gathering in Vale. This is where our story begins... |
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Chapter 1: A Rude Awakening “Run.....Run.....Just keep running.....Don’t stop.” These were the only thoughts in my mind. “Run.” I had to run. It was pitch black and I couldn’t even see my hands. I had no idea where I was or where I was going, but I had to run. Something bad would happen if I didn’t. I ran headlong into a wall and fell flat on my back. I tasted blood. “No.....Don’t stop.....Run.....Keep running.....You have to keep running.” I got up as fast as I could and started running again. Suddenly, I noticed a small light in the distance. “There.....Run.....Run there.” The light was getting closer, brighter. “There.....There.” I was almost there. “Go there.” I was there. I ran right into the light. I was blinded it was so bright. I couldn’t see anything. Just a solid wall of pure white light. Then it appeared. Right in the middle of the room I saw a tall black figure. The light began to dim a little, and the black aura around him grew. It began to engulf the room. Then, the figure started to turn around. “It’s going to see me. It’s evil.” I could sense it. “It’s pure evil. It’s going to see me. It’s going to kill me.” “JAKEN!” I bolted right up off the mattress and slammed my head into the bunk above me. “AHHHH!!!” I fell back onto the mattress. My hands flew to my head and I started banging my heels onto the bed. “Jaken! What are you doing?! It’s the middle of the day, why in the world are you sleeping?!” Piers was standing at the door of my room staring at me with an expression of mixed anger and disbelief. I managed to settle down a little bit. “I’m trying to keep from splitting my head open! What does it look like I’m doing?” “Well, come on we’re going to be in Vale in about ten minutes.” “Alright, alright, I’m coming.” Piers walked out. I got up slowly, still holding my forehead. “Ohh, I’m gonna feel that one tomorrow.” Well, that’s me in a nutshell. Always doing something stupid fro no apparent reason. And I had been having such a weird dream too. I was running through some sort of cave and then I met some big black guy in a bright room or something. “Aww, what’s the use? I can never remember dreams,” I said to myself. “Besides, it was just some stupid dream anyway.” I walked through the main room of the ship, and, not paying attention, I hit my head on the big lamp that hung from the ceiling. “Ahh! Not again!” I said rubbing my head. I never paid attention to things like that and, because I was so tall, I was always hitting my head on something. As soon as I stepped out of the living quarters I was blinded for a moment until my eyes adjusted. It reminded me of something, I just couldn’t put my finger on it. As I turned towards the front of the ship, the few long locks of hair that hung down over my face were blown out to the sides of my head and my long ponytail of hair was blown out behind me. I was wearing my long blue robe with golden trimmings, and it too was blown out behind me. It was almost as effective in waking me up as cracking my skull. I had always loved the wind on the deck of the ship. I ran to the bow of the ship, jumped up on the base of the huge dragonic statue, and spread my arms out wide. “Well, you seem to be having fun.” “Hey, spare me the sarcasm for a sec, will ya Sheba?” I yawned. “I can’t retaliate when I’m still half asleep.” Sheba let out a short soft laugh and went back to staring over the balcony of the ship. I jumped down and followed suit from where I was. That was another thing I loved about the ship. The view. It isn’t every day that you get to take a ride on a flying ship, and I had been on here for almost a week. It was a rare sight to behold. “You’ve got such a cool ship Piers.” I said. “Well, not all that glitters is gold as they say. You weren’t around when this old thing had to take us to Altaria.” He and Sheba both gave a small shudder. I decided I really didn’t want to know, so I didn’t ask. Suddenly, my brain started working at full blast again. “So, you said we’ll be in Vale soon?” “Yeah, I don’t know what we’re going to do about parking though since there will be so many other visitors there,” Piers replied. “How’re they going to hold so many people? Where’s this thing going to be held?” “Well, from what I understand, they’re going to set something up in one of the fields since there isn’t anywhere in Vale that can hold that many people.” “Hmm, sounds like this is a big deal, huh.” “Are you telling me you’re the representative from Tolbi, and you don’t even know what this is about?” “Of course I know what it’s about. My father was the richest man in Weyard. He had me taught by some of the best teachers of Alchemy that ever lived. I know how important this is. Of course, he was always sorry he couldn’t get a hold of Kraden...” “Well, the fact that Babi was your dad is about all that we know about you,” Sheba broke in. “What do you mean?” “I mean, why don’t you tell us a little bit more about yourself? For example, I know you have other reasons for coming with us other than that you’re Tolbi’s representative in the council.” “Hey! How’d you know that?” “Jaken, I’m a Jupiter adept. After all your training I’d have thought you’d know that they can sense things that other adepts can’t.” “Yeah, I knew that.” “So, why then?” Piers asked. “Well…I’m…I’m having…some…uhh…Well, let’s just say I need some…expert advice and I…I figured you and your friends…could…could help me.” Piers could tell that I didn’t really want to talk about this issue, so he changed the subject. “Hey! You can see the mayor’s hall from here!” He was right. I was just able to make out some other large buildings too when I noticed something. “We’re going to pass right by it at this speed.” “Well, yeah, actually. We’re going to try and land in the terrain to the north of-” but he was cut short as the ship gave a small lurch. The horizon was moving up until it was above the bow of the ship. The ship was angled downward, aimed directly at Vale. We were going to crash. |
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Chapter 2: Mid-flight Crisis “Piers! Please tell me this is part of the landing sequence!” “I don’t know what’s happening! It’s like the ship’s psynergy just stopped working!” “Well, you’re supposed to be the captain here! Do something!” “Uhh, I don’t know! Uhh.....Sheba! See if you can slow the ship with the wind!” Sheba nodded and closed her eyes. I could tell she was in deep concentration. I began to feel relieved. I knew Sheba was a very strong wind adept. “Piers!” she said pleadingly, “n-nothing’s happening!” “What?” he replied. “What do you mean?” “I mean nothing’s happening! I can’t summon any psynergy!” “What! Come on Sheba! Keep trying! You can do this easily! This is nothing!” Sheba nodded again. I turned around to find that I could see just about everything in Vale. There was screaming and people running everywhere. I realized we were going to crash. There was no avoiding it. I looked at Piers and he looked at me. His face was whiter than I’d have ever thought was possible. He had met the same realization as I had. Thump! We both jumped and turned towards the sound. Sheba had collapsed onto the deck of the ship. I turned back and saw a group of people standing in the middle of Vale. All of a sudden, a great gush of water erupted from the hands of one of the people. It hit the ship with such force that Piers and I were flattened onto our backs. Á water adept.” I thought. “A powerful one.” I had no clue who it might be, but I was grateful to whoever it was. He was propelling our ship away from Vale. I started to feel relieved again, but just as the thought crossed my mind, the adept ran out of power and the water ceased. The ship plummeted again, now towards the rocky terrain below. The ship was almost vertical now, and Sheba’s limp, unconscious body began to slip down off the ship. “No!” Piers cried. “Sheba!” He jumped and caught her, then managed to make it to the door and get her inside. He came back out to help me. “Jaken! We need to get inside! The walls are strong and should be able to hold when we crash!” “When we crash.” “I can barely keep hold where I am! How am I supposed to get inside?!” I was hanging on to the wheel with my feet on the inside of the balcony. “Just hang on then!” He readied for a jump. “Piers! No!” I cried, but I was too late. He overshot his jump, and I was just barely able to grab his arm and keep my grip on the wheel. The ground was extremely close now. “Piers and I are going to be crushed by the ship,” I realized. This was it. We were done for. There was no hope for us now. Despite all of our efforts, there was no hope for us now. I didn’t want to face the fact that my life was over. I looked up and I saw the sun. It was so beautiful. It was the last thing I would ever see. Suddenly, I felt a huge surge of power. It was like nothing I’d ever felt before. I felt a great tug on the arm that was holding onto the wheel. “The ship is righting itself!” I realized. Piers and I were flipped around onto the deck as the ship faced forward again. The ship had stopped falling. It was just floating in midair as if nothing had happened. Piers and I lay sprawled on the deck, panting. The door opened, and out staggered Sheba. She looked a bit beat up and she was clutching her left arm. “Piers, Jaken.....wh-what happened?” Piers and I looked at each other then Piers stood up slowly. “Let’s get off this godforsaken thing.” He took up the wheel and spun it around. I doubted I’d ever feel comfortable on a ship again. “Heh, I guess now I see what you meant, Piers.” |
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Chapter 3: The Aftermath Piers landed the ship without any trouble in a rock formation that had been molded to fit the ship due to previous landings. We grabbed our stuff as quickly as we could (Sheba needed some help; she had hurt her arm pretty badly) and left the ship. Just as I was climbing down the ladder, I heard a small crowd of people coming towards us. I jumped down the rest of the way and turned to meet them. “Piers!” A short, red-haired girl ran up and threw her arms around Piers’s neck but quickly withdrew them. “Piers! What happened? Are-are you alright? You’re not hurt are you?” “Hey, take it easy, Jenna, I’m fine, really.” “But, what happened? Why did the ship crash like that?” “I think we’d all like to know that,” broke in a tall, blonde-haired boy, “including Piers.” There was silence for a moment, broken by an even taller, dark-haired boy. “Sheba, your arm!” He had obviously noticed that she was still holding her arm. “Are you alright?” he asked. “Yeah, I think it’s just bruised.” “I was going to wait for Mia to fix it,” Piers broke in. “She’s a better healer that I am, and I didn’t know how serious it was.” “Here, I’ll take a look at it,” a tall, blue-haired girl replied. She stepped over to Sheba and gently felt the arm in several places. She winced when the girl felt near her elbow. “You’ll be alright, Sheba,” she said. “It’s no bruise, but it’s not serious either. You just fractured it right above your elbow. Let me heal it real quick.” She placed her hands on the point of the fracture. Her hands began to glow, then, suddenly, several rays of blue light shot out from beneath her hands. A few seconds later, it was over. The girl removed her hands, and Sheba moved her arm around a bit. “Thanks, Mia. That feels a lot better.” “Well, I’ll bet it does.” I replied. “You nearly broke your arm.” “I don’t think we’ve been formally introduced,” a short, purple-haired girl quickly cut in. “Ahh, yes,” Piers replied, “this is Jaken Veina. He was in Lalivero helping with the reconstruction of the city and of Venus Lighthouse and Sheba offered him a ride with us so he wouldn’t have to Vale with Tolbi’s wagon train. He’s the representative from Tolbi in the council.” “He is?” the dark-haired boy asked. “What about Iodem? Why isn’t he the representative? I thought he was the new ruler of Tolbi.” “He is, but he is also helping with the reconstruction so I came in his place.” “Well, anyway, it’s nice to meet you Jaken,” the blonde boy said as he stretched out his hand to me. “I’m Isaac.” “So you’re Isaac, huh?” I returned the greeting. “I suppose you could say I’ve heard a lot about you.” “Heh, not surprising.” The dark-haired boy was next. “I’m Felix and this is my sister, Jenna,” he said gesturing towards the redhead. I shook both their hands. “I’m Mia,” said the blue-haired girl who had healed Sheba’s arm. “And this is Feizhi,” Isaac continued, motioning to the last girl. “Hi,” she replied sternly. You could tell she didn’t seem to like me very much. “So where are the others?” Piers asked. “Well, you know Garet,” Felix replied. “He would never think to come and see how you are, so him and the others went back to his house to wait fro you.” “What do you say we go join them then?” I said quickly as I glanced back at the ship. “I keep waiting for this thing to blow up next.” “I agree,” Sheba chimed in. “I think I’ve had enough of this ship for one day.” "We’ll probably have to help settle things down in Vale anyway,” replied Isaac. “Let’s get going.” We began walking. “So, Jaken, how come you were the one chosen to come in Iodem’s place?” asked Mia. “Well, since I wasn’t old enough to take over when Dad died, Iodem took over and I became like second in command to him.” “Wait a minute,” Isaac replied. “Did you just say Dad?” “Yeah, Babi was my dad before he died.” “Oh, Jaken, I’m so sorry,” Jenna said. “For what? He never really gave me the time of day. He was only concerned with training me to take over Tolbi someday and to teach me about Alchemy so I could take his stupid ship and get him more of that Lemurian drought. He all but threw me in a river when he found out I wasn’t an adept.” “Gee, I always thought he was a good guy,” replied Mia, shocked. “Well, he was. He just wasn’t a good father.” There was silence for a little while. “I got bored with it so I asked the first question that came into my mind. “Hey, who was it who shot that geyser at the ship?” “Uhh, that was me, actually,” Mia replied timidly. “You? Huh, I guess that means I thought you were a guy.” “Hey, just because I’m a girl doesn’t mean I can’t fight.” “Well, you did pretty good. At any rate, you saved Vale.” “I know, but I still feel bad. I tried to stop the ship completely, but I couldn’t. I just pushed it up higher and made you miss Vale.” “Hey, don’t put yourself down. We were going so fast no one would have been able to stop us. You kept us from crashing on Vale.” There was silence again only broken by the gradual sound of people talking. It had only taken us five minutes to reach Vale. |
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| Chapter 4: Vale's Welcome The voices were coming from the town square. It seemed that almost everyone in Vale had gathered and were talking about the incident. As soon as we came into view, there was and uproar of angry shouts from the crowd and they stormed over to us. It seemed that they were angry with us for almost destroying Vale and killing them. Some were ready to maul us. “Why don’t you learn how to fly your damned ship before you come flying over our town!” “You brats need to be taught a lesson about stupid pranks like that!” “Why don’t you go back where you came from!” “Yeah, you’re not welcome here!” It was pandemonium. Felix and the others could barely hold them back as they wanted to get to us, the ones who were on the ship. Finally, someone whacked Felix across the face. That did it. Sheba looked furious. The sky darkened instantly and several lightning bolts streaked down and stuck near the edges of the crowd. That shut everyone up. Felix stood tall. “Listen up!” he shouted viciously. “I know you are all very angry about what happened, but, whatever did happen, it is not because of some fault in these people! They, in fact, did their best to prevent the accident! Now, I suggest that you all go back to your homes!” The crowd was silent. The only sound was from the birds chirping in the trees. Slowly, the noise resumed and the crowd dispersed; however, several people still seemed mad about the incident, despite what Felix had said. “Let’s go see how the others are doing.” Mia broke in. She seemed unusually mad and wanted to get going. There was a short murmur of agreement. After a few minutes of walking and enduring whispered, sometimes purposefully shouted, comments, we arrived at Garet’s house—more of a mansion really—which was right next to the mayor’s hall. A voice came from inside. “They’re back!” The door swung open almost immediately and a short blonde haired boy stood in the doorway. “Piers! Sheba! Uhh…blond haired kid…” “It’s Jaken,” I said stretching out my hand to him. “Ivan,” he replied returning the gesture. “So, are you guys alright? What happened?” “That’s the thing,” Piers replied. “We don’t even know. All we know is that the ship just stopped flying for about a minute, the it started working, again, like nothing happened.” “I know,” Ivan said, “I felt it.” “Felt it,” came another voice from inside, “how could you feel it?” A tall, red-haired boy suddenly stepped into view behind Ivan. “I don’t know. It was like this great wrenching feeling in my gut. My whole body felt cold. It happened at the exact moment that the ship began to fall. Then, just as the ship started…working…again, it stopped, and I felt warmth spreading through my entire body again. It was weird.” “It sure sounds weird,” Felix replied. “Yeah, but it kinda makes sense too,” I said. “What do you mean?” the red-haired boy asked with a bewildered look on his face. “Well, Ivan’s a Jupiter adept, right?” “Yeah, I am,” he replied. “And the ship is powered by an ancient Jupiter psynergy, right?” “Ahh,” Felix broke in, “I see now. That does make sense.” “Yes, but it still doesn’t explain what happened or why,” Isaac stated. “Well, my guess is that this will be brought up at the council tomorrow,” I said. “Till then, what do you day we relax a little?” I turned to the red-haired boy. “I don’t believe I’ve gotten you name.” “Oh, yeah, my name’s Garet.” I shook his hand as we went inside. Two more people were sitting there. One of them looked pretty normal, a lot like Felix, actually, but the other, well, he was a different story all together. First off was his skin. It was a light blue color with several strange markings I noticed, and his hair was black, stretching down to his waist and parting at the end. But his eyes were the most interesting. He had the strangest yellow eyes, the kind that look as if they can see right into your soul. I struggled not to shudder when he looked at me. “Hey, Jaken, this is Chester,” Garet said gesturing towards the blue skinned being. He got up and walked over to me. “Jaken, eh? Well, it’s nice to meet you.” I had been reluctant to let him come any closer than he was, but after I heard him speak, I realized that despite his outward appearance, Chester was apparently very friendly. He had the perfect voice too. It wasn’t too low or too high, and he spoke very friendly as well. The other boy who resembled Felix stood up and walked to me as well. “I’m Susa,” he said while shaking my hand, “from Izumo.” “Jaken,” I replied, “from Tolbi.” “Tolbi?” Garet said. “You’re from Tolbi? How come you’re here instead of Iodem? Why isn’t he here?” “He couldn’t make it Garet,” Mia replied sternly. “Besides, you should be nicer to our guest.” “Oh, yeah. Right,” he said dejectedly. “So, where are you staying?” Isaac inquired. “Well, I figured I’d find a place when I got here.” “What!” Felix said, shocked. “You didn’t make a reservation! You’re not going to find inn open around here.” “Hey! He can stay here!” Garet offered quickly. I appeared that he was feeling bad about being rude to me. I hadn’t really cared, so, I tried to cheer him up. “Sounds like a plan,” I said. “So, what are you guys doing now?” I asked to Felix and the others. “Well,” Isaac replied, “I think the girls are going back to wherever they’re staying, but the rest of us have to go and help set up for the council tomorrow.” “Alright. I’d help you, but I’m gonna go upstairs and take a nap.” “A nap!” Piers said dumbfounded. “You slept all morning! How could you possibly be tired?” I shrugged. “Old habits I guess.” Garet showed me upstairs to my room where Susa and Chester were also staying. “See ya later, Jaken,” Garet called to me as he and the others left. “See ya,” I replied. I flopped down, face first, on my bed. “AAHHHHHH!!!” I jumped back up and clenched my nose. I sighed. “Thin mattress.” I slowly laid back down on the bed and drifted off to sleep. |
| QUOTE (SuicuneSol @ Mar 30 2004, 09:34 PM) |
| Oh, and Queen Of The Flamethrowers? Thanks! ^_^ I spent a lot of time writing that. May I also ask how long it took to read approximately? |
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| Chapter 5: Friendly Jousting I awoke several hours later to the sound of Garet and the others returning. I got up groggily and went downstairs. “Well,” Garet said, “look who got up just as the work is done.” “Yep. I’ve always had a knack for things like that.” I noticed, then, that the whole crew was there, even the girls. “Sooooo…why’s everybody here?” “Dinner,” Garet said simply. “Really? You can cook?” “Well…uhh…actually…uhh…” “I’m the one who’s cooking,” Mia broke in. “And I’m helping,” Feizhi said. “Mia’s been teaching me how to cook in Imil.” She glanced furtively at Isaac as if to look for his reaction. Garet opened his mouth to say something. “We know where the kitchen is, Garet,” Mia said. Garet shut his mouth quickly. “We should be ready in about an hour,” Mia said as she and Feizhi left. “An hour!” Garet complained. “What are we supposed to do for an hour?” I noticed a set of old jousting rapiers hanging from the wall. I grabbed one of them off its rack and unsheathed it. “How ‘bout a little friendly jousting?” I suggested. Isaac answered me by coming over and grabbing another rapier off the wall. “Sounds like fun,” he replied. “There’s some suits on the wall too,” Garet informed us. “Nah, we’ll be gentle,” I said jokingly. “Besides, it’s not like I’m going to loose or anything.” “Heh, we’ll see about that,” Isaac replied. We went to opposite sides of the room and waited for Garet to give the signal to start. He raised his hand into the air and held it for a moment before bringing it down swiftly. Neither of us moved. We just stood where we were with our swords held out in front of us. “Uhh, guys?” Garet said cautiously. “You can go now.” “We know Garet!” Isaac replied sharply, turning his head to Garet. I seized my chance. I jumped towards Isaac with my blade ready to be thrust forward. Isaac noticed me in the last second and jumped to the side to dodge. He returned the strike, and I easily parried it away. I struck at him again, but he parried my attack this time. He stabbed at me, but I hit his sword at the ground and put my foot on it. The sword was ripped from his hands and now laid flat on the ground with my foot on top of it. It looked like I had won already. Isaac, however, still looked cool and collected. I stabbed at him, but he managed to grab the thin rapier in his hands and ripped it out of mine. He backed up a few steps and now had my sword to attack me. I picked hi sword up off the ground and we went at it again. Again, we went into a cycle of one attacking and the other parrying or blocking for about five minutes. He parried my last attack and tried to stab me. I spun around, dodged, and went for his back. He turned quickly held up his sword to block my attack leaving us in a standstill. Our blades were crossed with each of us pushing against the other trying to knock the other back. We stood like this for at least a minute until I spoke. “This is getting monotonous.” I suddenly stopped pushing and fell backwards. As I fell, I jumped and used my hands to propel myself into a backflip. Isaac regained his balance and came at me again. I ran from him towards the wall and continued to run up it thinking I could jump over behind him. However, he was quicker that I thought. He grabbed me by the back of my collar just as I jumped off the wall, and, in one swift movement, he brought me to the ground and had his sword at my neck. We were both still for a few moments. Finally, Isaac withdrew and sheathed his rapier. He stretched out his hand to help me up. I grabbed it and he pulled me up off the ground. “I guess I underestimated you,” I said shaking his hand. “I could say the same about you. That was a pretty good move off the wall.” I grinned. “So,” I said enthusiastically, ”who’s next?” Isaac and I ended up watching the rest of the time. Sheba and Jenna came next. Jenna won thanks to her greater experience with swords. Piers won the quickest victory when Garet tried to swing his rapier like a regular sword and wound up flat on his face with Piers’s blade at his back. Everyone got a good laugh out of that except Garet. Felix vectored over Susa thanks to more experience with different kinds of weapons. Ivan, however, was pretty reluctant to face Chester and I could understand why. To his relief, Mia called us in to eat just as the match was starting. In honor of Chester, Mia and Feizhi had made a meat-free dinner to Garet’s disappointment. I have to admit, it was pretty good, especially Mia’s famous bread. “Wow, Mia, you can cook better than most professionals I know.” She blushed. “Thanks, Jaken. Not many people recognize that.” There was a murmur of complaint at her last statement. So, after a long and very weird trip, a little exercise and fun, and a delicious meal, the day was finally over. We said our goodbyes Jenna and Felix, who had their own house in Vale, and to Piers, Sheba, and Ivan, who were, reluctantly, going back to the ship. Chester, Susa, and I headed upstairs. “See you guys tomorrow,” I said as I drifted off to sleep. |
