A note to readers: DON'T READ THIS VERSION. Why? The new and improved (sort of) version is on Aerie of the Roc. Go to the fanfiction section. However, if you want to read comments made by other people during the posting of the chapters, by all means, scroll these pages. But expect a downgrade of quality.







Actually this fanfic is being posted on another website. Nobody has given a comment about it so I'm concerned about it's successfulness. That's why I am posting it here so people can comment about what they think of it. One chapter is posted each day. Insults are welcome, but not favored.

May I also remind all who read this that this is a GIGANTIC fanfic. Much longer then your average one. Don't let the number of pages fool you.


GOLDEN SUN: THE MASTER OF ALCHEMY
By your's truly, SuicuneSol/Suicunesoul


Chapter 1


Prologue

Alchemy, or so they say, has the power to manipulate the building blocks of life and reality of the real world. Said to have been sealed away for centuries, this ancient science resides deep in the heart of Sol Sanctum, a temple built to honor the gods, Sol and Luna. Protected by the small village of Vale at the entrance to Mt. Aleph, the power of Alchemy was said to have been sealed away to keep its power from "ones who would misuse it's power." To seal it, the wise ones forged the Elemental Stars, the source of all Alchemy, and hid them and the djinn, creatures comprised of pure alchemy itself, in Sol Sanctum.
Then, the lighthouses were built to honor each Element, and were erected for the purpose of restoring Alchemy if it one day Alchemy was ever needed again. Slowly, the art of Alchemy escaped the minds and bodies of the people of Weyard and became virtually unknown to their descendents. And as present became history, history became memory. And memory became story, then myth, and finally just a legend. And in the end, the legend was that if the four lighthouses could be ignited once more, Alchemy would be unleashed.
Not long ago though, Alchemy was unleashed and the lighthouses were ignited. The 8 Adepts that released Alchemy resumed there lives and were presumed to forever live in peace and harmony, until now...




Unit I
Chapter 1
The Attack

Told by Feizhi



Cold wind brushed across my face, freezing rain blew from all around me. I wished that I, Feizhi of Xian, didn't have to attend the ceremony of my ancestors. On the ceremony day it would usually be quiet and peaceful. The bright moon would be out, clouds only partly covering it, stars twinkling like fireflies...
But something was very different about this year's ceremony. There wasn't supposed to be a storm and it was usually very warm. Such conditions like this aroused suspicions that made me think tonight was a mortally dangerous night.
But my father doesn't care.
No matter what he thinks, the ceremony is more important to him then our lives. Sitting on a stump, I watched my father and the rest of the elders perform the ritual. To perform it, they would need a moonstone, moonfruit, and a gravestone. As I watched, the elders began chanting a psynergenic aria. It was easy to see the psynergy circling around them, for I was a Jupiter adept, and the first one ever to be in Xian.
I first found out when a group of adepts arrived in town. At first nobody knew, but when the leader adept, Isaac, performed psyenergy and knocked a log down, everybody was stunned, for no one had ever seen anyone knock a log down without touching it.
Isaac...I would always remember him...
But, on the other hand I was an adept too at the time. I just didn't know it until Isaac and his friends came along.
A bright light snapped me out of my memories as the elders' psyenergetic song began taking effect. It was getting colder and even the cloak I was wearing couldn't even keep me warm and dry. It suddenly rained harder and the thick drops were making it hard to see the ceremony.
Suddenly, I heard a yell in the distance. "Help, Help! Fire! Fire!"
I suddenly jumped up and looked back and sure enough, roaring flames licked the houses behind me. My father and the elders immediately stopped the ceremony and assisted the villagers. I was about to use my whirlwind psyenergy to blow the flames away, when suddenly the fire burst into explosions. I quickly used my whirlwind to blow the fire away, but it seemed....abnormal.
"Its Psyenergy fire!", I shouted. I realized that my whirlwind was definitely not strong enough to blow the fire out.
"Leave the Village!", I heard someone shout. "The fire cannot be put out! We must leave our village or perish!"
As soon as I heard this, I knew all was lost. I tried to run through the burning village to get to my family. The heat was overwhelming. It was as if my HP was quickly decreasing as I ran through. But I knew I wouldn't survive. I ran back to the clearing and decided I would have to take a different way without my village.
Running towards the back gate of Xian, I suddenly heard 2 voices around the corner. I quietly hid behind the corner they were talking behind and heard this:

Mystery Woman: These villagers are fools. Stupid Idiots....It is good that they learn their lesson.

Mystery Man: I disagree Faruth. Don't let your hatred slow us down. Every minute we waste trying to burn a village, an Altarian dies.

Mystery Woman: One loss is not a big loss....

Mystery Man: It may be one day. Faruth, you are not to think that way.

Mystery Woman: You're right....forgive me. But these people will pay. After all, it is all their fault.

Mystery Man: Ahh, but I've heard they ignited the lighthouses to keep their world from disintigrating. They had no choice. You must realize that Faruth.

Mystery Woman: I am well aware of that Acheon, so don't remind me....

Mystery Man: So this village will disappear, correct?

Mystery Woman: Yes that is right. My fire psyenergy will leave nothing but a few traces of burned wood.

Mystery Man: We can't leave any traces behind Faruth. We have to leave it as if nothing were ever here.

Mystery Woman: Well, when the village burns up, I'm going to clean up this trash and head towards Jupiter Lighthouse. Acheon, you go to Venus Lighthouse and take it down. When you are finished, we meet me at the square. Understood?

Mystery Man: I believe I should be the one giving orders. But yes, we shall meet there.


Suddenly, I heard them coming my way. I quickly looked around for a place to hide, but it was too late. They turned the corner and saw me.
"Who are you?", The girl asked me. " Why are you here? Wouldn't you be escaping with the rest of the villagers?"
I suddenly got frightened as the tone of her voice got cold and harsh.
"I...I was blocked the fire, so I am trying to escape the other way." I replied.
I felt an aura of psyenergy around the 2 beings meaning they were adepts, but something about them seemed...different from Isaac. There was a more...evil...more sinister feel upon them. The 2 adepts looked at each other, seeming to question what was going to be of me.
"My partner and I don't believe you." She said. A shiver ran down my spine. What was going to happen to me? I stepped back, and the 2 seemed to realize that I thought they were going to kill me.
"Don't think you can get away with our information.", the female threatened. "It's obvious you were listening on us, and...we can't exactly let you shout our information around."
The 2 adepts stepped out the shadows of trees, and it was then that I realized who I was talking to looked like.
The male looked like a normal person, but he had white hair. Upon his chest was a plate of mythril, protecting him from harm. Over his head, a leather helm with a hole for hair to stick out was standing up. I looked at his face and it was clearly shown on it that he had been in many gruesome battles. Scars of all shapes and sizes resided on his face, and the eyes of a war adept, red eyes, showed he had no mercy. I he weren't the normal skin color, you would almost mistake him for Saturos, for he was his exact size. But his sword was the most noticable, as it had a golden hilt with amber gems immbeded in it and a fancy blade protruding out of the hold.
Then, there was the female. She was of a pure white skin color, like an angel's, but her eyes were a shroudish blue too, unlike the male's. She was wearing a brown leather vest and leather boots. Under her vest, she wore a pure white robe that flowed down to her boots and parted at her waste. Her hair was a yellowish white color and was in 6 braids flowing all the way down to her knees. She was a beautiful being, more beautiful then any girl she had ever seen. But her beauty concealed her true intensions. Her weapon---a spiky mace with a ruby embedded on top.
They advanced on me and I unhooked my wooden stick ready to defend myself. There was a little voice in my head that said to attack, but I couldn't. It would've been better if I realized sooner that that little voice was the voice of my mentor, because at that moment the female adept lunged at me with her mace in hand. I blocked her with my stick and blocked once again, but I knew I couldn't defend forever. I quickly focused my Psyenergy into my wooden staff and started giving her an offensive attack. She blocked every blow with ease and once did I hit her, but all she did was say, "Ouch."
I continued with a barrage of attacks, all failing to hit her. I glanced at her face and saw she didn't even have her eyes open.
"Enough," I heard the male say. "It is obvious you are not bad at martial arts. But, how good are you at psyenergy?"
I gasped. I did not have any skill in that area of expertise.
"Heat Wave!", he yelled and he released multiple waves of fire at me. The heat was unbearable. I fell to the ground, half because of the heat and half because of the force of the attack.
"If you ever eavesdrop on us again, something very regrettable shall happen to you." They said to me.
I couldn't stay awake for any longer. I tried to fight, but they were out of my league. They were too strong.
I didn't know whether I would die or not, but I prepared for it and closed my eyes.
Then everything went black and I fell, unconscious

To be continued in Chapter 2....

Oh. My. God. That was amazing. Keep up, PLEASE. That is just too good.

There are no words to describe the goodness. I like the idea of being Feizhi! And it it really, amazingly good. It's...it's amazing. Seriously, there are no words.

Yeah. Keep going. I want to see how this all ends. It's obvious that the two Fire Adepts are not from Prox (Proxians were trying to light the Lighthouses to save their village). Which leads to a bigger question: who ARE these people. It's also nice to see Feizhi, a minor character, get a little more action. ^_^ :smile:

Ok then, this shall continue 'till the very end!


Unit I
Chapter 2
The Prelude

Told by Feizhi



I was unconscious. My mind was black and the fight I had lost before had now past. Then suddenly, I had awoken with a start.
I was in a field. A grassy field in the middle of nowhere. Trees and green grass surrounded me. A clear lake was in the distance and the mountains were beyond it.
Where was I? I knew I had a fight with 2 strange figures, but now they were gone and I had no idea where I was or where they were. I was alone.
Now what do I do....
I sat next to a tree and grabbed a juicy apple off the branch. Thinking of what to do, I took a bite out of the apple. It filled me up.
Suddenly, I saw something in the sky.
A ship.
It's long dragonic wings stood out of the ship's frame. The headpiece was of a dragon and it had no sails. It was Lemurian.
Hoping the people on board would see me and pick me up, I yelled out to them to catch their attention.
The ship passed, not noticing me. I cried out in despair, completely saddened by all the events that had happened. Running out of ideas, I quickly used my whirlwind psyenergy to try and take control of the direction of the flying ship. I knew what I was doing was crazy, but what more could I do. The ship still seemed to be going smoothly, so I used more psyenergy. The ship slowly rocked back and forth, as if a gust of wind was pounding on its hull.
"More power" I said to myself, and slowly the ship seemed to slow down. The huge boat looked as if it were trying to get through an invisible rubber band. I felt tired and weak. I used so much psyenergy, I felt like I was about to faint.
The only thing that kept me awake a little longer was the silhouette of a spiky haired figure on the deck. The figure peered over the rail, looking down to see what was going on, then suddenly spotted me! He ran back into the center of the ship quickly.
They had seen me. And now they were coming down to get me, whoever they were.
I fainted yet again due to the excessive use of psyenergy.


The smell of baking bread awoke me as I opened my eyes.
Although blurry at first, I saw that I was in a room. It was a cozy little cabin with a stove, oven, tables, chairs, cabinets, and jars of all shapes, sizes, and colors with peculiar looking liquids inside them.
What was most interesting though was the Black Orb on the mantle piece of the fireplace. I sensed psyenergy in it, and somehow I wanted a closer look at it. I got out of my warm bed and looked at the orb. It seemed normal when I glanced at it, but as I got closer, I touched it. Suddenly, psyenergy coursed through my body. The cabin jerked forward and shook like an earthquake. I suddenly got this feeling that the cabin was falling and something told me that it wasn't a good sign. I let go of the orb and the feeling went away. The cabin felt normal again. I decided I would not touch it again for fear that something worse would happen.
Suddenly, the door burst open. I grabbed my wooden stick ready to attack the harasser. A boy of about 17 years with red hair and brown eyes stood in the doorway, hand outstretched, sword pointing at me. An unhappy look on his face indicated he did not feel very sociable at the moment.
"What in the world do you think you're doing!" said he. "We saved your butt and this is what you do to us! I nearly fell off the ship!"
He looked at me straight in the eye, trying to look fierce when he really wasn't.
"Garet!", said a voice behind him."Get back here! Get a grip! It was an accident."
I peered over Garet's shoulder and saw the most trusted people I had ever met in my life, Isaac and his friends, Mia and Garet (Not sure about him...). Beside the trio were 2 other peace-loving looking warriors, one with black hair and a girl with red hair.
I remembered there being 4 with Isaacs group, but I assumed he wasn't joining them this time.
"Hey, where did Ivan go?", I asked. Mia looked at me with a smile.
"He's in Kalay with Master Hammet. But what we really want to know is why you were down in the middle of a grass field, in the middle of nowhere completely surrounded by wilderness?"
I looked at everyone. It was clear that they were all wondering the same thing. So I told them the whole story, from the burning of my village to the present. When I was finished, they were in shock.
"Xi..Xian is....gone?" stuttered Garet.
I nodded, a saddened look upon my face. Mia understood what I felt and tried to comfort me. Isaac looked down and looked deeply depressed. Jenna did too, but Felix was in deep thought. Jenna, considering that she was Felix's sister, sensed that he was up to something.
"Felix?", Jenna asked. "OK, what are you thinking about?"
Felix looked at Jenna, then at me. Then his eyes lit up and he instantly fired a question at me.
"Feizhi, what did the 2 attackers look like?" Felix asked looking serious.
"Well," I started to reply. "They had pointed ears and---"
Before I could finish, he concluded them Proxians, which I didn't think was the right answer.
"Proxians? From Prox?" Garet said dumbfoundedly.
"Yeah where else you blockhead." Jenna replied.
"I don't know. They had pointed ears, but you know they also had wings which I know Proxians don't have."
This certainly puzzled them. No matter how long they pondered they couldn't seem to figure out what race my 2 attackers were. So naturally, we gave up on the subject for a while.
It was not long after our big conversation that we all split up and decided to do what we wanted to do on the ship. Isaac sharpened his sword while Garet went to the lookout tower above ship to do some "fire breathing". Mia mostly stayed inside, either cooking for us or mixing healing potions. Jenna too stayed inside, but read books. Felix, however, was alone looking out over the stern balustrade, deeply in thought. I alternated between each of them, visiting each one of them to spend time with each of them.
Garet practiced his psyenergy on the lookout tower by blasting waves of heat above me as I climbed up the ladder to see him.
"You know, you're going to set this ship on fire." I said.
Garet glared at me.
"I've always done this, and I've never once got a flame on the deck."
It was clear he still didn't like me so I just left to visit Mia. I stepped in the inner cabin, and a smell of bread filled my nose and cleared my senses.
"Wow, that smells good Mia," I said. "I wish I could cook as good as you."
Mia was flattered and turned red.
"You're the first person to have ever said that," She replied. "No one except Isaac appreciates me."
She left to take out her baking bread.
"I do!" said a voice behind me. It was Jenna. She had been sitting in a chair the whole time.
"I'm surprised you didn't see me," she said.
In her hand she held a book called "The Great Adventures Of Lunpa" which was written by Lunpa no less (This is a real book).
"This book is fascinating Feizhi," Jenna fantically said. "It's about a theif who got run off course by a storm and ended up in Lemuria."
A question popped in my head.
"Where's Lemuria?" I asked her.
"Lemuria is in the middle of the Great Eastern Sea. It's shrouded by fog and it's currents are so violent, it is impossible to get there without a Lemurian ship."
She started reading again, so I headed over to where Felix was.
He looked deeply concerned.
"I know you feel bad about Xian. I do too. But there isn't anything we can do about it. And the chances of running into Acheon and Faruth are slim to none." I said.
Felix looked at me with sadness.
"Ever since we lit the lighthouses, terrible events have been going on everywhere. I can't help but think that I am the cause of all this..."
"It wasn't you're fault!" I protested. "You had to light the lighthouses, or let Weyard be destroyed! Everyone else understands. Why can't you?"
Felix smiled a little.
"Maybe you're right," He said. "Maybe it was the best choice. But what good is life, if you can't enjoy it? For instance, we are heading to Lalivero to see Sheba. What if the town of Lalivero is attacked the moment we get there?" He said solemnly.
I hadn't thought of where we were going. I thought we were just....around. I was just about to answer his question when a waft of smoke went up my nose.
"Hey do you smell something?" I said.
Felix looked as if to yell out something when suddenly, he also caught a whiff of smoke.
"Something's on fire!" he yelled.
He dashed to the others and I grabbed my belongings in my cabin.
"Everyone! To the deck!" I heard him say.
I dashed out, barely having enough time to collect my stuff. I joined the others on the deck and saw that Mia was doing her job, dousing the entire boat with her psyenergy.
"Darn it Garet!!" I yelled. "I told you you would set this thing on fire!"
But to my surprise, I didn't see a fire at all! Instead I peered over the balustrade (so did everyone else...), and saw our destination........in flames.


This afternoon, Chapter 3 shall be posted!

Sweet! I like it!

Garet: Proxians? From Prox?

I like that. I consider it a quote. It's FUNNY

Hang on, what's the URL for GSR? I am stupid, so I don't know...

I dare not tell you. I forgot to say, the one at GSR is messed up. Very messed up. Don't even try to go there because I made bad mistakes in this storyline. It is in this version that it is the good version.

Don't go to GSR! PLEASE!!

Okay... but only if some one looks at my fanfic. Deal? lol

Wow. This gets better and better!

I'll read your fanfic Alex. Only if you promise to read the one being posted on this forum and not the one on GSR. Deal?

OK!!! I can't help but post the next chapter. Chapter 3!!



Unit I
Chapter 3
The Pyroclashing

Told by Feizhi



Felix was overwhelmed.
"NO! SHEBA!" he shouted.
He hopped on to the balustrade, poised to jump off.
"Felix! Don't do it!", Jenna shouted.
Felix looked back at us all and said, "I'm sorry, but I can't help myself. Sheba is that village and I have to save her."
With that, he jumped off. The 5 of us looked over the balustrade to see if Felix would land safely. He did, and ran into the burning village by himself.
"He must be looking for Sheba!" Garet exclaimed.
"Well, DUH Garet!" Jenna irritatingly said. "We all know he went down there to find her! Now, we have to find him!"
The ship slowly rested on the ground at the edge of town. Mia, Garet, Jenna, and Isaac jumped off the ship and broke into 2 groups.
"Hey! What about me!?" I yelled.
Mia looked back and saw me. It looked like she completely forgot about me.
"You stay on board the ship," Mia shouted. "It may be too dangerous for an inexperienced adept like you to go with us."
Isaac motioned Mia to follow him and they immediately began their search for Sheba and Felix.
Inexperienced? The thought annoyed me. Who do they think I am anyway. I'm an adept! I'm strong! I'm skilled! So why don't they let me go with them? I realized I'd have to prove myself. I grabbed my staff (A wooden stick with a pearl at the end), and jumped off the ship like the others had. Landing safely, I took a route different from the others, hoping to find Sheba or Felix on my own. I buffed myself by casting resist and impact psyenergys on myself while running through the heat of the flames. Along the way, villagers who were packing to leave town realized that I was an adept, and offered water to me, knowing they would not survive the fire to use it. Many of the villagers cried out in despair because they could not escape, and knowing they would not live, offered me help to find Sheba and Felix. In one house I saw an old woman in a rocking chair rocking back and forth peacefully as if nothing was going on.
"Hey! There's a fire here can't you see?! You have to get out of here!" I said. The old woman noticed me and smiled.
"It is my time child. When I have to die, I have to die. No one can do anything about it."
She kept up that smile all the way up until I left the house and was out of sight. It was like she was happy to die. I felt sorry for her, but understood.
The dirt trail didn't go much longer until I came to the town square which looked like a big, dirt clearing with a monument of a Venus Djinn in the middle of it. There was also a person cloaked in the shadows next to the statue who had their hands outstretched as if they were casting psyenergy.
Suddenly, Garet and Jenna walked into the square through a different trail, and Isaac and Mia, not long after that, did too through yet another path. Mia glanced at me, and was about to say something, when the person in the middle of the square moved. She stepped out of the shadows. The mean and villainous female adept I met the other day who creamed me.
Faruth.
As this was the first time Isaac and his friends had actually seen her, they gawked at her pointed ears and gawked even more at her angelic like wings, which did not bother me much at all.
"Faruth! Why are you attacking Lalivero now?!", I shouted.
Her hands lowered and she turned her head to see me.
"Why, it's that lovely, purple haired girl I met the other day. How nice it is to see you again," she said. "Why Lalivero you say?"
"Yes," I sternly. "Why are you attacking innocent peoples homes? Why did you attack my home? Why did you end the lives of so many people and my family?! Why!?"
Faruth looked at me with a still expression.
"And who are you?! And what do you want?!" I added.
The woman named Faruth smiled evilishly. Her grin was none other then a tyrant.
"I am Faruth. Supreme General of Altaria, lst Class, member of the Order Of The Adepts, holy member of Council Of The Adepts, and leading War Adept of the Eon Battalion. My intention is to destroy the lighthouses and end psyenergy on this land."
Felix went crazy at her last statement.
"What!!!? Who the heck are you?" Felix shouted.
Faruth gave him a threatening look and said, "Do you not understand? Or is your puny brain too small to calculate such intricate information?
Felix was outraged. But I could tell he was pretty smart because he held his anger back. He was self-controlled.
"Ahh...able to control our anger are we? Well, I suppose that is your only strong point."
Again Felix was outraged, but it was Jenna who spoke for him.
"Stop tormenting my brother! He's gone though 10 times as much suffering as you have!"
Faruth gave Jenna a much more dirty look then Felix. Keist didn't look like she was to fond of other girls.
"You're as stupid and puny as your brother. I suppose your whole ancestry is made up of halfwits such as you." Faruth evilishly said.
This time, Felix and Jenna stepped forward brimming in anger due to the insults given to their family. They both looked like they would pop their lids. But Mia grabbed Jenna on the shirt and Isaac grabbed Felix back to keep them away.
"You! You shut up about my family! You don't even know them!" Felix shouted furiously.
Isaac, Mia, and Garet who had so far said nothing in the heated little chat decided to aid Felix and Jenna. I did too.
"Where are you from?! We'll speak with your leader and end this madness!" Garet exclaimed.
"Yes! We don't know why you're destroying villages right and left but you have to stop!" Mia shouted.
But Faruth was not shaken.
"You and the rest of the people of Weyard have commited an unforgivable sin. Me and my partner, Acheon, have been sent to punish you and countless others."
"A sin?" Garet questioned. "What did we do? Do you know what we did wrong Isaac?"
Isaac said no.
Faruth scowled.
"The lighthouses ignition in this land triggered events that are not of your concern. The release of psyenergy allowed certain others access to unbelievable power. And now those others are taking and killing my race as we speak."
"Igniting the lighthouses was not a sin! We had to, or Weyard would be destroyed!" Jenna explained.
"That is not my problem," Faruth stated. "My problem now is that evil forces unknown to you are slowly eradicating my kind!"
"So basically you're not even giving a thought about all the innocent people that will loose their lives?!" Mia pronounced, aghast.
"The only lives I care about are my peoples'."
"But that's awful. Don't you think so Isaac?" Mia said.
Isaac said yes.
"Yeah! You're just selfish!" Garet shouted, unaware of himself.
"It is my duty and Acheon's too, to punish the humans that live here." Faruth said.
"It's not a duty! It's unneccessary slaughter!" Felix spat.
"I am simply helping my people to get rid of people like you," Faruth said. "I am also on the task of removing psyenergy from this world to weaken evil ones."
Without warning, Garet burst out laughing.
"Hah! We already released psyenergy! You can't unrelease it." Garet laughed.
Faruth gave Garet a look of pure hatefulness that made him cower down.
"Do you think I don't know that hothead! If I knew there was no way to discontinue the flow of psyenergy then I wouldn't have come here in the first place!!!" She furied.
"What!? Stop the flow of psyenergy?! There is no known way...." Mia confided.
"Ahh...but there is..." Faruth replied darkly. I could tell she was up to no good.
"I am hoping to destroy the lighthouses." She said, laughing maniacally.
"WHAT!!!!!????" Felix shouted. "But you're mad!!!"
"I guess I am then."
"No way!" I shouted.
She laughed diabolically.
"You make it sound like it is not humanly possible! It's pathetic!" she laughed.
"And....why are you telling us this?" Garet asked.
"Why, to agonize you and let you know the world is dying and you can't do anything about it."
This was mad.
Her whole scheme was insane. Crazy. Out of this world. It sounded fake, but after all that had happened in Xian, I believed every word. We had to stop her.
"Faruth, if you don't stop this insane scheme of yours we are gonna teach your butt a lesson." I threatened.
"And what makes you think you can stop me?"
At that moment, Felix, Isaac, and Garet drew their swords, poised for battle with our insane antagonist. Isaac had drawn the Sol Blade, Felix drew the Dark Sword, and Garet drew his Flame Brand. Mia had taken out her Clotho's Distaff and stood ready to support our battalion. Jenna stood with the Tisiphone Edge in her right hand. I took out my new Magic Rod. We were ready to fight and take her down.
"Most of us are all experienced adepts and we outnumber you, 6 to 1." Felix answered confidently.
For once, Faruth backed down. It doesn't take a genius to realize when a battle can't be won.
"It appears the odds are against me," she smiled. "No matter. My partner Acheon will soon be on Venus Lighthouse to destroy the beacon. And I doubt he will be stopped."
We surrounded Keist so she could not escape. We had her and we were not going to allow her to leave.
"Fools! Do you honestly think I would escape in your direction?!!!" She insulted.
Suddenly, I remembered that she had wings! She was going to fly out!
She flew high into the air out of reach of our weaponry. But as she rose, Garet shouted, "Well the next time we see you at one of the lighthouses, we're gonna defeat you! Right Isaac?"
Isaac said yes.
Keist stopped in midair and looked at us. Then, her expression changed into a vile looking smile.
"So, together you think you can track me down and defeat me?" she laughed. "We'll if you think so highly of your friendship and group trust, then why not test your courage alone without the aid of your friends!"
Suddenly, she started casting a strange psyenergy of some sort. My body started to levitate and I started feeling lightheaded. What was she doing?
"Everyone! Stand together! I don't know what psyenergy she's casting, but we have to be strong! Right Isaac?" Felix emboldened.
Isaac said yes.
"Hah!" Faruth laughed, floating in midair. "You won't have any strength or courage when I'm finished casting my psyenergy."
"What are you planning to do!?" I demanded.
Faruth laughed at me request and said, "I am simply going to teleport each one of you into a random spot in the world where you will be isolated and lost from each other! When you are alone, I am sure you're quite weak!"
I gasped. She was going to teleport us to different parts of Weyard! Or maybe someplaces I've never been too! And I would be alone! I had to stop her!
But already a bright light emanated from her pale hands.
"When you're away from here, I'm certain you will be thousands of miles from here away from me! Then you will never unite again and I will destroy the lighthouses freely!" She loudly bragged.
Suddenly a giant beam of bright light blasted toward us. Acting quickly, I casted resist, hoping it would help me fend off the teleportational psyenergy. Surprisingly it was working! My resistance psyenergy was showing signs of strength as I shielded myself from being teleported away.
Looking sideways, I saw that my friends Felix, Isaac, Mia, Jenna, and Garet were not as lucky as I. All but Isaac were out of sight. He was putting up a fight using his djinni, Granite, who was bravely providing an earthen shield to protect him.
But suddenly, Granite couldn't keep the shield on for much longer, for the energy hitting the granite shield was too strong. He dissappeared in a flash, leaving Isaac out in the open.
Instantly, he was clouded by the bright psyenergy Faruth had casted and before I knew it, he was gone, teleported to somewhere that I had no knowledge of.
Now I was alone. But I bravely kept up my resistance with my psyenergetic shield.
Then suddenly, the light stopped. Keist had finished using her teleportation psyenergy and I had resisted it. Faruth was nowhere to be seen and she must've flown away quickly. But I felt fatigue. I had used too much psyenergy to shield myself. I collapsed.
Even though I had resisted the teleportation, I was too tired.
Too tired. And I reeled and blacked out.....yet again.






When I opened my eyes, a girl at about 14 years old with short, bright, blonde hair shaped like a pumpkin, and purple eyes like me, was standing over me. She had robes of white with brown and orange outlining and skin boots. A purple sash was tied around her neck and chest, held by only a gold colored button. She also held a brown staff that was curved and jagged at the end. She looked as if she was native to the desert.
"Are you ok?", My aspirant asked me in a concerned tone.
My body was aching from my defensive tactic against the teleportation psyenergy. It's bright light still somehow lingered in my eyes.
"Yeah, I...I think so." I muttered without looking at her.
I stood up. The desert of Lalivero lay before me. Cactuses and barren land surrounded me and the sky was baby blue indicating it was morning. Seeing all this and no sign of Lalivero instantly made me presume that it had been burned to the ground and I was the only survivor. Those residents trapped in the fire were gone, forever. And Isaac and the others, they were not here anymore. But they for sure were alive and well in a place I had no knowledge of, because they were teleported....far off.
Somewhere in Weyard that I had never been to.
But hopefully they would survive and return, and find me. I hoped. But now I was alone with a blonde haired stranger next to me.
It was now that realized how hot it was. With so many layers of clothes, I could not stand such heat and I started sweating.
"Are you thirsty?" My blonde haired savior asked me handing me a flask of water.
"Yes. Thank you."
I drunk it up before she told me to stop drinking and wiped my mouth with my robe.
"Are you from Lalivero?" The feminine stranger asked.
I answered her, "I'm not native to Lalivero but I just came from there.....sorta. Why?"
"Well I lived in Lalivero. It burned now though, so now I'm here all alone. But then I saw you fainted in the middle of the desert. So I thought I might stay next to you until you woke up. I didn't know how you fainted though..."
"How did you escape the fire?" I asked.
The girl looked at me as if I had said something embarassing.
"Simple. I ran out." She said casually.
"You just ran out?"
"Yes. I think that's simple to understand."
Obviously, she was the only Laliverian to survive the fire. And to think...she just ran out....
"Do you know how the fire started?" she asked.
And so the conversation led me into the explaination of the demented Faruth character who had purposely set the village on fire. Incidentally, it also led me to say that Felix and his friends were with me, which suddenly got the girl very interested.
"Felix was with you?! Where is he?!" she demanded excitedly.
Somehow, I couldn't really explain to her.
"It's....complicated." I replied. But that didn't stop her.
She suddenly shot her hand out and laid it on my forehead before I could stop her. A tingling sensation revolved around my head. Somehow I knew she was reading my mind.
"Stop that!" I yelled.
She let go of my forehead. Her expresion was grim and dysphoric. She had seen with her mind what had happened during the flaming night and her happy thoughts were reduced to nothing.
Still angry at the girl for touching my head and reading my mind, I demanded, "Who are you?!"
Apparently, she had a very low depression rate because she suddenly became giddy and replied, "I'm Sheba! A friend of Felix's if you must know. I'm sorry for reading your mind. I won't do it again. I promise."
"That's all right Sheba." I forgave.
"So, the lighthouses will be destroyed if we don't do something huh?" She said.
I was alarmed of her knowledge of the night before. But then again, she could read minds. She read mine so she knew everything.
"Yes," I replied. "The thing is, I don't know where lighthouses are, so we can't stop Faruth and Acheon from destroying them." I replied. And what I said was definately true. But Sheba smiled.
"I do! I know where Venus Lighthouse is. And it's not far from here."
She pointed at something far on my right. I looked right.
I don't know how I had hadn't seen it but a tall, orange tower only about a mile from here stood in the distance against the blue sky.
Venus Lighthouse.
"We are only a little distance from there. It should only take about 20 minutes if we walk. 10 minutes if we run." Sheba explained.
"Well, I think--" I started, but I was cut short.
A loud explosion was heard in the distance and direction of Venus Lighthouse. The sound rattled my ears and filled my head with worry. Viewing the lighthouse in horror, I saw one of the lookout towers attached on the lighthouse develop a fracture at the joint. The tower suddenly made another loud cracking noise and it sundered off the wall and shattered upon touching the ground, sending up dust.
"Oh no....," Sheba gasped. "Venus Lighthouse is being attacked already! Feizhi, Faruth or Acheon are inside and are trying to destroy the lighthouse from the inside out!"
Sheba suddenly ran at the crumbling structure hoping to reach it before it would fall. I trailed behind her gasping for breath.
"Sheba! Wait! You're running to fast!" I hollered.

Done! I would'nt dream of it!

Now you musn't go against your promise. This is a real promise. The one at GSR is absolutely terrible.

*with hand on heart* Yes, master.


Lol.

Cool! This is way good!

A chapter shall be posted now.
Another shall come tonight.
Tommorow another chapter shall
Be posted through the light


Chapter 4


After what seemed like hours, which was really 20 minutes, we came up to the foot of Venus lighthouse. The quaking sound had magnified 10 times and was deafening.
"We have to get to the aerie!", shouted Sheba, barely able to beat the lighthouse's uproar. I couldn't hear her, but understood. Before long we reached an end of the lighthouse that had a long narrow shaft above us.
"There is a levitating vertical floor here of some kind.", Sheba said. "In order to reach the top, we must find a key hole to fit this key into."
Sheba held up a rusty, gold key. We looked around the shaft walls hoping to find a key hole of somekind. We found nothing.
"This is hopeless," despaired Sheba. "If we don't get to the aerie, the lighthouse will be destroyed.
"We could go through the halls to get to the top can't we?" I asked.
"We could, but we wouldn't get there in time." She replied.
"We have to try." I said hopefully.
"Your power to see into the future is not as good as mine. There is more of a chance that we will be killed within the lighthouse, than surviving and defeating Acheon." Replied Sheba.
This statement made me angry.
"O' yeah?!", I shouted. "Well I've already seen into the future a few times already and I have been an Adept for only a few months. And that's better then you!"
"Well if you think you can do better, then lead the way! Whomever is right gets to keep Felix all to herself!"
My anger had reached it's peak.
"Fine! I like Isaac better anyway!" Said I, and I ran up the stairs to get to the top.
"Wait! Feizhi!", Sheba shouted. "Wait! Please wait! The monsters here are very dangerous to a person like you! I don't want you getting hurt! If you get hurt, I won't be able to heal you!"
We ran through the lighthouse halls as fast as we could go. When a monster tried to attack us, Sheba would mow them down with her Plasma psyenergies.
We almost reached the aerie when we heard a faint moan.
"What was that?", Sheba said. I walked around the room with the hole in the middle that led to the aerie, and searched the cracks and crumbling rumble in the room. Suddenly, I spotted a blue robed, blue haired, blue staffed, and blue eyed close friend of mine behind some stones.
"Mia!", shouted Sheba and I at the same time.
We rushed to her aid. She was unconscious.
"Mia! Mia are you awake!?" I said.
"I came prepared." Sheba exclaimed, lifting a bottle of yellow liquid out of her pack.
"What's that?" I said curiously. Sheba poured the liquid into Mia's mouth.
"It's called Hermes Water.", she said. "It revitalizes the unconcious---it just got imported from Imil last week."
Slowly, Mia awoke from her deep sleep. Her face began to look normal once again, being a pale white before. And ever so slowly, she opened her eyes.
"Mia..." I said. "Are you ok?"
"Uhhh...", she moaned.
"I'll carry her.", I said.
But Mia had awoken already. She stood up strong again. Then she saw me and Sheba, which made her very happy.
"Ohh, thank goodness," she said with much emotion. "I thought I would never see you girls again."
She told us how she ended up in the lighthouse and why.
"So, you woke up in the lighthouse too by yourself?", Sheba asked.
"Yes, but just as I awoke, the lighthouse started shaking and I knew Acheon was there ready to take it down." Mia exclaimed.
"We better get to the top before the lighthouse collapses!" I shouted as the ground began to shake much more violently.
And so Mia joined Sheba and I, and we sprinted up the lighthouse with all our strength. With the help of the djinn, Zephyr, our running speed was doubled.
As we entered a dimly lit shaft, Mia recognized it as the shaft that levitates us towards the aerie. We stepped on the floor. I felt a sudden tingling as we rose up the shaft. Knowing what was coming, I casted High Impact and resistance psyenergies on ourselves.
Finally, the top of the shaft revealed itself to us.
The sky showed clearly around, giving us the air we needed to revitalize our spirits.
However, the sky was explosive orange color.
But it was not that we were paying attention too. A figure about the same height as Saturos, stood before the shining, golden beacon and was raising his hands over the beacon. It looked like the Venus Star had gotten smaller and less brighter then it had before as if it had been eroded away. Acheon was behind all this.
As we walked into the middle of the floor, the echo of our footsteps seemed to wake our antagonist.
"You...", he muttered. "I didn't think you'ed be able to get here. No matter. Your lives will end very soon." He rested his hands and the lighthouse ceased shaking.
"You know, there is no point in trying to stop us. We have already won. You cannot stop me and Faruth from destroying the lighthouses."
"Yes we can!", Mia protested. "If we put all our powers together, we can stop you!"(quote)
But Acheon chuckled at our remarks.
"You are the most persistent adepts I have ever met. You must not be to smart to listen to me. I will give you this one chance to leave this lighthouse before it crumbles.
No one moved.

Cool!

As of right now
You are reading chapters 5 and 6.


Chapter 5


We stood ground.
We weren't going to leave without bringing down our enemy. We may have been girls, but it's times like this that we females must take a stand.
"Suit yourself...", Acheon muttered.
We stood staring at him. We tried to intimidate him, but we knew it was of no use.
"Well, I better get to my task.", he said.
"Not if If I can help it!", Sheba yelled.
She burst forward out of line, expecting to fight her own battle. But Acheon knew it was coming. "Wham!". He forced the palm of his hand out and Sheba was instantly forced down.
I recognized this!
I seen this type of psyenergy once before. I had only once seen Force in Xian when Isaac used it to push down a log. Now Acheon had used it to its full extent. Sheba stood up and held her staff as if to attack him.
"You still wish to fight? I do not think it is mandatory for I would definitely win. I would not waste my future to save this lighthouse. I recommend you back off.", he suggested.
"We will not rest until you stop this diabolical feet! We will risk our lives to stop you!"
"If you truly wish to throw away your lives like this, then I will happily do it for you." He replied.
A battle unfolded as we positioned ourselves around him.(Saturos Battle Theme Song)
The air suddenly burst.
I realized Sheba was casting Spark Plasma. "Bang! Bang! Bang!" It boomed all over the aerie. Mia sent a barrage of ice at the Acheon. But to no surprise, he burned them up before they even got half way to him.
Me---I rushed at him with nothing but a wooden stick in hand. If I hadn't been an adept, they would probably think I had gone crazy. Or mad. To my surprise, I landed a blow! My target staggered a little and sent me a "do that again and you will not live", kind of look.
Sheba's Lachesis Rod caught my attention. It glowed. As she rushed with quick agility, she looked as if another being ran beside her. Acheon boomed a Rolling Flame. Her figure slightly shifted into two and dodged it so fast, it looked as if she hadn't dodged it. With a twirl and a wak of her staff, Acheon tore through the air and was thrown to the ground, sliding swiftly across the ground. I had a sudden hopefulness that he would fall of the ledge, but it was dumb of me to think that.
His face showed pure anger. We all knew what was about to happen. We got ready.
"You shall fall!", he shouted.
He body brimmed with a force that radiated throughout the lighthouse. I had a sudden fear that we would not survive.
"This psyenergy is a special psyenergy known only to us! Over the centuries we have refined such energy to become more powerful then an erupting volcano!", he shouted. "It is called Hydra! And it will be the last thing you'll ever see!"
I felt as if I was suddenly plunged into a lava lake. The lighthouse was beginning to burn up, for it was being covered by a whirling tornado of serpents. The many bricks and beautiful stones used to construct the lighthouse were even now beginning to melt and disintigrate. The heat was overwhelming. Behind the furious flames calmly stood Acheon, completely unlicked by the deadly dragonfire. Almost suddenly, he disappeared.
"Feizhi!", I heard Sheba yell. "I..I don't think I can hold on for much longer!"
Sheba collapsed. I would've ran to her side if I could. But all I could do was crawl. And I wouldn't be able to do that for much longer either. My wooden staff burst into flame. It was no longer useful. Nor would I need it ever again.
Mia still stood, fighting against the heat with her douse psyenergy and her djinn, Shade. But soon, she too became weak and could fight no more.
"I just wish we could've helped do something.", she gasped. "But...we failed." And she fainted. Or worse.
As I heard the bottoms of the lighthouse crumbling, the ground suddenly angled. It was going to happen. Venus Lighthouse, the mystical structure that symbolized the power of Earth, was going to collapse.
I felt incredibly weak. The heat and fire that whirled around us could never be beaten. I collapsed.
Then suddenly, like an angel coming to take me to the heavens, the silhouette of a person flew down upon us. He grabbed the robes of Mia and Sheba just as the ground beneath them gave away. He grabbed me too. The lighthouse below me exploded and I was rocketed forward along with my savior. I was about to pass out when I got a glimse of him. I was stunned. We were flying, in the air, like a bird, without wings, along with Isaac who held us up.
Yes, Isaac. At that moment, everything went black.



<O(*)O>


I woke.
As I opened my eyes, there was a very odd feeling around me. Almost blurry. I looked around. To my surprise, I was in a beautiful grass field with a lone tree in the middle. I looked behind me. Endless miles of grass covered hills were seen in the distance. The sky was a creamy baby blue color. Very peaceful. I wish I could go explore, but my sights were set on the tree. Although it seemed quite close, I strangely couldn't get any closer as I ran. Then I saw them.
My family. The family I had lost in Xian when the fire started. My father, my mother, my instructor, my brother and sister: All there. they were laughing, playing, and having a good time.
I shrieked with glee, half laughing, half crying. But my feet would not go any further.
"Mommy!", I cried. "Father!"
But suddenly the tree burst into flames. My family took their belongings and beloveds far away from the burning tree.
"Noooo!", I cried. "Please don't leave me!"
I cried. I cried with all my heart. I let it all go. My sadness all clumped into one lump.
I let it go.
I missed my peaceful Xian life so much, I didn't realize it. I was so happy before the fire. Life was peaceful.
"You miss them don't you?", said a voice I had never heard. I looked up.
A beautiful woman in a white robe decorated with flowers looked over me. The air around me seemed to calm down. I calmed down too. I could've sworn there was a glowing light emitting from her.
"Who are you?", I asked.
"That does not matter." she said calmly."I am only here to help you and make you happy."
"That cannot be done. My family cannot be brought back...from...there.", I said with a sob.
"Yes. That is correct. No one can be brought back to life. But there is something else in your heart. something more than just sadness."
She closed her eyes. It looked like she was meditating. But there was definately a power going through the air around me. I could feel it. She opened them.
"I see...", she said. "Tell me what it is you feel, and I shall remove some of such sadness from your heart. For I cannot make scars of the heart disappear. Those scars can never be healed."
I thought. What did I feel? I concentrated. I calmed down and instead of using my mind to think, I felt to use my heart. Her strange words helped me.
"You must feel...the sadness drifting and happiness take its place. You must imagine that it has passed. You must feel what it is your heart wants. You are a jupiter adept. That thought is in your heart."
I felt the air around me soften like a pillow. My heart suddenly gave thumps that I could actually feel. Then, for the first time, I saw my family. My mind realized what my heart wished for. My family, their souls were always beside me.
"You see...your family may not be here physically, but their hope and feelings for you will always be stained on your heart, like the scars of loss and sadness. You must never forget that they will always be with you, wherever you go."
I was touched. All the way down into the deepest depths of my heart. She had broken my sadness and replaced it with hope.
Suddenly she disappeared from view leaving only a wooden white staff. It clattered to the ground as the sound echoed all around throughout the field. It was on the ground, alone, a pearly white staff with a strange curve , like a crescent, at the end. But most of all it was such a peaceful white, I couldn't even describe it.
Imagine that you'ed wanted something all your life but never got it. You work on getting it all your life, but never prevail. Then at the very last moment of your life, you got it. And a happiness like no other washes over you. That's what it felt like.
I picked up the staff. Almost instantly the world went blurry. What was going on? Soon everything turned into a blur of colors.
Then almost instantly the colors were ripped open and a fresh light was emitted out of them.
Then, I opened my eyes again. It was a strange feeling. I had my eyes already open, but I opened them again. What happened?
Then everything came into view. I was in a room, a cozy room. I was in the boat cabin. And next to the sink sat Isaac. He glanced at me. He suddenly jumped up with joy. He looked like he was happy to see me. I was glad that he was. Beside me rested Mia and Sheba. They too looked like they were going to wake soon.
But where was the field? Where did the woman on the grassy hills go? I realized it was a dream. But it certainly seemed very real. And so did her words of wisdom. I wished it hadn't been a dream. It seemed so realistic.
I got out of my bed ready to eat something, but Isaac did it for me. He is always very helpful and kind. He is also a powerful warrior. I couldn't be but moved by him.
"I'm going to dress out of this burned up robe and get into some clean clothes, ok?", I said.
Isaac said yes.
My cabin was at the bottom of the ship near the hull. But however low it was, it was quite a cozy place. It looked like every other cabin in the ship. My cabin had a lock and I had a key. I inserted the key and turned. It was my nice and cozy room, all to myself. I was about jump onto my bed, when suddenly, something caught my eye.
A purely white wooden staff with a crescent curve stood leaning against my bed.
It wasn't a dream.




Chapter 6


NOTE: As of this point, Isaac will now be continuing the story from his point of view.



I had called everyone for a meeting. Now recovering from their previous encounter with Acheon, Mia and Sheba limped on their sore muscles.
"Ohh, my aching back!", whined Sheba.
"Acheon's really going to get it!", cursed Mia.
Their feelings for him were strong---in the wrong way.
Feizhi rose up from the depths of the ship looking quite calm. Her new robe was now clean and tidy. So was she. I had a good look at her.
I hadn't realized how pretty she was. She had a strange looking knot that tied her hair together. Probably some family secret, I thought. Her robe was purple with violet outlines.
But her staff, that was new. It gleamed like the moon.
"Hey, where'd you get that staff Feizhi?", Sheba asked.
Feizhi quickly hid it behind her.
"I..I don't know. It was in my room when I found it. Never mind about it. It's ok."
It looked dangerously peaceful. As in being so dangerous, it could "calm" a persons heart with one slash.
But enough of that. It was time to get to the bottom of this.
"Isaac, how exactly did you save us?", Mia asked me.
"He....flew." Feizhi said with a break.
They all stared at me, awaiting an answer.
What really happened back there was my own personal secret. I could never tell them my experience. It was just to terrible to even dwell upon. I can't tell you either.
It must've shown on my face because just then, Mia suggested that we get to the matters at hand. I agreed.
"Acheon is heading north to Mercury Lighthouse.", Feizhi said. "We have to pursue him as soon as possible."
"I don't think we can take the ship though.", Sheba pointed out. "The rocky cliffs of Angara are too high to fly over."
"So that means we will have to travel by foot.", Feizhi commented.
Suddenly I remembered something. The Teleport Lapis! It could teleport us anywhere we wanted to! Mia realized it too, because she asked me if I had it. So that's how I ended up, for the rest of the meeting, digging through the entire ship looking for a small rubbery black cube.
I didn't find it. It was as though a question mark in a bubble appeared over my head.
Sheba was furious. Mia cooked some bread to calm her feelings. And Feizhi continued to search for it, even though there was no hope.
"I'm sure it's around. We're just not looking hard enough.", Feizhi commented.
Not looking hard enough? That was quite an insult. But it gave me an idea!
I motioned Sheba to use reveal. Since I don't talk often, she is quite uccustomed now to my sign language.
Sheba closed her eyes for a few minutes. More actually.
Sheba opened her eyes with a solemn look.
"It's not on the ship.", she said solemnly. Then Mia finally spoke up.
"I...think I remember Isaac giving it to someone before we were split up."
Sheba went crazy.
"Who exactly did you give it to?!!", Sheba shouted annoyingly.
That was something to dwell upon. I gave it to the last person they'ed want me to give it too. If they found out, then I would be in a pretty tough situation.
"Hey, yeah. Who did you give it to?", Mia asked.
I was going to panic. They didn't know that I gave it to my best friend.
"Come on tell us!", Feizhi said encouragingly.
I decided to take a chance. Besides, I'm much more powerful than they are, I thought. What harm could they possibly do to me?
"I...I gave it to Garet", I mumbled.
Well, fortunately, Mia heard me. She gasped, cursed under her breathe, and mouthed something I couldn't understand.
"What did you say?", Feizhi and Sheba said curiously because they hadn't heard me tell.
Mia shooed them away.
"It's uhh... nothing. Go read a book or something.", she said nervously.
Now, it was Mia and I on the deck alone, together.
"What were you thinking moron!", Mia shouted. "You know how Garet's memory works! You shouldn't have given such an important item to Garet!"
Well, it was better than a psyenergy attack that would make me limp for a week. Mia happened to be much more gentle then they were. But that doesn't mean she can't start a fight.
So the meeting ended up with an argument and we decided that we would travel to Imil by foot.


The ship soon came to a stop. We were at a mountain range that a ship could not cross. We packed up our belongings, locked the door to the ship tight, and headed into a cave far beyond Feizhi's experience. She stayed close to me.
Our walk through the cave was dark and uneventful. Not even a monster appeared to attack us. It was one of the most boring trips I've ever had in a while.
"Hey lets play a game!", Mia broke the silence.
Sheba glared at me, then her. Feizhi just rolled her eyes.
Just then I noticed something! I sprinted over to the wall. It was marked with ancient carvings.
"Wow. If Kraden were here, he'd be jumping off the walls.", Sheba commented. That was our first laugh of the day.
My alchemy teacher, Kraden, died not long ago. He died in my hometown, New Vale (Am I allowed to call it this, Damien?), of old age. And was buried at the foot hills of the remaining Mt. Aleph. He had always loved ancient and odd things that were mysterious. I still miss that old, er.. I mean, that middle-aged scholar. Kraden never liked being called old.
There was a brief moment of complete silence as we dwelled over the memories we had with him. I remembered the time when he tried to warn us of the Doom Dragon. He tried to tell us not to fight the dragon because it was our parents. We fought anyway. But that was a grave mistake. The dragon really was our parents! My Dad really. The other 2 were Jenna's parents. But all that passed. Life was peaceful once again.
But not now.
Finally,after some time, we reached the other side of the cave. The sun gleamed brightly behind the branches of a tree and my eyes were blinded by it.
"Whew. We're finally out." Mia said.
The sky was now a sunset. It was a beautiful sight.
"Lets start camp." Sheba suggested.
Suddenly, Feizhi broke out with a wave of protests.
"NO! We have to get to Acheon and kill, er..I mean, stop him!", Feizhi shouted angrily. "We can't stop to set up camp! Or we will never catch up to him!"
She had a point. Acheon would know that we are following him. He would never stop to camp.
Mia spoke for me.
"I think we should go on, Sheba. Feizhi has a point. Acheon knows we're following him. He wouldn't stop to camp. Ever."
That did it. Sheba got the point, so we moved on, until there were stars in the sky.
"You know? I always wondered what was up there.", Feizhi said. "I want to go there someday, if there is someplace up in the night sky."
I myself wished to go there once. And so did everyone else. But suddenly, my thoughts were interupted by a smell of fire.
"Do you smell that?", Sheba sniffed. We were sniffing now for the smell.
"It's smells like smoke.", Mia said.
The smell wafted in the direction we were walking. I saw smoke clouds rise over the hill.
"Just a few more steps.", Feizhi commented.
Then we saw it.
Right over the hill, was a large camp with a bonfire and a few winged beings.
We were wrong.
Acheon did camp.



Tommorow, 2 more shall be posted.

That was kinda sad, yet good. And when views switched to Issac, I was confused. But I've grasped it now.

LOL...... Myaow. That was so sad, it almost made me cry!

As the journey goes
Where no one knows
2 chapters post
Where we need it most.


Chapter 7



We couldn't believe it. Acheon had actually set up camp.
"I would've thought this guy was smart." Sheba whispered.
We were hidden behind a knarly, low willow tree, planning an attack on the campsite to vanguish them from our land.
"Ok. It's dark out so Isaac will use cloak so we can get closer." Mia ordered like a general.
"Then we engage in an all out attack. I think that's a good plan don't you think?" Sheba added.
I said yes.
Cloak is a special psyenergy that can only be used when you hold a Cloak Ball. We recieved it from the age old Babi, ruler of the well known city of Tolbi.
We grasped each others hands tightly. As I closed my eyes, a strange tickling sensation coursed through my body. I opened them. My body had completely dissappeared. To me, I was now nothing more than a pair of floating eyeballs. My friends weren't visible either, but I felt Mia's grip around my hand which indicated she was there.
"Ok lets go," Feizhi whispered with anxiousness.
The bonfire was high and the tents were larger then we thought. They reached high above our heads. They were of a silky material it seemed.
"They could have made one of these tents two-stories," Sheba commented.
"Shh! Be quiet they'll here us!" Feizhi replied.
But she shutted up a moment to late.
Out of one of the tents dashed out a guard. He had long harpoon like weapon with a blade of a scimitar at the very top. His angelic wings protruded out of the silky, reflective robe that he wore. The guard was on full alert and for sure he heard Feizhi and Sheba.
"Who's there?!", He said. "Show yourself! Or the camp captain will find you.....and silence you......like you are right now." He said unsurely, more nervously than that really.
The guard looked puzzled. He looked around, taking a few steps. Then, with a full scale swing, he swung his weapon around his perimeter, thinking he would hit something invisible. He did hit something.
Me.
You see, cloak is a psyenergy that will hide you and keep you invisible to people eyes as long as you stay in darkness. However, it does not make you truly invisible. It just sort of camoflauges you. Therefore, you are physically there but people cannot see you. As was applied to this situation.
Without stopping to think, I passed my Cloak Ball to Mia so she and the others could remain unseen. As a result, I instantly appeared in front of the guard and swung my Sol Blade with all my might. But he was fast and skilled. He blocked my blow and soon he had the upper hand.
"Intruder!!! Intruder!!!" He loudly alerted.
Almost instantly, all the guards rushed out the tents fully equiped and ready to fight. It looked like as if they were expecting us. Since I was the only one visible, they obviously all rushed at me.
Imagine being in a room alone with 50 soldiers who had no purpose but to kill you. That is what it felt like. Me, a lone warrior, right smack in the middle of 50 skilled swordsmans. There were to many. I couldn't beat them all!
Suddenly, A Venus Djinn appeared in the midst of all the action. I recognized him as Granite. It glowed with an earthen light, and a dozen stone walls surrounded me, protecting me from harm. It was like a baracade that seperated me from the army. I thanked it for providing help. It just giggled like Ivan just after he's drunken 3 cups of coffee. (See the website Isaac must Die for details)
Mia, Sheba, and Feizhi materialized in front of me uncasting Cloak. It appeared that they had stayed next to me all along.
"Isaac are you all right?" Feizhi asked me in concern.
I said yes once more.
"Well, it looks like our plan has backfired. Anyone got another idea?"
With Granite's power only lasting for a limited time, we had little time to rethink our plan.
"Wait! I got an idea!" Feizhi exclaimed.
With the remaining time we had left over we devised a plan that was sure to work and to have us escape. Granite was having a hard time keeping up the wall that protected us, and was finally relieved to know that we were ready.
The spirey sheild plunged back into the ground like a vacuum. It was clear that we were in a tight spot with the entire camp surrounding us.
Suddenly, the army all casted Rolling Flame at us!
"Shade!!" Mia shouted frantically.
A water djinn appeared before us and a watery veil burst out of the ground like a geyser just in time. I heard the flames of fire singe away as they hit our watery shield.
Sheba and Feizhi both shouted, "Spark Plasma!"
The air suddenly burst all over the place. Through the pillars of water, I could make out the soldiers running away. They were retreating! We could escape!
But I thought to soon.
"Let's go! Now's our chance!" shouted Mia.
Shade diminished the water shield and we ran through the retreating crowd of soldiers to the open field. But it didn't stop there. 5 angelic soldiers flew down in front of us and stopped us in our tracks.
"You can't escape now! Hehe," One of the chubby ones chuckled.
Obviously, they didn't know who they were dealing with. I casted Stone Spire and left them on the ground writhing in pure agony.
"Let's go," Sheba said triumphantly.
But again we were stopped. In front of us, with giant wings and pulsing muscles, stood a more elite Altarian warrior. He had red hair and red eyes with a pulsing vein on his forehead. He wore a gold and white robe with a number of unknown writings all over it. He looked like the leader. The entire croud of Altarians silenced as he began to speak.
"Acheon said you would come," He spoke powerfully. "He told us to stay here and wait for you so we could vanquish you weaklings."
"So, Acheon is not here?" Sheba gasped. The Altarian Captain laughed.
"Why, he left alone a day ago hoping he would reach the lighthouse quicker on his own. If you think you can reach him before he reaches Mercury Lighthouse, then I'd be quite impressed. But even if you do reach him in time, I doubt you will be able to defeat him."
He backed away behind his army.
"Finish them," He said casually to his army.
We were in big trouble. Very big trouble. There was just no way we could beat them all. At least, not without some additional help.
The army rushed forward at us, spears raised, swords up, and shields down.
We were done for. Fifty versus four didn't have many promising results. But Mia and Sheba had other things on their minds.
"Eclipse!!" They both shouted.
A flurry of djinn rocketed out of Mia and Sheba and started weaving up a creature with their elemental psyenergy. They were summoning a spirit.
Djinn, or Djinni for singular, are the spirits of earth, fire, water, and wind. We have encountered many Djinn, and they have aided us in battle many times. They also have the ability to summon powerful spirits capable of helping us in some very tight situations. We have called upon these spirits to aid us many times.
As the flurry of Jupiter and Mercury Djinn wove the body of our savior, I began to recognize him as Eclipse.
Eclipse is a huge, orange dragon we have summoned many times before. His power is incredible and his wingspan blocks out the sun.
Well, he blocks out the moon this time. But the point is, he is a giant dragon with tremendous power.
As the last Mercury Djinn wove the dragons last scale, Eclipse suddenly became alive and made a roar that stopped the army in their footsteps. To tell you the truth, Eclipse kind of made me afraid too, but just the same, I was happy he was on our side.
The bright, orange dragon flew into the sky. The army's stillness proved that they were mesmerised by it. Then, Eclipse's mouth filled a bluish energy, and shot it in a skinny little beam.
At first, I thought that Mia and Sheba were nuts. Such a huge dragon, yet it shoots such a tiny beam! But I forgot how much damage Eclipse could do with such a small blast.
The moment the beam hit the ground, the army's tiny soldiers burst into the air like dirt burst into the air when you hit it with a rock. But the explosion was far larger.
Clouds of dust filled the air, making it so it was impossible to see.
"Mia! Sheba!" I yelled, searching for them.
Feizhi appeared next to me, and shouted out for them as well.
The roars of Eclipse drowned out the screams of the terrified soldiers of Altaria. I wasn't sure, but I thought I heard the screams of Sheba in the midst of all that was happening.
But just seconds later, they were the least of my worries.
"WRRROOAAAAA!!!!!!" ,came a yell from behind me.
I turned around to see the Altarian Captain rushing at me with his sword in a stabbing position. I was ready to parry it when he suddenly leaped into the sky. If it hadn't been for his wings, I would've thought it was impossible due to his heavy armor. He closed up his wings and pointed his sword down at me, diving, ready stab to me to death. He increased the aerodynamics of his form by folding his wings, and he plunged toward the ground like a falcon at top speed.
I acted quickly. I pointed my Sol Blade directly below the Captain so when he came down, he would land on the tip of the blade and get....well.....you know.
With my Sol Blade pointed upward, and his gravitational speed, there was no way he could escape. And if he tried to fly away at the last moment, he wouldn't be able to because his wings were completely folded.
A second later, my chances of surviving increased. My Sol Blade glowed. It was about to use its incredible magic, Megiddo, which was its name. The blade became firey red, the color of the sun, and a ball of flame exploded into the air.
"AHGGGGGHHHH!!!" He screamed.
The fireball hit him. I turned my head. I didn't like to see anyone disintigrate before my very eyes. Would you?
When I turned around, his sword fell into the dirt, and it too melted due to Megiddo's intense heat. The captain was defeated.
Eclipse roared again and shot another blast of psyenergetic energy down at the army. More dust was blown and it made it even harder to see. Feizhi grabbed me and held on tight like I was her only protection, which I was.
"We have to find Mia and Sheba!!" She yelled.
Then, out of the dust walked Mia and Sheba. And they looked like they had had enough.
"I want out!" Sheba screamed grumpily, dirt all over her face.
At that moment, we heard the sounds of pain.
We turned around. Eclipse, in my amazement, was getting hurt. 2 very skilled Altarians were taking him down very easily and were blasting him with beams of heat.He roared in pain.
"We have to leave," said Mia calmly. "Eclipse is taking the pain for us. He's telling us to leave now while we have the chance."
I nodded. And so did everyone else. And we ran into the dust filled field towards our destination.
We ran. We ran as fast as our legs could carry us. And as we ran, I glanced back and saw the embodiment of our creature fade before my very eyes. We knew now that we were safe from them. But still......we kept on running.


Another shall post tonight....

Must I say it? That was totally awesome.

As I said so before
Behind that chapter of epic lore,
I believe I said,
Another post shall be made to be read.


Chapter 8


The ordeal with Acheon's camp slowed us down. We were very behind. With help from Sheba's Djinn, Zephyr, we were able to speed across the plains of Gondowan very quickly. But Acheon was still ages ahead of us. I was beginning to think we'd never catch him.
We were on the plains for days, stopping only to rest under a tree for a few minutes and refuel at towns. Even at night we traveled, for we could not afford to lose any more time. And for once, Sheba did not complain. I guess she knew the importance of this quest.
Many times we passed large towns and cities, but not once did we stop anywhere for fear that Acheon would surpass us even more. We passed Tolbi, we passed Kalay, we passed every town we came up against. We knew the importance of our mission.
Alas, we had arrived in a nice cozy village where we had been before. Basically the smallest town we've ever been to, we were weary after our huge travel across the continents, Gondowan and Angara. We were exausted.
"I don't think it can hurt to have a little meal to celebrate our arrival here, don't you think Isaac?" Sheba panted.
I said yes.
I recogized this town as Vault. Named after it's small size, it was once sacked by a bunch of thieves from Lunpa. What's worse is that it happened during the eruption of Mt. Aleph. Even though the thieves escaped shortly after they were imprisoned, they never came back to commit another crime again.
Yet.
It was here that we met Ivan, the first jupiter adept Garet and I ever met. At first we were afraid of his ability to read minds. But after constant usage of his mind reading abilities, it wasn't so bad. Ivan is now spending time with his sister, Hamma, in Contigo, a town on a continent far to the west.
We dined in the inn and had a great time. The food was good, the beds were soft, and for some reason, there were several treasure chests where we were sleeping.
I closed my eyes, ready to sleep and awake happy the next day. But I would not be happy. I had a dream.
It was black all around me Only a dimly lighted platform lay below me. Nothing was visible, but a blurry figure which was getting sharper every second. He had blue hair, his leathery boots were as brown as the trees, and he who was the greediest of them all came into view.
Alex.
He opened his eyes, the blue sparkle that was always there now dimly lit.
"Isaac..." I heard him say. He was mouthing something to me, but I could not understand. He stretched out his hand to me as if he tried to grab me and hold on. He was drifting away into the darkness, calling out to me for help. I outstretched my hand to grab him, but he was drifting away ever so quickly.
His face showed despair as the shadows finally enveloped him out of sight. Suddenly he was there again, an expression of anger now across his face.
"You....killed me. You!!" He murderously and madly shouted.
He was about to attack me. I groped for my sword mounted on my back, only to find it absent. Alex was twirling it around in his hand casually.
"Isaac, this is no dream. I swear, on Saturos and Menardi's graves, my grave, and the power you now hold within you, you and your comrades will die!"
He rushed at me and I felt the pain that I thought would be there but wasn't.
I awoke with a start. The moonlight beamed down through one of the windows and lit up my face. It also beamed down on Mia's face. And I could see her blue eyes wide open as she woke with a start at the same time as I did, her face as white as a moon rock.
"Alex...no.." She muttered.
She glanced at me, awe struck.
"Alex, he's alive. I know it. I saw him." She said dreamily with a drunken look in her eyes.
"Alex is gone. Dead," Sheba said, now awake by our midnight chat. "Remember? Vale searched for him all over Mt. Aleph. There were no traces of him at all."
Mia shot a look at Sheba.
"He's alive and I know it," She said hotly. "We leave now. To Imil. Agreed?"
I said yes..
"Awww...I only got 3 hours of sleep..." Sheba complained.
To tell you the truth, I wanted to stay in bed too, but after seeing Alex in my dream, I felt like we had no choice. I woke Feizhi and we packed. It seemed reasonable knowing Mia and I both had dreams about Alex.
Imil is Mia's hometown where she grew up. She and Alex are the last members of the Mercury clan, an ancient group of water adepts who swore to protect mercury lighthouse. Mia is still loyal, but Alex, her apprentice, is a traitor. He joined Saturos and Menardi in their mission to light the lighthouses. After they were lit, we learned that Alex's intentions were to get the Stone of Sages, or the Goldensun as the Wise One calls it. It granted power over nature, endless life, and enormous psyenergetic power. We presumed Alex had gotten his wish. But ever since the day we lit Mars Lighthouse, we haven't seen him since. Everyone thinks he's dead due to Mt. Aleph's crumbling. Some think he is in hiding, waiting for the perfect moment to strike. And others think he has gone soft, and converted to village life. As for me, until today, I thought he was dead. Now, I think he's alive.
Very much alive.
As we went through the gates of Vault, I looked back at the little town knowing it would probably not stay there much longer. A tear slid down my eye.
"Faster! We have to get to at least Bilibin!" Mia ordered.
Zephyr glowed with a purple light and we soon ran like the wind. Our trip across the plains was uneventful and quiet. The sound of our boots scraped across the ground as we ran and our clinking armor echoed through the night.
We reached the cave faster then I thought.
"Bilibin is right on the other side." Mia said.
The cave was a quiet as a rock. Stalagmites hung from the ceiling and pointed towards us, marking our graves. It was just as I remembered it. I was in this cave right at the beginning of my journey. It seemed so long ago, but it looked as if it hadn't changed since the last time I saw it.
"Look! The end!" Feizhi shouted happily, her voice echoing through all the halls of the cave.
We walked out, expecting to see Bilibin and it's tall tower standing over us.
We gasped.
The town was on fire and it was burning to rubble.
Acheon had been here.



2 more shall be posted tommorow.

Wow. Need more be said?

So this chapter is dum
But go read it some.
It's plotless yes
And it is a mess.


Chapter 9


"We have to see if there are any survivors!" shouted Feizhi.
We ran to to the burning town only to find no one there.
"Mia! Douse the town!" Sheba ordered.
Mia raised her hand into the sky. Dark rainclouds began to fill it up. Drops of rain came down upon the town and slowly but surely, the fire was getting smaller and smaller.
"Whew," Mia relieved. "I'm glad that's over. That took a lot of psyenergy."
The town was quiet again, but without the hustle and bustle of people in the square, it didn't feel quite normal. The wind whistled as the sun began to shine light on the once proud tower of Bilibin. There was complete silence, excluding Mia's, Sheba's, and Feizhi's slow breathing.
"Something tells me we're being watched," Feizhi silently commented.
And indeed we were. For in the corner of my eye, I saw something was moving behind one of the fallen houses. I pointed finger in that direction instantly.
Sheba, out of instinct, blew the rubble away expecting to see something. But nothing was there. I was puzzled. We were puzzled. I could've sworn I saw something.
Suddenly, Feizhi tripped.
"What happened?! You were standing perfectly still! How could you have fallen like that?" Sheba said curiously.
Feizhi stood up almost immediately and stood in attack position with a wonderous, but weary look upon her face.
"Someone is here....," she silently mumbled. "Isaac, there is someone, or something here."
We all looked at each other, silently thinking the same thing as everyone else. Who was here. Was it Acheon? I couldn't help but draw my sword. So did everyone else. Alone in the barren, ghostly, once lively, town, we stood in a small cluster in the middle of the town square. With only the crows of black birds circling around us, even we were quite queasy. But still I stood ground.
Suddenly, an aura of queerness began to envelope me. I felt dizzy. So did everyone else, because Sheba fell flat on her face and fainted. What was happening? I felt the world was vanishing before my very eyes.
"Isaac? Isaac where are you?," I heard Mia say.
I grabbed her hand, and also Feizhi's, and we stayed close.
"Feizhi, try and use Reveal," Mia suggested. "It may help us to see what lies beyond this distorted mist."
At least I knew I wasn't hallucinating.
Feizhi started to use a special type of psyenergy called reveal, which shows what is real and what is not. It helped us see what are mirages in Lamakan Desert. As she casted, the mist suddenly started to become sharper. The crows above me came into view. The burned tower was now sharper than ever before. Sheba also awoke from her minute nap. But a new danger came into view that I cannot really describe to you.
A black figure, alive and breathing, stood in front of us, breathing heavily like some drooling dog. His eyes, or what I presumed to be eyes, were a bright yellow. Then, like water, he split into four goopy pieces.
We were completely taken by this creature, for it was unlike any we had ever seen. It made a putrid gurgling sound as it took on a new form.
"Aww. It's so cute." Sheba commented, completely unaware of what it was.
Almost immediately, colors filled the creatures body and it grew to the size of Sheba herself. What it had turned into looked familiar. But a moment later, looks did not matter.
"WHAM!!!!"
Sheba was kicked into a wall by one of the black blobs feet. Well, it didn't look like a blob anymore. In fact, it took form of Sheba.
"What!! A twin Sheba!?" Mia shouted in dismay.
Yes. Before me, stood what once was a black blob. Now, it looked just like Sheba.
Suddenly, the other black blobs took form. One took form of me. The other two took form of Mia and Feizhi.
The "Evil" me suddenly rushed at me, sword drawn and ready to kill. This was a big surprise. I barely dodged it.
I drew my Sol Blade. It gleamed like the sun. At the same time, the other me drew it too!! He was copying me! It was an evil version of myself!
I stood there. He did too. I swung my sword. He swung his sword.
I rushed at him in anger. He also rushed. Both our swords clanged together and made an explosion of sparks. I slashed at his armor, but the tip of his sword blocked mine. As I fought, I caught a glimse of Mia on top of the tower. Her mirror image was using the same tactics as my mirror image was.
"BANG!!"
I wasn't paying attention to my swordfight. A piece of my armor chipped off. Suddenly, I realized that if he hit me, I should've hit him too! But as I squinted hard for the missing piece of metal, I found that it wasn't there.
That was it! He didn't copy everything I did. When my guard was down, he would slash at me! I hoped the others figured it out too.
I walked sideways, expecting him to sidewalk too. He did. I casted Stone Spire on him, and as fast as I could go, I jumped to the side. He jumped to, only he hit something that prevented his escape. A wall.
My Stone Spires hit before he could react. Soon he was just a big mess on the ground with a barrage of stones jabbed in his body. I finally beat the menace. Or so I thought.
Like some zombie back from the dead, it levitated up back to its feet, ready for action once again.
How am I supposed to get rid of this guy I thought.
Then, at my darkest moment, the sun rose high in the sky.
"Roargarugrahhhhshhh...." It moaned.
His body melted like butter. It looked like this creature was vulnerable to the sun's rays! Here was my chance! With one stroke, my Sol Blade sliced the "evil" me in half and the 2 dead pieces evaporated away. It was the sun. The sun was the weapon that could defeat, whomever, or whatever they were.
I searched around the alleys. Mia and Feizhi had taken care of their evil counterparts, but Sheba was still hacking away at the remaining pieces of her attacker.
"Stupid piece of jelly filled...," Sheba scolded as she whacked away at the barely alive black slug that was on the ground.
"Ok Sheba. It's dead. You can stop now." Mia ensured.
Sheba took one last whack at it and stopped.
"I don't know what that was, but it sure was annoying. And skilled."
We quickly set off towards Imil at high speed to regain the time that was lost. The ordeal in Bilibin had set us off 1 hour and we were running behind. Through the many mountains, forests, and meadows, we soon came upon snowcapped mountains and hail-filled trees. Since we always wore so much much clothing, we were untouched the air's chilling weather.
"We will be reaching Imil real soon." Mia updated.
As we walked over the hill, the many houses and cottages came into view, with the towering Mercury Lighthouse not far behind.
"I'm glad Acheon hasn't gotten here yet," Mia grinned. "Now we can surprise him with a surprise attack when he gets here."
Imil was always overflowing with snow. Because of this, the people of Imil adapted to the cold weather. I, of course, lived in a place that was of moderate temperature, so the cold weather I was not used to.
Suddenly, the ground shook. The snow on the cottages slid off and the children playing outside stopped in their tracks, frightened.
"Acheon's on top!!!" Sheba frantically screamed in my ear, unintentionally, rattling my eardrum.
A chunk of the wall of Mercury Lighthouse burst as we watched in horror. One of the towers instantly fell as we ran as fast we could up the Lighthouse halls.
The inside was in much worse condition. Before, when I had gone to Mercury Lighthouse, the halls were already pretty crumbled. But this time, it was ridiculous. We soon came upon an area that was impossible to cross.
"Someone, think of something!!!" Sheba complained.
This time, I had to forgive her complaining. We were inside a crumbling lighthouse! I couldn't blaim her for being scared. I tried to think of a plan, but I couldn't even clear my mind with all the danger happening.
Mia cleverly cast her douse psyenergy in the empty chasm then used frost to quickly weave an ice bridge to the other side.
"Quickly! We need to hurry!" She rushed. We safely crossed her bridge and sprinted up into a room that I would never forget.
It was a room with a huge sparkling waterfall that could carry us to the aerie of the lighthouse. It would first magically make the direction of the waterfall go up, instead of down. It defied the laws of physics.
But only this time, it was frozen solid.
"How are we supposed to get to the aerie now?" Sheba said annoyingly, with a slight curiousity in her voice.
None of us knew any fire psyenergies and none of us were of fire adept ancestry.
I knew we were doomed. There was nothing any of us could do. But I didn't want to say it in front of everyone, considering I am the leader.
"Well, I have a confession to make. Mia, I stole your...." Said Sheba, who clearly despaired. But she trailed off as she suddenly jerked her head up.
"It's getting hot in here," She said.
"Don't change the subject!" Mia said quickly,who clearly had her attention caught by Sheba's confession. "What did you steal!!!??"
"Mia, Sheba's right. It is getting quite toasty in this room. Don't you think Isaac?" Feizhi concluded.
I said yes.
Suddenly the frozen waterfall started to leak water. A crack appeared, then another, and another, then....BOOM!!
The frozen ice blocking the waterfall's entrance crumbled into the pond that lay below. The falls were flowing again!! We could get to the top!
"I think the heat of Acheon's psyenergy melted the ice. But that means this lighthouse could crumble any minute! We have to get out of here!" Feizhi shouted.
And so Mia cast her psyenergy, Ply, which allowed us entry to the aerie and made the waterfall rise, instead of fall.
She went first and flew up like a bird into the sky. Next went Sheba. Then me.
Like last time, I stepped into the waterfall and immediately tumbled and tripped into the water, head first. I would never get used to it. My butt faced upward as the falls carried me high into the battle that would probably be my last.
Feizhi giggled and laughed unstoppably as I rose. I knew I must've looked very silly.


The Battle shall take place tonight. I hate this chapter because it's pointless.

Yet again tonight
A battle shall be posted
Our heroes shall enter the battleground,
So Acheon can be roasted.


Chapter 10


I had only been on this aerie once before. It was during our battle with Saturos that I had experienced the true power of a lighthouse. During our battle with him, we never would have won if the Mercury Lighthouse's power hadn't decreased Saturos' psyenergy. If Saturos hadn't been a fire adept, the lighthouse would've had no effect on him.
I hoped the same thing would happen to Acheon this time.
The aerie would've just been how I remembered it if it wasn't all ruined by Acheon. I cursed him for doing such a thing. Mia did too, naturally.
Feizhi came up through the ground, still laughing at the way I went up the waterfall. But her laughing stopped almost instantly.
In front of the lit beacon stood Acheon, and he looked like he was rushing himself.
"Come on! We have to stop him!" Sheba said.
We walked on to the platform where Acheon stood. He heard us and turned around looking quite annoyed.
"Don't you ever know when to stop," He angrily said. "I thought I got rid of you at Venus Lighthouse...but you still look healthy and fine. Well, I assure you, your life will be quite different when you come down from this place."
Acheon drew his sword.
"Isaac," He said to me. "I find you quite a worthy opponent. I am much more honored to fight you than your weak friends here."
Mia made a frown. Sheba and Feizhi clenched their teeth and fists in anger. I was actually kind of happy to be complimented by an adept that was as experienced as I was. But I did not tell the others.
Acheon looked up.
"Hmm. For every minute I waste, one of my people are being destroyed. I must finish this as quickly as I can. I can't except anymore distractions like you!"
He suddenly lunged at me!!!!!
I dodged his attack, spun and slashed him on his back. My Sol Blade however did not penetrate his armor. It was inpenetrable! Acheon kept on trying slash at me. I blocked all his attacks but I couldn't hold on for long.
Meanwhile, Mia was doing her best to shield me from Acheon's fatal blows.
"My turn to take him on!" Sheba confidently said.
Sheba ran up behind Acheon and swung with what seemed like all her might. But Acheon elbowed her in the ribs casually, knocking her to the ground.
"Grrrr. A little a help here?!" she complained.
Feizhi leaped into the air with her White Staff gleaming and glowing white. She came down and slammed the head of the staff on Acheon and he tumbled to the ground and slid near the edge. I thought he would fall off.
I had noticed Mia had not taken part in our battle. What was she doing? I turned and saw all her Djinn floating beside her.
"Stand back everyone!," she warned. "I going to try and summon some spirits!"
That said it all. I quickly cast Odyssey on Acheon which kept him down for a few more seconds.
"Sheba!" Mia said. "Can you have your Djinn help me out?!"
Sheba nodded and all her Djinn flew out of her and joined Mia. She was going to summon a lot more than just Eclipse, the dragon.
The Djinn circled around Mia creating a whirl purple and blue. The Djinn's bodies flying everywhere weaved the recognizable bodies of the spirits Eclipse, the dragon; Coatlicue, the goddess who wore the water of life; Moloch, a sacred ice monster; Atalanta, a heavenly huntress; and Neried, a water nymph who traveled by turtle.
It was an awesome seeing them together to take down this one being.
This evil being.
Acheon blinked at the sight of them all. He suddenly laughed. At first it was a normal laugh, then it got into a much more evil tone. What was he laughing about? It was him versus 4 master adepts and 5 immortal spirits. What could be so funny about that?
"You adepts are so serious, it's unbelievable," he said chuckling. "I have a power 10 times as strong as the arsenal you have prepared to take me down!"
That did not sound good. What he said tore a rip in my hopefulness. I thought with so much at our disposal, we would win. Now, I wasn't sure if we could even injure him.
"Give it up! We won. We have much more power than you! With the gods by our sides, there is no way you can win!" Sheba said sternly.
Acheon stood up.
"Foolish child. You don't have a clue what we Altarians have evolved into. We are IMMORTAL!!!!"
With that he thrust out his arms. Immense heat filled the aerie.
"Spirits! Help us!" Mia desperately shouted.
Eclipse sprung into action. He flew high up and shot his usual beam of energy at Acheon. But his beam fizzled at the surface of the aerie. I figured a firey shield had formed around the aerie of the lighthouse. Neried waved her fan and a geyser sprung from the ground lifting Acheon into the air. Acheon roared and the searing heat became much hotter. Suddenly, I was filled with a courage and strength I had only felt during the battle with Saturos and Menardi. I realized Coatlicue was giving me the water of life. I guess that explained why I was dripping wet.
Acheon made it even hotter. Mia fainted and was out cold. Sheba was barely standing and Feizhi was doing her best to use her psyenergy to resist the heat. But I could tell that she too was exausted.
With so much energy at my disposal because of Coatlicue's water of life, my Sol Blade glowed. It was time to finish this. Acheon had the upper hand, but I would turn things around.
At our darkest hour, I leaped up, my Sol Blade reaching high into the sky, borrowing the power of the sun, gleaming a light so bright, I couldn't see where I was leaping, and I plunged a ball of fire at the being we so long had pursued.
A light filled my eyes. It was so bright I felt like I was falling through a fire pit that would never end. Then, with my eyes closed and my Sol Blade still pointing at the ground, I heard a rip of metal, a gush, then a howl of pain. I wish I could have saw what I stabbed, but it was too bright. I fell to the ground sprawling and my Sol Blade sliding out of my hand and on to the cracked, brick ground.
Then, the light dimmed. Sheba was on the ground, alive. Feizhi had still stood, looking quite relieved. And Mia, Mia had healed herself enough so that she could squat and smile at me. I stood up and I turned around.
Behind me, lay Acheon, defeated. I was so relieved, I fell down once again. Maybe I was out of energy or maybe I was just too stunned that we beat him. But I didn't care. We were victorious over him. We saved Mercury Lighthouse from collapse.
Then I heard a moan.
I felt like a dagger had just been pierced into my heart. Acheon slowly opened his eyes.
I would've grabbed my sword if I had the strength to. Acheon squated on the ground, clutching his left arm. Blood streamed down the armor that I had made a gash through.
"You will pay. I swear. As long as I live, I will destroy the lighthouses. And get rid of you once and for all!" he gasped angrily.
He cried out in pain.
"We...will meet again."
He extended his wings and with what looked like all his strength, he flapped and went higher and higher until he disappeared beyond the clouds.
We all stared up at the sky in awe.
"We did it...," Sheba said in complete relievement.
I had not believed it either. But Acheon was not completely defeated yet. We had wounded him, but I believed he would make it back to his home.
In Altaria.

We stayed in the inn for the night. The towns people thanked us heartily and gave us the suite for free.
Thoughts ran through my head as everyone slept peacefully.
But the most worriedsome thought that came to me were my friends. I mean the friends that were somewhere....out there.
Felix, Jenna, Garet, and the others.
How were they?
What had happened to them?
Were they ok?
Even though I hoped they were alright, in the back of my mind I knew something was not.
I fell asleep with that thought hanging until the day I would wake again.

*NOTE*
The point of view will change yet again tommorow to Felix!

Across the world
Past the shore
Felix needs us
Even more


Chapter 11


My head broke through the water as breathed in a breath of salty air. How I ended up in the ocean, I did not know. But I could tell by the color of the water that I was in the Eastern Sea.
How had I ended up in the middle of the ocean? I was having a battle with Faruth and the others and all I remember after that is a white light.
Now I'm here.
The sky was a grayish color. In the distance I could see an Island. It's famous mountain, Gaia Rock, stood towering over the many hills and buildings of the island. It was clear now that I had appeared somewhere in the ocean near Izumo. I started to swim to the beach, the warm waters making ripples around my body. In the distance, fishermen were gathering their daily supply of food, fish and various other sea creatures. The affable fishermen were quite cheerful, as it was shown upon their faces. Suddenly one of them spotted me. He yelled out something I couldn't hear, or maybe couldn't understand. One of the fisherman wielding a fishing pole nodded. He cast his fishing pole right at me. I saw the hook flying through the air, ready to strike me. I tried to swim away. But the hook had caught me already by my collar. My body began to travel along the surface of the water as they reeled me in. They were helping me!
"Are you alright, Felix?" One of them asked me.
I was slightly bewildered how they knew my name, but I figured I was known for defeating the dragon that once wreaked havoc there.
"I'm...I'm OK," I said. "Nothing broken or hurt. I'm fine. Thank you"
One of the fisherman lifted me up.
"Felix! How did you end up in the water like that? We didn't see a ship or boat or anything. We just...spotted you in the ocean."
"I guess that doesn't matter now that you've taken me out." I said.
"We will take you to the Inn to rest. Then, our leader would like to speak with you." They said.
I couldn't argue with that for I was very tired. I didn't even wonder where my friends could be because I was so tired. I hopped onto my bed and fell asleep instantly.



I slept much longer then I thought. When I awoke, I found plates of food by my side.
"For you Mr. Felix." Said one of the Inn servants.
I had not remembered Izumo being like this the last time I was here. Something was different.
"Would you like a pillow sir?" One the servants asked, placing the amenity beside me.
Something was definitely not right.
"Ok, what's going on!?!?" I asked.
They seemed startled but they calmed down and told me.
"Something terrible is happening to Izumo. We need you to help us solve it. Speak to Lady Uzume. She will tell you."
I walked out of the Inn and smelled salty air. It was dark now so the pathways were no longer busy with people. I walked towards the direction that Lady Uzume's house lay.
Lady Uzume is said to able to see into the future. I don't know much about her, but I do know she is very caring and does dislike when we try to read her mind.
I approached her hut. Two guards guarded the entrance. Surprisingly, they let me in without even stopping to ask me what I was doing.
The hut was cozy. The bed beside the entrance was empty meaning she was meditating. I was right.
There, in the middle of the the room, sat a woman with beads strewn on her hair. She did not look old, yet she did not look young either. She just sat there in her cloth robe with her eyes closed, deep in thought.
Suddenly she opened one eye and stared at me with it. She was supposedly frightening, but my experience with her did not scare me. She slowly stood up, taking her time and walked slowly to her alter. She turned around, finally seeming to notice me. But I knew she already knew I was here.
"So Felix, you have come," she said. "I was waiting for you. I knew you would come back soon."
I was puzzled, but I did not show it. I knelt down in front of her.
"I have to tell you something too. Something is happening outside of your Island home," I said.
We stood there, not knowing who should talk first.
"Well, say it?" encouraged she.
So, I spoke. I told her everything that was happening, had happened, and what was going to happen if we didn't act soon. When I finished my story, she was awestruck. Like she hadn't ever heard of such a thing.
"I...I had not seen this. Are you sure?" She wanted to be sure.
"Yes." I replied.
She muttered something under her breath, probably a prayer.
She looked at me with solemn eyes.
"You need all the help you can get don't you," she said. "To stop them, you must try and resolve this peacefully. Perhaps they are only fighting because they realize that you would never give up the gift of psyenergy.
"But they attacked innocent villages! How could they be so peaceful!!!??" I yelled.
She looked at me with seriously disturbed eyes.
"You must look past that. Sometimes things are more than what they seem, Felix."
I was more confused than ever. How could they be good when they were so EVIL?
Lady Uzume sensed my bewilderedness.
"Perhaps you should visit Susa, Felix. I'm sure he and his future wife, Kushinada, will be very glad to see you again." She suggested.
I had nothing better to do, so I did just that.


Chapter 12


Izumo is a place of peace, of tranquility. Full of life and dancing. It was once taken over by a dragon of enormous power. But, Izumo was liberated when we came and defeated it.
We Adepts.
It was on our quest of lighting the lighthouses that we stumbled upon the troubled island. I was traveling with Jenna, Sheba, Piers, and Kraden on a Lemurian ship.
The great serpent who lived in Gaia Rock had awakened from its sleep, and the island inhabitants were in deep fear. Rumor had swept through the island that a maiden must be sacrificed to keep the dragon satisfied. No one knew which maiden should be chosen.
One of the prettiest maidens stepped up and proposed that they do a raffle. Every girl would pull a ticket out of a bucket. The one who got the special ticket would be sacrificed to the dragon.
Now, Kushinada, the daughter of the islands leader, Lady Uzume, was the girl who proposed they do a raffle. She was a maiden, so she also had to do the raffle. Unfortunately, she herself got the special ticket.
She grieved for days, didn't eat, nor talk to anyone. She was clearly saddened.
Susa, a mischeivious inhabitant who knew Lady Uzume and her daughter well, heard of this all to soon. When he was a child, he wasn't very manly. He was rather boyish and tedious. But it was all too clear that he was very fond of Kushinada. He vowed to save Kushinada from this horrible fate. He ventured into the temple of Gaia Rock to slay the serpent with Dragons Bane. He himself said that no results were coming out of that. Until we came.
We were traveling all throughout the Eastern Sea, obtaining rare psyenergies that could not normally be learned. Our quest had brought us to Izumo, at the time of this great tragedy. We were told to go, but we didn't, for we wanted to help, but at the same time obtain whatever psyenergy lay hidden in the walls of Gaia Rock.
After talking with Lady Uzume for a while, we ventured into the perilous depths of the serpents lair. Along the paths, we had figured out a way to weaken the dragon enough so that it could be defeated with brute force. By shedding light on the creature, its power level decreased dramatically, and when we ventured down to slay the dragon, we found Susa still feeding it dragons bane.
At first, he didn't except our help to slay the dragon. He wanted to do it himself to show the whole island what he could do it. That was a mistake. He didn't even touch the serpent before he was knocked to the ground. That was when we stepped in. After a fierce battle (It proved to still be considerably strong.) we had greatly weakened it. It was still standing, but I could see it in its eyes that it was going to fall. But it did not have the will to. It stood up using all of its strength.
That was when Susa awoke. He had in his hand a dagger with a blue crusted hilt (It looked more like a short sword.) He rushed at the serpent and stabbed it. The dragon roared a cry of defeat that will always be stained in my memories. It fell to the ground and turned into a sickening gray color. Its blue blood trickled on the ground. The dagger was still sticking out of the beast.
The island rejoiced after its death. There was food, dancing, and all sorts of great island stuff. But we had not joined. Instead we were talking with Lady Uzume, Kushinada, and Susa(He could barely stand.)
We had deliberately told them that Susa had slayed the dragon and that we offered only a little help. Even though Susa didn't want all the glory to himself without us having some glory, he accepted our little secret. We learned later that Susa and Kushinada would marry.

<~~~~~-----.___/\___o(*)o___/\___.-----~~~~~>


All this and more was running through my head as I approached Susas house. The sky started to cry as I made footsteps across the dampened earth. My sword was getting wet. I rushed under toward the cozy light that emanated from the upcoming house, Susas house. I sprinted but slipped over the wetness of the mud below my feet. Now my body was all muddy. I got up and walked slowly toward the house. It didn't matter whether I got rained on or not. I was already as wet as a turtle.
"Oh! Are you alright!" I heard a feminine voice.
My weary eyes located a figure with an umbrella contraption running towards me. She grabbed me by the collar and took me, surprisingly, into Susas house. I suddenly realized this must be Susas wife, Kushinada. I wiped the mud from my face, which showed vividly in the light of the fire.
Kushinada gasped.
"Felix!?!" She said in utter aghastment.
She hugged me in such a way that would've made Susa jealous. I hoped he wasn't behind some curtain or something. Otherwise he'd hate more.
"Felix, how have you been? You look so sad and weary!" She said emotionally.
"I always look like that." I replied.
"Oh." She said, looking like she had just remembered what I looked like.
"Here, here! Have some bread! I just finished baking it a moment ago! A coincidence that you got here the moment it finished." She said exuberantly.
I took a piece. It warmed me up. I was suddenly filled with happiness. My damp armor didn't matter to me now. I had forgotten how good freshly baked bread had tasted. It had love and gayness baked into it. Sometimes these things are the only cures to depression.
As I finished my first piece, Susa walked in. He stopped at the point where he saw me. He just stood there looking at me with concentrated eyes. I did not know it, but I was doing the same thing. We stood there for a while, Kushinada still wondering what we were actually doing.
"Okay...I...think I will leave." She said walking quickly to the kitchen, the entrance curtain swaying back and forth.
"You came back." Susa said motionless.
"Yes. But under accidental reasons." I replied.
He walked over to one of the dining chairs and sat down.
"We shall eat friend, and spend our time in happiness," he said. "Try the sea horse belly soup. I caught it just this morning. We also have Urchin Beast for desert, my favorite. You may have it too of course, if it suits your taste."
My dinner was not as tasty as I thought it would be. How unfortunate that Kushinada only made a loaf that was 4 inches long.

Susa offered me a bed in the next room that I could sleep in. It looked much better then the Inn. I walked out a little on the porch. I wondered what everyone else could be doing. Were they in as good as I was? I was not sure, but I hoped they had it better then me. Maybe they were having a rough time. Who knew? No one I knew of.
Susa walked out on the porch beside me and stared at the full moon like I was. It reminded me of the werewolf town, Garoh, on the continent of Osenia.
"What are you thinking about?" He asked me curiously, but a tone of concern was in his voice.
"I'm thinking about where my friends could be. We were scattered you see, and now I don't have a clue where they are, how they are doing, or if they are alright." I replied with an emotional crack in my voice.
"Your friends? You mean Jenna, Sheba, and Piers right?"
"Yeh. And some others."
"But how did you get seperated?"
And the conversation went on to the point where I had to explain to him about Acheon and Faruth (And their wings), the dissappearance of the villages in Gondowan and Angara, and the plot to dismantle the lighthouses.
He went berserk.
"WHAT KIND OF BEING IS CRAZY ENOUGH TO DESTROY THE LIGHTHOUSES!!! THAT'S OUR SOURCE OF SURVIVAL!!!" He shouted loudly.
Knowing that we were outside, some of the neighboring huts doors opened, revealing annoyed faces.
"Sorry! My friend here is going crazy!" I shouted, my hands cupped around my mouth.
They shut the doors and returned to their dreamy slumber.
I brought Susa into his house where he shouted once more.
"THOSE TWO FREAKS ARE GOING TO GET IT!!! THEY'RE GOING TO UPSET THE BALANCE OF NATURE!!! WE HAVE TO DO SOMETHING!!!" He continued shouting. It didn't sound like he would stop any time soon.
But Kushinada heard his bellowing. She walked down the hall, yawning and rubbing her eyes.
"Susa honey, what are you blabbering about..." she said sleepily. "Something about the lighthouses being destroyed?"
We were quiet. Only the crickets' frictionous legs could be heard in our ears.
"Kushinada, go back to sleep. Felix and I are having a talk." Susa said to her.
She gave an awkward glance at me and walked back to her bed down the short hallway.
"This is bad...this is so bad..." He muttered frantically.
"What's so bad?" I asked.
He looked at me with a seriousness that only a trained warrior could have.
"Did Lady Uzume tell you what happened here only a few days ago?" He said.
"No" I replied.
"Well, two days ago we were attacked by a band of Skeleton Pirates. At least that's what I heard one of the villagers say. He said that they had swords 3 meters long. I would've thought he was seeing things, if he hadn't snatched one of those swords from one of the them."
He pointed to a large scimitar that was hung on the wall. It really was 3 meters long. And its blade was as sharp as the sharpest sword I'd ever seen in my life heated until it could slice through a tree with one blow.
"That sword is now one of our ornaments," he said. "It is now a grim reminder of what happened 2 days ago. No one was hurt, but a good deal of valuables were stolen. Pots, vases, statues, swords, and worst of all, the Dancing Idol, were stolen. You know, after you gave Lady Uzume the Dancing Idol, she studied it very carefully, along with some ancient scriptures she had down in the ruins. She concluded that the Dancing Idol is the islands protector. Can you believe it?!? I didn't believe her at first, but after it was stolen, the weather around here had gotten quite dangerous. So now, everyone on the entire island is uptight. Even some of Izumos toughest warriors vowed to search the seas for the pirates, to recover the Dancing Idol. But none of them has returned. I offered to go once, but Lady Uzume did not allow me. She said that I needed to take care of Kushinada and start a family, instead of leave forever right after you marry."
I stood awestruck. It appeared that Izumo was in pretty big trouble too.
"I would help with all my power if the rest of Weyard weren't in danger too," I said wholeheartedly.
Susa nodded.
"I'm sure you would, Felix."
I went to my room leaving Susa behind, and went to bed. I was going to leave tommorow.

_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-


The morning was early for me. The birds sung a nice tune which sounded very familiar (Yepp's Song). I awoke. A smell of bread wafted from the kitchen that I loved. I grabbed my sword and put my armor on, even though I knew there was no danger around.
"Good morning Felix," She said happily. "Did you sleep well?"
"Yes," I replied. "Where is Susa?"
"He left a few minutes ago. He said he was going to check on something."
I was just about to chomp on a piece of bread when suddenly the silhouette of Kushinadas husband, Susa, stepped into the doorway.
"Felix," He said frantically. "I just got word from one of the trade ships that Venus Lighthouse has been completely destroyed!"
I practically leapt out of my chair, knocking it down.
"WHAT!!!" I said in disbelief.
It just couldn't be true. I guess I knew it all along, I just didn't want to admit it.
I ran out of the house with Susa towards the dock. I didn't realize how long it had been. I had to get to the lighthouses, find my friends, and stop Acheon and Faruth once and for all. I ran up one of the empty cargo ships and set it up for sailing. I didn't care if the sailors were yelling at me or not.
"Felix wait!"
Susa was running after, trying to keep up.
"Wait Felix! I want to go with you!" He shouted.
I stopped. Did he really want to travel with me and stop Acheon and Faruth? I wasn't too sure.
"Susa, you need to protect Izumo from more dangers like the pirates. I think you should stay here." I said.
"No. Izumo can take care of itself. It is the rest of Weyard that needs me. Please let me go with you."
I hesitated. Should I? Or no? I thought about his experience in fighting and psyenergy. He wasn't very strong in his psyenergy, but he was a very good swordsman. Just standing there, he reminded me of myself when I first started out with Saturos and Menardi. He was young, and was a great warrior, but he didn't know much about the world. It was a risk taking him along on such a dangerous mission. But on the other hand, if I declined he would probably miss his only chance to see the world. I couldn't let his life go to waste. I decided that he would go with me.
"Okay, you may come with me. But what about Kushinada?" I said hesitantly.
He quickly jotted down something on a piece of paper and handed it to a passerby.
"Can you take this to Kushinada for me?" He said.
The passerby agreed and set off in that direction quickly like he was in a rush.
"What was that?" I asked Susa.
He stared at the huts of his hometown. I knew he would not return here for a long time.
"It's a letter to tell Kushinada that I'm going with you on your quest."
We boarded the ship. I unhooked the ropes and the ship slowly started to drift off the pier. Susa steered the wheel. I presumed he had at least a little experience in commanding a ship. One of the shipmen cried out, "The ship is being stolen! The ship is being stolen!"
We were now moving quicker out of the bay. Suddenly I heard Kushinadas voice.
"Susa!" She cried. "Come back safely okay!"
Kushinada had run down the pier to see her husband off. She had tears falling out of her eyes. I looked at Susa. It looked like he was struggling to keep his mind off her. It looked as if he didn't want to see her cry. I was thinking that maybe he was hoping we would've already left before she got there. He was struggling to keep back his tears. But he could hold it no more.
He ran over to the balastrade and waved goodbye at his loved one. I waved too, but I'm not as emotional as other people are, so I didn't cry.
Susa however had his whole face already wet with salt water, and he didn't even touch the sea water!
We drifted further and further and further. Kushinada kept getting fainter and fainter and fainter, until she was out of sight.
And as Susas tears dampened the air around us, the rest of the day beckoned towards our courageous hearts.


One more chapter shall be posted tonight

Okay, now I really seriously don't have to say it.

Say what Alex?

As of tonight,
As they roam free,
Our heroes travel,
Across the sea


Chapter 13


It's funny how the wind blows. Whether you are traveling a short distance or long distance, you cannot go there unless the breeze goes with you. But it is how life is. It is how the world was created.
We had just left Izumo and the air and rocking of the waves left me seasick. I was on a ship before but it was on a Lemurian ship. Lemurian ships don't rock. They ride the waves quite smoothly.
But Susa was used to this. He used to go fishing all the time. At least I think so.
He was leaning over the balcony staring at the ocean. He was still sad about leaving Kushinada. I walked up to him.
"Aren't you supposed to be manning the ship?" I said.
"Why does it matter? We end up where we end up." He replied carelessly.
I got mad and shook his shirt collar until he came back to his senses. He was surly clouded by his sadness. Nothing seemed to matter to him anymore.
"Susa, get over it," I said tersely. "We are on the open ocean, we are searching for.....something."
I suddenly remembered that we had not set a course yet. Where would be headed? I thought about it.
We didn't need to head back to Venus Lighthouse because it has already been destroyed. Nothing can change that. Then there was Mercury Lighthouse. No word had come from there. Perhaps we could go there. On the other hand, the cliffs and terrain were in no shape for our vessel. Our ship would break like a cracker if it even got close to those cliffs. So what was left was Jupiter Lighthouse. We could go there.
"Susa, we're going to Jupiter Lighthouse." I said triumphantly.
He suddenly perked up and headed for the wheel that would steer the ship.
"You should've said something. Then I wouldn't be so down. All I needed was something to keep my mind of Kushinada"
I watched in awe as he spun the wheel like a toy. He was suddenly as low as a vulture, but now as perky a pooch.
"You know, these antagonists you speak of, these winged beings Acheon and Faruth---you say you can beat them? Because the last time I heard, you got creamed." He said.
That was true. With only 6 last time, how could I even think that the 2 of us could beat them. Suddenly, someone came into mind.
Piers! He could help.
Piers, is a Lemurian. He comes from Lemuria, obviously. When we met him, it was by an accident. He was swept off his homeland searching fish, when suddenly the winds changed direction and he was swept out to sea by the fast currents, and was taken to the town of Madra. At that time, there was much turmoil there. He was mistaken as a pirate and was taken prisoner. He wasn't a pirate. Not really.
After a while, he was released after the real pirates and the leaders had talked it over. He had learned that his precious Black orb, the artifact that made his ship move, was stolen right after that. He traveled to the middle of Gondowan to a village called Kibombo, where is Black Orb lay. We followed him, hoping to have him help us. We helped him regain his Orb, and we agreed to help him return to his home island, Lemuria.
After many quests across the Eastern Sea that we now are crossing, we finally ended up in Lemuria.
Lemuria turned out to be a strange place. Very different from the rest of the world we knew. It had a kind of "Governmental" system. But it also had a king. King Hydros that is. I don't know how old he is, so don't ask. But he's pretty old. Thats because Lemuria is like an outcast in time. The people there grow VERY slowly. The last time I knew, Piers wouldn't reveal his age to me or any of my friends. What was so strange was that he looked very young. He was old in age, but not old in body or mind. But what was so sad was that Lemurians were forbidden to leave Lemuria.
Many people longed to leave Lemuria. Now you might be thinking why would you want to leave Lemuria and get old, instead of live forever. The answer is simple. What good is living long if you can't enjoy it. It's like being imprisoned in a jail cell forever and not knowing when you get to get out. How would you like it if you lived forever- in a room where you couldn't go anywhere, where you would have the same food everyday for all eternity? It would be quite boring wouldn't it? It would be unbearable. Lemurians have even considered killing themselves because they can't handle such peace, peace that is so quiet, nothing bad ever happens. There is no will to live if there isn't a problem to solve. It's as simple as that.
The Government however didn't believe that anything was wrong. If they let anyone go, the secret of psyenergy would be out. And the rest of the world would want its power restored. King Hydros was just the opposite. He wanted the world to be restored with psyenergy. One reason: The world would crumble and die if he didn't. Without the power of the Elemental Stars to nourish the world with its naturistic power, the world over time would crumble into nothingness.
That was when Piers was assigned to help us light the lighthouses. He was with us ever since. After the Mars Lighthouse was lit, he returned to Lemuria. We haven't heard from him since then.
"Susa, we are heading to Lemuria. To meet an old friend." I said triumphantly.
"Ah yes, Lemuria. I've heard a great many sailors on our island speak of it. They said it is nothing but "Peace and Paradise". I've always wanted to see what it was like." Susa replied.
We were now in the middle of the sea, on route for the Lemurian bays. You see, Lemuria used to be unknown to the rest of the world. Nobody knew it even existed because it was shrouded in a strange mist and the currents were too strong. Just recently, a group of sailors have been able to reach it, not to mention the group of Lemurians that left in order to find adventure. It's almost as if Lemuria doesn't have Lemurians anymore. It's now filled with outsiders instead of Lemurians.
We were in the middle of the sea. The lower-class boat we were riding in filled me with seasickness. I was hungry. I asked Susa where the food was stored. "In our rush we forgot to load up on supplies," He said. "Because of that, there is little more than a mint on board."
I couldn't believe it. I had forgotten what we needed to sustain ourselves. All I had thought about was getting there. Not what we would do when we got there.
"Susa, we have to turn back to get supplies!" I shouted.
"What! No! Anyways we are already half way to Lemuria. It would be pointless to turn back."
I had gotten angry. I thought it was all his fault.
"Susa! It's all your fault! You didn't get the supplies! If it wasn't for you, I'd have something to eat!" I yelled angrily.
"Hey, it wasn't my fault. You know, you are getting on my nerves. Stop acting so tough, like your the leader of everything And stop ordering me around." He countered.
"I'm am tough! That's why I'm the leader!"
"You're tough in strength and courage. But are you tough in heart?"
"Of course I am!"
He stood up.
"Show me." He said bravely.
I stood there. How could I show him that I was tough in the heart? I did not know. But I would find a way.
"This is really dum Susa!" I said, awaiting his answer.
"No it's not. It's a test of your emotional outbursts."
"I'll show you an emotional outburst!!!"
I swung at his face with my fist. He quickly dodged it and grabbed my outstretched arm.
"If you can calm yourself and stop our fight, your heart is a strong one." He said rather mystically.
"I'll stop this fight all right!! My way!!" I yelled angrily. It was like a slow motion explosion.
But he would not take the explosion.
He grabbed my arm and flipped me all the way around, in a 360. My body was slammed on the ground as he flipped me upside down. He let go of me and I lay dazed on the deck floor. My head was spinning. I couldn't think right. I was having a delusion.
"To do that to a friend took a lot of courage, Felix. Don't make me do that again." He said.
I guess I learned my lesson because I didn't attack him again. I guess he also filled my stomach up too, because I wasn't hungry anymore. He had knocked some sense into me that we both had forgotten the supplies and that there wasn't anything to argue about because what we did could not be changed. What mattered was not to do it again.
It was in the evening now. I was resting on a hammock between two poles. The sea was nice and the air was warm. Susa was reading a book in the light of the moon.
Complete serenity.
Just then, we heard a bang.
"What was that?" I heard Susa say.
We soon found out.
"WHAMMM!!!!!"
Something plowed into the hull of the ship. The boat rocked side to side. Susas book fell out of his hands and into the deep blue sea. I fell out of my hammock. What had hit us?
Susa and I looked over the rail. We saw a large hole on the side of the ship. In it was the faint outline of a cannonball.
"We are being attacked!? But by who?!" Susa yelled frantically.
I looked over to the enemy ship that was not to far away from us. We could barely see the people on board, but we could see the flag. In fact, we could see the flag and sails amazingly well. Beside their silhouettes were torches that dimly lit the insignias on their ship. Soon the torches on the deck were lit. And the figures that held them brought them close to their faces. Or what looked like faces.
Susa gasped in horror.
"The Skeleton Pirates!! They come!!"

Posting 3 today
If I may
Their powers lay
In the swords in which they slay.


Chapter 14


On the deck, we were completely helpless. We were like mice being cornered by the cat. Only we were the mice. The pirates that stood on the deck were not people. Not really. It was quite a coincidence that we would run into them. More like a consequence really.
"What do we do?" I said frantically to Susa.
"What do you mean what do we do?! We have to defend ourselves!"
He unsheathed a surprising Cloud Brand, the weapon that he used to kill the serpent of Izumo, and lay it upon the moonlight. I stood in my fighting stance and also unsheathed my own sword, the Dark Sword.
The Dark Sword is a weapon of great terror and power. My friends believe it is more powerful then Isaac's Sol Blade, which has ancient powers unlike I've ever seen. The Dark Sword, however, does seem to rival it. I myself am beginning to believe it does.
The enemy ship seemed to be getting closer. Suddenly, an anchor was let down into the foot of the water. The ship was going to stop! They were going to invade the ship!
"Susa! They're going to attack us at close range!" I yelled.
"I'm going to defend on the other side of the ship! There is a good chance they might attack us from all sides!" Susa exclaimed.
It happened quicker then I had said it. Using the light of the moon as my resource, I dimly saw one of the skinny figures cast a psyenergy, Lash.
Lash. It's a special psyenergy that is used to secure things like ropes or strings. A coiled rope on the deck of the other ship seemed to snake upwards like a worm, then shot straight out at me. I dodged it, but it wasn't me that was the target. A protruding gable was choked on as a rope of enermous length wrapped around it. It became a tightrope. And the pirates were even now skillfully walking across it. I had to stop them! If they got across, then it would be harder to beat them off the ship. We couldn't escape because our ship was strapped tightly with a rope to the pirate ship.
A cast a psyenergy, Force being what it was called. Their frames plunged into the water below as I blasted each one of them with a burst of psyenergetic energy. It was kind of easy making them fall into the water. A little too easy. Yet they kept on coming. Did they have some kind of plan? I did not know at all, but I was determined to find out. I looked over the balistrade. What I saw was not too promising. The pirates that had fallen into the water were climbing up the side of my ship!!
I used force on them, and they fell back into the water.
These guys are pretty dum I thought. Maybe they better rethink their strategy.
Coincidentally, they did. On the deck they rolled a strange looking contraption out of the shadows. One of them climbed on it, then released a lever of some sort.
"ZIPPPP!!!!!!"
The pirate flew forward off the deck and towards mine!! It landed safely on the roof and unsheashed a 3 meter long Scimitar. It instantly slashed at me vertically. I dodged the first blow and looked behind me. I saw a deep gash where I could've been. The Scimitar was wedged into the ground with it's wielder momentarely vulnerable. I charged at it. The pirate only seemed to notice me at the last minute. The last thing it saw were my furious eyes. I jammed it off the balistrade of the ship.
The giant sword lay wedged in the deck of my ship. Another pirate started to advance on it to retrieve it for itself.
"Oh no you don't !!!" I yelled at him.
I stabbed the pirate in the ribs, but it didn't effect it. Instead, it succeeded in taking the Scimitar from the ground. He slashed at me with my Dark Sword still wedged in it's ribs. I took the blow.
I felt---nothing.
I realized my armor had blocked the blow. It had a deep gash in it, but at least I was alive.
"Get away!!!" I shouted angrily.
I casted Oddysey, a special Earth psyenergy for swords. My sword lit a bright white and the skeleton pirate was shattered to bits. Its pieces flew in all directions and my Dark Sword was released from its ribby grip.
Susa suddenly appeared around the corner. His clothes were in tatters.
"It got rough back there," he said. "It was tough, but I beat them. It looks like when we get to Lemuria, I'm going to need some new clothes."
I would've laughed if we weren't in such a tough situation. Suddenly, a figure taller than all the rest of the pirates walked out the cabin of the enemy pirate ship. I presumed he was the captain of the vessel.
"It looks like he's the captain." Susa said, not knowing I knew already.
The captain walked out onto the catapult type contraption, and sat there. 2 other skeleton warriors started to walk towards the ship using the tightrope. Thinking quickly, I cut the ropes holding our ship and the 2 fleshless guards plunged into the water.
The captain pulled the lever and catapulted towards us. In midair he unsheathed a HUGE sword. At least 10 meters long. He came down on us like a pig with no air resistance, and daintily landed on our deck as we jumped clear of him. He swung his gigantic blade around. I ducked. A small tuft of my hair floated down.
"RRHAAA!!!!!!!" I screamed my battle cry.
I dashed at him with my sword in hand and attacked him offensively, swinging my sword at his bones every second, and having them blocked with his blade of death. His sword was sharp, but it was so heavy, it was very hard to swing and lug around. But its defensive power was high. I swung at him every second like a madman on coffee. But using every piece of his sword, he blocked the blows.
I vertically slashed at his arm that held the sword. Using the handle, he narrowly blocked my blade. The very tip of the handle broke as my Dark Sword sliced through it. He staggered, walking drunkily towards the balistrade. If he would fall off, I would win, and the other pirates would leave knowing their beloved captain had fallen.
Chances of that happening were slim. He held on tightly to his sword and plunged it into the wooden floor, clutching it like a crutch. He looked quite weak. I rammed at him.
"NO!!! Felix its a trick!!!" I heard Susa say.
But I had not calculated his warning soon enough. The captain revealed the dagger hidden behind his back and swung at me. I heard the scrape of metal and felt pain. It wasn't that big of a deal though. Probably just a scratch. My sword slipped out of my hand and lay at my side. Then he quickly lifted his bony hand.
My body went numb! I couldn't feel my legs, nor could I feel my arms and hands. I couldn't escape! I was done for! He had used some kind of psyenergy that I didn't know about to hold me in place and make sure I wouldn't escape.
The Pirate Skeleton Captain lifted his gigantic sword up over his head with all his might. I knew I was done for. The djinn I possessed couldn't help me, my psyenergy couldn't help me, and I couldn't help myself. I tried to get up, but couldn't. The captain held the sword for a few moments and swung his all his might at the spot inbetween my eyes.
My life flashed before my eyes. I remembered the time when I was playing catch with Isaac, Garet, and Jenna. We were only about 7 years old and we were having a great time. Only Garet tripped over a rock and started crying--- because his boot had a small rip in it now.
I also remembered the time when Isaac had moved his first rock when he was 13 and a half. He tried incredibly hard to become just like his daddy. He succeeded----once.
I will never forget that time when I was just 13 or 14, that I had fallen into a river during a furious storm. I was holding on to a log for dear life. Just thinking about it, I mean, how could a dead log save your life? It sounds silly to me now, but it was closest friend then. My daddy and mommy had sent for help. I heard Isaac and Garet and Jenna had volunteered to get a person who could use psyenergy. But by the time they had returned, a huge boulder was leaping down the mountain. It was right over me, and I...I thought I would die. I became unconcious after that. But was awoken by the strange Proxians, Saturos and Menardi. It was them who told me how to defend myself. It was them who taught me how to wield a sword. It was them who told me their village was dying. And that was when I decided to take a stand and help them out. Ever since then, I thought of myself as an enemy of Vale.
At first it hurt. But after a while, I realized how mean the elders of Vale were being to the Proxians. I did not tell my friends that I was still alive. They thought I was dead----for 3 years.
Then, one day, Saturos, Menardi, Alex (A so-called friend of theirs), and I decided to travel into Sol Sanctum to steal the Elemental Stars so we could light the lighthouses. But we were puzzled about how to get them. So, coincidentally, Isaac, Jenna, Kraden, and Garet had traveled to Sol Sanctum themselves and solved the puzzles. We followed them and and ended up where they ended up. In the heart of Sol Sanctum, where the Elemental Stars were held, literally.
That was when I uncovered my mask that I wore to Jenna. She was awestruck that I was alive. Not to mention Isaac and Garet.
I still loved my sister dearly, and I did not want Saturos or Menardi to harm her in anyway. And I mean any way. At that moment, when all the of the Elemental Stars were put into sacks, the temple started to collapse. We escaped, with all but one Elemental Star, the Mars Star. Isaac kept that one. We decided that we'd have to wait another day for it.
So that was when we traveled to the various lighthouses to light them. It was at the Venus Lighthouse that Saturos and Menardi were killed by Isaac and his gang.
For some reason though, I wasn't all that sad. Just kind of neutral. I didn't care whether Saturos or Menardi died or not. Besides, they were mean to Jenna.
But I filled in for them. I lighted the remaining lighthouses and after a fierce battle, fighting alongside Isaac and his friends, we lit the Mars Lighthouse and Alchemy was restored to the world.

All this and much, much, more zipped through my mind at lightning speed as the blade came upon me. I waited for death. But for some reason, it didn't come. I opened my eyes.
Susa had blocked the blow and was even now struggling on to his sword to keep me alive, Sparks flew everywhere as his sword struggled to keep up with the giant sword that belonged to the captain. My body suddenly became filled with feeling again. It's a great feeling, like you care.
I picked up my limp sword. It glowed a brilliant shade of purple. I knew what I had to do. With one final swing, sword exploded in a firey color of purple, red, and black. The Pirate Captain screamed in painless agony. His bones disintigrated into dust. He was gone. Defeated.
"We did it. Whew. That was a battle." Susa commented, gasping.
I heard a sort of a low moan from the enemy pirate ship. The crew was getting somewhat odd. They were muttering something I couldn't understand, and were chattering their teeth together.
Then, like some coincidence, the captains bones disintigrated and left only one item for us to take: The Idol of Izumo.
"We better flee before they try to attack us again Felix." Susa said.
"You're right," I said. "If we don't leave soon, they will get organized and attack again."
Susa took the wheel. I unraveled the sails. We started sailing, very slowly at first, then we picked up speed as we went on. Into the fog that wrapped around Lemuria every moment of the day did we sail into. The pirate ship behind us got fainter and fainter and fainter. Soon we were in fog so thick, we could not see ahead of us and we could not see the enemy behind us that we once fought. I knew there was nothing to worry about. I had been in Lemuria many times before, so I knew the gentle routes.
And as Susa daintily spun the wheel, I taught him about which currents were the safest to take. And our now peaceful ride was getting even more peaceful.

I don't think I should even comment, since you know what I'll say. I'll save the spam.

Ok very well
Its not your comment you have to sell
Anyway here is chapter fifteen
I would mean.


[I]Chapter 15[I]


The trip along the sea in the mist was uneventful. Because of the psyenergys power, the whirlpools and vortexs that would eat and tear at trade ships dissappeared. The mist however would always envelope Lemuria. It was what made Lemuria seperate from the rest of the world. The time patterns were different, thus allowing Lemurians an extended life.
"Are we there yet?" Asked Susa.
"No" I replied.
We reached a familiar circle of stones meaning that we were close. It would only be a few minutes until Lemuria was in view.
"Is there exotic food in Lemuria?" Asked Susa.
"No."
"Can we eat lunch when we get there?"
"No."
"Is the saltwater that surrounds Lemuria clean water?"
"No."
"Can I steer the ship?'
"No."
"What color are Lemurians' hair?"
"No."
"What did you mean by 'No"
"No. They have blue hair."
"Do they wear dresses at Lemuria?"
"No."
"Is there a bathroom in Lemuria?"
"No."
"Can I go to the bathroom when I get there?"
"No."
Susa was starting to annoy me. I was just about to grab his collar, when suddenly, he gasped. I turned around. The many towers and castles stood high over the sea as the mist cleared, revealing Lemuria.
For a moment we said nothing. Susa looked somewhat dissappointed. I did not know what made him so gloomy.
The docks slowly were coming into view. Many other ships were docked along side them.
Trade ships.
"Hey! I thought you said that this place was empty and that only Lemurian ships were here." Susa complained.
"I thought so too. But I guess things have changed." I replied.
Sails of many different cultures were strewn on every ship. I recognized Madras, Izumos, Kibombos, Apojiis, and even Vales wind torn flags. Their masts were wooden and high towering over our little ship.
An ark decorated the entrance to the main town. It had ancient words and markings etched on it. I presumed it was an ancient Lemurian language. We docked and locked the ship with a robe which Susa secured. I let down the anchor and heard a splash indicating the boat was locked in place. And we started to walk down the beaten path that lead to the town square.
We stepped through a small but winding staircase. When we emerged out of it, I saw what was Lemuria.
Lemuria was now hustling and bustling with activity. There were shops and street shops everywhere. Merchants wearing brilliant gold rings were easily spotted. Merchants I knew, others I didn't, had set up shop.
"This place is not at all how I remember it. This place was nearly empty." I said, staring at the "New Lemuria" city banner.
"Be right back Felix!" Susa shouted as he ran towards a newly erected bathroom.
Where was Piers? Did he die? No, he couldn't have. But I could barely see any blue haired people around. Where did all the Lemurians go? I guess I knew it all along. He ditched us and lied. Instead of staying, he left to find adventure like all the other Lemurians.
"I'm back Felix!" Susa yelled as he ran towards me.
"Lemuria has changed. It's not at all like it used to be. It used to be so quiet, that you could whisper and its echo would be carried all the way throughout Lemuria," I said. "I need to talk to Piers. To find out what has happened and why so many Lemurians have left."
We strolled down the age old brick path towards Piers house. But only after a minute of walking, the path was filled up with customers lining up to buy unnecessary objects.
"Get out of the way!" I said angrily.
But the customers did not hear me. So I tried to squeeze through the line to the other side, but-- "Hey you! Yeah you, with the ponytail! No cutting in line!" And I was pushed down, hard onto the ground, colors dancing before my eyes.
"Jerks...." I cursed.
"Well while we're here, we might as well shop a little." Susa sighed.
I dissagreed, but I came along knowing I had nothing better to do. We walked over to one of the empty merchant shops. "Fortune Telling for the Unfortunate" was what the sign above us read. A hooded figure stepped out from behind a curtain.
"Welcome foolish mortals to my fortune telling sanctum," He said in his terribly awful imitation of a fortune teller voice. "What fortune do you wish me to foretell?"
"Er, ummm, can you tell me if my friends, who are hundreds of miles away, are okay?
"Grrhhh," He grunted. "I'll umm..."
"Yes?" Susa said in a falsely sweet voice.
"I'll look into that for you," He finally said. "Have a seat."
We sat down in 2 brown chairs. He lifted his hands over the shining crystal ball that stood if front of them. He started humming.
After about 5 minutes of humming, we could sit there no longer.
"Hey! I want my mo---"
"AHAA," He shouted so that we both jumped in our chairs. "I found it!"
"Found what?" Susa asked irritably.
"My dog!"
"Your dog?"
"Yes"
"But I thought you were telling our fortune?"
"I will--in justa moment."
He hummed for ten seconds more.
"Your friends are in serious danger!! They are in a jail cell with no food and water and are being tortured by a thief who is none other then Babi!"
"Babi is dead." I said.
"Give it up. You're a fraud. Can you give us our money back now?" Susa desperately pleaded.
"Hehe. Thought you'ed crack." He said. Only his voice was different now. Something about it seemed familiar.
"Who are you! Reveal yourself!" I shouted, poised for battle.
"Ha! Fighting is always the answer to you Felix!" He laughed.
He grabbed his hood and his cape flew off, landing over someones head.
It was him.
"Piers!!!" I shouted.
"Hello old friend. Didn't expect to see you here."
"I didn't expect you to hide like that." I said happily.
"Well, my fortune telling voice is great isn't it?"
I ignored his last sentence. I didn't want to make him feel bad.
"And who is this?" Piers said curiously.
Susa stood idly by, watching dumbfoundedly, jaws dropped and eyes wide open.
"This is Susa. He--" I started to say, but Piers cut me off.
"I know this person Felix. You don't have to tell me."
They shook hands, did a little hand movement, and joined my party.
"So what brings you to New Lemuria? Great name isn't it?" He said happily.
The story I was about to tell him would blow his mind, so I decided he should go first.
"You should go first." I said.
He said,"Well, Lemuria has definitely flourished from its trade with neighboring islands. Only most of the people here left to find adventure, mind you. But I stayed here because I have a special job when King Hydros dies."
"What is it?" I said curiously.
"I can't tell you. It's secret." He said.
But I already figured out what the secret was.
"You mean you are going to be ki--" I started.
But he quickly covered my mouth with his hand.
"Don't say it out loud! Some people here might try and assassinate me," He whispered. "Now what brings you here."
And I told him everything. When I was finished, his beaming smile vanished completely.
"We need help, Piers. That is why we came here. We have a wreched ship, and we have no help to save the lighthouses what so ever. We need you." Susa pleaded.
Piers hesitated.
It seemed like a long time before he finally replied, "Fine. I'll help. But we need to take a Lemurian ship."
"Be my guest!" Susa and I said simultaneously.
We started heading towards the docks when a new pack of people blocked the path.
"That is the drawback. We never have any free space anymore." Piers commented.
We started to squeeze through the crowd, but this time we couldn't even make it to the middle.
But Susa had. In fact, he had leaped over the crowd in hopes of seeing, or buying, what it was that was so popular. What was worse, I let him have the honor of holding our groups spending money, which was about 100,000 Gil. And in our savings account we also had 100,000 Gil. Susa had both accounts in little pouches hanging on his belt. I heard the loud shouts of the selling merchant. I was afraid he might spend some money.
"Now, now , now....Yes, Yes...Our robes are made of the finest silk.....no, that diamond is 20,000 Gil.....Child! Put that down! Our rubber ducks are expensive! They were imported from Xian......No Mam, the frying pan is not made of plastic. There is no such thing....Child, would you please put that duck down!!!!"
We heard a hundred shouts as we saw the shop filled to the very brim. I peeked over the group of people to see what it was that was so popular.
"Sir, I think you should buy this wonderful rapier......no mam, the plastic frying pan is not for sale and don't have one for sale.....Child! Don't touch the rubber duck, please! What! You want a discount on the rapier! Oh well fine......No I will not give the rest of you people discounts! Child please step away from the duck!!!!!"
It was crazy. The people were jumping all over the shop, dying to get hold of exotic artifacts that were not soon to be sold. The child trying to see the rubber duck ran all the back to her mom---who was in the croud.
"Felix! Look!" Susa yelled excitedly, climbing over the crowds' heads.
I stood on a leftover crate and peered over the crowd ( people were climbing over each other now) and saw a handsome rapier with an encrusted topaz hilt and handle. Its blade glowed a beautiful purple and gold color. A label under it read:

Venus Rapier- A sword once believed to be owned by the goddess Venus herself. It has an aura of love that can only be felt by natural born adepts, such as Lemurians. This weapon is highly sought after by a number of collectors . Warriors believe such a beautiful sword should not be held for combat.
-200,000 Gil-

The description was a bit corny, but I nearly fell. The price was CRAZY!
"Susa! We can't afford that! It will completely drain our savings!" I shouted.
"But I've got to get it! It's 10 times better then my Cloud Brand!"
"But we won't have any money left for food!"
"I don't care! I want it, and you won't stop me!"
"Susa!" I shouted.
But he fell into the crowd, visible no more. I knew he was making his way towards the front where the head merchant who was selling the sword was located.
"Look at the bright side," said Piers. "At least this crowd of people will dissappear when they realize the sword is gone."
Only I couldn't realize it. I worked hard for the money, and now he was going to spend it. But I pushed the thought aside.
Only a half an hour later, Susa emerged from the crowd, grinning, with his new Venus Rapier in hand. The rest of the crowd watched in awe as he lifted it high as though it was a trophy. Then he strapped it tightly to his back and walked up to us, satisfied. The rest of the crowd left knowing there was nothing more expensive to buy. We were ready to leave Lemuria on a Lemurian Ship
"Shall we?" Susa said in an inviting voice.
Piers and I groaned.


*NOTE*
As of this afternoon, another chapter shall be posted. But keep in mind, Felix will no longer be telling the story from his point of view.

If it's from thee view of Susa, I'll scream for no reason. Whether it is a scream of joy or hate, you may never know.

Not a view of Susa at all.

Tis now I must post
The lover of pot roast
Garet's his name
He is so lame...


Chapter 16


"No. No please! Mommy! I don't want spinach for dinner tonight. I want steak! I want steak!"
I awoke out of the worst nightmare I ever had which was in Vale in my house. My mom said we were having some spinach or something. It turned out she had no meat in the house, so I cried like a baby. I suddenly remembered something.....
"Come out! Acheon you. I'm going to teach you a lesson!" I shouted. But I was staring into nothingness. I scratched my head. Where was I? Where were my friends? I could not be sure, but it looked as if no one was around.
"Hello!" I shouted, and my voice echoed as if I was in a tunnel.
I think I'm in a tunnel of some sort I thought. Maybe some light will help.
I ignited a small fireball in my hand. It provided warmth and light. Looking around, I viewed the details of my whereabouts.
I was in deep and dark cave. Cold too, and isolated from any sources of light, excluding my dimly lit fire. The cave walls had stalagmites protruding sharply out of the darkened walls. I couldn't see any further then 3 meters ahead of me.
Where am I thought
But no answer would come if I just waited. So I started to walk towards the direction I thought would be the safest. The cave walls did not change at all. The ground remained rocky and no source of natural light was to be seen.
After a while, things had not changed. The tunnel remained long and uneventful. It was starting to annoy me. So I opened my pack and took out a biscuit and some jerky along with a flask of imported Hermes water. I sat down on a large rock and started eating, thinking deeply about how to get out of the cave. But I didn't think nor eat long when suddenly I felt a jerk under my buttocks. I leaped in surprise and turned to see what had "attacked" me.
The rock I had sat on was not really a rock at all. Four holes I had not noticed were deep by the sides of the creature. Its rocky shell was rough looking and rock like. Then its feet flew out slowly. It now looked like a turtle with no head. But soon a head came out of the front of the creature. Its head was merely a rock being held by an extendable neck. 2 eyes were embeded on the sides of the creatures head. It reminded me of the Wise One, the protector of Vale and the Elemental Stars. I shuttered just thinking of him.
The rock started to move. Slowly at first, but enough to notice. I had nothing more to do. I packed up my half-eaten lunch and started to follow the turtle. After about 10 minutes of following, I concluded he wouldn't go anymore then 50 meters by the end of the day. It would take forever.
"Come on! You lazy-" I said annoyingly.
Then, as if I had said the magic words, it started to speed up. Faster. So fast I couldn't keep up.
"Hey wait!" I shouted.
I grabbed onto his shell before he could escape and mounted him. Incredibly, he did not slow down due to my weight.
We were traveling fast. Through the dark caves, across the jagged rocks, we made a great team.
"You know. You are very reliable. Maybe you could join my friends and I to help save Wey-" But I was cut off as a jagged stalagmitic rock that hung from the ceiling hit my head as we were running. I slid off my mounted friend and landed with a thud on the ground.
"OWWW," I shouted in pain. "That hurt! You dirty rotten-"
Suddenly I heard a rhythm of horse like hooves. They were coming my way. And the caves became strangely luminent as they approached. I quickly started to run in panic as to what they were. I soon came upon a chamber of the cave with 3 other passages, like a plus sign. I stood there, hesitant, not knowing which way to go.
Then one finally appeared.
A winged black horse with black hooves and jet black hair strode into the dimly lit light. One rider was mounted on its back. But his armor gleamed a bright purple. His skin was a deep blue and its eyes were a piercing yellow. 2 others rode through the other entrances and surrounded me. I did not know how I got here or how they knew I was here, but just the same, I was in deep trouble.


This is a very info filling part of the story as this is where we shall find out where Acheon and Faruth come from.
2 chapters shall post tommorow.

I'm going to have to finish reading this later. This story is great. B)

The pursuers of death
Garet's smelly breath
We may not know
Which is more low


Chapter 17


I unsheathed my Fire Brand and jammed it into the rocky earth.
"Purgatory!" I shouted.
A whirling tornado of fire exploded out of it, and literally stunned the black horsemen. I made a break for it. I ran through one of the larger tunnels to try to escape. I thought I would be safe. Only I was not. I still could hear the trampling hooves of the Black horses.
I came up to an area where many jagged rocks jutted out of the ground and I couldn't cross.
There must be some way.....
Then it came to me like a lightning bolt.
"Flash," My fire djinni, Flash, appeared before my eyes, "Hold them off!"
A firey shield boosted from the ground as I called out Coal, my other fire Djinni.
Coal boosted my energy so I was more agile. Flashs firewall was beginning to wear off.
"Kirin!!" I shouted.
And in a flash of light, Coal and Flash dissappeared and a flaming beast of flames stood before me, waiting for me to mount him. His horns were curved like a Rams; his hide was flames and nothing else; his pearly black eyes bore the reflection of his flaming skin; and his body curvature was that of a buffalo. Yet when I mounted him, he jumped so swiftly through the prickly stones below, I could not bear but enjoy the ride given to me by him.
The Firewall behind me dissapatted and I could see the outlining of the horses behind me attempt to jump swiftly across the stones like Kirin did. They did pretty well.
The firey mane of Kirin lit up the passageway in a way so that I could see for miles ahead. At least, I would've. The cave swerved and turned manytimes so we would never know what lay around the corner. We ignored that disadvantage though. And soon, that disadvantage came back to haunt us.
We came up to a sudden bend and turned swiftly like a cat. We were moving at a high speed. Kirin knew when to jump and how to jump before we even got to the jump. A jump here! A jump there! We jumped all over the place, so quickly, the walls were little more then a blur to my eyes. I managed to catch a glimse of the jagged rocks that lay below on the hard ground. I could see why Kirin had to jump so much. There were so many rocks and boulders, we had to dodge them all. I wondered how the black horses behind us managed to get through to us.
Kirin suddenly stopped instantly as his rough paws scraped the ground for brakes. Skid marks burned the dirt.
"What's wrong?" I asked him.
He nudged in the forward direction and I saw what we were up against. Below us lay a deep chasm. And wide too. It was huge! And when I mean huge, I mean Colosso Stadium. I couldn't see at all what was down there. Maybe there was nothing at all. But I could see the outlines of the cessations of many other caverns leading to the chasm. Did all tunnels lead to this ending? I sure hope they didn't.
Then I heard the galloping hooves of the Black Horsemen. Kirin nudged me in the shoulder and I leaped onto his back. Almost immediately, Kirin leaped high into the air and literally flew across the chasm.
This is crazy! I'm jumping off a ledge into a deep and dark chasm from which there is no return! I thought.
But we did not fall. Kirin leaped swiftly but surely across the canyon. We headed for a random cave across our starting point. I expected a hard impact upon landing, but we touched the ground daintily as if we only jumped a quarter of a meter. Kirin turned around and stared at the cave from which we came. I could not be sure, but I could've sworn I saw the 2 Black Horsemen emerge from the cave from which we came, looking bewildered.
I smiled slightly, almost at the brink of laughing at their attempt to capture me. Kirin and I walked down the corridor slowly, catching our breath.
We walked for only a few minutes when we emerged into a somewhat large intersection. Not too large, just somewhat bigger than other caverns. A few tunnels branched off the walls.
Suddenly a rope shot out of the dark and strapped itself around one of Kirins hind legs. It was an ambush!
"RRRHHHHOAAAAAAARRRRR!!!!" It roared. The sound magnified itself in the cavern in which I stood. What a roar!
Another rope shot out from the darkness and grasped a Kirins front legs tightly.
It roared again, sending my ears ringing. It apparently sent the ears of our attackers ringing too, because one of them dropped out of the darkness and onto the ground, hands over their ears.
It was them again. How had they found us? Did they have access to all the tunnels, wherever they were?
Kirin roared again. A dozen other ropes wrapped around Kirins chest, mane, legs, and neck. Kirin roared in hatred.
"Don't worry! I'll cut you free!" I shouted, unsheathing my Fire Brand. But before I could even begin to cut ropes----
"Thunkanktucheke!" I heard someone say behind me. I knew it was one of the enemies.
I turned my head around, just in time to have the blunt end of a staff bash me on my forehead.
"Black...Black....Everything is black," I muttered on the ground, barely conscious. "No, No....must stay....awake."
I attempted to stand up again. I realized that was a bad idea. I felt my forehead bashed again with what I was sure to be the same stick that hit me before. That did it.
I kept my eyes open long enough before I would become unconscious, to see Kirin evaporate into thin air like he always did when he helped me. And I saw the ropes that held him fall to the ground, and leave their wielders confused.


-Intermission-

___________________________________________________________


I awoke. And my head was literally split; I had an earspliting headache. I felt a bump where the staff had bashed me. I would get them I would! They wouldn't get away with hurting me and Kirin! They never will! They will suffer!
But I opened my eyes wider and saw that my wishes would not be granted soon. I was in what looked like a prison cell. The rock walls surrounded my new dwelling. Heavy iron bars ceased my escape in one of the sides of my cell. All the other sides were rocky and barren, like the tunnel walls. And alongside the walls that stood outside of my cell were torches strapped to the wall for dim light. A chair and a table sat outside my jail cell. On the table lay a piece of parchment and a key. If I could just grab it, I could unlock the jail cell door and escape, this place that I did not know.
Luckily, I had stolen Isaacs Catch Beads when he was sleeping a month ago. It was a miracle he didn't notice they were gone. The strewn beads lay now around my neck.
What was so special about these beads was that they were given to Isaac from his mother. What the beads did, you see, is that they bestowed a psyenergy called catch, where you would have the ability to grab objects from afar or high up.
I grasped my hand out towards the key. Slowly, the key magically lifted off its previous spot and started floating towards me as if a pair of invisible hands were holding them. The piece of parchment still lay flat on the hard desk. I unlocked the jail cell door and started for the door that led out of the room. But somehow, I wanted to see what was written on the piece of parchment that was on the desk. I hesitated to grab the door knob. I sat down in the chair instead and read the piece of parchment which read this:


Prison Guard Application Form

Mr. Chester, you have applied for the responsibility to guard prison cell B1467875. Under no circumstances is the prisoner there allowed to leave the cell without supervision. If the prisoner causes any trouble, please refer to the whipping master that lives on the far side of the building. Under no circumstances is the prisoner to be awarded.
You on the other hand have a different situation. The council has awarded you with the privilage of guarding the most dangerous prisoner in the Underworld. The council has currently classified him/her as an unidentified adept. Approach him/her with extreme caution. If you do a good job, you will be highly awarded for taking on such a dangerous task. If the prisoner escapes however, you will be given the same fate that is to happen to the prisoner if he escapes. A staff will be provided to you if necessary....



I couldn't read anymore. The rest of the form was full of blank lines to write in information.
I realized the "prisoner" they were talking about was me. And someone was trying to apply for a job to guard me. I wondered who could it be? I was sure it would be one of those black knights that jabbed on my head. I rubbed my hair to ease the pain.
Suddenly, I heard footsteps outside. I heard someone scraping on the outside wall, loud enough so that I could here it. In panic, I scrambled off my chair, carelessly let go of the guard form, took the key, and locked myself back behind the jail bars. Feeling relieved, the door opened.
I think I would have screamed or run away if I hadn't been in the jail cell behind bars. The being that opened the door was much more frightening then the Proxians. Although not as frightening as Acheon and Faruth, who came from who knows where.
As he closed the door behind him, I had a clear look at his facial features. His skin has blue, like Saturos. He had long, jet black hair that stretched out to his waistline but parted at the end. His bangs were raised inches over his face and were pointed at the end, in which I noticed he had a number of markings on his blue skin. But it was his eyes that got to me. It was them that showed what he really was. The part of his eye that was really supposed to be white was instead a yellowish, owlish color. And his iris, don't get me started on those---they were as red as blood let me tell you.
His body had tight, leathery, black armor fastened with red and gold colored straps. The armor over his arms, legs, and chest, were held together by gold colored buttons. Boots he wore, they were black too, encrusted with leather. On his back, a staff was strapped.
Other then the over excessiveness of the black armor, he didn't look all that ugly. It didn't look like he was anymore then 17 years old---my age. I think Sheba would've liked him, if she was here.
He walked over to my cage quietly. I stayed speechless, still gazing into his nightmarish eyes. He stopped at the bars and eyed me carefully. I became more afraid as I got a closer look at his pupils. I would've turned my head if there was something else more distracting to make me look at.
"Please stop staring into my eyes like that," said he. "It's making me feel uncomfortable. I would much more favor it if you answered a few questions.
His voice was not deep or squeeky, just right. And the way he said it was very reassurring, not scared or mean at all. Just peaceful, like he was talking to a regular person.
"Please sit down in the chair. The council and I would like to know about you." He said.
"Actually, I was hoping you'ed answer a few of my questions." I replied shakily.
"Really? The council thinks you are an Altarian that is trying to infiltrate the tunnels and find your way to the city."
"What city?" I said.
"The city that is outside. Out of this prison. You do know of it right?"
"No. And what is the council? Who is the council? I'm confused!" I cried dazily.
The one who stood in front of me sighed.
"The council thinks you know everything. Yet you know so little," He said disappointingly. "I better alert the council about this."
He lifted himself out of his chair and stood as if he was ready to leave.
"Oh, and I didn't get your name!" He added.
"It's Garet."
"Ok," He replied. "Listen, I know you're an adept, and I know you can use psyenergy. I noticed the cell key was pointing in a different direction when I got here. You see, I notice things like that. And you know, I know you haven't done anything wrong. You just happened to get imprisoned because the city guards thought you were an Altarian. And they thought you were dangerous and were going to hurt people. But if you are an Altarian, I.....don't think I can help you there. But, no hard feelings OK?"
I nodded blankly.
"So anyway," He added. "I've been assigned your prison guard. Please don't try and escape. If you do, we will both be in big trouble. And if you need anything, don't hesitate to ask."
A million questions cycled through my brain. How did I get here? Where was I? Where was everyone else? I couldn't sort it all out.
"I still have a million questions! I don't know what's happening at all! I don't know where my friends are, but I'm sure they're worried about me!!! I...." I yelled, but I was cut off.
"I'm sure all your questions will be answered tommorow when we talk again. But for now, lie low." He tried to reassure.
"But.."
"Don't worry! You're fine! You know, I'll tell you what. How about I take you out of here tommorow to see what life is like here in the Underworld. Maybe then you will calm down. But please, I only have so much power. Don't try to make my job harder. I'm doing all I can to make your stay here more pleasant!"
He tried to use every last bit of reassurance in that last statement. To try and convince me to calm down. I decided I would let this argument slide. And find out what he was going to do with me tommorow. He grabbed the key and headed for the door.
I realized I did not know his name.
"Hey wait!" I shouted.
Almost instantly he slid back into the room as if he knew I would call him back.
"Yes?" He said curiously.
I took a breath and said, "I didn't get your name. What should I call you by?"
He smiled a weird smile, but I could tell it was a smile of complete satisfaction. He thought for a moment.
"Hmm...." he thought. "Call me Chester."
And he disappeared behind the metallic door and locked it tight where I stood...waiting.

Being the longest
Chapter so far
We revert back to
Our red headed Star


Chapter 18


My sleep on the freezing cold stone floor was not pleasant. All I could think about was the journey home. My escape---beating up all the jail guards and running out of the prison, except maybe Chester. Then, if any of the knights clad in black armor appeared, the I would fry them to a crisp like a breaded chicken leg. I drooled as I thought of this. Next morning, I wondered why the floor was so damp.
The morning came. Or maybe not. Like I said, the sun was not around to shine upon my face and tell me the time. Only torches stuck on the walls marked my source of light. And so another day was yet to pass in my prison cell. I could not bear to think how it would be, couped up all day in here, without decent food and a place to run around free.
At that moment, Chester walked in holding a tray with some horrible smelling food on it. The smell was kind of like rotten fish and decaped tomatoes mixed together in dew from the ground. The smell made me feel like vometing.
"It's time for breakfast Garet. Enjoy your meal." Chester said cheerfuly.
"Eat? Eat what? You expect me to eat this? I don't eat this. This is not my native food. And even if this was my native food, I'd doubt I'd eat this." I said repellently.
He smiled.
"I knew it. I knew this was not your kind of food. But the council advised me to give you the most unhealthy vitamins possible," He said. "If you want I'll cook you something suitable?"
"Of course! Would you eat this?!" I said, pointing at the disgusting bowl of mixture.
"No. It is not my native food. We eat vegetables such as mushrooms and the algae that grows in the outskirts of town. Mostly soup. We NEVER eat meat. We believe it is our duty to protect the bodies of the animal spirits of the world. Therefore I cannot and am not able to cook meat."
I grimaced. I was hoping he could cook me a steak or something.
"Hey, I'll have some of your native food?" I suggested.
"Great idea," He shouted. "You may not like it though. I'll be right back." And he dissappeared.
Once again bored, I took off my boots and counted my toes like I always did when I was bored. I could've sworn I counted 12 this time. Chester came back after only 10 minutes. He was carrying yet another tray and on it was a bowl.
"Try this." He said.
And he unlocked the jail bar door and let me sit down at the table where I looked down at my food.
At first, it looked like a normal vegetable soup. But as I looked closer, I saw tiny mushrooms with longstalks in the soup, like noodles almost. Then I saw several speckles of green which I was pretty sure was algae. I took my spoon, dipped it in, scooped up a nice chunk of mushrooms and algae, placed it in my mouth, and chewed. It wasn't all that bad. It was kind of normal, like it had no taste. I didn't hate it, nor did I like it. It just....satisfied me.
"How was that?" Chester asked me curiously.
"Different," I replied. "But satisfying."
Chester looked pleased with himself, he and his blue face.
"If anyone finds out I've fed you good food, then we'll both be in big trouble."
"You got that right."
And so I finished my meal over a period of a half-an-hour. Chester had left the room to let me eat in peace. The meal started tasting very bad nearing the end. Luckily, I poured the rest into a crack in the wall.
At that moment, Chester walked in, still looking cheerful.
"Garet! I'm going to take you on a fieldtrip! I'm going to take you around the city today even though it is against the council. And if we get found out we are both dead, but still I believe it is important for newcomers to understand the world around them!" He said.
"Woo hoo..." I said with fake enthusiasm.



"You will need to cover yourself with this." Chester said as he tidied me up for the outing.
He grabbed a jet black cloak from the table and wrapped me around it.
"If ANYONE sees you, they will freak out because you have red hair and have different colored skin. Do all you can to hide your hair especially.
I tied my cloak completely, put my hood on, and headed out with Chester.
"Stay close to me." He reminded. And he opened the door into a hallway with torches hanging from the walls. The hallway was long. And it had a number of prison cells going down it. Looking back, I realized my cell was at a dead end. I guess it must've meant I was an important prisoner. We walked down the hallway quickly but quietly hoping not to get grab the attention of the people behind the jail bars. But I couldn't help but look at them. A lot of them stood on their beds squatting and staring into space as if they were tranced. Others just rattled the bars with their roommates yelling their brains out. One of the heavily tattoed guys yelled at us, "Hey Plutos boy! Yeah yuo! Get yuo but hewre and let me oat." He rattled the bars and called us both several names that were not of public language.
We walked down the hall, continuing to hear the mans accursed yells. But we soon became out of range of his yells. Instead, next to us were a couple of guys in a cell, arm wrestling. They looked like they were having a good time eating the soup that was given to them. Too bad I wasn't having such a good time as they were.
After a while I started getting tired and bored walking through these halls.
"When are we going to reach an exit?" I whispered desperately.
"Almost there," Chester whispered back. "Ah. We're here."
I didn't notice that the walls had dramatically widened. Before the both of us stood a large, heavily carved double door. Its height was at least 10 meters. I did not see a doorknob. Instead, Chester held a gold encrusted ruby over a small hole where some light beamed in.
"This is the only way to open these doors. With this ruby, the doors are magically opened." Chester explained.
"How?" I asked.
"I don't know. The council just gave it to me. Ok, onward."
And the door gave a little clicking sound showing it was unlocked, and it opened. I stepped back to allow it to open because it swung open towards me. And before me stood a cavern beyond my imaginational mind.
Have you ever been in a stadium? If you have, let me tell you something. You think this stadium is big? Do you think honestly think it is the biggest thing you have ever seen? Well, you're truly WRONG. The cavern I now stood in was a 1000 times bigger then any stadium I have seen. It was gigantic! It completely overwhelmed me. It was so large, I could not see the walls. The height of the cavern was so high, I could not see the ceiling because it was enveloped in darkness.
"THIS IS WHERE YOU LIVE!" I shouted so that the whole cavern echoed.
"Yeah. Sad isn't it." Chester said solemnly.
I could not believe how he could stay so calm in the face of such a wonder. I was in a remote area of the cavern, but in the distance I could actually see buildings! In a cavern?! They were like tall towers, as high as the lighthouses perhaps. I didn't know because their tops went dissappearing into the abyss above.
There was also a stone gray road that winded through the city which dwelled in this cavern. Along side this road, many lamps holding blue flames flickered to provide dim light. The lamps stretched for who knows how many kilometers. Using the flames' light, I could make out the silhouette of hundreds of walking people with blue skin.
"Ok Garet, lets go into the main city." Chester said.
I stayed close to him as we walked down the little brick road. The buildings came closer, and as we entered the city, the buildings came closing around me. The streets were now hustling with activity. Women and men with blue faces were walking around the streets visiting shops and stuff. This was too much.
"How did you guys do this?" I asked him with complete amazement.
"It's been like this since the beginning of time. There was no set date for erecting these structures." Chester replied.
"But still this is incredible!" I said.
"Exactly how I feel. Incredibly old and boring. Nothing new."
"Come on! This is the coolest city I've ever been in!" I said, but it was now loud enough so that others heard me. Some of the people looked at me with awkward expressions that looked as if they said, "Incredible? Sheesh...people these days.."
At this statement, Chester blinked.
"Really?" He said.
"Really." I replied.
"Well that's good to know. Anyway, let's head to the Athenaeum."
"The what?!" I asked him dumbfounded.
"The Athenaeum. It's kind of a library or historical documents museum."
"What for?" I said dissappointedly. I really wanted to try one of the fruits down in the market.
"I am taking you there so you may learn. So you may learn what this place is and where it is located and all that stuff, since you wanted to know yesterday." Chester explained.
"Well, alright. As long as it helps me find out where my friends are too." I replied.

We walked for a long ways. But the path just kept on going and going without even changing scenery. People walked casually down the paths, buying things from shops. It was starting to get boring.
I understood now. Staying here could really get you depressed because you can't get out and explore and see different things, have adventures, and make new friends.
We finally reached it after walking plenty more; a large pearly white building with high steps. It was heavily architectured. The building was high, but it covered more area. The walls of the building were adorned with columns, not to mention the overdose of statues. Statues lined the stairs leading up to the Athenaeum doors. I recognized some of them. One of them was Megaera, the goddess of Vengence. She helped us countless times in battle. Then there was Ulysses, the legendary wandering mage. He also helped us out too. But the most frightening statue was Haures. He nearly gave me a heart attack when I turned around watching the other statues joyfully, and came face to face with his pearly red eyes. I tripped backward in frightened surprise. Some people walking up to the Athenaeum stared at me.
"Ok, enough playing around," Chester laughed. "We have to go."
And so after that ordeal we headed up to the large stone doors that made the building, a building.
I stepped in. I was dissappointed. I expected the inside to be much more decorative then the outside. It was like a palace in one room, and a trashy closet in the next. The halls were alot like the prison halls. The same lengthy feeling, the stone floors, the winding hallways that turned in every direction---all of it was so perfect for getting a man lost. And it was cold too.
Signs on the walls with arrows pointed in different directions. I couldn't read the writing on the signs because it was in a different language.
"Ok follow me Garet, because it's easy to get lost in here." Chester informed me.
"Like I didn't already know that..." I replied sarcastically.
Chester ignored me and we continued to walk on. The halls were stone and many turns into other rooms indicated that the information stored in this place was definitely complex. The books here must've been seperated into different sections.
"Ok we go this way...yes." I heard Chester mutter.
"Chester, do you even know where you're going? There are so many halls and turns, like a maze! How do possibly expect me to believe that you are going the right way in this...this maze!" I shouted.
"Believe me, do you think you know this place any better then I do?" Chester said, instantly closing the conversation.
Chester was good at that---closing conversations. He would always come up with a reason that I can't seem to counter against.
After a few more minutes of walking, we turned left into a stone corridor with red carpet. Then we turned once more, right this time. Before us stood 2 old wooden doors. Their knobs were dusty and old, but when Chester grabbed one and scraped the dust off, the knob seemed to as shiny as it had been when it was forged. A question came to mind.
"Chester, how can you have wooden doors all the way down here when trees are all the way up there?"
"I'm not sure. This door has always been wooden for as long as I can remember. And I didn't know trees grew up on the overworld. What are they like?"
"They provide shade from the sun, they provide us food, and....I guess that is about it," I said. "Hey Chester what does that say?"
I was pointing at a sign that was pasted on to the double doors. Again, I was not able to read it.
"It says Historical Accounts." Chester translated.
Chester turned the knob. A rush of warm air surrounded me. All the cold air in the halls seemed to melt away. It was a great feeling.
But it was unnoticeable by the time I was in the room only because this room was intriguing. The rooms width and length was about 30 meters across and was circular. The walls were an oaken, brownish color and were decorated with shelfs of books----old books. The room for some reason was also strangely luminent, even though there was not a trace of light. I could see pretty well.
The floor was wood also. A very fine color. Whoever did the flooring for this room was probably a very skilled craftsmen. Standing in the middle of this room was a wooden table and a chair, also very dusty.
It was now that I realized what this room smelled like. It smelled old and musty. Like it had been unhabited for a very long time.
"How old is this place?" I asked Chester. My voice oddly echoed around this room.
"Like I said Garet, I have no clue. The council keeps that secret to themselves, and I'm not exactly 3000 years old." Chester replied.
I walked over to one of the dusty old shelves and picked up a book. It was teal in color. But it was probably originally blue but became gray due to age. I was about to open it when--
"DON"T OPEN THE BOOK!"
Chester shouted violently at me. I dropped it instantly.
"Why not?!" I casually said to Chester who was standing across the room.
The in a calmer voice he said, "Garet. These books are unimaginably old. Some are even older then psyenergy itself. Some even date back to the time of the gods and goddesses. And, some were even made during the time of the Wars of Psyenergy, where battle for dominian was popular. During that time, many books were written and cursed by evil ones to be protected and only to be read by their originators. Do you see now Garet? Do you see that if you happen to pick up and open a book that happens to be cursed, something very regretful might happen to you?"
The thought did not occur to me. I was a fool. I was curious. But now I knew what and what not to do.
I sat in the chair and looked around sideways while Chester rummaged through the bookcases looking for a suitable book for me to read. After observing the room, I concluded that there weren't many books.
"This place is kinda small to be the room that holds the history of the world." I said casually.
Chester looked at me awkwardly, like he thought I had lost my mind.
"Small? Why do you mean small? This is the largest room I've ever known! How could you say it is small?" Chester asked me, surprised. He did a little arm movement that indicated he meant the whole room.
"It's small because it's small and...." I started, but it was then that I actually looked UP.
My eyes went scaling upward into where the ceiling should have been.
The ceiling was high! Too high! As in so high, I could just barely make out the ceiling above the walls.
The walls. That was what really startled me. The walls just went high up until they hit the ceiling. This room was shaped like a cylinder! Really, I was in an unimaginably high cylinder!
But the tall room wasn't even the half of it.
Along side the walls, in shelfs extending all the way up to the top, were books. Billions of books all about the entire history of Weyard and the long forgotten history of the ages, and probably........beyond.
If Kraden were here, he would probably have a heart attack due to the shock of having so much information at his disposal. It was that big! I couldn't believe I didn't see it all when I had entered the room in the first place!
"Garet...are you telling me you didn't realize that this room was this big until now?" Chester asked me calmly.
"Yes.." I answered, very shocked.
Instantly, Chester went into a phase of laughter. He fell to the ground and was rolling, literally crying.
After about 5 minutes, he finally stopped.
"You done yet?" I asked him annoyingly.
He sniveled and said, "Yeah," he wiped his nose on his sleeve. "Yeah, I'll continue looking for a book."
And he stepped onto a ladder that extended high above into the flurry of books above.
I sat in the chair, still thinking about why I had not noticed such a thing. Why? Why?

Chester came down in about 5 minutes with a large, brown, 12 inch spined book in hand. He placed it gently down on the desk in front of me.
"Read." He said in an orderly voice.
I turned to the first page of the book and looked at the contents. Skimming down the page, I saw the names of many weird sections such as "The History of the Kraken" and "The Forgery Of The Carry Stone". Eventually I came across a chapter that I wanted to read. I turned to page 14,730, and here is what I read:



Origin of the Underworld
A Brief Explanation Of
The Creation Of Thee


Out of the many lands and creations of the universe, none is more terrifying then the land of the Underworld, where only those who wield psyenergy of shadows are able to survive. As of then, the Underworld was never just "created." Rather, it just exists. Unlike its predecessor, The Altarians, the peoples of the Underworld are little more then adepts who harness evolved psyenergy. Their homes are in the dark, their food is gained from the dark, and their nature is that of the dark. But that is not to say that they are not pleasant. Some of them have the gift of friendship and kinship, where they are able to interact with others. Often, they try to befriend others of another race, the gifted ones that is. but due to their frightening looks, they are not very acceptive from other races, especially Altarians (see page 15,890 for details on Altarians).
The evolved psyenergy however is what these peoples are most famous for. They once had a normal type of psyenergy, but living for eons in the caves below Weyard, has allowed them to enhance their understanding of psyenergy.
Their arch-enemy, Altarians, have also developed fire psyenergy in such a way that normal fire psyenergy cannot prevail against it.
Their are forces however that can shield themselves to Altarian power. Shadow Guards as they are called, have abilities that are able resist the psyenergy of Altarians. They are trained in the cave city that is otherwise known to mankind as Elwyn. Rigorous training with their darkened psyenergy is done to increase its users skill.
The terrain of the Underworld is not any more then canyons, abyss', and long rocky caves.
The canyons are widely known to be cursed and if fallen into, impact will not reveal itself. Many of the caves' ends end up there.
The long rocky caves house many creatures that are only able to live in the darkness of the caves(see page 19,760 for details).
The caves are long and uneventful and house psyenergy crystals that are used by Elwyn for power. To collect the crystals, it has been tradition for Shadow Guards to scout the area for them, and to scout for any suspicious individuals. But no individual from the outside world has ever even appeared in the caves for many centuries. But this is all the reason why the largest set of books about the history of the world are being held in Elwyn. To protect the history.
Most importantly is the relationship with the Altarians who live over Weyard instead of under. The Elwyns are mortal enemies to the Altarians. They have both fought each others actions at every turn, battles breaking out, housed in the city of Altaria itself.
The Underworld has not always been like this. During the end of the Lost Age of Man, psyenergy was sealed along with the djinn, to protect them from wrongdoers. As a result of this, Elwyn's psyenergy power source which did come from the Elemental Stars was sealed. It is not known why Altarias psyenergy did not dissappear, for after psyenergy was sealed, Altaria still had its power and still attacked the Underworld, which stood near complete extinction.
Only recently however, psyenergy has been restored. It is not known who or what caused the uprising, but the Underworlds psyenergy source was restored and they immediately began revenge on Altaria. Wiping out entire portions of the city, the Elwyns fought vigorously to completely eradicate the Altarian race. These battles even now are continuing to the present.



On the next page, there was a section about Anemos Sanctum, but I skipped it.
That was a brief explaination?! Yeah right! I hate to see what a normal explaination is like.
I had noticed the Altarian race a number of times in the article. Who were they? I decided to find out by turning to page 15,890. I started to read:


Altarian History And Their
Power Of Psyenergy

The Altarian race is little more then known for their incredible warriors and fantastic psyenergy. An isolated race, they have waged war with the Underworld for millineums.
They claim to be a peaceful race, yet their methods of torture are murderous. Their appearance is that of angels, but their deceiving looks hide their true intentions.
Altarians are evil.
None can be trusted. Not much is known about them only because they have burned all records of their history so that no one may see their past.


That was short.
Suddenly the thought of Acheon and Faruth came to mind. Could they be Altarians? If so, then why were they attacking Weyard instead of here? I read the article once more, and suddenly I realized that the Altarians were attacking us because they knew that me and my friends had lit the lighthouses! As a result, the Underworld had their power restored and were now attacking Altaria! Now the Altarians are attacking us to get revenge on lighting the lighthouses! Their people are dying and they are blaming us on killing their people because we helped out the Underworld!
I suddenly remembered Faruth mentioning the destruction of the lighthouses. They were going to destroy the lighthouses to save their people and destroy the Underworlds psyenergy once and for all, as well as ours! But then Weyard would be destroyed!
My heart was beating fast as all this jumbled information was being sorted in my head.

I had to get back! I had to go back to my friends and help them!


*There was more to this chapter, but edited it out*