It was near the end of the battle
It was near the end of the battle. The Doom Dragon was down to its last head, but then again, so was the party of Adepts fighting it. Felix was the only one left standing, his friends dead around him. The last djinni he needed had just been put on standby, however…
"I summon thee! By the power that made you, by the power that bound you, I summon thee: Iris! Bringer of life, bring life to my friends; Bringer of death, bring death to my enemy!" Golden light lifted them all into the air and out into space, bringing them to the sun. Felix sat down on the floor of light and let the warmth wash over him and his friends, bringing them back from past the brink of death. There was a wonderful spectacle in front of them: the Doom Dragon being slow roasted in the Sun. Jenna, waking up, took a deep breath of the air bubble that had accompanied them up, chuckled slightly, then sighed and said,
"How many is that now? Charon's nice, but I'm tired of the constant resurrection."
"Would you rather not be?"
"Felix! What do you think?!"
"Well then, don't complain. Death is a constant risk in this business."
"How is this a business? And this is something like the tenth!"
"Your poi – wait, we're going down. Wake up people!"
As the eight and their foe plummeted to earth, Garet first, then Sheba, Ivan, Isaac, Mia, and Piers woke, fully healed and their wounds closed, and stood up, readying their djinn and their respective Psynergies. As they landed, they abandoned their two-parties-of-four configuration, and attacked all at once. Even in midair, Sheba let loose with a powerful Spark Plasma, Ivan joining in with a Tempest. Before the Dragon had so much as twitched, Garet, Mia, Piers, and Felix let loose with powerful summons – Charon, Daedalus, Apocalypse, and Eclipse – while Jenna released Flash, effectively nullifying any damage taken. The Doom Dragon did not even attempt to fight again; rather, it keeled over and began to shimmer into its composite people.
Kill your father, save the world. All in a days' work, sighed Isaac morosely, steeling himself for the sight that he knew would come.
Thousands of miles away, a couple days later
Alex, still recovering from a last-minute teleport down to the center of Mt. Aleph, wandered the half-collapsed halls of Sol Sanctum deep below the earth.
Thank goodness for the cushioning. I wonder who had the power to put it there, he thought, and why? Eh, well. Being stuck here's not all bad. No one else can get in here, so no one can hurt me while I'm weakened, or even find out that I'm alive. And being dead to the world does have its advantages. Unfortunately, I'm still too weak to teleport again, or even to call on the Golden Sun.
Now he was hunting the two bright sources of Psynergy that he had detected. It was like nothing he had ever seen before; the one was the bright light of the sun, the other the cool darkness of the moon – neither at all related to the four known elements.
He had finally found the room it was in, and was roundly puzzled – he had searched it before. It was the one that contained the entrance to the Star Chamber, now blocked. The source of the Psynergetical power seemed to be below him. Alex, now alert, stepped from the sun to the moon floor – and heard something he hadn't before: a creak. Now straddling the boundary, he shifted his weight between the two floors, and saw the opposite one rise up ever so slightly. Grinning widely, he stepped on the moon plate. "Diamond Spire!" A single spire of diamond protruded from the ceiling, split into several heavy stone spires, and landed on the floor, immediately causing it to descend and the sun plate to ascend. As he had suspected, the source, revealed to be the Sol Star, was attached to the bottom of the plate. Obtaining it with a quick "Catch!" he dismissed the spires, and used the same process to obtain the Luna Star. Slipping both into a couple of mythril bags he conjured out of the earth, he began to puzzle over these new facets of Alchemy, not part of the supposedly all-encompassing Golden Sun.
"Even if they are in the Sun and I don't see it because Isaac happens to have those particular powers, Isaac doesn't have the stars; for that matter, I doubt he even knows about them. If I can just get out of here and light the corresponding lighthouses – there must be lighthouses or there would be no stars – I might be able to reclaim my dream…"
Deep in thought, Alex did not notice the eighteen golden and eighteen gray points of light fly off into the world, heading for their friends among the other elements – all in the possession of a certain group of eight friends…
Vale, the same day
Felix sighed. What is it with me and certain death?
In this case, certain death involved a charging boar and a dead end, combined with a day full of Psynergy usage when remaking the houses.
Why did I have to grow the houses? WHY?
Not that he was very worried about death itself. He had made sure long ago every one of his friends had some form of revive, whether the spell itself, a djinni, or a Water of Life. He had two himself, in fact, one for use on friends and one in a sealed pouch fastened to the inside of his mouth, in the hope that rigor mortis would burst it open, though it hadn't worked yet. What he was worried about was the fact that he was very lost and anyone looking for him would probably be as well, making finding and reviving him rather difficult. As the boar charged, Felix prepared himself for death – for the umpteenth time – when help came, unasked-for. The 36 points of light that had escaped from Sol Sanctum – who were, in fact, the Sol and Luna djinn – sensing his need, added their power to his simultaneously. Even as his conscious mind wondered over this strange occurrence, his combat-trained body immediately struck out with his strongest Psynergies, causing the rather entertaining spectacle of a boar being hit by several boulders.
Mulling over the new djinn, he grabbed the boar and retreated home. From killer to dinner in one short step, he thought.
"YOU DID WHAT!?" cried Mia, after hearing his story. Mia had decided to stay with Isaac in Vale for unspecified reasons, though that didn't stop the rest from guessing.
"I nearly got killed for the umpteenth time. It's no big deal! ...Why the silence?"
"I nearly got killed. What's such a big deal? Think about it for a minute," said Sheba. "We have evidently been seriously spoiled."
"Not really. How much do we pay Charon to keep us in his waiting room? In addition to having to threaten him with the Golden Sun?" Shortly after Mt. Aleph's destruction, he had received a dream from the Wise One detailing his possession of his slice of the Golden Sun. It had come in handy when dealing with Charon, and Kraden often asked him to probe the limits of its powers.
"What's your point? Money for life is a rip-off, especially with blackmail!"
"None of this is what matters right now. What matters is the fact that I was joined by 36 new djinn when it was practically proven that we had them all! Speaking of which…" With an effort of will, all but four left him and spread to each person.
"These are weird!" cried Sheba. "They're all Sol or Luna based, with little or no connection to the elements!" Sheba, too, had stayed, wanting to study with Ivan under Mistress Hamma, who was currently scouring Aleph Hill – as the villagers fondly named it – for Psynergy stones, which she would stockpile for "when the time of need comes."
They are of other elements entirely, spoke a voice that they had hoped not to hear again, a voice in their very minds.
Jenna, flashing with anger leaped up. "You dare show your face after– after– after what you tried to do to us!"
First, I am not actually going to show my face; I understand your anger. Secondly, as I believe Kraden told you, it was a test.
"A TE– mmph!" Sheba, tired of hearing her angry chatter, had proceeded to stuff Jenna's mouth with air, creating an effective gag and a rather entertaining spectacle as she raged around the room with her mouth puffed out.
As I was saying, you passed, and so, when the Golden Sun was formed, I placed part of it in the Mars Star, thus denying Alex omnipotence. The Mars Star, in Isaac's hands, was then passed to Felix. Since Felix was the last person to hold the Mars Star before the lighting of the lighthouse, his is the slice of the Golden Sun.
Sheba then asked, "I was wondering about that actually. Isaac gave Felix the Mars Star before the Lighthouse was lit! I don't think even you can travel in time!"
Ah, that is a story that must wait until another day. More importantly, Alex has discovered these new elements that, being two of the heavenly elements, are not part of the Golden Sun, and is going to light their lighthouses, making him truly invincible. He has recovered enough strength to teleport, though he cannot manipulate the Sun. This is your chance. Stop him! As the Wise One's presence faded from their mind, Isaac shouted after him.
"How can we trust you? Last time we went on an adventure at your suggestion, we ended up doing the opposite!" Sighing, Sheba collapsed morosely on the bed, inadvertently lifting the gag. Jenna charged at Sheba, firing off fire spells – which Sheba smothered – and then proceeded to pick her up and shake her, yelling all the while, "How dare you gag me like that! You– You bmmph!" Yet again, her tantrum was interrupted, this time by Garet head-locking her and stifling her with his sleeve.
"Look, Jenna, we're all annoyed that the Wise One had the temerity to – hey, quit trying to burn me, I've had more practice than you – come here. But I would be lying if I said that we aren't annoyed at your constant complaining. Got it? OW!"
Jenna's Sol spell had surprised Garet into letting go, and she said "And if you're dumb enough not to understand – which you are – that means mm – MMMPH!"
Sheba, who, for entertainment purposes, had reinstated the gag, said in a parody of Jenna's voice, "And if you're dumb enough not to understand – which you are – that means shut up. And we probably shouldn't use the new Psynergies until Kraden's gotten a chance to look at them."
Jenna stomped around a bit, every now and then trying to smack the air out of her mouth. Giving up, Jenna stomped out of the room amid laughter all around, still trying to force the air gag out.
End of the Day
At the end of the day, Jenna thought she would never stop blushing. She had gone the whole day pounding in stakes and nails with the gag still on, due to her bad habit of tackling Sheba every time she took it off. Worse, she was given the main work, along with Felix and Piers, who had decided to stay and help rebuild, there being no one who would miss him in Lemuria. Felix, Isaac, Garet and Jenna, the most powerful Earth and Fire Adepts in the village, grew the houses out of living plants; Piers parched the vines and trees into wooden walls and thatched roofs. As he worked, Isaac called,
"How's our storm coming Sheba? Growing these all on my own is a pain, even with Felix and the Sun helping!"
"Mmmph!"
"As much as I dislike humoring Jenna," said Felix, "if she's saying 'heck no' she's probably right; the other workers have to do the job by hand. Hold back those storms for just a little longer, Ivan!"
Sheba, Mia and Ivan, who, too, had stayed, since he could easily both visit Master Hammet and still stay with his friends, held back the winter storms for as long as they could and warned the village when they got too tired. While this was a drain on their Psynergy, it was much faster than rebuilding the village under normal weather conditions, though it left them exhausted at the end of the day. So exhausted that Sheba accidentally-on-purpose 'forgot' to lift the gag, making for an uncomfortable night's sleep for Jenna. When she experimented with burning the gag out of her mouth, reasoning that air burns, entertainment ensued.
Outside, a shadow that glinted blue in the lightning chuckled softly, and only those near him - which there were none - could have heard him say, "Thank you Sheba... you just saved me a lot of work... heh heh..."