Author's Note
Welcome to the fanfic that sprouted from my deranged mind 'cause Alex is so dang cool and there are no female main character Venus Adepts.
Golden Sun does not, rather obviously, belong to me. If it did, I'd already be working on another sequel and it wouldn't turn out nearly as good as those wonderful people at Camelot have done.
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Rakka's P.O.V.
I come from a village of magics. Not 'slight-of-hand trick-you' magic, though it's been used in enough practical jokes. Not sparkle-sparkle 'the-fairy-godmother-gave-her-a-beautiful-ball-gown' magic, though it glitters enough. This is a magic called from within. A magic brought from the air, water, ground, fire around you. Elemental magic.
For as long as anyone can remember, we of Vale have been the guardians of elements, ball-like gems containing the purified and collected essences of mars, Venus, Mercury, and Jupiter. In each star lay the elemental energies of an entire world. The magics of wind, water, earth, and fire all sealed away in the Sol Sanctum.
Until now.
We had never really thought about what our duty meant till the day Mount Aleph erupted, the quartet of energies once housed within suddenly missing. Along with the stars, two of our own were stolen; Kraden, who knew more of the Stars than even the elders, and Jenna, sole survivor in her family, or so we thought, till we found her brother numbered among the perpetrators. We had forgotten the truth behind our task, and that knowledge could have saved us all.
They say the world will end when the elements are released again on the world. And though we sent two heroes out to reclaim our treasure, there was little doubt in my mind whether or not they would succeed.
When the Elder received the vision of Vale's destruction, I was unsurprised. I had known for years that Vale could not survive the stealing of the Stars. For I had received my own vision.
'The world ends. The center breaks. The four converge and take on new life. So the new world shall also die, unless the sky is surmounted, the volcano mastered, and the winter tamed.'
So, as the other left for the safety of elsewhere, I remained, climbing to the heavens as the cliffs shuddered around me.
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As I pulled myself up the last ledge, the final plateau blissfully in reach, remnants of conversation wafted through the earthen rumbles and screeching energies.
"Wh-who are you?" A mans voice, pleasantly tenor with a hint of Northern accent and surprise.
He was answered with a deep, powerful rumble.
"I am called the Wise One . . ."
I nearly lost my grip on the rock face. The voice was the same as that which I heard in my dream. How could this man be of significance to the Wise One? And whatever was he doing here?
"The Wise One? Vale's protector?" There was a flippant air to his voice that I didn't like. Even for an outsider, he had far too little respect for our customs.
The Wise One ignored his question, posing one of his own. "You wish to have limitless power?"
"Wish to? I just got it!"
It now occurred to me that whoever this person was, I didn't like him. He spoke to the Wise one as though the guardian were his equal-or even his inferior. I continued climbing, eager to reach the top and watch the Wise One trump this idiot.
"No," the Wise One rebuked. "Your power is nearly limitless, but it has its boundaries."
The man scoffed. "Nearly limitless? You speak in riddles. Can't you see? The power is mine!"
"Yes. You also have nearly endless life. And your Psynergy is . . . somewhat stronger."
I hauled myself up the last stretch, propping and bracing my forearms against the plateau of the mountain's apex. I could now make out the man's figure, that of a tall Water Adept with long flows of ice-like hair, as he faced the stoic eye of the Wise One. His cape billowed back from him in the conflicting winds. Though both should have seen me, or at least sensed me, neither acknowledged my presence.
"If you are trying to anger me, have a little taste of exactly how much power I have attained!" His body thrummed with energy, waves of icy Psynergy rippling around him. I barely concealed my gasp of surprise as the man succeeded in forcing the Wise One slowly back. Could he possibly hold the power he claimed?
"Look at me!" the man crowed, his voice a mixture of elation and superiority. "My body is brimming with power!"
The Wise One's single eye narrowed as the stony guardian advanced once more through the repulsing Psynergy with ease. The guardian's own amber energy surged around his rocky form. I nearly cheered out loud as the man was thrown to the ground, then lifted into the air, a splotching of gold eating into his cool blue aura.
"How!?" A satisfying flavor of fear and pain tinged the anger in the man's voice. "I should be all-powerful! How can you defeat me?!?"
Seeming almost annoyed, the Wise One flexed his Psynergy once again, slamming the man once more to the ground with the force to drive him into the rock itself. "You are not all-powerful, Alex. Your power has its limits, as does your life."
'Alex . . .' The name rushed through my head, stirring up a hint of familiarity. 'But that means he's . . .'
'Yes,' the Wise One's voice boomed in my head, nearly startling me out of my grip on the rock face. 'He was one of those who conspired towards the world's end in his quest for power. It is he whom you must pass judgment upon. It will be your task to deal his justice.'
I stared at the Wise One in amazement and disbelief. Throughout the sending, his outward appearance was focused on the man, still twitchingly trying to move his beaten body. He was telling me to . . . judge him?
The winds swirled more violently, attesting to the terrible power convalescing around us. Something horrible was about to happen, I knew, and when it came, with it would come the destruction of Vale.
Suddenly I realized the true conditions of my mission. Though horribly beaten, the possibility remained that this man could survive the coming energies. The Wise One could only mingle in the affairs of humans-Alex would not be killed by him alone. With the Psynergy and skills I possessed, I had the power to destroy him, and now . . . I was the only one who could.
Alex continued to struggle against his battered body, the pain and strain evident in the quickening desperation of his voice. "This cannot be! Who is responsible for this treachery? Who has robbed me of my dream?"
"I, the Wise One, imbued the Mars Star with some of the power of the forming Golden Sun. It rests even now in the hands of you Isaac."
'Isaac . . .' I mused. 'Then he's still alive.' When he and Garet first left on their quest, my vision left me certain they would die trying to complete it. But after scouring Kraden's house and divulging his research, I wasn't so sure. If they could rise to the challenge, the truths Kraden uncovered could sway even those two from the teachings of Vale.
"Why?" The man had rolled so much anguish and frustration into that one word that, for a moment, I found myself pitying him. My refocus was short-lived, however, as a sudden rumble chose that moment to shudder through the rocks and air around us. I scrambled onto the plateau over crumbling rocks before the cliff I had been hanging on plunged and shattered against the many spires below.
"The heavens and earth are changing, Alex!" the Wise One called over the trembling din. "You must flee!"
"Wha-what?" Alex seemed to choke on the rising dust and his own disbelief.
"Mt. Aleph will soon be drawn into the heart of the earth! You must flee or join it forever!"
"Flee?!" Even pain and panic could not disguise the incredulity in Alex's voice. "I can't flee! I can't even move!"
"Ah, yes," the Wise One agreed, as though this had been his point all along. "You now see the limits of your power. If you are swallowed by the earth, you may not survive." The guardian made a bobbing, almost shrug-like motion in the air, utterly ignoring the growing severity around him. "If you survive, perhaps we shall meet again . . ."
As the Wise One glided off, his voice rumbled once more through my mind. "Choose well, child of Venus.'
Deal justice . . . He made it sound so simple. I stumbled up, placing my feet carefully in tune with the trembling and crumbling ground. By rough estimate I guessed I had about two minutes before my Psynergy would be useless and indiscernible from the energy building around me.
As I approached the man's still form, I was struck by the irony of the situation. We Venus adepts hated making decisions, especially those with such a weight, yet it was always to us the others turned to make them when things turned wrong. It seemed the fate of this world would be decided by the children of Venus; Felix, in his quest to relight the beacons, Isaac, in his quest to save the world, and me . . .
I unsheathed my knife as I knelt beside the man, forcing one thought through my mind. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. My brain knew if this Alex was allowed to survive, no one could remain safe against whatever power he'd managed to receive, especially if it could rival that of the Wise One.
And yet . . .
I whipped the blade, aiming it at the man's chest and set the palm of my free hand against the end of its carved hilt. "Alex outsider!" I shouted over the rising din, desperately trying to convince myself with ceremony. "By Venus and Sol, Vale and Weyard, I call judgment upon thee!"
I slammed my hands down, driving the knife towards his chest with killing force . . . and stopped short, hands trembling with the blade's tip nipping gently into the man's tunic. A small splotch of red melted out from the puncture.
I stared. Even this, he did not move. Even at this, he did not fight back . . . It was hard enough to bring myself to kill, but to kill a man unresponsive to death . . .
A hollow laugh escaped my lips. Another quality of Venus is that we cannot find it in ourselves to kill others . . .
I sheathed my knife, grabbing hold of the man's arm tightly. "Hey!" I shouted, trying to reach him over the roaring elements. "Hey!!"
He slowly opened his eyes, squinting against the buffeting winds. They were shockingly blue, and for half a moment I found myself frozen by their depth. "If you," he managed dryly, though it obviously pained him to speak, "are the Angel of Death, I would like to remind my subconscious that I do not believe in such things. Go away, please."
"Shut up," I said sharply, strengthening my grip on his arm. His eyes widened as though he suddenly realized I was more than a figment of his imagination. "I'm going to save your life, though you don't deserve it. For it, you owe me a promise!"
Around us, a maelstrom roared, hurricane winds slapping my loose hair against my face. A note of panic rose within me as I began to lose sense of my own Psynergy against the gathering energies. Until that moment I had been certain in the accuracy of my abilities to return to safety, but much longer and . . .
"Hurry!" I shouted desperately as the rock began to crumble around us. Alex's eyes were still frozen in indecision. Could it really be that hard to choose-death, or life with a debt? "I can't do this without your permission!"
"You won't leave without me, then, will you?" He closed his eyes, a resigned look coming across his face, and muttered something even softer.
"What?" I shouted, unable to hear him.
"DO IT!" he yelled back.
I acted instantly, grabbing Alex's hand with my left, arching my right, fingers perpendicular to the sky. Holding it straight beneath my chin, I groped for the earthen Psynergy within me. "RETREAT!"
A familiar bubbling feeling rose in me as our two forms dissolved into a thousand pastel orbs. It took all my concentration to hold us together as the descending power battered us about. There was just so many . . . so . . . much . . .
By default, Retreat should return a party to the last safe place the user remembers. It can be manipulated by the user with enough will, but its scope is limited. Since the last 'safe' place likely no longer existed, I had been focusing on Vale's entrance, but it was becoming increasingly difficult to concentrate as my mind was assaulted by the eruption of power now descending on Mt. Aleph.
Retreat is also meant to be an instantaneous effort, with mere moments from activation to destination. But this time it seemed . . . confused. The moments became a blur of shapes and colors, with no room for conscious thought or action. It seemed my mind was being eaten by the surging flow around us. All I could remember was losing my grip of Alex before my world melted into a mass of bright colors and, finally, black.
