Chapter One: The Years After

The time following the Golden Sun proved to house many hardships, but as everyone continued to remind themselves, it could only get better from here, and never worse. They were able to keep themselves cheery and optimistic as Vale was rebuilt in the light of the collapse of Mt. Aleph. They all would live near each other, not wanting to split after their long time spent together.

Isaac hoisted up a large bale of hay, making it drift over a hole in the roof. It patched itself, his psy-energy long having improved. He smiled to himself, proud of his accomplishments. He could remember years ago when he fixed everything like a normal human.

"Isaac! You almost done up there?" Jenna's melodious sounding voice came. Isaac turned to look at her, his blue eyes resting on her red. They smiled at each other, and Isaac climbed back down the ladder, coming to rest on the grassy ground.

"I just finished fixing the roof, Jenna." Isaac said, acknowledging her question.

"Oh." Jenna lifted her eyes skyward, gazing at the perfectly blue sky. She looked back down at Isaac. "Isaac, do you ever wonder what happened to Alex?"

Isaac's soft expression hardened at the mention of Alex's name. "Yeah. All the time."

The two of them were silent for a moment. They were interrupted by a loud yell from Felix.

"Sheba, geez, lay off, will you?"

"You need a hair cut! You tripped and fell because you couldn't even see where you were going!" Sheba's light sounding voice came.

Isaac looked down at his feet, shuffling in place as he gave a light laugh. They had been like that they whole time since they had returned to Vale. Almost like a brother and sister relationship, and if not that, like that of lovers.

Jenna laughed. "You're acting weird, Isaac. Come on, let's go for a walk!" She took Isaac's battle worn hand in her own, pulling him toward the forest where Kraden's house was.

"Okay, okay." Isaac said, letting him self be pulled along.

The two of them walked along happily, chattering like a bunch of canaries. Jenna went on about some paintings she had been working on when she wasn't working on making her and Felix's house more homely. Isaac listened like the good, dutiful boyfriend, but he wasn't really paying attention. His thoughts were drifting. Lately, he had a deep feeling of dread. He tried to shake it every day, but it was stubborn, like a dog that'd rather sleep than be trained.

They were suddenly interrupted by frantic yells from Garret. Jenna gave an alarmed look to Isaac, and Isaac went running off toward the sound. Was this what his feeling had been warning him about? His feet had never carried him so fast, not even in all their times of battle. Jenna struggled to keep up.

Arriving in an area that had been basically designated as their hang out, Isaac and Jenna saw Garret slowly pushing himself up. Blood trickled down the side of his tan face, matching the wounds that were on the rest of his body.

Isaac knelt down next to his injured friend, a panicked look stretched across his normally apathetic face. "Garret! What's going on? What happened?"

"I… I don't know!" Garret stuttered, trying to gain his composure. "It was if there were tons of them, tons of them… they took Mia…"

"What! Who took Mia?" Jenna exclaimed, her eyes lit up like the 4th of July.

Garret slammed his fist against the ground. "Damnit, I don't know, Jenna! They were like shadows! I couldn't even begin to fend them off! They beat the shit out of me and took Mia!"

Isaac helped Garret to his feet, and Jenna slid under his arm to prop Garret up. Isaac eyes snapped to the side as he heard a strange, howling noise. His hand whipped to his sheath as his drew his thin blade.

"Stay here." He ordered of Jenna and Garret.

Jenna nodded, then whispered, "Be careful."

Isaac barely listened, heading off toward the noise that he had heard. There was no sound of birds chirping, or even the normal sounds of the forest creations. There was just a complete, frightening silence. The sound of his own breathing was almost the only thing keeping him sane.

He swore he had been walking for only a couple of minutes, but when he turned, there was no sign of the path he had just been on. His breathing pace quickened as he began to fill up with dread, wondering if it had been a mistake to go out here by himself, not knowing what he was getting into. Whatever had attacked Garret had done a number on him.

Without warning, Isaac went tumbling down a hill that he had failed to notice he was walking onto. He rolled all the way down, sprawling out into a clearing. Lifting his head, he was greeted with a set of arrows pointed directly at his face. Looking up even higher, he saw the faces of strange, elvish looking people.

"Stay where you are, Isaac of Vale, if you wish to live."