Keeper of the Light
A one-shot written by Knightblazer 88
Dark Side: Your first story in the Golden Sun section.
Knight: Yes.
Dark Side: And like every other one of your stories, it has a really cruddy title. If that's the title, I shudder to think about what the story will be like.
Knight: Quiet, you! By the way, it's your job...
Dark Side: Why me...*ahem* Knightblazer 88 does not own Golden Sun: The Lost Age and anything related to it, except the cartridge and really, really bad luck. I mean, three hundred tries and counting and he STILL can't get the Excalibur OR the Darksword OR the Tisiphone Edge! *gets thwacked by Knight, who swiped his sword* OW!!
Knight: Shut up. Just shut up.
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Sheba's sweaty palms slipped against each other as she cast Hover, boosting up the platform the eight Adepts were standing on. The platform proceeded to move forward towards the end of the chamber, freakishly hovering over an endless pit.
The two leaders of the group, Felix and Isaac, stood at the head of the platform, their hands on their swords, determined looks on their faces. As the platform came to a stop, their eyes landed on what they knew would become their opponent.
"I am the shadow, the keeper of the light. If you want the sun's power, show me your own."
The headless suit of armor brandished its sword and instantly went on the offensive, swinging quickly, sending a Psynergetic wave at the group. The eight Adepts dispersed immediately, and the wave shot past.
The armor jumped back and brought up its sword to defend against the swinging Sol Blade of Felix. As the two blades clashed, Felix grinned.
"So, this is the legendary Dullahan, eh? You're smaller than half the enemies here." Felix twisted around, knocking the monstrosity's blade away, and swung.
Not even the Sol Blade put a decent-sized dent in Dullahan's armor, however. The monster retaliated by charging up its sword until it glowed with purple electricity. It swung this huge electric blade at Felix, who just barely managed to dodge it.
"Diamond Berg!!" cried a voice, and an iceberg solidified above the armor's nonexistent head and fell, trapping Dullahan within it. Piers leapt forward and slashed, once, twice, thrice, eight times, demolishing the iceberg immediately. He frowned and jumped back to dodge the counter-swing, as that had affected it less than the Sol Blade strike.
"Unleash Meld!" Isaac cried, his sword glowing with Venus power. Felix's blade glowed as well, and the two Earth Adepts leapt forward as one to strike the headless spirit.
Much like the previous attacks, however, this did not nearly enough damage to even stun Dullahan. It responded by bringing its sword up to its hands and charging up.
In an unearthly voice, somehow doing so without a head, it muttered, "True Collide." A black vortex surrounded Felix and Isaac, and the two cried out in pain as the blackness surrounded them, diving into and out of them, finally returning to Dullahan. Maybe they were hallucinating, but the monster seemed to be even stronger than before as it lashed out at Felix and Isaac, finally damaging some of its antagonists.
A quick Wish Well from Mia had the two Earth Adepts back up again, and now they were obviously annoyed. Once again moving in perfect unison, the two pointed their fingers at the torso of the armor and cried as one, "Odyssey!!"
Two swords whirled into existence from the ground, flying forward and stabbing into Dullahan. Two more did the same from the air. The Sol Blade and the Levatine glowed golden for a second before two final enormous blades appeared in the hands of Felix and Isaac. As one, they leapt forward and struck, finally dealing damage to the monstrosity.
It was still far from keeling over, however. It now turned to its next target: the redheads. Raising its arm, it whispered, again, in the unearthly voice, "Formina Sage."
The sword blazed with electricity, and Felix realized it was the attack that had almost hit him before Dullahan swung, the electric spire slamming through both Garet and Jenna. Garet just barely took it, but Jenna cried out in pain as the sword carried her to the wall. As she impacted, Piers, who was closest, could've sworn he heard the sounds of bones breaking.
Wincing slightly, he raised a hand to cast Pure Ply, but was stopped when the headless suit of armor found itself in front of him. Piers barely had time to bring up the Masamune before Dullahan's thick blade impacted, and all of the Lemurian's muscles strained with the effort of holding back the spirit.
Mia took care of both Jenna and Dullahan by casting Pure Ply and Ice Missile in that order. As soon as the holy-like blue lights finished surrounding Jenna, they shot up into the air, forming into deadly Psynergetic icicles, and they fired forward, stabbing into Dullahan.
Unsurprisingly, it shrugged it off like nothing and swung again. Mia just barely dodged the slice, and as it finished whirling, Garet raised his hand and cried, "Liquifier!!"
Red beams charged up in his hand and shot up, forming into lasers of pure fire Psynergy and impacting with Dullahan. As the last of the beams struck, Dullahan turned and raised its arm, this time casting a new spell.
"Djinn Storm."
Garet, Piers, Mia, and Jenna glanced at one another before a huge yellow and purple vortex surrounded them, blasting them into the air with cries from each of them. They landed unhurt, but all of them noticed a definite drop in their strength.
Piers was the first to realize it, and he cursed as he confirmed with Shade that, indeed, all of his Djinn had been put into recovery. He called this out to the others and warned them to stay back.
It won't be that easy, Ivan realized. Now that they're weakened, Dullahan will aim for them to take them out of the fight. Realizing this was his time, he raised the Kikuichimonji and yelled, "Destruct Ray!!"
Lightning bolts shot through the ceiling, impacting into Dullahan and twirling around, throwing it for a slight loop. As the bolts dissipated, Sheba followed up her fellow Wind Adept's attack with the cry of "Tempest!!" The battering winds barely grazed the thick armor of the monstrosity.
It retaliated instantly with a Formina Sage attack, faster than the eye could see. The next thing everyone knew, Sheba was facedown, unmoving.
Felix cursed and dove towards her to start to use Revive, but Dullahan instantly whirled around and raised its arm, and before Felix had even touched her, it had said, "Djinn Storm."
"Dammit!!" he cried as the yellow and purple vortex blasted him, draining all of his Djinn and several Psynergy spells, including Revive. He was too shocked to notice Dullahan coming at him, and he couldn't stop the swinging sword.
Isaac swore rather loudly as Felix went down. Just their luck, to give Sheba all the Waters of Life...He didn't dare risk moving towards the two fallen Adepts, knowing Dullahan would only blast him with Djinn Storm. Instead, he raised his left hand and cried "Odyssey!!" again.
The three Venus Psynergetic swords plunged through Dullahan, again only merely grazing it. It knew its next target was the powerful Earth Adept, so it whirled around to meet its adversary and swung. Isaac barely brought up the Levatine in time to block the strike.
"Dragon Fume!!" cried a feminine voice. A huge dragon made out of flames rose up from the hands of Jenna, and it slammed into the back of the suit of armor. It didn't even seem to feel the attack however, as the sword got through to Isaac without interruption and hit him hard. Isaac cried out in pain and jumped back, preparing to cast Potent Cure, but Dullahan instantly charged up its sword with electricity and swung...
"Isaac!!" Garet yelled, panicked, as his best friend collapsed.
Damn! This isn't good! Our two leaders are down! How the heck are we supposed to win this?! Piers shook his head and called upon his sword's powers, calling, "Rising Dragon!!"
He swung in a wide arc, and two blue Psynergetic dragons blasted out of his sword and rammed through Dullahan. Once again, however, the attack did nary a scratch to it, and it retaliated with a swing that, in his weakened state, Piers was too weak to handle.
Garet cursed as he realized that the headless suit of armor had already taken out half of the team, and the four remaining didn't seem to have much of a chance.
This thought was confirmed as Dullahan brought its sword to its hand and muttered in the unearthly voice, "Summon Charon."
WHAT?!
That was all the thought Garet had time for before the ferryman of the Styx blasted the four remaining Adepts with blasts of pure dark Psynergy.
I thought...we were the ones...with...Charon...
Ivan shook his head as Garet collapsed instantly from the effects of Charon. Only three of the four mages were left, and he knew they needed more than mage power to take down Dullahan.
"Destruct Ray!!"
"Ice Missile!!"
"Dragon Fume!!"
Ivan, Mia, and Jenna cast their most powerful Psynergy spells at Dullahan, hoping they could do some damage. Finally, something seemed to work, as the armor flinched in what they hoped was pain. Their hopes were diminished as it formed the electric sword of Formina Sage again, obviously its favorite attack, and it lashed forward. As Ivan dodged it, he heard a familiar voice behind him cry out in pain as she went down.
So it's just me and Jenna...Why the hell didn't we have enough sense to spread out the Waters of Life?! He cast Destruct Ray again, and then ducked under the retaliation swing of Dullahan and swung his own Kikuichimonji. The blade nicked the armor and made the enemy spirit flinch in brief pain before it brought down its gauntleted hand, striking Ivan over the head.
The young mage was not out, however. He jumped back, holding his head and wincing, and quickly tossed a Potion into the air above him. He waited for it to take its effects before-
Oh, crap.
In the time it took for him to recover with the Potion, Dullahan had turned around and Formina Saged Jenna, slamming her back into the wall.
It's just me! Ivan realized in horror. He brought up his Kikuichimonji to block the strike of Dullahan...
And he gasped in terror as the light blade shattered in his hands.
Tossing aside the useless hilt, he raised his hands and called upon his deepest powers, calling on a Psynergy he didn't even know he had had.
"Spark Plasma!!"
Seven purple lightning bolts fired down from the sky, striking the headless suit of armor. The mage grinned slightly as he heard the thing scream in an unearthly voice.
The thing's weak against Wind...too bad we didn't notice it before...
It wasn't even close to being defeated, however. It swung around to face Ivan, and he shivered as it somehow froze him to the spot, even though it had no gaze to freeze him with.
"Condemn."
With horror, Ivan saw a black cloud emerge from Dullahan's fist, whirling and shaping into the Grim Reaper himself. The last thing he saw was Death himself coming at him.
Isaac...Felix...I'm sorry, guys...We couldn't stop it...We couldn't win after all...
The scythe blade chopped downward.
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"Oh, [BEEP]!! Not [BEEP]ing again!! That's the fiftieth [BEEP]ing time! Stupid [BEEP]ing freaking [BEEP]ing [BEEP BEEP BEEP] [BEEP] [BEEP] of [BEEP]!!"
His friend lifted his head from the pillow. "Aw, jeez, did you lose to Dullahan again?"
"Oh, no, I didn't lose to him, he just wiped the floor with my ass, tossed me into the electric chair, electrified me into a crisp, and threw my ashes to the wind!"
"Descriptive." His friend's head fell back onto his pillow. "You're gonna wake up the whole state, you realize."
"Yeah, right." He sighed as he turned off the Game Boy Advance, placing it on his bedside table and covering himself with some sheets.
"Why are you even trying to beat it anyway? You've already beaten the game..."
"Hundred percent completion. I like clearing out games entirely. Lost Age is no exception. If it weren't for the stupid...lousy...headless...suit of armor!"
"The day you beat him and clear out the game 100% will be the day you get something higher than a B average."
"Ha ha. G'night."
"It's five AM, you idiot."
"Whatever. G'night."
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Dark Side: *nursing a bump on his head* Alright, who did not see that coming, raise your hand.
*Crickets chirp. Dark Side eagerly joins in*
Knight: You people are cruel.
Dark Side: So are you, Mr. I-Whack-Ranting-People-Over-the-Head.
Knight: *ignoring dark side* So, um...yeah, I think that's it. Please leave a review, and good-bye to all!