Disclaimer/Legal Stuff: This fanfic is going to be loosely, and I mean loosely based off Golden Sun, although it takes place about two million years later. There are a little bit of Final Fantasy themes, but not much. I don't own Square Enix, Nintendo, or Camelot. This fanfic is rated "Teen 14", for excessive explicit language, some suggestive themes, and violence. If you copy this story in any way, you will get slapped repeatedly by the Terms of Use that fanfic so graciously put up for us all to see.
Okay, time to cut the crap and get on to the story.
Prologue
A plasma monitor, coated with dust, flickered in the dark solitude. It had a fine, thick aura around it.
A thick aura of magic.
The charred door creaked open. A solitary figure walked inside, glancing at the ruined furniture of the room. It was in shambles, just like the rest of the building.
The grim figure made it's way to the pale white screen, which rested on the floor, tilted at an oblique angle. A battered black gauntlet, signifying the figure's experience in battle, silently made it's way to the monitor. When it touched the screen, the antique fully came to life. A loading notice appeared.
"Loading...56 percent."
Second after second passed by, the dull silence engulfing the area.
"Loading...99 percent."
Finally, the screen prompted for a password. The shaded figure grunted, whispering something inaudible. A dim window popped up on the monitor. The craggy body plopped down on the dusty ground.
"Load Complete." A warped computer assistant replied as it appeared on the screen. She was of a pale blue color with no eyes, nose, or mouth. The figure was a strange sight. "Input body for memory wipe," The assistant recited.
An eyebrow raised in the darkness. The black gauntlet reached out once again, then hesitated. The figure's eyebrows seemed to arch in doubt.
Then, more out of instinct than guts, the gauntlet jammed itself into the screen. The computer began to hum, roaring back to life. The white light was now lighting up the whole ransacked room. Wind seemed to gush out, revealing the shadow of a human being, a man. Sparks began to fly, and the ground began to shake. Shards of metal and stone began to fall from the isolated building. The shadowed man began to corrode into the computer, from his hand, to his head, to his body.
Metal planks were beginning to crash violently.
The human was nearly gone now, but not before giving his final words.
"It is complete."
And with that, the human vaporized.
Chapter 1- The Future
Mmm. Chicken.
I sat up in bed, smelling a spicy scent of the delicious meal that was waiting for me at the kitchen table. I stared at the stone walls of my dorm for a little bit, my legs stretched out, feeling a staleness of the air around me. The mirror across my bed displayed my dark brown hair, brown eyes, and naturally fragile body.
My name is Evan. Evan Wrigley. I'm fifteen years old. Those are pretty much the only things interesting about me.
Oh, and I also have a very loving caretaker.
WHAP!
"Gahk!" Crying out, I tumbled onto the stone cold floor. I felt my nose throbbing as I slowly stood up, ready to meet my doom.
"Evan, come on! Let's go, let's go!" My eyes met Mary, my caretaker, a nasty looking wooden stick in her hand. She was one of the oldest in the village, although she was roughly forty years old.
In case you were wondering, the average life span of a human in these days was twenty-nine years. The reason was obvious. There was almost no unity in the world. Wars have been going on for decades. That didn't seem to matter, though. Everyone got used to it after a while.
"Evan! Are you just going to stand there? You know what today is!"
I sighed. "Alright, Miss. I'm coming down."
Legs still wobbly, I watched Mary bustle back downstairs. I heard the crying out and fighting of my brothers and sisters. Well, sort of brothers and sisters. You see, all of us came from a different family. Caretakers usually took care of eight or more children.
I quickly descended the brick staircase, down to the breakfast table, where my other seven younger siblings were. I swiftly took the vacant spot in the midst of all the greedy munchkins, who were hastily gobbling up all the sweet green chicken right before my very eyes. I mumbled nonchalantly, helping myself to a dark green drumstick. As my tongue touched the spicy flavor, my eyes filled with joy. My thoughts veered to the time I asked my caretaker why chicken was green. Her reply was something like this:
"Evan, dear, don't worry about such things."
I remembered my reply: "But Miss Mary, I want to know!"
She had sighed at this. "Okay. You see, Evan, back then, there were animals that were called chickens."
"Animals? What's that?"
She sighed again. "Animals were living things, just like us human begins. Anyways, roughly a hundred years ago, chickens went extinct. The thing you're eating is actually an emulation-"
"Miss Mary, what's an imulayffun?"
"An emulation is like a fake thing, as close to the real thing as it can get..."
I swallowed the chicken meat, remembering how I had asked my caretaker about other animals. Since then, History had been my favorite subject in school. For instance, back then, there was something called the "United States of America", and "Great Britain"-
"Evan! You're going to be late! If you miss the graduation exams, I'm going to kick you out of this house!" Mary roared. I flinched, grabbing my bag which hung from the chair, and opened the door.
You see, I'm a senior in high school, and today was graduation exams. If I failed, then my future would be ruined-
SLOPP. Shhhh...
I nearly lurched as mud surrounded my water-proof boots. Geez, I shouldn't have stepped outside so quickly. The water and earth adepts had been at it again. Sheesh. Sometimes I wished the wind adepts would carry the muck off somewhere else.
Our village, Vale, was an urban area surrounded by brick buildings and desolate streets. Barely any cars existed, so the roads were usually empty.
I shook my head at the muddy mess, continuing down the block. I glanced up. The sun had already broken over the horizon. Crud. That meant I was going to be late for college, and I didn't want to flunk and stay in school until I was 16. No, I was going to finish this year for good-
"Oh, hey, look! It's that 4th class History nerd from Vale University!" I swiftly looked up, a bulky looking guy with hair nearly down to his shoulders, along with a navy blue hoodie and a pair of shorts. Gee, didn't he know that long hair was only popular up until year 2024? Oh, wait, I forgot. He doesn't give a damn about history. Still, I tensed up. This guy has been looking out for me recently. I moved forward in the muck, trying my best to ignore him, my heart rate steadily increasing...
"Hey! Don't think you can just waltz on by, kid!" I glanced at his insulted face at the corner of my eye. Gee, I didn't know it was that easy to avoid-
Chuk-Chik.
I froze. Literally. As in, my heart stopped beating. The cold steel prodding against my forehead was enough to convince me that he wasn't just a punk. The guy held his gun back, allowing my to slowly unshoulder my bag. "H-hey, what do you need? I have notes...they're for the exam..." Tears began to well up in my eyes as I faced him. I didn't want to die, at least not now...
"Any answer sheets for people in second year college?"
"Uh...s-sorry, I'm graduating this year."
Silence.
"Hawhawhawwhawww! All this time, and you finally tell me you're a senior?" The big guy guffawed.
"Well, you never asked-" I quickly shut my yap as my eyes met the ominous pistol, roughly two inches away from my forehead. Gulp.
The gunman snorted. "Well then, 4th class, I'll make sure you don't graduate. Ever."
Pow.
I nearly jumped, waiting for the lovely embrace of death. Fortunately, I didn't feel anything. I looked at the bully, just as startled as I was. He quickly pulled back the flint-lock hammer, and fired a second time.
Pow. I blinked, then watched in awe as the bullet seemed to clink against a barrier in between Mr. Big Guy and I. There was a nearly invisible crack in between me and Mr. Big Guy. My mind immediately snapped. It's Janie.
The bully looked frustrated now. He looked at me feverishly. "Wait, so you aren't a 4th class?" He quickly sucked up, and tried to blow another hole in my brain.
Pow. Pow. POW.
I shakily grinned. "Uh, you see-"
"Hey, you. Guy in the navy blue hoodie." I didn't need to turn around to know who it was. Her voice was always distinguishable.
The guy looked past me, his eyes widening. I turned around, relieved to see the female figure. Jane Junior, otherwise known as Janie. Her normally calm shoulder-length brown hair was floating. That usually happened when she was angry. She had turquoise eyes, which was common for a water adept. She was a couple inches shorter than me, which was actually above average height for a water adept. She had her Holy Guard uniform on, which was a white sleeveless one-piece suit. She was real pretty, and-
"Hey Evan, quit staring." Janie grinned as I quickly regained my composure, embarrassed.
"Oh, er, haha. Nothing, nothing," I glanced back at the punk, who was looking at me like I wasn't supposed to be alive. Well, actually, I wasn't.
Janie beckoned to me. "Come on, let's hurry to school. We're going to be late for the final exams." My face lit up as I squished my way over to her in the mud. The clear ice wall behind me broke, as Mr. Big Guy stood there, still befuddled.
After getting out of the muddy area and back onto the streets, Janie seemed to loosen up. "God, Evan, how many times do I have to save your damn butt?"
I disregarded the funny combination of words. "Well, it's only been twelve times this semester..."
"Twelve times!" Janie quickly cracked her knuckles. "Okay, that's it. You're helping me pass finals for graduation. You know what my weakest subject is," She vented.
I gave a grunt. "History? Why did you choose to major in it, anyways?"
Janie gave a playful shove, which nearly sent me back into the muddy oblivion. "You know why."
"Hah, no, I really don't. Is it because of that guy in our class that you keep staring at?" I gave her a sly look.
"No, no! The only guy I stare at is the professor, and he's ugly, even if he is a 2nd class adept!" She quickly stopped herself. "Oh, sorry."
"Oh, it's okay. I'm used to being called 4th class anyways," I uttered, lowering my head.
4th class was the lowest class of adepts. In fact, if you were 4th class, you weren't even considered an adept. 1st class was the highest.
"But really," Janie mumbled, looking down. "You know I don't want to fail History. It's my favorite subject, too."
I glanced at Janie, who was still sullen. See, Janie was a friend of mine. She was probably my closest, considering that most of my friends didn't attend history class. We had met a couple years back, when she was close to flunking all her exams.
The reason why I became great friends with her was that we both enjoyed history books. Many times over the weekend, we would read random books on strange historical food, like "Hamburgers", or "Chocolate Fudge Sundaes." We had many good memories through College together.
The main problem with Janie was her grades. So, I helped her, and in return, she protected me from the rather hostile people in Vale, the Earth Village we lived in.
"Well, how about we take the time to review for finals?" She replied, trying to keep me from getting all depressed. It didn't work, but I figured both of us needed to prepare, anyways.
"Okay, down to business." I declared, slowing down my pace. "So, in the beginning, there was..."
"Man?"
"Well, yeah. At least that's what we need to know. So, after a surge of productivity in the 1900s, what happened to man?"
"They invented nuclear arms."
"Right! And what eventually happened in the late 2050s?"
"Umm...didn't some countries called Japan and United States undergo some kind of nuclear exploit...?" Janie mumbled, crossing her arms.
"Well, it was Japan, United States, and the European Union that fired the nuclear weapons. So. Who were they against?"
"Everyone else."
"And who won?"
"No one."
I nodded, glad that Janie at least knew that bit of information. "Good. Okay, so after nearly the whole human race was eradicated, what were the scientists of the United Nations able to do?"
"Well...they were able to, um, manipulate cells into DNA, right?"
"Yeah. They were able to mutate a human body's DNA so that it could manipulate nature. In other words, humans were able to spontaneously produce Fire, Earth, Light, Wind and Water."
"Heh, spontaneously. Don't use big words on me, Evan."
"Okay, okay. Basically, I'm saying that humans could create fire, water, wind, and earth out of nowhere." I paused, waiting for the information to digest. "People who can wield this 'magic' are called adepts."
"Adepts. Oh, I know that, at least." Janie flashed a smile. I grinned, continuing my lecture.
"Anyways, the scientists claimed it would save our population, but it only thinned our numbers out. Nowadays, with so few people, and even less unity, not even the most populated villages can create a city."
Janie nodded understandingly. "Like those damn earth adepts that keep trying to make this place a mountain."
"Yeah. So all of this adds up to today. The human race is already endangered, and the only way to save ourselves would be to reverse the humans power over this, 'magic'. If humans weren't able to wield powers of fire, earth, water, and wind, then we would be less segregated and could live in peace-"
"Mister geek, you're getting carried away again. Don't say that in front of anyone. You know what the Council will do if people say such things," Janie mused.
"Yeah," I muttered glumly. "They send revolutionists to prison for life."
The Council was an organization that patrolled the region, monitoring villagers so that no one would spark a rebellion against magic.
Minutes of silence passed by as we quickly walked the not-so-crowded streets of Vale. As the university loomed closer in the distance, some sort of tremor broke out.
Boooooggg.
Janie and I quickly glanced at each other. The ground beneath us was shaking. We began to quicken our pace. Tremors happened regularly. That was usually the sign of a raging earth adept, but you could never be sure.
BOOGGGGGGG.
I stumbled, quickly trying to regain my balance as both of us dashed for the school. I frantically looked at Janie, who had her determined eyes set for the front doors of the campus. Ever since the earth adepts of the village had been competing for food with the water adepts, she had never been so aggravated against them.
Forgetting the finals completely, I dashed at high speed, passing Janie. Running was my only physical strength, and I could surpass any adept in a race.
We blazed up the stairs two at a time. I swiftly glanced back, watching Janie begin to glow a mysterious blue color, warming the magic in her body up. We finally reached the top stair. I yanked open the door and rushed into the large lobby of the university, followed by a battle-ready Janie.
The once determined voice behind me gasped. "Oh, Shit." was all I heard. But I was too busy staring up, as the crumbling building came shattering down, the ceiling ready to engulf the two of us in seconds.
The scent of breakfast was still in my nose. God, I wish I had some chicken right now.
Author's Note: Yay. Chapter one finished. As most introduction chapters, I have to introduce the initial characters, setting, and blah blah blah. Since the "world" I'm creating is more systematic than common sense, there's going to be a lot of explanations on how magic works, etc. for the next few chapters. Anywho, comments and criticism are greatly appreciated. Thanks.
A lot of my friends on other sites (you know who you are) might realize I'm using a similar concept on this story that I've used in a lot of my previous fics (not the corny character names, mind you).
-Zz