Short Story
After the Golden Sun; Life in the Outskirts
By Marahute Sol
- Disclaimer: I do not own Golden Sun. Nor do, I, have-the-right-to-any-of-it... Now hush and read.
- Author's note: Warning, may contain nuts as well.
Dark days came with the unleashing of Alchemy.
In the very beginning, but a few men knew it had been freed. All they had seen was a bright flash and the sun shining where a mountain range had been. Even fewer men knew it had existed at all.
When, after some time, the world of Weyard learned off its existence only those with a very strong mind managed to wield some form of control over it. Some men did great things; they build enormous and thriving cities in days, constructed long stone roads to connect them, build grand sailing ships to transport their goods and extended their docks to accommodate them.(1) They also created the bunny. A cute fuzzy thing all men and children could safely play with.(2) During the last few years however, the world began to see the rise of those with ill intentions, known as the shadow users.
- - - - -
Casey eventually decided to take off his boots, sit down in the low mountain grass and rest his shoulders against a large oak tree. The grass felt soft under his feet. They had been travelling through a mountain path for the last three or so hours and had arrived at a small field with two exits. He was waiting on Myrthe and Lidiya, who were arguing, to choose the direction they should take and, consequently, what to eat for supper. Going left would lead them to the swamped areas of Myrthaes, a forest located village of sears and famed snake-like stew. Going to the right would take them to the Great City of Merchants, famed for its many thieves, pickpockets and great mince pies.
Casey takes a deep breath and exhales, wondering what the trade caravan they encountered earlier has turned into by now. He knows most of them are skilled trainers in general but even the most skilful of trainers, like Katie, have trouble handling a Horned Wolf. What motives she had for trading Mervin, for she had given the blooming beast a 'nickname', for a much smaller and weaker creature he still cannot figure out.
The sun shines dimly between the narrow passages of the Weyard High Mountains' walls, leaving everything with a red glow reflecting from the copper rich walls and a constand shade. The air is somewhat cooler than that of the plains and not as dry. A great part of the path they had traveled was dusty, strewn with pebbles, and flat. It had been carved out by a handfull of mighty Earth Adepts a very long time ago. The particular area in which they were now has many small water streams that travel in, out and over the rock's surface and walls, allowing for the growth of grass. It allows the air to be naturally humid, easy to breath and fills it with the constant pleasant noise of flowing and falling water streams. Originating in the Eternal Snow Plains, these streams carry a higher Psynergy particle concentration than normal water and are for that reason highly sought after by most mountain dwellers, including our four travellers. A careful searcher might find a rare Psy-Stone, or an even rarer washed down Psy-Crystal, and use it to replenish their wielding strength of Alchemy. Although the warmth is still hardly bearable for most people it does make the smell of Jasmine, a plant commonly found in these areas because of its high resistance against Alchemy and fondness of moist atmospheres, richly perfume the air. A small breeze plays around with a tumble weed; moving it to the left, spinning it around its axle, and bobbing it against the mountain walls.
Tired from walking all day, Katie flings her backpack on the ground, causing a small tidal wave of dust to angrily travel a few feet down the path, give up its futile quest for world dominance, and settle down again.
"By Jenna that smells good." She announces to the world, after collecting a handful of Jasmine flowers and putting it a small leather pouch. "I am so going to make tea of that."
She walks towards Casey and lies down, placing her head in his lap and wiping away some sweat of her forehead with the palm of her hand.
"Can you knock it off? Throw a flipping coin if need be. You've been at this for over 20 minutes!" Katie yells to no avail.
She sighs, and continues to play with the tumble weed; lifting it up in the air, shaking it around and dropping it again. Casey, whom is always looking for ways to get a reaction from her, blinks at it. The bush burns up into a ball of fire, leaving ash and scorched place of earth behind.
Katie pokes him in his side and looks around in search for something else to play with.
"I couldn't resist love, sorry." He informs her with a smile on his face as he leans forward and kisses her gently.
The sunlight dims slightly as it begins to hide behind a rare collection of clouds.
Casey grabs his backpack and pulls out a flask of water. Eager to quince his thirst in this pressing heat, he pulls out the cork and tries to drink. After a second or two of gulping air, he notices something curious. He opens his eyes and sees his water flowing away horizontally and then down, into Katie's mouth. At this point he could not help but admire the skill of her air bound prowess, and wit.
"I couldn't resist love, sorry." She informs him with a smile on her face as she pushes herself up and kisses him gently.
Her wielding strength had grown immensely in the last few months. Casey realized it would not take much more time for her to become as great a master in her field of wielding as he is in his. Given enough time, he realized, she might even become a greater wielder. It wasn't just her practicing often; even if the other two would put in as much practice as they do they would not become as skilled. It was something that happened during their visit of the Air Temple. Something in her changed and made their journey, beside much safer, a lot more interesting as well. Her powers of prediction were growing by the day as well, though alas, she still had much difficulty in deciphering what it was she was predicting.
The strength of the sunlight pulsates as it breaks through the clouds at some moments and hides behind it again a moment later. A huge bird of prey soars in the great sky above hiding herself in the sunlight. It has spotted his pray.
"What do you think of my latest purchase dear? Isn't he the cutest thing you have ever seen?" Katie asks after lifting her recently traded ball of fur out of her backpack and hovering it towards them.
Casey sighs.
"Well?" She asks.
"Well," Casey says without so much as looking up "it looks like a great deal of, fur."
"Don't dismiss it out of hand. Not everything we do has to be work related you know. Sometimes fun comes around to play." She hesitated. "You do know the practical definition of fun right? Something that is not work related?"
Katie knew that Casey could be accused of a fair few things, but not knowing how to relax wasn't one of them. Still, she had to try and provoke him.
"I just think it to be out of place to use the gift of Alchemy not for the irrigation of fields, not to clear out forests to make way for field crops or hunt for food, but to create this ball of fur. It's not even edible without a good scotch to kill your taste buds." He replied.
"You know you don't mean that." She said, brushing the critter against his cheek and putting it down on the ground.
"And why is that?" He asks rhetorically.
"Because the wiggling of its nose makes you think of me." She replies smugly, wiggling her nose to him.
After uttering one last sentence of annoyance, Lidiya walks towards the sign that points in the direction of the Great City of Merchants. Bits of chalk seemed to fume of her footsteps as she walked into the designated passage.
"Bugger your reasoning." She mumbles.
"We need new supplies and to trade that which the beast we've slain left behind and that's that. I don't see how you want to argue against that" Myrthe says to no one in particular. Smiling, she fills her flask with water and observes the two lovebirds; One holding a ball of fur up to her face and wiggling her nose to it, the other half asleep, hardly noticing what is to come. She showers them with a light sparkle of water from the palm of her hand and smiles.
"I knew that would get your attention. Come on you two, we're going to this way." She says, pointing to the sign of the Great City of Merchants.
"So it wasn't rain you were predicting." Garet reminds her.
Exclaiming some word that cannot be put in a written document, Katie stood up, drying her face with her sleeve. Casey, wondering where she learned that, slowly got to his feet as well and heard her ask a question. "Where is my bunny?"
A small shadow shoots up to the sky again, hardly visible to the naked eye due to its enormous speed. A split second later a sharp stone pole with a small arrow head, formed by Flint, crashes down into the narrow path, splitting a small boulder and pinning the bird's head into the rocky ground. Lidiya lowers her hand and smiles with one thought on her mind. Lunch.
Five hours pass and the four arrive at the gates of Myrthaes' most densely populated area. Darker ground than any of them henceforth has seen lies in front of them. A heavily fortressed area of trees, large patches of swamp and mire, thick vegetation and hidden overgrown cottages greets their eyes. Narrow hang bridges, constructed out of nothing more than wood and rope, appear to connect the individual houses to small groups of houses. Minute flickering lights, radiating from small torches, hang periodically alongside the bridges and in front of the larger doors, causing dark shadows to flicker over the landscape and play tricks on the eyes. Murky water surrounds all the dry patches of land which have been used to build cottages and the sound of unknown creatures echo. Strange smells fill the air.
Myrthe stops dead in her tracks. "What in the name of He-who-laughed-in-the-face-of-death-and-has-died-consequesntly-a-long-time-ago happened here?" she asks to the world in general. The world in general paused, held its breath and tried really hard to ignore the glacier that seemed to be forming around her feet. Katie pushes Lidiya a few steps forward with the help of a small gale and swiftly takes a step back. Lidiya looks to the ground and smiles guiltily while mumbling something along the lines of having the road signs walk to each other's place being a possible cause of this.
Having dried her hair, Lidiya follows the group entering the village.
As normal procedures dictates they went to look for the mayor's hut first. When they stepped upon the rope bridge, the noises it made indicated it seemed perfectly able to hold their weight as long as they did not walk to close in each other's proximity.
It was not long after they encountered the first hut in the extensive maze of bridges that Katie noticed a small sign hanging on the front door. It had a hastily scribbled symbol on it none of them could identify. As they walked on for what seemed to be half an hour, they noticed that every semi-large cottage they encountered had one. They noticed also that the noises that one normally hears in a densely populated village like this one seemed to be absent. It was not until they finally reached the mayor's cottage, in the centre of the village, that Casey saw a bigger and carefully painted sign and finally recognized its meaning. He always took much joy in talking with locals, learning their history and lore. It was through the local lore that he knew what this symbol meant. This, and several scorch marks on the walls and trees surrounding them were of great help.
Casey frowned. It was the sign of the Katash. Though pretty much novice by the standards of full Psynergy Adepts, they are still a fierce tribe of fire warriors, renowned for leaving only brightly lit grounds behind. Though, fortunately, it takes a great wielder to burn down an entire village single handed in a matter of minutes, a small bonfire and lots of wooden cottages can give the same result, given an hour or so of extra time. They are known for being ruthless and taking joy in letting those who cannot run fast enough die in the flames.
When Casey had explained to them what he knew about the men they were dealing with, Lidiya took out her one of the Psy-stones they carried. They formed a tight formation a few feet from the main door, took a few deep breaths and closed their eyes. The light around them became even darker then it was, yet at the same time radiated in a faint purple glow emanating from the little piece in Lidiya's hand. They could feel the energy emit from the rock and enter their bodies. It was a warm feeling, followed by cold waves that rushed through them and made their bodies shudder slightly. Their mental capacities were greatly enhanced and any form of fatigue vanished.
Lidiya, with a wave of her hand, pulled up a few stones from the bottom of the swamp and wielded them against the door. A sharp snapping sound echoed through the landscape as a few bits were chipped off the door. The door opened and a tall slender figure loomed in the bright light, casting the door in a perfect frame around him. He bore the same symbol seen painted on the signs outside on several parts of his body.
Katie winched as her muscles suddenly bulged. There was a sense of something strong and powerful tearing from her mind into her body. It was as if it was trying to take over. Without her commanding it, her hands raised themselves above her head and showered herself in Psynergy particles which formed a blue dome around her. Several fire balls shot from multiple directions at the group just as the dome expanded to enclose all of them. Black columns of smoke rose from the points where the Katash warriors stood hidden in vines. The second wave of fire balls, joined this time by the warrior in the door, was hurled at them, followed by dragon shaped streaks of fire. The Psynergy shield seemed to neutralize it all and remained standing firm even when Katie lowered her hands again.
The group of four opened their eyes, which were glowing menacingly with a white haze, and raised their left hands, palms open pointing forward. Blue haloes, on the boarder of vision, rose out of the ground around their feet, climbed up to their head, narrowed above it and vanished. The ground trembled slightly as the air seemed to thicken.
The water around the hut started to bubble and boil. It seemed to rise like steam from the bottom of the swamps and surrounded the hut in a fog so thick you could have sliced it and served it as dinner. A high pitched yell came from Myrthe as several feet of murky water drops rose up and started to spread like ripples in a pond. A second dragon shaped burst of fire rose from the palm of the framed man and rebounded on a near solid wall of wind that appeared before him, leaving a pile of ash behind. Hissing noises temporarily dominated the forest as the wall of water neutralized the fire attacks that were cast upon them. The air inside the dome momentarily flared bright red at the same time that Casey howled. Fist sized spheres of magma flowed, like the steady stream of a river, from his hand and hovered in all directions around him. They swiftly passed through the bleu dome and formed a second dome around it. Beyond it, they could hear the impacts of the Katash's attacks hit through Myrthe's defence onto the newly formed wall of magma. As soon as it was complete, Katie took a deep breath and, together with Myrthe, they produced a icy windblast that solidified the magma into rock. Now it was Lidiya's turn to act. Her body started to tremble and after a few seconds the outer dome of hardened magma burst; the shards of stone shot in the direction of the smoke columns still rising from the thick vegetation, killing several Katash warriors. Casey immediately started to conjure an inferno of white coloured fire balls, shooting them at the house in front of them and over the bridges to the other cottages, incinerating all who came in its way. As they intensity of the Katash attacks grew, reigns of stone arrows fell where hurried and cursing footsteps could be heard or an illuminating flame could be seen. Thundering walls of wind as well as marble slabs seemed to appear every so often to deflect the incoming fire attacks. Desperately trying to fight the cause of trouble, the whole occupying tribe of the Katash ran out of the houses in order to fight it.
By the time screams of dying men started to rise from all around them and the swamp water started to colour bright red, a small wind gained in intensity. The roofs of the houses started to shiver, dust was swept away and pebbles were blown into the water. The thick fog was spread around the entire village as the wind turned into a strong breeze The vision at this point was decreased to a mere foot; not a single soul could orientate himself anymore. As the strong breeze turned into a massive gale, blowing in increasing strength, it thickening the fog Myrthe kept pulling up even further, none could see an inch before their eyes, none but Lidiya herself. Being more strongly aligned with the power of the Wind Adepts then anyone in recorded history, she could hover herself high above the water, just below the canopy. With her arms spread like an eagle she appeared to have an outline of a huge bird around her, no, it was more as if she had turned into a bird. The intensity of her wind spells caused random Psynergy sparks to set the surrounding air around her on fire, consequently causing deafening thunders to boom around. Her metal concentration focused on directing the fireballs, the stone arrows and her streaks of lightning to every last Katash warrior until all of their screams had died out.
When silence had finally returned again she floated down and sagged to the ground. The enormity of her displayed powers was henceforth unseen and the toll it had taken upon her body seemed to have taken the highest toll. Casey ran to her and caught her before she lied flat on the ground while Myrthe and Lidiya quickly opened their backpacks. At a loss for words he just held her, trying to keep her from falling asleep.
"Casey?" She whispered softly. A smear of blood ran out of her mouth down the side of her cheek.
"I . . . I . . ." He stammered. His eyes were getting wet with tears. He had never seen her so weak and so pale, so pale...
"What happened? I was-" She stopped. "Your hands are so warm."
As the fog that had been thrown up during the battle started to condense into water again it started to rain. Katie noticed the cold air biting into her lungs.
"Can't you remember what you did?" He looked up and back at her again.
"Casey." She whispered, trying to sit up. "It is not your fault . . . the eye did it, it told me we didn't have the strength to survive this. He could make me-" She was fighting the black spots before her eyes.
Casey spoke with a shaking voice: "You didn't have to do it alone. We could have finished it together as a team ans survived like we always do."
Myrthe threw her backpack upside down, ruffled through its content and threw a small glass container with green liquid at Casey which he poured it into her mouth.
"No, you don't understand." She said. "He told me he could help me help you. You- We, were so greatly outnumbered."
"Don't be so naive," he said, "we've dealt with bigger foes before, stronger ones too."
"Casey," She whispered, her voice trailing to a mere sigh. "It is so cold."
Casey's vision glazed for a moment and his eyes turned a deep red. Bright blue haloes started rising slowly from the ground around their bodies and climbed to the top of their heads where they shrunk and disappeared again. His hands conjured a red gas that he waved over her body as the haloes continued to shoot out of the ground with increasing frequency. Unable to do much more, Myrthe stepped to the water's edge and conjured a small concentration of fine mist out of the swamp. She turned it into a clear bleu liquid and sprinkled this over Katie. As Katie lied there, she seemed to gain a bit of a colour but was still falling in and out of consciousness. Lidiya kneeled to the ground and whispered something to the earth. A yellow light protruded from the nearest tree and a small amount of golden sap hovered towards her hands. She closed her hands for a moment and then poured it into Katie's mouth, but to no apparent avail.
Katie eyes were clouding over as death came upon her. She slowly closed her eyes and her body went limb.
Casey´s eyes filled with tears as he held her tightly in his arms and whispered softly: "Please don't leave me. I love you." Blue haloes blurred them out of vision.
- - - - -
"Things haven't changed much in these parts of Weyard?" Casey asked, looking out over the swamp one last time. "No" said the small timid voice that belonged to the mayor. "Without great warriors such as you the people living in these parts cannot defend themselves. We are but novice wind adepts and are thus no match for such fierce fire warriors. I thank you again and in the name of our people, may you journey safely."
Without looking back the four warriors left in the direction of the Great City of Merchants once more. Though this time around, they tried getting there without the help of Lidiya.
(1) They did this however after they found out they were in a bit of a pickle.
(2) As a reaction to all the mutated, very aggressive, murderous and above all unhygienic creatures wondering the world nowadays.