Through the Other Eyes II: Bloodlines

By S. Katharine Kellermeyer (aka. jedigrl2001)

-based on the video game series "Golden Sun ©" by Camelot©

(A/N: Yes, behold! It is a sequel! Through the Other Eyes was a piece written about the characters Saturos, Menardi, Felix, and Alex, spanning the time frame of five years prior to Golden Sun, all the way to the conclusion of the first game, and somewhat into "Lost Age." Due to the conclusion of Through the Other Eyes, two branches have now been formed.

You are currently reading Through the Other Eyes II: Bloodlines, the sequel that will pick up the pathways of Karst, Agatio, and Alex, as well as the paths of Isaac, Garet, Mia, and Ivan, leading up to a convergence in Golden Sun: The Lost Age; A Novel. Work has already begun on this piece, and the first chapter for both GSLAN, and TTOE2 is underway.

IMPORTANT NOTICE: S. Katharine Kellermeyer does not own "Golden Sun ©" which is a commodity of Camelot ©. She does not take credit for dialogue featured in the game, nor for characters featured within the game. Fiction Rating for this story is subject to change, due to content being considered at this time.

Any questions should be deferred to or featured in reviews, which I will do my best to answer at the beginning of every new chapter. It is recommended that you have read TTOE before reading GSLANovel, but is not necessary for reading TTOE2.

Enjoy!

S. Katharine Kellermeyer aka. jedigrl2001)

Prologue:

The shadows are screaming.

She is walking on the water, the ocean. She doesn't recognize these shores. They are too warm, covered in sand that scorches her toes. The breeze is rough against her naked skin, rushing over her body in sudden gasps. Fire has burnt the sky green, lighting the marble lying in piles along the shore.

The breeze is moist with rain. It carries the smell of death and trees with it, petals and debris. Her hands reaches into the wind, pulling a piece of it loose. She knows these colors. She knows this scent. Sweet and sharp, broken with the smell of mountains and heat.

She is running on the ocean, waves lapping at the tops of her feet, pulling her in. She is gasping for air, flailing wildly as she struggles to remember what it is to swim. She scrambles onto the stones, the shattered ruins of a great temple. She doesn't know this place, and yet she is compelled to cry.

Little puddles are gathered in smaller gullies, places where the stone dips and curves, creates ponds. Her feet are cut, she is running so fast. The pain bits into her bones, only making her run faster. It is raining now, echoing in the stones, in her mind. It swells to a storm, to a lake, drowning her.

She trips and falls into one of the little gullies. The water is red here, thick and dark. Her face is shattered and reborn with each drop of rain. Someone is crying. It is her reflection. Her long hair is pale in the water, dripping with the blood that courses from the corners of her eyes, her lips. Not even her tears will wash these stains away. In the water, she is clawing at the surface. In the water, her face turns ashen, then runs red again. In the water, she stops moving.

She pulls away from the gully, screaming.

It is not her.

It is her sister.

Karst awoke screaming. She thrashed herself loose from her covers, throwing herself across the room, against the wall. She stared at her bed, the second bed across the room. She was alone. Why was she still screaming?

Her door burst open, light flooding the room. A woman rushed in, shoving the lamp onto a table and starting for the girl, now pressed into the corner, still screaming.

"Karst!" Melima screamed. "Karst, it's alright! It's me!"

The girl was still sobbing, her red eyes wide and swollen. She stared at her mother for several moments, horrified. Melima carefully grabbed for Karst's hands, hugging herself around her middle. She pulled her arms loose, revealed the gashes her nails had left in her skin. Karst looked at her hands, looked up at her mother, trembling.

Melima stared at the skin, torn from her belly. Red was only beginning to surface, breaking through her pale lavender skin. She shook her head and pulled her daughter close as she began to sob.

Karst started as Melima set a cup of tea in front of her. The windows were still dark, though sunrise was beginning to line the horizon.

Melima leaned against the kitchen counter, staring at the girl seated at the table. "Enough," she said flatly. "I want you to talk to the Elder today."

"I don't need to talk to the Elder," Karst muttered darkly, stirring the tea with her finger.

"Karst," Melima said, her tone flat. "This is not a discussion. If you don't tell him, I will."

Karst looked up. "Mum, you wouldn't, y-you can't—!"

"Then you will tell him," Melima said.

Karst stared silently into her cup of tea. The discussion was over.

Melima's expression softened. "Karst, I'm just worried about you. First these nightmares, now this. I'm just afraid that one night I'm going to wake up and find you gone, or worse." She stepped to the table, pressing her hand against Karst's pale cheek. She smiled sadly. "I don't want anything bad to happen to you."

Karst sniffed, pulled away. "I know." She watched in silence as her mother went about cleaning the kitchen. She sipped at her tea, hesitantly spoke. "I think something's happened."

Melima glanced at her daughter. "What's happened?"

"To Menardi," Karst murmured. "And Saturos and the others… I think something is wrong."

Melima shook her head. "Nonsense—"

"No, it isn't," Karst said, her voice rising slightly. "I saw her in my dreams, Mum. I saw her in the water inside these stones. She was hurt, Mum, maybe dy—"

Karst's words ended abruptly as Melima rounded on her. A chair clattered across the room, smashed into the wall. Melima's red eyes were narrow and glistening. Her voice was tight. "Don't you say that," she whispered. "Don't you dare say that about your sister."

Karst returned her eyes to her tea.

Melima shook her head, grabbing the chair and roughly shoving it back into it's place. "Your sister is fine. Nothing is wrong with her, and once she returns, we'll all be a family again… just like we used to be, understood?"

"Yes, Mother."

"Good," Melima said, but her hands were still trembling. She swallowed. "Go get yourself dressed. The Elder will be expecting you." She sighed as Karst swept from the room. "You have a long day ahead of you."

Karst stood in front of the full-length mirror in the room her sister and she had once shared. Her hands braided her long, magenta-colored hair, pulling it tightly away from her face. She tied it off with a long strand of leather, beads and feathers draped from either end, let it dangleover her shoulder. She smiled slightly, smoothing out the feather.Her sister and she used to braid each other's hair as children. Before they'd discovered Gaia Falls. Before they'd sent her sister and a male called Saturos to a far off place called Vale.

Karst's smile turned to sadness as she fluffed the line of banges that fell across her brow, stopped over her left eye. Dark markings were beginning to show on her pale skin. At age sixteen, Karst was long overdue for her clan markings. She traced the line with her fingernail, her skin blushing under her touch, magnifying the mark. Within moments, it had faded.

Karst sighed, slipping into her training garments; a simple pair of trousers, and a tunic. Her dress clothes lay folded in a neat pile beside the mirror; a skirt, and an embroidered shirt, emblazoned with the Mars Symbol in gold. Her skirt was only half-length, a style sported by those not yet recognized as adults within Prox, and her shirt had no layering or armor support of any kind. The youth were not yet allowed to travel beyond the outskirts of Prox, so armor was out of the question.

Karst pulled her tunic over her head, stepping back and examining herself in the mirror. She stepped close, up against the markings on the wooden frame. She placed her hand on her head and stepped back. She still hadn't grown. Two months, and she was the same height as she'd been before. Menardi towered over her by a good three marks, her name scribbled into the wood with a knife. Karst frowned. She wasn't ready to scribble her name into the wood just yet.

Stepping back she examined her legs again with a slight 'harumph.' How she wished for a pair of legs as long as Menardi's. She would be the envy of all the young girls of Prox. But for now, she'd have to accept their envy for the best fighter in all of Prox.

She grinned at herself in the mirror, slipped on her coat and grabbed for her bag. She pulled on her boots, and darted out of the house. Her mother was calling to her from the doorway as she ran down the path. Karst looked over her shoulder, waved back to her mother, and ran headlong into a wall.

She came to an abrupt stop, falling flat back onto her derriere. She shook her head, glancing up at, what was actually not a wall at all, but the massivemale before her.

He laughed lightly, holding his hand out to her. "Where's the fire, Karst?"

"Sorry, Agatio," she murmured, holding her head. "I wasn't watching where I—"

"Well, I can see that," Agatio chuckled, dusting the snow off her coat. "To the Elder's, hm?"

"Yeah," she murmured.

He raised an eyebrow. "Then you've heard?"

"The Oniat Elderess?" Karst nodded. "I heard."

Agatio sighed. "I just hope things go well today," he murmured. "We could use their help."

"You think they'll sign the pact," Karst said, smiling slightly.

Agatio let out a slight laugh. "I hope they will. We're the Northernmost tribe, Karst. Mars Lighthouse will need to be protected once it is lit… and it is too great a job for Prox alone. Besides," he said with a smile. "I'm sure after Saturos and your sister return, they'll want a little time off." He stared at his hands, fiddled with the ring under his glove. "And I'm sure Menardi and I will have… much to discuss."

Karst smiled. "You mean marriage—"

"I said nothing," Agatio chuckled, looking up as his name was called. Puelle stood in the street with a group of five other adepts, some on the backs of massive beasts, others holding the reins to their own creatures.

Agatio sighed. "I'd best be going," he murmured. "We're supposed to rendezvous with the caravan in an hour or so." He nodded at her. "Good luck, today."

"You, too."

Karst watched him bound across the snow-filled streets, pull himself onto the back of one of the beasts, and take the reins. She pulled her coat around her tighter as the snow began to fall. She watched the group disappear into the bleak, white tundra, then started once again to the Elder's home.