All right, so first here's an apology to my readers from ADB (A Dragon's Boon) if you guys see this. I apologize that I can't continue that story for awhile since my stepbrother confiscated his Wii, which I was using as my original Wii failed to read discs. Therefore, I can't play Radiant Dawn (no less, any other Wii game or GCN games) anymore to continue ADB. I won't get a new Wii until like…in until Christmas, really. I can find a game script but that isn't much fun as trying to visualize the fights while the game's on. I'm very sorry.

On a flip side, one of my GCNs sort of work, but it's unreliable in the least. It plays Tales of Symphonia just fine (for now), and I don't have to worry about Golden Sun on a console since all three are on handhelds. So, I want to start this story while I wait for the family to get another Wii, or until I can afford one for myself. No, I don't want the Wii-U. I have no idea if it can play GCN games and I won't bet my reviving crackers on it. (Sorry Baten Kaitos readers if you see this. It was a bad pun). Plus, it's expensive and I'm saving up for a 3DS…Anyway, enough of my sappy ramblings. Don't worry ADB won't die! I won't let it!

Enjoy this!

Of Mana and Psynergy

I

"By the rights vested in me as mayor, I hereby announce the banishment of Lloyd and Genis from thevillage of Iselia." A man with a grey hat on his head with black hair underneath said as he glared at two young boys standing in front of him. People standing near the scene, a couple of men and women, also glared, however some in particular had cast on worried faces. "Get out!" the Mayor finished angrily, jabbing a finger at the two, pointing to the exit of the village. Once the deed was done, he and the group of villagers left the scene to quickly douse the flames their hometown had suffered from the Desians—a race of half-elves—attack. The two boys, one in red and the other with notably silver-white hair, sighed deeply. They caused a mess, all for breaking the non-aggression treaty Iselia had with the Desians. Of course, it wasn't entirely their fault.

The Desians had attacked them first. Or so, they thought…

"I'm sorry for causing you trouble." Lloyd, the boy in red, said with a somber tone.

An elderly woman, Phaidra, and a man around his thirties, Frank, approached the two now-outcasts. "If you feel that way, Lloyd, please catch up with Colette and protect her. If in doing so, the world is saved and I'm sure everyone will have to think differently about you." She said.

"I'm sure Colette would want that as well." Frank, the man with blond hair, said with a weak smile.

Lloyd nodded in agreement after a second of pondering. "…Yeah. I'll atone for what I've done. I swear to protect Colette for the sake of those who have died because of me."

The other, younger boy with silver-white hair turned to him, his blue eyes set on his friend. "I'll follow you, Lloyd. It's my fault that you were banished. So I promise to stick by you, always." The brunet smiled lightly at his friend's loyalty and nodded again. "Thanks Genis." After a moment, his auburn eyes fell on the red, glowing stone in his elven friend's hands.

"Say, Genis. Why don't you use that Exsphere?"

"What…?" Genis wondered, glancing down at the ruby jewel in his hands then back up to his friend's gaze. "Wh—?"

"It's Marble's memento."

The boy looked down again and sadly nodded. "Yeah…It is."

"I'll explain to you on how to use the Key Crest later. After all, it looks like it's going to be a long journey." Lloyd added, now heading off towards the exit of the village. "Come on, we should be going before the mayor decides to come back and chew us out for not leaving…"

"You're right…"

Phaidra and Frank decided to follow them until their last moments, stopping at the gates as Lloyd and Genis crossed them. A green and white looking creature was standing outside the village gates and whined as soon as the red-clad swordsman approached him. "Let's go, Noishe…"

"Don't throw your lives away." The elderly blonde woman says to them.

"May the goddess Martel protect you both."

The boys nod quietly before leaving the village, heading out into the vast field of Sylvarant. The sun was still out, as it was now a little bit after the noonday since the incident. A breeze swept by the two boys as they began their trek to find Colette, their blonde-haired friend. After walking a great distance, in a light clearing surrounded by a few rough but small cliffs, Noishe rushes up behind them—after running off due to being afraid of monsters—and howls. Startled, Lloyd and Genis turn to find something in the wolf-dog's mouth.

"Hm? What is it? What's that in your mouth?" The brunet wonders.

Genis turns to Lloyd, having noticed something. "Look, your bag's open. You probably dropped it."

"Oh, thanks Noishe. Let's see…" Lloyd takes the item from Noishe, finding it to be a parchment. "It's a letter from Dad…"

"From Dirk?" Genis asks, curious.

"Yeah." The red-clad boy confirms. "I wonder what's written in it." A moment of silence passed as Lloyd read the letter nearly aloud, smiling at one point in the letter when his eyes roved over the words. When it was finished, the brunet sighed. "…Dad." He puts the letter away in his bag, making sure it's closed up for sure. Just as they were heading off from their small break, something shouted…

"Karis! Look out!"

It wasn't too far from where they were, but it was still close! Lloyd and Genis exchanged glances before hurrying off to find the source of the shout. As they ran, they spotted two people fending off monsters—a pack of wolves—however they were surrounded! "Genis! We have to help them!" Lloyd said, taking out his twin, wooden blades. He really wished he could have gotten real ones, though.

"Right!" The elven boy took out his kendama and began charging up mana for his spell. Lloyd rushed forward, charging a wolf with an attack. The two victims blinked in surprise when they saw the red-clad swordsman, wondering where he came from, but decided was not the best time to act upon curiosity.

"Sonic Thrust!" Lloyd shouted as he drove his right guided sword into the wolf he charged, using his mana to shape his blade into the attack.

"Fire Ball!" Genis commanded the magic to char the same wolf Lloyd struck.

There were three wolves left; the beasts were growling as they were stalking around in a circle, ready to attack again.

One of them, a girl with light green hair and purple eyes, took this chance and fired off two arrows of what seemed to be made out of wind magic from her bow, surprising both Genis and Lloyd—the former the most though. The arrows struck two of the three remaining wolves critically, instantly felling them. The last wolf charged almost blindly at the girl, however, it was cut off by the other person, a boy with spiky blond hair, wielding a strange blade—a sword with a two-prong in it like a fork—in his hands. Without a second thought, the boy plunged the weapon into the ground, shouting, "Rockslide!"

A shaking earthquake slightly roared underneath the wolf, the rocks of what seemed to be magic, yet again, collided with the monster, felling it. That was over.

"Whoa…" Genis gaped. He'd never seen a magic attack like that.

"That was cool!" Lloyd finished for his elven friend. "Hey, are you two all right?"

Closely looked upon, the girl with light green hair had her hair in a ponytail, some of her bangs brushed to the right side of her face. She had the most beautiful shade of amethyst eyes, her fair complexion and earrings from her ears. She was adorned in a white tunic, blessed with gold lining down the center seam of the outfit. She wore long, white gloves, a green bracelet around her left wrist, and underneath her tunic and the gloves, her shoulders were covered in maroon. The leggings she wore were of a brownish-purple material and white boots complimented her outfit. Lastly, she had a small, violet cape falling from her shoulders to her backside and a strange, intricately carved bow in her hands.

Next to her, was the boy with the spiky blond, hair. It seemed to have been stuck there naturally to the right, much like Lloyd's hair does. He sported the same fair complexion as his companion, having pale-blue eyes instead, and was dressed a little differently than she was. He had on a red shirt, covered by a blue jacket with short sleeves, exposing the long sleeve of the red. He wore darker blue pants, brown full-gloves and boots, with the gloves having gold bands around them. Draped around his neck was an orange-yellow colored scarf that fell nearly to his rear. His sword seemed to be a combination of a short sword and a fork, which was weird.

Strangely enough, these two had a vast amount of mana radiating off them, Genis could tell, but decided to not pry on that.

"We're fine, thank-you." The girl began cheerfully.

"Thank-you for helping us." The spiky blond added, smiling.

"You're welcome." Lloyd said, putting his swords away. "Are you two traveling by chance?"

"Ah, yes we are." The green-haired girl began. "We were on our way to an IseliaVillage, as we got directions to head there from a traveling caravan's owner. Well, that's when we were attacked by those monsters."

"Oh, well you don't want to go to Iselia…" Lloyd told her, earning a pair of surprised glances from the two strangers.

"Why not…? Did something…happen?" The boy with the rapier-like weapon asked as he put it away.

"Yeah. Desians burned it down and…well…" Genis trailed.

The two strangers glanced at one another, not entirely sure of something. "Desians…?" They asked in wonder, completely confused. This sparked both Lloyd's and Genis' attention. Were these two serious? Did they not know about the murderous half-elves?

"You…don't know them?" The brunet asked, shocked.

"We-well, no actually. We just…arrived here. We're lost." The girl admitted.

"And we're looking for someone…" the blond added.

"Arrived? So you're travelers, then?" Genis asked.

"Yeah, you can say that…" The blond-haired boy replied shakily, earning a suspicious glance from the former Iselian natives. "Oh, it's rude of us to not introduce ourselves. I'm Matthew."

The girl beside him nodded. "I'm Karis."

"Oh, right. I'm Lloyd Irving, and this is my friend Genis. You see, we're actually on our way to find some friends of ours after the village burned…"

"You're not going back to help them put it out?!" Karis half shouted, surprised, making the two flinch.

"We can't..." Lloyd sadly expressed.

"Why not?" Matthew half pressed, concerned.

"We were banished." Genis added, looking in downcast. "We can't go back…They won't allow us to."

"That's terrible!" the greenet gasped. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay." Lloyd assured her. "Besides, even if you two went there, they would be hostile about letting you two come in there. The place is a wreck and this isn't the best time to approach them."

"Oh…That's bad." Matthew said, turning to his friend. "Karis, looks like we're going to be lost again. Without a map of this place, too."

"Yeah…"

"Well, if you're lost, you can come with us." Lloyd invited. "It would be bad if we left you here."

"I agree. Come with us!" Genis prodded, smiling. "I mean, it beats being out here and not knowing where to go. That, and we have a map!" Matthew and Karis exchanged glances with one another before turning to the two natives of Sylvarant, nodding in agreement. It was better than being totally lost in some place they didn't know where they were. "If you're sure, then we'll be more than happy to come along with you." Karis said.

"Great!" Lloyd laughed. "Glad to have you both with us!"

They were friendly, thank goodness, but Genis still noticed the presence of their high level of mana. It was strange, almost frightening, but they didn't seem all that bad. They were more or less around their age, and humans, no less. Strong humans, like Lloyd.

As they were walking, Genis held out the map Lloyd received from Dirk hours earlier, looking at it carefully. Karis also looked at it, studying it and trying to memorize the locations of the towns and cities. Lloyd and Matthew, however, were having a light discussion, obviously about swords. "You use two swords, huh? That's pretty neat and unique." Matthew complimented, which Lloyd took pride in proudly.

"Yeah, I do. See, when I was younger, I was told that one apple plus another apple equaled two, and thus, you'd have more apples to eat. I thought if I used two swords, I'd be twice as strong!"

Matthew sweatdropped, laughing lightly. "I can see your logic behind that." He didn't want to ruin Lloyd's good mood about 'that usually doesn't apply to fighting' comment though decided it wasn't best to indulge on that. "Did your parents teach you that or were you self-taught?"

"I'm self-taught mostly." Lloyd answered. "What about you?"

"Well, my dad started teaching me when I was five years old. I'm surprised my mom let him do that, really." Matthew started, thinking. "However, as I traveled around, I improved in my swordsmanship, getting faster and stronger. I developed my own techniques, too."

"You traveled by yourself to hone your skills?"

"No, not entirely." Matthew said, shaking his head. "I had my friends with me. Karis is one of them." He nodded to the girl beside Genis, chatting to the elven boy about where to go. "We were on a journey…" The blond trailed, stopping himself from going any further.

"A journey, huh? That sounds exciting. Genis and I were going on a journey, too." Lloyd admitted.

This caught Matthew's attention quickly. "Really?"

"Yeah. See, the friend we're trying to catch up with is going to regenerate the world." The brunet announced proudly. "Her name's Colette—she's the Chosen."

"Chosen…?"

"You don't know…? Oh right, new…" Lloyd reminded himself, earning a chuckle from the spiky haired blond. "Well, the Chosen's journey of regeneration will save us from the Desians and keep mana flowing into Sylvarant, our world. It's in decline because Desians use up a lot of mana in their ranches." The brunet was amazed he remembered all of that. Normally, he'd have forgotten.

"Sounds exciting, and…what is mana?" was Matthew's next question. Lloyd nearly fell over, and Genis, having lightly heard the conversation, blinked in confusion.

"You don't know what mana is?" Both boys questioned Matthew.

"Well, I just don't know." The blond swordsman admitted.

"Neither do I." Karis perked in. "In fact, this energy I've been feeling since we got here is strange enough. It's not like…how we know it."

"Wait, you can feel the energy around?" Genis questioned, surprised. When the two nodded, he fell into a stage of stupidity. Almost. How could humans feel mana? Elves were the only ones who could tell, and to a lesser degree, so could half-elves. The boy mage had to know.

"A-are you guys elves or something?"

"Elves?" Karis repeated. "No, we're not elves."

"We're not even half-elves either." Matthew added, Genis lightly flinching at the comment, to which nobody saw. "I heard half-elves are not welcome in this…world. It's really sad."

"Yeah…" Genis mumbled.

"So wait, you're saying you're completely human, then?" Lloyd asked next, still baffled.

"Yeah." Both responded simply.

"That's awesome. Wait, so that move you pulled off earlier…?" The brunet directed this to Matthew, who smiled.

"Y-yeah, that's…uh…"

"Had to be magic." Genis finished, almost. "I thought only elves and half-elves could use magic. It seems weird. Maybe you have elven ancestry. There's no other way to explain it." Matthew and Karis once again exchanged looks before deciding to agree with the boy. They couldn't tell him the truth…

"Yeah, we might." Karis said slowly. "W-well, we should be going along now. At this rate, we'll never catch up with your friend."

"Oh right! We should go!" Lloyd concluded, taking the lead of the small group of now-friends, Genis beside him. Matthew and Karis decided to stay in the back of them, though not too far away. This strange world they appeared in only a day ago…It was weird.

-x-x-x-

A few hours passed as the teens continued their trek, with the sun beginning to set very slightly over the horizon. The group had a few more run-ins with monsters, however with the combined power of the four, the battles went by quickly as they came. With the sky changing colors, it looked like it would get dark soon. Lloyd and Genis were still in front of Matthew and Karis, which was a bit of a good thing. The girl eyed her friend slightly, calling his name.

"Matthew…" Karis began quietly to the boy next to her. He looked her way in acknowledgement as she continued. "I… I don't think we should tell them where we're from yet, and how we can use Psynergy, or that we're Adepts."

"Why is that?"

"Well, for safety precautions. You know? Let's just go along with what they say. I assume this energy we've been picking up on is this 'mana' they talked about. So, it seems to work in the same fashion as our Psynergy, albeit a bit differently."

"Hm, that's true. I can recover my Psynergy a little faster here than when were in our world." The blond sighed a little. "I really don't like lying to them, though. They're good people, I can feel it."

"Yeah. It's not that I don't trust them. It's just…well…"

"I understand, Karis. I hope we can find my Dad soon and the Teleport Lapis…"

"Me too."

"Hey! Matthew! Karis! You two coming?" They heard Lloyd's voice call to them. The Adepts looked up from their conversation, noticed they were falling behind by at least a mile. They chuckled to themselves before hurrying along after Genis and Lloyd. Apparently, being in deep conversation distracted you from knowing your surroundings. "Sorry. We were just talking about what we'd do after getting to the next town."

"That's okay." Genis said, folding the map of Sylvarant. "We think Colette and the others—my sister Raine and this mercenary named Kratos—would be at Triet." The two Adepts nod, though the wondering of what Triet was had been apparent on both Lloyd's and Matthew's faces. Sighing, Karis shook her head. "It's the next town after Iselia. It's a town in a desert oasis town." Hearing this, both swordsmen grimaced, more so at the desert word. Lloyd had read once that deserts were unnaturally hot; Matthew also had read up on them being hot, and had extra confirmation from his father, uncle and mother about it. All three of them, along with their friends on their journey, to light the Lighthouses, had experienced the tortures of three deserts in total. The one most familiar in their stories that struck Matthew was the LamakanDesert.

That place was…he didn't even want to think about it. It's a good thing their world altered in the last thirty years or they'd have gone through that torturous place. Of course, Matthew had once been inside a volcano. Deserts were one thing, but literally being in a volcano was another. "Ugh…" Matthew grumbled to himself.

"A desert? Seriously?" Lloyd groaned in complaint.

"Well, we have to Colette and the others!" Genis stated further. "It's the only way." After that, the boy said, "There's a House of Salvation up ahead. We should stop there and rest. We should also stay there until tomorrow."

"House of Salvation…?" Karis wondered, Matthew as well.

"It's like an inn." Genis explained. "It's for the Chosen's journey but they let other travelers rest there."

"Oh."

"You know, it'd be wise to travel during the night." Matthew said, earning the glances of the other three.

"It's dangerous to walk anywhere at night. Bandits and thieves attack more often at night." Genis said.

"That may be true, but deserts are cooler at night, and it's dangerous for our health to walk in the heatwave, too." The blond-haired Adept replied. "If we travel the desert at night, it'll be easier for us. It's cooler than traveling by daylight, where it's screaming hot. Before the sun rises, we can find some shade to rest in and wait for nightfall again."

"That seems like the best way to go." Karis agreed.

"…Well, that is a point…" The elven boy said softly.

"I think we can try that. But we'll be at the House of Salvation for awhile though." Lloyd spoke up. "Come on, we're not too far from the House of Salvation. Let's go."

-x-x-x-

Upon reaching the House of Salvation, with the sunset beginning to glow a dark orange and red in the sky, Genis stopped the group, turning to them. "You know…If we're wandering around, I don't think we'll catch up with Colette and the others any faster."

"You're right." Lloyd noted. "We can ask everybody we meet if they've seen Colette."

"Okay. There's a traveler right there. Let's ask him." Genis pointed out to a man with brown hair, a small beard, wearing a green cap, and had a backpack on his back. The four walked over to him, the young boy in blue starting a small conversation. "Excuse me." He pardoned politely.

"Hm? What is it?" The traveler wondered, gazing at the young boy and his friends.

"Did Colette—I mean, did the Chosen's group pass by here by chance? Do you know?"

"Beats me." The man shrugged. "What do they look like?"

"Um. Well, one is a young girl with blonde hair, wearing white robes. Another is wearing orange and she has hair like mine, and lastly, is a man wearing purple. He carries a sword." Genis explained.

The man pondered a bit before shaking his head. "I haven't seen them. Sorry."

"I see…" Genis sadly sighed.

"Hm, are you four on a pilgrimage?"

"Yeah, something like that."

"You don't look like you're very used to traveling…" The traveler admitted, earning a frown from the four teens. "Do you have a map?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah we have one." Genis said, taking it out. The man examined it, nodding.

"You know, in each region of the world, there's something called a GuidepostMonument. Your travels will become easier if you seek them out."

"I didn't know that…" Genis admitted, Lloyd staring at him, baffled. The two Adepts nodded as they seemingly understood. "Thank-you very much, sir."

"You're welcome. You four be careful now."

"We will be."

Genis nodded to his friends as they left the traveler's company, now heading inside the building to their left. Upon entering it, they saw a few people on the lower level, a man with brown hair, an elderly woman with her cane, her eyes closed in concentration, and a priest standing before a statue. Seeing as the priest would be a start, they headed towards him.

"Welcome to the House of Salvation." He said as the teens approached him. "If you're tired from your travels, you may wish to use the beds upstairs to rest." The priest smiled, the teens nodding.

"Thank-you, sir." Karis said. Wow, that was nice. They headed upstairs, seeing one room was unoccupied—however, saw only two beds. Great.

"Uh…" Lloyd blinked, glancing at his friends, more importantly, at Karis. She was the only female in their group. Someone would have to bunk with her. Or she'd just take the bed for herself and two of them would have to sleep on the floor.

"What?" Matthew wondered, then noticed the problem for himself. "…'Uh' is right." He sighed. "Well, I'll sleep on the floor. I don't mind."

"Me too." Lloyd said before Genis and Karis objected. The two swordsmen found themselves spare pillows and blankets, thanks to the old woman that had been upstairs. After paying one hundred gald—which were odd looking coins to the two Adepts—they booked the room together. It was agreed they would cross the desert the next evening. Nightfall reached the skies after an hour more of the sun's orange glow, casting over a starry sky with a quarter-moon perched in the midnight canvas.

"You know, I've been meaning to ask you both something." The brunet began as he placed his twin, wooden swords to the side, removing his boots and red coat, exposing his black, tank top shirt underneath.

"Yes?" Matthew edged after, removing his boots, jacket and sheathed sword as well, placing them to the side, his long sleeve shirt also exposed.

"How old are you two? You look about my age. I'm seventeen."

Genis shook his head. "Really, Lloyd?"

"What? I just wanted to know, that's all."

The elven boy shook his head, then looked to the Adepts. "Well, if he'll tell his age, I'll say mine. I'm twelve."

"I see. Well, that's pretty awkward to ask, but I'm sixteen." Karis replied. Genis nodded in agreement about this particular question being strange and awkward.

"I'm sixteen as well, just a few months older than Karis." Matthew answered.

"Oh, wow, I wouldn't have known that. You two actually don't look like you're…your age, I mean."

"We look younger than our age? We get that a lot." The girl chuckled slightly. "You don't look seventeen to me, either."

"Heh."

"Hm, well, we better get some sleep for tomorrow. Don't wake up too early, though. Maybe during the noonday, we should move around and get at least near the desert's edge, then break for camp." Karis told them.

"Yeah. Best save our energy for then." Genis agreed.

"Right, well, good night everyone." Lloyd said while he stretched. Genis removed his shoes and top shirt, leaving his dark blue shirt underneath it on. Karis followed likewise with her own boots, gloves and small cape. Speaking of, Matthew unwrapped his scarf, using it as more of a pillow than the pillow itself. Despite Karis, Genis and Lloyd having fallen asleep minutes later, Matthew couldn't. In fact, it was when he, his father and Karis landed in this strange world that he couldn't sleep. It had to be anxiety taking over him as well as worry.

Worry of his father.

Dad…Wherever you are in this world, please be safe…I can…barely feel your signature. Matthew said to himself, drifting to sleep finally.

-x-x-x-

Somewhere else, far away…

-x-x-x-

A man was sitting down near his make-shift campsite, made of a huge wall of stone, it appeared. It would keep monsters from getting in, unless they flew from above. Only those strange hawks did, which were easily dispatched by the man. He had short, untamed mass of blond hair, spiking towards the right, a beard of the same color running down his face and a set of pale-blue eyes that were familiar. He wore a long coat of blue, which reached past his thighs if he stood up, a grey-blue shirt underneath, dark blue pants, brown boots and black, leather half-gloves. He sported a short, orange scarf draped around his neck, which was tucked in under the coat. A brown belt fastened itself over his pants to hold them in place, and his well defined body shape could lead a person to guess this man was experienced in battle.

He rubbed his chin contemplatively, a large sword at his side, as he was seemingly in deep thought.

"Well…Isaac…It seems you got yourself a problem." The man mused to himself, indicating himself in third person for some reason. "Can't believe I got Matthew and Karis dragged into this…" He glanced up at the sky, the moon's gaze staring back at him. With a sigh, he relaxed just a little, but still with worry.

"I know they can handle themselves, but I still worry about them…I know Ivan and Jenna will kill me when they find out…"

And, that's it for now. Yeah, I'm following ToS game because I can. With, of course, some twists.

Hope you enjoy this. I'm still sorry about ADB. Review if you like. Flames shall be used to fuel my imagination lamp, then they'll be extinguished. Oh yes, GS fans, if you were wondering what weapons Karis and Matthew have, Karis has the Sagittarius Bow and Matthew has the Verdant Sword. I figured the Sol Blade is with him, but it'll "appear" when he needs it, and it'd be too, well "showy". Yeah.