What Are We Embracing?

Silvea Malachite

Note: Lemuria is the city that Babi was talking about, but it is also the name of the island that the city is on. During the years, the Lemurians had conquered the island and has an empire. That's how the island became known as Lemuria to its inhabitants. Things in * * is telepathic messages, and things in // // is thoughts. I don't write stories in present tense very often so if the tenses are messed up a little and it confuses you, I'm sorry. I do not mind any kind of criticism.

Disclaimer: I do not own Golden Sun. It is copyrighted to someone else. I'm just borrowing the characters for a little while. There are quite a few characters and monsters that I made that are in this story, though.

Ch. 1- The prediction, The beginning

"Felix. Sheba," Kraden says surprised.

"Felix... Sheba..." Jenna says at the same time. She stares at the unconscious forms of her brother and the Laliveron girl for a second until turning towards Alex worriedly. "Are they going to be alright?" she asks relieved that they are alive.

"I believe so," he answers coldly. //At least everything isn't lost. As for Menardi and Saturos, it's too bad that they were lost in the Venus Lighthouse. I was starting to like them, too, despite their viciousness. And they had their uses. Felix is starting to become rebellious, but at least, he stopped them from harming our hostages. Sheba and the rod are valuable. I still have to keep an eye on him, though.// Alex goes over to Felix and picks him up. "Get Sheba," he orders them in the same icy tone. "It's not good for them to be out here."

Jenna complies and follows him. Her mind is still relling with what she had seen these past months. Those fire Adepts were constantly ordering him about, while he and Alex were plotting behind their backs. She still can't see why he has to be apart of this. But if he wasn't in the first place.... she hates to think about what might have happened to her. Her thoughts are disrupted as Alex stops. She almost runs into him. He glances back at her.

"Oh.... I'm sorry," she apologizes softly.

If he hears her, he gives no indication. He just places Felix on the ground. She puts Sheba beside him as Alex starts to heal the cuts and bruises on him. She stands back and watchs with Kraden. He glows a shimmering blue, and the magical light is transferred to Felix. His wounds close, and he looks as if he had never been hurt now. The water Adept moves to Sheba to heal her. Felix groans and slowly opens his eyes. Jenna rushes over to him.

"Are you ok?" she asks with her voice full of concern.

He stares at her uncomprehendingly. After a few seconds, he answers. "I think so."

"I'm glad you're alive. When the lighthouse split open, and the water started to rise, I thought it was all over. I thought you were dead." Tears start to stream down her face.

"Don't cry....." her brother says sadly, trying to comfort her. "We're both alive..... But what about Sheba? I risked myself to save her." His concern for the girl is genuine.

"She's alive and going to be alright," she tells him happily. Tears are still falling onto her face.

"Please don't cry..."

"I'm sorry... I'm just so happy."

Kraden is helping Sheba to stand so not to interrupt their reunion, but Alex is watching noiselessly without showing his emotions.

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The Lemurian ship that Isaac got from Babi cuts through the water easily and quickly. After much argument, he and his companions decided to go to where Iodem thinks Lemuria is. Garet is now having fun steering the ship with the Black Orb while Isaac watches and talks to him. Ivan is below deck while Mia is on the deck watching the sea.

"I wonder if we'll ever find Jenna," she says to herself. "It seems unlikely that she is alive.... but I can't bring myself to tell them. They seem so sure that she is alive and well."

*Have more hope that everything is going to be alright,* a voice echoes in her mind. She looks around before spotting the tiny DJinni at her feet. It is Fizz.

"You're right. We're going to find Jenna and stop Felix and Alex and find Lemuria before Babi dies." She bends down and picks it up. "Just because she was never found on the other islands doesn't mean she's dead."

*That's the spirit!*

Mia looks up at the sea and sees a hazy, white thing floating on the ocean up ahead. It is mist. She goes to where Garet is steering the ship. He and Isaac look at her, not knowing if Lemuria is ahead. Wordlessly, Garet lets her steer, because she is better at it, while Isaac goes below to get Ivan. They have no idea what they will face and want to be ready for anything. They had already been attacked by monsters while crossing a gigantic lake called the Karagol Sea.

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Alex curses as he looks at the sea. Although he is a Mercury Adept, the sea is starting to drive him crazy. He's been on this peninsula-turned-island for too long. It seems to be floating to nowhere, and it's starting to sink a bit. Menardi and Saturos had ruined the ship by crashing it into the rocks. At this thought, he curses even more.

//I have the girl and the rod, but I'm stuck on this damn island. My teleportation skills aren't good enough to get me off of here and fixing that ship seems to be taking forever.// He says disgustedly in his mind. He looks over at where Felix, Jenna, and Sheba are working under Kraden's supervision. //Jenna....// He surprises himself by thinking of her. He had had girlfriends in the past, but the only female Adepts he really knows are Mia and Menardi. The former had only been a friend, and the latter he had met on his travels and hadn't known her long enough for it to be more than an allience. He didn't like Menardi, anyways. He wasn't in Vale very long, and Sheba is only a little girl.

"Come over and help Alex!" Felix yells at him from where he was working. He teleports over there and gets to work.

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The town of Gon is quiet, too quiet, but it has always been that way ever since the sea monster appeared. It was once a thriving sea port town. The shipbuilders there made the best ships, and the people there were excellent sailors. But now the town lies deserted and negleted. Very few people live there now, and the land monsters have taken it over.

Those who are living there, both monster and non-monster, notices something very strange this morning. A ship made to look like a dragon is coming towards Gon. Some of them recognizes it as one of Gon's ships. It stops by the docks, and four of the strangest dressed people that the Gonians had ever seen along with some odd creatures get off the ship.

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"This looks very cheerful," Isaac says sarcastically. He and his friends had gotten through the mist without anything happening and are now looking at Gon. There is no need for words, because they are thinking the same thing. This is too easy.

"I'm going to dock the ship," Mia informs them.

"Be ready for anything," Garet says needlessly. The others nod silently. Mia stops the ship by the dock and takes the Black Orb out of its pedestal. Following Isaac; Ivan, Mia, and Garet go off the ship with their DJinn. They get a good look at Gon. The dock under their feet is rotting and old. Buildings are destroyed or decrepit. There are scorch marks on the ground. It looks as if nobody's lived here for a long time, but they aren't alone. Grotesque lizards standing on their hind legs that are about as big as the Tempest Lizard in Suhalla Desert appears from behind the buildings. They are Fire Lizards, and there are two of them.

"I bet they're the things that caused those scorch marks. This should be easy after that Fusion Dragon," Garet says confidently while taking out his ax. The others take out their weapons. Isaac checks his Gaia Blade's Psynergy and feels it. Before he has a chance to draw it out to use its special attack, the bigger Fire Lizard breaths fire out at him. He gets hit by it before he realizes what's happening. Hot pain shots through his body, breaking his needed concentration. The Fire Lizard charges at him before he has a chance to recover. Claws tear at his armor, looking for soft flesh. He feels the lizard's hot breath on him as it lowers its head to bite him. Bright flashs of purple energy come at it, almost blinding him. It screams in pain and stops attacking to look at its challenger.

//Ivan!// Isaac thinks in a daze, recognizing the Psynergy attack of the wind Adept. He gets to his feet painfully. He feels that the lizard had gotten through his armor. He sees that Ivan has finished his attack, and it is chasing after him. He feels himself starting to fall into unconsciousness as someone grabs ahold of him. He feels his body cool down to its normal temperature, and he starts to think straight again. He looks up and sees Mia, who has healed him. He sees Ivan finishing off the Fire Lizard that had attacked him with his Psynergy, and Garet is fighting the other one alone. He smiles when he sees Garet fighting alone.

"Back me up. I don't want that thing to see me, yet," he tells Mia while picking up his dropped sword.

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The smaller Fire Lizard stares at Garet while he stares back. He hears Isaac's screams, but he didn't dare to break eye contact.

"You may be bigger then me, and you may be a fire creature, but you're nothing compared to a dragon," he tells it.

The red lizard bows without taking its eyes off of Garet. "Yes, I am nothing compared to the Great Fire Dragon of Mt. Lemuria. Unlike my foolish brother, I sense that there's something strange about you and the ones you come with. But her orders must be obeyed!" With a roar, he leaps at Garet. He gets out of the way and focuses quickly. Energy shaped as stars flies towards the lizard and gets him in the side. He makes a small noise of pain, and then breaths out fire at him. Garet sends a mental message to Flash, and it appears to put a protective aura around him. He is hardly hurt, and Flash gets out of the way.

"Interesting..." Garet hears the Fire Lizard mutter before he attacks him with his claws. Garet blocks the claws with his ax. He is so intent on killing Garet that he doesn't notice Isaac, but he does notice something huge and solid forming in the air above him. He looks up.

"I was right..." he says softly as the sword finishes forming in the sky and comes rushing towards him. It goes straight through him and the dock. It dissappears, and the Fire Lizard is dead. Garet is staring at it unusually thoughtful.

"What is it, Garet?" Mia asks after she walks over to him with Isaac and Ivan following.

"The Fire Lizard sensed that there was something strange about us, and he said something about a Great Fire Dragon of Mt. Lemuria," he tells them.

"It probably knew we are Adepts, somehow. I don't know anything about a dragon. What did he say about it?" Ivan asks curiously.

"Says that he was following orders from the dragon. He didn't say much else," he tells them, still thoughtful.

"If he says there's something special about you, he must mean it. Almost everyone on this island is an Adept," a voice says from inside a building. A boy with dark blue hair and brown eyes steps out. He is wearing clothes that isn't out of place in the modern world, but they look strange to Isaac and his friends. Flash runs straight to him.

"A DJinni... I've seen pictures of them before. And you don't come from this island, right?" he asks suspisciously. Isaac nods. He looks at them with fear.

"What?" Isaac asks.

"Kitsune predicted you would come, and when you did, the world will end soon...." he answers quietly.

"Maybe Kitsune's wrong," Mia says uncertainly.

"I don't think so..." Ivan says so quietly that they almost didn't hear him.

"Really? Why?" Garet asks, suddenly remembering Hama saying that Jupiter Adepts have the power to see the future.

"It's nothing. Just a feeling, that's all," Ivan answers.

"Can you come with me?" the boy asks suddenly.

"Sure," Isaac answers.

They follow the boy through the town. He leads them to one of the least damaged buildings and opens the door. An old man, two young men, and a woman is inside. They stand up when they see him and run over to him.

"Silbar! Where have you been?!" the woman yells at him both relieved that he's alive and angry that he wandered away alone.

"A... A DJinni...." the old man stutters when he sees Flash.

"Where'd you get it?" the man with brown hair asks.

"They have it. Ask them," he answers simply as he points at Isaac and his friends. They look at them and their strange clothes.

"You're not from here. Come inside," the woman tells them before turning to the brown haired man. "Tell the others that he is here." They go inside and sit down as he ran off. "I am Kitsune. I have seen your coming a long time ago, and I have seen that it brings doom to this world. What are your names?"

"I'm Garet, and he's Isaac."

"I'm Ivan."

"I'm Mia."

"Tell me what has been going on in the world." She wasn't asking them but commanding them. They explain everything that has happened ever since Felix was washed down the river. They are not interrupted. "The elemental stars... the DJinn.... the lighthouses... how strange..." Kitsune says when they finish. "I believe all the lighthouses must be lit and soon. If not, disaster will befall the world."

"How can a lighthouse cause disaster? It can't move," Garet says confused.

"Your coming has made sense of almost everything that is happening here recently. There is a dragon inside the volcano on this island. She has always been peaceful, but recently she has been starting to send out monsters to attack the people here. I believe it is only a matter of time before she comes out of it to burn this island. Other Lemurians and I have been studying the ancient books that our ancestors left to try to figure out why she has changed so suddenly. I found out that she is somehow connected to the lighthouses. There are three other creatures that are, too. It seems that the lighting of the two lighthouses has something to do with her strange behavior," she tells them.

"If Alex gets to the lighthouse first...." Mia says horrified. "But if we do nothing about the lighthouses, either..."

"I'm sorry, but I don't know that much about the lighthouses," Kitsune says apologetically. "The king might know more, though."

Their talking is interrupted by the door opening. Instinctively, Kitsune and the young men reach for their weapons, but it was only the Gonians who were looking for Silbar.

"Thank you for looking. I'm afraid that I'm going to be leaving soon," she informs them.

"Because of them?"

"Yes," she answers and, then, looks out at the dusk. "I think it is time for supper and, then, rest." She and a few others make supper, and everyone there eats it. She goes upstairs with Isaac and his friends following. There are beds there. They get ready and lie in them.

"Mia, do you remember what you said before we got into Babi's ship?" Ivan, who was not sleeply, asks.

"I feel as if this is just the beginning?" Mia answers with a question sleeply.

"Yeah. It looks as if you're right."