Author's notes: This is a remake of a typical Golden Sun III fanfic I began writing on a couple of years ago, but sadly I never managed to get so far, mostly because I was so lazy. However, it has been picking on my mind ever since, so I have finally decided that I must try to finish it after putting so much time into it, and thus I will begin posting it here. Hopefully it will no longer butcher the English language as much as it did before.

As I said, it is a typical Golden Sun continuation has I've imagined it. As such, the personalities and developments of characters from the games are based on how I've interpretet them (or how I would like them to be), and I hope you'll come to like them, or at least accept them when I'm really pushing their personalities. I've put it as Adventure/Romance, but I wish I could add a third, which would be "Humour" since I can't help but making fun of characters every now and then. Even if there won't be much of it until later, I chose Romance over Humour basically in an attempt to lure in some shippers.

I'm warning you, though, that my efforts of cutting the length of the chapters have been impossible. The site were I originally posted this usually had very long fanfics, and my love for worthless details have actually made the remade chapters even longer.

Disclaimer: "Golden Sun", "Golden Sun: the Lost Age" and everything connected to it belong to Nintendo and Camelot. All new characters and places however, belong to my twisted mind.

XX

Weyard, a world blessed with the powers of Alchemy. However, something happened. Nobody remembers anymore, all they know is that a man tried to control the elements. He would have succeeded, if not a group of wise men had sealed the art of Alchemy and stopped the threat. Yet, sealing away Weyard's life source had terrible consequences. Large civilisations disappeared. The knowledge of their past vanished, leaving the next generation completely unaware of their history. As usual, facts changed into myths, then to legends, and finally they were forgotten. Weyard's secrets remained hidden for hundreds of years. Until one day, when a group of young warriors after many fiery struggles and hardships broke the seal of Alchemy. By breaking the seal, they saved Weyard, but also unlocked the keys to many of its secrets. It was only a matter of time before the ancient secrets of Weyard would be revealed, and some of them should have remained hidden and forgotten.

The reader closed his book with a snap; it was getting too dark to continue reading. He looked to his left and watched how his servant dutifully, but unsuccessfully, tried to light up a campfire. It had been raining for several days; the wood were simply too damp to catch fire.

"How far is it to Sol Sanctum?" he asked.

The servant gave up his failing attempts with a sigh. "If the map is correct, we should be there in a few days."

His master nodded in approval where he sat under the trees, which offered minimal protection from the rain. This fact caused a part of the servant's soul to shriek in protest, and without further ado he excused himself as he went deeper into the forest, desperately searching for anything close to dry wood.

Left alone, his master looked up at the sky, and smiled contentedly.

XX

The cloudy sky was a mix of grey and black, as if it also was filled with grief this day. After been ravaging with storms and strong winds, only small tears of rain now fell down on the crowd, who stood close around the Healer. Some shivered in the cold wind, others were crying and sought comfort from their friends and family. Only the Healer spoke this cold morning. His voice was strong, determined not to let the howl of the wind hide his words.

"May you find peace in the afterlife. You will always be here with us, even when your breaths have stopped..." The Healer turned around to the sad faces behind him, who looked at him with sorrow in their eyes. "He was a wise and honourable scholar, blessed with old age. May he be remembered for ages".

With this, the ceremony was over. Slowly, he walked on the road leading away from the cemetery, followed by the rest of the crowd. Even though this indeed was a sad day, there were chores that had to be done and a wish to get inside, away from the cold rain. Only four people remained at the grave, paying no heed to the chilly weather, or their soaked clothes.

"He never liked to be called old..." Jenna said, hiding a sob.

"I can't believe he is gone... It was only a few days ago he showed us his latest great discovery."

"I remember that, Felix. He found out that he could paint."

"Does anyone know why he only painted flowers?"

"No. He did say something, but I did not listen to him then. I was looking at his pictures." Isaac said a bit shamefully.

With the rain hiding any tears in their face, they silently mourned. Felix looked at the grave and remembered all the time they spent together with Kraden. He had been their respected teacher, and a valued companion when they had travelled all over Weyard, faced danger and hardships together. He even remembered when Kraden first came to Vale. Felix was three years old back then, and his first thought had been that the old man in strange clothes both looked and was funny. Kraden used to tell him and his friends stories about the world outside their village. He always said, that he one day would show the world for them. Well, he sure had kept his promise...

Felix looked up in the sky. Unnoticed to them the rain had stopped. The clouds were disappearing and through them a blazing sun began to shine upon them.

"Everyone..." he said, "We must go now. Our parents are probably waiting for us to come and help them."

"Can't we just hide in the forest until tomorrow instead?" Garet suggested.

"No." Jenna said. "What kind of a man are you if you don't even want to do simple housework? You must even if you don't want to."

Garet muttered insults aimed at cleaning as they walked towards Vale, but it didn't bother them. Him moaning during spring-cleaning had become some sort of tradition as well, it would be awkward without it.

As they climbed the last hill the road split in a crossroad, and they were offered a grand view of the rebuilt village slowly waking up. Then, as they were about to continue on, they were all of a sudden one man short.

"What is it, Isaac?" Jenna curiously wondered as she turned to Isaac, who, with a hint of being unsure of where he wanted to go, had remained at the crossroad.

"I think I'm going to the ruins. Just... need to be alone right now."

Felix nodded his head. This too seemed to have become a tradition.

"I understand Isaac." Come back when you're ok."

Isaac smiled and walked away from them along the other path.

"Hey Isaac!" Garet shouted after him. "Don't let me do all the work. Come back in time!"

"I will. Don't worry."

XX

Sol Sanctum and the remains of the first Vale... After the earthquake caused by Mt. Aleph, they had rebuilt their village south of the former mountain. The ruins of the temple had mostly remained untouched, except for a few of Kraden's excavations for relics.

Two years ago he, his father and Garet stood here and saw their hometown destroyed. However, even if Mt. Aleph swallowed the entire mountain and trashed the village to the ground, the villagers had been safe. Thanks to the Wise One, ironically...

Isaac walked up the hill and gazed at the devastated landscape, now bathing in sunshine. It looked exactly like it did three yours ago; houses crushed to rubble, the river dried of water with sand and dust covering the ground in its absence. At the other end of the valley, the once glorious Mt. Aleph was nothing more than a huge pile of rocks.

He stood there, and thought for himself once again. The funeral lingered in his mind; it was sad that the others couldn't be here, but they lived too far away. Sheba was in Lalivero, Piers in Lemuria or sailing around the world somewhere, Isaac wasn't sure anymore. Mia, as dutifully as she is, returned to Imil and Ivan moved to Contigo together with his sister Hamma. They will all be chocked when hey hear about Kraden's passing.

He sighed at the thought of the distance between everyone. They had barely seen each other since they released Alchemy, something which haunted Isaac day and night. For two years Alchemy had existed in Weyard, yet there was little or no change at all. There were no signs of the dangers the Wise One had foretold them about. Two years of peace and quiet, and this was surprisingly the main reason for Isaac's worry.

"It's strange. Nothing seems to have changed!" Isaac reminded himself tediously . "No new adepts are born, the towns and villages are all the same, and the monsters are disappearing! Why hasn't anything happened? Why would he warn us if there's nothing to be worry about?"

Did Alchemy need more time? Isaac would have been at ease if something had actually happened. He did trust the words of the Wise One, so when this something remained hidden, he was getting more and more concerned. If they had to act, how would they contact each other? They were spread out across all of Weyard, how could they possibly prepare for anything? What were they supposed to do?

"Or if we're already long gone when it happens..." he silently said. "All those new adepts that may be born... how are we supposed to guide them when we're no longer here?"

What if one would become a new Alex...

"Are you still thinking about that again, Isaac?" a high-pitched voice from his left shoulder said.

"You have been worried ever since we returned to Vale", a second voice said.

"C'mon get a life!" a third voice said.

"Shut up, Vine." Flint snapped and slapped the djinn with his tail.

Isaac turned his head to see Flint, Vine and Sap sitting on his shoulders, looking at him with their round, azure eyes.

"Aren't you worried about the future too?" he asked the djinni.

"Not really. I mean, you are the one who takes care of this 'saving-the-world' stuff."

"Hey! We are a part of it too!"

"Sure, Sap. You're just sleeping in his foot."

"No! It's Mold!...I swear!"

Isaac shook his head and laugh. Ever since their return the djinn had been restless and were picking fights with each other for any simple reason. There were nothing to do about it; it was just the way they were, and they didn't listen to him anyway when he told them to stop.

Yet this time the djinn ceased the fighting surprisingly early and turned their attention to their host - dear friend and his troubles.

"C'mon buddy." Sap said encouragingly. " It's spring-cleaning. Don't worry about things that haven't happened and start worrying about those that will happen."

"Like, how you will prevent Garet from destroying your roof again."

This caused Isaac to temporarily shift gears in his mind. "Good point. I was thinking of putting a steak on a table nearby, but it didn't work last year for some reason-"

Sap discreetly did his best to hide behind his fellow kinsmen.

"- so I was planning to simply take the ladder up with me . But that seems a little... Hey, stop changing the subject! I'm pondering a serious problem here!"

The djinn moaned in chorus.

"Honestly Isaac," Flint shook his little head, "you really aren't suited for all this heavy thinking. Messes up your head."

Isaac's face got that look the djinn now recognized as his very serious one. "And what about Alex? We didn't find his body."

The djinn moaned even louder this time.

"Does the blue-haired freak still haunt you? Of course you couldn't find anything, he was atop a mountain that was pulled into the very earth! He's eternally resting in a tomb of mud and crushed rocks."

"And all the other things; what does this yearly talking-to-myself-about-future-dangers stuff you do help? If they really mean that much to you, then actually do something about them! By the way, I was no way near that steak if you're-"

"Good point!" Vine shouted. "But do it later, okay? Relax instead of walking around like a doomsday prophet. Just for today. Then you can be concerned as much as you want."

Isaac smiled, but remained quiet. The djinn were lucky to not having to care about anything. He looked at the ruins again. The remains that once were his home were now covered by rocks and earth, yet it was a sort of serene peace.

That belonged to the past. Everything was fine now, he told himself. Actually, everything had been fine the last two years.

"You're right." He finally agreed. "I must stop being worried all the time. I'll fix this, somehow. No use sulking over it now, right?"

He looked down on the ground. A small plant was growing on the ground. It was very young. It would take time before it would grow into a beautiful flower. "It's still too early to think about it."

"Good you finally realized it", Vine happily said. "So, shall we go and start working?"

"You bet", Isaac answered with a broad smile.

He turned around, and began to walk away from the ruins.

Away from the past, and on to the new Vale.