I am happy to have finished this story, it took quite a time to write and I hope you like it :D. It deals with Duskshipping (Felix/Karst) ranging from the distant memories of Felix' 3 years in Prox to scenes from Golden Sun: The Lost Age. Enough talking done now, enjoy the story!
DISCLAIMER: I do not own Golden Sun! Camelot does and thank god they finally announced a sequel!
A Teardrop on a Flame
by ShiaoPi
The ancient Lemurian ship laid dormantly amidst the waves of the Great Western Sea. With a wailing creak the wooden door towards the below-deck opened and a tall silhouette could be seen against the pale moonlight. The figure stepped to the rail at the head of the ship and stared across the dormant sea. A gentle but cold wind played with the long brown hair of the person and it tightened its long traveling cloak.
We'll arrive in Prox tomorrow....and Mars Lighthouse...
His fingers searched his neck for a chain. As he got a hold on it he took it out and stared at it sighing. The gem shaped like a tear reflected the moonlight as he put it in his left palm.
Painful memories swept his mind as he remembered a scene atop another distant aerie.
"We have ignited the beacon, the third lighthouse is lit, now let us go!"
"Oh...I don't think so..."
Bewildered Felix took a step backwards as Karst and Agatio closed in on him and Piers.
The tall blueish-skinned Proxian clenched his fists.
"Now that Jupiter Lighthouse is lit, I am afraid to say that we have little use for traitors..."
Piers' face was full of confusion.
"How come we don't have further use to you? There is still another lighthouse out there..."
Felix took out his weapon as he spoke: "Mars Lighthouse is in Prox, Piers...."
"You remembered didn't you...Felix..." Karst clenched her scythe, "I've always been fond of intelligent boys..."
The earth adept twitched but held on tightly to his sword.
Agatio raised an eyebrow.
"Do you two earnestly believe to be able to defeat us, after you have seen us beat Isaac and his little friend?"
Piers drew his weapon as answer and calmly observed their situation before he whispered to Felix: "We have no chance in direct combat....we should try to hold out as long as possible, hopefully the others will arrive in time..."
"Stop your chattering and prepare for the end!"
Agatio's fists glowed as he summoned his psynergy to enhance his attack power before charging at Felix and Piers.
As the strike fell Piers blocked it and Felix wanted to gain advantage of the vulnerable stance of his opponent only to raise his sword in defense of the incoming shadow from the corner of his eye. Sparks scattered as Karst' scythe met Felix' sword.
Somehow Felix felt sadness and pain in him as he crossed weapons with her.
How did we end up at different sites of the same battle?
"Keep your guard up, Felix!"
Piers voice pierced through his dark thoughts and he refocused on the battle as the pair of Proxian kept their relentless assault up. As both sides exchanged blows and magic it became painfully clear to Felix and Piers, that they were no match for their opponents as they were slowly but steadily pushed to the edge of the aerie. Hapless Felix tried to parry the onslaught of attacks against him but ultimately he was disarmed and a blow with the backside of Karst' scythe send him to the ground.
"Felix!" Piers turned around to look for his friend but was interrupted by Agatio.
"I am you opponent! Don't get distracted! Rising Dragon!"
Pure Mars energy in the shape of a dragon rose from the ground beneath Piers and carried him high into the air where it exploded downing the mercury adept as well.
Heavily breathing Karst looked at her partner.
"They were stronger than I had imagined..."
"Indeed..." Agatio looked at the two defeated adepts in front of him and frowned.
"They are still alive...unbelievable....after such a heavy blow? Time to finish them off for good!"
"Wait, we need to get the Mars Star first."
Karst stared at the exhausted and helpless Felix.
"Where is it?"
The Venus adept kept eye-contact and said: "Inside my vest, in a pocket...."
"Tsk..."
Karst put her scythe away and started to check his clothes. Just as she took the Mars star from the pocket a glint caught her eye.
Curious she reached for the source of the sparkle and found a chain with a tear-shaped gem attached to it. As she recognized it she froze.
"What is it Karst? We should hurry and finish him with that mercury adept right now before the others arrive here..."
Agatio stepped closer to check on his partner but Karst seemed to be able to finally shake her numbness away.
"We should hurry indeed, but....away from here...we got what we wanted, a lit beacon and the Mars Star, there is nothing left here for us to deal with."
Felix looked confused.
"Aren't you going to finish us?"
Karst turned her face towards him, a face full of mixed emotions.
"You could see it as a stroke of good luck...."
Quickly Agatio interfered as he seemed to be unable to believe the words he just heard from his partner.
"What happened to your rage and anger? Remember! Treason deserves death!"
"We don't have the time for petty grudges, the rest of the lot might arrive here any second!"
"But..."
"No more objections...we shall leave at once. I want to find that jerk of a mercury adept who mysteriously vanished when we needed him..."
Agatio crunched with his teeth but obeyed and they hurried to the western elevator just as Felix could hear Kraden's voice from the eastern stairway.
"I wonder what's keeping Felix and the others...."
Humming the western elevator descended and Karst vanished from Felix' view.
She spared me...cause of the keepsake..?....Why did you do this Karst?
A creak from the door brought him back to reality.
"Felix! What are you doing out here at night?"
The Venus adept hastily put the chain back in its place, hidden beneath his clothes and turned around to see his fellow companion on his journey to restore alchemy, Piers.
"Uhm...just..thinking about some things..."
The Lemurian looked at him carefully.
"I guess about Prox and the years you spent there..."
Felix gave a careful nod.
"It has to do with Prox..."
"I would assume it is only natural to have mixed feelings as we come closer to the northern reaches."
Sighing Felix replied: "What would you do or think about....the Proxians. I don't know how to feel about them anymore....I...just..."
Piers interrupted his stammering as he felt the difficulties of his friend to put his feelings into words.
"I cannot give you an answer for that question...I can only give you the advice to listen to your heart instead of your head from time to time..."
Another sigh and Felix' response was just a mutter:
"Listening to somebody's heart? I might have lost this ability quite a time ago..."
Piers grabbed his arms and brought his face closer to Felix'.
"Whatever you decide to do, you should better get some sleep, you will have more than enough time tomorrow."
"You probably are right..."
Looking across the ocean for a last time he took down the stairs to his room, leaving his friend with a worrying look behind.
"So how long will it take us to get to Prox?" Jenna asked as she wrapped her coat tighter around her shivering body.
The adepts had arrived in the Northern Reaches at early noon and were making their way through the never-ending snowstorm around them.
"It's just over the hill over there..." Felix responded and stepped to the front silently to lead the way.
"It sure is cold here...even colder than in Imil" Mia said.
"We are even further north...there used to be a road from Prox to Imil, but it has been unserviceable since alchemy was sealed. At least that is what they told me."
The adepts went ahead silently as the relentless assault of wind, snow and ice kept them from talking.
Crunching snow followed their progress and they finally stood atop the hill overlooking the area in front of them.
"This is Prox..." Felix pointed his finger to the foot of the surrounding mountains.
The town of the Fire Clan, snuggling against the slopes of the mountains and the nearby river was hardly seen in the white of the raging snow.
"Let's hurry!" Isaac hastened the pace and took the lead. "We don't have time to waste."
Felix fell back a bit as he saw the place, which has been his home for three long years.
I've returned here...but is this truly my home?
Home has become such an empty word for me...but this place...is full of memories...
Stepping forward, following his companions through the bleak landscape his thoughts drifted away.
"Why do we have to keep this brat in our home?"
"'Cause we brought him here in the first place..."
"Hmpf"
The quarrel between a tall blonde and a slightly shorter red-haired girl took place in a kitchen. As Felix followed the argument silently he stared outside the windows, where the whole landscape was covered in white snow, and tried not to feel too bad about being called a brat.
"You better start getting used to him, he will stay here for quite a while" the older woman said decisively.
The younger girl shot her a murderous look and walked over to the brown-haired boy.
"I'll do as you wish, welcome to our home...brat!"
After shoving Felix into the wall she stormed upstairs into her room slamming the door behind her shut.
"I apologize for the behavior of Karst...she has quite a temper..."
"So what? Why did you say I would stay here for quite a while? Why did you and Saturos took me, my parents and Isaac's father with you anyway?"
She sighed.
"We had this argument at least a dozen times already, and I can just repeat myself all over again that you don't need to know and that you should be grateful for being alive. If it hadn't been for us two you would have drowned in the river."
"Humpf"
"Stop asking stupid questions and I will stop giving you stupid answers, now come with me, I'll show you your room and the facilities. If you want to I can ask Saturos to take you on a small tour through the village."
"Before I spend time with that creep I would prefer staring at the snow anytime."
Menardi sighed and led the way to the stairs.
"Felix!"
Startled Felix awoke from his daydream and opened his eyes to take in the situation.
They were still quite a distance away from Prox, but the snowstorm had weakened a bit.
"What's the matter, Jenna?"
His sister stood in front of him and looked into his eyes, her voice full of hope and longing.
"I haven't thought about this until now, but...our parents are in Prox, right? So...we can go see them, or...?"
Felix nodded.
"We'll definitely find some time to visit them before we head to the Mars Lighthouse. I guess they will be surprised that you are here too, hopefully they haven't worried too much since they learned about Saturos and Menardi's death..."
His sister fastened her steps as she said: "Then let us hurry up in order to ensure them that all is well and we're safe."
The group of adepts kept on to the barely visible road until they finally reached the outskirts of Prox.
"Felix! How come you are here?!" A Proxian approached the group as it entered the town.
"Karst and Agatio said you ran away from your task..."
Felix' face twitched for a split-second before he spoke.
"As you can obviously see it was a lie... I am here together with my friends to ensure the lighting of Mars Lighthouse."
A smile formed on the blueish lips of the Proxian.
"Come on, let's inform Puelle then!"
"Can you just tell him that we are here and coming after I visited my parents?"
"Sure!"
The group progressed through the village, fighting the deep snow on the streets as they passed nearby townsfolk.
As the Proxian led the way a wave of memories washed over Felix and he lost himself in them.
"It is ridiculous, why are you such a puny little wimp?"
Sparks scattered as swords clashed.
Felix was merely able to block the strike but just as he recovered he saw Karst's fist coming in his direction and before he knew what happened he landed head first in the snow.
"Shouldn't you be stronger than me? Little brat!"
Karst put her sword aside and turned to the observing pair of Menardi and Saturos next to them.
"Sis, how am I supposed to train with such a weakling? Even an infant Proxian would be stronger than him...."
Coughing Felix freed his mouth from snow and stared at his opponent spiteful.
"But infant Proxians are cuter than you freaking tomboy!"
Karst snapped around and yelled: "Enough is enough!"
She summoned a fire ball in her hand and threw it in his direction. To their surprise Saturos jumped in and blocked it.
"You should learn to control your emotions, otherwise you won't be a good warrior."
The young Mars adept was immediately defensive and obedient.
"I am sorry, Saturos..."
With a last glare to the cowering Felix she left the drill ground.
Menardi walked towards Felix and offered him a hand.
"You alright?"
He refused to take her help and stood up on his own.
"Sure...as if she could ever hurt me...."
The Proxians sighed.
"Initially I thought it would be a good idea to pit them together as they are about the same age...."
"My, my even the great Menardi does mistakes from time to time...."
The Fire adept glared at her partner.
"Who do you think would be better suited? The rest of the village sees him as one of the idiots from Vale who refuse to listen to reason."
"What about Agatio?"
"Felix would not survive a fight with him and you know that well...."
He shrugged and said: "Then you should better teach your little sister to resign to the fact that she has to live with him without killing him."
"That's easier said than done..."
A shout brought him back to reality.
"They are nowhere to be found!"
The group had arrived in the northern outskirts of the town near a hill with a house on its top as two Proxians ran down the slopes of the hill to bring the news.
"Felix, your parents have vanished!"
It hit him and Jenna like a thorn of ice in their hearts.
Gone...?
Jenna's voice trembled: "But aren't they supposed to be here?"
"They must be here they have been here for 3 years already!"
The other adepts turned their heads to Felix "This must be some kind of weird joke...."
The Proxians stared at their feet.
"We apologize, but we have searched the entire town already as soon as we heard you returned. I simply don't know where they could be..."
The citizen who led them to the house stared at the distant, black horizon which was divided by a single lone tower.
"They didn't head for the lighthouse did they....?"
"The lighthouse...?" Jenna followed his gaze into the distance.
Felix breathed heavily a few times and said: "It seems that there is nothing we can do right now...we better meet up with Puelle to get an update on the current situation."
"Mayor Puelle, Felix returned along with others." A Proxian led the group into the mayor's house and withdrew to the entrance.
A dark green skinned man with red hair rose from his chair and greeted them.
"Felix, it is nice to see you return, especially in our darkest hour. Would you mind introducing the rest of your group?"
The earth adept nodded and pointed at his companions.
"This is my sister Jenna, here is Sheba from Lalivero, Ivan from Kalay, Mia from Imil, Piers from Lemuria and Isaac and Garet from Vale."
The mayor frowned.
"Isaac...this name is familiar....too bad that it is linked with bad news...Karst and Agatio told me that Isaac from Vale and his friends killed Saturos and Menardi...."
Isaac took a step backwards.
"It is not that we wanted to kill them in the first place..."
Felix interrupted him: "They were forced to kill them and they did so in order to save the world, at least it was what they thought at that time. But trust me Puelle, these people, these friends of mine, now that they know why Saturos and Menardi did what they did only want the best for the world and with it for Prox. There won't be any danger coming from them."
Puelle sighed.
"I guess I have to trust you. In our current situation I don't have too much choice anyway. So what brings you to Prox?"
"Master Hama from the Lama Temple has told us to come to Prox in order to deliver a warning and to offer help. She foresaw failure for Karst and Agatio...."
Puelle looked as if he had been smitten.
"This is truly the worst case we could have expected..."
"Could you maybe tell us what has been going on here?"
"Just as you guessed Karst and Agatio took the road towards the lighthouse a day ago... we were already getting worried as the beacon still remained dark although they have been gone for so long. The problem is that we don't have any other warriors capable of climbing a lighthouse left..."
Isaac stepped up and chimed in:
"Then we'll go and find them!"
Puelle raised an eyebrow
"Are you aware of the dangers? A elemental lighthouse is nothing to be taken lightly....not only traps await you, monsters as well lurk in the corners ready to jump at you, if you are off-guard."
"We already climbed 3 lighthouses, what are we afraid of?"
Puelle closed his eyes and shook his head.
"I simply cannot allow you to walk to your deaths like this..."
A firm grip on his shoulder made the mayor turn his head around.
The eldest spoke up:
"Let them go, Puelle...they are the only hope we've got. If we assume that Karst and Agatio have failed, who do you want to send to the lighthouse? You cannot go by yourself, your place is here with the people of Prox."
A long pause stayed in the room but Puelle finally let go a deep sigh.
"Go...with the hopes of Prox and Weyard..."
The adepts nodded and turned around to leave the mayor's house.
"Wait! Don't forget that you have to get the Mars Star from Karst and Agatio...or whatever is left of them after a whole day in the lighthouse...."
"I know...." Felix said and broke off.
Isaac was already out of the door and the others quickly followed.
"I know..." It was a mere whisper, which left his throat but as he walked out of the house he could feel the gazes of the mayor and the eldest following him.
He opened the door and went after his friends who made haste towards the road heading north. As they left the village behind Felix could not help to look back and felt another flashback of his last farewell to the town flooding into his mind.
"So Menardi and Saturos want to go to have another try at the elemental stars?"
Felix nodded. They were sitting in Menardi's home in the living room while Saturos and Menardi were in the mayors house working out the details of their journey.
"Do you really have to accompany them?"
"As Saturos has put it, it is time to repay the debt I owe them for saving my life..."
Karst jumped out of her seat as her temper showed itself again.
"Stop your elusive talk...Just tell me! Do you have to go or not?"
The earth adept sighed.
"I have to..."
All the energy Karst had seemed to vanish as she dropped down on her chair again.
"Is there no other way?"
"They need me, or better put they need my psynergy which has grown a lot along with my sword skills due to your training in these 3 years."
"Tssk, stop kissing my ass...I just did as I was told by Menardi."
"If that is really all that was into it, how come that you are so concerned now all of a sudden?" Felix asked with a sly smile.
Karst blushed.
"As if I would be concerned about a Valean like you are, stupid jerk! I was merely wondering why they chose such a weakling to accompany them over me or any other warrior of Prox."
"I am not weak, at least not anymore..."
Karst looked into his eyes.
"You sure about that? What about a little skirmish before you can play your role as hindrance in the upcoming journey?"
A smile formed on Felix' face.
"That's fine with me."
The snow crunched beneath their feet as they left the house and walked towards the open field nearby.
Felix unsheathed his blade, while Karst held firmly on to her scythe.
"Here I come! I'll show you that I am stronger than you are!"
Felix charged across the little space between them, but was easily blocked by Karst' weapon and he took a step backwards to dodge the retaliating blow of the scythe.
The Proxian smiled.
"Not bad!"
"Same goes for you!"
Felix attacked again, this time in a fury of quick blows.
His combatant jumped back and summoned her psynergy.
"Fireball!"
Countless flames appeared next to her and raced towards the earth adept.
Just as he was about to get hit the earth beneath him cracked up and the soil formed earthen shards to intercept the fire.
Lunging forward Felix called upon his psynergy.
"Clay Spire!"
The shards from before now soared towards his surprised opponent, who barely dodged and deflected the assault. In an instant Felix closed in and disarmed Karst.
Heavily breathing Felix smiled as he stowed his weapon away.
"To think that today of all days, the time of farewell, I would be able to beat you..."
Karst stood there as exhausted as he was and somehow embarrassed replied: "Well...you pass the test..."
Hastily she picked up her weapon.
"We should head back, Menardi and Saturos are probably waiting for you already."
Confused Felix followed her as she rushed back to the house.
As they entered Menardi stood in the corridor with a questioning look.
"Where were you two and what were you doing?"
Before Felix opened his mouth Karst already answered: "Just a last training battle before the jerk here takes off with you and Saturos"
As usual Felix did not react to the insult and Karst kept on talking, "I'll be off in my room until your departure, Sis."
The blonde nodded and turned her attention to Felix after her sister took the stairs to the upper floor.
"Have you finished your preparations?"
"Yes."
"How about visiting your parents then and telling them goodbye for a while?"
"Are you sure the guards would allow me to?"
"I talked to Puelle about it and he agreed that it is okay."
Beaming Felix walked out of the door again
"Thanks!"
Just as he was at the edge of leaving the house he could hear Menardi walking upstairs. He walked north to the house in which his parents and Kyle were kept, but stopped in his tracks as he heard voices from Karst' room out of the open window.
"What do you want to talk about?"
"You seem to be in quite a bad temper today...is it because of my departure? I thought you always claimed that you are grown-up enough to lead your own life, free from my influence which happened after we lost our parents..."
"Hmpf, I'm just fine, what should be wrong about me?"
"Do you care for Felix?"
With an outburst of her fiery temper Karst replied: "Why should I care for that brat?!"
To Felix' surprise he heard Menardi chuckle.
"Indeed, you should not care for him, but you do."
As Karst spoke up again her voice had lost it's usual harsh, self-confident tone and changed to one full of uncertainty.
"Well, I admit that I care for him, it is only natural after 3 years of knowing him or?"
Menardi let out a heavy sigh.
"I had just hoped that you get along well after the initial quarrels you had, but that you two developed that kind of relationship is really troublesome..."
Felix almost let out a sound of surprise before remembering it was best not to do so while eavesdropping.
"It is not that kind of thing...I just happen to see him as a...well..uhm..friend?"
"Keep it as you want but hear my advice...he is a Valean and your a Proxian, some things are just bound to not happen...."
"I know...it's just..." Karst seemed to be lost for words. "Scrap the talking...can you do me a favor?"
"Depends on what it is..."
Felix heard the sound of rustling fabric before Karst said: "Give him this...tell him it is a lucky charm for his journey."
Menardi's voice sounded surprised as she talked: "You intend to give him the keepsake from our mother? You are really into it...."
"Well, he doesn't know, just tell him it's a talisman or something like that."
"Why don't you give it to him by yourself?"
"I just...don't...want to. Just make sure he'll get it after your departure..."
"Hmpf...fine."
Outside Felix heard the creaking stairs and quickly left the spot beneath the open window.
So Karst really does care for me....
Thoughtful he walked through the streets of Prox and finally reached the house in which his parents lived, separated from him but together with Kyle. Sighing he opened the door after the guards let him pass and pushed his thoughts about the overheard conversation away.
There will be plenty of time to think later...Now I have to bid my parents goodbye...hopefully I'll be back soon...
When it finally came to the time of departure at the town square Felix' eyes searched the crowd for Karst, but couldn't find her.
Menardi caught on his rapid eye movements and asked: "Who are you searching for? Karst?"
"Uhmm...yes..."
"She did not feel to well and stayed at the house...don't worry about her, she'll be fine. You better worry about what happens if you don't get yourself moving, we don't have any time to waste."
Sighing Felix gave in to fate and followed the quickly increasing stride of his leaders.
They had walked silently for an hour when Menardi suddenly turned around to face Felix.
"There is something I have to give you, it's from Karst."
She took out a small necklace from her pouch.
"She wanted to give it to you as a lucky charm for the journey."
As Felix grabbed on to the transparent, reflective gem attached to the chain he asked: "What kind of material is this made of?"
"It is made of ice, treated with psynergy so it won't melt. The spell which is used in the creation of this material has been long lost already, nowadays it is a very rare, expensive material."
Felix took the gem in shape of a tear and enclosed it in his fist, while he looked back to the distant village behind him.
Thanks...Karst
The sight of the towering red building in front of him which was the Mars Lighthouse ripped him from his memories.
"Get ready and stay alert...we don't know what awaits us in this lighthouse so we better proceed as careful as possible..." Isaac said.
The other adepts nodded and drew their weapons.
"Let's go then...."
Garet pushed the doors to lighthouse open and with it revealed a horde of monsters just behind it.
"Here they come!"
The first wave of monsters was greeted by the adepts with a flurry of spells rock shards and fire balls flew everywhere, while a blizzard raged across the monsters as a product of the Jupiter and Mercury spells. But there was no break for the adepts and the second wave came to them in hand to hand combat. Slicing, whacking and hacking their way through them the monsters were finally defeated and the entrance was free.
"I did expect it to be tough....but having all these monsters right at the entrance hall of the lighthouse....looks like Mars won't be rekindled easily..." Garet said as he looked around the dozens of corpses of monsters surrounding them.
"You do got a point here...but why is even the lighthouse, the very home of Mars frozen all over?"
Ivan pointed at the large pillars of ice scattered across the hall.
"I would not have imagined that Jupiter and Mercury combined would wreak that much havoc..."
"Another reason to make haste..." Isaac sheathed his blade and walked forward to the 3 doors at the end of the hall.
"Let's go, we've got to light this lighthouse as fast as possible!"
"In order to do that we got to take the Mars star..." Mia said and followed her companion.
"So we got to find Agatio and..." Piers said but was interrupted by Felix.
"Karst..."
Frowning Jenna turned around to Felix
"Is anything wrong?"
He seems to have been in quite a weird mood since we talked with Puelle...I wonder why...
The earth adept shook his head in disagreement.
"It's nothing...Isaac's right we got to move..."
Felix quickly followed his fellow Venus adept, while avoiding Jenna's questioning gaze.
It is nothing...is it?
It has to be nothing....
"So which pathway should we follow?"
"Let's take the middle, it is the one leading upstairs, and I guess we should head up towards the aerie..." Sheba suggested.
"Good idea, it's settled then. Let's go!"
Quietly the adepts walked through the silent floors of the lighthouse although alert it seemed as if the monsters lurking in the shadows have seen what happened to their fellows at the entrance and decided to leave them alone for a while. In this relative safety Felix' thoughts dealt with the person he had been thinking about all this time already, remembering their meeting at Madra.
Exhausted and tired the group had arrived at Madra after their trip into central Gondowan.
"I just want to get to the inn and take a good amount of sleep...." Jenna said sighing.
"After that trip we all deserve some rest I guess..." Kraden added.
Felix nodded and said: "Then go and rent some rooms at the inn while I go with Piers and Sheba to report on our success.
"See you later then!"
Just as they passed the stairs leading to the mayors house they overhead a tall, pale skinned, red-haired girl muttering to herself:"Where could Menardi have gone? Where are you, my sister?"
Felix turned around to look but at this moment the door opened and the mayor stepped out of his house.
"Felix! You have returned safe and sound from Kibombo! And you even brought Piers back! How has it been?"
"That is a pretty long story, so I'll just cut it short." Piers said, "Basically said Felix and his group met up with me in Kibombo and we retrieved my orb peacefully, without any problems."
"That's just great!"
Suddenly the mayor frowned.
"I almost forgot! Didn't I promise you a reward for helping with the ship?" He hurried into the house and out again with a shimmering gem in his hands. "Here, take it! I think it might come in handy for you."
"Thanks a lot, mayor!"
"No no no, I am the one who has to be grateful. I apologize but I got some administrative duties piling up, would it be okay for you if I left you now?"
"Sure, we don't mind at all, do we Felix?" Sheba said.
"She's right, we're sorry to have occupied your time."
The mayor entered his house again and the three adepts turned around to walk to the inn only to find the person from before in their way.
"Felix...." A weak smile formed on her lips. "Why haven't I seen it before? My you have changed since we last met..."
"You know her, Felix?" Piers asked.
Felix' face reddened slightly.
"She is Menardi's younger sister, Karst. I have known her since I have been in Prox..."
"Speaking of my sister...where is she? If you are here she and Saturos should be around here as well right?"
Evading her gaze Felix tried to answer: "Uhm..well...you see..."
"You won't see Saturos or Menardi again. Isaac killed them. They're probably at the bottom of the sea by now..." Sheba interrupted him from the side with the cruel answer.
Shock spread through Karst' body as she realized the words Sheba said.
"It can't be! No one was able to defeat them....you are lying! Felix! Is...is it true what she said?"
The Earth adept looked to the ground.
"I am sorry, but...it is true Karst..."
Her face mirrored her emotions as they turned from grief to anger and hate in a split second.
"Who is this Isaac?!"
The 3 of them kept silent, evading the gaze of the angry Mars adept in front of them.
"Tell me!"
Finally Piers said: "How do you that it wasn't Felix who killed your sister?"
"Tssk...who do you take me for? I can gauge a man's strength with a single glance, Felix would stand no chance against them and furthermore I don't think he would have the courage inside him to betray them.....Now that we've sort this out....tell me who is this Isaac?"
Again she was met with silence.
"So....Felix...is this the side your taking? The side of the one who killed my sister?"
"Karst...I..it's not as easy as you might think....it is true I don't want to sell him out but I am still pursuing the goal of unleashing alchemy again..." Felix' attempts to explain were cut short by Karst.
"Just cut it out...maybe it was wrong to....believe in you after all..."
With a last glare towards Felix she turned around and left the city.
Piers put a hand on Felix shoulder as he saw his friends pained expression.
"Were you two close? It seemed like it..."
"No...it's...just..."
Sheba and Piers looked at him curiously.
Felix sighed.
"Never mind it...we should meet up with Jenna and Kraden again at the inn...."
As Sheba and Piers, slightly confused, followed him through the streets of Madra Felix felt his hand clutching the chain he had worn for all the time.
Karst...you have changed...
As the scene dissolved before his inner eye he became aware of his surroundings again, walking through a floor somewhere in the Mars Lighthouse.
"How come that we have been going on downstairs for a while already? Shouldn't we head upstairs to get to the aerie?" Ivan asked.
Isaac was furious.
"How many times do I got to repeat it, we couldn't get any further and the dragon in that weird chamber said, that we missed something, to be accurate the Mars Star. That being the reason why we are searching the whole lighthouse for a sign of Karst or Agatio...Seriously why do I always answer it...Felix aren't you the leader of the group?"
"Uhm...yeah, but you described it quite nicely..." Felix answered and kept on walking, showing no interest in further talk.
His fellow Venus adept looked at Felix' back worryingly.
He has always been quiet and so....but something is weird about him...
The group entered another chamber to be awestruck by the giant wall of ice in front of them. Enclosed in it were two dragons.
"So what do we have here....." Ivan said and moved closer to the ice block to examine it.
"It looks like another dead end...." said Mia, staring across the chamber trying to make out a pathway.
"Should we free them?" Garet asked.
"Certainly not! My guess is that they are highly aggressive and would attack us straight away...." Sheba disagreed with him.
"I'll stick with Sheba this time, they look dangerous..."
"But freeing them is quite easy...see you just gotta use the flame psynergy on the mechanism which operates the dragonheads at the sides..."
"Do not get any funny ideas Garet...I am in no mood to get eaten by these dragon..." Jenna threatened him.
"What funny ideas? I was just checking it out, " Garet touched the small pedestal in front of him, "so here should be the flame to activate it. Certainly it won't hurt to test it a bit..."
He concentrated and produced a small flame atop the pedestal which immediately led the energy to the dragonheads. Two loud bangs echoed through the chamber as the dragons shot gigantic fireballs at the ice block. Crumbling the ice gave in to the fire and cracks spread all over it before it shattered into pieces, releasing the dragons.
"GARET!!!" The rest of the party stared in disbelief at the fire adept.
"I'm sorry! I didn't thought that such a little flame would be enough to...."
Garet's apologies were cut off as the dragons roared and charged at the party.
"Dodge them quickly!" Isaac commanded as he drew his sword.
The two dragons only hit air as the adepts nimbly dodged their blows.
"Come on! Let's take them down!" Felix yelled as he charged at the bigger one of the dragons.
"Leave the backup to me!" Sheba said and concentrated.
"Ward!"
A protective layer formed around Felix and he flung his blade against his adversary only to get blocked before backing off. Next to him Garet, Ivan, Jenna and Mia were battling the smaller one, parrying it's attacks and retaliating with bolts of ice and lighting while Jenna kept her healing abilities ready. Growling the bigger dragon headed for Sheba but Piers interfered.
"Diamond Berg!"
Ice began to disable the dragons movements as it enclosed him and Piers started to whack away at his target.
"Keep it up!" Isaac said and called upon Flint. "Come on, Flint! Let's crush him!"
As Isaac jumped into the air his blade glowed brownish and his blow shattered the ice, hitting the dragon directly across the chest. Wincing the dragon stumbled backwards and an opening showed in his defense.
"Strike now Felix!" Sheba yelled and strengthened Felix' blade. "Impact!"
Running across the short distance Felix saw his blade shining in a violet light and he summoned his psynergy.
"Odyssey!"
Two blades struck his victim and kept it in place as Felix sword got enlarged by an aura of earthen power.
"DIE!"
Roaring the dragon fell to the ground as the blade pierced him. Almost simultaneous another roar showed the success of the other group against the smaller dragon. As Felix looked in their direction he could see the dragon falling against the might of the summon spirit of ice Boreas, who just disappeared in a giant shard of ice.
"We did it!" Mia happily exclaimed.
"Seriously Garet, sometimes I wish you wouldn't always mess things up..." Ivan said exhausted.
Suddenly the party was blinded by an unnatural white light emanating from the felled dragons. As the light diminished it gave sight of two humans bodies lying on the ground.
"Agatio and Karst!" The adepts couldn't believe their eyes, but before they could say anything further Agatio spoke as if he just woke up.
"Why am I lying here?" His eyes opened and he continued, "wait I think I remember... we were going to light the beacon...but the lighthouse was frozen. We wandered lost inside, trying to find the aerie..."
Karst opened her eyes and desperately tried to stand up.
"We must hurry....if we delay, Prox is destroyed."
"It's no use....I'm absolutely drained...I can't even stand."
Both lay there, unable to move and shivering.
"And the cold...why am I so cold? We of the fire clan are meant to be immune to the cold."
"I feel the cold too, Karst... I... I'm afraid we're going to die up here..."
"I can feel it now the long, dark sleep creeping into my soul..."
"Wait...I think I remember...the eye...it told us that we lack the will to go any farther."
"The eye...I remember now... I felt its gaze pierce me to the core, then all went black..."
"That's right and I remember fighting against Felix."
"I do, too... Was it a dream? An illusion?
Felix spoke up, after having slowly approached them during their conversation, while the rest of the group stood frozen by the shock: "It was not...."
"Felix is that you?"
"Yes..."
Agatio managed a rough laughter which subsided into coughing.
"Amazing...then our luck hasn't entirely run out yet...Felix, you must complete our quest...Please... you have to light the beacon. What an irony..."
Karst wandering eyes found Felix' and kept them locked to contact. "We can't even stand...We're in no condition to go on. Light the beacon for us...Please, Felix..."
Barely Agatio managed to take the Mars Star out of his pouch.
"You'll need the mars star. Go on...take it."
Felix shook his head.
"No, we'll do this together...I'll just heal you two and you guys will be fine. We can light the beacon together!"
Karst sighed.
"It's too late for us already...save your psynergy for the monsters..."
"But..."
"Shut up...your are just as soft-hearted as always...go on and take the Mars Star."
Agatio reached out his palm with the Elemental Star in it. "Please hurry...If I can just see the light of the beacon, I'll know I haven't died in vain."
Isaac walked towards him and took the Mars Star, while Felix still stood next to Karst.
"We're counting on you..." Agatio said and closed his eyes.
"You can do it...Felix..." Karst said and closed her eyes as well.
Felix knelt down beside Karst and looked at his companions.
"What are you doing? Help them!" He said helplessly.
Piers slowly approached his friend. "There is nothing we can do....they don't have the strength left anymore..."
"But..." Felix saw no hope left in the eyes of his friends and felt tears rising in his eyes.
The other adepts slowly walked back to the entrance of the room, each one gloomier than the other but still unable to grasp the pain Felix felt.
Why...? It is too short.....3 years are too short....
His tears began to fall.
What went wrong? Why couldn't we just had a little more time?
Felix held on tightly to her hand.
Was it inevitable? Could it only end this way?
Slowly Karst opened her eyes again, she looked into his eyes and gave him a weak smile.
"Felix...your hand...so warm...people have such warm hands...I had forgotten."
Hah....Menardi....sister....it seems that you....have been right at the very end...some things are just not bound to happen...
Heavily breathing she raised her hand and touched his face briefly, trying to wipe away the tears.
"Don't cry...I don't want to see you crying...weren't you supposed to be the strong one after our last skirmish?"
Felix merely nodded but his tears kept flowing uncontrollable.
Sobbing helplessly Felix stroke her face, pushing her hair out of it, while he kept on to her other hand.
"Karst...I..."
She placed a finger on his lips.
"I know... but...it is too late."
As he slowly lost her all he had left was a teardrop on a withering flame.
The figure stood alone in the snow staring at a graveyard stone.
Slowly he unlocked a chain with an attached transparent gem, reflecting the sunlight. Carefully he placed it at the feet of the stone.
Again the person waited, stood there, unmoving, before finally turning around and walking away from view.
"Farewell...Karst..."
I hope you have enjoyed the story.
Reviews are welcome!
And before there are any questions, yes I have changed the gamescript in some places in order
for it to be more fitting into the plot and setting I imagined.
Furthermore I took the loosing option at the Jupiter Lighthouse-battle with Agatio&Karst
again for the reasons stated above.
-ShiaoPi