In the light of the despair, a Goddess rises

Burned by her fire, she faces crisis.

With steel in chest, her life is sold

As the Goddess cries, her tale is told.

Chapter 1: Just Let it End

'How could I have known?'

She stood there, watching the battle with tears in her eyes. Blade clashed against blade, sparks flying from the ferocity of the swings. Both fighter's jumped back as they sense psynergy. Where they had stood, multiple pillar's of fire erupted, burning the ground where it touched. That was the work of Pyroclasm, a powerful Mars type psynergy, cast by none other than Garet.

Rather than stopping the fight, the other two fighters- Issac and Felix simply set eyes on him, targeting him at the same Spires reigned from Felix's hand, the ground shook violently beneath Garet's feet. Garret fell, but rolled over, the spires barely missing their intended mark- his head.

'Stop it... please...'

Even with her bright, fiery spirit, Jenna remained motionless, unable to join in the fight, powerless to stop it, and afraid of what might happen. With a flash of lightning, Ivan had saw his chance, clipping both Issac and Felix in the shoulder with a bolt of lighting. They both dropped to their knees., clutching their shoulders. Blood trickled nearby, a few drops hitting Jenna's face. Her eye's widened with horror and she dropped to her knees, unable to move.

The winds began to stir- Ivan was intending to end the fight now, tornado's formed, roaring with the noise of lions screaming in unison. They picked up Issac and Felix as if they were little rocks, and began juggling them in the air,

The poor guy didn't know what hit him. A sudden shake, a sudden blade in between his chest... the perpetrator had been Piers. With an un Piers-like fashion, he kicked Ivan's blade, and the wind adept fell to his knees. As he did, he looked to Jenna, not with the fear of death in his eyes, nor regret of his actions... but rather, love. His mouth began to move, but Jenna didn't... couldn't understand him.

She couldn't look anymore... but she couldn't look away either. Gone was the spirit of fire that had once dominated her spirit. All of this... this was on HER hands, and she knew it. Hey eyes were almost empty... she was going numb to all of this, and that was what scared her the most. How could she be getting used to her friends killing each other.

In all of it's bloody ferocity, the battle continued. This was a war, a war with now only three participants, yet fierce enough to drive an army of thousands away. . In the distance... was that Judgment handing up in the air, charging for a blast? It might as well have been the Apocalypse... and for all Jenna knew, she might have unleashed that too. Her selfishness cost her her friendship, their lives... the end of the world might as well be around the corner.

'You guys don't have to do this anymore! Please, for me, just stop fighting...' Is what she had wanted to say, but shock and horror had frozen her vocal cords.

Garret was the next to die. Piers had the intent of freezing him solid, but he had caught sight of him too quickly, burning the ice as it advanced towards them, and locked swords with Piers. That all the time the other two needed. Two swords appeared, stabbing the Mars Adept in the chest. A third far larger one, impaled him. Stuttering, the adept went down- slain by his best friend.

Jenna couldn't take it anymore- Issac had just killed his best friend, and he did so in such a heartless manner...and he did it for HER.

Almost with a chilling pulse, the dagger on Jenna's waist suddenly grew heavier, and she lightly grasped the hilt, her eyes too broken to read an emotion. 'Of course...' She thought to herself. The blade grew holder in her hands, giving off an aura of blood lust... lusting for HER blood. Slowly, she unsheathed it, looking at the cold steel that reflected the light.

Issac and Felix had turned on Piers, the mercury adept falling down , unable to withstand the power of the two strongest Venus Adepts. His eyes, locked on Jenna, were peaceful, like he had served his purpose in life.

As they turned on each other, the sound of a one on one fight resumed. No words had been relayed this entire time. They no longer cared about anyone else, and neither was going to back down until the other drew their last breath."

Jenna blinked back a tear. "I get it... I have to pay for my mistakes right?" Her voice managed to speak out, yet it was loud enough for the combatants to stop mid swing and look at her in confusion.

Before the courage fled, she nodded. "Fine! I'll pay with my life! That's what you've wanted, right?!" She shouted out. She held the dagger to her chest, taking a deep a breath. "If that's what will end this... let it END!" She said, plunging the knife into her chest.

…

Some Time Earlier

…

Jenna stretched her back out, listening to Felix's discussion with curiosity. "Ruins in the mountains? "

Felix gave a short nod. "An expedition through the mountains revealed Ruins within the walls. scouting party was sent in, and all of them never came back out. Needless to say, there are most likely dangerous. Normally, I would think we would just stay out of affairs like this but...someone glimpsed a large amount of small, purple stones in the entrance to the ruins.?"

Ivan blinked. "Psynergy stones? He asked. He was stationed a few feet await from the group, standing next to Issac and Garret.

"That's what I'm thinking, yes. If those ARE psynergy stones, It could mean it's intended for Adepts to pass through. I believe we should go and examine these ruins, see what we can find." Felix said.

"I'm up for it." Issac said. "I could use some good exploration. Honestly, I'm no longer used to sitting in just one place. "

"I hear you." Garret nodded. "I'm up for checking this place out."

"I'm in as well." Ivan said. "With Sheba gone, you may need a Jupiter Adept."

Issac clapped him on the back , as a leader would do to encourage someone. "I'll go see Mia later today, and ask if she can come."

"I'll get the ship ready." Piers said, walking out the door. No one bothered to tell him they weren't going to leave that very second.

After a short moment of silence, Felix announced. "We'll leave tomorrow. That should give everyone enough time to prepare their items. I'll come around to gather everyone afterward."

…

Jenna walked the streets of Kaylay, her home since the rising of the Golden Sun. A good portion of people had decided to stay in Vault, as close to home as possible. Jenna, however, had found the hustle and bustle of this city alluring, and she had been given a home here. Her goal had been to start an item shop. After meeting, Hammet, the lord of the city, he had given her enough money to start it. Best of all, it hadn't been a loan. "Consider it a gift for helping the world."

So far, it had been a success. The responsibility of taking care of a shop was no small thing, but in the year that had passed, she had come to love it. Now, she was closing up temporarily to join the other's on their quest.

In all honesty, running a shop hadn't been her first choice of a life. After the events that happened the previous year, Jenna had hoped that she had done enough to deserve to rest. She had dreams of settling down... preferably with Issac, but it hadn't come to pass. When Jenna had witnessed Issac kissing Mia almost right after the battle, Jenna knew her chance at that happiness had vanished. Her dream of a peaceful life had been shattered in a single blow.

She hated feeling jealous, but there was no other emotion to describe her feelings. She and Issac had a special relationship, then... Mia had to waltz right in to Issac's heart. Jenna was no longer a prized woman Issac had been chasing- but a simple friend in need of rescue. She didn't want to hate Mia, but she wasn't sure she could forgive her, either.

Her desire to get away from Vault was more than that. After the events, she felt as if she had grown apart from the others. Jenna had wanted to talk to Felix about her feelings: surely her own brother would have spoken to her, at least comforted her. No such luck. Felix was helping to add buildings to Vault for the others. Jenna knew it was an important job... but he couldn't spare a moment for his own sister?

Sheba had decided to travel to Contigo, to learn from Master Hama. It was a good place for her to be, Sheba had wanted to learn who her real parents were, and why she had fallen from the sky. Still, Jenna had lost her best friend, Sheba couldn't talk to her from so far away. It was true that Jenna could teleport.. but she felt like she would be intruding.

Piers was... well, Piers. He decided to stay nearby, sometimes returning to Lemuria to report the goings on of the city. Jenna never really felt like she could talk to him. They had traveled much together, it's true... he just seemed distant a good portion of time. No, she couldn't confide in him. Garret was a good guy, but she felt as if the fellow Mars Adept would simply laugh, and Jenna had always been a bit freaked out by Ivan.

She was alone. Everyone bustled around her, paying her no heed, She was tired of feeling ignored and walked out. Or, rather, teleported out. After the battle, Jenna had kept the Teleport Lapis, arguing that since it was fond in the Mars Lighthouse, a Mars Adept should hold onto it. Stupid reason, but they had given it to her. She could have chosen anywhere. She had half a mind to go to Prox, where the fire clan lived... but she thought about Karst, Agaito, Saturos, Menardi... and passed. Bad memories and all. She chose Kaylay at random, and it was only then when she decided she actually wanted to do something, thus her idea to start an item shop.

It was a modest place, Jenna had simply rented out a small building, but the income was nice. She was learning the tricks from Hammet about buying low and selling high. The Teleport gem came in handy here. Jenna would teleport to places all over the map, places with interesting cultures, Like Kimbombo, buy some local antiques, items, and other goods, and come back to Kaylay to sell them at higher prices.. She was a huge hit with collectors and chefs: part of what she sold was impossible, exported herbs from other countries.. She later planned on doing trades like Contigo to Xian, but she first needed someone to watch the main shop.. Jenna was slowly starting to enjoy her chosen line of work.

When Ivan showed up, asking her to show up for a short talk, Jenna had accepted. Maybe she would become closer to her friends again. When Issac had mentioned Mia, her heart had sank a little bit. I appeared like that was one wound that would never fully heal. Nevertheless, she had agreed to go. She wouldn't give up hope that the group wouldn't ignore her any longer. It was incredibly selfish of her, but that was her reason for going.

She packed up some medical herbs from her shop, as well as some Antidotes and Elixers. She wrote a small 'Temporarily Closed' Sign, and hung it off of her door. She sighed- was it really worth going along? Her staff and her dagger came to, belting it on her waist. She wouldn't be on healing duty this round, they had that blue haired woman coming with them, so she would focus her sadness, her rage into the fire psynergy she commanded. She had picked up a few tricks before she had left Prox with the others- Her parents weren't the only ones affected by Mars Lighthouse.

The last step was her Djinn. She checked to make sure they were ready. After the final battle, they had split the Djinn equally, most traveling with who they had been, or what party had found them. Jenna possessed all of the Mars Djinn she had obtained with Felix and the others: Cannon, Spark, Kindle, Char, Coal, Refulx, Core, Tinder, and Shine. Even now, as she closed her eyes, she could feel them all, like a torrent of energy inside her blood, as searing hot as the magma under her control.

With that, Jenna was completely packed, probably faster than the others. What to do until Felix came to get her aboard the ship. She could always go and meet them in Vault, she supposed. It was better than just waiting around. Her hand reached for the Teleport Lapis, feeling it's power... but she didn't use it. She still had a day, after all...