Sorry for the wait folks, it's finally here, the first chapter!

He ran through the village, noticing some of the villagers waving to him, as if they were acquaintances. Yet none of them seemed familiar. After waking up, the first thing that had caught his attention was the massive Psynergy Stone. It was highly unnatural for something like that to exist in a village, as most people feared anything that had to with Psynergy following the Golden Sun. Despite that, no one even looked at it, as if it had always stood there. Matthew wondered where he was, but from the stone alone, he could hazard a guess.

Vale.

He had, at first, almost laughed at the idea, yet a part of him couldn't help but wonder: what village in the world had a huge Psynergy Stone like this, if not for Vale? Of course, Vale had been destroyed with the rise of the Golden Sun, that's why he thought the idea was laughable. Still...

Matthew realized that standing there pondering wouldn't get him anywhere, so there was only one thing to do: find proof whether this was Vale or not. He already had an idea how to do that. Vale had something that didn't exist anywhere else in the world of Weyard.

Sol Sanctum.

From his father's stories, he had been told Sol Sanctum was in the mountain – or rather, the inactive volcano – to the north of the village. And indeed, the village did have a mountain to the north. Altho that alone proved nothing. As he arrived, he saw something that looked like an entrance. Matthew, however, never got any closer than that.

"Hey! What are you doing here?" a voice from behind yelled loudly. A priest walked toward him, and he didn't look happy. "You should know only priests are allowed to enter the sanctum. Come on, be on your way!"

Matthew obeyed, knowing it was best not to cause problems... yet. I didn't get to confirm if this really is Sol Sanctum, but i'll try again later. A thought suddenly hit him. Where is Tyrell and Karis? He had been too occupied with finding out where he was that he had completely forgotten about them. Some friend I am...

"Ah, there you are, Matthew!" Someone a few meters ahead of him said. The voice itself he would recognize anywhere, but the person from whom the voice originated from... The man looked to be around his fifties, his hair being mostly blond with some gray strands. Matthew almost asked 'Who are you?', but something about the face was familiar...

"Dad?" Matthew asked slowly, as he believed -or hoped- that he would be wrong.

"Yes Matthew?" The man, now confirmed to be his father, Isaac, answered.

He couldn't believe it, he didn't WANT to believe it, but somehow the pieces fell together. The village, the sanctum, the Psynergy Stone, and now his father, who didn't look older than thirty last time he saw him now obviously was close to his fifties. Could it be... Is this how my father would've looked like if the Golden Sun never happened?

"Are you alright, son?" Isaac asked as he walked up to Matthew. "You look a little pale."

"I... I'm f-fine..." Matthew stuttered when answering. Of course he wasn't fine, he thought he were going crazy.

"Let's go home son, Jenna's almost done with dinner." Isaac said. Hearing 'dinner', Matthew's stomach rumbled, and he realized he hadn't eaten for almost a day. Isaac laughed. "No wonder you're pale when you're that hungry!"

As they walked, Matthew looked at his father. "Where's Tyrell?"

"He's probably cutting some firewood." Isaac looked at Matthew. "After dinner, why don't you two get the roof fixed?"

"Sure..." Was all Matthew could answer. I have some time to kill before tonight, anyway. If i'm correct in that the Golden Sun never happened, then the world is slowly dying. I have to convince Tyrell to come with me, help me raid the sanctum, and then we have a long journey ahead of us... Luckily, I know the Sun Saga story like the back of my hand, i'll just have to do my best to follow it, and hopefully I can save the world like my dad was supposed to...

The first chapter in what will be my first long story. As always, my chapter is short compared to what's the norm, but i really had difficulty getting anywhere. I also want to apologize once again for the long wait, but i lacked both motivation and inspiration for this story, but thanks to a Guest's praise i got the motivation i needed. So if you know you're the Guest and you're reading this, thanks!