Disclaimer: If I owned Golden Sun, there would be Golden Sun everything! Since there isn't, I don't.

A/N: I have recently edited this chapter again.

We walked carefully up the steps leading to the Sanctum. No sign of guards. Just behind that tree and-

A healer! He herded us back to the steps, demanding sternly, "You're not planning on sneaking to Mount Aleph, are you?"

"No," lied Jenna quickly, her eyes darting from the healer to me. Was she expecting me to do something, since Kraden had appointed me the leader? I started to feel panicked.

The healer started pacing back and forth. When the healer was out of sight, Jenna muttered to me, "Aren't you going to say for us to go?"

I started. Me? Signal? I gulped. "Okay...now!"

I grabbed her hand and the three of us rushed past. Kraden didn't have to worry about being caught, so he chatted with the healer for a few minutes before rejoining us.

Taking a deep breath, I started up the steps that led to Sol Sanctum.

What a magnificent sight! The steps were crafted of what looked like dwarven silver, and-jade, maybe? Four solemn statues adorned the entrance. I opened the door, looking at the beautiful carvings on the walls. We entered.

A plain room, with only two lanterns glowing in an almost supernatural light. The next room was flooded with water, with stepping stone paths. We hopped cautiously to the next door.

An amazing hallway...what kind of blue stone was that on the floor, anyway?

Then we encountered our first monsters, a bat, a rat, and a toadstool, or something like it. Jenna, glaring at the animals (and fungus) suddenly set them on fire! I'd seen her use Psynergy before but I definitely wasn't expecting that. It killed everything but the rat, which Garet took care of. They hadn't had a chance to hurt us, thankfully, but Jenna was breathing rather hard. I would have asked if she was all right, but I was half-afraid she'd set me on fire. Jenna doesn't appreciate people worrying over her.

We faced two more bats farther on. We finished them pretty quickly, but one still had time to bite my arm. I rubbed the wound, wondering if I ought to slow and heal it, or tell one of the others. I shrugged. It didn't hurt that much.

Three hallways.

"Middle," suggested Jenna. I shrugged. It didn't make a difference to me.

A lone treasure chest at the end.

"Great job of leading us," smirked Garet.

I opened the chest. Inside was a very small jewel, polished bright.

"Left," ordered Garet.

A dead end.

"Great job of leading us," mimicked Jenna. "At least my path got us some sort of jewel!"

At the end of the right path, there was another dead end.

Jenna pointed at the relief of a minotaur. It was missing one jeweled eye.

I carefully took the small jewel out of my pack and placed it in the hole.

A loud noise, but nothing apparent happened. On a hunch, I led the way back to the left corridor.

Sure enough, a door had appeared in the wall.

Inside, another kind of precious jewel, purple this time, covered the floor. Kraden, glancing around, seemed troubled.

"The two said there was some sort of a hidden passage."

Kraden explained how he'd always thought there was something off.

After inspecting every area of the room, I couldn't imagine where it could be.

Jenna spotted my wounded arm.

"Isaac! Why didn't you tell me you were hurt?" she demanded.

"I didn't want to bother you."

She glared at me. I didn't like that glare especially since it looked identical to the one that had killed those monsters earlier.

"Get in the light," she ordered.

Meekly, I stood in the light of the nearest lantern.

Garet leaned against a statue while Jenna applied an herb mixture on my arm.

"Whoa!" screeched Garet.

I instinctively turned around. His leaning had pushed the statue over and revealed a door!

After stairs and a maze of a hallway, we entered a room with statues.

Kraden suggested, "Isaac, maybe you should try your Psynergy."

Walking over to the first platform to the left, I concentrated on my Move Psynergy, and revealed another minotaur relief.

"Oh, great," groaned Garet. "Lemme guess-we have to go get another jewel."

Returning to the maze, we finally found the correct path and retrieved another jewel from a chest.

I placed the gem in the socket. Hearing the sound of shifting stone, I Moved the next statue.

A door! But the room appeared to be empty. We left the room.

The next statue yielded a blank wall; the same with the next. And the next. Only one more.

Yes! Success! A door!

We walked through the hall in silence. Jenna found an herb in the chest to the left.

And then I saw the next room up ahead.

Patterned with purple and gray tile, with a picture of the sun in the dead middle and four statues surrounding it-representing the elements, I guess.

Kraden, practically hopping in delight, declared, "This is it! We've found it!"

He walked to the center, then turned to look at us.

"It's just as I'd imagined...which means those two were telling the truth!"

"But if what they said was true, then that means they must have been..." Jenna looked worried.

"They were thieves! The came to rob Sol Sanctum!" shouted Garet.

Jenna, her eyes wide, exclaimed, "Let's hurry back to the village and tell everybody!"

Kraden shook his head.

"We're so close," he murmured.

"Huh?" Jenna asked.

"Sol Sanctum holds the very origins of Alchemy. It would be a waste to...hmm. What do you think, Isaac? Shall we go a little farther?"

I looked from Kraden's hopeful eyes to Garet's excited face, and then to Jenna's thoughtful expression.

"Sure," I said resignedly. After all, adventure was what we'd come here for.

"Thank you!" squealed Kraden.

"If you put it that way, we don't have much choice." Jenna pointed out.

The next room was just as beautiful as the Sol room, but it contrasted in almost every way. Instead of Sol, the sun, the pattern in the center was of Luna, the moon. And this room was dark, and more peaceful. But it had, similarly, four statues.

"These rooms must be connected somehow, don't you think?" pondered Kraden.

"Yeah." I agreed. "I guess so." Somehow, even here in the Sanctum, I doubted that some sort of secret passage existed. But I knew there was no use arguing with Kraden when he was in this sort of mood.

"Luna and Sol-there must be some secret hidden in these rooms. Isaac, would you look farther up the passage?"

I nodded.

"Let me know what you find."

He retreated to the edge of the Luna room, examining the walls. The remaining three of us climbed the short flight of stairs, and went into the next room...

Which resembled the Luna room. There were four statues, and four places to set them.

Garet moved forward to move one. I had a bad feeling about that.

"Garet, don't move them. Don't! Garet!"

"Oh, come on. It's just a statue." Garet said as he pushed one into place. It reflected a beam of light onto the Luna picture, turning that part to Sol.

In a couple of minutes, Kraden came rushing up the stairs.

"Wait, Isaac!"

"What's wrong?" asked Jenna, puzzled.

"This is a most interesting mechanism you have discovered. But it is clearly a trap."

"A trap?" repeated Garet.

"Why would someone have a trap here?" I wondered.

"Why, Isaac, this sanctum may hold the key to Alchemy itself. Should I tell you more?"

"Please!" exclaimed Jenna eagerly.

"I doubt you could understand it if I explained it now. Keep trying."

He left the room for the safety of the Luna room.

On a hunch, I went to the next room, which looked rather like the Sol room. I moved one statue over on the switch. It reflected a beam of light-not on Sol, but in front of another statue.

There was an identical statue on the other side of the room.

When it reflected its light, it created a hole in front of the statue.

I used Move.

As the statue fell in the hole, there was a great quake and something made a clicking noise.

Experimentally, I pushed one of the statues in the upstairs Luna room onto the switch. It reflected its beam of light. After a few minutes, Kraden came into the room again.

"You did it, Isaac! What happened?"
"Isaac pushed the two statues over there onto the switches, and their light somehow burned a hole in that platform!" Jenna explained before I had a chance to answer.

"And then he put the other statue in that hole." Garet interjected.

"I am very impressed with the three of you. Keep it up!" Kraden scurried off down the stairs.

We placed the rest of the statues down on the switches without any trouble, then headed back downstairs.

Walking into the Luna room, we were greeted by Kraden.

"Look! The picture of Luna changed to Sol!" he exclaimed, pointing at the symbol. "But other than that, nothing has changed. That's strange...why would they go to the trouble of putting a trap here if this is all that happens? Somewhere, something else has changed. We must find it."

I led the way to the Sol room-and gasped. It wasn't the Sol room anymore. All my doubts disappeared.

"Look! The symbol of Sol changed to Luna! Surely there must be something in this room." deduced Kraden.

Examining the wall, I saw a shining beam of light. Moving closer...

It transformed into a portal! The strange thing was, it was semi-transparent-I could see parts of the wall through it.

"This must be it!" cried Kraden excitedly. "Let's go, Isaac!"

Taking a deep breath, I stepped into the swirling portal...