Golden Sun: The Broken Seal
Chapter 2: Three Years Later…
Three years. Three years had passed since the worst storm in living memory had occurred in Vale. But, in typical stoicism, the people of Vale had moved on. The landslides were cleared, houses rebuilt and lives continued. The speed of which those three years passed had varied for people. For the young they tended to move quickly. They were still in the prime of their life; they didn't feel the need to savor every living moment. For the elderly, time progressed at its usual slow pace. They knew that their time would come in the near future; they wanted to live their remaining years in a way that allowed them to sample all of what the world had to offer.
And then there were others.
Walking up the path towards the houses of Isaac and Garet, Jenna would have vehemently denied that she was one of those others, one of those where the flow of one's life drastically speeds up or decreases due to some traumatic event. But although the flow of her life had returned to normal, she couldn't help casting her mind back to that fateful night and its aftermath. Today was no exception, especially since what she and her friends were going to do today probably wouldn't have even occurred if it wasn't for the events of three years ago.
With her house destroyed, Jenna had taken up residence in the village inn, as she had no living relatives. The owner, a burly man named Herbert, had been a close friend of her father and had allowed her to stay free of charge. Isaac had ended up in the same position, as his distraught mother was refusing to see anyone, staying in her house all day, and Isaac decided to give her privacy. In the initial few days there were fears that he'd lost the ability to speak because of the incident, but he hadn't completely lost the ability. He'd just become more quiet and reserved than even Felix had.
The first month was hell on Weyard for Jenna and Isaac, and made only better by the comfort of each other's presence. Various people came in with comments such as; "your brother was a fine lad," and "your father would have been proud of you." Garet was the only one whose presence they didn't resent. Like Isaac, he was feeling a great wave of guilt for being struck by lightning and failing to save Felix and the others (or was it a boulder? Jenna couldn't remember the official explanation).
It was at the end of the first month when the three of them, all in a subdued state when they'd received their final visitor; Kraden, the wizened scholar who lived in a cottage near the foot of Mt. Aleph. Although he'd arrived from outside Vale many years back, he'd quickly earned the respect of the populace with his knowledge of alchemy. Still, he kept to himself and his visit had come as a great surprise. Jenna remembered the visit clearly;
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Jenna, Isaac and Garet were lying around the floor in Jenna's room in the inn. Garet's attempts at making conversation were failing miserably and Isaac and Jenna were just as reserved as ever. Jenna hadn't even bothered to tie up her hair in her usual ponytail. What was the point?
Suddenly the door opened, and in walked Kraden. Garet stood up. "You sure have a lot of nerve not knocking!"
"My apologies," said Kraden simply. "But I doubt you would have answered. Anyway, Isaac, Jenna, how are you feeling?"
"How are they feeling?" shouted Garet. "How do you think they're feeling?"
"Quite rotten I expect," responded Kraden. "Trust me, I know how this feels."
Jenna glared at him. "What? How can you know what this feels? How would you know what it feels like to lose your entire family in a matter of seconds? I've had enough of cold comfort! Just get out! Get out!"
"No," replied Kraden simply. "Not until you've heard me out."
Isaac tried to glare at him, but was too sullen to do so. "Go ahead."
"Thank you," smiled the scholar. "Jenna, Isaac, I've come to make you an offer. How would you like to learn of the ways of psyenergy and alchemy?"
"Ps-…psyenergy and alchemy?" asked Jenna, the anger having subsided, the misery returning.
"Yes," continued Kraden. "I'm getting old, my time is coming, it would be a waste not to pass on my knowledge." Garet snorted at this but the old man continued; "It will require a great deal of time and effort, but (his voice took on a softer tone) it will help ease the pain. You know this."
There was silence. "I'll do it," croaked Jenna eventually.
"Very good. Isaac? Will you do it?"
"Yes," he replied.
"Very well then."
The group started to walk out the door. "Hey, what about me?" Garet asked.
Kraden blinked. He hadn't expected Garet of all people to learn scholarly things. "Garet?" he asked. "Would you like to learn too?"
"Well-…" he began. "I'm not too sure about the learning, but I've been with Isaac and Jenna the past month. I can't just leave them now. If you want me to stay out of it though, I'll-…"
"Garet," Jenna interrupted. "I…I would like your company. Isaac? Can he come?"
"Yes," he replied. Garet winced. He hated seeing his friend become so monosyllabic.
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Kraden may have been arrogant in the initial stages and the work was nerve wracking, but the old man had been right-it did help ease the pain. All three of them had started learning how to master psyenergy and even discover their respective element-Jenna and Garet, the hotheads, turned out to have an aptitude for the element of fire (Isaac often remarked that he should have known it all along). Isaac himself turned out to have an aptitude for the element of earth.
"Yes," thought Jenna as she climbed the final set of stairs that led to the section where Isaac and Garet's houses were. "It was for the best." The pain had subsided to a great extent in all of them. Jenna had started tying her hair in a ponytail again and wearing clothes that suited her fashion (today it was a purple cloak with a brown dress and light red tunic), Garet was back to being the loudmouth of the group and Isaac had returned to his old self, no longer speaking in one word sentences. Jenna had started working for a living in the inn (though Herbert still treated her like an illegitimate daughter at times) and Isaac had moved back in with his mother, taking over Kyle's duties.
"Isaac? Have you finished mending the roof?" called out Dora as Jenna passed the house.
"Yeah, I'm nearly done," he called back.
"Alright, keep at it," she called back. "Let me know when you're done, I want to inspect it."
Jenna chuckled. Isaac, with prompting from Garet, had slacked off last time and had his mother looking and shouting like a bat out of hell. The look on Isaac's petrified face was priceless. Knowing that he could take awhile, Jenna headed on to Garet's house.
Arriving outside, he was nowhere to be found. "Hyaa!" came a voice.
"Hee, hee… still training Garet?" she wondered. Walking around the back, she saw Garet moving his training stump with psyenergy. Sweat trickled down, he was putting a lot of effort in for little result, but gradually, it moved, slowly but surely…right onto his sister Kay's flower bed. Jenna grinned, hoping that she'd be present for the tantrum Kay would throw once she found out. Garet broke off his concentration, breathing heavily.
"You sure put your heart into it Garet," she said, walking over.
"Oh that's nothing, I'm just warming up," he said in between breaths.
"Well that's good, it's time to go. Isaac's probably waiting for us."
Jenna started walking back towards Isaac's house. Garet started following, but stumbled. Jenna helped him up. "Garet, why are you doing this?" she asked softly, taking on a kindness that she rarely showed naturally and she made every effort to conceal.
"Huh, what are you talking about?" Garet asked.
"Garet, you know what I'm talking about. I appreciate you're concern but my family's never coming back and neither is Isaac's father. You don't have to put yourself through this to try and make it better. Unless you can remember what happened to you that night that is…"
It was something that Jenna occasionally asked. While she held no ill feelings towards her friends concerning that night, she did want to know what had happened to them, as to what removed any chance of her family being saved. Garet shook his head. After three years, he and Isaac still couldn't remember exactly what happened. Every time they cast their minds back, all they could remember was a lot of white light, heat and…pain.
Jenna had meanwhile returned to her usual self. "Anyway, it's not worth thinking about. Let's get over to Isaac. Hopefully he's slacked off again." Grinning, she turned and walked back to Isaac's house. "Oh, and Garet," she said, turning back to face him. "Think about the whole psyenergy thing. There's other ways to impress me you know."
"W-…what?" he spluttered.
"You know what I mean," she grinned, turning around and continuing to walk.
Sighing, Garet followed her. She did have a point about the whole psyenergy thing, he'd be happy just to work out. He did manage to get some time in though, as, despite the brown clothing he wore, his muscles clearly showed, a distinction from three years ago. He was also secretly proud that he managed to keep his spiky hair the same way, even if it had become browner than the previously light red colour.
"But she's right," he thought. "Psyenergy isn't my strong point. But who can blame me for continuing to study it?" He watched her ponytail swing from side to side as she walked in front of him "After all, she is the type of girl a guy would want to impress…"
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"Well, at least the roof lets me get some training in," thought Isaac as he used psyenergy to lift the planks and place them under the thatch, using his mastery over the earth to rearrange it. Eventually he was finished. "Ok, I'm done," he called out to his mother.
Dora climbed up the ladder as Isaac sat down to take a swig of water, letting it dribble down his blue tunic and yellow cloak. He ran the rest through messy hair that stuck out all over the place. He'd given up brushing it years ago and his mother had given up complaining about it. Dora finished surveying his work "Good job Isaac, you've patched it up nicely. You're very reliable Isaac, just like your father was." A pained look came over Isaac's face. Dora could see that she'd touched a nerve.
"What is it?" she asked. "Do you still think about the incident?"
"Yes…at least…more than I'd like to."
Dora nodded. "I thought so. It's been the same for me. I was devastated when Kyle died…but I think I'm better now."
Isaac was levitating the flask with psyenergy and screwing back on the cap with the same amount of concentration. "You've been working yourself to the bone studying psyenergy," Dora commented. "Do you think things would have been any different if you had stronger abilities? Is that why you've been studying so hard?"
Isaac nodded. "Yes," he said "If I could use psyenergy back then, we could have got Felix out of the water. We wouldn't have had to go down to the plaza. We could have been out of Vale long before the boulder fell. We-…"
"Isaac, don't dwell on that. There's nothing we could have done."
Isaac nodded again. It was true, he did feel guilty about not being able to help with psyenergy back then, but there was also the matter of being found unconscious. For some reason, he felt that his lack of psyenergy had played a role in that too. If only he could remember exactly what happened…
The circumstances were indeed dubious. The elders had found the unconscious bodies of Isaac and Garet and took them back to their sanctum for healing. They had numerous scorch marks over their bodies and, for some reason, couldn't remember exactly what happened. Some suggested that they'd been struck by lightning. That could explain the burns, but what about the memory loss? Boulders may have knocked them unconscious but how did that explain the burns? There was some evidence that psyenergy had been used but who in Vale would do such a thing? The official explanation was that they'd been struck by boulders and lightning struck nearby, that started a small fire that burnt them slightly until the rain had put it out. Even Garet realized how weak that was.
"Hey Isaac! Isaac!"
Having his thoughts interrupted, Isaac looked down to see Jenna and Garet at the base of the ladder. He and his mother climbed down. "Ah, Jenna, Garet, good morning," said Dora. "Is Isaac free?" asked Jenna.
"Yes, he did a good job with the roof…this time." Isaac gave Garet a mock glare. Garet simply grinned. "So what are you planning to do today?"
"We plan to hike up Mt. Aleph with Kraden," answered Garet.
Dora grinned. "Ah yes, kids and their games."
"No it's not, it's part of our studies," blurted out Jenna.
Isaac filled in. "Basically Mt. Aleph is a valuable source of psyenergy, and our abilities will be amplified up there. It's kinda like a practical."
Garet stuck out his chest proudly. "The elders say we have a lot of potential," said the fire adept.
"Yeah, but I don't think they included you in that statement," said Jenna sarcastically.
Everyone except Garet chuckled. "Alright," said Dora to Isaac. "I'd rather you grow up to be a normal man, but knowing you, you'll still want to go."
"Damn straight," he said. "Someone needs to make sure that these two don't suffer from vertigo." More chuckles.
"Well, you better get going,"
The trio started walking off. Sighing Dora started to walk back indoors. Suddenly there was a crack. Walking in, she saw that the patches that Isaac had placed had partially collapsed. "Oh, that boy is going to be in so much trouble when he gets back!"