Golden Sun Shadowed
Chapter 10: Mercury Lighthouse
After a few minutes of trudging through the snow, my friends and I reached Mercury Lighthouse. It was unlike anything I had ever seen before. Not even Master Hammet's palace could match the splendor displayed by the lighthouse. No amount of words can ever describe what I saw.
The lighthouse floor's entrance bricks seemed to glow faintly. At one time they had housed a great deal of Mercury psynergy. Around the bricks was a complicated structure that I assumed was used as a well. Two angel statues eternally guarded the Lighthouse, but the pots they tipped forward gave forth no water. There was also a ledge above us, supported by the lighthouse's structure. After the ledge, the lighthouse stretched far into the sky, and we could not see the top. The only signs of decay on the lighthouse were moss and a few small holes, defying time's grasp.
Awed, my friends and I skirted the dried spring. Mia came into our view. The girl was pacing back and forth, absorbed in her thoughts, and didn't notice us. Behind her, a statue of a knight blocked the path. There were a few holes preventing her from physically reaching the knight. The statue seemed to be rejecting entrance into Mercury Lighthouse. Mia was, once again, talking to herself.
"This statue shouldn't be here! Oh, some one doesn't want me to get into the lighthouse. But why? Alex… Alex wouldn't do such a thing. There must be others. Alex, he-" Mia looked up, finally noticing our presence, and abruptly cut off her sentence. She stopped talking, but continued to pace.
Isaac, Garet and I walked next to the statue. "I'll handle this," Garet stated, lifting his hands. "Move!" Garet's psynergy gripped the statue, and pushed forward to open the path. This made it able for us to jump over the hole, and get in front of Mercury Lighthouse's doorway.
Mia stared at us. "You… you're the one who just made that statue move, aren't you?"
Garet and I waited for Isaac to respond. Saying 'yes' would be revealing our psynergy. Saying 'no' would be lying.
Without hesitation, Isaac nodded his head once.
"I knew it! Thank you!" Mia smiled and clasped her hands together. She walked forward towards us. "Just a little while ago, a ghostly hand appeared before me. It moved that statue! I knew it must have been you…"
"Wait, if Mia can see psynergy, that must mean she's an adept," Garet said.
"I don't even know what adepts and psynergy are…" Mia trailed off.
"Mia, we thought you were using psynergy at that house in Imil. When you healed that old man, you were clearly using psynergy," I stated.
Mia just shook her head. "That's an old healing technique, passed down by the Mercury Clan. That same technique is used to unseal Mercury Lighthouse's entrance. Alex and I are the last members, which means…" She jumped past the hole to the doorway. Instead of a door, a blue light pulsed. "…I'm sorry, but I need to stop Alex." Mia's body began to glow blue. Sparkles from heaven gathered before her head, and a small fairy appeared. "Ply." The fairy slowly circled around the force field. After each round it made, the blue light continued to diminish, until nothing obstructed the doorway.
Mia dashed into Mercury Lighthouse. The others and I followed her through the entrance, and saw that the next place we where in was a corridor. The corridor continued forward a door. Although the door was close, Mia could not get to it. A lizard-like monster blocked her path. Try as she might, Mia was unable to past the lizard. After she bumped into it numerous times, she sighed and shook her head.
"It's no use," she whispered. "This monster won't let me through. Why… why are there monsters inside the lighthouse?"
The Lizard Fighter glared evilly down at its prey, and raised its ax to slice Mia in two.
"Look out!" Isaac shouted. "Spire!"
The stalactite crashed down on the oversized lizard's head. It dropped its ax in surprise, and staggered back. I leapt in to finish the monster off with my Shaman's Rod, and found that Mia was beside me as well. Together, we whacked it with our staffs. The creature collapsed on the floor, and didn't move.
Mia turned and nodded her thanks to us. After that, she opened the door and hurried through it, not bothering to wait for us. We followed after her in a more leisurely pace.
The next room we came into was almost completely full of water. There was a small path of land, a statue of a woman, and a small block in the center of the 'lake.' There was also a small pillar like structure in front of the water.
"There's words on this thing," I said, after examining the pillar.
"Let me see." Garet came next to me, took one look at the symbols, and shook his head. "It's some language I don't understand."
Isaac also joined the two of us. He calmly looked at the symbols, then explained, "it says: 'He who honors the heart of the goddess shall stand at the center of all, like a swan in the center of a rippling pond.'"
"Cool! How'd you know that, Isaac?" Garet asked, beating me to my own question.
"Books are your friends," Isaac replied, in a voice so flat I couldn't tell if he was joking or not. "That, and Kraden."
"Oh, man!" Garet groaned. "You mean you were actually paying attention to Kraden's lectures? I just sort of zoned out."
"Speaking of Kraden," I interrupted. "He along with Felix and the others should be around here. Let's go."
We continued through two rooms, both of which contained water, until we reached a corridor. Towards the end of the passage, we found Mia again. She was in the same predicament as the first time, but this time there was an angel statue instead of a knight.
Garet took a step forward to use psynergy, but Isaac beat him to it. Isaac slid the angel until it landed in the hole, before turning to smile at Mia.
Mia returned the favor. "Thank you," she whispered, and her eyes swept over all of us. "Please tell me, do you have business in this lighthouse?"
Isaac nodded his head.
"I thought so," Mia continued, still smiling. "I, also, am an urgent business. However there are most likely going to be other places where I cannot pass alone. I… I feel something special inside you. I feel as though I can trust you. Please, let me travel with you. We need to get to the lighthouse's aerie."
"Certainly Mia! You're welcome to come with us," I blurted out quickly, adding my two cents in. Isaac and Garet had both opened their mouths to say something, but whatever it was I beat them to it. "I'm Ivan," I introduced myself.
"I'm Garet."
"Isaac."
Now the four of us were traveling together. We saw many amazing things in Mercury Lighthouse, such as waterfalls, a room full of pipes, and angel statues. Through one waterfall, we found and battled a Mercury Djinni. The djinni was called Sleet, and it dropped foes attacks. Isaac ordered Mia to take care of all the Mercury djinni. (Mia already one Mercury djinni called Fizz when we first joined up with her.) At a different time, we actually walked across water! There were a few monsters, like Lizard Fighters and Sirens, but they didn't pose a serious threat. While solving the many different puzzles in Mercury Lighthouse, Mia told us some history.
"Mercury Lighthouse has been shut down for a long time. No one's allowed to come in or out. To prevent anyone from disobeying this rule, only Mercury Clan members can open the seal. It worked for a long time… as far as I know, the Lighthouse has been sealed for nearly five hundred years. But over the course of this time, Mercury kinsman began to die at unbelievably fast rates… what was once a thriving clan now only consists of two members." The girl clothed in blue paused to sigh. "I'm one of those two. The other one is Alex. We're sworn to protect the lighthouse but… the day Alex left Imil, I remember he said he wanted to unleash alchemy. Thankfully, this can't be done without the Mercury Star. Whoever's here won't be able to activate the beacon."
"Mia, I'm sorry," Garet interrupted. "But the Stars were stolen. Isaac and I are from Vale, and we've been sent to get them back."
"Oh no…" Mia shook her head, and began to walk faster. "That means we must hurry. It's only a matter of time before the lighthouse is lit, then."
The four of us walked through the waterfall. A beautiful rainbow was above our head, resulting from the water and sunlight pouring in through the roof.
A voice spoke inside our souls. It said: He who honors the goddess of rainbows shall be guided to the heavens upon wings of fluid grace.
We looked around to see who had spoken to us, but the only thing in the room besides the waterfall was an angel statue. Mia walked up to it, and cast Ply. After the fairy had appeared and disappeared, the waterfall began to vanish. There was a terrific rumble, which knocked all of us off of our feet. After the shaking had subsided, we stood and gazed at the waterfall. It was sparkling. Then after a few seconds, the water's flow began to reverse. The water now climbed up towards the ceiling, defying gravity.
"Woah," Garet whistled in amazement.
Mia smiled and nodded her head at us. We watched in curiosity as she walked towards the waterfall. Then suddenly, she jumped in! The water carried her up to the heavens, and I once again thought of Mia as an angel.
The rest of my friends and I looked at one another, each expecting one to go next. This went on for a few seconds, before I finally got frustrated and said, "ok fine. I'll go next." I leapt into the waterfall, and it carried me up. Strangly enough, my clothes and body didn't even get slightly wet. I looked up and saw an opening where the water lead, and knew that I was headed towards the top of the Lighthouse; the Lighthouse Aerie.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Author's Note: Sorry this chapter was rushed… um… anyway, I changed a few details from the game. Oh and Myril's picture is ready! Thank you Myril! It'll be in my profile next week…
Acknowledgments: Camelot and Nintendo own Golden Sun! I do not. Yay for Camelot and Nintendo! Inspiration is from… well, I want to do the next chapter badly. Let's put it that way. I've had the next chapter's events planned out for more than a year now. Yes I am weird like that. I think… it was the first time I played Golden Sun… I don't remember exactly.
Chapter 9 Reviewer Acknowledgments:
Master of Reality: In my Golden Sun file, all of my characters specialize in bursting into people's houses unannounced. Oh and Mind Reading. I can honestly say I've Mind Read every single person in Golden Sun that is possible. It was snowing when I wrote chapter nine, but there wasn't enough snow for a snowman. That's probably where it's from… random ideas are fun… whee…
libby: Nah it's fine! Just knowing that people actually read my story is good. Thank you!
Linkz117: Link!! My cat is named Link, after you know who… ((snuggles with cat)) Anyway thanks for your compliments!
SilentNemesis: Thanks for your compliments!