The Guardians

A light haired man walked through a city of stone and light. He wore brown leather armour with a golden sword on his back. Around him people bustled about. Smiths clanged hammers against red hot metal, farmers used psynergy to carry bundles of produce, and guards walked side by side patrolling together. The man smiled and faked anger as a child shot a small stream of water psynergy at him. He waved at a friendly vendor. Isaac saw through the man's eyes and heard what he heard. Like a dream, where one can only witness the events advancing around them, unable to intervene.

The city was colossal. Mightier than any Isaac had witnessed. Even the ruins of Lemuria paled in comparison. Massive buildings of stone and and metal rose from the earth, some larger than the Tolbi Palace. The roads were wide and cobbled smoothly with white quartz. The street front buildings had heavy ornate doors and extravagant gardens. Some of them had stones that emitted light of every colour. Above, the mountains towered on either side of the city. The air was crisp and cool. It reminded Isaac of home.

The light haired man's friend jumped from behind him to spook him. The friend had dark short hair and was armed similarly, only with a black sword at his back instead of golden. The light haired man twitched and then laughed. "Garcia," Isaac heard him say.

"Robin!" Garcia embraced his friend.

The dream shifted, so subtly that Isaac nearly forgot to notice. The two friends were alone in a small stone room with a fur carpet. A homely fire crackled.

"What's wrong?" Robin asked, his eyebrows furrowed. The expression reminded Isaac of his son.

Garcia unfastened his dark sword and placed it on the wooden table in front of him. "It has happened. We're at war."

The scene changed again and rapidly Isaac saw many different places. Always through Robin's eyes. He was on a road high in the mountains with three companions. Then he was in a battle as a city burned behind him. Then a ship as violent winds and lightning surged around him. He saw an emperor garbed in white and gold commanding an army. The emperor rose oceans, destroyed mountains, and massacred entire armies with raging infernos. Each time Robin failed to stop the catastrophe. Next was the great lighthouses. Through Robin's eyes, Isaac saw each of the four become extinguished. Their immense light contained in a stone the size of a palm. The Elemental Stars.

Then the quick shifting stopped. Robin was at the foot of the Mars Lighthouse as snowy winds whistled around him. The only light was from a small torch hanging on the side of the lighthouse. The beacon had been extinguished. Robin held a woman in his arms and two of his friends huddled close by. Tears fell gently from Robin's eyes, and the woman's drops were frozen on her cheek. "It's over. It's over," he repeated.

Suddenly, Robin was in the city of light again. But it had been ravaged. Stray stone and burnt metal littered the streets. The once beautiful streets were cracked and soot covered. Entire buildings had collapsed. The gardens were no more than weeds and upturned earth. People moved around slowly, repairing what damage they could with their hands. None used psynergy.

Then there was Garcia again. He was much older. Wrinkles and scars marked his face, along with a new beard. He approached Robin with a limp. He smiled, "Are you ready?"

He looked up the road and up. There, standing in the distance, was Mount Aleph. It looked just the same as it always had. Robin nodded, "Let's go."

The scene transformed again. Robin was in the middle a cave with no edges. He stood on the largest stone island among many. Below him sparkled a purple ocean. The Elemental Chamber. Robin and Garcia were there, with six other warriors. Three of them were the warriors Isaac had seen with Robin at the foot of the Mars Lighthouse. The other three were Garcia's. One of Garcia's companions rested her head on Garcia's shoulder. Another, a fire Adept, had the scaled skin and pointed ears of Prox. The eight of them made two Adepts for each element.

"We, the guardians, are in agreement. The Stars shall be sealed here. Until the moment is right," Robin said to the circle. Solemnly, they nodded in agreement, with one audible Aye.

Robin gave three of the Stars to his three companions and kept the Venus one. He traveled the stone steps and approached an angelic statue, just as Isaac had done. Except instead of taking the Star from the statue, Robin placed it there, on the heart of the statue. The others did the same with their statues. He traveled back to the main platform where the others were waiting for him.

It was then that Isaac noticed something different about the chamber. Behind the portal that lead to Sol Sanctum, two sparkling purple pillars of stone stood. Isaac recognized it. It was the psynergy crystal, and suddenly, he knew what it was for. Robin had placed them here, before he sealed alchemy. They were a bank of psynergetic power to be used after the elements were sealed. In the dream, Isaac understood this to be true.

Robin walked over to one and placed its palm on its cold surface. It began to glow. Robin let go and the stone shimmered wildly, slowly it morphed. It shrunk as its colour dulled to grey and in shape it became spherical. A white eye emerged in the centre. The Wise One.

The Wise One's psyche spoke, Why have you awoken me?

"We have sealed Alchemy to stop forces of great evil. But a dark age has begun. So your time has come, wise one. You will protect Weyard through it. And when the moment is right you will choose new guardians. They will restore Alchemy. If you fail, Weyard will wither to nothingness," Robin said loudly and the words made Isaac shiver in his deep sleep.

I will not fail, the Wise One pronounced.

Robin nodded. "The next stone," he gestured to the other psynergy stone, "Will be the Golden Sun. When Alchemy returns its power could be too much for Weyard. Cataclysmic. The Golden Sun will ease the transition. We will set it deep beneath the mountain and when the beacons are lit again, its release will be triggered. Its power will be distributed evenly into every grain of sand and every drop of the ocean. This will save our descendants from catastrophe. Do you understand?"

I do, the Wise One's voice echoed in Isaac's head.

Just as Robin had awoken the Wise One, he awoke the Golden Sun. After placing a palm on the second psynergy stone it morphed into a magnificent ball of light. Slowly it descended beneath the purple sea.


"Is it working?" Isaac heard his wife's muffled voice as if it was coming from the basement of an old house.

"I think so," an unfamiliar voice answered. This one was louder. Clearer. Isaac felt the tips of fingers tingle. Slowly the sensation moved up his hand towards his wrist. Then with speed his entire body tingled. He opened his eyes. The light made him squint. His wife was there. And his friend Garet. They looked worried. Isaac gave them the best smile he could muster.

Jenna returned it anxiously, "Isaac? Can you hear me?"

"Ya," his voice sounded strange to his ears. Tears welled up in Jenna's eyes and she embraced him. Isaac grunted as Garet's immense weight joined for a group hug.

Isaac stayed awake only a short while. His friends told him he was alright. That he had been unconscious for a while. He heard he was in Yamata City. In the middle the Eastern Ocean. How long was I out for? Susa and Kushinada, the Lord and Lady of the city, came by to visit him. It had been a long while. Their children visited too. The samurai son who had apparently saved him at the Mount Aleph crater, and the mage daughter who was the companion of his son on their quest to end the Grave Eclipse. Matt ended the Eclipse!

It took only twenty minutes before the information started to become too much. The Eclipse had ended, Isaac was hurt on his way to Sol Sanctum, Matt took the soarwing and went in his place. On and on it went twisting Isaac's head in violent circles. Enough, he finally said. And they let him rest.

When he awoke sweat plastered his hair to his forehead. He was in a large room lined with wood on all walls. The wood looked almost golden in the morning sun. Two tall unlit torches stood next to him. Isaac lay back down on wooden planks. Jenna sat in a small chair at his side. She clutched his hand as he opened his eyes. He sat up suddenly and for a moment felt his vision go dark as the blood rushed from his head. He ran a hand through his beard, much longer than he remembered it being.

"Try and take it slow," Jenna urged. Isaac looked over at her. The sunlight basked through open windows illuminating her vibrant red hair. She was just as beautiful as that day in Contigo. When they were finally reunited. When he kissed her for the very first time. Her brown eyes smiled at him.

"You brought me here?" Isaac asked. He knew the answer.

Jenna nodded. He hugged her tightly.

"Slow," Jenna laughed startled.

"I'm fine," Isaac brushed off her urge and stood up. It felt amazing to stretch his legs again. How long had it been? He stretched his arms far in front of him and turned his neck in circles.

"I need a bath," he said.

Jenna laughed again, "It's been weeks. We were so worried."

"Weeks?" Isaac repeated, astonished. "Spent here? Or in Kalay?"

"Some on the road. Some on the sea. Most of it here. Himi knew what the problem..." Jenna stopped as Isaac gave a confused look. "Susa's daughter. The mage."

Isaac nodded. "Matt's new friend," he paused for a moment before remembering, "Our boy Jenna! He did... he stopped it."

Jenna smiled. "He did."

"And what about Beth? Where is she?" Isaac asked.

"Back in Kalay. She's safe."

They were silent for a moment. Isaac took some time just pacing the room. Getting a feel for his body again. He stretched his limbs out again multiple times. "So how did she fix me?" he said.

"Himi has a power called Third Eye. It gives her seers powers. Sort of like Ivan's. She saw into your body. There was a vortex there," Jenna said.

"A psynergy vortex?" Isaac asked, confused. How is that even possible?

Jenna nodded. "Only smaller. About the size of an apple. And it behaved the same way as the other vortexes. Sucking and psynergy that came near it. Slowly it was growing, and leeching from your life force. But Himi discovered something about the vortex. It could be fought. If psynergy is imbued into you, the vortex shrank, ever so slightly. So that's what we did. Day in and day out. We used healing spells over and over. The healing spells never did their intended function, because the vortex vacuumed the psynergy clean. But, the vortex shrunk. Finally it disappeared all together."

Isaac didn't know what to say. What they had done for him was... They must have exhausted themselves for weeks. "Jenna..." he ventured.

Jenna shook her head, "It's a miracle that you made it to Yamata City alive. No one knows how."

Immediately it clicked for Isaac. He rubbed a hand against his chin and said, "I think I may know. Do you remember about the Golden Sun? What the Wise One told me?"

"In your visions? That he imbued part of it into you so Alex wouldn't have all of it?"

Isaac nodded.

"I thought you never felt its effects. That you never become any more powerful from it," she said sitting back down into the chair at the foot of the bed.

Isaac paced. "You're right. But it's still there. It's always been there. It must have fought the vortex. Prevented me from dying."

Suddenly Garet burst into the room. His scowl turned into a wide smile when he saw Isaac standing and well. The two old friends embraced.

"You're okay?" Garet practically shouted.

"Don't I look it?" Isaac joked.

"You don't smell it," Garet retorted. Isaac laughed. The three friends caught up. Mostly they talked of Matt and Tyrell, who had practically saved the world.

Eventually talk turned to Isaac's dreams. Mostly he had been completely unconscious for his coma, with the occasional strange dream. Then there was the vision. The last thing he saw before the mage woke him up. Robin and Garcia, and the strange golden city. Isaac knew this to be much more than a dream. He recounted the vision to Jenna and Garet.

"What do you think it means?" Jenna asked Isaac.

"Well, it's the past. I was seeing the heroes who sealed Alchemy to save Weyard. And they knew it would have to be unsealed one day. Jenna… they knew about us."

"That's... incredible," Jenna managed to whisper after looking stunned for a while.

"But why were you shown this? Why now?" Garet pressed.

"The Golden Sun. That's why the past thirty years have been so disastrous. The earthquakes, the storms, the volcanoes. Maybe even the vortexes. The Golden Sun isn't in the earth, like it was supposed to be." Isaac paced.

"It's in you...", Jenna started, then her voice lowered, "and Alex."

"And Alex," Isaac confirmed. "We have to figure out a way of putting it back. Both parts of it. Back into Weyard as it was intended. Then the disasters will stop."


That evening Isaac sat at a long table in the hall of Susa and Kushinada. Jenna, Garet, and Susa's children Takeru and Himi sat with them. Ophelia, Ivan's best sailor was there also. They sat was in a house made of the slender pale palm wood native to Nihan Island. Built after Izumo was lost to the waves. Susa and Kushinada served a feast of fish and palm flower, the small green fruit Yamata City was famous for. He got to know Susa's children. Both quiet, and both wise. Himi spoke of her quest with Matt, their journey along the Endless Wall and at Apollo's Sanctum. The only thing prevent Isaac from fully enjoying the evening was his longing for his children.

After dinner the sunset and a surprising chill set in. That was how Isaac learned it was already late autumn. They drank ale together and laughed. Isaac hadn't spent enough time in the company of the Nihanans. They were more Jenna's friends, from her journey to Gaia Rock with Susa. But they were incredibly hospitable, and kind. They laughed as Takeru competed with Garet in cup stacking.

When the fun died down Isaac turned the conversation to more serious matters. There were still things he had to know. "You mentioned Tolbi and Kalay are in difficult spot? Will it come to war?" Isaac asked. Beth was still in Kalay. Isaac struggled not to worry for her. She can take of herself. And Ivan is there. And Tyrell and Karis. Who are apparently formidable warriors themselves now. They stopped the Eclipse. Every time Isaac remembered that it seemed strange. His son had saved Angara.

"No ravens have come in for weeks from Kalay. Ravens are incredibly rare these days in general," Susa said. He rubbed his long mustache worriedly.

"Ships too," Kushinada added. She looked ornate in her long silk dress.

Garet nodded in agreement. "Something is happening on the mainland," he said ominously.


The next morning a raven did come. It was Jersey. Isaac could tell it was the pesky bird from hundreds of miles away. Its annoying yapping was unforgettable. Plus he had single a red talon. Garet insisted the bird was a fire Adept. Either way, Isaac didn't particularly love the bird. He had to admit he was useful. Isaac sat in the guest room Susa and Kushinada provided watching Jersey careen towards his window as Jenna lay sleeping still.

He opened the window for Jersey. The raven swaggered in wildly with a scroll tied around its red talon. It flew around the room bouncing into the walls before making its way to the bed, where it awoke Jenna with mad pecks.

"Jersey!" Isaac shouted. "Down!"

The bird squawked insanely before resting on Isaac's arms. Its feet dug in a little too far. Where did Kraden find this thing? Isaac wondered idly as he unwrapped the note from Jersey's talon.

Isaac read it out loud for Jenna, "Kolima Village. Fourth day of Nerthus, in the Fifth Year of the Falcon. Dearest Isaac, I pray this letter finds you in good health. It is with great-"

"Is this from Kraden?" Jenna interrupted.

Isaac nodded.

"He's the only one who writes like this. I can't bare to hear his filler ever again," Jenna said frowning.

Isaac laughed, "Alright I'll skip to the end." He continued reading, "We followed Alex to the top of Talon Peak, and overheard his plans. He went there to retrieve a Magma Shard, so he can enter the Alchemy Dynamo. He's traveling there as I write this. To quote unleash its power on Belinsk. We fear you are the only one who can stop him, on account of the Golden Sun."

Isaac stopped reading when Jenna gasped, "Alex."

"Time to go."