It was three days later when Garet, Jenna, and Felix arrived in Vault. Felix and Garet struggled to brace Jenna between them; Jenna had turned her ankle when taking Garet's shortcut through the woods. Not only did Jenna's ankle injury slow them down, they became hopelessly lost for several hours. Needless to say, the girl was less than pleased with Garet's navigation skills.

"You know, Garet, we're lucky Ivan was the navigator on the Lemurian cruiser on the way home; you would've run us aground, I'll bet."

"Will you give it a rest, Jenna? Don't make me regret bringing you along!" Garet retorted. The past two days had been like this; Jenna had done nothing but criticize his leadership time and time again. He wondered if the ache in his head compared to the ache of her swollen ankle. "Let's just find the neighborhood healer and get your ankle patched up." Felix and Garet shouldered Jenna's weight as they towed her around until they finally reached the Sanctum of Vault. Garet pushed open the door with his left arm and leg, and pushed through the doorway.

"Ah, my children. Do you need assistance?"

"Yes, can you heal my sister's sprained ankle?" Felix asked.

"Certainly." The healer walked up and began chanting various phrases in an ancient languages, and a golden light flowed through his arms and into Jenna's left ankle. After the chanting had ceased, the healer put his arms to his sides. "That should do it." Jenna twisted her ankle right and left with no jolts of searing pain and no dull aches. The healing had been a success.

"Thank you, healer."

"My pleasure. Please, have a safe journey, my friends." The healer bid them a fond farewell, and in return for the man's kindness, Garet secretly left 50 coins in the collection box. After they were outside, they paused.

"Now what, Garet?" Jenna asked.

"I'm not sure what we do next, to be perfectly honest. Let's try to ask around and see if anyone's seen Isaac."

"Where should we go?" She asked.

"The inn." Felix responded. "It's likely that Isaac was here a couple of days ago and he probably stayed at the inn."

"Right. I'm going to check the shops and see if he had shown up there. The second stop he always made after the inn was always the item shops; Isaac loved making sure he had enough healing supplies on hand." Garet returned. "You two check the inn, and I'll join you shortly." He dashed off down the road familiar to him toward the item shop. When he was out of sight, Felix turned his brown eyes on to his little sister.

"Why are you so hard on Garet, anyway? He's been doing his best."

"I don't know. It's just; I think he could always do more." Jenna replied, walking slowly toward the inn. Felix mimicked her movement pace and kept besider her.

"Garet's not Isaac. He's not the stereotypical 'fearless and wise' leader. He may be fearless, but Isaac was unnaturally wise for his age; he always had been. Garet's always followed Isaac, so it's kind of hard for him to take the reigns."

"It's just. . . I. . ."

"I think I know what you're getting at, Jenna. I can't help you there."

"You know me too well, Felix."

"I am your brother, after all." Felix replied, opening the heavy wooden door to the inn. Felix immediately turned to the innkeeper. "Excuse me."

"Yes, how can I help you?"

"Do you know if a guy named Isaac checked in here within the past three days?"

"An Isaac? I don't think there was one. What did he look like?"

"About this tall," Felix gestured with his hand, "brown spiky hair, sapphire blue eyes, yellow scarf, somewhat frail in appearance."

"I think we had one like that about three days ago; two nights. Checked out the next morning and immediately left town. Strange lad, he was."

"Did you know which way he was headed?"

"I'm afraid not, sir. If you don't mind my asking, why do you need to know about him?"

"We're friends of his; he up and left our hometown for no reason. We're out to find him. Do you know anyone who might've seen him?"

"I did." A masculine voice sounded behind Felix and Jenna. Jenna became startled by the newcomer, but Felix simply turned to face him. "I saw the Isaac you spoke of. He said something about finding his destiny; he said fate pointed him in that direction." The male replied, pointing at the same place Isaac's dagger had three nights before.

"Thanks." Felix replied, preparing to leave.

"Excuse me, but, what is your name, sir?" Jenna asked the boy.

"The name's Triad Orion. Like I said, I met with Isaac. He's a nice guy, but he seems lost and confused right now. Though, if he's going where I think he is, he'll need help soon. Allow me to offer you my services."

"Pardon?"

"I want to help you find this Isaac person you're worried about. You see, I'm an inventor, and I might have some useful tools for use."

"Do you expect some kind of reward?"

"No. I only adventure for the experience in the field. I like to keep my mind and body strong."

"Very well." Felix replied. "Grab your stuff and hurry down."

"All of my stuff is in this bag." He pointed to a small bag on his belt, much like the one Isaac wore. "Never leave home without it." Garet walked into the inn moments later and caught the end of the conversation.

"No sign of Isaac at any of the local stores. I checked every one of them."

"It's no matter, Garet. Triad here has already pointed out Isaac's path; we should get going. Garet, take point and listen to Triad's navigational instruction." Felix ordered.

**********************

Isaac pulled his scarf tighter around his neck; the north winds cut through him like a razor blade through tissue paper. The wind was unforgiving, and the terrain was becoming more and more hazardous. Of all the places Fate would point him, he'd have to get stuck in the Northern Mountain Range. Isaac rubbed his hands together and gazed at his surroundings.

He had already climbed a couple of mountains, but he was through the worst of it. To the north of him lay snow-covered plains and forests, the green standing out from the blankness of the winter's embrace. Though, the plains lay still much further north, he could get to them by nightfall if he was lucky. Isaac gazed around from his mountain top once more. He felt on top of the world, looking down upon everything in the land. There were clouds beginning to gather, but they were the white wisps of cirrus clouds, meaning fair weather, for awhile, at least. The mountain range on which he was looking upon, was vast and extremely beautiful; Garet and Jenna would've loved the view. After he was finished daydreaming, Isaac decided to press forward into the wilderness and try to keep going in the same path the dagger had given him. He began a decent walk down the hilly cliff face of the mountain, and as the terrain leveled out, he marched through 2 inch deep snow toward the plains.

Isaac kept this pace for several hours, finally reaching the plains nearing dusk. The forests looked like a good place to set camp for the night, so he began edging toward the forest, half a mile to the northeast. As he closed to a quarter mile, a strange creature leapt from behind a rock and knocked Isaac to the ground. Dizzy, Isaac leapt back to his feet to face his foe. He gasped.

His opponent was a centaur-like creature, covered in blue fur and with a pale blue skin above the horse's waist line. The creature carried a massive sword in one human hand and a huge shield in another. This centaur had glowering red eyes, gazing upon Isaac with extreme anger and hatred. The creature's human half looked very strong; the horse half looked even stronger. Isaac swallowed hard; he knew he was in for it. The creature growled and leapt forward at him. Isaac hopped out of the way of the attack, but the centaur pressed forward by spinning around and swiping at him again. This time, Isaac used his Earth Shield to block the attack, and he parried the creature's blade with his own. The two fighters' swords clanged and glanced off one another, sending sparks flying everywhere. Eventually, Isaac managed to force his adversary's sword to the ground, but this didn't last long. The creature promptly pulled his appendage free and swiped Isaac with his weapon. Isaac had caught a bad wound to his right side, and he moved his shield arm to apply pressure. The wound bled profusely, leaving many red marks on the snow around him. The cold winds stung at the injury while Isaac sought to return the favor. Determining he'd never find a direct weakness, Isaac decided you use his Psynergy. Isaac paused, and raised his hand into the sky. Puzzled, the centaur stared at his foe, but ceased to attack. Before the creature knew it, it had been struck dead by a sword made of pure Psynergy falling from the sky. Isaac scoffed at the fact that he was reduced to using Ragnarok on a lone creature. Cupping his wound, he determined it would take entirely too long to return to Vault, so he pressed forward, into the woods.

Several more hours passed, and Isaac's wound had stopped bleeding, but the cold still attacked it with enthusiasm. His vision became clouded, and he became very lethargic and tired. Given his poor protection from the cold, he had now developed a serious cough, and his sinuses were becoming congested, causing his head to become very sore. It wasn't the best of days for poor Isaac.

"I'm so tired; why am I like this?!" Isaac asked himself, rubbing his blurred eyes. "Damn. I can't see straight, and why am I so God-damned tired?" He shivered as he came into a clearing from the woods; the wind immediately tore right through his clothes and stung every layer of his skin until it reached the bone. Stamping on the ground beneath him and kneeling to check it, Isaac discovered he had made it to a path of some kind.

Isaac wiped his brow of sweat; he was hot, cold, tired, hungry, and lethargic all at the same time; he couldn't place where he was exactly in that emotional range. Isaac looked skyward to try to navigate with the stars, but to no avail; the sky was covered in low-hanging gray clouds. As he gazed up at the sky, white specks began to gravitate from the sky quickly and heavily. Snow. Just what he wanted to see.

"Damn it! I can't see!" He rubbed his blurry eyes again, then his head. "So tired. . ." The world began to spin around Isaac; he felt like throwing up; but instead, all went black and he passed out into the snowy ground.