Chapter 2
Isaac threw his sheath over his shoulder and straightened his armor. Everything had to be right for this plan to work - and Isaac, being the superstitious man that he was, hoped to make everything in his control seem right. Fixing his Mythril Helm, he yelled to the contents of the other room, "You guys ready yet?" Hearing no reply, Isaac slyly slid across the wall and peeked into the opening of the adjacent room. Seeing no immediate threat, he slid the ajar door open to its full radius and stepped in.
Someone stepped out from behind the door and pinned his two arms behind his back. The mystery figure whispered in Isaac's ear, "We never did get to finish our duel." Isaac smiled and snapped out of the grab. He looked at Felix now, waiting for him to unsheath his sword and make the first move. Felix smiled and simply shook his head. "I'm not here to fight - we need to go see the mayor. I was just looking for a way to grab your attention that didn't require Mia." Isaac shot a slight glare at Felix, then, noticing he was just hoping to lighten the Venus Adept up, laughed slightly and walked out the front door.
The mayor's tent was only a few feet away, so they quickly arrived. Mia, Jenna, Sheba, Ivan, Garet, and Piers were already there and standing in lines catergorized by their adept type. Garet, standing behind Jenna, had tunnel vision on her lower end of the body. Isaac and Felix walked into the empty space that was to be their line. The mayor expertly ended the silence, saying, "I'm glad you're all here. Now, since this task is highly dangerous, we would not send you out into the field using inferior equipment." All the boys felt a twine of anger - they had worked long and hard, finding materials to forge, chests with weapons inside, just to make the very weapons they had - the best currently available. Calling them inferior was blasphemy.
"Therefore," the mayor continued, "Each of you will be given a blade or staff according to your alignment. These weapons have been infused with their respective elements' energy at the heart of Sol Sanctum, where the pure power of each element currently lies." The mayor handed Isaac, Felix, Garet, and Piers their respective long swords, Jenna and Ivan their short swords, and Mia and Sheba their staves. The mayor returned to the front of the tent and resumed the conversation. "Now, have you two selected your party members?"
Isaac nodded and stepped forward. "For my party, I would request the services of Ivan and Mia." Mia glanced towards Isaac just as he turned to watch her reaction, and their eyes met. The gaze would have remained for days if it were not for the mayor's words. "And Felix, you are ready to take whom?"
"I will enlist the help of Jenna, Garet, Sheba, and Piers," Felix replied, looking towards Isaac, whose head was currently fixated on a spot on the ground.
"Well then," the mayor continued, "No need to waste time. You have been given your orders and tools. Say your goodbyes and get going." He turned and walked into his quarters. The eight adepts split into two groups, and the smaller one headed out first. Even though Sol Sanctum was at the very top of town, Vault was farther away, so the trio got the only current wagon in town. Isaac went up first on the wagon and pulled Mia up, then turned around and walked up front. Ivan jumped and struggled to pull himself up, but succeeded. "Thanks a lot, pretty boy," Ivan muttered under his breath, confused by Isaac's infatuation. The wagon then took off due south, on route for the small neighboring town called Vault.
Felix was in the lead for some town now. His party was currently split into three groups: Garet and Jenna, who lagged behind the other three and make constant laughter and noise, Sheba and Piers, who followed right behind Felix and never left each other's side, and Felix himself. Felix shook his head and thought, Great, I had to get stuck with all the lovebirds. They reached the foot of Mt. Aleph and continued on, into Sol Sanctum.
Without a moment's notice, Felix heard the clashing of swords. He spun around and found Garet and Piers fencing on the floor, with Jenna and Sheba at the side watching the match. Felix rose his Venus Blade up into the air, focused his mind energy, and the floor beneath them split into two separate islands, both unreachable by its sister island. "Now, will that teach you two to stop fighting? I need everyone to work together if we can stand a chance," Felix stated.
Piers shook his head and pointed to Garet, "He nearly tripped Sheba!" Garet shook a fist towards Piers, exclaiming, "I was trying to catch up with the rest of the group! Calm down, cool police!" At the sound of this, Piers lept from his small island of ground towards Garet, prone to miss and fall in the depths of the Sanctum.
Felix reached out a hand and grabbed Piers by his shirt. "Knock it off right now, both of you!," he said. "Learn to live with each other!" He pulled Piers back to the main path, then did the same with Garet. Opening another set of double doors, they progressed farther into the Sanctum.
Isaac looked up into the sky, taking notice of the different stars and constellations. Their driver, stupidly enough had gone every direction BUT south - north to Lunpa, which nearly got them captured, west to a dead end, and east to Bilibin. It was now night, and they were approaching Vault far later than they should have. Mia, now asleep with a light blanket thrown over her, rested against Isaac as the wagon continued on.
Ivan walked up from behind Isaac and sat down next to him. "How's it going?" he questioned.
Isaac showed no emotion. "If we could get to Vault, everything would be fi- what the heck?" He looked out the back of the window. "Wait a second, I thought we turned around from Bilibin"
The driver's right hand, holding the reigns, appeared from the large veil separating the storage area of the wagon from the front. "We did turn around from Bilbin," he muttered, in a raspy voice.
Isaac stood up and took a step forward, causing Mia to wake from her slumber. She yawned and stood up as well. Isaac peered into the driver's compartment. "Then we should clearly be back near Vault or at least Vale by now! By the looks of it, we're at - oh god." Isaac looked outside, just in time to see the thick trees of Kolima forest. He unsheathed his blade and walked forward, motioning for Ivan to follow him. The two boys arrived in front, to see the face of not a man from Vale, but a stranger.
"Scouting party," the stranger laughed, looking at the two boys. "Nobody will stop this plan. Without you little goons, they will never know that the attack is coming..they're doomed!" He continued laughing, and jerked the wagon to the side that it knocked the two Adepts off. The wagon then took off.
Isaac and Ivan stood up and smiled. Ivan began counting the seconds like a metronome. "3, 2, 1 - see ya." In the wagon, Mia emerged from the storage area, previously hidden from the driver. She politely tapped him on the shoulder, and as he turned around, surprise, she said, "Didn't see this coming, did you?" She then proceeded to lop off his head with the sharp end of her staff, which was pure metal due to being forge. The head rolled into the back compartment. The wagon, now out of control, was speeding towards a large pool of water. Mia gathered some supplies, then walked to the side entrance and leapt into the air.
She was caught by Isaac, and the two rolled to the brink of the lake. Isaac stood up, then extended a hand to help her to her feet. He knocked some dirt off his clothes and looked up. "Nice job Mia. We kinda expected you would take control of things." The Mercury adept blushed, and had to turn away to hide not only this but an impending giggle.
Ivan walked up to join the two. He looked around and shook his head in disgust. "Am I the only one that notices we are stranded FAR from Vale and Vault, with no wagon now? We'd have to trek through this forest, another Temple and a desert before we could return to home."
Isaac nodded. "Then we don't go that way - we go backwards. I've got a friend in Bilibin that could help us."
Ivan pulled up a hand to cover his face. "Not this story again." Isaac only smiled, intent on annoying Ivan, then continued the anecdote as they started to backtrack out of the forest. "It all started on a crisp, sunny, spring day."
The quick-to-anger fire adept walked around the staging area north of Kalay. "Men, we are willing enough and strong enough to take back what is rightfully ours." Cheers erupted from the group, sitting around the fire. They numbered into the thousands, a sheer invasion force. "For too long we have dealt with a bad hand that we were given. No more will these people waste the power of true Alchemy. Tonight, we set out to reclaim what they stole from us - our power!" Once again, cheers. "Our freedom!" Yells and whistling now accompanied the massive cheering. "Our very lives!" At this last statement, the entire troop rose up, grabbed their weapons, and break into a massive rush north.
At this time, a female Mars adept walked over to him. "Will they be successful? The destruction of Vale and the release of Alchemy is our last hope to reclaim true power." The male adept smiled, looking at the woman's eyes. "I think you would know the answer to that, being with me for six years. Don't fret, there's nothing to worry about. Everything will go according to plan, Menardi."
Isaac threw his sheath over his shoulder and straightened his armor. Everything had to be right for this plan to work - and Isaac, being the superstitious man that he was, hoped to make everything in his control seem right. Fixing his Mythril Helm, he yelled to the contents of the other room, "You guys ready yet?" Hearing no reply, Isaac slyly slid across the wall and peeked into the opening of the adjacent room. Seeing no immediate threat, he slid the ajar door open to its full radius and stepped in.
Someone stepped out from behind the door and pinned his two arms behind his back. The mystery figure whispered in Isaac's ear, "We never did get to finish our duel." Isaac smiled and snapped out of the grab. He looked at Felix now, waiting for him to unsheath his sword and make the first move. Felix smiled and simply shook his head. "I'm not here to fight - we need to go see the mayor. I was just looking for a way to grab your attention that didn't require Mia." Isaac shot a slight glare at Felix, then, noticing he was just hoping to lighten the Venus Adept up, laughed slightly and walked out the front door.
The mayor's tent was only a few feet away, so they quickly arrived. Mia, Jenna, Sheba, Ivan, Garet, and Piers were already there and standing in lines catergorized by their adept type. Garet, standing behind Jenna, had tunnel vision on her lower end of the body. Isaac and Felix walked into the empty space that was to be their line. The mayor expertly ended the silence, saying, "I'm glad you're all here. Now, since this task is highly dangerous, we would not send you out into the field using inferior equipment." All the boys felt a twine of anger - they had worked long and hard, finding materials to forge, chests with weapons inside, just to make the very weapons they had - the best currently available. Calling them inferior was blasphemy.
"Therefore," the mayor continued, "Each of you will be given a blade or staff according to your alignment. These weapons have been infused with their respective elements' energy at the heart of Sol Sanctum, where the pure power of each element currently lies." The mayor handed Isaac, Felix, Garet, and Piers their respective long swords, Jenna and Ivan their short swords, and Mia and Sheba their staves. The mayor returned to the front of the tent and resumed the conversation. "Now, have you two selected your party members?"
Isaac nodded and stepped forward. "For my party, I would request the services of Ivan and Mia." Mia glanced towards Isaac just as he turned to watch her reaction, and their eyes met. The gaze would have remained for days if it were not for the mayor's words. "And Felix, you are ready to take whom?"
"I will enlist the help of Jenna, Garet, Sheba, and Piers," Felix replied, looking towards Isaac, whose head was currently fixated on a spot on the ground.
"Well then," the mayor continued, "No need to waste time. You have been given your orders and tools. Say your goodbyes and get going." He turned and walked into his quarters. The eight adepts split into two groups, and the smaller one headed out first. Even though Sol Sanctum was at the very top of town, Vault was farther away, so the trio got the only current wagon in town. Isaac went up first on the wagon and pulled Mia up, then turned around and walked up front. Ivan jumped and struggled to pull himself up, but succeeded. "Thanks a lot, pretty boy," Ivan muttered under his breath, confused by Isaac's infatuation. The wagon then took off due south, on route for the small neighboring town called Vault.
Felix was in the lead for some town now. His party was currently split into three groups: Garet and Jenna, who lagged behind the other three and make constant laughter and noise, Sheba and Piers, who followed right behind Felix and never left each other's side, and Felix himself. Felix shook his head and thought, Great, I had to get stuck with all the lovebirds. They reached the foot of Mt. Aleph and continued on, into Sol Sanctum.
Without a moment's notice, Felix heard the clashing of swords. He spun around and found Garet and Piers fencing on the floor, with Jenna and Sheba at the side watching the match. Felix rose his Venus Blade up into the air, focused his mind energy, and the floor beneath them split into two separate islands, both unreachable by its sister island. "Now, will that teach you two to stop fighting? I need everyone to work together if we can stand a chance," Felix stated.
Piers shook his head and pointed to Garet, "He nearly tripped Sheba!" Garet shook a fist towards Piers, exclaiming, "I was trying to catch up with the rest of the group! Calm down, cool police!" At the sound of this, Piers lept from his small island of ground towards Garet, prone to miss and fall in the depths of the Sanctum.
Felix reached out a hand and grabbed Piers by his shirt. "Knock it off right now, both of you!," he said. "Learn to live with each other!" He pulled Piers back to the main path, then did the same with Garet. Opening another set of double doors, they progressed farther into the Sanctum.
Isaac looked up into the sky, taking notice of the different stars and constellations. Their driver, stupidly enough had gone every direction BUT south - north to Lunpa, which nearly got them captured, west to a dead end, and east to Bilibin. It was now night, and they were approaching Vault far later than they should have. Mia, now asleep with a light blanket thrown over her, rested against Isaac as the wagon continued on.
Ivan walked up from behind Isaac and sat down next to him. "How's it going?" he questioned.
Isaac showed no emotion. "If we could get to Vault, everything would be fi- what the heck?" He looked out the back of the window. "Wait a second, I thought we turned around from Bilibin"
The driver's right hand, holding the reigns, appeared from the large veil separating the storage area of the wagon from the front. "We did turn around from Bilbin," he muttered, in a raspy voice.
Isaac stood up and took a step forward, causing Mia to wake from her slumber. She yawned and stood up as well. Isaac peered into the driver's compartment. "Then we should clearly be back near Vault or at least Vale by now! By the looks of it, we're at - oh god." Isaac looked outside, just in time to see the thick trees of Kolima forest. He unsheathed his blade and walked forward, motioning for Ivan to follow him. The two boys arrived in front, to see the face of not a man from Vale, but a stranger.
"Scouting party," the stranger laughed, looking at the two boys. "Nobody will stop this plan. Without you little goons, they will never know that the attack is coming..they're doomed!" He continued laughing, and jerked the wagon to the side that it knocked the two Adepts off. The wagon then took off.
Isaac and Ivan stood up and smiled. Ivan began counting the seconds like a metronome. "3, 2, 1 - see ya." In the wagon, Mia emerged from the storage area, previously hidden from the driver. She politely tapped him on the shoulder, and as he turned around, surprise, she said, "Didn't see this coming, did you?" She then proceeded to lop off his head with the sharp end of her staff, which was pure metal due to being forge. The head rolled into the back compartment. The wagon, now out of control, was speeding towards a large pool of water. Mia gathered some supplies, then walked to the side entrance and leapt into the air.
She was caught by Isaac, and the two rolled to the brink of the lake. Isaac stood up, then extended a hand to help her to her feet. He knocked some dirt off his clothes and looked up. "Nice job Mia. We kinda expected you would take control of things." The Mercury adept blushed, and had to turn away to hide not only this but an impending giggle.
Ivan walked up to join the two. He looked around and shook his head in disgust. "Am I the only one that notices we are stranded FAR from Vale and Vault, with no wagon now? We'd have to trek through this forest, another Temple and a desert before we could return to home."
Isaac nodded. "Then we don't go that way - we go backwards. I've got a friend in Bilibin that could help us."
Ivan pulled up a hand to cover his face. "Not this story again." Isaac only smiled, intent on annoying Ivan, then continued the anecdote as they started to backtrack out of the forest. "It all started on a crisp, sunny, spring day."
The quick-to-anger fire adept walked around the staging area north of Kalay. "Men, we are willing enough and strong enough to take back what is rightfully ours." Cheers erupted from the group, sitting around the fire. They numbered into the thousands, a sheer invasion force. "For too long we have dealt with a bad hand that we were given. No more will these people waste the power of true Alchemy. Tonight, we set out to reclaim what they stole from us - our power!" Once again, cheers. "Our freedom!" Yells and whistling now accompanied the massive cheering. "Our very lives!" At this last statement, the entire troop rose up, grabbed their weapons, and break into a massive rush north.
At this time, a female Mars adept walked over to him. "Will they be successful? The destruction of Vale and the release of Alchemy is our last hope to reclaim true power." The male adept smiled, looking at the woman's eyes. "I think you would know the answer to that, being with me for six years. Don't fret, there's nothing to worry about. Everything will go according to plan, Menardi."
