Golden Sun: Last Heaven
Episode 00- A New Beginning

A few notes before we start...
- Italics indicate first-person perspectives.
- Every chapter has the same first-person narrator, so don't worry about it suddenly changing mid-chapter or something like that.
- The first couple of chapters were created in a grand total of one and a half hours, so don't be surprised if they're poorly done.
- One more thing you should know; my fight scenes blow. Don't expect anything great from them.

With that out of the way, let's begin.

It's been quite some time since we've returned to Vale, but it only feels like yesterday to me. Everything's been going completely by so fast lately, I don't even know if I can keep up with it all.

Then again, ever since this whole crazy adventure started, there's never been a dull day for me and my friends. The wild monsters that we encounter keep us busy enough, but they're not even the tip of the iceberg. Our initial mission was to recover the Elemental Stars and prevent the four Elemental Lighthouses from being lit, but along the way we ended up doing so much more.

If you asked me whether I would do it all again, I wouldn't really know what I would say. Our adventure's been very exciting and fun at times, but it's also had its rough spots that I'm not too fond of reliving. I guess my battle-hardened body doesn't show much wear, even after all that I've endured, but deep inside myself, my callused heart has already been through more than it could take.
Everyone always calls me the 'leader' and all that. I think it's kind of pointless, everybody contributes something of great value to the team, and we wouldn't be able to function properly if we were missing even one of us. Aside from physical strength or magical prowess, my friends provide me with something that no amount of power can ever give, and that is true happiness.

"Hey, you almost done there, Garet?" Ivan called out from the ground. "Come on, it's almost time for lunch!"
"Give me a second!" Garet answered as he hammered in another nail into the roof that he was working on. His red hair was now glistening in the sunlight because of his sweat. "I'm almost done, and I want to finish this before I take a break!"
"Then hurry it up a bit, will you? Everyone else is waiting for you!" Ivan said as he headed back in the direction from which he had come.
After a few more minutes of hard work, Garet was finally done. "All right! Doesn't look too bad, if I do say so myself…" he thought as he climbed down the ladder and admired his handiwork.
"Looks pretty good," a familiar voice from behind him said.
"This is going to be my family's house, it had better be good," Garet replied with a smile. "How about your house, Isaac? Almost done?"
Isaac nodded. "It won't be long now. Our hometown is almost fully rebuilt," he said with a smile of his own.
"But first, let's go grab a bite to eat," Garet said as he began to walk in the direction that Ivan went. "We can't work on an empty stomach for too long, right?"
"Right," Isaac agreed as he followed his best friend to the makeshift town plaza, where the rest of their friends awaited them.

After returning from the Northern Sea, we had returned to find Vale completely destroyed, along with our homes and our loved ones. However, all was not lost. It turns out the Wise One had guided the people of Vale to safety just before the town had collapsed. Jenna, Felix, Garet, and I were reunited with our families and friends once again, and with that came hopes for a new beginning.

The mayor of Vault has been especially generous to us during this time of need. He set up a temporary shelter for our people, and he offered us the materials that we needed to rebuild our town. Hammet, Ivan's old master, came all the way from Kalay to offer us his help as well.

"So, that's the plan," Isaac said as he finished explaining the blueprint of Vale's reincarnation. "We've already got all the materials that we need, now we just need to know who's going to be around to help us out."
"You know that I would never leave you to do something like this alone," Ivan said as he stood up from his seat. "You can count on me, Isaac."
"That's right," Mia said as she was the next to rise. "We're your friends, and friends stick together."
"I'll help too!" Sheba said. "I can't go back to Lalivero, not after all I've been through with you guys."
"As will I," Piers said as he finally stood as well. "You've all been so kind to me, and this is the least that I can do to repay you."
Isaac smiled. "Thanks, you guys. And I mean it." Then he turned to Garet, Jenna, and Felix. "Okay, you know which sections you're in charge of."
Felix nodded. "This shouldn't be too difficult of a task, especially with all eight of us Adepts working together."
"Hey, we'll have our cozy little town back in no time!" Jenna said.
"Okay, then it's settled!" Garet said. "Operation Rebirth begins now! All for one, and one for all!" he exclaimed as he raised his fist into the air.
"Yeah!" the rest of the group said as their cries echoed through the room.

With that, we began to rebuild our town from the ground up. It certainly wouldn't be the same as the old Vale, but it would certainly be better than nothing. And besides, we might be able to call it the town that friendship built.

It took us about a month of hard work to complete it, but our town was completed in the end. With the combined efforts of Vale, Vault, and Kalay all working together day in and day out, the construction process certainly didn't take as long as we had originally expected.

The last thing to be built was our own houses. Each person was in charge of building their own family's house, which was fine with everyone since they probably all had a different idea of a dream house. My father and I worked on ours, and Garet and his family worked on his.

However, there was still one more unexpected twist that was to occur…

"What?" Garet exclaimed. "What do you mean you're all staying?"
"You heard us," Sheba said with a grin. "We're all going to live in the new Vale from now on." With her stood Ivan, Mia, and Piers.
"But… what about your own homes? Don't you want to go back?" Felix said.
"What's wrong? Don't you want me with you anymore, Felix?" Sheba said as she began to cry.
"Uh, wait! Of course I want you to stay! Please don't cry, Sheba!" Felix said, realizing his mistake.
"Great! Then it's settled!" Sheba said happily as she revealed that she hadn't really been crying at all.
"Ivan… why don't you go back to Contigo? I'm sure Master Hamma would be really happy to see you again," Garet said.
Ivan shook his head. "Contigo may have been my birthplace, but my home is here with you guys. You've been my best friends, and like Mia said, friends stick together, right?"
"How about you, Mia? Don't you want to go back to Imil?" Isaac asked.
Mia smiled. "Imil is in good hands, Isaac. My apprentices don't need me around anymore…"
"That's not true," Isaac replied. "You're the best healer that they had, Mia. I'm sure they could always use someone like you around."
Mia shook her head. "I'm sure my two apprentices have already surpassed my skill. Besides, you guys are like family to me, and this is where I want to call home from now on."
"Piers… you want to stay with us too?" Jenna said as she turned to him.
Piers nodded. "In Lemuria, stories of the outside world are only legends. Now that I've seen these legends for myself first-hand, I don't think I can ever go back."
"Well… I guess that's that then," Isaac said, looking to his childhood friends. "Are you each going to build your own house?"
"Of course not, silly!" Sheba said. "Mia and I can share one, and Ivan and Piers can have another."
Garet turned to the others. "Well?"
"Sounds good," Ivan said.
"No objections here," Piers added.
"No problem," Mia finished.
"Okay then," Felix said. "We're almost finished building the houses themselves, the rest shouldn't be too hard."
"It won't be long now," Jenna thought to herself. "We'll have our homes back soon."

After a few more days, our project was finally completed. Vale was finally reborn.

There were non-stop celebrations for almost a whole week afterwards. I don't blame anyone for doing so, it was certainly a happy occasion. You have no idea how warm your own bed feels until you've gone without it for who-knows how long. The others were quite pleased with the new town as well. And they should, seeing how they poured their hearts and souls into the construction of it.

That was almost half a year ago. Now, things have pretty gone back to normal, almost the way they were before. Well, maybe there were a few differences…

Ivan and Felix, ever the curious ones, spend most of their days at Kraden's new house, which was almost the size of the town library now. His shelves were stocked full of books that the residents of Vault and Kalay had given in gratitude to him for his studies. Knowing those two, they're probably investigating the next big mystery after figuring out how to stop the world from ending.

The residents of Vale seem to have welcomed Piers into our society quite nicely. He spends a lot of time helping out around the town, delivering things, running errands, and so forth. He seems to enjoy it, and when I asked him why he just told me that a new adventure is its own reward.

Sheba and Mia have grown quite close, or at least so I've noticed. They seem to have a sisterly bond going on between them, something that I'm kind of envious of. See, I've never had any siblings to play with like Garet, who seems to have too many of them. I wish that I did, maybe I wouldn't be so lonely at times…

Speaking of Garet, he spends a lot of time training again. Even though his strength has increased exponentially since we first left Vale, he believes that he can get even stronger, and he spends most of the day outside in front of a training block. Jenna watches him from time to time, and she even spars with him occasionally. I watch too, but I never actually engage in any of the activities myself.

It's been quite a while since I've done any fighting. I don't think that I'll ever have to fight again, but I still keep all my weapons and equipment as memories though. The local blacksmith was even kind enough to fix the Gaia Blade for me, even though it was snapped in half during the battle with the Doom Dragon.

Things have certainly calmed down around here. It took a while to switch from the life of a traveling warrior back to the life of a village boy, but it's not so bad now. After all, I've got everything that I could want right here; friends, family, and a place to call home.

I'm home again. I'm finally home again.

To Be Continued…