*Contains some TLA spoilers...read at your own risk!*



Chapter 1

Cloudy Horizons



Though he pictured himself in many job possibilities as a child, Isaac of Vale was now performing one task in particular that he never thought he would be forced into being: a pack mule.

Well, at least he wasn't alone. Beside him, Garet was as loaded with boxes as he was. The source for the weight lifting was to be seen ahead.

"Hey, you two, hurry up, would you? I'm an old man, I don't really have that much time left, you know!" Kraden, of course. The old alchemy "student", as he referred to himself, was performing some experiments on the peak of Mount Aleph and temporarily relocating there from his house at the base of the mountain in Vale. So, of course, this meant he had to bring everything with him. And that meant getting Isaac and Garet to work for him.

"It's easy for you to say, Kraden," responded Garet. "You aren't bogged down with boxes like these. What's in these things anyway? They weigh a ton!" Isaac stopped to look at the labels on the side of Garet's boxes.

"They all say 'Phoenix Feathers', Garet. How heavy can they be?"

"Very!"

"Just hurry it up," said Kraden quickening his own pace. As much as they respected their mentor, Kraden had a certain ability to get on the nerves of his proteges, much to their dismay.

"So why can't we use Psynergy again? I would love to Move these boxes without breaking my spine..." Garet whined.

"Kraden said the materials in the boxes had a certain explosive tendency when it came to having Psynergy used on them." Isaac replied.

"Well, at least if it's in a million pieces, it can't be that heavy!" Garet joked. Isaac rolled his eyes. Even after all their adventures, Garet still knew how to get Isaac to relax. And their adventures were no small task either. Isaac had taken Garet, their Jupiter Adept friend Ivan and the kind-hearted healer Mia on an adventure that took them across whole continents, stretching from the deserts of Suhalla to the frozen village of Prox, and exploring all four lighthouses. They ran into their share of enemies: Saturos and Menardi of the Fire Clan, whom they defeated atop the Venus Lighthouse Aerie; Karst and Agatio of the Fire Clan, who they managed to escape the wrath of thanks to their soon-to-be-teammates Felix, Jenna, Sheba and Picard; even the ghost of a very nasty pirate named Deadbeard. It was an adventure that took nearly two years, and it was with mixed emotions it ended merely a month ago. Isaac, Garet, Felix and Jenna returned to Vale, homesick (though they would never admit it). Mia returned to Imil to return to her healing duties and to check up on Justin and Megan, her healer proteges. Ivan took Sheba to see Master Hama at Lama Temple, and Picard followed them, curious as to the wonders of this continent. Isaac smiled while remembering his friends, then quickly refocused on the task at hand as the boxes began to spill from his grip.

"You doin' OK there, Isaac?" inquired Garet, noting his friend's wobble.

'Yeah, no problem," he replied.

The pair reached the top of the mountain with the final load sometime before sunset. Sol setting off in the distance over the mountains was a sight to behold. It made Isaac remember Vale as it used to be, before the rising of the Golden Sun, onset by the lighting of the Mars Lighthouse. Vale itself was destroyed in the process, but the villagers managed to evactuate in time and relocated a little farther away, still watching over Mount Aleph, but now watching over the Golden Sun as well. This new addition to watch over was proving to be more and more difficult, as people as far away as Imil could see the light set off by it.

Isaac and Garet left Kraden to his own devices, and reached Vale just as Luna took to the sky. They soon ran into Jenna near the city limits, who was returning from a shopping trip in Vault.

"Hey, guys!" she called. "How was your day?

"Oh, lovely," replied Garet. "Just wonderful. Who wouldn't want to carry boxes for a grumpy old man all day?" Jenna laughed.

"You've been carrying stuff all day?" she inquired. Garet nodded. "Well, here, you can carry my stuff. I wouldn't want to ruin your day by not letting you carry something." She thrust the packages into Garet's arms and he sighed.

"At this rate, someone's going to have to carry me."

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

After the three had long since separated, Isaac lay awake in his bed. It was sometime after midnight, and Isaac was terribly bored. He looked around his room, not exactly small, but still big enough for him. It was dark in the room as there were no lit objects outside anymore, save Luna, and even that wasn't much. Still, Isaac thought, it's more light than we had on our quest...

Isaac thought back to the old days of adventuring, when the four of them would stay up late, talking, swapping stories, and just growing closer as a team. They were nearly an unbeatable combination, and no one on the face of Angara could deny it. Isaac was not only a contributor to saving the world, but he was also Colosso Champion. There was no doubt that Isaac was one of the strongest fighters ever. Well, Garet would always joke about how he could win in a battle between them, and Ivan would say how he could just search Isaac's mind and soul for a weakness and win, and Mia...actually, Mia always spoke quite warmly of him. Isaac pondered that as sleep finally overtook him.

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

Isaac awoke in the morning to the full rays of Sol shining through his window. He pulled himself out of bed, put on his tunic, yellow scarf, and styled his hair up as normal, and then grabbed a bite of breakfast before heading out.

"Good morning, Garet!" he called, noticing Garet at the end of his walkway. "How's it going?"

"Not bad," he replied, though somewhat emotionlessly. Isaac paused, noting that Garet was hiding something. "It was a quiet night," Garet continued, rambling now. "Nothing unusual happened. Not at all." Isaac stopped and carefully chose his words before answering.

"OK, what happened?" Garet looked at him in awe.

"How did you know?" he wondered aloud.

"It's not hard when you draw attention to the typical normalcy of a night." Garet paused to consider what he had said, and promptly slapped his forehead.

"One day I will learn how to get things past you." he said, realizing his best friend knew him too well to be fooled by mere words of assurance.

"So what's up?" Isaac asked. Garet was about to answer when Felix passed by. Garet gave Isaac a subtle head shake "No", and Isaac decided not to press it until after Felix left. "Hey, Felix," he said. Felix gave him a polite nod before continuing on his way.

"You know," Garet said, musing over Felix's cold appearance, 'you'd think that walking across the world would open his eyes a little...but he's just as cold as ever!"

"Yeah, well, some people are just like that," said Isaac. "Now, you were saying?"

"Oh," Garet said, snapping his mind back to attention. "This is really tricky to explain, and it could change a lot of things around here." Isaac's stomach took a nosedive, and he swallowed before listening to what Garet had to say.

"What's going on?"

"Do you remember when Dodonpa captured Master Hammet? And we had to rescue him and we left Dodonpa there in that prison for awhile?" Garet said, speaking slowly.

"Yeah, sure. We got Hammet out and Dodonpa had to think a few things over under his father's supervision. Donpa was watching him to make sure that nothing would happen." Isaac recalled that well.

"Yeah, well, since my dad's Mayor of Vale he hears news from outside of town, and...well, Donpa died. And that means there was no one to stop Dodonpa from getting out of that cell, and now he's back in charge of Lunpa," Garet said.

"OK...but, how does that affect us?" Isaac wondered. Garet frowned, gathered his courage and spoke what he wanted to say in one quick sentence.

"Dodonpa...declared war on Kalay and Master Hammet," he said.

"You're joking?!" Isaac burst. "He would do something so foolish?!"

"He would...and will, and it's not just because of him. It's because we were involved, too. He wants us and Hammet." replied Garet.

"Is there any way we can stop him?" Isaac asked. Garet chuckled weakly.

"My friend...we may be adepts, we may have saved the world, and you may be Colosso Champion, but this war is already on, and there's nothing two guys with an agenda can do about it." Garet's words stung Isaac deeply. In all his trials and adventures, Isaac was the leader; he was in charge. Here arose a situation where he wasn't in control at all...and it was partially caused by him! There was nothing he could do anymore. Garet kept his eyes focused on Isaac. 'There's gonna be a town meeting tonight. Dad's gonna call it. Just wait until tonight and we'll see what we'll do, OK?" Isaac barely heard the question.

"Yeah...yeah, sure," he mumbled.

"Isaac, promise me you won't do something stupid before the village decides what it's going to do," Garet pressed.

"I can't promise...but I'll try."

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

The day went by faster than any in Isaac's life, and soon the meeting arose. However, he did not attend. Instead, he climbed a nearby rooftop, where he could just listen. He saw the look of worry on Garet's face when he realized Isaac wasn't there, but Isaac didn't care at this point. He was too deep in emotion to care. Eventually, the Mayor took the Pedestal.

"Attention! Attention, please!" he called. "This meeting has been called because this town needs to decide upon a course of action."

"Regarding what?" called Kyle from the crowd.

"Regarding the impending danger over this region. In two days, Lunpa under Dodonpa will declare war with Kalay and Master Hammet." A visible gasp took the crowd. They were shocked at this announcement. Many feared for the break of peace over the land, but more feared for the safety of Master Hammet. Everyone who had ever visited Kalay, and that was a lot of them, just for the sheer amount of products, had met Hammet, and found a kind man who they had come to respect tremendously. The news that he might be in danger was painful for many of them.

Isaac, however, noticed that the Mayor did not mention that the war was also partially to find himself and Garet. He supposed that the detail was too unimportant to mention right now. After all, when faced with the threat of a war affecting hundreds upon thousands, who really cared about just four other people?

"We have to help Hammet!" called a woman from the crowd.

"No, we must protect Mount Aleph and the Golden Sun!" called another.

"Can we stop the war? asked Kyle.

"Unfortunately, no," said the Mayor. "The decision has gone ahead. This meeting is solely to decide what we shall do about this. Isolate ourselves here and protect Mount Aleph, or get involved."

"What are your thoughts, Mayor?" asked Dora.

"I believe," he said solemnly, "that the best course of action is to stay isolated. Not only does that prevent the world from learning of Alchemy and Adepts such as ourselves, but we are needed here to protect Mount Aleph and the Golden Sun. As much as I hate to say it, I believe we must stay here." After he spoke, silence ensued. Eventually, Kyle spoke again.

"Then I propose that we stay," he sighed. "As much as I want to stop this, the Mayor is right. We cannot risk it." The other villagers sighed and concurred, one by one, all following the path chosen by their leader.

"Then," said the Mayor, "the matter is settled. You may all go home now. Thank you for your time." Isaac was the first one gone, bouncing off the rooftops and all the way home. Garet, not knowing where Isaac was, rose and moved as quickly as possible toward Isaac's house. Most stayed to talk for awhile amongst themselves, unable to accept what they had heard here.

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

Isaac entered his room, and pulled out a chest from under his bed. In it was his trusted equipment; the items that had saved his life many times over: the Sol Blade, Asura's Armour, and a Warrior's Helm. He quickly donned the equipment, hoping to leave Vale as silently as possible. He quickly left a note for his family and friends on the mantle, saying he was leaving for Kalay to help Master Hammet. He turned to head for the door, when, to no surprise to him, he found Garet in the doorway.

"Where are you going, Isaac?" Garet asked, then stopped himself. "I don't even need to ask, do I?" Issac shook his head.

"I will not wait here as a war rages outside. I'm going to stop Dodonpa from killing as many people as I can." Garet saw the resolve in Isaac's eyes and sighed. There would be no stopping him now. So many people had seen the righteousness and truth in Isaac's eyes on their journey, and now, finally, Garet saw it for himself. He relented.

"Very well. You can go, but I'm going with you!" he said.

"You aren't ready yet," Isaac countered. "I am. I'll leave now, and meet you in Kalay when you get there."

"Fine," Garet said. "I suppose time is of the essence...but when I come, I'm bringing Jenna and Felix." Isaac smiled inwardly.

"Yeah, count on you to bring Jenna..." he smiled.

"What was that?!" Garet blushed.

"Oh, nothing," Isaac smirked. Garet smiled.

"Yeah, well, I just can't wait until you get to see Mia again." Issac stumbled mentally. So maybe there was something there...?

"Whatever. I've got to go. I'll see you in Kalay." Isaac headed out the door, past Garet. As he was just past him, Garet turned and put his hand on Isaac's shoulder.

"Isaac."

"Yeah?"

"...Stay alive, bro."

"You too, man. You too."

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -



That wasn't that bad, was it?

(Dew): That was terrible.

Oh, come on!

(Dew): I speak the truth.

Yeah, but no one ever listens to you anyway...

(Dew): ...*hitting Omniflyer with a table leg*

YOW! Where'd you get the table leg from?

(Dew): A table.

-_-* It's gonna be one of those days... Anyway, please leave a review on your way out!