As Luck Would Have It
Disclaimer: Instead of listing what I don't own, I'll list what I do own. Zoe, Torrent, a can of vanilla coke, my watch, some creme savers, uhhh…that corner over there…*points* and anything else in this fic that wouldn't normally exist in the GS world. Hopefully, this chapter will be longer than the others, as I'm going to get into the actual explanation here.
Ava: She'll be done by tomorrow this time. And probably halfway done with chapter four.
Vil: I can't help it. I'm hyper. Now on with the ficcy!
Chapter Three: Explanations
Zoe woke early the next morning. The three of them had spent the night in Vault's Inn. Zoe had offered to pay, but Isaac had waved her away, saying it would only cost them about five coins apiece.
Now, taking her little coin pouch and putting it in her pocket, Zoe was off to buy some decent clothes. And maybe a better sword, if she had any money left.
Outside, she was at first overwhelmed by the buildings and people around her. She knew none of them, didn't even really recognize the signs on the buildings. Which makes sense, if I really came from that Imil place, Zoe reasoned. With Torrent on her shoulder, she made her way around the town, stopping in front of a building with what looked like a bow and a sword on a sign hanging from above the door.
Going inside, she found displayed on one side of the store an array of weapons of all kinds. On the other side were racks of helmets, gloves, and, to her relief, clothing.
Looking at what she was wearing, she decided she'd buy things like what she had now—leggings, tunics and shirts. She bought two shirts, a white and a green, a light blue vest, some deep violet leggings, and a dark blue robe. At this point she was down to a handful of coins, so she took what she had and left, taking her things back to her room at the Inn and packing them in her sack.
Garet and Isaac arrived then, Isaac walking with his hands behind his back. "You're hiding something," Zoe accused, and Isaac grinned sheepishly.
"Guilty," he said, and brought out a dark green cloak, handing it to Zoe.
"Wow," she said, taking it and shaking it out so it fell full-length before her. "This is…Isaac…Garet…you didn't have to do this for me…"
"Yes we did. Or, I did. That was my gift to you, for…when we part ways." Isaac grinned. "For the rest of the day, you're going to make use of Garet's gift."
"Gift?" Zoe eyed Garet suspiciously. "What gift?"
"I'm going to attempt to teach you how to use that sword. Like you said, you need to know how to use it for…for when you leave." Zoe noticed that both boys had been reluctant to admit that she would leave them and go off on her own.
"Well, we've got a day ahead of us, then," Zoe said, smiling. "Let's get started."
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It was almost time for dinner. Zoe could tell by when the chiming clock in the Inn rang five times. But she wasn't about to move. She was too stiff from a whole day of learning how to use her short sword.
"It'll be stupid, not to come to dinner," Isaac said casually, absently petting Torrent on the head. "But, if you're honestly going to stay here…should I bring something up?"
"No," Zoe said, rolling over and sitting on the edge of her bed. "I'll come. I'll be down in a minute, Isaac." Isaac nodded and left, Flint waving from his spot on Isaac's shoulder.
"C'mon Torrent," Zoe said, standing with a groan. She didn't need her memory to know she'd never worked this hard before. "We're going to dinner."
"Yes! Dinner!" Torrent cried, sounding like one of the young children of Vault. Slowly, Zoe descended the stairs, and gratefully sank into the chair Isaac pulled out for her at their table.
The three were sitting with two other guests at the Inn—a man named Bert and his young daughter, Elisa. The girl seemed full of energy and eagerly talked about the city she had come from, a far-off place called Tolbi.
"That was before the bridge was destroyed in the eruption," Bert added. "Now, we're stuck here with no way back home."
"But I don't mind," Elisa added, grinning. "I like Vault. I especially like being up on the big bell-ringer's platform in the northeast part of town."
"Is it very high?" Zoe asked, swallowing a mouthful of the soup she was eating.
"Oh, it's up on the cliffs first off, and then it's taller than even the Inn," Elisa said happily. "I just love high places."
"I'm not very fond of heights," Zoe said quietly.
"Then you've never been to the big mountain?"
"The big mountain?"
"It's far to the north, though not as far north as Imil. I believe it's called Mount Aleph." Bert took an enormous bite of his sandwich then, but then he was a big man, so it wasn't so large a mouthful for him.
"Mount Aleph?" Garet asked, wide-eyed. Isaac elbowed him—hard—in the ribs. Bert only nodded, still chewing his sandwich.
Garet seemed about to say something else when the door to the Inn burst open. All heads in the room turned and stared at the boy who walked in. He had short blond hair that fell around his face, and big violet eyes. He carried a stick, which was obviously his weapon, and he looked as though he was going to burst into tears at any moment.
"Ivan!" said the mayor of Vault, whom the three had met the night before. "I thought you went back to Kalay with Master Hammet?"
"Halfway to Lunpa he found out his Shaman's Rod was missing. He said I was responsible for stealing it. He sent me back here, to find it, and said I wasn't to leave until I had it. Then I was to come to Lunpa and give it to him." Every time the boy said the word 'Lunpa,' a muted gasp went around the room.
"Lunpa, eh?" the mayor asked. "Your master has walked himself right into an unplanned trap, lad. Dodonpa won't let him out without a ransom now. He might not even let him out with a ransom."
"It's not really that I'm worried about. I know how dangerous Lunpa is. But I wasn't the one who stole the Shaman's Rod. I wasn't responsible for it, either—I was barely allowed to touch the thing!"
"Calm down, Ivan," the mayor said, standing and heading for the door. "Come with me and we'll figure this out. Until we find your master's Rod, you can stay with my family and me."
The mayor guided Ivan out by the shoulder, shutting the door behind him. Gradually everyone in the room went back to their dinner. Everyone except Zoe, Isaac and Garet. They went upstairs to Isaac and Garet's room.
There was a small table in the room with two chairs around it. Isaac and Zoe sat in the chairs, and Garet sat on the edge of his bed.
"I'd like to know about all these things that are going on," Zoe said, resting her head on her hand and her elbow on the table. "A volcano erupted?"
"Should I tell her the whole thing?" Isaac asked, looking to Garet. Garet shrugged.
"She's an adept, or she should be. I don't see why you can't tell her."
"Ok then. But prepare yourself for a long one."
"Three years ago, there was a terrible storm one day in Vale. The citizens were warned that the giant boulder on top of Mount Aleph was going to fall, and to get to the plaza at the center of town for safety. I found Garet and we headed that way, and we ran into Jenna, a friend of ours, and her family trying to save her brother Felix from drowning in the fast-moving river.
"Jenna joined Garet and I, and we made our way to the plaza to get help. The rain was pouring down, but we still had to fight the monsters that had somehow gotten into Vale. That's how I knew they'd still be out in the rain.
"When we finally found someone who had enough Psynergy left to save Felix. Garet and I had no skill with Psynergy at the time. But when we got to Felix, it was too late. The boulder had fallen and was heading straight for them. Jenna's entire family died under the boulder. So did my father.
"Garet and I went to get help, but were stopped along the way by a mysterious duo, a man and woman who looked rather strange. We were pretty much beaten senseless by them, and left unconscious to be found hours later.
"Vale was pretty quiet after that, until three years later. Garet, Jenna and I were pretty good with Psynergy by that point, she and he both being Mars Adepts and me being a Venus Adept. That day, we went to Kraden's home to continue our studies on Alchemy.
"Kraden was a good teacher and a wise old man, despite being a bit…cowardly. He taught us that the four elements, Earth, Fire, Water, and Wind, made up everything in existence. But that day, the mysterious duo reappeared. The man, Saturos, and the woman, Menardi, were plotting to use Kraden in some ultimate plot to enter Sol Sanctum, the shrine to the sun that lies at the top of Mount Aleph.
"Kraden took us into Sol Sanctum, and we began a search for the things Menardi and Saturos had spoken of. We eventually found two rooms, one that was a shrine to Sol, the sun, and one that was to Luna, the moon. On the floor above this was a puzzle involving using Psynergy to move statues that would disarm a trap.
"We later discovered that it was this very trap that set off the boulder three years before. Once we had disarmed the trap, Kraden came to us and said that things had changed in the Luna room. We went to see for ourselves, and it was true. The mosaic of Luna on the floor had changed to an image of Sol. Likewise, in the Sol room, the floor design now looked like Luna.
"A light was coming from the floor of the new Luna room, and by touching the wall it pointed to, a strange sort of gate pulled us up and into the secret chamber at the very top of Mount Aleph: the Elemental Star room.
"The four Elemental Stars hold the pure essences of all four elements. Garet and I had gathered three of them when Saturos and Menardi appeared, along with a strange man with a masked face. They demanded the Elemental Stars, and Garet and I refused. The man removed his mask, and we discovered that it was Felix, Jenna's brother, believed to be dead for three years.
"We had agreed to hand over the three stars in exchange for Jenna's freedom, and Garet was on the way, when a fourth person appeared in front of him. It was Alex, a 'friend' of Saturos and Menardi. He took the first three Stars and demanded the fourth before he'd let Jenna go.
"Taking the fourth Star caused the volcano to begin to erupt. The Wise One, the guardian of the Stars, saved Garet and I, but we weren't fast enough to stop Alex and his crew from taking Jenna and Kraden hostage. They are going around and trying to light the four Elemental Lighthouses using the Stars."
"However," Garet put in, "I'm still carrying the Mars Star. Technically, there's no way they can light every lighthouse."
"Yes," Isaac put in, "but they won't hesitate to try and steal it from us. We were sent on a quest to stop them from lighting the lighthouses, and to get back the Elemental Stars. I'm just praying we succeed."
"You were right," Zoe said, standing, stretching and yawning. "That was a long tale. But I feel better knowing. Perhaps you should know my little secret, too."
"Little secret?" Garet asked. "Tell us, then."
"I lost my memory."
"What?!"
"I can remember very few things about the time before I met you. I remember my name, and that I am sixteen, and that the night of the day I was knocked out should have been a full moon, not the tail end of the third quarter. Aside from random flashes, that's all."
"Thank you for telling us, Zoe," Isaac said quietly. Seeing her yawn again, he smiled, giving her a little shove toward the door. "Bed, Zoe. You'll need your sleep for tomorrow." Curious about Isaac's plans but too tired to argue, Zoe only nodded. She went to her rooms and collapsed into bed, asleep in seconds.
It was not so for Isaac and Garet, who sat up talking long into the night before they too went to sleep.
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Yes! Three chapters without sleep in between! Here ya go folks! Chapter four is going to be, of course, the Ivan chapter, everything involving Ivan. But that won't come until at least tomorrow night. Til then! ~Vil