Ehehehehehehe . . . yeah, it's me, SirGecko, with number 17. It's an average length, about. It's 7 1/3 pages long.
The Mars Lighthouse is the main focus of this chapter . . . about time, too. Oh well . . . a few ramdom things to talk about next.
First off, I want to thank the flood of reviewers I got for chapter 16. I'm really enjoying seeing them.
Next, I want to apologize for not getting this out sooner, but my schedule interfered with my time at the computer. But, it's all good, because this is chapter 17!
Now, I'm gonna tell you that only chapters 18 and 19 are complete; I'll try my best to finish 20 soon. But, the SirGecko deal will be irrelevant once we reach that point where my chapters are already complete.
Okay, disclaimer time. I DO NOT OWN GOLDEN SUN. If I did, then Alex would not have died, and nether would the Proxians . . . I thought they were pretty damn cool.
Okay, onto chapter 17!
Chapter 17: Where Fire Reigns
Isaac's words could not have been more true. Stepping into the lighthouse was like walking into Hell. Fierce dragon statues were all over the place, some spitting fire. The air was thick and hot, making breathing difficult. There were two pillars on opposite sides of the room that seemed to go through the ceiling to the floor above. All in all, the environment was not friendly for a lighthouse climb.
"Oh, Jupiter, how are we going to survive this?" asked Ivan, beads of sweat already forming on his forehead.
"We'll be fine," said Mia. "Garet, hand me some Fire Djinn again."
Garet handed over four Mars Djinn to Mia, and Mia handed over four Mercury Djinn to Garet. Now, she could use Deluge again.
She strode over to one of the dragon statues, and cast Deluge on it. "This might help a little."
The dragon flame sputtered and died as the power of Mercury hit it. It remained unlit for a few seconds, and then the flame returned, barely missing Mia, who was able to leap out of the way just in time.
"That's funny," she said after she caught her breath. "The flame didn't stay out."
"The power of the Mars Lighthouse is too great for that," said Garet wisely. "We must hurry up."
"Wait!" said Isaac. "Don't forget the stone tablet here in the middle of the room!"
"Oh, yeah, like they have anything good to say," said Garet sarcastically. "I hate those damn things."
"Shut up and get over here," snapped Isaac.
Garet sighed, and slouched over to the rest of the group, who were all studying the stone tablet. Garet snuck to the front, and started to read the words aloud.
Ye who seek to climb the Mars Lighthouse . . . must do so using pure resistance, sheer willpower, and split-second agility. Proceed with all three, and you will pass my fiery test. The heat in itself will be nearly unbearable. If ye do not have the proper resistence, ye will fall to me. Good luck, Adepts of Renown, and brave my fiery lighthouse!
"Not cool!" said Ivan. "Not cool at all. No pun intended." Lunora giggled.
"Well, at least we don't have to go through any more mazes," said Isaac. "That's a relief."
"This doesn't sound so bad," said Garet. "I mean, compared to those damn mazes."
"Speak for yourself," said Mia, casting Deluge over them all.
"I told you that you'd be the wimps here," said Garet triumphantly. "Remember? You were-"
"We know, okay?! We know! You were right! We're the wimps now! So sue me!" said Isaac nastily. "Let's go. It's so hot, my temper's making like the weather."
Mia giggled, and shot a stream of water at him. Isaac sighed with content as the water splashed his face, and closed his eyes. But then, it stopped.
"Aw damn, that felt go-" But he was cut off when Mia kissed him so he could no longer speak. She pulled away after a few seconds, and licked her lips.
"Let's get going before we fry," said Solaris. "Plenty of time for that later. But we have to find Karst and Agatio, and make sure that they don't have the star."
"Right," said Lunora. "We'd better move!"
They walked through the door at the opposite end of the room, and into another room with small lava columns rising into the air, and several stone pillars. They had encountered this many times before, repress the spurts, and the door opens. There were only six pillars, so everybody took one each and shoved them over the spurts of lava. The door leading up the stairs opened as soon as all the statues were in place.
As they tramped up the stairs, they could actually feel the temperature of the air rising. It was hot enough as it was outside of the lighthouse, so they didn't know how they were going to bear it when they reached the top floors of the lighthouse. Soon though, they arrived in the next room.
A dragon head moved back and forth along a track in the wall, spurting flame. A much larger, fiercer looking dragon head was lying on the ground with a track leading to itself, from a torch bracket, that appeared to be lit every time the flame went by it. The pillars that they had all noticed in the first room were here too, and they looked like they continued up to the 3rd floor.
That moment was soon to come. The flame lit the torch, and the flame on the torch traveled to the dragon head. What followed made everyone leap out of the way of the mouth of the dragon. A humongous fireball emitted from the dragon's mouth, and shot itself at the opposite wall. Everyone dove to the floor as the fireball exploded against the wall above their heads, searing their clothing and passing an extremely hot wave of heat over them all. They got to their feet on the opposite side of the fireball's path, and climbed the stairs onto a high ledge, where the torch lay.
"Now, we have to find some way to block the torch," said Isaac. "The door is on the other side of the flame, and the flame is as long as the platform is wide. So, if we tried to run for it, we'd be burned, since the flame fans out from the mouth, otherwise we could just duck."
"So what do you suggest we do?" asked Ivan. "Hurry up, I'm drowning in my own sweat."
"Me too," said everyone else, and Mia cast Deluge over everyone. Normally, this would have hurt the party, but it was a major refresher, a welcome relief to the searing heat.
"There's that statue over there," said Solaris, pointing at a statue of a dragon up against the wall about ten feet away from them all. "We can block the flame at one point, and use that split-second of time to run past and go into the next room."
Everyone agreed that this was a good idea. Solaris approached the statue and tried to push it, but it wouldn't budge. He tried again, throwing his whole weight all his considerable strength into the statue, but it still wouldn't move an inch.
"Well, damn," said Solaris walking back and wiping his forehead with his hand. "I'm not strong enough to move it myself. Garet, run the show."
"My pleasure," said Garet, who walked forward and cast Move.
The statue moved forward by the force of the telekinetic hand pushing it. He stopped it right at their end of the dragon's track. The dragon head was at the far end of the track, and another fireball just exploded against the wall.
"Now, when the flame is blocked by the statue, run like Hell for the other end," said Isaac. "We can surely outrun it, even when we're hot."
Everybody waited for the dragon flame to disappear behind the statue. It seemed to take an age, but finally the head moved closer to the statue. After another few long seconds, the flame disappeared . . .
"Run now!" shouted Isaac, and he and the others ran as fast as they could past the blocked flame. It was hot on the tail of Mia for a second, but she outstripped it easily. When they were all clear of the flame for certain, they all walked through the doorway into the next room.
This room had but a single light statue and a hole in the ground next to it where the statue belonged. A column of fire blazed just in front of the passageway leading to the stairs. Garet moved the statue into the hole in the ground, the column of fire burnt out, allowing passage through the doorway.
"Garet, you still haven't learned the fundamentals of exploring, have you?" said Isaac.
"What? What did I miss?" said Garet.
"There's a Mars Djinni in the corner over there!" said Isaac.
"Oh! Well, why didn't you say so?" said Garet, snickering at his own joke. They all ran forward to the Mars Djinni.
"My name is Fugue," said the Mars Djinni squeakily. "I sense great power in all of you, but I want to see it for myself. On order for me to join you, you will battle me!"
They fought the Mars Djinni, and the whole group had to give up the fact that it was an easy fight. The Djinni could withstand a lot of attacks, and dish out a lot of damage. And it didn't help that Isaac and company were all exhausted on energy . . . but they managed to defeat the Djinni in the end.
"You are powerful, but I want names," said the Djinni. Everyone said their name. "I see. Well, Garet, I am yours!" And Fugue joined the rest of Garet's Djinn, and they all began to get to know Fugue. They all soon found out that Fugue was pretty cool.
They climbed the stairs to the third floor of the lighthouse, the temperature rising even more. Mia cast another Deluge over the party as they emerged into this room, stone pillars rising out of the ground and through the ceiling once again. This room was a pipe-puzzle.
"The flame goes into the next room when the pipes are connected properly," said Ivan, walking around the pipes, inspecting them. "This looks straightforward to me. All we have to do is roll the pipes one direction and we connect the flame. Let's get going!"
So, they all got together, two to a pipe, and rolled them in place. The flame quickly traveled to the end of the now connected flame tube and into the next room. They then followed the flame into the next room.
Upon entering, they found that the flame was fueling another dragon head moving along the wall. Another humongous dragon head was facing a crack in the wall, with a torch behind it. Soon, they saw the dragon head on the wall light the torch, and send the flame to the stationary dragon head. It fired another large fireball, which collided against the cracked wall. When the flame from the explosion cleared, they found the wall blasted away to reveal the passageway beyond.
"Now that, right there, is why I love this lighthouse," said Garet. "Power is knowledge."
"Knowledge is power, idiot," said Ivan. "And our knowledge blasted us a hole in a wall leading up to more dangerous parts of the lighthouse. Great. Shall we go?"
"Yes!" said Lunora, and she motioned for Isaac to lead them up the stairs to the fourth floor.
The temperature had now climbed to a nearly unbearable level. Mia had to cast Deluge every few minutes now, and she had already used one Psy Crystal on herself. But of all of them, she was the most drained. Isaac truly admired her for her persistence to keep everybody safe from heat stroke. But then, he would have done everything in his power to do the same even if she weren't there.
In this room, the stone pillars rose out of the ground and through the ceiling once again, a common thing to see in this lighthouse now. There were stationary dragon heads poking out of the walls now, each spitting fire in a pattern all the way across the narrow room in another fan-shaped pattern.
"Okay, we obviously have to get past the flames," said Garet. "It's a timing issue now."
"Okay, the left ones spit first, then the right ones," said Solaris. "All we have to do is stay in the path with the one that isn't spitting, and then run forward when the one in front of us stops!"
"We've done that before countless times," said Lunora. "What's different about this time?"
"We'll be on fire if we screw up, that's what's different," said Isaac, sweat dripping from his chin, his clothes soaked with a mix of sweat and water. "We can't screw up. We'll die of overheating before we even reach the top!"
"Let's get moving!" said Mia, approaching the flames spurting out in front of her. The rest were quick to follow.
They all approached the front spurt of fire, and when it died, they ran right into its path, if it were blazing. When the one in front of them died, they moved into that path, and so on and so on. It took them a few minutes to reach the other side of the room, but they did unscathed, just considerably hotter.
"Hell, that was close," said Solaris. "Too close every time."
"Right you are," said Isaac, wiping his sweaty forehead with his equally sweaty hand. "Let's go to the next room."
And they did. This was much in the same, only this time the humongous dragon heads were on either side of the room, spitting fireballs the size of Solaris and Garet combined. This timing was much more crucial, since getting hit by one of those fireballs would mean a lot more than burns.
"Okay, we could pretty much sprint the whole thing if we were truly desperate, but that would be something that only true idiots would do," said Isaac. We have to wait for the fireball in front of us to go past. It's as simple as that."
"Don't let the nerves get to you, everybody," advised Lunora. "If you're nervous, you're more likely to make a mistake. And, unless you're willing to die, that's not a mistake you want to make."
"It's gonna be pretty hard to calm down though, when so much more than our own lives is at risk," said Ivan.
Lunora put a hand up to his cheek, like she had done in his cabin. "I know. But if you truly concentrate that, that will brighten your spirits rather than dim them. Think hard now, everybody."
She passed the tips of her soft, sweaty fingers over Ivan's lips which he kissed softly. But nobody noticed; they were all too busy concentrating.
When Isaac nodded that he was ready, so did everybody else. So they all approached the front line, waiting for the first large fireball to blaze past them. When it did, everybody ran forward.
This room was much larger, and the timing more careful, so it took longer to cross to the other side this time. Maybe about five minutes or so, but it didn't matter. They were all safe. So, after collecting themselves, with the fire to their back and the passage leading on to their front, they proceeded up the stairs to the fifth floor of the lighthouse.
This staircase was a little bit longer than the rest they had climbed, and the temperature rose to unbearable levels of heat. Mia Cast Deluge over everybody, just after using a second Psy Crystal. Then, they arrived in the fifth floor room.
The first thing they noticed was that the stone pillars had stopped once they hit this floor. There were no pillars anymore, and the room was completely empty of any fire. There was a stone tablet rising up out of the ground in front of them, and a staircase behind it. When they looked here, they noticed the biggest difference.
They had wondered briefly why the ceilings of this lighthouse were so low. Well, now they knew. They had about 1/3 of the lighthouse still to climb, but all there was to reach the top was a single staircase.
"Something's not right here," said Mia.
"Yeah, I mean, why would there just be a staircase leading to the top, and nothing in the way?" said Ivan. "It isn't like the others."
"Well, let's read the stone tablet, and maybe we can find out," said Garet. He walked to the tablet, and began to read the inscription on it.
I congratulate ye on reaching the final floor of the Mars Lighthouse. But your trials are not over yet. Ye will see a staircase leading to the top. Once ye touch the first five steps . . . run. Run like your lives depend on it. Because they do . . . Good luck, Adepts of Renown . . .
"Of course," said Ivan. "The lighthouse has something to hide. Well, I don't see where we'd go if we just stood here and mused for an hour. Let's face it!"
"Yeah, we'll cook in an hour anyway," said Lunora. "Probably less."
So, the team made their way to the staircase. It looked perfectly ordinary to everybody, except for the first five steps. They were thicker, and somehow looked different. Isaac stepped forward, and climbed the first five steps.
Instantly, they could hear a rumbling coming from far below, seeming to come from the first floor. But the rumbling sound seemed to creep closer. And closer. Soon, the sound was right under them, and the floor had started to vibrate very slightly.
Then, it was upon them. Two sections in the floor where the pillars had been opened, and lava gushed into the room! It was filling at a frighteningly fast pace. Isaac scrambled further up, and the others got onto the first few steps of the staircase.
"Um, this can't be good," said Garet, the lava engulfing the first step. The temperature rose uncontrollably.
"We can go now!" said Isaac, and he scrambled on all fours up the steps, everyone else hot on his tail.
Because of this sudden movement, they were able to put a good distance between themselves and the lava creeping up the stairs after them. But, like every living thing, Isaac and company soon began to run low on what little energy they had. They were going slightly slower, and the climb was only half-finished.
Soon, they went from matching the speed of the lava go going slower. Which meant that the lava crept up the stairs, hot on their tail. It was mere feet away from them all.
"C'mon, dammit!" Isaac urged himself, pouring all his energy into his arms and legs. This seemed to speed him up very slightly. But it wasn't enough to go faster than the lava. They had about 50 more steps to go.
Ivan was behind all the rest, on all fours like a forest monkey, climbing as fast as his body would allow. But the lava kept catching up with him. It was only two feet away. Then it was one foot away, and the soles of his leather boots had actually caught fire.
Then, without warning, he burst onto the top platform, rolling right into Solaris, who almost fell over. The lava stopped five stairs down. Everybody stood, gasping for breath, clutching their sides. Or in Ivan's case, seeking Mia help to put his boots out. She did more than that, and cast Deluge on them all, and kept casting it on the lava until she nearly pushed herself to the point of collapse. She used the last Psy Crystal on herself, which replenished most of her lost energy.
"Oh Hell, that was close," gasped Solaris, leaning over the railing on the platform.
"My boots are on fire!" shouted Ivan, which got Mia's attention. She cast Douse on the flames, and they went out instantly, with a sizzle.
"Now that we have escaped mortal danger for about the 100th time this quest . . ." said Garet. "Is the 101th time the charm?"
"I sure hope not," said Lunora. "We have many dangers to overcome before we're done with this quest."
"And one of them's right above us," said Mia, nodding at the ceiling. That got everybody quiet.
Isaac, having finally caught his breath after about five minutes, really took in his surroundings. Lava surrounded him on all sides, and the platform they were on was suspended from the roof of the lighthouse. A mystical platform, like the ones that had taken them to the Aerie. But most importantly, there was a stone tablet in front of the mystical platform.
"Guys, look! Another tablet!" he said, pointing it out to the others.
"I'll read it," said Garet. "This is my lighthouse."
Congratulations. Ye have passed your final test. Now, since you have proven your worth, you may ascend to the heavens!
And underneath that, was the answer to the segmented message that they had been given at the other two lighthouses. Finally.
Ancient Lemuria
"That's it!" said Solaris excitedly. "The Sol Lighthouse is in Ancient Lemuria! It fits! At last, we know where the Sol Lighthouse is!"
"This is great!" said Isaac excitedly. "We'll be heading to Lemuria after this!"
Everyone celebrated by giving each other hugs, or in Isaac's and Mia's cases, a kiss. They didn't jump around, because they didn't want to fall off the platform.
After everybody stopped celebrating this great news, they settled down, and looked determinedly at the mystical platform. It was time.
What happened next was enough to shut everybody up at once. They froze in their positions exactly when this event occurred. Isaac had his hands in the air. Garet's mouth was agape. Mia was standing on one foot, her body leaning to the right. They knew what had happened.
The brilliant flash of red light that had just temporarily blinded them, and the sharp quake of the lighthouse could mean only one thing: that Karst, Agatio, and Alex had lit the beacon of Mars Lighthouse. Isaac and the rest had failed once again . . . failed for the fifth time in a row. Everyone got back into a normal position.
"Shit!" roared Solaris. "Why? Why can we not succeed?"
"How did they get the star?" said Isaac expressionlessly. "How . . . how . . ."
"This is no time for delay, guys!" said Lunora urgently. "We failed to prevent the lighting of the beacon. But we can prevent the lighting of the Sol lighthouse by defeating the others right here!"
"She's right," said Ivan seriously. "Let's get moving, before we really lose all hope."
"Right," said Isaac, seeming to snap out of his reverie. "We mustn't show mercy people, because we won't get any in return. Especially when the others are at their elemental lighthouse. We're gonna have our work cut out for us."
"I'm a Mars Adept though," said Garet. "Aside form the fact that my clothes are saturated, I've never felt so powerful."
"That'll be good for the fight against Alex, then," said Solaris. "Here, he shouldn't be too difficult. Water doesn't function fully here."
"Well, doesn't that make me feel good," said Mia sarcastically. "I'm not angry at you Solaris. I'm frustrated at the fact that I will not be able to heal as well as I wold normally."
"I know," said Solaris. "You'd better watch yourself. Agatio and Karst are going to be almost invincible here."
"Weapons at the ready," said Isaac. "We shouldn't underestimate them this time. Karst and Agatio will be at the peak of their power at this lighthouse."
Weapons glinting orange off the bubbling lava, they all stepped onto the platform. It jolted as it stated to move upward. Everyone was now stony faced, think about what was ahead. It was time to fight raw power.
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The following chapter may yet be one of my most . . . well, intense. Probably not THE most, that was Luna Lighthouse. But, you'll like the next one. I can guarantee that.
Now, remember the SirGecko deal. REVIEW, REVIEW, REVIEW! Or . . . (points to the flame-gecko, who's wearing a mini-black baseball cap with a skull and crossbones on it) you don't wanna know.
~SirGecko~