Hello again boys and girls. It's been a long time, but I'm back, because this challenge was just so irresistible to me that I couldn't help but take a shot at it myself. If you read the summary and took a glance at the ever so helpful genre list, you'll notice that this is completely abstract from my normal writing. What can I say? I got bored. I know that this chapter is slightly shorter than most of the ones that will come, because it is simply the prologue. I promise none of the others will be even near this short. Now, I believe there is a disclaimer that we need to deal with?
Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to Golden Sun or Golden Sun: The Lost Age. Those rights are property of Camelot and Nintendo. Any additional characters that are not property of Camelot or Nintendo are my own work, and may not be used without my permission. Like anyone would do that.
Golden Sun – Torn Hopes and Dreams
Chapter One – Prologue of Despair
I hate this place. Mia took hold of her new surroundings silently in the midst of the lunacy of the city. Tolbi disgusted her. Dressed in a classic white and blue robe of her hometown of Imil, the young immigrant could not bear the sights of the new and terrifying things to observe. She dimly remembered leaving her hometown, a burning passion for Imil's snowy fields coursing through her body. Slowly, she remembered the last few days of her stay. Leaving the Sanctuary. Giving up the life of a cleric. Leaving Alex. She could not bear the thought of it anymore. Remembering filled her eyes with tears, just as it had on that last day. . .
I . . . I have to leave Alex. The coarse tears rolled bitterly down Mia's cheek as she looked up at the blue haired teenager.
Why? You can't leave me. Without you here . . .I don't know how I'd live! Mia! Alex's hand reached up and brushed a tear out off of Mia's blushing cheeks, unaware that he himself had begun to cry slowly. Maybe I can come with you. I could find a job in Tolbi. I may not be able to attend the university like you, but it's a huge city! There must be somewhere I can go. Please Mia. Don't leave.
Mia looked up at him once again, scarcely able to muster the wit to keep going.
Alex. No, you can't come. The tears had stopped, for her eyes had dried themselves to little more than an empty oasis. You have to stay. The town needs at least one cleric. If we both leave, what will happen? And you know my father wouldn't have it. He dislikes you already. He dislikes anything that takes away his control. But if you followed us to Tolbi! He could destroy you. We may not be wealthy, but you know Father would never allow you to take a job if he could stop it. He would starve you away. . .
Mia stopped thinking about the past, unable to continue the horrible memory. Alex. She forced herself to stop all her thoughts about him. Instead, her gaze slowly shifted to the two young children who stood next to her near the city gate. A young boy in a ragged shirt, much too thick for the warm weather of Tolbi turned to Mia and gave the girl and impish smile.
"Isn't it great Mia?" asked the young boy, whose name was Justin, in a high pitched voice, a trait of his age. Mia looked down at him and did her best to produce a smile. Of course Justin and his twin sister Megan were happy here. In Imil they were confined to the home through winter, and there were no other children near there ages. In contrast, Tolbi, allowed the world to be at their disposal, and they had access to innumerable things to occupy their young minds.
Justin and Megan were not Mia's true brother and sister, but rather adopted. Mia's mother, a compassionate and benevolent woman, had found them shivering and hungry at the sanctum. Unable to bear their misfortune, she took them under the wing of the family, despite her husband's protests. But Mia's mother had long since passed away, victim to the cold days of Imil, and an epidemic that had plagued the city, despite the work of the best doctors and healers. Her father, though usually cold and emotionless, held on to his wife's dying wish – he continued to take care to Justin, Megan, and Mia. And his zeal to finish the wish of the one woman he truly loved has brought us to this hellish pit of a city, Mia thought feverishly.
***
In contrast to the young girl from Imil, the boy from Vale glanced at his best friend Garet, and grinned sheepishly. Tolbi! After years of work, I finally get to go to the illustrious University! Garet, who seemed to mimic his friend Isaac's thought, turned and shot the grin right back. The largest city on Angara had opened its doors to the teenage boys. Girls, glamour, and greatness, all was held within the walls of this metropolis, and it was theirs for the taking.
"Isn't it great Isaac? Were finally here. Can you imagine what we can do in this city?! Vale isn't any bigger than a suburb of this place. Here were free!" Garet gave a small hoot of victory. Isaac just smiled quietly at his exuberant friend. Garet had grown up in a house surrounded by brothers and sisters, always competing with each other. This was Garet's first chance for freedom, unlike Isaac, who had lived his life with no one but his mother, after his father left them a year after Isaac's birth. He quickly quelled the thought of his father just as soon as it reared its head in his mind. That malevolent man could not ruin today, because today, Isaac had found solace.
***
All over the city, a bustle of activity was beginning. The university was preparing to open its doors, and the market was preparing for the beginning of the New Year. Across town, celebrations were being planned, for in just two nights, the New Year would start, and a day later, the town would be flooded with students entering the academy. The mood seemed to extraordinarily gleeful. But whenever someone passed a young girl in the street that was clad in the robes of a distant town called Imil, they could not help but feel sad, for the young girl with an unhappy look on her face, and hope that this wounded woman, this fallen angel, would find relief.