Chapter 9: The Travels of the Wayward

"Felix! Help me!"

He lunged down after her, stretching his arm as far as it would go, trying to reach her and pull her back up to the mountain. But she kept falling and falling, until the great rift behind the Lighthouse swallowed her up and laughed at him.

"Kiana!" he screamed, still holding his hand out into the darkness. "Kiana! You can't die!"

He heard her scream before the world below him began to crumble. He was suspended, a single person in the darkness of oblivion, watching the rest of the world die. There went Jenna, his parents, Saturos, Menardi, Alex. All of them dying along with Weyard.

He could do nothing to stop it.

Soon, he was the only person left alive, the rock he sat on being the only part of Weyard to survive the pull of the void.

He could do nothing to save any of it. Everyone would die because he was too weak to save them.

Alone in the darkness, he let out a choked cry.

He awoke covered in sweat, feeling that he hadn't slept at all. The cabin's ceiling rested overhead, plunged into darkness like the rest of the room.

Felix sat up, rubbing his eyes and letting out a breath. His eyes stung with tears, but he quickly wiped them away. He didn't want to cry. Not again. He'd been doing far too much midnight sobbing lately.

"Ah, that there was a spell to cure nightmares," Alex's voice said from across the cabin. "That would make sleep much easier, wouldn't it?"

Felix blinked, trying to adjust to the darkness so he could make out the Mercury Adept. "Alex? You're awake?"

"Yes, sadly I had a bit of indigestion last night and couldn't sleep." The lantern next to Alex's bed roared into life as he fed it some oil.

The Mercury Adept certainly looked like he hadn't slept. His blue-green eyes were reddened and circled with black weariness, while his hair was still neatly combed from not sleeping upon it. He was holding a glass of dark liquid; wine was Felix's guess as to what it was. He swished the liquid in his glass with one hand, gazing at it for a moment before returning his attention to Felix.

"How long have you been up?" Felix asked.

"Since you all went to bed last night," Alex replied. "I had migraines as well, but this has helped to settle them." He raised the glass in Felix's direction. "Cheers." He threw back his head, taking a long drink of the wine before giving Felix a weak smile.

"I'm sorry that you're not feeling well," Felix said, sliding out from under his sheets. Placing his feet firmly on the wooden floor, he sighed and let his chin drop to his chest. A sigh escaped his lips, and from across the cabin he could hear Alex do the same.

"We've been at sea for months, Felix," he stated. "Just how often have you been having these nightmares?"

Felix looked away. "Not often," he said. "Really."

"Now why," Alex wondered, "do I find that so hard to believe?" He rose from his cross-legged position on the bed, walking over and sitting next to Felix instead. "Is the misfortune with Kiana still bothering you?"

Felix swore softly and covered his eyes. If Alex hadn't mentioned it, he would have been fine. He could have kept on pretending that everything was all right, and his eyes wouldn't be tearing up the way they were right now, if Alex just had kept quiet. . . .

"Let it out," Alex said. "It's unhealthy to keep those emotions locked up inside you. They'll tear you apart, Felix. You have to let them out."

"I'm not weak," Felix managed to choke between sobs. "I'm not. I can save people. I'm not weak. I'm not weak."

"No one ever said you were weak, Felix," Alex sighed. He looked away. "You, in fact, are one of the strongest people I know. Not many could manage to dwell in a foreign land for so long, knowing that their friends and family at home believed them dead. Even fewer would have the ability, as you did, to tolerate and become part of a different culture. One that you had been warned about, no less. But you did more than accept them--you became one of them. Isn't the mask in your trunk proof of that?"

Felix stumbled off of his bed and opened the trunk that sat against the wall. Actzir's green mask was on top of all his clothing and other possessions. He took it in his hands and stared at it as Alex continued speaking.

"Acceptance, Felix, is the true strength you have. Growth, and the desire to help others. When all comes to an end, that will be enough. Or enough for you, perhaps."

Felix looked up at Alex's last comment. "What do you mean?"

"Alas, Felix, some of us long for things out of our reach, things we can never have. My instructor in Imil was a beautiful girl, though she was younger than myself. I still wish that she"--Alex clenched one hand into a fist-- "that she felt the same about me as I did about her. One day I'll show her that I'm the best. That I am the only one suited for her. I have to prove myself--not just to her, but to everyone." His aquamarine eyes turned their depths on Felix. "That lust to prove myself is my strength, Felix."

"But I wasn't strong enough," Felix whispered, placing his mask back in the trunk. His hands were shaking now. "I couldn't save her. I"--the images of his nightmare blazed in his mind-- "I can't save anybody."

Alex shook his head. "Felix, I told you. All she could ask for is all that you could do. You tried, Felix, you did the best you could." He stood up as Felix climbed back into bed. "Are you going to be all right?"

Felix buried his head in his pillow and was silent.

After a pause, Alex retreated to his own bed as well.

They had docked at a small inlet on the continent of Atteka, though they had to weave through multiple rivers to find their way to it. From there, Saturos deducted, it was only a day or so of walking until they would get to Contigo.

The inlet was bursting with people, surprisingly. Some children were playing in the shallows, while the adults gazed up in awe at the Proxians' ship. Whispers buzzed throughout the inlet as Saturos and Menardi passed.

One brave young child approached, tugging on Menardi's skirt. "'Scuse me," she whispered.

Menardi turned around and got to her knees, looking the little girl in the eyes. "What do you need, little one?"

The girl pointed back at a large group of children clustered on the beach. "Um, all of us were wonderin' if you're gonna light Mount Jupiter."

Menardi blinked and looked up at Saturos, whose red eyes were as cold as steel. "Why do you ask?" he said, his voice soft behind his hardened exterior.

"It's just . . . Mama and Papa told me that a biiiig boat would come to light the purple fire. But we don't got the other stuff in the stories done yet." The child put her hands behind her back, rubbing one foot in the sand.

"We just need to speak to your elder," Menardi said. "We're . . . tourists. We came because we wanted to see what Mount Jupiter looked like. We wondered if maybe we'd be allowed to explore it."

"Oh!" The girl nodded. "Okay!" She skipped back to her companions, who all began chattering loudly.

Menardi stood back up, and the group continued their journey.

It was late at night when they finally arrived in Contigo. Saturos tripped over a tree stump or two before lighting a small flame to act as a lantern. They finally found the inn, which they entered immediately.

After a bit of talk and a bit more payment, they had a four-bed room all to themselves.

"Get some rest," Saturos advised. "Whether their elder lets us or not, tomorrow we travel to the Lighthouse."

Silence resulted soon after. Only Saturos remained awake, sitting up in his bed and staring off into space.

What if the elder had the same reaction that the people of Vale did? What if he tried to kill them, or forced them to flee? Then they could never come back to Contigo, even when they did have the Elemental Stars.

He rested his head in his hands, pushing his skinny fingers through his silver-blue hair.

"By Iris, let this be the right thing to do. If it's not . . . I don't want to think about that. This has to be the right thing to do," he muttered. "Who am I, to be making such big decisions? I'm barely more than a child myself. I can't tell how the elder will react. I haven't even met him yet."

Something inside of him snapped, and he choked, "Why couldn't Nephtal be here instead of me? Why did he have to die?"

He couldn't see them, but another set of red eyes carefully watched him in the darkness.

Noon found the four inside the Sanctum, waiting for the Great Healer to arrive. Earlier that morning, he had consented to meeting with them and discussing their troubles.

He walked into the room at last, two monks flanking him. "What can I do for you?" he asked in a wheezing voice.

Menardi glanced at the monks. "We would like to speak to you in private, Great Healer," she said. The monks reminded her too much of Vale. Besides that, yes, three men could keep a secret, but only if two of them were dead. She had never been much of one for killing.

The monks stiffened. "In private?" one asked. "Whatever the Great One hears, we can hear also. Isn't that right?" He turned to the elder, who began to shimmer with a faint purple aura. He stared at Saturos, then at Menardi, and nodded as the lavender light faded.

"They mean me no harm, gentlemen. You may go now. You have duties to attend to."

The monks left, grumbling and muttering to one another as they did so. As soon as the doors swung shut behind them, the healer returned his attention to his visitors.

"Healer, we seek those with the blood of the Anemos," Saturos said. He had to word this perfectly, or . . . "Weyard is crumbling, and only with one Adept of each clan can we save it."

The elder's thick white eyebrows raised. "I beg your pardon?"

"What you did just now was Psynergy, wasn't it?" Menardi asked. "You read our minds and could tell that we didn't mean to hurt you."

"Psynergy? Yes, but I'm afraid it's the only bit of it I know. The Anemos blood has a very small influence on me, I'm afraid," the healer said. "But Adept--that is a word I have not heard for a long time."

"An Adept?" Felix spoke for the first time that day. "An Adept is one who has high levels of control over elemental powers. We were hoping that we might find a Jupiter Adept--a person with the power of wind--in your village. We'd heard that the Anemos blood still ran strong here."

The elder laughed. "It has not run strong' for decades, young one. Few are born nowadays with the power of Jupiter. And those who are not given power cannot tell those who are apart, so many of our--Adepts, you called them?--yes, many of our Adepts go untrained."

"Surely you know of someone?" Alex said. "A child, even, one that we may travel with in a year and a half or so? Anyone who can harness the skies would be of help."

"In the last two decades in Contigo, there have been only two born with power. A brother and sister. Both of them, however, left this place long ago. I do not know where either of them dwells."

Saturos' long ears drooped in disappointment. "But without a Jupiter Adept, we cannot get inside the lighthouse," he muttered.

The elder's eyes flickered. "What was that? You intend to light the beacons? Is that how you intend to save the world,' as you said?"

Saturos' head jerked up, his breath shortening as he realized that the healer had heard. "Great Healer, please, let me explain," he started.

The elder held up one hand. "I do not need to hear any more." He turned and walked out of the Sanctum, his blue robes fluttering behind him. Saturos, his face pain-stricken, followed.

Shortly out of the Sanctum, the healer raised one of his frail arms and pointed toward the northwest. "It is obscured by mountains, but about a day's travel away stands the tower we call Mount Jupiter." He turned to face them. "We have legends about this. If you do light the beacon, you will save the world, the legends say. I wish you luck. I only wish there was more I could do to help you."

Menardi sank to her knees. "You have done more than enough," she said.

The healer extended his weathered hand. "May the Gods smile upon you," he said.

Saturos took the man's hand and shook it, whispering a "thank you."

The group left an hour later. Several people said they'd seen them headed north, toward the mountains and the lighthouse. Rumors spread that the foretold time was drawing closer.

The Great Healer sat in the Sanctum, praying for the safety of those who would save the world.

"It's huge," Felix whispered.

A violet tower lanced into the sky among the Attekan mountains. It was nestled among cliffs, much like the Mars Lighthouse in Prox, but this structure seemed taller.

Or maybe it was just that Felix had only seen two lighthouses in his entire life.

"This is curious," he heard Saturos saying, and looked down from the sky to see the Proxian gazing at the doorway. "There doesn't appear to be any obstruction to keep us out. We could just walk in and explore, it looks like." He put one hand through the door. "Not even a force field," he muttered. He made a gesture to the others. "Well, come on. Let's take a look around."

Menardi, Alex and Felix all followed him. The moment Felix stepped inside the doorway, he felt something leeching his strength away, bit by bit. It felt as though someone was gently pressing on his shoulders, pushing his strength out of him and onto the floor. He took a long, deep breath, only to feel that something was forcing the air out of his lungs as well.

"Does anyone else feel kind of sick?" he asked in a shaking voice. Now his stomach was rebelling as well; he felt like he would vomit at any time.

Saturos glanced at him; the Proxian was busy trying to pry apart some stone doors. "You feel sick?" he asked, arching one eyebrow. "Why is that?"

Felix tried to speak, but the pressing sensation that surrounded him only got worse. "Power--leaving--pushed out," he managed, holding down the sickness that was gathering in his throat.

"Menardi, go outside with him. I think it might be the Jupiter power that's weakening him. I'm going to work some more on these. I'll be out in a few minutes." He continued to push and pull, grunting occasionally. Menardi, meanwhile, took Felix's arm and guided him outside, a small distance away from the tower.

He took long, deep breaths, trying to regain the power he had lost while in the Lighthouse. "What on Weyard was that?" he asked Menardi.

"Jupiter and Venus oppose each other," Menardi said. "Most likely, the oppressive Jupiter all around you began draining you. I suspect it might be like this for Saturos and I once we reach Mercury Lighthouse."

Felix made a face. "I don't ever want to do that again."

"You won't have a choice, I'm afraid," Menardi said. "Not if you're going to help us and see your parents again, anyway. We can't return to Prox until the beacons are lit, and we can't light all of them without having you with us."

"I know," Felix sighed. "I know, I know . . ."

Saturos soon emerged, Alex following him. The Proxian man walked over, stooping down to Felix's level.

"Are you feeling all right?"

"Yes, I'm fine," Felix replied. He and Menardi stood up, stretching. "So, where to now?"

"Well, the stone door wouldn't budge, so there must be something Jupiter Adepts can do to move it," Saturos said. "So, I vote we head back to the inn, stock up on provisions, and head off to our next destination."

Felix knew too well what that meant.

It was time to return to Vale.