I: Tremors
It was a quiet evening at the Junction Grotto tavern in Vault. The bartender,
Norman, was washing and cleaning the mugs of his last customers, who had left
only minutes ago. Suddenly a noise was heard from outside, but Norman couldn't
see anybody through the windows near the entrance. Sensing that trouble was
coming, he began to focus himself and prepared to unleash his newfound
psynergy out on the person that was next to enter the bar. The door swung open,
and Norman opened his eyes and relaxed as Garet and Isaac entered through the
door.
"Boy, you guys gave me a scare!" he laughed weakly, "I was worried it was some
goons trying to steal my money again...thinking they can influence me with their
new magical powers."
"Well, you got no problems Norman," Garet smiled confidently, "With me here,
no one would dare try to pull a robbery on you... and of course Isaac, too."
"What would you boys like? A lil beer? Wine? Whiskey?"
"Give me two cups of your finest beer!" Garet laughed.
"Who said I liked beer?" Isaac asked.
"You don't..." Garet said, "Which is why I'm taking yours!"
"I'm never letting you order again for me, Garet."
Norman acknowledged Garet's requests and went back to retrieve beers since he
already locked up the alcohol. Suddenly, the entrance door opened loudly as several men
entered the tavern, laughing, and hooting, hoping to have a good time.
"I hate to tell you this," Norman said to the men as he returned, "But we're
closed. I'm just giving these gentlemen a quick drink."
"Oh really?" one man piped up from the crowd, "So these kids get drinks but we
can't? Come on, we basically came here at the same time... just do us this favor
old man, not like you wanna get us angry or anything."
"You heard the bartender," Garet smirked, "Only us two get drinks, so the rest of
you buzz off! I've had a busy day, and so now I want some peace and quiet!"
"Did he just say that to us?" another man angrily said, "Listen kid, you have one
hell of a nerve to tell us to go away while you sip your nice cold beer. It's all
about respect, and in fact, since we're older than you two, we should be having
the drinks instead of you!"
"You want some respect from me?" Garet asked as he downed his first cup, "You
have to kill me first."
"That can be arranged!"
"Yeah, like you can beat up one of us!"
"In your dreams, red head!"
"Ok, that's enough, just give them the beers." Isaac said, obviously sick of the
argument.
"No! Isaac, are you nuts?" Garet yelled, "Norman, don't give these bums
anything from your stock!"
With the remark of "bums", the men began to huddle around Garet, and
eventually they pushed away Isaac and had the adept completely surrounded.
"I'm not going to tolerate you any longer kid! You need to learn a lesson, and
we'll give you one!"
Before the men could even touch Garet, he flicked his fingers and suddenly a
circle of flame appeared around him. Seeing he had won, the men began to run out but
then one fired a huge bubble of water and wiped out the flames. They all immediately
turned around and faced Garet once more.
"Oh, I hope you did not just do that..." Garet hissed angrily, "I was holding back,
but now you all pay!"
Garet slammed the ground with his fists and seconds later, spouts of lava emerged
out of the floor under each of the hoodlums as they flew sky high, incinerating
their bottoms.
"GARET, WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?" Isaac screamed, "You could kill those
people! Stop it right now before I have to make you!"
"Oh calm down, Isaac," Garet said, "They're just getting a tan on their asses,
that's all."
Seeing there was no other way to stop his reckless friend, Isaac prepared to bring
out his djinni Vine so the men could be pulled back down. Before it could take action,
pockets of clouds appeared over all the men and slowly they retuned to the ground as the
rain settled down the rising lava. Isaac looked around and saw finally that Mia was
helping the men out. Once they all were back on the floor, Isaac and Mia rushed over to
them and began to cure and heal them. Meanwhile, Norman stood there motionless, his
eyes staring into the holes in the roof where the towers of fire penetrated through.
"Oh... my beautiful store..." he sputtered, "All these years of finding the right
place, and now it's ruined... because of one lousy miserable kid that lights everything on
FIRE!"
The shock was over and rage took its place within his mind, and as Garet came
over to the old man and apologize, Norman screamed furiously at him and from above, a
storm cloud gathered over the burnt patches in the roof. It continued to grow until it
finally sprayed out dozens of lightning bolts out at Garet and the adept was slowly
weakened. With the final ray of electricity, Garet fell down to the floor and laid
motionless, staring up above right where Norman was looking. But then, he noticed that
the bartender had also fallen, but unlike him, Norman was dead.
Garet, Isaac, and Mia said not a word to each other as the left the disastrous scene
and parted off for their sleeping quarters, each of them having different thoughts on their
minds. Garet was still thinking about Norman and he was still in shock of the old man's
demise. Isaac was wondering on how Norman was able to conjure up such a powerful
wind storm. It had only been two weeks since the lighting of the Mars Lighthouse, and so
it was almost impossible for any person who had just received psynergy to have enough
experience to summon that kind of force, unless Norman trained intensely, but that was
out of the question. Norman was an old man trying to make ends meet and the only thing
he had was the bar, which was now destroyed and burnt by Garet's doing.
However, as Mia went back to the inn, her mind was elsewhere from all that had
happened that evening. She was wondering about Alex, and what had happened to him. It
had been two weeks before that Mt. Aleph sunk into the earth, and Alex has yet to reveal
himself to the world. There were so many things she wanted to say and ask him that day
when Isaac's group met up with Saturos at the Mercury Lighthouse, but with all the
havoc going on at the time, it was impossible. Why did he change? Was he plotting to
steal the elemental lighthouses' powers even before meeting her? Was that why he
became the guardian of the lighthouse? There were so many questions unanswered about
the man that Mia once knew, and she continued to ponder these thoughts as she drifted
into a deep sleep.
"Mia! Wake up, Mia! It is urgent!"
Sheba furiously shook the adept awake.
"What is the problem Sheba?" Mia yawned as she rubbed her eyes, "What's so
important that can wake me up this early?"
"Well, I was training with Ivan," Sheba explained, "And then we both suddenly
foresaw something terrible happening to Imil!"
Mia immediately perked up as she heard that it was about Imil.
"What exactly happened to my hometown Sheba?"
"I cannot explain it too well... but I remember a black hooded figure entering the
houses and he took out a red glowing staff... and he stole the souls of the people, left the
houses, and set them all on fire... a fire in the shade of black. I'm sorry I can't describe
the scene too well."
"Oh dear... that's terrible!" Mia cried, "I must go!"
"Wait, we should go with you just in case! I sensed a strong power from the
warrior stealing the souls!"
Ignoring Sheba's advice, Mia sprung out from her bed and grabbed her clerics
bag, rushing out the door and heading out to Imil.
It was a quiet evening at the Junction Grotto tavern in Vault. The bartender,
Norman, was washing and cleaning the mugs of his last customers, who had left
only minutes ago. Suddenly a noise was heard from outside, but Norman couldn't
see anybody through the windows near the entrance. Sensing that trouble was
coming, he began to focus himself and prepared to unleash his newfound
psynergy out on the person that was next to enter the bar. The door swung open,
and Norman opened his eyes and relaxed as Garet and Isaac entered through the
door.
"Boy, you guys gave me a scare!" he laughed weakly, "I was worried it was some
goons trying to steal my money again...thinking they can influence me with their
new magical powers."
"Well, you got no problems Norman," Garet smiled confidently, "With me here,
no one would dare try to pull a robbery on you... and of course Isaac, too."
"What would you boys like? A lil beer? Wine? Whiskey?"
"Give me two cups of your finest beer!" Garet laughed.
"Who said I liked beer?" Isaac asked.
"You don't..." Garet said, "Which is why I'm taking yours!"
"I'm never letting you order again for me, Garet."
Norman acknowledged Garet's requests and went back to retrieve beers since he
already locked up the alcohol. Suddenly, the entrance door opened loudly as several men
entered the tavern, laughing, and hooting, hoping to have a good time.
"I hate to tell you this," Norman said to the men as he returned, "But we're
closed. I'm just giving these gentlemen a quick drink."
"Oh really?" one man piped up from the crowd, "So these kids get drinks but we
can't? Come on, we basically came here at the same time... just do us this favor
old man, not like you wanna get us angry or anything."
"You heard the bartender," Garet smirked, "Only us two get drinks, so the rest of
you buzz off! I've had a busy day, and so now I want some peace and quiet!"
"Did he just say that to us?" another man angrily said, "Listen kid, you have one
hell of a nerve to tell us to go away while you sip your nice cold beer. It's all
about respect, and in fact, since we're older than you two, we should be having
the drinks instead of you!"
"You want some respect from me?" Garet asked as he downed his first cup, "You
have to kill me first."
"That can be arranged!"
"Yeah, like you can beat up one of us!"
"In your dreams, red head!"
"Ok, that's enough, just give them the beers." Isaac said, obviously sick of the
argument.
"No! Isaac, are you nuts?" Garet yelled, "Norman, don't give these bums
anything from your stock!"
With the remark of "bums", the men began to huddle around Garet, and
eventually they pushed away Isaac and had the adept completely surrounded.
"I'm not going to tolerate you any longer kid! You need to learn a lesson, and
we'll give you one!"
Before the men could even touch Garet, he flicked his fingers and suddenly a
circle of flame appeared around him. Seeing he had won, the men began to run out but
then one fired a huge bubble of water and wiped out the flames. They all immediately
turned around and faced Garet once more.
"Oh, I hope you did not just do that..." Garet hissed angrily, "I was holding back,
but now you all pay!"
Garet slammed the ground with his fists and seconds later, spouts of lava emerged
out of the floor under each of the hoodlums as they flew sky high, incinerating
their bottoms.
"GARET, WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?" Isaac screamed, "You could kill those
people! Stop it right now before I have to make you!"
"Oh calm down, Isaac," Garet said, "They're just getting a tan on their asses,
that's all."
Seeing there was no other way to stop his reckless friend, Isaac prepared to bring
out his djinni Vine so the men could be pulled back down. Before it could take action,
pockets of clouds appeared over all the men and slowly they retuned to the ground as the
rain settled down the rising lava. Isaac looked around and saw finally that Mia was
helping the men out. Once they all were back on the floor, Isaac and Mia rushed over to
them and began to cure and heal them. Meanwhile, Norman stood there motionless, his
eyes staring into the holes in the roof where the towers of fire penetrated through.
"Oh... my beautiful store..." he sputtered, "All these years of finding the right
place, and now it's ruined... because of one lousy miserable kid that lights everything on
FIRE!"
The shock was over and rage took its place within his mind, and as Garet came
over to the old man and apologize, Norman screamed furiously at him and from above, a
storm cloud gathered over the burnt patches in the roof. It continued to grow until it
finally sprayed out dozens of lightning bolts out at Garet and the adept was slowly
weakened. With the final ray of electricity, Garet fell down to the floor and laid
motionless, staring up above right where Norman was looking. But then, he noticed that
the bartender had also fallen, but unlike him, Norman was dead.
Garet, Isaac, and Mia said not a word to each other as the left the disastrous scene
and parted off for their sleeping quarters, each of them having different thoughts on their
minds. Garet was still thinking about Norman and he was still in shock of the old man's
demise. Isaac was wondering on how Norman was able to conjure up such a powerful
wind storm. It had only been two weeks since the lighting of the Mars Lighthouse, and so
it was almost impossible for any person who had just received psynergy to have enough
experience to summon that kind of force, unless Norman trained intensely, but that was
out of the question. Norman was an old man trying to make ends meet and the only thing
he had was the bar, which was now destroyed and burnt by Garet's doing.
However, as Mia went back to the inn, her mind was elsewhere from all that had
happened that evening. She was wondering about Alex, and what had happened to him. It
had been two weeks before that Mt. Aleph sunk into the earth, and Alex has yet to reveal
himself to the world. There were so many things she wanted to say and ask him that day
when Isaac's group met up with Saturos at the Mercury Lighthouse, but with all the
havoc going on at the time, it was impossible. Why did he change? Was he plotting to
steal the elemental lighthouses' powers even before meeting her? Was that why he
became the guardian of the lighthouse? There were so many questions unanswered about
the man that Mia once knew, and she continued to ponder these thoughts as she drifted
into a deep sleep.
"Mia! Wake up, Mia! It is urgent!"
Sheba furiously shook the adept awake.
"What is the problem Sheba?" Mia yawned as she rubbed her eyes, "What's so
important that can wake me up this early?"
"Well, I was training with Ivan," Sheba explained, "And then we both suddenly
foresaw something terrible happening to Imil!"
Mia immediately perked up as she heard that it was about Imil.
"What exactly happened to my hometown Sheba?"
"I cannot explain it too well... but I remember a black hooded figure entering the
houses and he took out a red glowing staff... and he stole the souls of the people, left the
houses, and set them all on fire... a fire in the shade of black. I'm sorry I can't describe
the scene too well."
"Oh dear... that's terrible!" Mia cried, "I must go!"
"Wait, we should go with you just in case! I sensed a strong power from the
warrior stealing the souls!"
Ignoring Sheba's advice, Mia sprung out from her bed and grabbed her clerics
bag, rushing out the door and heading out to Imil.
