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.