(First published) Me: Damn! I can't get my paragraphing correct. I'm getting angry. Char: Don't worry. You'll always have next chapter to correct on your mistakes. Me: Yeah you're right. Char: Have I ever been wrong? (Me recalling Char pushing Flint off the mountain saying that it enlightened the sprit.) Flint: Beware this chapter will be very boring. Me: Why you little bastard!

(December 31, 2003) Hello everybody for the New Year 2004. Hurray! This also means a lot of changes in my story. I am re ordering my events and trying to put them in logical order. I'm also adding new events with new information so veterans out there can still enjoy my story. I'm trying to keep references to the original Golden Sun and the lost age to the minimal. I still recommend playing both games before reading my story.

After the townspeople heard the grumbling, the earth started shaking rapidly. After a minute of shaking, Mt. Aleph erupted. This eruption wasn't like the eruption 4 years ago. Instead of debris falling from the sky, lava flowed profusely from the mountain. Every person fled the site and ran aimlessly back to their houses. Thankfully, Vale was out of harms way because it was rebuilt 5 miles south of its original location. The six powerful adepts were shocked at what they saw. Nobody expected this would happen. Felix broke the shock that had befallen them and said, " There must be an explanation to this. We must investigate the Mt. Aleph and the Sol Sanctum and see what is going on." " I agree! Let's go." Isaac said with enthusiasm. They ran towards the stairs of Mt. Aleph. Before they could reach the stairs, lava crossed the path between them and the stairs.

" Isaac! I will stem the flow of the lava. You cast grand gaia to ebb the flow so we can rush into the sol sanctum." Mia said this quickly. She cast deluge on the lava. The lava immediately turned into black magma rock with steam flowing out. Immediately new lava came taking it's place. Isaac took this as his cue and cast Grand Gaia. Rocks appeared in front of Isaac and were placed in front of the lava. This delayed the flow of lava, giving enough time for Isaac and his crew to head towards the stairs leading to the Sol Sanctum.
As they went into the Sol Sanctum, Garet told the group loudly,
" I have a bad feeling about this. I want to get my pack for emergencies like these."
" Stop using clichéd phrases. This is a sacred place, Garet. So don't yell and don't whine" Jenna whispered. They continued on through the rooms. The rooms were dark and they could only see 5 feet in front of them. Garet cast fire so they could have a better vision. They reached the same exact puzzle room 4 years ago. Isacc, Garet and Jenna were getting flashbacks on how they solved the puzzles last time. They remembered they shined the light on Luna and pushed a statue into a hole on the Sol side. This led them to the elemental stars. What if they reversed the process? Would it lead them to a different place? The six adepts worked frantically to meet Isacc's specifications for solving the puzzle. As they heard the final click, the floor started rumbling. They rushed back to the previous room. They saw a door through the Luna room. Isacc recalled last time that the portal was at the Sol side not the Luna side. He told everybody to jump into this portal and see what was in store of them. They jumped in and suddenly they were transported into the room having a surreal feel. This room looked exactly like the Sol room 4 years ago, except the elemental stars were still there with different colors adorning them. As they walked they were greeted by a fellow that they didn't want to see and it shell-shocked them for a minute.

" Just as I expected! You people always want to know what is going on. Ha! Ha! You went right into my trap." Alex appeared in his full form and grabbed Sheba and held a sword to her neck and said,
" Finally! I have a citizen of Anemos. The world would soon fall before me. But first I need the Luna elemental stars: Neptune, Uranus, Pluto, and Saturn to complete my plans of lighting the Luna lighthouses."
" What the fuck! Let Sheba go! If you don't, I will kick your ass and wished that you never messed with her." Felix said menacingly. Felix unsheathed his sword that he brought along for emergency situations like this. Before he could make his move, Alex said,
" What an idiot! If you slashed at me, what would have done? Hmm. kill your precious one and also disarm you single-handedly. Think before you act." Felix sheathed his sword and walked back to the comfort of his friends. Alex continued,
" Does anybody have the courage to fight me? If not, let me make the first move."

As he said this, Alex cast freeze prism. Ice cubes the size of houses pulverized the adepts. Sheba was squealing seeing her loved one being pounded on. She tried to break free but Alex's grip on her was too strong. The attack dropped everybody to his or her knees except Isaac. Alex in amazement said, "Impressive, Isaac! The chaos one wasn't wrong about you. Since you are the only one standing, can you grab the elemental stars for me? If you don't, you will all die! I show you a little taste of my power." Alex used diamond berg. Ice formed around Isaac's body and Alex used his scimitar (isn't that a cool weapon) and slashed furiously at Isaac's exposed body. Isaac flew across the floor with cuts all over his body. Isaac healed immediately with potent cure and stood back up slowly. He was panting so hard and his psynergy was drained.
" Don't just stand there. Get them now!" Alex screamed. Isaac reluctantly jumped across the rocks to reach the statues, which held the elemental stars. When he plucked one, the ground started shaking violently. Isaac thought to himself that he was experiencing "De Ja vu". He jumped back to the middle platform and gave the stars to Alex. Isaac said,
" Here you go! Now let go of Sheba!" Isaac immediately disarmed Alex with a punch towards the face and held Alex's own blade right to Alex's neck. Alex was laughing hysterically and said,
" You think that little trick can stop me. You must be out of your mind." Alex gracefully took back his own weapon and kicked Isaac back across to where his friends were. Alex used teleportation to teleport him, Sheba and the elemental stars. The now five adepts began to stir. They recovered from the shock of being hit by ice blocks that were as big as houses. Felix yelled at the ceiling,
" Damnit! What do you want to do with Sheba? Answer my Alex! Answer me!" Felix held his hands to his eyes and started to cry profusely over the loss of his newly wedded wife. Isacc immediately came to Felix's side and said,
" I know you must be angry but we can't let our anger cloud our judgment. We must leave the Sol Sanctum immediately if we want to catch Alex." Just as he said the last words, the ground started jolted and lava was rising rapidly inside the mountain. Thankfully the legendary rock with a huge eye appeared. It cast pure wish on the whole party so they could have energy to run. It then said,
"Leave! I will hold the lava for awhile, long enough for you to escape."
"Hey aren't you the Wise one?" Garet replied.
" No time for reunions Garet. I will explain about the situation once you leave this mountain. Hurry!" the Wise one snapped back. The wise one was brimming with psynergy and managed to slow the rising of the lava.
" Thank you wise one! I won't lose faith in you." Isaac replied and led everybody out of the mountain. As they walked down the stairs back to Vale. The mountain exploded. Debris the size of building started falling from the sky. Isaac unleashed Granite to create an earthen barrier. Garet and Mia followed suit and unleashed Flash and Shade respectively. They ran back to Vale. The village elders appeared at the entrance. They said,
" You guys have some explaining to do."

The party was shocked at the outright rudeness of the elders. Mia pronounced,
" We didn't do anything wrong." The elders pointed at the mountain which was bellowing debris every second. The elders replied,
" Well, explain that missy. Mt. Aleph never explodes on it's own will. Something angered her that relates to the Sol Sanctum. We know that you 6 adepts." Another vale elder interrupted, "Hey where is Sheba?" Isaac intervened and said,
" Let's explain what happened at the mayor's house. Agreed?" The elders grunted in consent and led them to the mayor's house. When they approached the mayor beamed at the sight of his son and his daughter in law. He was crying because he didn't know if Garet and Jenna were safe from the explosion. The elders gathered around in the circle. Isaac and his friends stood in the middle and retold the story. When the story covered the Luna elemental star room, Isaac did the story telling because nobody else was conscious at that time. The elders were whispering to each other. The sage elder with his long beard and the wisdom of Garet's but 10 times more (I like to make a joke) stepped up and said,
" Hmm. I never heard of the Luna elemental stars. Vale was protector of the stars but the wise one never said about any Luna stars." There was a slight pause. The wise one suddenly made an entrance and replied,
" The Luna stars were supposed to be a secret that not even the elders of Vale should know. The reason why I kept it a secret was because the power of the Luna stars wasn't supposed to be revealed. Sigh! Maybe a little history would explain the Luna stars better. A long time ago when I was young, we gods trained till we could be trusted of protecting the elemental stars from corrupting the world. My twin brother and me stood out from the rest. I was the protector of the Sol stars and he was the protector of the Luna stars. As the years rolled on, my brother started getting more and more corrupt. The Luna stars were tainting him to hysteria. He couldn't stand being holder of the Luna stars. He had his eye on my position. He released his side of alchemy. To counteract I released my side of alchemy. Alchemy was finally unleashed throughout the world. This was what the humans called, the golden age. I realized my stupidity and asked the Vale elders, namely your ancestors, to seal away all of alchemy. They sealed the Sol side but had trouble with the Luna side. The reason was because the Luna side was very hard to reach to. There was a barrier preventing them to reach Luna Gaia. My brother relentlessly tried to take away my elemental stars. I battled my brother to the middle of the earth and finally I tasted victory. Your ancestors immediately sealed Luna's alchemy. I trapped my brother under the caves of Mt. Aleph never to be seen again. The Luna stars were a symbol of his past so I never disclosed any information about the Luna stars until now. "
Everybody was listening enthusiastically and Isaac finally broke the silence and said,
"That was a very compelling story, Wise one. What does Alex want with the Luna elemental stars?" The wise one grunted and said,
" Alex knows a lot more than even the Vale village elders do. The day when Alex climbed Mt. Aleph, I confronted him. Alex said he was invincible because he got the power of the golden sun. I showed that he was too quick to judge. I paralyzed him on top of Mt. Aleph. Mt. Aleph started to crumble. Mt. Aleph didn't crumble completely but the section where Alex was, crumbled inward. I never saw him again. Yet, rumors in the higher place have been stated that Alex lived the fall and had contact with my brother. My brother probably told him all about the Luna stars and it's history. My brother's plan is very obvious. He wants to cause chaos throughout the land."
Everybody thought about that image and couldn't bear the fact that Alex was still alive. Mia finally spoke out,
" Please wise one! What is his plan? We must stop him from executing his plan. We also must save Sheba from his grasp." The wise one thought for a long time. He couldn't deduce his brother's plan but he gave it his best conjecture. He replied,
" Alex is going to Luna Gaia. There he would light the Luna lighthouses with the Luna elemental stars. This will restore alchemy in Luna Gaia. This would bring about the Luna sun. Once the Luna sun combines with the Sol sun, it will form the true golden sun. This golden sun will appear at the site of where the ancient Anemos city was." The wise one used psynergy to check who was Sheba. He then said,
" Your friend, Sheba is an Anemos citizen." Garet interrupted and said, " Oh yeah! I knew Sheba was an Anemos citizen. You guys didn't believe me." Jenna pulled his ear and whispered,
" Don't be gloating in front of the wise one. Understand?" The wise
one continued, " If he has Sheba in his possession during the forming of the Golden sun, he will get the ultimate power. A power so great he could deter the gods. There is one thing that my brother doesn't know that I know. If any of the sun's power is split between two or more people. A great battle will happen. The winner will adopt pure alchemy. If worst comes to worst, Isaac you must win the battle."
" How can I defeat Alex? I'm just a regular adept. I don't have any of
the suns' power." Before Isaac could finish his statement, the wise
one answered, " How could I be so ignorant? I will disclose the secret. You, young Isaac posses the powers of the Mars star. I transferred the powers to you in our first encounter. Your powers were lament then, but now it is blossoming. You must harness the energy to defeat Alex. It won't be an easy task. I just wish there was a way I could help you." The wise one used his psynergy to answer his own question. He came back with an answer " My brother is completely oblivious to the power of djinn. He thinks djinn are useless little animals. But I plan to disagree. The Luna djinn were released after the elemental stars left them. You must seek 4 Luna djinn to gain an advantage over Alex. Even if Alex forms the Luna sun, it won't increase his powers if you get the Luna djinn. This isn't to say, that you don't have to stop him from lighting the lighthouses. It's just a little insurance for the peace to conquer chaos." Felix was wracking his brain to comprehend what the wise one said. He summarized to everyone, " So you wants us to stop Alex at all costs by preventing him from forming the Luna sun. Yet it would be wise for us for Isaac to seek the Luna djinn." " Precisely, Felix. You must leave tomorrow. I sense that Alex already is nearing the portal between Sol Gaia and Luna Gaia. The portal lies in the place where time is not an issue. I must leave now. You adepts need to make up your own plan." After his lecture, the wise one disappeared into thin air. The village elders were dazed by the long talk but manage to escort the 5 adepts into the mayor's house where they would lay out their plans. Isacc was first to talk and said, " I think we need to enlist the help of others namely Ivan and Piers." " I agree but do you think we can catch up with Alex in time?" Felix inquired. " We are going to Lemuria anyways. We might as well get Piers onto this quest. Yet, Ivan will be a different story. He is all the way at Contigo." Mia replied. Garet thought of a brilliant plan for the first time and spoke out, " Since alchemy has been unleashed, every town has been developing new technologies for ships. I heard they added propellers to the Lemurian ship that Piers built for us. These propellers would triple our speed. I personally think Alex is too absorbed with his quest for power to think about putting propellers on his ship. Don't you think Isaac?" Jenna was listening and finally said, " Isaac, it wouldn't hurt to have Ivan in our quest. After all we need a powerful wind adept to accompany us. I'm sure Ivan would help us a great deal in our quest." " Then it is decided! We leave in the morning to Contigo where we pick up Ivan. Then we set sail to Lemuria. Once we get to Luna Gaia, we'll decide what to do next." Isaac said with gusto. Everybody was bushed after hearing the Wise one's story. Garet started to snore and holding Jenna by her lap. Isaac slept soundly with Mia by his side. The only person who wasn't sleeping was Felix. He was having nightmares. He couldn't stop thinking of the kidnapping of his own wife. He swore to stop Alex and support Isaac in everyway. Isaac noticing his friend's trouble immediately woke up and came to his side. Isaac also had a lot on his mind. He couldn't bear the burden that the wise one has placed upon him. He wasn't nearly as powerful as Alex. In his last confrontation at the Sol Sanctum, Alex whooped his ass around the corner. Felix and Isaac started discussing about each other's troubles. They tried their best to comfort each other and eventually were too tired and went to sleep. Nothing could prepare them for what was going to happen in this journey.

(first published) Me: Yep! Friends help each other. I hope this chapter cleared some loose ends. This story will kick into high gear once they reach to Lemuria. Just endure for awhile. I hope dialogue would save this story.

(right before the new year 2004)
Right now I'm trying to make my chapter lengths at least 3000 words. My old average was 1400 words. I'm still racking ideas to add in my old chapters. If you have any input, please email me at wchiu@urbanschool.org. If I don't have anymore ideas, I will combine chapters to meet the 3000 word average.