8BTFreek: I've got too much music in my head.
Rand: Uh-oh... this is a bad sign. Freek, what should we do?
8BTFreek: I'll answer the reviews, then you get Nynaeve.
REVIEW RESPONSES:
Mesoforte: Uh, for part 1. There's going to be a part 2 because the idea I had expanded. The trouble is, it wasn't supposed to. It was just supposed to end. But I'm looking on the bright side. This way, I'll be able to get the others into their own little "situations."
Allexandra: Hey, that's mine! *grumbles* Unfair... Every time I get a good idea, it's either clichŽ or taken. *grumbles more*
tigerlily: Well, it's just me being philosophical. It's one of my observations. When I get a website, I'll put them up on there. Until then, you're just going to get glimpses of them now and then as the fancy strikes me. Thanks for liking the chapter!
Joker: Thank you. Thank you. I enjoyed writing it. It's probably one of the deepest parts of this dark GS3.
ACL: And what would these be? Thanks for the review. And, if I may offer some advice... Get some sleep!
Rallalon: Yes, a cliffhanger. From me, those are rarer than diamond, but not as valuable. More like finding coal in a gold mine. As for your guess... Damn. You are good. Or is it that you can read my mind through the computer? And yes, Alex is off the deep end. He's not playing with a full deck.
END RESPONSES
Nynaeve: Do you like cliches?
8BTFreek: Hey, if it gets the job done...
Gannon: Okay... Anyway, Freek doesn't own Golden Sun, The Lost Age, the characters thereof, the plot thereof, the premise thereof, the-
Rand: Gannon, disclaimers are supposed to be short. Like this: 8BTFreek doesn't own Golden Sun, although he wishes he did.
Gannon: Oh.
**Chapter 6: Mind Games, OR: Death Isn't Always Permanent**
Rhoen's hand tightened on the handle of his weapon. "You," he muttered.
The man bowed. He nodded. "Yes, me." He had a flowing, charismatic voice. You could tell just by listening that he was one of those people who had an over inflated ego. "Jez del graal q'der nin, dasta'rhoen?" (1)
"Bastard. You're a son of a bitch, did you know that?"
"De." He laughed. "So, you remember me, Zhin?" The abhorred name slipped through the man's lips as easily as drool from a dog's tongue, but less welcome. At least the dog enjoyed your companionship.
"Remember you? How could I forget the murdering traitor who slaughtered my brother in his sleep as one would kill a chicken?" He only laughed, a high, emotionless laugh. "Alex, the Slayer of Imil, thought of as a corpse." He bowed. "Stand straight, you sniveling weasel. That way you won't be able to play a trick on me." Alex straightened.
"I see you retain your love of me, Zhin. Or was that your father who found my company so enjoyable." His fists clenched. "I seem to recall Essaara enjoyed my company especially." Alex smiled, but Rhoen grew angry. "What? Did you actually harbor some affection for her? No, I see by your reaction that you would rather she jumped off a cliff than live in the first place." Rhoen's face was twisted in rage, and his knuckles were white from gripping the weapon.
"Get - the hell - out - of -my - room." His face twisted with rage. "Agni nin'ta dal, del zhast'ni'dorgaz!" (2)
"Tut, tut. You should wash your mouth, Zhin. Here, let me - ooh, who's this beauty?" Rhoen turned to the door. Standing white-faced in the doorway was Kay. She looked close to collapse. "Can it be? Has Zhin, the little rhoen-let from the high-and-mighty, gotten a concubine? For shame, for shame." His voice was full of contempt. Worse, Kay could hear his every word.
"Agni nin'ta Chae'rynn drazhd dal, del verbagya'd doralk!" (3) He shook with rage. Unable to control himself, he threw his whole skill against Alex... who stopped him with a wall of air. Alex pulled a dagger from his belt.
"Tonight, I kill you. Then there's one fewer rhoen to keep me from a throne." A faint hum echoed through the room. Alex stood up, stiff as a board. "Ah, drazhd verbagya!" The man's form twisted, lengthened, widened, and, just as suddenly as it had appeared, disappeared in a flash of light.
Kay blinked. "Rhoen, what-"
"Something horrible has happened. Tell your brother. Tell him... Alex is here." Rhoen collapsed on the bed. He was exhausted.
The clock read "9:00."
***
In the Inn, Sheba, Ivan, and Hama had gathered the others. Feizhi had insisted on hearing the details before coming, but when she heard, she rushed to get them from their beds at the ungodly hour of 3:00 AM. "Well, I'm sorr-ry," said Fezhi, a note of exasperation in her voice. "But, Isaac, did you really have to sleep so soundly? Honestly, the way you were, I almost gave up on you for dead." {It's really a good thing Jenna was there to kiss him. That got him up. But waking her was hell, too. Well, best wait for my husband to make his announcement.}
Sheba waltzed to the podium they had temporarily set up. She had always been a morning person, as long as the others could remember - Piers had caught her up at 3:00 once, rearranging pillows on the couch. She claimed "aesthetics" as her reason, but it was really just the fact that she could wake up at any time of the day and feel comfortable. "Well, at least you're all here. Now could you please give your attention to me?" She was wearing her normal sleeping clothes - that is to say, a close-fitting shirt and long breeches. Felix was making sure Piers didn't stare too closely at her. "Well, let's see. I assume you're all sore about being woken up for this. Let me clarify why. All four of us Jupiter Adepts have been having dreams. Not pleasant dreams, either. Dreams that are suspiciously like visions."
Feizhi nearly leapt from her seat. Ivan's hand, however, kept her down. Sheba continued. "There are some points that are very clear, but most are murky and merit discussion. We'll take the dreams in a very specific order. Feizhi, yours should come first. Please explain them." She nodded, then walked a very dignified step to the podium.
"Hello. It's me, the Xian jade that captured Ivan's heart. I have had a very bad set of dreams. Bad, mainly because they confuse me." She paused, took a deep breath, and continued. "The first occurred about a month ago. It frightened me. All of us, and our children, walked along a wheel. The wheel had ten spokes on it, and on the space between each was written a word. On the space where we walked, the word 'tension' was written. I still have no clue what it means, but I know that it was a bad thing for that word to be where we walked.
"The next was a week later. I saw Ivan, Isaac, Garet, Felix, and Piers walking up the stairs of a large building. Upon each stair was a foe, but they took down every single one in their path. But then came a stair where they could not fight. They were frozen, and I could hear screams from their souls. When I looked, I saw myself dreaming on the step above, something holding a knife over my sleeping body. It seemed to say, 'If you kill me, she dies.' I then changed into Jenna, who changed into Mia, who became Hama, who turned into Sheba. A sixth man appeared, and the form recoiled, but then the sleeping woman became Kay." She paused, then cleared her throat. "All five of you attacked the sixth man, and the thing's arm struck toward Piers. He wasn't paying attention, though. He unsheathed his sword and swung at the man. I woke at mid-swing." She pulled herself together. That second dream had driven her to hysterics the night she dreamt it, and it was more unnerving now that she had had time to contemplate possible meanings. She nodded, then walked to the seats along the back wall. Hama got up next.
"Felix, I am sorry I woke you that night. I didn't mean to. But I had a dream." She paused. "It was exactly twenty days ago this day when the dream came. I saw a tarnished crown, the gold circlet on the bottom being buffed by a young blue-haired man. He was walking down the street, and the paving stones crumbled under his steps. When I looked at the stones ahead, I saw that each one bore a human face." She paused.
{Is that her dream?} Feizhi wondered. Hama took a deep breath, then continued.
"At that moment, the dream shifted. It changed into a dream of a snake. The snake awoke, and then it began to slide. I could hear its hissing, and it seemed to be saying, 'Power is to the right, Protection is to the left. Down the center is Justice.' It repeated this one phrase over and over. Finally, it came back to where it had begun - it was going in circles - and its speech changed. Now, it said, 'Broken are the bonds of the siblings. Broken are the ties of the dead. Cut loose is the world's order-string.' It would not stop repeating this." She walked back to her seat, a little more stiffly than she had before. Ivan stood and took the stand.
"There are only two dreams left. Mine, which you will hear now, and Sheba's." He paused. "Nine days ago, I lay down to sleep and saw what I normally see in dreams: the usual nonsense, things that don't really matter. Then it broke off. Suddenly, the dreams began to have fire around the edges. A voice began playing in the background of all of them, saying, 'All I need is...' then something would light on fire. 'All I need is...' a bit stronger. It kept on doing this, and fire would jump into my dreams. Suddenly, the flames formed Alex's face.
"It grinned at me. 'Are you happy to see me, Ivan?' it asked. 'Death is but a doorway. Sleep is but a pause. Expect the Sleeper to awaken. You know of whom I speak, little mind-reader.' The face faded, and a voice came into my dreams. 'Doom,' it whispered. 'Doom, if you do not see the signs of man's fading wisdom.'
"The voice stopped, and all turned black. Then I heard little children singing. 'Eight are there, and two will rise. Stomp the darkness in the eyes. One will give the greatest gift. But blood shall never flow so hard.' They sang this again, then, 'One will love One, One will loose One, One will loose to One, and three Ones are more at the end.'" He sat down.
"Bloody moron if you didn't get the meaning of the first part," muttered Sheba as she walked to the makeshift podium. "Anyway," she continued in her normal voice, "here's my dream. Same night as Ivan's." She cleared her throat. "Someone was saying things in a language I didn't understand. Someone else stood behind him, translating. The man said, 'Darkness I see creeping over your fair land. Pain is close if nothing is what you do. Death will come if you do not cope. Learn of his weakness; learn of his strength. Make use of both. But do not go alone. Under the First Mountain he sleeps. Be there at the stroke of dawn by the Mars Day, or nothing will stop him. Destroy the usurper of my throne.' It was later I realized that there was a week left to the five-year anniversary of the lighting of Mars Lighthouse. If I recall, we celebrated that when we came back." She nodded. "My dreams have been clouded since."
The other Jupiter Adepts nodded. "I can't even see tomorrow," muttered Hama.
"Tomorrow? I have trouble seeing this afternoon," muttered Feizhi.
"That's nothing. I've shown you. My talent has been drained to a mere hour." Ivan didn't strut this time, though. He trudged off, grumbling. "Bloody waste of bloody power if you can't see one bloody hour into the damned future."
The sun was rising. It was about 9:30 when the Adepts finally exited the room. On the street, Garet bumped into a running Kay. She was nearly out of breath, and she fell upon contact with him. Hastily, she dusted off her dress. "Garet," she said, gulping for air, "there's something I need to tell you."
"What is it?" he asked. "Some favor you have to do for your barbaric lover?" She knocked him upside the head a little weakly. She didn't have much strength.
"I saw a blue-haired man in the spare bedroom. You know - Rhoen's room." His head shot up, and he stared at her with wide eyes. "Rhoen was busy yelling at him in some weird language. Finally, the man pulled a knife. Just as he was about to stab our guest, something happened. He yelled something like a curse, glowed, and just... disappeared." She paused. "He seemed eager to stick the knife in Rhoen's ribs."
"Blood and bloody ashes. Have you had any strange dreams lately?"
"Only one last night. Why?"
"Oh, bloody hell. Kay, I'm going to need you to tell everyone about this dream of yours, understand?" He walked away from her, muttering, "Bloody, maggot-ridden, corpse-loving beetle-munchers." He walked up to Feizhi and Ivan. "Ivan, something's wrong. Alex is back."
"We figured that out in there, remember?" Ivan stared at him as if he were sick.
"Not just asleep. He's back. As in, he's roaming around again? And I think he has a grudge with Piers's buddy." The last few words were spoken with sarcasm. Garet knew Piers's attitude toward Rhoen; it was the same attitude Felix held towards the Mayor of Alhafra.
Ivan just stared in shock.
***
Nynaeve: Well, he's got music in his head.
8BTFreek: I could have told you that!
Nynaeve: Shut up, I wasn't finished yet. Well, there's nothing you can do. Only I could cure something like that, and I don't feel like it.
8BTFreek: ... Oh well. Here's the translations: (1): Are you happy to see me, little rhoen?; (2): Leave my room, you son of a bitch!; (3): Leave my goddamn room, you hellish minion!
Hey, I know you're out there! Review, please!
Nynaeve: Or I'll come over and...
Rand: Trust me, just her going over is a threat in itself. Review, or Freek will send Nynaeve, which will be bad for you and him.
Rand: Uh-oh... this is a bad sign. Freek, what should we do?
8BTFreek: I'll answer the reviews, then you get Nynaeve.
REVIEW RESPONSES:
Mesoforte: Uh, for part 1. There's going to be a part 2 because the idea I had expanded. The trouble is, it wasn't supposed to. It was just supposed to end. But I'm looking on the bright side. This way, I'll be able to get the others into their own little "situations."
Allexandra: Hey, that's mine! *grumbles* Unfair... Every time I get a good idea, it's either clichŽ or taken. *grumbles more*
tigerlily: Well, it's just me being philosophical. It's one of my observations. When I get a website, I'll put them up on there. Until then, you're just going to get glimpses of them now and then as the fancy strikes me. Thanks for liking the chapter!
Joker: Thank you. Thank you. I enjoyed writing it. It's probably one of the deepest parts of this dark GS3.
ACL: And what would these be? Thanks for the review. And, if I may offer some advice... Get some sleep!
Rallalon: Yes, a cliffhanger. From me, those are rarer than diamond, but not as valuable. More like finding coal in a gold mine. As for your guess... Damn. You are good. Or is it that you can read my mind through the computer? And yes, Alex is off the deep end. He's not playing with a full deck.
END RESPONSES
Nynaeve: Do you like cliches?
8BTFreek: Hey, if it gets the job done...
Gannon: Okay... Anyway, Freek doesn't own Golden Sun, The Lost Age, the characters thereof, the plot thereof, the premise thereof, the-
Rand: Gannon, disclaimers are supposed to be short. Like this: 8BTFreek doesn't own Golden Sun, although he wishes he did.
Gannon: Oh.
**Chapter 6: Mind Games, OR: Death Isn't Always Permanent**
Rhoen's hand tightened on the handle of his weapon. "You," he muttered.
The man bowed. He nodded. "Yes, me." He had a flowing, charismatic voice. You could tell just by listening that he was one of those people who had an over inflated ego. "Jez del graal q'der nin, dasta'rhoen?" (1)
"Bastard. You're a son of a bitch, did you know that?"
"De." He laughed. "So, you remember me, Zhin?" The abhorred name slipped through the man's lips as easily as drool from a dog's tongue, but less welcome. At least the dog enjoyed your companionship.
"Remember you? How could I forget the murdering traitor who slaughtered my brother in his sleep as one would kill a chicken?" He only laughed, a high, emotionless laugh. "Alex, the Slayer of Imil, thought of as a corpse." He bowed. "Stand straight, you sniveling weasel. That way you won't be able to play a trick on me." Alex straightened.
"I see you retain your love of me, Zhin. Or was that your father who found my company so enjoyable." His fists clenched. "I seem to recall Essaara enjoyed my company especially." Alex smiled, but Rhoen grew angry. "What? Did you actually harbor some affection for her? No, I see by your reaction that you would rather she jumped off a cliff than live in the first place." Rhoen's face was twisted in rage, and his knuckles were white from gripping the weapon.
"Get - the hell - out - of -my - room." His face twisted with rage. "Agni nin'ta dal, del zhast'ni'dorgaz!" (2)
"Tut, tut. You should wash your mouth, Zhin. Here, let me - ooh, who's this beauty?" Rhoen turned to the door. Standing white-faced in the doorway was Kay. She looked close to collapse. "Can it be? Has Zhin, the little rhoen-let from the high-and-mighty, gotten a concubine? For shame, for shame." His voice was full of contempt. Worse, Kay could hear his every word.
"Agni nin'ta Chae'rynn drazhd dal, del verbagya'd doralk!" (3) He shook with rage. Unable to control himself, he threw his whole skill against Alex... who stopped him with a wall of air. Alex pulled a dagger from his belt.
"Tonight, I kill you. Then there's one fewer rhoen to keep me from a throne." A faint hum echoed through the room. Alex stood up, stiff as a board. "Ah, drazhd verbagya!" The man's form twisted, lengthened, widened, and, just as suddenly as it had appeared, disappeared in a flash of light.
Kay blinked. "Rhoen, what-"
"Something horrible has happened. Tell your brother. Tell him... Alex is here." Rhoen collapsed on the bed. He was exhausted.
The clock read "9:00."
***
In the Inn, Sheba, Ivan, and Hama had gathered the others. Feizhi had insisted on hearing the details before coming, but when she heard, she rushed to get them from their beds at the ungodly hour of 3:00 AM. "Well, I'm sorr-ry," said Fezhi, a note of exasperation in her voice. "But, Isaac, did you really have to sleep so soundly? Honestly, the way you were, I almost gave up on you for dead." {It's really a good thing Jenna was there to kiss him. That got him up. But waking her was hell, too. Well, best wait for my husband to make his announcement.}
Sheba waltzed to the podium they had temporarily set up. She had always been a morning person, as long as the others could remember - Piers had caught her up at 3:00 once, rearranging pillows on the couch. She claimed "aesthetics" as her reason, but it was really just the fact that she could wake up at any time of the day and feel comfortable. "Well, at least you're all here. Now could you please give your attention to me?" She was wearing her normal sleeping clothes - that is to say, a close-fitting shirt and long breeches. Felix was making sure Piers didn't stare too closely at her. "Well, let's see. I assume you're all sore about being woken up for this. Let me clarify why. All four of us Jupiter Adepts have been having dreams. Not pleasant dreams, either. Dreams that are suspiciously like visions."
Feizhi nearly leapt from her seat. Ivan's hand, however, kept her down. Sheba continued. "There are some points that are very clear, but most are murky and merit discussion. We'll take the dreams in a very specific order. Feizhi, yours should come first. Please explain them." She nodded, then walked a very dignified step to the podium.
"Hello. It's me, the Xian jade that captured Ivan's heart. I have had a very bad set of dreams. Bad, mainly because they confuse me." She paused, took a deep breath, and continued. "The first occurred about a month ago. It frightened me. All of us, and our children, walked along a wheel. The wheel had ten spokes on it, and on the space between each was written a word. On the space where we walked, the word 'tension' was written. I still have no clue what it means, but I know that it was a bad thing for that word to be where we walked.
"The next was a week later. I saw Ivan, Isaac, Garet, Felix, and Piers walking up the stairs of a large building. Upon each stair was a foe, but they took down every single one in their path. But then came a stair where they could not fight. They were frozen, and I could hear screams from their souls. When I looked, I saw myself dreaming on the step above, something holding a knife over my sleeping body. It seemed to say, 'If you kill me, she dies.' I then changed into Jenna, who changed into Mia, who became Hama, who turned into Sheba. A sixth man appeared, and the form recoiled, but then the sleeping woman became Kay." She paused, then cleared her throat. "All five of you attacked the sixth man, and the thing's arm struck toward Piers. He wasn't paying attention, though. He unsheathed his sword and swung at the man. I woke at mid-swing." She pulled herself together. That second dream had driven her to hysterics the night she dreamt it, and it was more unnerving now that she had had time to contemplate possible meanings. She nodded, then walked to the seats along the back wall. Hama got up next.
"Felix, I am sorry I woke you that night. I didn't mean to. But I had a dream." She paused. "It was exactly twenty days ago this day when the dream came. I saw a tarnished crown, the gold circlet on the bottom being buffed by a young blue-haired man. He was walking down the street, and the paving stones crumbled under his steps. When I looked at the stones ahead, I saw that each one bore a human face." She paused.
{Is that her dream?} Feizhi wondered. Hama took a deep breath, then continued.
"At that moment, the dream shifted. It changed into a dream of a snake. The snake awoke, and then it began to slide. I could hear its hissing, and it seemed to be saying, 'Power is to the right, Protection is to the left. Down the center is Justice.' It repeated this one phrase over and over. Finally, it came back to where it had begun - it was going in circles - and its speech changed. Now, it said, 'Broken are the bonds of the siblings. Broken are the ties of the dead. Cut loose is the world's order-string.' It would not stop repeating this." She walked back to her seat, a little more stiffly than she had before. Ivan stood and took the stand.
"There are only two dreams left. Mine, which you will hear now, and Sheba's." He paused. "Nine days ago, I lay down to sleep and saw what I normally see in dreams: the usual nonsense, things that don't really matter. Then it broke off. Suddenly, the dreams began to have fire around the edges. A voice began playing in the background of all of them, saying, 'All I need is...' then something would light on fire. 'All I need is...' a bit stronger. It kept on doing this, and fire would jump into my dreams. Suddenly, the flames formed Alex's face.
"It grinned at me. 'Are you happy to see me, Ivan?' it asked. 'Death is but a doorway. Sleep is but a pause. Expect the Sleeper to awaken. You know of whom I speak, little mind-reader.' The face faded, and a voice came into my dreams. 'Doom,' it whispered. 'Doom, if you do not see the signs of man's fading wisdom.'
"The voice stopped, and all turned black. Then I heard little children singing. 'Eight are there, and two will rise. Stomp the darkness in the eyes. One will give the greatest gift. But blood shall never flow so hard.' They sang this again, then, 'One will love One, One will loose One, One will loose to One, and three Ones are more at the end.'" He sat down.
"Bloody moron if you didn't get the meaning of the first part," muttered Sheba as she walked to the makeshift podium. "Anyway," she continued in her normal voice, "here's my dream. Same night as Ivan's." She cleared her throat. "Someone was saying things in a language I didn't understand. Someone else stood behind him, translating. The man said, 'Darkness I see creeping over your fair land. Pain is close if nothing is what you do. Death will come if you do not cope. Learn of his weakness; learn of his strength. Make use of both. But do not go alone. Under the First Mountain he sleeps. Be there at the stroke of dawn by the Mars Day, or nothing will stop him. Destroy the usurper of my throne.' It was later I realized that there was a week left to the five-year anniversary of the lighting of Mars Lighthouse. If I recall, we celebrated that when we came back." She nodded. "My dreams have been clouded since."
The other Jupiter Adepts nodded. "I can't even see tomorrow," muttered Hama.
"Tomorrow? I have trouble seeing this afternoon," muttered Feizhi.
"That's nothing. I've shown you. My talent has been drained to a mere hour." Ivan didn't strut this time, though. He trudged off, grumbling. "Bloody waste of bloody power if you can't see one bloody hour into the damned future."
The sun was rising. It was about 9:30 when the Adepts finally exited the room. On the street, Garet bumped into a running Kay. She was nearly out of breath, and she fell upon contact with him. Hastily, she dusted off her dress. "Garet," she said, gulping for air, "there's something I need to tell you."
"What is it?" he asked. "Some favor you have to do for your barbaric lover?" She knocked him upside the head a little weakly. She didn't have much strength.
"I saw a blue-haired man in the spare bedroom. You know - Rhoen's room." His head shot up, and he stared at her with wide eyes. "Rhoen was busy yelling at him in some weird language. Finally, the man pulled a knife. Just as he was about to stab our guest, something happened. He yelled something like a curse, glowed, and just... disappeared." She paused. "He seemed eager to stick the knife in Rhoen's ribs."
"Blood and bloody ashes. Have you had any strange dreams lately?"
"Only one last night. Why?"
"Oh, bloody hell. Kay, I'm going to need you to tell everyone about this dream of yours, understand?" He walked away from her, muttering, "Bloody, maggot-ridden, corpse-loving beetle-munchers." He walked up to Feizhi and Ivan. "Ivan, something's wrong. Alex is back."
"We figured that out in there, remember?" Ivan stared at him as if he were sick.
"Not just asleep. He's back. As in, he's roaming around again? And I think he has a grudge with Piers's buddy." The last few words were spoken with sarcasm. Garet knew Piers's attitude toward Rhoen; it was the same attitude Felix held towards the Mayor of Alhafra.
Ivan just stared in shock.
***
Nynaeve: Well, he's got music in his head.
8BTFreek: I could have told you that!
Nynaeve: Shut up, I wasn't finished yet. Well, there's nothing you can do. Only I could cure something like that, and I don't feel like it.
8BTFreek: ... Oh well. Here's the translations: (1): Are you happy to see me, little rhoen?; (2): Leave my room, you son of a bitch!; (3): Leave my goddamn room, you hellish minion!
Hey, I know you're out there! Review, please!
Nynaeve: Or I'll come over and...
Rand: Trust me, just her going over is a threat in itself. Review, or Freek will send Nynaeve, which will be bad for you and him.