Reviews:
Master of Reality- Yeah, the stone of the sages is probably the biggest thing that bugged me about the ending in the Lost Age. I mean, in Golden Sun 1, Kraden ranted and ranted all about it. But I have given it some thought and its insertion into my story will hopefully leave you satisfied.
Disclaimer: Maybe I should get a muse to take care of this part. Nah, I never understood why people used them in the first place. So I guess I retain the honor of joyfully exclaiming that I do not own Golden Sun....or any of it characters.
Chapter VI
- Two Awakenings -
All through the night Adrian's body was stirring and streaming with sweat. When he awoke his hair felt like that of a house mop that had just finished soaking in the scum off the clean floor. His clothes were reduced to nothing more than wet garments boating the stench of a farm animal and to top it all off, his back was aching from his sword that he had forgotten to take off before he fell asleep. The dawn came quickly and harshly as Adrian's eyes blurred behind his closed eyelids. When he finally opened them, he saw his parents and his uncle busy packing their things. Felix noticed Adrian's awakening first.
"Good morning Adrian," he said mounting his scabbard on his back.
Adrian nodded and averted his gaze to his parents, whose eyes were already intently looking in his direction.
"How did you sleep?" Jenna asked him.
"Fine," Adrian answered.
"Your clothes suggest otherwise," Isaac told his son. "You will need to bathe in the river outside of town before we embark any further."
"I agree," Felix said. "I can't imagine which is worse; death by sword, or death by stench."
"Felix!" Jenna scolded, "Adrian has been having nightmares, leave the boy alone."
"He was just joking Mother," Adrian assured her. "And besides, I probably do smell bad. Maybe even almost as bad as when you and Uncle Felix rolled around in the fertilizer right before we left New Vale."
Jenna blushed while Felix gave a little chuckle. "Nevertheless," Felix said regaining his composure, "your father's suggestion would benefit us all."
Felix then paused and looked as if we was pondering up the insight of the ages as he rested his chin on his fist.
"On second thought," he resolved, "if Adrian didn't go to the river, we wouldn't have to worry about monster attacks ever again. No creature in all of Weyard would be foolish enough to come within even twenty leagues of his awful..."
"That's enough," Jenna interrupted him. "We all are aware of Adrian's...aroma, but how about we do something about it instead of merely embarrassing him. Felix, since you seem the most opinionated about the situation, I think you would be the perfect candidate to take Adrian to the river, right now."
"You heard Lady Jenna," Isaac urged to Felix as he caught his wife blush yet again. "Off with you two! We have business to attend to with the soldier before we go anyway. We'll meet up with you at the river in a couple hours."
Felix turned to Adrian. "Somehow that didn't work out the way I wanted it to."
Adrian simply smiled and shrugged. The two then left the room and headed for the river, leaving Isaac and Jenna alone together for the first time since the eve of the journey.
Isaac approached Jenna and parted some of the hair that was covering her eyes. Over all the years of aging and change, Isaac noticed that her face had never lost it's youthful radiance; her simple beauty never faltering from shining through her lush and passionate brown eyes. But lately, the sparkle that so clearly defined her complexion was being eclipsed by something. A burden, Isaac knew, but the extent of it was disturbingly unclear to him. He vowed to himself that he would found out.
"What is troubling you, love?" he whispered to her grasping both of her hands.
"Nothing, Isaac," she answered him. "I'm just a little eager to get going."
"As am I," he replied, "but is that it?"
Jenna gripped his hands a little tighter with hers. She then looked into Isaac's pleading face, but slowly averted her gaze to the floor. "Everything will be fine once we confirm whether or not Adrian was responsible for the canyon," she said. "The sooner we find out, the sooner my heart can find refuge."
"How will you find peace from what we learn about Adrian?" Isaac asked her.
"Not peace Isaac, refuge. And a temporary one at that. As long as the threat of alchemy haunts Weyard and my children are still living in it, I will never be at peace," Jenna said now looking directly into her husband's eyes.
"And Adrian?" he repeated. Jenna slowly inhaled as she tried to gather the thoughts that had for so long been strictly emotion and instinct. The transformation deemed very difficult for her as she tried to think about all the possible words to describe the sole feeling that was screaming in her soul and her mind.
"Isaac," she began, "in my heart I know that the canyon was the work of our son. I have no doubt anymore for I have learned that doubt is the product of fear and fear is what I wish to part with. The reason in which I longed for Adrian not to be responsible for the canyon was because to have such power would mean for him to have great enemies in the future."
"That's not necessarily true," Isaac assured her. "I've read of many great kings who have lived their entire reigns without a single war."
"But Adrian is no king," Jenna reasoned. "He is a boy who is entering a world already on the fringes of chaos. With his heart I know he will rally against opposing conflict and if his power is genuine, he will fight with courage and he will triumph. It is for this that I worry for him because the triumph of good is always met with the retaliation of evil. It is the sad way of things, and it is an ensuing circle that I do not want Adrian to be a part of."
"But Jenna," Isaac pleaded, "Adrian is already a part of this encompassing cycle, as are the rest of us. This circle that you speak of is the very framework of human existence and no matter how hard we try, we do not have the power to choose whether or not we participate in it. The beauty of this circle is that it immerses us into life's endless flood of possibility and allows us to embrace the path of our choosing. If anything Jenna, take refuge in the fact that Adrian chose to use his power to defend a helpless foal against the slaughter of the strong. As far as I'm concerned, Adrian has chosen sides in this battle and has made an honorable stand to reinforce his decision. Take refuge Jenna, that no matter what happens to our son in the future, that this day he made his choice to fight and strive for the ways of goodness and virtue. His future now lies in his own hands; our work with Adrian is done."
The world as Jenna knew for twelve years was beginning to blur and blossom with a light that gave her warmth and an undying calm of which she had almost forgotten. Her face lifted and Isaac beamed in recognition of the sparkle that had laid dormant for far too long. The worry that had once dominated the very essence of her present being had now dispersed. She was herself again.
"But we will never falter from supporting him," Jenna said assertively.
"Of course," Isaac replied. "To Lemuria then!"
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Felix and Adrian returned from the river to find Isaac and Jenna conversing with a tall and built man wearing the apparel of a soldier just outside the inn doors.
"That must be the soldier your parents were talking about last night," concluded Felix. Adrian's stomach lurched as he put together the features of the man before him with his recollections from the previous night. This was the man that had witnessed him slaughter an entire pack of wolves. Apparently the soldier must have recognized Adrian as well for immediately after taking one glance of the boy he nodded to Isaac and Jenna.
"You must be the young magician," the soldier commented, "or eh, the adept as I come to understand. My name is Torin."
"Nice to meet you Torin," the boy replied, "I'm Adrian."
The two shook hands like two people who already been introduced by the hand of some pre-destined encounter that in a way had already binded the two together well before they had formally met. For Adrian, Torin represented the epitome of his malevolent actions taken with the wolves, essentially the pure essence of the potential evil he was capable of. Likewise for Torin, Adrian was the gateway to his understanding of a world so unreal and fantastic that to deny it's existence would be to deny life itself; to not pursue these newfound mysteries, would be for him to isolate all the wonders of Weyard and place them desolately inside of a cage.
Little however did these two know that this meeting marked the beginning of an interdependent relationship that would forge each of their separate lines of destiny into one intricate twist of fate. But this was not to come in the sleepy town of Vault, or in any of the destinations included in Adrian and his family's quest. So for the present being, the two merely exchanged greetings, and parted shortly after.
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"Alex," a distant and ethereal voice called. "Alex, you must wake up."
Like an ensuing storm the voice became louder and more pronounced as the words approached his consciousness. "Alex...Alex."
The voice was that of a woman's and her tender tone soothed his mind. He opened his eyes.
"Alex, we must hurry."
The room was faintly lit and the woman before him was enshrouded in twilight.
"Mother?" Alex said rubbing his eyes.
"Get up young one, your father and sisters are waiting at the port."
"Why?" Alex asked her. "Is something wrong?"
"Alex, please just get your things, we must go now."
"Mother, what's wrong? Mother!" The woman vanished as the front door blew open by a screaming gust of wind. Alex jumped out of his bed and ran outside.
"Alex," the woman called reappearing at the side of the road. "Alex, the war has begun, we must flee this place!"
"Mother!" Alex wailed as he rushed to her side.
"Take my hand Alex and hold on tight."
"I won't let go, Mother. I won't let go."
The road was filled with frightened families all heading for the nearest port while storm clouds gathered in the east to meet them.
"Where will we go after we reach the port?" Alex asked.
"To the island city of Miliad."
"Will we be safe there?" Alex said clutching his mother's hand a little more tightly.
"Long enough for the ship to be outfitted to cross the falls and to leave this forsaken land."
"Will we ever come back to Gavren?"
"I hope so my child." And a tear fell down her cheek.
They walked for leagues and leagues with countless others trotting ahead and behind them until they finally reached their destination. The port was in chaos. The storm that Alex and his mother had seen brewing in the east had destroyed half the docks. Rain continued to pelt the port and it's inhabitants as fierce winds spawned even fiercer waves that rocked and toppled many outgoing vessels. People were constantly screaming as they were thrown overboard into the fury of the storm waters. Ships were being scorched by stray lightning strikes that were barraging the port. Thunder deafened the ears of everyone.
Someone was shouting, but Alex could not hear what was being said above the noise of the storm. The voice became less distant but still the shouts remained inaudible. And then a man appeared from behind a corner.
"Carina!" the voice shouted again. "Carina!"
"Kent!"
Alex watched as his father and mother embraced. Kent then turned to Alex.
"We must get you to the ship."
"But the storm father," Alex tried to reason. "The ship has probably been destroyed by now."
"My ship is in dry dock right now, son. It is perfectly safe from the storm and your sisters are perfectly safe waiting for you. We must make haste though."
The scene then changed from the flooding streets to the dry dock. Alex and his parents approached the boarding ramp as his sisters waved from the deck of the ship. Alex stepped off the ramp and ran to his sisters. He then turned around to see his parents motionless.
"Mother, Father, don't we have to go now?" Alex urged them.
"We are not going with you, son."
Alex's heart began to beat furiously with fear. His sisters began to cry.
"Why...why are you not coming with us?" Alex questioned. Carina was the first to answer.
"Because your father must stay and fight, and I will not leave his side."
"But, what about us?" one of his sisters cried. "Who will take care of us?" A man then repelled down the mast and landed on the deck next to the girls.
"The pirate Deadbeard will take you to Miliad," Kent told them. "He is a good man and he can protect you from the other pirates marauding the waters.
"They'll be safe with me," the man said in a burly voice. "I'll get them across the falls."
"Momma I'm scared," Alex said as he rushed to Carina and threw his arms around her
"You must be strong, my child. Take care of your sisters." Kent and the girls joined the two for one last embrace, and then the scene changed once again.
The storm was even more devastating out in the open sea as the boat rocked and creaked along the crashing waves. Water was cascading Alex's face as his tears flowed freely. His sisters were below deck but he could not bring himself to stop gazing westward at the port even though it was well out of view.
"Alex!" the pirate Deadbeard shouted above the thunderous storm. "You must get yourself below decks! The waves'll throw ya overboard and then that'll be the last of you! Alex!"
Alex looked at Deadbeard's pleading glances, but then slowly turned his head back to continue his westward gaze. And then he found himself in the port city of Miliad.
"Come me boy!" Deadbeard beckoned. "The ship is ready for departure!"
Alex stepped on to the newly outfitted boat. From the deck he could spot several other vessels similarly equipped leaving their docks and heading for the falls. His father's ship began to accelerate and in no time at all the ship approached the Great Cascades. Alex watched in awe as dozens of ships lifted off the water and soared into the sanctuary of the clouds. His heart skipped a beat as his own ship levitated above the falls and began it's journey across the great expanse. As Alex and the pirate Deadbeard flew farther and farther away from Gavren, the rain barraging Alex's face was replaced by gentle gales caressing his body. But this time of relative comfort was swiftly replaced by unspeakable horror. The sky began raining fire as masses of all shapes and sizes bombarded the many ships traveling the great expanse. Alex watched as a ship erupted into flames and shredded into pieces as a large flaming rock struck the main deck.
"Meteors," Deadbeard said sullenly. "It appears even the spirits rally against us."
One by one Alex witnessed the destruction of the flying ships by the hand of the falling inferno. A vessel in close proximity to Alex's ship was struck hard by a small meteorite to the right wing. The crew screamed in agony as the ship plummeted hopelessly to the depths of the unknown. Alex watched them fall until he could no longer see them.
Only three ships including Alex's remained airborne as the meteor shower continued to cast it's death spell upon the people of Gavren. When the meteorites finally seemed to stop falling, Alex looked up to see hundreds of meteors as large as mountains crashing furiously against each other as they made their way to meet the three lone ships struggling to survive the mighty onslaught. As the giant behemoths gained upon them, the uppermost ship was crushed into oblivion as two meteors collided into it. The two remaining vessels dived frantically to put some distance between them and the rocks.
"We are never going to be able outrun them!" Alex exclaimed to the pirate.
"Then what do ya expect me to about it, laddie?"
"How much psynergy do you have left?" Alex asked him.
"Enough to carry this ship from the east end to the west end of Gavren if I have to. Why do ya ask?"
"Because the only way we are going to survive this is if we can get these meteors off our backs." Right as Alex said this the other ship a couple hundred feet above them burst into shreds as the starboard side of the hull scraped against a gaining meteor.
"And how to ya intend to do that young lad?"
"Well," Alex contemplated, "it's obvious that we can't outrun them going down as we've witnessed with that last ship. But maybe we might just be able to have those meteors pass us by...by going up."
Deadbeard chuckled. "Are ya serious?"
"It's the only way," Alex shrugged.
"Well then!" the pirate exclaimed. "Let's see if me psynergy can hold through a vertical ascent." The ship then pulled up from it's nose dive and began to ascend toward certain death.
"Ya know lad, the success of this escapade depends solely on the chance of an opening from these fast colliding monstrosities."
"Better to face death head on than to be taken from behind," Alex reasoned.
Deadbeard bellowed in laughter. "Right ya are mate, right ya are."
The ship drew closer and closer to the falling mountains but a safe route through the masses refused to reveal itself. Alex then noticed two extremely large meteors edging toward each other a little left of their current flight path.
"Head toward those two big ones!" Alex ordered.
"Don't ya worry laddie, I see them too."
As the ship ascended dangerously close to the meteor field, the two giant masses finally collided but grinded together instead of repelling each other.
"Alex, we're going to have find a different way!"
"Wait for it..."
"Alex!"
"Just wait!" Alex urged.
Sure enough the grinding began to die down and the masses started to diverge.
"Take it!" Alex shouted. Deadbeard mustered up all the remaining psynergy he had to speed the ship through the gap before another meteor could hit one of the two diverging ones. But his fears were confirmed as the two rocks began to converge again as the ship was only half way through the opening.
"It's going to be a bit tight lad, so hold on!"
"We aren't going to make it!" Alex screamed.
"Oh yes we will," the pirate assured him as he searched within his mind for the psynergy reserves needed to give this ship the agility necessary to make it through that opening. In one last burst of speed the ship zoomed through the opening as the dorsal balcony of the ship crunched between the two meteor's mighty fists.
Alex and the pirate cheered as they looked back upon the obstacle well behind them. Their joy however was short-lived as they faced what newly lied in plain view. The opening in which Alex thought would permit their survival instead turned out to be a passageway leading further into harm's way. All of the small burning meteorites that had seemed to stopped falling were falling once again.
"When the big ones started coming, the small ones must of been blocked off and trapped in here," Deadbeard concluded after assessing the scene. Almost immediately after he finished a meteorite the size of small fist slammed into the crow's nest causing it to burst into burning shreds.
"We're not going to last much longer in here lad," Deadbeard commented turning his head to the boy beside him. "Alex?"
Alex could see the pirate's mouth moving but the words he heard were all a jumble. His thoughts became hazy as images of a million little fiery instruments of death flinging their way toward him engulfed his consciousness. He collapsed and saw a misty perception of Deadbeard rushing to his side. Alex's eyes began to close but were startled open by another small meteorite crashing down onto the deck. He rolled to his side and vomited. Deadbeard jumped back and got up to continue navigating. Alex watched the psynergy tapped pirate struggle to pilot the ship around the thousands of bombarding rock particles. A larger meteorite then hit the mast dead on. Alex didn't see where the mast fell for by the time this had happened, his grip on consciousness was gone.
Alex felt himself leave his body and float above the scene to survey it with his own eyes. His adolescent body sprawled out upon the deck nauseated by fear of death, the pirate Deadbeard engaging in piloting a psynergy-flown vessel at the brink of exhaustion, his two sisters below decks crying and not knowing what was going on or why their parents had abandoned them, and lastly the descending inferno that threatened to destroy all that Alex saw before him, all, danced freely in Alex's mind as the never-ending nightmare refused to recede.
But then it did begin to recede. First, Alex watched as his adolescent body vanished, followed then by Deadbeard's. Then, the fiery meteorites disappeared one by one and soon the entire sky dissipated into a vast expanse of darkness soon to enshroud the ship holding Alex's two sisters in shadows.
And then all was black. But the nightmare wasn't over. Alex was still there looking at nothing, feeling nothing, and hearing nothing. But not for long...
"ALEX!" a voice boomed and echoed through the darkness.
"Who's there?" Alex asked startled looking frantically around him. There was silence for a few seconds, but was soon broken by Alex's screams as a huge white eye opened up and focused upon him.
"As long as you retain your mortality Alex, I urge you to be content," the voice boomed. Alex then recognized the speaker by the familiar words spoken upon the summit of Mt. Aleph.
"Wise One!" Alex shouted furiously. "Why don't you leave me be!"
"As long as you still wish to disrupt the balance of power in Weyard you will never be out of my sight."
"But to haunt my dreams like a hooded specter?" Alex asked him. "This is madness even for spirit like yourself!"
"Nonsense," The Wise One refuted. "Dreams are what drive the souls of men. I am hoping my intervention within yours will give you a certain rationality when you awaken."
"Your efforts are valiant noble guardian," Alex said mockingly, "but rationality is not what I lack. I fear you fail to understand the qualities of which I do possess, such as ambition greater than that of the mightiest conqueror, that of dedication more sure than the coming season of spring after a winter frost, and a will so engrained in the very heart, mind, and soul of my being that no weapon ever forged unless sharpened with fate itself could ever tear it away from me."
The Wise One remained silent as his earthen eyelid began to descend. The light radiating from his gaze became dimmer as Alex watched in triumph as the Wise One seemingly retreated in his efforts to redeem him.
"Awaken Alex," he said almost in a whisper. "Much time has passed since the destruction of Mt. Aleph. I urge you to rethink your ambitions and weigh the consequences for your actions. I will observe your dreams with interest." And with that, his eye completely shut and the utter darkness returned.
Alex awoke in a massive sweat. He opened his eyes to see rocks and debris from Mt. Aleph scattered all around and on his body. As his eyes adjusted to the relative darkness of where he was, he discovered a large boulder lying on top of his upper legs. He couldn't see or feel his legs and arms, but he was pleased to find out that his arms were merely asleep as he momentarily regained control. Alex felt immensely weak but he mustered enough strength to push aside the boulder. He screamed in pain as the rock rolled off to reveal his legs completely smashed and mutilated. He quickly used his psynergy to begin healing the wound, and in seconds the bones that had been shattered began to grow again. The open flesh that had decayed and rotted was replaced by healthy new flesh that wrapped around newly grown muscles and ligaments. Alex was standing in minutes, only to fall from the weakness he felt in his entire body. Lying on the ground he surveyed the space around him and cursed as he realized he was surrounded by piles of massive boulders.
But without another word, Alex clenched his teeth, got up and began digging.