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Total Catastrophe
Ice shards crashed to the floor, splintering into thousands of crystals, covering the entire red room. The two titanic orange dragons towered above the adepts, glaring down at them in pure rage. The larger of the two lumbered forward aggressively, a mass of scales and claws bearing down on Garet, Jenna, Ivan and Sheba. The smaller one followed soon afterward, approaching in a more calculating manner.
"Move!" Ivan yelled, feeling the stone beneath them shake as the two behemoths charged. The four adepts quickly scattered, moving around their first attacker, and sidestepping the second.
"Where did they come from?" Jenna wondered aloud as she drew her staff, preparing for the battle. "And where are the others at?"
"Over there," Sheba pointed to the blocked door where they could see both Isaac and Felix using their psynergy to try and lift the gate.
"Their no help to us," Garet put in, still keeping his eyes on the dragons. They had both turned around, and were preparing for another rush. Garet instantly switched to his leader-mode, ordering his friends, "Let's split up and concentrate on separate dragons. Don't work with the same element."
Jenna and Ivan immediately split from the group, skirting around where the first dragon was rushing madly and running to the second. Garet also started moving towards the approaching one and drawing his Excalibur. Sheba kept her distance and started charging her psynergy.
---
Isaac, Mia, Felix and Piers watched with apprehension, looking on as their friends dove into the battle. A sudden sense of urgency filled their minds, causing Felix and Isaac to resume their work on lifting the metal gate.
"Do you think they'll win?" Felix sighed as he realized that they were getting nowhere, though he still refused to give up.
"I know they will," Isaac stated confidentially, pushing even harder with his energy.
---
"Unleash Torch," Garet called upon one of his djinni, empowering his sword as he struck the dragon's head, knocking it back a step. A volley of lighting strikes covered his descent, Sheba providing the cover.
The dragon let out a fearocious roar the second Garet landed, summoning a plume of fire from beneath the earth to erupt up into the Mars adept. In an instant, Garet was enveloped in the fiery blast, with no time for even a scream of pain.
"No!" Sheba yelled as she witnessed the horrifying scene, her constant attacks faltering until the fires cleared, revealing nothing but a gaping hole in the floor. Soon afterward, she was joined by both Ivan and Jenna, the trio regrouping in the wake of the tragedy.
"What happened?" Jenna shook Sheba by her slim shoulders angrily, tears flowing from both their eyes. "What happened to Garet?"
"I don't know," Sheba screamed back in Jenna's face. Instantly the fire adept released her friend, lowering her head in defeat for a moment. Sheba reached out a comforting arm to her friend, trying her best to console Jenna.
"Guys," Ivan interrupted the attempt though, bringing both back to the battle. "Here they come!"
"Let them," Jenna spoke slowly in a low voice, her eyes still hidden in her brown bangs. "I'll kill them both!"
The larger dragon experienced fierce resistance the moment it got close to the adepts, a giant staff coming from nowhere and knocking it backwards onto the ground. The second hesitated, its sharp teeth clenching in fear along its long snout. Jenna stood on top of its fallen comrade, holding her staff aggressively as she glared angrily.
"Unleash Cannon, Char, Core, and Fury," Jenna called on four of her djinn at once and channeling all of their might into her staff. From behind her, she could hear Ivan and Sheba releasing five of their own, freeing the energies of three more so that they could fuel a summon. The second dragon dropped beside the first, both unconscious from the multiple blows. Jenna stepped back, chanting the words found on the Catastrophe Scroll that they had obtained. "Powers of destruction, the ultimate annihilation, the Ragnarok of worlds, I summon you Catastrophe!"
A black circle inscribed itself around the Mars adept, sloping inward to form a second. Ancient markings of power, life, knowledge, and courage carved themselves into the stone in the inner circle, and each glowing their respective colors. However, the crimson of power and the violet of knowledge shined the brightest, almost to blinding proportions. The stones beneath Jenna cracked and disintegrated as the two circles shot up into the ceiling, forming a gaping hole in space and time.
From within the darkness of the newly formed gate, a gigantic sword slowly pierced into the room, followed by a demon-winged knight, covered in shining silver armor, his horned helmet holding two feral eyes that emotionlessly viewed the battleground below him. Slowly the armored arm bearing an engraved golden shield and the hand holding the titanic sword were forced together, the extra armaments attached to the summon's back clanking together.
A single beam of energy shot towards the ground from the blade, spiraling at the two dragons. It molded into a triangular pyramid before touching the two and the light of the energy exploded throughout the entire room, vaporizing anything that stood in its way.
---
Isaac and Felix staggered back from the gate, watching in amazement as Catastrophe's blast melted gate's steel in an instant, they instantly rushed into the room after the summon dissipated, the two Mercury adepts following afterwards to glimpse the terrible destruction before them.
"Karst and Agatio," Mia pointed out the two unconscious to Isaac as she came up behind them, the duo lying where the dragons once had been. They both quickly rushed over to the Proxians, applying their healing abilities.
"Where's Garet at?" Felix asked the surviving part of the group as he healed them, looking for the dopey Mars adept. Ivan and Sheba remained silent, their eyes averted from Felix, only Jenna speaking to her older brother.
"He's gone," she whimpered lightly, showing the sadness that tore at her heart. Forcibly, Jenna embraced her brother, crying into his shoulder as he tried to comfort her.
"I'm sorry Jenna," Felix whispered softly as he rubbed her back. "I wish we could have helped."
"Why?" a familiar voice called up from where the hole was, grunting as if a person was struggling. "You would have just gotten in the way."
"Garet," Jenna's sobs stopped instantly, her eyes locked on the talking hole as she rushed to it and looked into its depths. Garet's friendly face greeted her, a broad grin plastered on his face.
"Don't just stare," Garet grunted a second time, shifting hands as he hung on. "Help me up."
Jenna happily obliged, grabbing Garet's hand and pulling him upward. As soon as he was back on the floor, Jenna tackled him, hugging Garet tightly and crying happily. "Glad to know I was missed," Garet smile widened as he bent down and kissed Jenna's forehead.
---
"Sorry," Karst awoke first from the fight, staring up at the faces of Isaac and Mia. A sudden wave of pain ran through her body, signifying that her time was near. "Even though we have tried many times to kill you during your quest, this fight was not our choice."
"What do you mean?" Isaac gripped the dying woman's hand, offering any comfort in her appending death.
"You must be Isaac," Karst smiled despite her urge to avenge her sister's death, realizing that a person with such kind eyes would not murder intentionally. Another sharp pain rushed through her, reminding Karst that her time was short. "We reached the top of the lighthouse, but something stopped is from lighting the beacon. A voice slowly put us to sleep, and we awoke as the dragons. Even though we tried to stop from fighting you, a maddening rage consumed our minds."
"Don't worry, I understand," Isaac tried to soothe the Proxian's worries, understanding because of the demon that had lived within him. "I hold nothing against you."
"Thank you," Karst pulled the Mars Star out and placed in Isaac's palm, smiling for the last time.
---
A heavy guilt weighed down the adepts feet as they ascended the stone steps of the aerie, enhancing the cold winds that whipped around them. A sense of anxiety filled each of their minds as they finally reached the top, wondering what awaited them.
"Betrayers, you have arrived," a commanding voice spoke from the surrounding storm, completely masked by the snowy winds.
"Who is it?" Felix yelled as he searched the sky.
"The wind's too strong, I can't see anything," Mia yelled though the howling wind as she looked around.
"I heard it too, but I don't see anyone else up here," Sheba observed, keeping calm despite the strangeness of the situation.
"Felix, cast the Mars Star in before anything happens!" Isaac yelled as he threw the star to him and drew the Omega Blade.
A sudden force stopped Felix as he approached the pit, halting him in his tracks. "So you are still intent on lighting the beacon of Mars Lighthouse," the voice taunted from up above.
A giant bolder descended from the sky, the storm itself parting for the powerful entity that slowly advanced upon the adepts. A single dominating eye glared down upon them, its intensity seemingly scanning each adepts mind. It was the Wise One.
"Why have you not complied with the task of recovering the Elemental Stars?" the Wise One questioned dramatically, moving closer to the adepts. "Why have you disobeyed my command? Why have you come to light the beacon?"
"Because Prox will be destroyed if we don't," Jenna argued, standing tall. "We can't let that happen."
"Prox?" the Wise One scoffed. "They have brought this disaster upon themselves."
"Are you saying we should just abandon them to die," Sheba accused, vibrating with Jupiter psynergy. "What did they do to deserve that?"
"The people of Prox have committed an unforgivable sin," the Wise One informed them curtly. "They must be punished."
"For lighting the lighthouses?" Isaac yelled into the storm. "Does that warrant total destruction?"
"If we don't light the beacon, Gaia Falls will eventually erode away all of Weyward," Mia stood beside Isaac, grasping his hand in support.
"We have fought for so long to save all the people of our world, and now you would stop us?" Piers had already taken out his glaive, pointing it towards the Wise One.
"You have learned far too much," the Wise One spoke omnisciently. "You must understand that if Alchemy is unleashed, mankind may well destroy all of Weyward itself. One man already seeks to place himself as the ruler of Weyward; Alex is what you call him."
"He is going where the Golden Sun will form," Felix gasped, realizing the sinister man's plan. "He is going to obtain the Stone of Stages."
"None of that matters now," Isaac stopped Felix from pondering further. "We still have to light the beacon."
"I cannot interfere with the actions of mankind," the Wise One spoke solemnly.
"If you can't interfere, then how about getting out of our way so we can light the beacon?" Jenna smiled as she used the Wise One's words against him.
"Good one, Jenna," Ivan gave her a high-five before they continued.
(These two lines are my most favorite in the entire game.)
"Felix," Isaac yelled, "throw in the Mars Star!"
Another wall stopped Felix from throwing the orb in, causing the rest of the adepts to look up at the Wise One in frustration. "I cannot let this happen!"
"But you can't interfere," Piers reminded the Wise One, already guessing an impending fight.
"That is correct, I cannot stop you," the Wise One's stone body started flashing brightly. "But what if a miracle were to occur, one that prevented you from lighting the beacon?"
A dark circle molded from the floor in front of the adepts, a black creature rising from the black abyss formed. A familiar demon rose through the portal, though he was heavily chained. "I would like you to meet a new follower of mine," the chains were released as the Wise One spoke. "I have named him Robin."
An exact copy of Isaac rose from the chains, his black tunic the only difference between the two. The other eight adepts immediately recognized him as Isaac's darker side, separated from him on the Venus Lighthouse by the Equator Blade.
"If you can defeat this miracle, you can ignite the beacon's flame," the Wise One spoke before floating away into the clouds.
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Wow, that was a long chapter. (6 pages in Microsoft Word!)(And let this chapter be a note that one should never, ever make Jenna mad."
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Reviewer's Responses-
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libby- Thanks for the review.
WildfireDreams- Thanks for the compliment and the review.