HERE'S ORACLE! Onto the seventh (!) chapter of my oh so popular story.

Yami: I LIKE POINTY THINGS!

And Yami doesn't seem to have improved much.

Isaac: That is an understatement.

Leggy: OW! Yami! Stop poking me!

Yami: POKE! POKE! POKE!

At least he's found a hobby. Now, to talk to my fans.

Mercury Gold: I know you're my happy little reviewer as well, don't fret. Thank you for updating your equally good story, it's a keeper! Now, I don't want to go through the whole knives thing that I went through with Sorian so I'll just say this. Get 'em Yami!

Yami: ROAR!

GloomDrifter: I see you're a mudshipper too. YAY! I'm sure everyone knows who the mysterious man is who helped Ivan. I may have been a bit too obvious. Thanks again, you really make my day! (If I could, there would be a happy face right here )

Sorian: Please don't encourage my muses' behaviour; they should like all aspects of my story, those mini beings of all that is evil! I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings, I didn't mean it, honest!

Leggy: OWW! YAMI! Oracle doesn't own Golden Sun. QUIT POKING ME!

A Better Understanding

I wonder if Jenna is looking at the stars as well, thought Felix. He lay on the hard floor, desperately trying to sleep, but he knew he never would in this creepy place. Next to him was Garet, snoring away as usual and a few feet to his right were Isaac and Mia, talking privately and occasionally sharing a loving kiss. These were his friends. But if that was true, why did he feel so alone, so isolated from everyone else?

A gust of silent wind caught an opening in the cloak he'd wrapped around himself and cut into his already numb skin. Though, this wasn't the reason why a shiver shot up his spine. He could feel a strange presence nearby. It felt like an adept, but wasn't anyone he recognized. It was similar to feeling he had felt when they had revived Isaac earlier that day. Something was watching him from within the shadows and he didn't even have to look up to know where it was. Instead, he slowly got up and pretended to search for something in his bag. He carefully stole a look into the gloom and met a pair of bright golden eyes.

Felix's instinct told him to be wary and as he stood up, his hand crept to the hilt of his trusty sword attached to his belt.

"Who's there?" he called out boldly, attracting the attention of Isaac and Mia. "Who's there?!" he repeated with a tone of anger in his voice.

"I am Piers," said a strong male voice. Out of the darkness appeared a tall man, wrapped heavily in long blue-green robes with a hood that obscured his face. Only his cat like eyes could be seen clearly. They seemed the pierce Felix's very soul making him feel very vulnerable.

"Piers?" Isaac asked, who'd come over with Mia to investigate, "I remember you. You were the one in Mia's room that night. You saved her life. How can we thank you?"

"No thanks needed," he assured them, giving Mia a kind smile which was returned. "I am here because I need your help. This is why I brought you here."

"You brought us here?!" Felix's anger was rising again. "Where's Jenna? And Sheba?"

"And Ivan?" Mia finished.

"Don't worry, if you follow me, I'll explain everything."

"I don't think so! How do we know we can trust you when you were the one who brought us to this God awful place?!" Felix asked, whipping out his sword defensively. He pointed it towards Piers causing Mia to gasp. Isaac took a step forward, not sure whether to help Felix or stop him, but Piers didn't even flinch at this threat.

"I know this must be frustrating for you, but you must trust me or you'll never get through this fog. I never meant for you to end up here. That was a mistake on my part. I underestimated the effect the journey would have on my powers. I'm very sorry for all this, but you see, you and your friends are my last hope. Lemuria's last hope."

Piers removed his hood, revealing the face of a young man, not much older than Felix, with beautiful long ocean-blue hair.

"Can we speak together in private for a moment?" Mia asked, trying to be polite to the kindly man.

"Of course."

She followed the boys back to where Garet still lay, oblivious to what had happened. As Isaac went to wake him, Felix replaced his sword and looked expectantly at Mia.

"Well? What did you want to say that couldn't be said in front of pretty boy over there?"

Ignoring Felix's comment, Mia waited until Garet had been filled in before she began to speak.

"I think we can trust him. He seems naturally worried and there was desperation in his eyes. We should help him."

"Also, he's an adept," Isaac interrupted, "He may have the same goal as us, to light the beacons."

"But what if he doesn't? What if he's in league with someone set out to stop us? Or those two back at the mansion?" Garet asked, joining in the dispute.

"He's not working with those two." Everyone stared at Felix.

"How do you know?" Garet glared at Felix. That feeling of suspicion was creeping back again.

"Because I know who they are. The woman, Karst, is Menardi's sister. I met her and her partner, Agatio, in Prox. I would have seen him if he'd had anything to do with their plans."

Once again, no one could believe what Felix had just told them. They knew he'd been to Prox, but not that he'd become friendly with the Proxians.

"Yeah and there is the fact that he saved Mia's life. Without him, she'd be dead," said Isaac, recovering from Felix's information. "If we can trust anyone in this place, it's him."

But what if we can't, Garet thought, this could all be a huge trap.

"Well, I think we should be off then," he muttered, the doubt in his voice clearly showing, but his angry eyes and stiffly folded arms were enough to silence the others.

"Ok, Piers, we've decided to come with you," Isaac called out, twisting round swiftly to face the solitary figure.

Piers nodded and began to walk away into the fog. Isaac glanced at Mia who simply shrugged at the man's behavior before following him. Isaac turned and glanced at the other boys who still didn't seem too happy. He smiled at them then began to walk after the two blue haired adepts.

Garet didn't even bother to cover the growl coming from him and knew Felix felt the same way. He also knew he'd never trust Piers, but it might be the only way to find his missing friends so he didn't really have much of a choice. Grudgingly, he set off after them with Felix by his side, both of them glaring invisible daggers at Piers' back.

A strange noise echoed around an otherwise silent room. It didn't sound like a clock ticking or the dripping of water, but it continuously beat from close by. After several moments of thought, the listener realized it was his own heart.

Dawn's first light glowed on a distant horizon, spilling through an open window into a completely empty white room. The walls, floor and ceiling were of the purest white, it almost seemed to glow. In the very center was the only piece of furniture, a wooden bed covered with white covers with a small body hidden from view.

A murmur was emitted from deep within these silky covers then two eyes peered out at the world. They were Ivan's soft purple eyes and they were full of fear. Although this place was much better than the horrible world he'd previously been in, it was still strange to him and he was quite without his friends.

Shielding his eyes from the strong sunlight, he pulled away the sheets to find himself only wearing his undershirt and trousers. At a glance, his wounded hand looked red and sore, but for some reason, it no longer hurt him and it wasn't bleeding. He twisted his hand in the light and found only a long pale scar as a reminder to not play with a fire adept or he'll get burned.

He got up, still pondering over his hand and put his clothes back on. They'd been freshly washed, dried and placed on the end of the bed, ready for him to wear. Even his Crystal Rod and replacement Psynergy Rod had been cleaned as well as his armour. It was all too much for him. Whoever had brought him here was obviously taking good care of him.

Putting on his robes and protective armour he wore under his clothes, he grabbed his rod and carefully opened the huge wooden door at the other side of the room. It led out onto a corridor that seemed to stretch out a fair distance in both directions with hundreds of doors leading away. Luckily for Ivan, a guard was standing by his door and he snapped to attention upon seeing Ivan.

"May I be of service to you, sir?"

"Urm, yeah, could you take me to whoever brought me here?"

"I'm sorry, but Sir Piers is currently away. I can take you to his uncle, Lord Avon."

"Fine, lead away."

The guard raised an eyebrow at the young adept before marching off down the corridor with Ivan nearly running to keep up.

For nearly half an hour according to the sun, which shone through the glass roof above them, the pair walked down the everlasting corridor, passing more doors than Ivan could count, but never changing the direction they walked in. Ivan's legs were aching and he was once again damp with sweat as the sun shone directly onto his unprotected neck. The heat made the trip even more unbearable making Ivan wish that he hadn't even woken up that morning which seemed so long ago now.

Finally, the guard stopped by a door that was much more beautiful and better decorated than the rest. He indicated at it before going back the way he'd come, leaving Ivan on his own again. He crept slowly towards the door where he heard voices coming from within. Although the huge door muffled the voices, there was a note of urgency in the words.

Taking a nervous breath, Ivan tapped lightly on the door. The voices instantly stopped and footsteps were heard coming towards him. With a loud creak, the door opened and a middle aged man looked out.

Some would say that this was a very handsome man. His long blue hair cascaded down his back and over his broad shoulders. His young face hid his real age as it was full of liveliness as well as wisdom. His deep green eyes looked Ivan up and down, a smile appearing on his face.

"You must be Ivan," the man said, his voice friendly, "Please, come in, we have much to discuss." He held the door open and Ivan entered the room. Like the other room and the corridor, it was void of any colour and contained nothing except three white cotton covered chairs in the center. In one of them sat a vaguely familiar man. He had short white hair, streaked with silver and grey, and sat in loose fitted robes of an earthy brown colour. Despite his old age, he also had a great deal of knowledge evident on his weather worn face.

"Hello Ivan. I am Lunpa."

"Lunpa?" Ivan repeated, trying to recall where he'd heard that name before. "Oh! Lunpa the noble thief. Father of Donpa."

"That is correct. You have met my son?" Lunpa asked, taking his time to form each word he spoke.

"Briefly yes. I traveled to the town Lunpa to rescue my adoptive father, Master Hammet, from Dodonpa who'd kidnapped him."

"Ah, yes. I recall hearing about that. I'm very sorry for my Grandson's actions."

"It's alright. It all worked out in the end."

"Good, good. I expect you'll want to know why you're here."

"That would be nice."

Lunpa looked up at the other man who moved away from his position by the door.

"I believe I'll answer that for you," he said, indicating to one of the empty chairs.

Ivan sat down eagerly, desperate to know what was going on and where his friends were.

"This is Lemuria, city of water and time. The reason you're here is because we need the power you and the combined might of your friends have. My nephew, Piers, brought you all here using the ancient power of Teleport. Unfortunately, the enchantments and Psynergy that protect this city affected his own psynergy so you all got separated before actually reaching the city. You ended up in the wasteland to the south which deters travelers from reaching our sacred haven. We never expected that to happen though and we're truly sorry about your injury."

"That's ok, I'm alright now," he assured the man while tracing his finger over the smooth scar that still remained on his hand. "I'm just glad that we've finally found Lemuria. So, urm..."

"It's Lord Avon."

"Lord Avon, do you know where my friends are?"

The two men glanced at each other, the tension in the room building.

"What? What's happened?"

"Piers has found four of your friends, Isaac, Garet, Mia and Felix, but the other two appear to be lost deep within the endless fog."

"No..." Glad he was sitting down, Ivan felt as if his insides had been torn out.

Not Sheba...

His fists lay clenched on the arms of the chairs as he desperately fought back his tears.

A loud knock interrupted their conversation and the guard who'd led Ivan to this room entered.

"My Lord. Sir Piers is close to the palace and wishes for you to meet him by the palace doors."

"Were there others with him? Please, tell me!" Ivan commanded, the desperation rising in his voice as he jumped up out of the chair.

"I'm sorry, but I don't know. I just received the message and delivered it," the guard confessed.

"It's alright Ivan. We'll go together," Lord Avon said, smiling at the young boy. "Lunpa, if you could please wait here, I'll speak with you after attending to my new guests."

They said their goodbyes then Lord Avon and Ivan, accompanied by the guard, walked back up the hot corridor with Ivan sighing in displeasure.

"I hope this fog clears up soon, it's getting on my nerves!"

Jenna hadn't stopped complaining all morning as she walked along with Sheba trying to get out of the fog. The sunrise had been glorious and the day had seemed so clear until the thick mist had appeared and everything had dissolved into a sea of grey nothingness.

Sheba had become very quiet again and hadn't said a word since she'd woken up.

"What's up with you Sheba? You're never usually this quiet."

"Uh-huh." Sheba continued walking with her eyes half closed, completely ignoring Jenna.

"SHEBA!" Jenna yelled. She hated being ignored and although Sheba was her friend, she wasn't going to take it. "Hello?! Anyone home?!"

Yet Sheba still seemed unaware of Jenna's presence. Her mind was hundreds of miles away and she wasn't ready to come back.

"SHEBA!" This time, Jenna shook Sheba's shoulders, slightly scared by her silence. Sheba simply opened her green eyes and pushed her golden locks out of her face.

"What's wrong?" she asked, unaware that anything out of the ordinary had happened.

"I could ask you the same thing, what's with you?" Jenna cried. "You totally zoned out. You wouldn't answer me and your eyes were tightly closed."

Sheba looked at her curiously.

"I was using Mind Read to try to contact Ivan; you've seen me do that before."

"But this was different!" Jenna exclaimed, "I felt a powerful vibe surrounding you."

"Well, that was the first time I almost reached him which I'd never done before. He was just out of reach and I was going to speak to him until someone knocked me out of my state of mind."

"I'm sorry Sheba, I didn't...OWW!"

Not looking where she was going. Jenna had accidentally walked into something very solid. She wiped the blood out of the corner of her mouth and used her hand to find out what she'd hit. It appeared to be an enormous wall. Looking up, the girls saw the very top above the fog. It was covered in flags of every shade of blue which danced happily on an invisible breeze.

"Looks like our best bet is to climb it. There's no way of knowing how far it goes."

Sheba gulped at Jenna's words. She'd never been much of a wall climber which was evident by her incident at the Venus Lighthouse.

"Do you have an Earth Djinn?" Jenna asked.

"I think so. Felix gave me one before that fight." Sheba quickly searched through her bag and pulled out a small golden ball. It jumped up and became a small, very excited, brown creature. She passed it to Jenna who unleashed her new power by saying, 'Growth'.

A long vine began to grow out of the ground and rapidly flew up the wall until it attached itself firmly to the top.

Knowing it would be a tough climb for the Wind Adept; Jenna smiled at her and allowed her to go first. When Sheba was high enough, Jenna pushed her own fears aside, gripped the rubbery stem and began to climb after her.

What do you think?

Isaac: Hehehe! I got to kiss Mia!

Yami: Nope, can't think of a thing! BOUNCEY, BOUNCEY, BOUNCEY!

Leggy: GET HIM AWAY FROM ME!

Big help you guys are! Sorry for this chapter not being that interesting, but I had to do the annoying explaining bit. Next chapter will be better. I'm introducing my new characters and beginning the evil plot! MWAHAHAHA! (COUGH, COUGH!) Note to self, practice evil laugh! Review, or else!