Disclaimer: I don't own Golden Sun…and Golden Sun 2…so no one's gonna sue me now, right?
Cursed
For a long time now, a bitter feeling has been building inside me. Every night I would hear the cries of those who've survived the tragedy, which for many hours would continue to echo through my window and drag me out of my brief but precious slumber, as they came to the door of my new house where I lived alone, away from my parents and friends, to seek aid from I whom have been "blessed" by the Wise One with the powers of the Mars Star.
From morning to dusk, I would be busy leveling the terrain around the new Vale with the vast amount of Psynergy that I alone possess, ranging from tasks such as binding the thousands of rubbles and boulders in an attempt to slowly reform the once great and glorious Mt. Aleph, famous for having been the world's source of Alchemy to the wise and completely unheard of to the ignorant, to more minor tasks such as house constructions for those who are unable to build their own as in the cases of the elderly or hunting for food. For the sake of my town and the people I love, I've slaved in such a manner for months without objection, working until every bit of the vast and seemingly limitless supply of Psynergy was drained from my body, by which then I would have a fifteen minute break to recharge on the Psynergy Stone that had somehow, fortunately for us, been spared from the collapse of Mt. Aleph. The fifteen minutes I had to myself was the only actual free time I had during the course of the entire day and as short as it was, it was the only time I had to take my daily catnap. This power is the curse of the Wise One.
Sometimes I would dream of the old Vale where I had spent my early childhood, the time even before I became friends with Garet, the time when I had first met Jenna and her brother, Felix, one night under a starry sky on a by a waterfall. Like them, I had to sneak out of the house when my parents fell asleep because I heard that was the night of the meteor shower, and like Jenna and Felix, I thought at the time that wishes made that night would really come true. I remember Jenna sitting there with her knees drawn to her – a time when she actually seemed nice and feminine, with Felix and I on either sides of her, standing there in as cool a way as we could think of, stared into the sky, at the distant lights that marked the beginning of our most important friendship. When the shower was reaching its end, I realized Felix and I were both trying to stand as tall as we could, but still our heights were no match for that of the rope railings of the bridge, and I started to laugh to myself, loving that feeling of acceptance, so I gently clasped my hands together and silently prayed, unlike other boys my age who all wished to become great heroes of legends and win the hearts of beautiful girls, that I would one day be able to experience this exact same moment once more, just the three of us under this same meteor shower, on this same bridge, while the rest of the village was sleeping away.
Other times, I would dream about the future, which too is centered around the bridge under a starry night, except this time, instead of being two feet tall three-year-olds, we are grown teenagers entering our prime and with a snoring Garet in the back behind us.
However, as things are right now, my dreams seem like nothing more than what they are. Although over the course of almost half year I've almost managed to bring Mt. Aleph back, knowing there's no way it could possibly look exactly the way it is, I took extra care to keep a gap for the river to run and a bridge to be built similar, if not exact, to the bridge that used to be there. But even it all goes as I wish, things just wouldn't be as they are in my dreams, because I no longer feel like I can be the healthy me that I was a year ago. Although I've been imbued with the powers of the Mars Star by the Wise One, I'm still only a human that, like all others, pale in comparison to the great guardian.
My thoughts were interrupted when a familiar voice broke through to me as I took my short break today. Opening my eyes without lifting my head that leaned against the Psynergy Stone, I turned to face the source of the voice. "…Not again…" I whispered to myself. It was him again, the one who used to live at the lowest level of the town of Vale, the boy who wished to become a great blacksmith and has had a crush on Jenna since he was a child. The day I took off to leave on my journey I had visited him, hoping he would make me a fine sword to start me off with, but instead, not only was he not able to, all he did was, together with his mother, devise a way for him to court Jenna once Garet and I "save" her.
"Hey, Isaac!" he yelled cheerfully at me as I glanced away in annoyance. If he came to me with that smile on his face, that could mean only one of two things: either he wanted more advice on winning Jenna over, or he just thought of another one of his "foolproof" plan that he wanted to go over with me first.
"What is it?" I asked with little interest, not even bothering to turn to him.
"I got it! This is great, no, this is better than great, this is fantastic! Isaac, the most amazing thing just happened to me!" he jumped around with joy, much to my surprise. Now I was interested, this being the first time he seemed to overcome with joy. "I finally got Jenna to agree to go out on a date with me!" he screamed as he leapt one final time. The words rang a few times in my head before I made any sense out of, mostly because it was so unbelievable that someone as fierce as Jenna would go out with this loser.
"Are you serious?" I asked looking at him in the eyes. "What did you do? Bribe her?"
He turned to me in astonishment. "What? Of course not! I would never do such a thing to a sweet angel like her!" he defended himself. My only thought was what he saw as sweet or angelic in Jenna. Then I started to wonder if he had meant Mia because at one point he wanted to get his hands on her too when she visited Vale over half a year ago. If it was Mia, then I could understand where he got the sweet and angelic from. But then again, Mia wouldn't be here right now, she'd be back at Imil with the two little kids whose names I've forgotten.
"But there was one condition," he said putting a finger to his lips and emphasizing the word "was" a little, "she said she wanted me to take her here, which is weird, considering she lives about half a mile up the mountain."
Something was definitely wrong. First, from experience, whenever a person wants to meet up with Jenna, the person always had to go to her, not the other way around. Second, she would never agreed to go out with a guy like him, feeling he's nothing more than a lecherous blacksmith who's desperate to get his hands on any attractive young girl. Lastly, if she had accepted his date, there would be no way he would have returned here alive, because Felix would've made sure he doesn't live long enough to go on the date.
"That's…nice." I finally muttered realizing none of this was my business.
"'That's nice?' That's all you can say? I'm making history here! I've got to get ready for my date tomorrow afternoon!" He quickly ran off in the direction of his house which seemed to be at the exact same location as where it had used to be prior to the collapse of Vale, or now known as the 2nd tragedy.
"Well, if he isn't careful, he's going to experience a personal 3rd tragedy pretty soon." I told myself. "Felix, Jenna, what in the world could've happened?" I wondered, still trying to take in the fact that Jenna has a date with a loser who may actually live to take her out.
As energy from the stone continued to flow into me, I savored more and more each lasting second until it was finally time to get back to work. Putting a hand to the stone, I propelled myself off the stone with one swift movement, landing on my feet but almost falling as I noticed my physical stamina is at a bare minimum. When my shaking knees started to give way, I began to fell forward, completely exhausted from overworking, I felt an arm making its way around my limp body. Weakly, as if waking up from a trance, I looked into the eyes of my rescuer only to see a blur of colors that I couldn't make any sense of before I went unconscious.
I saw a familiar town. When I came to, I was floating in the sky high above a completed Vale, but I couldn't see myself. When I looked down, I saw I had no physical body, as if my existence was nothing more than a spirit of some sort. Down below me, I immediately felt overcome with happiness when I saw the new Vale, decorated with cherry blossoms, sparks of light seeming to rise out of nowhere, the people running around as they sang and celebrated the completion of their home, but above all, standing over a running river on top of a bridge, there stood Felix, Jenna, and Garet, just as I dreamed they would one day, only I'm not there.
"Hang on guys, I'm coming." I happily tried to say, but no sound came out of my inexistent mouth. As I quickly descended towards them, I saw the truth. There were no cherry blossoms, or sparks of light that rose out of nowhere, or even people celebrating, there was only a great fire. The fire that burned through the trees, flowers, and grass, the sparks that continued to rise from the remaining ashes, and the screaming of the villagers as they fled in terror. My three closest friends weren't just having a good time among themselves, they had their weapons drawn, tears filling their eyes as held their ground against an impending dark figure that seemed to house incredible energy. Behind the figure were the bodies of those others whom I've come to care for, the ones who had accompanied me on my journey, the four others who had helped to unleash Alchemy into the world.
"What the hell is this?" I thought in horror. Felix, who had looked so hesitant, looked to the others.
"Isaac is dead." he announced through his clenching teeth and I saw a genuine hatred in his eyes for the first time as he looked at the figure shrouded in a blood-red cloak. I was dead? Before I had time to think about it, Felix leapt high into the air, raising his Sol blade high above him as it brimmed with incredible power, as if waking up from a long sleep, and came down clashing against a dark sword that strangely resemble the renowned Excalibur, though differing in color as it glowed with a violent black fire that consumed the light surrounding it. With the colliding of the two mighty blades, the force that resulted had blown the hood off the figure and revealed his shockingly familiar face. I descending down towards him, and realized I was looking at myself, face to face, before everything turned black.