Chapter One: Lost Destination

Part Three- A Shattered Sage

-Sol Sanctum Tower-

Inside a room in the heart of the tower lay a stone. It shone with a prismatic brilliance, its multitude of colors reflecting off of the black walls in a symphony of light. It appeared to be an opal the size of a fist; yet it was perfectly smooth and a perfect sphere. It sat upon an obsidian pedestal that came up seamlessly from the floor. Leading to the pedestal was a strip of blood-colored stone also seamlessly integrated in the floor. The stone was highly polished and reflected flawlessly the perfect symmetry of the flowing waves of obsidian that were the walls and ceiling. The sight would make even the most renowned architect shudder in awe and amazement at the majestically sweeping waves connecting corner to corner, wall to wall. The ceiling hung like a drape of a thousand tons threatening to come crashing down on any unfortunate enough to be underneath its unrivaled elegance. The sight was impossible to comprehend for the human mind. The reflection continued down the wide strip of ruby and led to two massive wooden doors with ancient arcane symbols of inlaid silver placed upon their breadth. The sheer scale of these doors was almost as mind-numbing as the rest of the incomprehensible room itself. And yet, it was, all of it, captured in freeze-frame perfect symmetry. The crack between the doors seemingly separated the room into two perfect halves, each one just as exquisitely and unnecessarily, as some might claim, extravagant and each half carrying its share of the force created by the symbols on the door. This door opened.

In walked the one who would salvage the power of the stone, the one who had sacrificed so much in life to his ruthless search, the one who had trained so diligently under the strict command of the Mercury Clan's leader- Mia's grandfather, the one whose sapphire hair waved hypnotically with the steady gait of its owner. The man's face bore a stoic mask hiding all emotions that he did not wish to give away to any who might be watching. The traps he had faced so far in this tower- Sol Sanctum- were fatal to any who were foolish enough to come unprepared. Skeletons had scattered the barren halls, headless and macabre piles of humans who had been mercilessly disposed of in an efficient, if highly gruesome, manner. Blood stained the many stairwells, splattered remnants of the past soaked into the virgin marble spreading out like veins, giving the tower an unmistakable presence and causing the man who had recently ascended its corridors to feel it was somehow alive.

The altar now sat complacently in front of the tall man across the room; the stone on top unassuming and yet glowing with an eerie malevolence reflected in his cerulean eyes which betrayed no fear of death or whatever worse fate there would be if he were to fail in his task. Thoughts ran through his mind, exciting him and attempting to cause him to falter and shake in unbound anticipation—thoughts of power and knowledge beyond human comprehension, thoughts of domination and submission, thoughts focused on mastery of the cosmos themselves—but the man threw these distractions violently to the darkest corners of his mind, weary of their weak persuasions. Such thoughts would only weaken one's resolve and bring out brashness and wild abandon to reign over logic and equanimity. With all distractions aside, and at a perfect state of ataraxia, Alex fathomed he had reached his final destination.

"There it is: my child, the Stone of Sages." Blue hair flowing behind him, Alex purposefully strode to the obsidian pedestal. Stopping in front of it, his stoic mask shattered finally and a hungry gleam lit his enigmatic eyes to a frenzy of lust. All the while though, he still remained inwardly calm—and that was all that mattered. "My child, I have come to caress you, to take you into my arms, enfold you in my deepest love… take you into my care. No more shall you be in darkest solitude; no more shall you hunger for a worthy companion for your secrets. I am here."

The gleam in his eyes growing more placid as he gained control over his outward emotions, Alex cupped his hands protectively just above the surface of the stone, focusing his power into it. The image would bring to mind a mother finally finding a lost child after a long period of which the child's presence had not graced its parent—if anyone was watching, that is. A frigid wind stirred in the chamber, languidly soaring to the highest reaches, and stirred Alex's hair and clothes as if he was caught up in the ecstasy unattainable by normal means… he ignored this feeling and the wind, however, and kept focusing his power into the stone to allow it to become familiarly acquainted with his power, with him. Soon, he would have the stone's secrets all to himself.

A voice called out from the left corner opposite that of the door, in the innermost reaches of the room. It did not croon softly, but rather took on a commanding tone that stopped Alex's workings in an instant. "You think you can gain the favor of the stone?"

Alex's concentration was broken, as was his connection with the stone. He decided to deal with this interruption who he thought, by the sound of the voice- and now by the looks of it, as the bearer of the voice stepped out into the light- was an old man. "You shouldn't dress up as a 'wizard' in those pretty white robes, old man. Your wooden stick you intend to pass off as a staff fools no one and it looks like a petty child's toy. The crystal on top has as much luster as soil! No, old man, step down from me this instant and go play the lead in a theatre performance in Xian, as they'd appreciate your foolishness there."

The old man sighed at Alex's impudence, although he knew it was merely a way to boost the young adept's confidence. By the look in his eyes, the old man discerned that Alex was afraid of him, throwing around in his mind the thought of why an old man could possibly be in the tower. However, the man decided he would play along for awhile, but then do what he came to do. "Wizard you say? Hmph, I am no wizard, and in your arrogance you seem to be mixing reality with fairy tales."

Alex chuckled, somewhat amused at the old man's words. He is trying to 'play along!' Well, you won't be playing for long. "Ha! You even admit it! But if you'll oh so politely excuse me," he stated mockingly, "I'll be infusing myself with the power of this stone now."

The old man knew he had to be on his guard, for the wordplay was over. "You cannot hope to comprehend the idiocy of your actions you hope to take today."

Alex merely smiled at the remark. "What a pretty little sentiment you have there. You truly believe you know the actions I will take? The future is not the present."

"But you are here to dominate everything, are you not?"

At this, Alex chuckled to himself in amusement, but inwardly he was ready to laugh so hard his stomach hurt. "Haha! Another droll remark from the funny old man! Psh, take over the world, how boring. Only a fool as insipid as you would dream of that!" Narrowing his eyes in mischievousness and rage, Alex said, "I would have you know my intentions are nothing of the sort. So get out of my way now if you do not wish to deal with the consequences."

The old man shook his head in regret. "I am sorry to see you will not give up." As swift as thought itself, a ball of fire was sent hurtling at Alex's head. Just as fast however, Alex's hand was cupping the ball of fire as if it were a mere child's toy.

"Do not try and kill me with your frail mind. How much could you know of how to use psynergy? Even my former mentor did not know as much as I back then. I was, and am, a prodigy." He snuffed out the fire in his hand, just as he soon would to the other's life force. "I will have the Stone."

"The Stone is of the Sages, to them it does belong. To me it does belong."

"And the truth is unveiled… so you are the last of the sages. I did not believe there were any left! But you are so old, how can you possibly stand up to me?"
"Youth is fleeting and full of mistakes, yet we all wish we could stay young forever. That, however, was not my fate. I cannot even begin to remember when I was half my age, let alone as impetuous as you. Age brings knowledge and maturity, both of which you have but a miniscule speck of dust compared to me."

"How often the elderly hold that thought dear to their hearts. Maturity and age are not coinciding elements like so many believe. I have seen those ten times as old as I was back when I was but a child, their naiveté so astonishingly pathetic even I could reason things out better than them. People are so held up in their morals taught to them by others that they forget to think for themselves. You yourself are telling me to give up as if you rule me merely by being older! So many people subdue to what people tell them just because that other person says they are right!" His voice turned to a desperate tone. "Answer me this! Where along the line in life do we falter and lose the will to fight for what we want, what we believe in?"
A fell wind whipped about the chamber as a physical manifestation of Alex's anger, his psynergy coming to life like never before. His emotions had always been in check, but he was fed up with those older than him having these superiority complexes. His eyes now burned with a passion of which had never engulfed him before. Years of tucking feelings away in his mind had been undone in an instant and he could not know why. Such a trivial matter never had bothered him before, but little did he know it was the sage's own manipulations infused with psynergy that caused this irrational outburst. The sage's flawless plan, however, had backfired.

A deadly blue aura encompassed the former Mercury Clan member and connected itself to the sage, engulfing him in the azure light as well. The brilliant aura began to pulse as Alex began to prepare himself for the complexity of what he was about to do. The sage, however, merely leaned upon his staff in amusement while his mind was in turmoil as he struggled to figure out what the hell the adept was doing.

Alex prepared to disconnect the bond and send the sage to the place he had avoided for oh so long. "You think that this is all I had planned? You couldn't be farther from the truth, and I can see the confusion in your eyes, in your soul." His voice turned mocking as a cynical smiled was pasted upon his face. "This is so very sad though; I wish we could have gotten to know each other better." As his smile stayed cynical and his voice turned malevolent, the blue light surrounded only the sage, disconnecting itself from Alex and asphyxiating the old man in beautiful death. But despite his struggling, and his shock at seeing the world slip away from his vision, he could still hear Alex's last words. "With those final spoken lies, I now bid you adieu."

Alex watched in a distant pleasure as the old man choked, unable to get any air into his frail lungs as hard as he tried. He could not grasp the power inside of him as his concentration disintegrated into the energy around him and soon he collapsed to his knees, the bones almost shattering from the sudden blow. He was quickly sinking to an inexorable end, his destiny if he chose to call it that. Water filled his lungs, discord saturated his mind, and blood vessels burst inside of him. The blue haired one across the room made a slight gesture with his hand and the sage was flung pitilessly into the wall, a sickening thud and the gruesome sound of snapping bones filling the room. Unbearable agony, this was what the sage's final fate was. Is this… how it ends? Did they lie when they said I had sufficient power to halt any… who… s-stood in my… The body slumped to the floor, a lifeless rag doll bleeding itself dry. The ebony floor near that wall would never be black again—crimson had claimed its own.

Alex shook his head as he spoke to himself. "I could have used him, but that's not a possibility now." He stood affixed to the ground for several minutes, staring at the body, and feeling that something was not quite right as a whisper floated from the corpse and into Alex's mind, its message echoing throughout calmly but with a singular intent.

You could have avoided failure, but you chose… to fight. Consequence shall unveil itself now and will eventually become the death of you.

As he calmly raised an eyebrow at the message, curious to know its meaning, a thunderous crack emanated from behind him with the sound of a million banshees exploding around him. The room flared with brilliant luminosity, the whole spectrum of hue clashing in a cacophony of light. It then flared a celestial, pure white before vaporizing into nothing, leaving the sound of lingering souls to cry for relief from eternal anguish. Alex spun around on his heels in a blinded daze, coming face to face with the pedestal and the treasure upon it. He struggled to regain his vision, but to no avail. He would just have to be patient… and then, it all came to him. All around him was etched in sharp relief as his vision returned flawlessly and for the first time in his life; he was shocked beyond belief, to the core of his very being. So stunned he could not even process what had happened, he could only stare listlessly at the staggering sight before him. His head was immediately crammed with chaotic thoughts, his mind in a state of complete dissonance—yet one thought did not escape his grasp as he comprehended this chaotic disaster… The Stone of Sages, shattered, a countless number of infinitesimal shards of inexplicable power stretching on into perpetuity… forever lost.