Chibi Isaac: Why do we have to learn this stuff?

Ms. Mia: Because, you have to if you want to get into a good college.

CI: But, I'm not going to college! I'm going to grow up and be a famous warrior with my legendary sword at my side, nothing can stop me!

MM: That's nice. But for right now, it's Homer. Have you finished with the Iliad, yet?

CI: Um, no...

MM: Well, you have until tomorrow. So, I suggest you start now!

CI: AWWW!

I don't own Golden Sun, and I don't hate Mia! She happens to be one of my favorite characters. I decided to put that in because...well, you'll see.

CI: But I wanna know NOW!

Too bad, so sad...

Chapter 3

I still can't believe it. All my friends were killed, and I could have prevented it if I had stayed at Vale. And they weren't exactly mercifully killed, either. According to 'history' (Technically, it's my future), most of the adepts were tortured before death. Especially Mia, poor Mia. Why her? She was like a big sister to me, even though she was younger than me by about three months. But, she had the maturity and kindness one would expect from a mother or big sister…

"Hey, are you okay? You seem to be deep in thought."

"Yeah, I still can't believe the normal people would do such a thing." I quickly turned down an empty side street, so that no one would think I'm crazy or childish for talking with a stuffed animal.

"Oh, that…"

"Yeah. I read some gruesome accounts in the library, especially about a certain healer in Imil, which was most likely Mia…hey, Flint, you would think that an army of normal people wouldn't stand a chance against adepts, especially since we were able to beat the Doom Dragon and all. What happened?"

"Uh, do you really want to know?" I nodded. You would want to know, too, wouldn't you?

"Well, our psynergy…it was blocked."

"Blocked?" I stopped walking and turned to face him.

"Yeah. Not even I could cast a simple Quake spell. It was horrible. No one knew why, either. That's how they were able to overwhelm us. Our weapons wouldn't even unleash."

"How? Who or what would be able to do that?"

"Now that's a good question. Unfortunately, none of us know the answer."

"Hmm, could it have been Alex? Speaking of Alex, what happened to him? We know he has the power of the golden sun, right? So?'

"Well, he sort of disappeared. Something must have happened to him. If he did have the power of the golden sun, we would know it, obviously. He wouldn't go through all that trouble to obtain it just to hide away in secrecy, either. But, no one knows for sure."

"So, nobody's powers worked? No wonder they couldn't do anything…"

"Yep. We tried to help the others escape, but we couldn't do anything without our psynergy. We managed to save one person, though! You know that they err…tortured Mia and then left her out to die, right?"

"Yes. I still can't believe anyone would do such a thing…"

"Well, fortunately for us, that 'middle of nowhere' happened to be right by the Mercury Lighthouse. In a combined effort, all 72 if us managed to drag her to the fountain of Hermes, which was still working by the way, and managed to heal her."

"Oh, good. I'm glad there was at least one happy ending. But wait, if Mia survived, that means that there might be at least one other adept alive!"

"I wouldn't count on that, Isaac. It was enough strain on her to live the rest of her life as a traveling potion maker to deal with anything else."

"Oh. Well, we'd better go. I still have to sign up for school, ugh."

"Ha, ha!"

"Flint, you're lucky that you're cute. Otherwise, you'd be halfway down Gaia Falls, right now."

I passed by what appeared to be a park. At least there were some trees left in this world. I was surprised. But, seeing some children playing on the playground somehow brought up another question I had. "Flint? Sorry if I'm questioning you to death, but why exactly did the people come and murder the adepts? On our journey, everyone seemed to like us. No one hated us. So, why did they do it, Flint?"

"You know, Isaac, I honestly don't know. It was definitely common people from around the world. I originally thought that it was an assassin group sent to make it look like it was the common people, but I came to realize it was everybody."

"Maybe someone brainwashed the world into hating adepts."

"You know, Isaac, someday we might know, but as for right now, we know nothing. So, it would be a good idea not to suppose anything."

"You're right, Flint. Come, let's cross the street here."

"But, Isaac, there's a high school right here in front of us!"

"Damn! I hoped you wouldn't have noticed."

"Sorry, Isaac, but it's the law! You'll get arrested if you don't. Plus, being in the social environment can help you gather information."

sigh First, everyone I know is brutally slaughtered by people who were supposedly friends with us. Then, I'm catapulted 2000 years into the future where nobody cares about the environment any more. I forgot to mention that I haven't stopped coughing since I came here, haven't I? Now, I have to go to school, again! I just hope that Kraden didn't somehow bend the rules of reality and is my teacher again. I hate this. It's so saddening…

Crash BOOM "Flint! It's raining! WHY IS IT RAINING? Two seconds ago, there wasn't a cloud in the sky!"

"Uh…"

"Oh, forget it! It's probably my fault again, isn't it? Geez, when did I suddenly become Mr. Natural Disaster? Let's just get inside!" I ran inside the school. Luckily, the main office was right there at the door.

"Vault High School? Not exactly the most original name." I walked into the office and went up to the secretary.

"Hello, young man. What can I do for you?" Young man? Technically I was hundreds of years her elder, but I'll let that slide.

"Uhh, yeah. You see, I just moved here and I wondered where I sign up."

"Ohh, you're a transfer student! Are you new to the area?"

"Not really. I used to live just west of here before I…moved to Lalivero. I came back because…I heard that one of my family members had died, and so I need to take care of the house."

"Well, sounds like you've had an interesting life. I'm sorry for your relative. But, my sister lives in Lalivero! Where in Lalivero did you live?"

"Uh, it wasn't exactly in Lalivero. It was to the Southwest. It was very close to the lighthouse. In fact, you could probably say I lived at the lighthouse." I learned at a very young age that it is never good to lie, even in another timeline. I think I'm getting good at this. Technically, everything I've said so far is true…

"Really? I just heard something on the news about the lighthouse. Something about a demon and a barrier around it. I hope it didn't affect anyone you know."

"Uhhh…not really…"

"Well, here are some papers you'll need to fill out. Lucky for you, the school year started about a month ago, so you won't have to do that much catching up." Papers? What kind of papers? "Here you go. Here's a general information sheet, and an insurance form with this emergency card. You also need to get them notarized and signed by your parents. You'll also need a birth certificate." Oh great. How am I going to get all these forms? "What grade are you in, dearie? Oh, and your name!"

"Uhhhh…" Grade? I completed my 5 year alchemic studies with Kraden, so maybe I would be in sixth grade?

"Psst! Senior! You're a senior!" Leave it to Flint to save the day…

"What was that? You're a senior? I'm sorry, my hearing's going."

"Uh, yeah. I'm a senior. And my name is Isaac."

"Last name?"

Last name…? What 's a last na…"Mikage." Okay, I'm officially freaked. That came out of nowhere, literally. I haven't heard anything like it in my life, seriously!

"Okay, Mr. Mikage, you're in luck. There was another kid in here earlier this week that was also a senior so the openings are still fresh in my head. It's Friday, so you'll have to start next Monday, got it?" I nodded. "Good. Get your general information card filled out before Monday and give it to me then. Please get the other forms in ASAP. Without them, you're not a legal student. I'll see you shortly, Mr. Mikage."

"Oh, please call me Isaac."

"Pleased to meet you, Isaac. Oh, and here's a list of supplies you'll need as well. Have a good day! And, I hope you get over your cold!" She waved me out of the office while I'm carrying like 10 forms. I must have some kind of supernatural bad luck right now because it was still raining outside, and the students were just dismissed from classes. I made my way slowly through the mob of teenagers trying my best to keep all my papers in my hands. When I had the opportunity to look up, I did, and immediately regretted it. I saw something that didn't belong here. I dashed into an empty hallway. "Flint, huff huff, there was a kid with blue hair!"

"But that's impossible! Only Mercury Adepts and Proxians could have blue hair! And, in case you haven't noticed, we're all out of both! You must be seeing things."

"Yeah, I guess I am. This has been a long and hard day." I followed the hallway amazingly to an exit which led to outside.

"I don't think I want to get these papers wet. I wish it would stop raining." FWOOSH chirp chirp…I'm not even going to ask.

"Ugh! What am I going to do? This one says I need a 'parent signature'! In fact, they all need a parent signature! What do I do? Both my parents died over 2000 years ago! This one needs a date of birth! I can't put my real date of birth!…Oh, Flint, what's today's date, anyway?"

"I think it's the 7th of September, 7645 A.C.W. Why?"

"Really? Let's see, I was born in 5507 A.C.W., so that means that…Monday is my…2138th birthday! Man do I feel old." Yes, I'm a Virgo. So sue me and my 'young maiden'-ness.

"You actually keep track? Most people lose count after 80. I know I lost track sometime after 1000."

"Whatever. Let's just get back to the house." I quickly jumped into a nearby alleyway and teleported out of here. I already figured out that a person spontaneously disappearing isn't exactly the most normal occurrence in this era.

"So, what am I going to do with these forms?" The djinn and I were sitting paideia style on my living room floor. In the middle of our circle were said forms.

"Well, you told the lady that your last name is Mikage, right? Well, why don't you fill in all the name spots, right now? It wouldn't do any good to change your name would it? They'd suspect something."

"You're right, Fog. Let's see…Isaac Mikage. Name? Isaac Mikage…" That name was still scaring me. It's like it jumped out of my lips subconsciously.

"Hey, I think Felix and we went to a place called Mt. Mikage…what do you think, Coal?'

"Yes, they did, Iron. My former mistress, Kushinada, loved to go there. It was just outside of Izumo."

"Well, that explains where it came from. But, I don't recall hearing it, ever!"

"It's another name for Gaia Rock." 'Maybe this is related. Isaac is a Venus adept, so maybe that explains why it burst ou of his moutht…'

"Well, Corona, that is a good explanation. There is little doubt that that is the answer."

'Huh? Did I say that aloud? I didn't mean to."

"I didn't hear anything!"

"What explanation?" 'Is Isaac having hallucinations? My dadjinni had a special remedy for those kinds of things…'

"No, Balm! I am not having hallucinations!"

"I didn't say you were!"

"No, she didn't!":

"No, she didn't say I was having hallucinations…she…thought…it…" It took awhile for the implications of this to sink in. "…AAAAHHH!! I'M READING MINDS, FLINT! I'm reading minds!"

"So? I do it all the time!"

"Yes, but Ether, you're supposed to. I'm not! Okay! I want someone I don't care whom to tell me exactly what is going on! I know something is up! Sudden weather changes and natural disasters I can live with, but reading minds? I'm a Venus Adept for crying outloud!"

'I think Isaac's going psycho…'

"I HEARD THAT, BANE!"

'Okay, Isaac's definitely going psycho…'

"This is getting to be too much. Look, it's getting late. I'm going to go to bed and hopefully I'll be better in the morning. All this is happening too quickly. Not to mention that I feel too drained to do anything. yawn I'll see you all tomorrow." And that was the end of that.