Golden Sun: Searching for a Way

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Isaac walked into the room where all sixteen of the fighters met yesterday. The only difference with today was that there were only four of them, including Isaac. Isaac glanced at the other three people. There was a short blonde-haired girl that was a little younger than him, a tall blue-haired man, and the third person...

"Oh I see you made it here. I never knew weaklings like you could get this far." Garet grinned wickedly at Isaac.

"We weaklings have a way of getting places." Isaac grinned back, "Now how is this team thing going to work?"

The man with the blue hair spoke, "We will know soon, it's the people at the arena that decide the teams."

"I hope I get the girl," Garet winked at the blonde-haired girl.

"My name is Sheba, and I certainly hope I'm not getting on a team with you." Sheba rolled her eyes.

They all paced around waiting for some announcement of the teams and when they were going to start. Isaac had managed to get everyone's name; Garet, Sheba, and Piers. From what he could tell they were all adepts like him. Isaac almost fell asleep when he heard the signal of clanging bells. All four of them rushed out in to the middle of the arena.

"And now for the team battle!" A loud voice boomed amid the cheers of the crowd. "On team one we have the muscular red-haired swordsman, Garet! His ally in this battle is none other than the mysterious and charming Piers! On team two stands the heroic swordsman Isaac! With him is the lovely Anemos, Sheba! Lets get this started!"

Garet and Piers went on the northern side of the arena while Isaac and Sheba went to the southern side. The signal was given and both Isaac and Garet drew their swords, and they began quickly advancing on each other. Isaac was good with a sword, but he had to admit that Garet was a lot better. Every slash or sweep of a sword by Isaac was either met by another blade or dodged completely. Garet even managed to give his adversary a small wound on the torso, although it was quickly mended up by psynergy.

Meanwhile Sheba and Piers were casting psynergy spells at each other. Sheba's gusts of wind were doused away by Piers, which worked both ways. Even when they were able to hit one another there wasn't much effect. Neither was weak to the other's element. Sheba took a moment to assess Isaac's situation, and he also was getting no-where. Sheba focused on conjuring a lightning storm that shocked both Garet and Piers. Piers shrugged and healed both himself and Garet.

While Isaac did not have swordplay skill at Garet's level he did have a faster weapon than his opponent did. Therefore Isaac was able to hold Garet at bay, as his opponent was currently trying to get near Sheba. Isaac knew that this wouldn't get anywhere if he and Sheba didn't work together. The swordsman took a moment to focus and he sent Garet off balance and onto the ground with a quake. Isaac ran over to Sheba since he had a short break.

"Sheba, we have to work together if we want to win!"

"You got that right, what should we do?"

"Well it would help if wecouldgetPiers to stop keeping him and Garet healthy."

Isaac felt a wave of heat wash over him and he knew Garet was back up. After quickly healing and wounds Sheba and him had, he looked for his opponent. But his opponent was not where he had fallen. It was incredibly obvious where Garet went after Isaac heard Sheba cry out in pain. Garet was hacking at Sheba mercilessly and she had barely gotten her mace out in defense. Isaac had known this would be a good time to surprise Garet from behind, but the fiery adept had created a wall of fire behind him just in case.

Isaac's only choice was to be a human shield, he lunged right between Sheba and Garet. This was a very risky thing to do because of a number of reasons; the most obvious being that Garet was swinging a very large and sharp piece of metal known as a sword in the area Isaac was entering. Luckily for Isaac a sword did not touch him, although a mace did. His armor took most of the blow, but he still heard an uneasy laugh and an "oops" from Sheba. Isaac had his back to her while he stared at Garet, daring him to make a move.

"You are really starting to annoy me... Isuck, is it?"

"Whatever you say Garet, you clever man. Oh, and at the armory you told me that you would wipe out the lousy fighters such as me. I may not be that great of a fighter, but I don't see you wiping me out. Hmmm?"

"I'm going easy on you, the crowd didn't pay their well-earned gold to watch a three second fight here."

"Riiight."

Sheba thought about what Isaac had mentioned earlier. Stopping Piers from effectively healing. She went through her arsenal of psynergy skills in her head. Nothing in particular came to mind at first, but then she got a few ideas. She might as well try out some of her other more unusual skills. Back when Sheba was training she was more interested in the destructive power that wind gave instead of its more supportive powers. Still, she could use a few of the support spells with some effect.

Sheba now focused on Piers, drawing a symbol in her mind. The symbol was a circle to resemble an aura of magic, which then had a line drawn through it to resembled closing the aura and removing it. A strange purple light quickly surrounded Piers and then disappeared. Sheba then conjured a small bolt of lightning to strike her opponent as a test. Piers tried to concentrate on healing himself, but he couldn't as his magical aura had temporarily left him. He knew the causer of this cut link to be Sheba. Piers drew his long sword and charged at Sheba as a last resort.

Isaac meanwhile had again started to trade blows with Garet. Garet was having a hard time keeping hold of his heavy sword during this long battle, and Isaac managed to get a hit through. The blow caused a cut on his chest that started bleeding, before with Piers healing him this wouldn't be a problem. However his wound did not heal and he did not feel himself being revitalized. Well if that useless water adept wouldn't help him, Garet would have to do this by himself. He attacked Isaac with much more energy now, seeing as how he had better win now or he would lose.

Sheba brought up her mace in front of her to block Piers' sword, but it was too late. Sheba screamed out in agony as the blade caused a big wound down her chest. She dropped down on her knees to the ground, trying to stop blood from seeping out of her. Her only hope now was Isaac, he seemed to be doing fairly well but now that two people would be attacking him...

Isaac heard a scream behind him, a feminine one. He looked behind him and saw three points of interest; Piers was rushing at him with a sword, Sheba was kneeling on the ground, and there was a lot of blood around her. Nobody in this competition deserved the kind of pain it looked like Sheba was in, not even Garet. Isaac casted a distracting earthquake at Garet for the second time in this battle, then he turned towards Piers and charged. Piers didn't expect Isaac to charge at him offensively, he put his long sword up to block whatever was coming. When Isaac was a few feet away from Piers he swung the flat side of his blade, the sheer power of the swing shrugged away the defense Piers' sword put out, in seconds Piers was grounded.

Isaac knelt next to Sheba and examined her wound. His eyes widened, it was bigger than he had thought and wouldn't heal easily. Sheba had bled quite a bit but she was still conscious. Isaac reached into his pocket and brought out something, it was a small vial. It had cost him more than his sword but he was told it was one of the best things for curing wounds in bad situations. He looked at Sheba one more time, then at the blood around her. He lifted up her head and poured the healing liquid in her mouth. Sheba felt power returning to her. She found her wound clean and Isaac next to her with a weird little vial in his hand.

"I'm not in as much pain anymore? What happened?"

"I healed you."

"Wow, uh-"

"Thank me later, there's still Garet to deal with."

Isaac turned around to find Garet watching him with mild interest. "Are you done talking with your girlfriend yet? I'm getting bored here."

Isaac picked up his sword and advanced towards Garet. Isaac exchanged blows with Garet while Sheba used her spells to strike Garet with lightning. Garet went down under the continued assault of the blade and magic. "I... Just had a weak ally" Garet said this before falling over, defeated.

The loud voice boomed again, "We have our winners! Isaac and Sheba!"

The crowd once again started cheering. A few of the employees came out into the arena to pick up Garet and Piers and get them to a priest for revival. Now that they were finished, Isaac and Sheba wanted to get out of the arena. Sheba looked like she was having a hard time standing up.

"Hey, do you need any help?" Isaac asked thoughtfully.

"After all that fighting and bleeding I could use a little support."

Isaac allowed Sheba to lean slightly on him and they both walked out of the arena. It was still fairly early in the afternoon after the long battle, and people were still about doing work and shopping. Isaac watched as a strange man had come up to him and then examined Sheba.

He looked at her in wonder and asked, "Where did that big wound go Sheba? I swear I saw you with it after Piers hit you..."

"Isaac healed it for me, Jerun."

"With what? He isn't a water adept, is he?"

"No I'm not, sir. I use the powers of the earth. I healed her with this vial I had, it was expensive but I had to do something. You should have seen how much Sheba was bleeding."

"Ah... psynergy in a bottle, yes that would be very expensive. I don't know exactly how to thank you, but I think I still have a good amount of gold left to repay you with."

"Heh, no need sir. Sheba helped me win that competition, its all repaid."

"Please, call me Jerun."

"Where are you going to stay tonight, Isaac?" Sheba asked.

"I'm used to camping out in the wild since I travel sometimes, but tonight I'm going to stay at the inn." Isaac replied.

Jerun clapped his hands merrily, "Great! Lets all head over there then. Might as well get checked in."

Isaac nodded and the three of them went off to search for the inn. After a long search they found it in the middle of Vale. It was a large building, nicknamed the 'The Satisfied Frog'. Isaac had stayed here the night before, as had most of the fighters. Although all the others left since the event was over. They all checked in their rooms, but only Sheba went to her room to sleep. Isaac and Jerun decided they would walk around in Vale until it got darker.

"So why are you here Jerun?" Isaac asked.

"Well, have you heard of the Anemos?"

"Somewhat, it's a group of adepts. Right?"

"Yes, most of us live in a city called Sylrai. I am part of the Anemos' military; I can't really give away what my actual job is though. However I am here because I chose to escort Sheba, one of our new soldiers, so she could participate in this event. Although, I do have some personal business here."

"Do you think you can hint me at what it is?"

"Well I have to find someone, but it's not anything too important."

"Oh, ok. So when are you and Sheba going to leave?"

"Probably tomorrow."

"Alright, well it's getting late so I'm going to head off to my room."

Isaac walked into theSatisfied Frogand went up in to his room, shutting the door behind him. Isaac lay down on his bed and started to think. What was he going to do with his life? He had just won a competition, and he was getting good with a sword. Isaac decided one thing; after he got his reward he would start adventuring. Vale was a nice place, but it just wasn't enough to keep him interested. But where would he go? Maybe he could travel with Jerun and Sheba to their city. It sounded interesting.

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Sheba woke up late in the morning, feeling refreshed. Her vigor renewed, Sheba quickly got dressed and out of her room. As Sheba walked down the stairs to the main level of the inn she smelled the inviting scent of breakfast. There were some common foods as well as some more exotic ones. Not having a very adventurous taste that morning she selected some eggs and some warm bread. Sheba looked around for Jerun, but he didn't seem to be around. She spotted Isaac and walked over to where he was sitting. Isaac looked up from his food as she approached.

"Hello Isaac, can I sit here?" Sheba was answered by a smile and a small nod. The young adept sat down across from Isaac and started feasting on her food.

Isaac raised one of his eyebrows at Sheba, "Hungry, aren't we?"

Sheba blushed as she noticed how fast she was wolfing down her breakfast. "Yeah, hehe, I guess it's because of all that battling yesterday."

"Well I guess I can't blame you, then." Isaac shrugged and went back to eating.

"Have you seen Jerun around, Isaac?" Sheba asked.

"Not since last night," Isaac thought for a moment. "He's probably still in his room."

"Right, I'll go check." Sheba put down her food and went back upstairs. After finding Jerun's room she knocked, but there was no reply. Sheba tested the knob and found that the door was open, and then she lightly pushed on it. After searching the room she could not find Jerun, but she did find a note. It read:

Sheba,

Something unexpected came up, you will have to return to Sylrai without me. Its general direction is far Northeast of Vale. Good luck!

Jerun

Sheba walked back down to Isaac, where he was just finishing up. She took her seat and passed the letter over to Isaac.

"Oh, he must have found that person he was searching for." Isaac noted.

"He was looking for someone?" Said a surprised Sheba.

-

Jerun raced down an alley, knocking over everything in his way. As he made his way out of the end of the alley he found himself in a crowd of people, he was at the Vale market. Jerun looked around for the one he was chasing, his eyes sweeping the crowds for a sign. Had he lost his prey's track? His prey, to be exact, was a short yet imposing young man who was wearing a large green cloak. Jerun spotted a familiar shade of green at the opposite end of the market, and he had begun maneuvering around the crowd of people toward his target.

A few yards away from the cloaked figure he lunged at it, tackling it with ease. A scream of terror came from it and Jerun lifted the hood. To reveal the face of a man that was about forty or fifty years older than himself. It didn't take too long for him to figure out that this isn't whom he wanted.

The old man started yelling at him, "Get off of me you young fool! The nerve of people like you these days, tackling your elders like that. I..." Jerun got up and brushed himself off and, ignoring the man, looked around for any other signs of who he was looking for. Failing to find anything, Jerun turned to the old man. "... Are you listening to me? You better be, and I hope you are learning your lesson! You deserve to be s-"

Suddenly Jerun spotted a figure fitting the description of his target, it was running off from the market towards Vale's gate. "Err, it has been nice talking with you and all, but I have to go now." Jerun bowed to the old man and sprinted after his escaping prey.

The old man yelled after him in anger, "Why you! You will regret being so rude to the great Kraden! I'll get you later!"

Jerun had already lost track of his target by the time he had left Vale. There was only one place to go run to in this area however, the nearby town of Kalay. Jerun began his trek towards the southern merchant town, determined to succeed in his task.

-

Isaac was standing at the Vale's entrance with Sheba, she was checking up on her supplies. Isaac decided this would be a good time to ask her if he could come, "Sheba?"

Sheba looked up at Isaac, "Yes?"

"Do you think I could uh, accompany you to Sylrai. It's sort of boring around Vale, and I would like to visit your city."

"Actually I was just about to ask you if you wanted to come, I think it would be more fun with a traveling partner!"

"Great! I went and got our rewards from the competition while you were checking up on your supplies. So we have some gold and I got a few herbs."

"Perfect, I guess we can leave now, then."

The two new friends and traveling partners walked out of Vale and started heading east toward their destination. After a few miles of traveling they ended up in a forest, known as the Mogall Woods. Mogall was known for giving adventurers a hard time trying to get through it with its maze-like design. Now late in the day, the two adepts set up camp in the forest. They started a fire with their psynergy and both lay down around it. Isaac had noticed that Sheba had fallen asleep fairly fast, and he tried to settle down himself. Isaac heard a small noise like a twig snapping but he ignored it, his eyes started to close. Then Isaac felt something blunt hit his head, and everything went dark.

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