I came, I saw, I conquered

I've just re-edited this chapter because there were a few mistakes and the breaks were messing up! Anyway here it is, and probably a lot easier to read... ;

PyroDragon88: Phew! I'm glad you like my Ivan. Him being a warlord does sound pretty weird at first. I am going to be doing a little lighthouseshipping, but it's not going to be heavy or anything, so don't be too sad. All I can say is "Sorry Ivan!" ; Anyway, I read Golden Sun: Demonic Wars and it's really good! but then, you've probably seen my review so you'll know that already. Carry on with it!

ShadeXH: Yes! Good ol' long chapters. I'm going to try and make them even longer, so watch out! But I just kept getting writer's block with this chapter which is SO annoying! I can't help but laugh at your next bit! I have made her annoying haven't I? She's a meddler! XD Please don't shake your fist at me! It's scary! I hope you'll like this chapter, because Alex does appear to be a bad person, but I really don't want to say anything or lose a reviewer, so I'm really sorry I'm not saying anything more! Hahahahaha!

Woops! I'm sorry about my pairings! No one seems to like them! Oh well, TOUGH! I'm keeping them! Walks off laughing maniacally

Please Read, Review, And Enjoy! (Reviews Help A LOT!)

Chapter Three Can You See Through Darkness?

"Why? I just don't understand you sometimes, Alex." She stared at him hard, eyebrows furrowed, eyes twinkling. He stared right back at her passively.

"What don't you understand?" he asked.

"How you do it. You're different; in a special way, I suppose you could put it," the old lady explained. "Ever since I took you in when I found you wandering around by yourself, you were so young then, you can probably hardly remember. But you've always been... different."

"Is that so bad?"

"No! Of course it isn't. It's just, that I can never understand what you're about. What you're thinking, you know? And you never seem to take interest in others. Mia asked you a question and you hardly noticed her."

"She already knew the answer; she was just asking me to make sure. I'm not going to waste my time in answering, especially when she had just interrupted my thoughts."

"But that's not the point," she said, a little exasperatedly. "It's like you've got all your priorities wrong. You should at least try and make an effort Alex, or your life is going to be very difficult." She looked at him kindly. "I'm only trying to help, remember," she added.

Alex scowled and pulled away from her comforting hand. "Well perhaps I don't need your help," he remarked, not very kindly. "Now if you don't mind, I would like to be left alone."

Infuriated, she rested her hands on her old hips. "You are twelve Alex, twelve!" She stared at him for a moment, and then grabbed his wrist angrily.

"Get off me!" Alex whinged, feeling thoroughly humiliated.

"Be quiet," she answered, dragging him out into the cold hallway and towards a particularly decrepit door. Despite her age, she had strength enough to keep control of the boy. "I've had enough of it all," she growled. "Your behaviour towards Mia and myself is appalling. Perhaps you should think instead of improving your manners and your attitude instead of all these strange ideas you come up with. I've had enough!" she said again, and pulled open the door, throwing Alex in.

He stood, and gazed at her, completely bewildered at being treated like this. "I hate you," he muttered sourly, not looking her in the eye. She made a huffing noise as if to say, 'you can think what you like, it doesn't make a difference'.

Shutting the door in his face, she said loudly, "You're not coming out till I see fit. First you're rude to Mia, and then to me after everything I've done for you." And she turned the key in the lock before leaving the damp, icy corridor.

Everything was silent. Alex glared moodily at a knot in the wooden door, his anger and humiliation swimming about his body. He pinched himself, the pain from it destroying some of the frustration that was almost disorientating him.

He turned, and realised with a certain awe, that he had only been in this room once. It was a room, dark and dusty from years of misuse. Vapour seemed to stay in the air and the old surroundings gave off a dank musty smell of age. It was a room filled with leather bound books.

Carefully he took a step forward, mesmerised by the tall shelves that seemed to hang over him as they stood to the ceiling. His eyes scanned across the endless spines, entranced and captivated. For so long he had had many questions, spinning endlessly in his mind. He was always listening, always, to everything that was said about him. And when he heard what the adults talked of it only made him more interested.

Books. They would hold the answer, he was sure of it. No one would ever answer his enigmas in person; perhaps no one even could. Perhaps only books written by people long dead knew the answer.

'The Age of the Titans', he read as he moved to the first bookshelf. Well, that was of no use, whoever the Titans were. Alex furrowed his eyebrows deciding to move instead to the 'H' section. History.

'Hamling', 'History of Art', 'History of the Ages'. He was getting close. 'History in Aspect', 'Historical Tactics', 'Icarus', 'Idealisms of the Future'. No, this was not right; Alex had gone too far. He took two steps back and landed back in the Histories. Moving forward, he scanned each book in turn. And found the one he had hoped to find. The one that may answer some of his questions.

Carefully he pulled it out and hefted the large book into his hands. Wiping the front of the book with his hand and ignoring the cloud of dust it formed in the rays of light coming from the high windows, he stared, smiling at the dark leather. 'A History of Alchemy & the First Age of the Golden Sun'.

For hours Alex sat on the old, worn floor, cross-legged. The book was flat out in his lap with the last of the dying sun's rays falling on its old, un-read pages. He was absorbed in its words, its diagrams and explanations, its definitions and pictures of times long gone.

In the time he sat in that room, punished by his guardian, he learnt and experienced more that he ever could have done, and he relished in it. He was gaining something he so desired: knowledge.

Suddenly, but gently, there was a knock on the door. Alex started, and looked up, annoyed, and waited. "Alex?" said a quiet voice. "It's Mia." Alex said nothing, knowing she would continue. "I – I'm not meant to be doing this, but I can't bear the thought – the thought of you being locked up in there for so long. Alex?"

"I'm here. Open the door," Alex said, and got to his feet. He took the book with him.

"What's that?" Mia asked as she pulled the door open and stood aside so Alex could leave.

"It is a book," he answered, not looking at her. "I give you my thanks." And he walked away, moving quickly past a door to a room in which, no doubt, the old lady was, and heading onwards into his own room. Mia stared, not sure what to think, before slowly shutting the door and turning the key in the lock. She could only suppose, and hope that he was grateful.

"Sheba!"

Felix threw himself onto the ground and stretched his arm out as far as he could. Sheba, in turn, tried to reach up from where she clung to a protruding rock. Her arms were wrapped around its sharp edges, and she was sobbing lightly. The sound of the waves crashing into the base of the cliffs reverberated up to them, bouncing off the cliff walls.

"Help me!" she screamed up at them, her feet slipping helplessly as she tried to push herself up in a vain attempt.

"Just – hang on!" Felix breathed. He couldn't go any further over the edge. If he did, he would fall as well, which wasn't go to make things any easier.

"I – I'll get help!" Isaac stuttered, and looked wildly about for any sign of people. The cliff tops were bare, and no person was in sight. "Oh, crap," he whispered as he felt the panic swell up inside him. This was all my fault! If we hadn't had argued, he thought, If I hadn't kept on about it… He suddenly turned to the cliff edge. "I'm so sorry Sheba!" he called out.

"Isaac," Felix said sharply. "Go and find a rope – anything! Just be quick… Sheba can't hold on much longer."

Isaac nodded and set off back into the village. It was up to him now; he would have to find help or else Sheba would surely… No, he couldn't think like that. She will survive, she will…

Alex stood hidden in the shadow of the trees. To his right were cliffs, and the open, glittering sea; on his left were the worn tracks heading into the closely built houses. And yet ahead of him, and caught firmly in his gaze, was an incident unfolding before his eyes. And he stood, watching from a distance.

He saw Sheba fall, and Felix's vain attempts, and he was annoyed at how off guard all three of them were. Felix said something to Isaac who turned and sprinted out of sight, probably looking for help, and Alex's eyes merely narrowed.

"The naïvity of it all is irritating," he muttered in exasperation. "They have no idea what is happening – what is coming, what is hidden in these lands. They live in ignorance."

He turned away, ignoring Sheba's cries of help, and walked calmly back towards the village, only to find none other than Mia coming straight towards him. He sighed.

"What is it you want?" he asked, as she came to a stop before him.

"Alex, I know that you know something. I know that you have some understanding in what is going on, and I accept that you are not likely to say anything about it," she said seriously. She paused, and then carried on. "Ivan wants you to return to the warlord's house," she explained, not looking too happy, and Alex gazed at her for the first time in a while.

"You haven't changed," he said quietly. "Not from all those years ago."

"It was six years, Alex, not that long. And you are no different either," she said, glaring up at him. "You're still the same distant, arrogant person that you've always been, and sometimes -" she faltered. "Sometimes I hate you for it."

Alex said nothing.

He wouldn't be able to take the books he had collected from the library with him, he knew that. But it didn't matter. All the information he wanted was up there, in his head, never to be lost.

He wedged his sharp knife between the two floorboards and carefully pulled it up. Then, he picked up the heavy books and dropped them into the darkness before replacing the board and hitting it into place with the hilt of the knife.

Getting to his feet, Alex stood for a moment and looked about himself. The room, just as dusty as any other room in this large building, still looked the same, unchanged for five years. He was seventeen now, and it was time for him to leave.

And so he did.

The old lady, their guardian had been ill for a while, and she lay in bed, delirious to all around her. Mia tried hard to help her, and to look after her. Alex didn't even open the door to look in and see how she was. He didn't even say goodbye, and only nodded slightly to Mia as she watched him walk out of the door. It was twilight, and peaceful out in the open. The calming sensation of the evening was something that was to relish in. The valley where they lived was beautiful.

Not looking back once, not saying another word to Mia and blotting out all memories of his past, Alex set off, alone into the forest. His ambitions were great, but it was what he had learnt that had finally set him on his way. He knew where to go, or he thought he knew where to go, and if the Sun was setting behind him then he was heading East. East towards the seas of this land.

The silence around him was deafening.

"Felix? What the hell are you up to?"

Felix glanced up, and saw his sister walking towards him. "Jenna," he said with immeasurable relief. "Have you seen Isaac yet? Did he send you?"

"Felix? I can't hold on… for much longer…" Sheba whispered, her eyes closing and opening slowly, as if she was very tired.

"Hang on – just hang on, please!" Felix said to her, and then turned to Jenna who was staring at him with some surprise – not least because he sounded like he wanted her to have met Isaac this morning.

"Is… Sheba – Is she?" she stuttered, putting everything together. "Ivan told me to come to the coast this morning, but I might have come quicker if I knew that – Oh Sheba! Hang on!" she yelled, and looked about her for something that might help, just as Isaac had done. Felix sighed.

Then something happened, that made everything that little bit more dangerous, and that little bit more terrifying. The cliff started to fall away even more.

Sheba screamed as her grip slipped, just as Isaac sprinted towards them with rope in his hands. Felix lost his balance and fell forward, grabbing out and taking hold of Sheba's wrist, and Jenna leapt forward, taking hold of her brother's left arm while digging her feet into the ground.

"QUICK!" She bellowed, as Isaac threw the rope over the side of the eroding cliff.

With her other hand, Sheba curled her fingers round its tightly twisted fibres and pushed her feet against the cliff. Isaac strode backwards, the rope wrapped around his arm, and he began to pull.

Slowly but surely, and after a fairly long time, Sheba was pulled to stable ground. She collapsed to the floor, filled with fatigue and exhaustion.

It was only after a while that she realized her fingers were still clung to Felix's hand.

"I really don't understand any of this at all," Garet complained two days after the incidents upon the cliff, and not least the strange happening out at sea. Ivan merely continued to sip from his cup.

"I will admit that morning went rather wrong," he said quietly. "At least Jenna showed up at the cliffs, and Mia found Alex. Not that it got us anywhere, of course."

"Hey! Sheba could have died!" Garet pointed out, and for a moment Ivan was taken aback.

"Forgive me," he mumbled. "I must have forgotten."

"Aaw, everyone makes mistakes," Garet literally roared, and thumped the Jupiter Adept on the back, knocking him forward. "Even you! As for me, I'm going to admit now that I make mistakes fairly often, but that doesn't make me useless now, does it? No, of course not!"

Ivan mumbled inaudibly, not that Garet noticed in the first place anyway. He sat back in the chair, contented to drink his beverage, and be lost in some simple and distant thoughts.

"Is the man by the name of Piers still staying at your house?" Ivan suddenly asked, and Garet stared blankly for a moment.

"Yes he is; he's a very good cook!" he answered, looking off into the distance. "Very good indeed." He was about to pat his stomach, then suddenly remembered he was in the presence of the warlord and thought better of it. "Aw well, it doesn't look like you're going to be explaining any of this to me," he said, looking rather bored. Ivan too, didn't look too happy about things at this moment.

"I'm afraid I don't understand it either, but I feel things are happening right under our noses, and we are unable to see it," Ivan said, and Garet nodded.

"I know; things happen to me all the time and I don't have a clue what's going on!" he exclaimed, quite seriously. "I mean, the wind blows and mucks up my hair! Why is that?"

Ivan stared.

Thankfully, just as things were starting to get strange, Mia burst in and saved the day.

"It's Alex," she murmured. "He's gone – left. Disappeared from these lands."

Ivan sat up immediately, something clicking in his head, though he wasn't sure what. "Do you know where he's gone? How did you find out?" He asked impatiently, eyes wide with apprehension.

Mia handed him a note, and he promptly read it.

Dear Mia,

I know we were never close, and we never will be. I know I treated you wrong sometimes and I hope you will forgive me. I am leaving now, just as I left six years ago. Do not try and look for me, but we may meet again. Goodbye,

Alex

"I don't understand," Ivan said slowly, for the second time, it seemed.

"You don't have to understand exactly what he means – the letter was written to me. The point is, he's left, and I know – I'm sure – he knew something about all these strange things that are happening. He always knew something, and he always only ever trusted himself. For all we know, he could be behind everything that's happened, and everything that is going to happen!" Mia explained.

"So danger is coming," Ivan wondered.

"Yes. I'm certain of it. And if we don't do something then we could, at the worst, be killed," Mia answered.

"But how can we stop it if we don't even know what this danger is?"

Mia paused. "… Perhaps, we can't stop it."

"… Huh?" Garet said, wanting to join in the debate.

Mia looked to the ground, and then back up at Ivan. She couldn't stay here any longer. Her thoughts were everywhere at once, and the house was stuffy and uncomfortable. "I'm sorry, I'll be going now," she said quickly, and took the note from Ivan's hand before abruptly leaving. I hope I wasn't too rude, she thought, biting her lip. I just can't face the fact… the fact that he's left again. After we found each other by chance…

"Are you okay Mia?"

She jumped, and saw Piers looking at her sympathetically. If she had carried on walking she would have walked right into him. Thank goodness that hadn't happened.

"Oh it's nothing," she tried to explain, not looking him in the eye. "Alex has disappeared again, and I hate this feeling I have. I don't think I trust him," she muttered, ashamed of herself.

"Well, you have every right to feel that way," Piers said, surprising Mia with his words. "Now I don't know your past with him -"

"We grew up together," Mia said quickly. "Nothing more. We were never close."

"Right," Piers said slowly. "However, the point is that you know him best, and when he suddenly leaves without much word of where he's going or what he's up to, no doubt Ivan himself has suspicions as well."

"I suppose you're right," Mia sighed.

"Of course I'm right. Mia, I came here because I knew of a great danger arriving towards you land. This place where you live is no ordinary place. An essence of something so pure lies in the ground, and the air about us, and it is this that is threatened by whatever fate holds against it. But, I fear there is something more. I do believe that there is a conspiracy around us, and whoever is doing it is putting as much effort as possible into covering it up and keeping it hidden from our eyes. It's hard to hold of a danger when you don't even understand what it is, and that is exactly the problem we have here."

He finished.

Mia suddenly felt very empty, devoid of any emotions. What Piers had just explained, had answered many problems whirling about in her head, and when said out into the open, they lifted the great weight that was pressing down inside her.

She had last talked to Alex two days ago, when Ivan had sent her to find him. She had last seen him the evening before. He walked at a distance past her, not looking at her once, pretending she was not there. The wind blew his hair across his face, hiding his expression if he had one, and Mia could only look at him, unable to say anything out loud. Inside she screamed. Screamed with anger and frustration at him for all the years she had known him.

And now, Piers, a person she had only known for a couple of days, was encouraging her to not trust him. To almost, forget him for who he was, and try and see him as a blank object. He means nothing, she thought sourly.

The campfire was going strong, flickering up into the blackness of the sky and lighting up its surroundings. About it sat people, strangers from the north. Their ships were beached on the shores nearby.

"Well, that scout you sent hasn't returned in two days. I told you he would be useless," one person said, his red eyes gleaming in the firelight. "I tell you every time but do you listen to me? No, of course you don't"

"Shut it," the other answered, brooding silently. "We leave tomorrow. We've waited too long for Raxus to return and we are waiting no longer. You all hear me?" he said loudly to the surrounding people. Some nodded vaguely; others didn't even turn to look at him.

"He went with that girl, didn't he?" One of the females spoke up. "Why was that? Why did he even bring her?"

"Because she was his daughter, idiot."

"…Oh."

"I reckon they were lost at sea. Perhaps they hit a rock or something and drowned. Jeez, I would hate to drown. I'd rather my death was quick and to the point. Drowning," he shivered. "That would be scary."

"Please, don't talk like that," the brooder mumbled, not too happy. "He was one of us."

"I was just joking -"

"Yeah well don't joke, because it's not funny!" he yelled, temper rising. "We all knew Raxus, and we all know he may be dead. Even one dead Proxian is a bad thing! I can't believe how heartless you are!"

"Jeez, sorry. I won't say anything ever again."

"Ah, and won't that be nice?" the brooding Proxian answered sarcastically. He turned to the rest of his people. "Get some rest, the lot of you! Like I said, we're leaving tomorrow!"

Some people grumbled, but the rest of the night was quiet. The tempered Proxian moved into the firelight to reveal the same fiery eyes they all had, and he sat, silently taking on the role of watching as the others settled down for the night.

Suddenly his ears pricked up as he heard a noise from the surrounding forest. He abruptly felt a new aura in the air, arriving from nowhere, appearing in their presence.

Not saying anything, he got to his feet, and carefully walked forwards.

"I have information for you," a voice spoke. It was smooth, clear and controlled, and to the point. "Information that you will need greatly. I can help you." The Proxian narrowed his eyes.

"Who are you?" he snarled, drawing a broad sword from his scabbard and holding it forward.

"Sorry, did I not introduce myself?" said the man, stepping forward out of the shadows. "Your name is Saturos, correct? And you are sailing south from your land, namely Prox?" He bowed slightly, his long hair falling over his shoulders, and hesmiled. "My name, is Alex."

Alex you baddy!

Alex: Eh?

Well, hope you liked it. Sheba seemed to be hanging from that cliff for a very long time. I'm impressed she was able to hang on that long nn

Review please! Advice welcome...