Yay!!! Chapter ten, finally! I regret the fact this took me so long, but please know that I don't plan to abandon this story anytime soon! This will be continued,

however long it takes me between chapters.

Have fun reading this one!

Chapter 10

       (Lance' POV)

"What's so funny?!" Lilly demanded to know all of a sudden, interrupting my thoughts. I looked up to see Lilly glaring at her two smirking friends. They were obviously exchanging thoughts again; both of them emitted faint blue and purple glows respectively. They are talking about us… I figured. How unfair. I can't even hear how they make fun of me…

"They do that all the time, you better get used to it." Root whispered in my ear. I took the Venus Djinni in my hands to look at her. "Did you read my thoughts?"

"I can't do that unless I'm set." The Venus Djinni chuckled. "But it was quite obvious what you were thinking…"

Will and Kara had stopped and were squirming under Lilly's accusing stare. "We were only wondering if you're ready to leave!" Kara defended herself, trying vainly to conceal her grin.

"In that case, why didn't you just ask?!" Lilly said triumphantly. "We've been ready for ages, right Lance?"

I nodded fervently, trying to keep a straight face. Will nudged Kara, sending her another thought to her and burst into a new fit of giggles.

Lilly grinned apologetically and we walked onwards. As we moved along the path, I became more and more appreciative of my surroundings. Sunlight shone through the treetops above our heads, creating illuminated spots on the ground. I figured forests like this one were pretty common around here, but beyond the northern reaches trees were scarce – even more so after the harsh Psynergy-induced winter.

"You don't get this in Prox, do you?" Root asked quietly.

"No. I've never seen something like it before." I answered, taking in the scenery.

"But I bet you've seen other things!" Lilly joined in. "Have you been to the Lighthouse?"

"I never really was inside it. I went there once with my uncle. We went into the entrance hall, but it was completely frozen over, and neither of us did dare to go in further. The monsters, you know? I'm no coward, but there'll be plenty more opportunities to die… and more pleasant ones at that."

"I guess Prox eventually gets boring if you live there all your life." Will contemplated. "I can see why you left. I'd want to see something of the world, too, rather than sitting at home all the time without something to do…"

"That's why I snuck on this winged ship, so I could get out of there!" I grinned. "I guess it was not much of a wise decision, but I don't care. Adventuring with you guys is going to be loads of fun!"

"You've been on the Lemurian ship?!" Will was surprised, to say the least.

I smiled wryly. "It was a nightmare. I hid in some cramped storeroom and I nearly got sick several times. I took some rations with me…" I indicated my backpack, "but I couldn't risk bringing a weapon. Too bulky and too much noise…"

"How are things up there, anyway?" Kara asked. "I understand that the rift has stopped growing, but will it ever go away?"

"It disappeared shortly after the ignition of Mars Lighthouse. It's completely gone." I told them, remembering the sight from the edge of my hometown. There was even a bit of green to be seen in the perimeter of the Lighthouse!

"I guess some of the energy released by the Golden Sun was used to heal the land…" Kara said thoughtfully, carefully pulling away a the branches of a bush that was obstructing both the path and our sight. "Hey Will, look!"

Curious, I peered through the hole as well. Another clearing opened up in front of us, and in its center was a group of three rodent-like creatures. They were bluish-colored and carrying what appeared to be forks! They were frolicking around, unaware of us watching them. Occasionally one of them would playfully poke the others with its weapon.

"Vermin, huh? Are they dangerous?" Will asked. "They look rather cute!"

Lilly snorted. "Let's see if you still think so after they try to plunge those things through some of your vital body parts!"

"Whatever, we'll see in time. You ready, Gas?" Will set his Jupiter Djinni, nodded at Kara, and both of them stormed out into the clearing, drawing their weapons and emitting cries of war. I caught Lilly's eye and both of us laughed as we ran after them.

"Gas!!!" Will cried, raising his weapon above his head. The Djinni appeared above his head, glowing purple. Green unhealthy-looking gas clouds surrounded the enemies, making them choke. Even after they disappeared, the monsters still emitted green puffs of smoke with each breath. Lilly had already come to a halt next to Kara and yelled: "Punji!!!"

Bamboo lances shot out of the ground, stabbing two of the Vermin and doing some serious damage. I raised my hands as well and shouted: "Mars!!!"

Aura on Lilly's shoulder shot skywards in a beam of light and the summoned spirit appeared in a swirl of heat. It dived down on the uninjured one and tackled it, reducing it to cinders and sending small fireballs flying, some of which hit the other two foes as well. As it disappeared in the usual fashion, Kara aimed a sword swipe at the rightmost of the remaining enemies. Her blow connected, opening a large gash on the monsters belly. It fell over before it turned gray and crumbled to ashes.

I was facing the last enemy. It was already very much weakened by the poison and Lilly's attack, but it still managed to thrust its weapon out at me with amazing speed. I jumped back just in time; the tips of the fork-like weapon poked my vest, but I was unharmed. The monster suddenly made a choking noise, then it grayed out, too, having exhausted it's last reserves.

I took the gold the monster in front of me had left behind and we gathered around Will, who took out a bag. Everyone dropped the money they collected in. "So you put your funds together, huh? Wait a sec…" I removed my backpack and took my purse out. "I knew I wouldn't be back for a while, so I brought my savings along. Just remember to get me a weapon next time we're in some town."

"Sure thing!" Will said as I poured my gold – about 400 coins worth of money – into the container.

"Hey Lilly, how comes you can cast Punji?" Kara asked. "I thought that technique is unique to the ninjas…"

"Most people are surprised when they see that attack." Lilly admitted. "I guess it's not very well known. It doesn't seem to be that special to me, though, except that it tends to hurt a little more than Growth and Thorn."

The forest's edge was already visible from the clearing. Soon, we were walking in the warm sunlight again. "Why did those Vermin crumble to dust?" Will asked while scanning the area for new victims.

"They always crumble to dust!" Lilly pointed out "What did you expect would happen?!"

"Well, I expected it would just die and leave its dead body lying around." Will fidgeted. "But I admit, it's pretty convenient like this."

"Yeah," Kara chimed in, "bet it saves those decomposing microorganisms lots of work!" She ignored the strange look she received from Lilly. "Anyway, does that mean that if, in some unfortunate circumstance, I met my demise, I'd disintegrate like that too?"

Lilly shrugged. "I wouldn't know. I never killed an adept. I never killed any human for that matter. But we could always try…" She grinned evilly. "Any volunteers, Lance?"

I sighed and hung my head down. That's the third death threat today. My luck is certainly improving…

Fortunately, Lilly decided to get serious again: "But why they disintegrate in the first place? I don't know."

"I guess it's because of the Psynergy." Everyone looked at me, urging me to go on. "These monsters have once been animals, they were corrupted by Psynergy. I suppose that this power is set free when the creature dies, and since it has nowhere to go, it devours the remains of the monster and turns them into ashes. Some scholar explained this to me once."

"You seem to show a lot of interest in the workings of Psynergy." Will stated and I nodded: "I want to know as much as I can about Psynergy. The whole Lighthouse business shows how great Alchemy's influence on this world really is. Also, more knowledge means I can use my power more efficiently. I guess I might become some sort of scholar myself."

Suddenly there was a red flash on Lilly which told me Aura had just returned. But why had she been set to Lilly? Lilly was quite surprised, too. A red glow kept lingering around her about a second longer before fading away.

"Wow, what's this?" she asked. "I feel different!"

"Your class changed." Will said. "That comes with a number of changes."

"My class?!" Lilly echoed.

"I'll explain." Will sat down on the dry grass and we followed suit. "First off, I can only tell you what I know from our games, and I don't know to what extent these mechanics correspond to reality. Even the most complex model can only be an imperfect and incomplete image of its real counterpart."

"We're not from Weyard." Kara explained, facing me. "We know so much about this world because we've got these games." Will took the strange thing out of his pocket which I had only seen from afar earlier. "They're covering the journeys of Isaac and his friends up to Mars Lighthouse. We are here because of an accident. Yesterday at that time, we didn't even know this world exists. We want to find Kraden the scholar, he might know something on how to return to our own world."

"I suppose that sounds pretty weird." Will said. "Believe me, it is. You are free to bombard is with questions later. But first, I'll explain about classes."

He turned to Lilly. "Lilly, you're a Venus Adept as such able to harness the earth's power. In the game, each Adept is given a base class which determines your Psynergy abilities and your stats – numbers the game uses to measure your strength, agility, physical and mental endurance and even luck."

"For example, I think it's safe to say I'm a Water Seer, like Isaac's traveling companion Mia." Kara elaborated. "That means I'll master the Psynergy series of Ply, Frost, Ice and some status removing spells."

Will went on: "It also means that she'll be neither exceptionally strong or quick in battle, but she has reasonable endurance and she can use awesome amounts of Psynergy before exhausting her reserves. And she's very lucky."

"Wow! You can tell all that?!" Lilly was amazed.

"What exactly do you mean by 'Psynergy series'?" I asked.

"Let me explain." Kara said. "Back in the prison, you cast Quake on the thief to prevent him from escaping, right Lilly?" The blue-haired girl nodded. "Was that the best you could do?"

"Of course not!" Lilly huffed. "I didn't want to get us buried alive, as much as I had liked to make him suffer a little more…"

"See? You can use the same type of Psynergy at different strengths!" Kara said. "In the game, there are three levels of most spells. For example the stronger forms of Quake are called Earthquake and Quake Sphere. They do more damage and hit more enemies." Will showed her the purplish thing, which had the name Isaac and a list of Venus Psynergies on it. "Of course they are also more difficult and tiring."

"But back to the classes." Will said. "The aforementioned base class can be changed by setting Djinn of a different element than your own. Regardless of what your old class was, your current class is a Brute – hey, no need to get all worked up, I didn't make up the names!" Will defended himself as Lilly's face turned into an expression of outrage. "But don't you feel stronger now?"

Lilly stood up, drawing her sword. She balanced it around a bit and found, much to her surprise, that she could hold it in ways she wasn't able to before. "You're right, I'm stronger! This sword feels much lighter!"

"You will also find that you are a little faster." Gas said. "But you are more susceptible to physical attacks, you don't have as much Psynergy as before, and fate will seem to conspire against you."

Will looked at Gas in puzzlement. "How would you know that much?"

The Jupiter Djinni swelled with pride. "The scholars of old had indeed researched the effects we Djinn have on different Adepts and invented the concept of classes. They experimented with those of us who wouldn't think themselves too good for that, even trying to measure the change of physical and mental abilities. I bet this Kraden guy you keep talking about would know something about it." Will was impressed. "I will ask him about it when we find him."

Kara continued the lesson. "Another important point is that your Psynergy changes with your class. You have other Venus Psynergy than before and also Mars Psynergy at your disposal. Why don't you try it out?"

Lilly closed her eyes, probably talking to Aura. After a while she opened them again and raised an arm: "Blast!!!"

Out of the blue, there was an explosion in the air in front of us. It was far enough away to keep us from harm, but the jolt sent a wave of air our way which was uncomfortably hot even for my taste. Lilly was thrilled: "Whoo-hoo!!! This rocks!!" She sat down again, her face flushed with excitement. "This is loads better than that water stuff!" She put Aura on standby and we exchanged our Djinn again. "You'll let me borrow her again some time, will you?!"

I smirked, sensing an opportunity. "Only if you promise to stop threatening me to death!" I said, hugging Aura and turning away a bit, as if to shield her from Lilly.

Lilly pouted. "But teasing you is so fun!" She sighed. "Oh well, maybe I can refrain from doing so for a while… I'll try, okay?"

I smiled. "Alright, if you manage to be a good girl for a day, you can borrow Aura again." We sealed the deal with a handshake.

"That concludes the tutorial." Will said, getting up from the ground. "Let's get going, we want to get to the crater today. That's a good starting point for our search."

It was already past noon, but the sun still stood pretty high. Soon, we were around the mountain which lay between us and Mt. Aleph. We ran into another Vermin which Will and Kara made short work of before we finally reached the edge of the crater. Its scale was truly gigantic. The mountain range which Mt. Aleph had been part of has partially been grinded to dust by the blast. Where the village of Vale probably had once been was now a barren hole in the ground, more than a mile in diameter. Only the Psynergy Stone Vale had been known for was still standing, obviously having survived the catastrophe without harm.

We followed the narrow pathway which lead to the Stone, chasms on both sides. The trail was about five feet broad to begin with, getting slightly thinner as we progressed. Around the Stone itself was a little more space – it probably absorbed the power of the explosion.

I could feel my Psynergy replenish as we gathered around the stone. I was especially grateful, since I had really been running low on Psynergy. Kara cast Ply on Will and herself and Lilly used Cure on me and herself, immediately recovering the spent power. "Thanks Lilly." I said. "Maybe I'll let you borrow Aura after all…" She merely replied with a smirk.

Feeling refreshed, I looked around. The plateau provided a good overview of the whole area. But nothing exciting was to be seen. That is, if you didn't count the massive destruction of the whole area, including even a mighty hole in the sacred peak itself…

"Hey, what's with that hole?" I asked. The others looked around. "I noticed that, too." Lilly said. "Doesn't the thing above it look like some sort of symbol or crest?"

Indeed, above the large opening in the mountain was a round disc carved out of the rock. There was no distinct symbol on the plain surface, but it looked definitely man-made.

 "That's the crest of Sol Sanctum!" Kara exclaimed. "It has been in front of the entrance of Sol Sanctum!"

"Really?" Lilly was intrigued. "I've never even been outside, they never allowed anybody to go near the mountain…"

"If the symbol of Sol Sanctum is there, that hole must be some sort of entrance, too!" I figured. "Hey, that sounds exciting! Wanna look inside?"

"I wouldn't mind a peek." Will said with a shrug. Kara was skeptical: "I don't know… That's not a part of Sol Sanctum we know. Look, it's below the ground level, that means it was buried before the Psynergy blast!"

"The more a reason to go inside!" I said, unable to hold myself back.

Will looked to Lilly who was hesitating. "What do you say? I know we're here to look for the residents of Vale, but it's not like they're going to run away, right?"

Lilly finally nodded. "You're probably right. Besides, it won't hurt just to take a look inside…"

Kara patted her on the back reassuringly. "Nah, we're four intelligent young Adepts, I'm positive we'll get past those traps and…"

"Traps?!" I interrupted, alarmed.

"Of course traps!" Lilly scoffed. "Do you expect people can just go in there and take all the nifty treasures and stuff?! If I built this place, I'd have put traps in it, too!"

"There are not only traps inside, but also puzzles." Kara went on. "People without brains like our Mr. Thief wouldn't get very far, even if they managed to get past the traps. You need to think in there to get somewhere. Often, traps and puzzles are combined; you have to solve the puzzle in order to disarm the trap."

Lilly's face brightened up: "Now you've got me! Let's see if those puzzles are a challenge to my brilliant mind!"

I let out a groan of despair. "Oh Mars, I just escaped death twice today… Let's rather go back and search the people of Vale, 'mkay?"

Suddenly Lilly was gripping my neck, shaking me thoroughly. "Do you question my mental abilities?!" she asked in a dangerous tone.

"No! Not at all!" I croaked. "I believe you're perfectly fit for what's inside that mountain, I promise!" Satisfied, Lilly released me. "Maybe I won't lend you Aura, after all…" I muttered quietly, rubbing my neck.

"I heard that!" Lilly shouted, not bothering to turn around.

"Okay, it's decided!" Kara said. "But how are we going to get down there?"

I looked carefully over the edge of the plateau we were standing on. From the ground of the pit, the pillar of earth was probably thirty feet. "That's a good question. I don't see a ladder or something."

"Just watch." Will said. "Bye Kara!" He gave her a quick kiss on the cheek before he turned around and stepped over the edge.

"Will, NO!!!" Kara flung herself on the ground, gazing over the edge. I knelt down too, just in time to see Will land in a squatting position, the impact of his f0 with a thud. A second later, he stood again. He looked upwards, grinning. "Scared ya, huh?"

"Move it Lance!" I heard Lilly's impatient voice behind me. "I've gotta try this, too!"

I stood up, but before I could point out that I wasn't likely going to lend Aura to her dead body, she had already darted past me and leaped off the plateau. After a seemingly endless moment of soaring through the air, she landed gracefully on her feet, not even making so much as a sound.

I turned to the only person remaining next to the Psynergy Stone: "Do all people in your world jump down huge cliffs and  just shrug it off?"

Kara gave a laugh. "You know what?" she grinned and I shook my head. "That's what I was just about to ask you!"

"…"

Okay, next time not yet Sol Sanctum coming up, but the chapter after that!

Keep reviewing, my faithful readers!!! ^_^

Quizer

PS: Oh wow, I almost forgot. Credits go to Feonyx for the explanation why monsters disintegrate when dying. He permitted me to use this in my fic. If you like Aus you might want to check out his fic! And do continue to make suggestions or ask questions, any efforts to help overcome/avoid Writer's Block are appreciated! ^_^