Where there's light...
Disclaimer: I do not own Golden Sun or any of the characters, I just like the games.
Holy crap, have I been slacking. Sorry about this huge delay, but I kinda, uh, broke my wrists. Eesh, so yeah, sorry. So, I guess that brings us to chapter 10...
Chapter Ten: Prox and the Last Lighthouse
The 3rd lighthouse now finally purified, the eight heroes set off for their last dealings with the elements: Mars Lighthouse.
"I really wish we didn't have to go," Sheba said sadly. "It's so cold up their; all the snow, hail, ice. I hate it."
There was no reply to her complaints, however; there was too much thought. Only Felix seemed carefree, as Prox had been his home for several years.
It was several days of choppy waves and the occasional flight when their psynergy stores were adequate until they finally reached the uncharted ice floes of the north.
"Why doesn't this ever show up on a map?" Isaac brought up suddenly.
"Eh? What?" Picard replied groggily from his little chair belowdecks.
"Prox and the ice sea never appear on a map, not even a mention. Why is that?"
Picard looked up thoughtfully before answering. "I suppose the same reason Lemuria doesn't show up; no one knows it's there. They probably think it's just a large glacier and then Gaia Falls."
These sort of conversations kept up for a long while, the adventurers really just trying to distract themselves. It took two full days before they passed the giant ice canyon into the mostly frozen river leading to Prox.
To all the party members surprise, save Felix, their was none of the expected howling winds and freezing snow. It was a sunny, white clear run to the village.
"Heh heh. Yeah, you guys never saw Prox like this. This is the way things normally are; all that wind was just from the elemental imbalance." He explained.
However, upon arriving at the village, it was apparent that all was still not well.
The people seemed slow and depressed. Faces were drawn and worn, the children seemed much too thin. Distended bellies swelled out like boils. Finally, there was a terrible smell in the air.
It was a smell of decay.
The smell of death.
"What...what is happening here?" Mia said quietly, stunned at the misery around them.
"This looks like..." Ivan started, but Sheba finished.
"Famine."
The group walked to the mayor's house, where the old man sat solemnly. He brightened ever so slightly at Felix.
"Ahhh, my foster son. Pray tell, what business have you here inn our misfortunate town?"
"Elder, what has happened? Why do the people seem so poor?" Felix asked, his earlier beaming face now in a deep frown.
The old man shook his head sadly and replied. "A terrible hunger. The animals have all run away or died, and those who died have rotted so quickly. Although the weather is favorable, our crops will not grow. Potatoes and carrots come out rotten, what little fruit we have molds neigh instantly, and their is a great sickness as well. Boils, fevers, and death abound now in this village. I fear the worst."
The group looked at each other sadly, but knowingly. "All right. Don't worry, we'll help." Ivan said confidently before they set back outside.
"This is awful!" Jenna cried out after they were a safe distance away. "Mia, can you do anything to help?" Isaac asked.
"...I'm afraid not. This is just to big and serious for me to handle." She replied sadly.
"Then we have no choice. We get to the lighthouse immediately." Ivan said confidently.
They began to leave the village. However, just as they left the last house before the lighthouse, Sheba let out a sudden surprised cry. When they looked back, they noticed that she had fallen into a small sinkhole about two feet deep. As the approached her, however, an absolutely horrible stench could be smelled from where the earth collapsed. Upon closer inspection, a feeling of horror passed through the group.
The earth where the hole appeared was filled with cracks and holes on the sides. Instead of brown, the earth was black and mulchy. Dead worms and plants could be seen, decayed through sickeningly. And of course, the terrible, awful smell.
The earth was rotting.
As the party approached the lighthouse, the earth became more and more decayed. The smell became so terrible that they surely would've choked if it weren't for the Jupiter Djinn creating a constant shield of pure air.
When they finally reached the lighthouse, the earth underneath was so rotted through that it was leaning at a thirty degree angle to the right. The base was gone too; the entrance was ten feet over their heads.
"This...is incredible." Isaac mumbled.
"We can't get up!" Garet yelled to no one in particular.
"Why not? We just make a human ladder. It's not too high up." Jenna retorted.
Felix shook his head slowly then gestured. "Look at your socks and pants."
When they did, it was one hell of a shock.
Where the dirt had remained in contact with their clothing, it had actually burned through their clothes. Fortunately, they all had dragonhide boots, but their clothes were not nearly so well protected.
"That's from short contact of dirt getting kicked up. It's a half inch thick on the bottoms of our boots. If we get on eachother's shoulders, we'll burn a hole through our shirts and arms."
Their was a short silence before Garet then said a very rude word very loudly.
"Guys! Wait! I found something!" Picard suddenly called around the base of the lighthouse. When they came around, there was a small hole, about four feet high and five feet wide in the lighthouse.
"It's another entrance! Just a short while in and we can stand completely!" Picard said excitedly.
It was indeed another entrance. 'Just like Venus Lighthouse...' Ivan thought to himself as he ducked in.
After a short while of cramped crouching, they emerged in a nearly pitch-black corridor.
"Flare." Jenna quietly cast to a torch they had in their knapsack.
Through the light of the torch, they could see an amazing set of ruins on the walls, also like Venus Lighthouse. It was carved in yellow sandstone, with pillars every few feet.
The foundation of the lighthouse.
As they walked, Felix started shifting uncomfortably. After a while, quite randomly, he yelled out "Damn this throbbing! What is i-"
Before he could finish his rant, his right hand suddenly whipped to his back and drew out the Sol Blade. Felix stared in wonder, not only at the fact that he'd so instinctively pulled the sword out, but also because the weapon was glowing a steady, deep red. It also was vibrating slightly. The others also looked on mystified.
"It's glowing...like the Gaia Blade was..." Isaac gasped.
They walked on, Felix holding the sword out like a pointer. After a time, they came to a stone door engraved with runes, like the door in Venus Lighthouse.
"Picard, translation?" Ivan asked.
"It's hard, it's like Lemurian, but different somehow. It's rougher, courser, and seems, burned on...like...fire..."
He shook himself slightly. "Sorry, sorry. Umm, here: 'To thee wanderers who wish to possess flame's power, place the mark of the Blade of the Sun.'"
"Blade of the Sun? Must be the Sol Blade." Sheba said.
"Wait, it said the mark, so it's probably like before when I had to use the Gaia Blade in the alter." Isaac said.
Felix hesitated. "But, there's no place to mark, is there?"
The looked around but saw nothing until Sheba noticed something about the runes. "Look! There's a large circular indentation in the runes. Maybe if you aim there..."
Felix shrugged. He looked at his friends, then raised the blade into the air. The sword throbbed harder, the glow intensifying.
"Meggido!"
A giant meteor, glowing like the sun, suddenly crashed into the door. The indentation glowed a deep crimson, then moved to orange to yellow and finally back to gray. A rumbling was heard, and then the stone door shifted up and away.
They entered slowly and carefully into the blackness.
After a short while, the tunnel opened up into a fairly large room. Here again was the awful smell, and it could be seen that the ground underfoot was dry as sand. In the center of the room was a pedestal, where there sat the Mars Star.
But there was something...wrong with it.
The deep red it was usually was tainted with black swirls, and seemed cracked in places.
"Beautiful, isn't it?"
The party looked around, seeing nothing. "Who goes there!" Felix demanded.
"Heh heh heh..."
And suddenly, near the pedestal, a shadow appeared on the sandy ground. It didn't move for while, and never did.
It did something much worse.
Out of the hole, a skeletal hand suddenly shot out and grabbed the ground. Then another, lifting out a hideous sight.
A giant skeleton, over twelve feet tall, rose from the shadows. It wore ragged purple robes and a coat of rusted chainmail. Gold bracelets could be seen on its bony wrists, and a metal helmet sporting a purple crest of sorts, torn and dirty.
And all around the smell of decay and death was overpowering even with the shield by the Djinn.
"I'm the demon of earth. You foolish mortals may call me by the name Lich, though you will not live to say the name again."
The skeleton let out a guttural laugh, then grabbed a flask at its side. Shattering the opening, it dumped the contents that looked like wine down its throat, which immediately spilled onto the ground.
Isaac drew out his sword, with a surprising sneer on his face. "Three of your kind have said that before, and I gotta tell ya not one is still alive."
With that the party also drew their weapons. This time, unlike any other time there was an aura of courage about them. The Lich did not seem worried at all.
In fact, if the skeleton could, it probably would have smiled.
"Ah yes, you will wish to seal me. Well, that's too bad. I've already absorbed nearly all of the Mars Star's power. As we speak it is already being corrupted into a talisman of our evil. Our God will be disappointed by my brother's performance, but we need only one mark on this world to corrupt the others. Yes, soon he will awake, and the world ours..."
"Well, forget that! You're going down, Lich!" Garet yelled. And with his mighty battle cry, he charged.
Just as he was about to strike, unfortunately, Lich made a gesture with his arm. Suddenly, dark globes appeared on Garet's claymore. They covered the blade, and started moving toward his hands...
"AAAUGGH! AHH AHH AAAAAUGGH!" Garet screamed in pain. He dropped the sword, and to the party's horror it soon melted away. Garet's gloves, dragon hide like his boots, were covered in ragged holes where the darkness had been. The skin underneath was red and blistered, like it had been touched with acid. Garet continued screaming, rolling on the ground in agony.
Lich laughed his terrible laugh again. "My poison, in its purest form. You were smart, human, to let go so quickly, or you would be without limbs." Mia rushed forward to help Garet while the rest formed a barrier in front of them.
"Flare Storm!" Jenna yelled. The wall of flames rushed over the bones, but the demon was completely unaffected.
"Nice effort, child, but no luck. My bones are harder than mythril! Not even the fires of Hell could scorch them!"
"Now I already grow bored with your attempts. Writh in the poison of Lich!"
This time, the demon opened its bare jaw and spewed forth more of the black venom. The spread was wide, and the party were barely able to dodge.
Unfortunately, Jenna and Picard leaped too close to the demon. Without even a pause it swung its mighty fist at the two of them, throwing them back against the cave wall. They didn't even have time to cry out before they were knocked unconscious.
That left only Ivan, Sheba, Isaac and Felix to fight, with Mia trying to help the other three.
"Damn..." Ivan said to himself. They weren't doing well at all, what with only having four people to fight with.
"This is taking much too long, I must say. I applaud how you dodged by venom, but that's not even the start of my powers!"
And with that a great rumbling was heard in the cavern. As the four remaining fighters looked around, a sudden spray of stinking sand shot up near Lich. And were the new trench was formed...
Were skeletons.
These looked like the Lich, but in some cases were missing limbs or even heads. However, they all had weapons such as broadswords, rapiers, battle axes, even bows. The also sported some plate mail and war helms.
These were skeleton warriors.
"Kill, my minions! KILL!" Lich laughed.
The skeletons lurched forward, not making a sound. Their sockets glowed a ghostly orange, their jaws partly open in maniacal smiles.
"Just skeletons! This a joke?" Felix laughed. "Grand Gaia!" He yelled.
Nothing happened.
"You think the earth will obey you here? In the heart of my power? Foolish, foolish creature. My children will rip the flesh from your bones, and you will join my undead army."
"Spark Plasma!" Sheba cried out. Fortunately, the purple lightning did come, destroying the small army quickly.
"Hmm...Jupiter. Can't have that, can I?" Lich said. Although no one noticed it except Ivan, he swore he saw a touch of worry in the demon's otherwise lifeless eyes.
But then the demon did the most horrifying thing yet.
This time, it breathed in. The others looked on first curiously, then in horror as Sheba gave a small grunt as the wind pulled her closer a bit. The suction suddenly picked up a bit, and Sheba screamed as if in more than the worst pain imaginable.
Then, what appeared to be purple, ghostly copy of Sheba began to peal away from her. It pulled back a bit, then was lurched forward into the Lich's mouth.
It shut its mouth in satisfaction, as Sheba stared forward, tottered a bit, then collapsed.
"Sheba! What...?" Felix yelled. The other three ran to her fallen body as Felix turned her up.
Her eyes stared up, looking at nothing in particular. They were glazed over with a whitish film, her mouth partly open in surprise.
"She's, She's..." Isaac stuttered slightly.
"Not dead, little mortal. Much worse. Her soul is gone, the piece of flesh you hold less than a dead body. Her spirit is tortured within me. Yes, even now I hear her screams of soulful pain. Yes...the sound pleases me."
Felix held the little body, shaking. A tear drop fell on Sheba's cold face as the young man stared up at the demon.
"I don't give a SHIT about your damned taunts! As far as I'm concerned, she's dead, and YOU KILLED HER! YOU KILLED MYHER, AND I WILL NOT FORGIVE IT!"
Felix stood up, holding the Sol Blade in front of him. His eyes had a look like a feral beast, teeth bared in a display of anger never seen by Isaac or Ivan before in him.
"Hmm...those eyes...you are a Child of Hoenir? Interesting..."
"Shut up! Die NOW!" Felix yelled. He charged forward, readying his blade to strike no matter what.
"Feh, even with that power you have nothing. Be gone!" The Lich reached into the ground and drew out a black, ragged falchion. Before Felix could react, Lich ran it right through him.
He let out a light gasp, teeth gritted in pain as he looked down at the sword impaled in him. His sword fell to the ground, and Lich unceremoniously kicked him off the blade.
He fell, lifeless.
"Now for you last three." Lich said triumphantly. He somehow disconnected his hands, which flew out at Mia and Isaac and crashed into their heads, knocking them unconscious instantly.
"Now just you, little one..." Lich laughed. As he readied his blade to kill Ivan, only one thought crossed his mind:
'We've lost.'
Heh heh! And now I have the guts to give you a cliffhanger! I'm surprised with my own impudence, but that's how it is! Don't worry, I'll update it soon, probably Friday or Saturday. What did Lich mean by a Child of Hoenir? Is the quest over? ('Course not, I just said it was a cliffhanger.) I promise, those rather few questions shall be answered soon, as well as a new power to be unlocked...