Where there's light...
Disclaimer: I do not own Golden Sun or any of the characters, I just like the games.
Alright, no excuses: the reason I've done nothing for over a month is because I forgot. Plain and simple, all the other excuses do not apply. With that done, being gone for a while results in review backlog, so I take some time to answer them...
First to "Seven Asterix" (anonymous, and the asterix kept getting deleted by the site): Yes, Spark Plasma is the strongest wind spell, but I added a new one. That was one of the things Ivan was training early on, you see.
To Kd7sov: Yeah, my "Trent" tree mistake, to be resolved shortly. And your Lemurian Riddle comment was really creepy; I haven't read The Dark is Rising for about five years, so maybe some Freudian backwash? Anyway, those lines belong to Susan Cooper, and I will try to change them immediately.
Finally, PlutoAdept: You don't seem to understand the 'fiction' part of FanFiction, do you? I change character personalities, events, etc, because it is MY STORY! The Golden Sun games are too vague to give down-to-the-letter explanations of character personalities, so I make my own based on what I played. The disclaimer at the top of every author's fic lets them do this, myself no exception. And if Kraden must die for the plot, THEN KRADEN DIES! Even so, Isaac only got a part of the Golden Sun's power, and if he could just bring people back from the brink of death willy-nilly then he could just as easily blow all the demons away, which he doesn't. It just makes him stronger than the average Adept, that's all.
There, now moving on.
Chapter Twelve: Darkness
After one last day in their village, the eight left once more for their next destination: the Sacred Ankhol Ruins.
The gloom onboard the ship was heavy, each member of the group consumed in their own thoughts. Only Picard seemed mostly unaffected, too distracted in guiding the ship than in thinking over things. And that was good too; although midsummer, the daylight hours were shortening conspicuously, and during the day dark clouds always hung on the sky. The waves were choppy and occasionally violent, lightning always flashing in the faraway northern mountains.
The foreboding was everywhere, as if the planet was being agitated deeply.
By the fourth day at sea there were only six hours of daylight at a times, the clouds now taking on a black color. Day six was even worse, as Sheba kept persisting that she was hearing moans as of tortured people, and dense fog always persevered above the water.
Fortunately, with their abilities the group found their way to the shore near the ruins. They landed on day seven, now with only three hours of daylight at a time. They spoke little, although Garet commented that the food they had on board gradually tasted bland and unfilling.
The darkness lay everywhere.
On land the fog was so thick Garet and Jenna were forced to light torches for the group to see anything. They located the ruins eventually, their cracked stone walls now ghostly rather than majestic as they were when they first saw them.
As they entered the main hall of the ruins there was a sudden feeling of malice that hit like a punch to the gut. Jenna and Garet swung the torches left and right to find a source, but found nothing, the shadows retreating like an animal from the light.
"This is all so...wrong." Mia said as they walked through the stone passages. "This feeling...so much hatred, pain, loathing." "I know." Isaac agreed somberly. "We all know."
Eventually, as they plodded on through the halls they began to slow their pace to a crawl, Picard sighing deeply as they finally stopped. "We don't know where we are, do we?" He said. "What's the point if we can't find our way?"
"Hell, why are we even doing this? We shouldn't be here, we nearly were all killed against Lich, what can we hope against the demon of darkness?" Garet added.
"I don't think we can do anything," Sheba said. "Nothing."
"Then it's hopeless, isn't it?" Jenna asked. She looked at Isaac, who nodded with a look past all depression.
One by one they all sat on the stone floor, each taking a different position as they sat, drawing into themselves. Last to fall was Ivan, but just as started to curl up a word suddenly flashed in his mind without him thinking it.
Despair.
He looked around, startled. Then words formed again in his mind.
Fall into the despair, little mortals. The despair of darkness. Feel the hate, pain and suffering of all those who have died and will die. Drown in the darkness of your own creation, the darkness of your own souls. Suddenly other words began popping into his mind.
Doom.
Depression.
Insanity.
Avarice.
Lust.
Gluttony.
Intolerance.
Sloth.
Anger.
Vengeance.
Rage.
Ignorance.
Obsession.
Envy.
Apathy.
Hate.
Evil.
Suddenly Ivan became aware of what was really happening. 'It's the demon, attacking! These shadows, feelings, they'reall illusions!' He focused his mind, willing away the words and the sin attached to them.
'No! We won't despair, never! We will fight not with these dark words but with light ones, so cease your oppressing shadows and fight us, coward!' When he opened his eyes, the room they were in was suddenly visible with the light of the torches! There was an ancient stone window where it could be seen that the sky was as dark as ever, but the shadows inside were normal now. He could even see that the steps leading to the top of the ruins was only yards away.
"Everyone, snap out of it! It was the demon making us despair, his power is lifted, come on" Almost instantly the others jerked up shaking their heads, trying to clear the feeling that had weighed them down so much. "Thank the elements, Ivan! I just felt to lost and hopeless, nothing seemed possible or worthwhile..." Isaac rambled off, still feeling like his entire body was waterlogged with terrible loss. They all agreed, Felix finally speaking for the first time since leaving Vale. "The damn demon did this, the damn demon, where the (expletive)is he?" Unnoticed by the others he lurched to control the rising anger within him. 'Don't let it come, for Gaia's sake don't let it come!' Jenna glanced at him to find him shaking, a cold sweat breaking out on him. "Big Brother, you OK?" she asked. Felix shook himself and wiped the sweat from his brow before giving a weak smile. "Just fine, Jenna, really. Just scared, is all."
With everyone settled, they ascended the stairs to the top of the ruins, to a horrifying sight.
Directly above them, there was a black vortex, more clearly seen as lightning flashed without a sound. There was a powerful wind coming from the center of the vortex, threatening to blow them off the ruins.
"What in all the seven hells is that?" Garet shouted above the wind.
Abruptly, the wind stopped completely. There was utter silence while lightning continued to flash, giving the only light.
"I"
The voice rang out from the vortex, the sound of it dropping a feeling of doom on the heroes.
Then, slowly a great winged figure came down from the inside of the vortex. Pitch black itself, one could make out what appeared to be feet with claws a foot long. The wings were tall and pointed at the top, not like a bat but a dragon from a fairy tale gone wrong. The arms were crossed in front of the wings, monstrous in size like a Golem's but pointed in six finger-like appendages. When it alighted on the ruin's roof it stood nearly nine feet tall, dwarfing the party.
The demon opened its wings to reveal a body also as a dragon's; scaled, muscled, but always black.
It's face was the worst.
The eyes were pure white, but radiated in such a way as made one feel nauseous. They also were enormous, without any other facial features. It gave the effect of that it didn't really have a head, and the eyes glowed like the deepest circle of Hell.
"My master sired me Nidhogg, Demon of Darkness. Even with the four Elemental Demons destroyed, the prophecies of old will come to fruition. I come here only to make the way for my brother, Thanatos, who will end all things on this world. Even so, I will destroy you all, the Ones Who Stand, to make the destruction seamless. You shall never obtain Gungnir, Spear of Judgment, while I exist. Fall, Ones Who Stand, and surrender yourself to God!" The demon then instantaneously fired eight rays of darkness, striking everyone. They were pure evil, striking not at their bodies but their souls. Without a sound they collapsed as their souls were consumed.
The demon did not make any indication of victory, but let out a bemused chuckle. "So, only three of them have any real power. One has some of the Wise One's strength, but it is loaned and no match. One is a Child of Hoenir, again no match for the attacks on his soul. The other...something else I have not seen in many millennia. Open your eyes, mortal, see you are unharmed."
The one of the eight blinked, then stood up slowly. A check of the physical body showed no damage, though there was an incredible sadness in the soul.
"Who are you, mortal?" Nidhogg asked.
"...Ivan." He said, feeling a total lack of will to fight or even ignore the question.
"No last name, though you never had one mortal. None of the First did, though they really didn't have a first name..."
Ivan stood perplexed, having no idea of what the demon was talking about.
"Heh Heh...of course you don't know. The First were simply the first mortals to gain the power of Alchemy, passed down from the God of Light. As such, they had the powers of the immortals, and their line bred with the pitiful humans with the exception of a single family, chosen to maintain the power that She gave them. You are the last descendant of that line, and have immortal power within you." The demon's eyes suddenly narrowed. "I want to see that power".
With that, the demon raised both hands, creating a sphere of mass evil. Before Ivan could do anything the sphere hit, absorbing into him. Ivan screamed a cry of anguish like none heard on Weyard before, that reverberated over the land as his soul was ripped apart. The demon fired the balls again and again cackling madly.
"Ha HA! Fight, little bastard, protect yourself or you will obliterated!"
Ivan knew his conscience mind had already died, his unconscience mind crumbling and his soul rendering.
But there was a forth entity.
From Ivan's body came a spectral copy like himself, but older and taller, clothed in ancient robes with a staff inscribed "Yggdrasil" in characters never seen in the mortal world. A feeling of pure contentment filled Ivan's spirit and drove away the evil.
The demon slowly laughed, then spoke.
"You wield a staff from the World-Tree, I see. You have more power than I imagined, but not enough to face me."
"Nidhogg, your time has ended, your God's Judgment is upon him and Light will prevail. Choose a battleground, it matters not." Ivan spoke, his voice commanding but soft.
"Cocky whelp, aren't you? Fine, we duel here" Instantly the two were transported out of space and time, to an astral plain never thought of by any imagination. They floated in nothingness, the sky a kaleidoscope of colors not seen in the human spectrum. There was a great singing from a ghostly choir, sounding as if millions of men and women with perfect pitch joined together to sing a hymn with the words of Heaven.
"The Field of Asgard, once the home of the Gods." Nidhogg said. "Nearly all were obliterated in the War of the Gods, which was linked directly to the Alchemy Wars on Weyard. At the end the only immortals left were the elemental Djinn, our God, and the God of Light. And Chronos, of course."
"Chronos?" Ivan asked.
"You'll never see him, no one God or not ever has. He created All, but his most treasured creation was Time. Humans were a product of Time, and Time is greater than the immortals, who never die but are lost to the flow of Time. Enough talk, however." Nidhogg ended his speech with a sudden swipe with his talons, parried by Ivan. Ivan then struck Nidhogg with the Staff of Yggdrasil, resulting only in an infuriated snort from the demon.
It then summoned threads of Evil that attempted to constrict Ivan, who beat them back with blades of wind. He then launched three giant plasma beams, which Nidhogg blocked with a shield of darkness.
"So, I must use my weapons. Very well." Nidhogg said. It then created a sword of darkness as well and tried to slash Ivan, who attempted a block with the staff.
"Ha! That stick cannot deflect me!" and it couldn't. The staff was sliced in two, and where the sword had cut lay a trail of evil suspended in the air. Nidhogg cut again, connecting with Ivan's astral flesh. A deep gash appeared in his left arm, and Ivan cried out at the pain compounded with the evil acting like a venom, making the wound sizzle and blister like a burn. He dropped to one knee, grasping his mauled limb in pain.
"Had not I told you? You are no match for me, and never would have been. Still, I am impressed you got this far." Nidhogg pulled his blade back to impale Ivan with it. "Now DIE!"
The sword rushed forward with a sound like a scream, but just as it tried to connect it was viciously pushed to one side by an unseen force. Ivan stood up, feeling the great wind all around him, protecting his life. As the wind rushed about his form an idea occurred to him, and the look of triumph on his face was not ignored by Nidhogg.
"Lucky once and feel like a winner, hm? It matters not if I can't kill you in one blow; bit by bit will do me fine" Nidhogg then attempted a swing at Ivan's leg to incapacitate him, but the swing was slowed tremendously by the winds engulfing Ivan, so a dodge was easy.
"Demon, your evil powers are strong indeed..." Ivan stated as the winds around him picked up speed, the sound actually drowning out the choir's song. "But the God's of old give me strength beyond your comprehension! Their sacrifices and battle cries sound on in this field, their soldiers still sing with the pride of fighting against your kind!" The wind now so quick that it could be seen like a solid object.
"Feel the wrath of the God's! Winds of Time!" Ivan shouted above the roar of the wind. The air struck so quickly it left holes in Nidhogg's chest, attacking again and again as the demon was slowly ripped apart. With a last cry of anger and pain the demon's head was cut in half length-wise, the two eyes losing their light forevermore.
What was left of the demon lay on the astral plain for a while before a gentle breeze carried them away.
With the singing of the choir still in his ears Ivan blacked out.
The party came to in front of their boat, with Garet noticing something amiss.
"Holyshit! Look, the ruins are gone!"
They turned around with gasps of disbelief. Besides a few scattered pebbles the ruins were indeed gone, along with the great fog. Sheba reported that the sounds of moaning had stopped, but the sky was still dark with lightning flashing.
"By the Elements! Vale!" Isaac shouted out. Another turn in that direction say a great red light bearing down from the sky onto the area Vale is.
"The Dark One's servant is appearing..." Picard said grimly.
"But what about the Demon of Darkness? Where'd he go? He hit us with something and I passed out..." Jenna fretted.
"...He's defeated." Felix said after a pause. "Or I doubt we would have woken up." They all nodded their heads in assent.
"Well, then, off to Sol Santum then, huh?" Mia asked, trying to cheer the group up a bit.
Isaac smiled a bit. "Yeah, guess so. We're nearly there, nearly there."
So they climbed aboard, although Ivan stayed behind a bit, staring off into space. "Ivan, hey! We're leaving. You OK?" Sheba called from the boat.
Ivan shook himself before replying. "Yeah, fine. Fine..." He got on board, and they shoved off.
Ivan stood staring at the sea for many hours, feeling there was something to remember, but he could not. But for some reason, in his mind he heard the sound of a choir like that from heaven...
And there we are. As you may be able to tell, I've rooted a large amount of this in Norse myth. Nidhogg was the dragon of destruction, and Asgard was the home of the Gods. Yggdrasil was the world tree, which kept the nine worlds alive. Chronos is the exception; he was the second King of Creation after he overthrew his father, the Sky. His son Zeus overthrew him in return, and Chronos was also the god of time.
So that's your free mythology lesson, update eventually. Later.