Chapter 2

Familiar Feelings

"Hey wake up sleepyhead" a voice said shaking him. "Wh.. what" Isaac said groggily getting up.

Garet was standing at the side of his bed.

"What, did you think you were going to sleep all day" "Oh man I must have slept in." "No kidding."

"Where are we supposed to start training the students?"

"At the Sanctum. Mia and Ivan are already there."

"Already? Man I'd better get going. I'll be there as soon as I can."

"See you there. Lazy moron gets to sleep in but do I……" Isaac heard Garet mumble as he headed out.

So Isaac put his clothes on and got out from the corner behind his bed, his fathers sword in his sheath. Memories came flooding back about his journey where he met Ivan and Mia to try and stop Saturos and Menardi from lighting the four lighthouses, but it was only after teaming up with Felix, and the team he assembled that they found out they needed to light them to save Weyard. It had been a long and perilous journey but with teamwork and perseverance they came up on top. Soon after they rebuilt Vale, Isaac, Felix Garet and Jenna became its guardians. But now was a time to train new Adepts for the years to come to protect Vale and all of Weyard when evil arose just like the Adepts of the Lost Age before them.

So Isaac put the sword securely on his back and headed down to the table.

"Morning mum got anything quick for breakfast?" Isaac said looking quickly around the table.

"The only thing I've got is apples"

"That'll be fine"

So he grabbed two apples, pocketed one, drank a glass of water and headed out.

He shined the apple once or twice on his shirt before starting to munch on it, thinking what the student he had to train with Jenna would look like. When he reach the Sanctum he saw that all the healers were there and four young looking, about twelve, children. Two were girls the other two were boys.

"Well look who's here". Felix stated. "Took you long enough".

"Sorry I slept in"

"Never mind that now" The Great Healer said coming out of the Sanctum. "Now you all know why you've been called here".

"I don't". Garet stated with a big grin on his face. Garet was always the one for jokes, even at times like this.

"Well pay attention Garet cause I'm only going over this once. You were all brought here to train the future generation of Adepts. You will be training these children in combat, Psynergy, and history. So teach them well and if you need advise don't hesitate to come to me. There is one child of each of the four elements. Now go and meet the students you will be training" the Great Healer finished.

Jenna sat under a shady tree talking with a young pale blonde headed girl. The girl was dressed in a green dress similar to Jenna's.

"So is this who we're teaching is it"? Isaac asked.

"Yep" Jenna replied. " Her name is Nina".

"Nice to meet you Nina my name is Isaac. I'll be one of your teachers, Jenna will be the other as you already know".

Isaac sat down next to Jenna under the tree.

Isaac motioned for Nina to come and sit with them. She was shy at first.

"It's alright we don't bite" Isaac said in a calm voice quite unlike his own.

So Nina decided to sit next to Jenna.

"She just has to get used to you"

"Yeah I know" he said as if lost in thought.

"You didn't sleep well last night after I left did you"?

"No. I keep have these horrible nightmares where I'm fighting Alex and I can't do anything to stop him".

"Who's Alex"? Nina said poking into the conversation.

"We need to talk about this later" Jenna whispered in Isaac's ear.

"Oh no one important" Isaac said satisfying Nina's curiosity.

"Well we better get started with the training." He said getting up from the shady tree.

xxxxxxxx

Alex blinked, waking up from his sleep, just lying there trying to gather his thoughts.

He'd gotten to the nearest inn last night when they were all closed but he'd persuaded the innkeeper to let him say. He sighed. He knew he need more than just himself to conquer all of Weyard he need someone by his side. Alex was never one to join forces with anyone but himself. He needed an apprentice, someone who'd follow his orders with out question. Someone like Mia he thought.

So that settled it he would try and turn Mia away from her friends, those meddling fools who took away his chance for ultimate power.

When he found out that Mia was helping Isaac and his group something inside torn at him, like something was missing. He decided to take a stroll to clear his head and see what he could do with his new powers. He got up got changed and went out.

It was a gorgeous day outside. The sun was shining the birds were singing. If you stood very quite you could just hear a stream running in the distance. Alex could actually feel the water moving in the stream. This new power is amazing he thought to himself, but he had other things on his mind to worry about.

Alex just couldn't stop thinking about Mia for some reason.

Why do I keep thinking about Mia. He knew something was wrong.

He realized he'd walked longer than he thought. He could hear the stream was very close. He wandered a bit more and found the stream and decided to have a quick drink and a wash.

He sat by the waters edge looking into the flowing water as if he saw something in it. The water seemed to call out to him as if it was trying to say something or connect with him. He made the symbol of the Mercury clan with water as he did so long ago when he was with Saturos and Menardi, and when he was a child. His mother died soon after he was born and his father had a hard time trying to raise him and having a job. He was send to the Sanctum where he trained to become a healer for the village. He hated it there. He just wanted to go and hang round the base of the lighthouse. He liked it there. It was peaceful and quite. His soul felt at peace. Then some months later the elders of the village decided it was time to let Alex assume his role as guardian of the lighthouse as it had been for generations…..

Then talking caught his ear he decided to remain hidden and see these men were up to.

"So did you hear?" one man said.

"Hear what?" said the other.

"There's a really strange woman wandering around."

"Strange how?"

The man paused for a second. Probably trying to remember Alex thought.

"She had white grayish skin and was wearing a dark purple robe like the guy I've got staying at my inn at the moment, but he's wearing blue."

"Interesting." Alex mused. "This info could be useful."

"But what was even weirder was she had some type of magic or something."

This caught Alex's attention immediately.

"Magic?" said the other.

"Yeah, like some others had ages back. They called it Psynergy or something like that."

"Well I'd be careful around them. Cause you don't want to…….

"This is interesting." Alex whispered to himself. An Idea began to form in his head.

I'll figure out this later. I need to get to Imil to speak with Mia. So Alex crept away and started to head for the snow.

I need to find a way to get Mia away with out others knowing. Wait, she goes for her herb searching every morning. I'll get there next morning some time and wait for her. So on he continued.

xxxxxxx

Mia yawned. Rubbing her eyes as she got up. Every morning she got up early to pick herbs like she always did but this time she had a feeling in her stomach that something was wrong. Like something was bad gonna happen, but she thought nothing of it. So she got changed and fixed her hair in the ponytail like always and headed down to fix herself some breakfast.

After a quick bite to eat she wrapped up warm and out she went into the snow. You need to get out early to pick the herbs crisp and fresh just after the nights snowfall, as it always was in Imil. After a short trek she reached the patch where she usually picked from. But something was wrong, all the herbs were frozen.

"They shouldn't be like this." Mia said puzzled.

"Hello Mia." Said a smooth clod voice that flowed like water.

"Alex!" Mia exclaimed in horror but still with that fiery hatred as on Mercury Lighthouse. "No your….. your dead."

"Ah my dear Mia. Come now. Do you really think that I would die so easily, after all I did to get the power of the Golden Sun!"

"What! You have the power of the Golden Sun? Imp…. Impossible. Isaac has it." Mia exclaimed puzzled and shocked at the same time.

Alex had that smirk on his face that he knew she didn't know anything.

"Mia, you're the only one, who doesn't know. He sighed.

Poor fool. "He only has half of it. I have the other."

"Well then what are you doing here?"

"I've come to offer you a chance to join me"

"What!" She was horrified.

"Just think of it Mia. Power, riches, anything your heart desires. I could offer you the world.

"Never. I'll never betray me friends like that. Not for anything in the world."

"Mia, Don't be a fool. When I conquer this puny continent and those surrounding it there'll be next to no one alive. We could start a new world, together."

How could he even think like this? She thought.

"After all you put me, Isaac and the others though you just expect me to join you just like that? I'd never just discard my friend like that as you have done so.

That comment upset Alex greatly.

"THEN YOU'LL BE THE FIRST TO DIE BY MY HANDS!" he shouted. Before Mia could react, a jet of water shot from Alex's hand and hit Mia head on. She went sprawling across the landscape and hit a tree which made a loud CRACK noise. Then Alex saw her slumped in front of it not moving. He smiled with glee but something inside of him torn at him harder than before. What have I done? You are doing what is necessary he told himself. Then with that he disappeared leaving Mia there not knowing if she was dead or not.

xxxxxx

Back at Vale Isaac was teaching Nina how to handle a rapier, similar to the one Ivan had all those months back. In fact he still carried that round. Probably cause he didn't have the Shaman's rod that he'd loved dearly Isaac thought.

"Now if someone comes at you like this what stance to you take?" He was busy explaining the stances of holding a rapier, or any sword for that matter.

"Like this?" Nina asked.

"Good. Now take a swing at me from that stance." So she swung at him. He parried. "Excellent now….

Then Isaac turned his head to see someone running toward them. It was Meagan from Imil, Mia's apprentice. She had tears running down her face.

"Mia… help…. someone…"

"Calm down" Isaac crouched down to her level. "Take a deep breath and tell me what happened."

"Well… I was on my way to help Mia pick herbs like we always did…. Then when I got there she wasn't anywhere to be seen. So… I looked around and there up against a broken down tree was Mia."

"So how come you didn't go back to the sanctum and get somebody to help?" Isaac asked with a puzzled look on his face.

"The houses were…."

"What? What's happened!" he asked worried.

"They were on fire!"

Isaac slung his sword back in its sheath on his back.

"FELIX, GET GARET AND THE OTHER AND HEAD TO IMIL." Isaac shouted to Felix who was round the entrance to the sanctum.

"WHY? WHATS WRONG?"

"IMIL'S BEEN ATTACKED!" Isaac shouted back already sprinting as fast as he could.

xxxxxxx

Alex was wandering back to the inn when a strange feeling came over him. He felt as if Saturos and Menardi were close by. But that's impossible, isn't it? Felix was there when they fell against Isaac and the others. He'd said he saw them fall in to the aerie. But here I am feeling their presence. But how? Its impossible to come back from death. He decided not to worry about it at the moment. He was too busy thinking what he had done to Mia. There was this part of him that said it wasn't right to do that but that was over shadowed by the other saying that it needed to be done. He was so confused.

"I don't know what to think anymore." He muttered to himself in a tone very unlike him.

He was usually calm and collective but now he was in a trance like state. He didn't care about anything. He thought he'd sleep on it and deal with it in the morning. He sat on his bed, let out a sigh and buried his head in his hands.

"Hello, Alex." A voice from the shadows said.