Chapter XXIV
The Warriors of Vale
Isaac and Saturos matched blades, sending sparks flying with each clash. The two took careful, measured steps, maintaining the right distance to keep their defences up.
Isaac moved in to strike, and Saturos ducked to the left. Yet Isaac, who had anticipated the movement, swung instead in that direction. A quick parry blocked his attack, but Saturos was knocked off-guard for a second.
"You've improved," Saturos said, sounding almost impressed. "Back at Mercury Lighthouse, you were barely able to survive facing me alone."
"And now I'm the one who has the edge," Isaac countered.
"Don't be so sure."
Saturos made a sudden aggressive advance, pushing Isaac back. He took one step back, and then another, falling back and waiting for an opening to reverse the dynamic.
Isaac's ears caught the sound of the wind growing louder with each step. He realised that Saturos was driving him back deliberately, towards the edge of the lighthouse aerie.
I don't think so!
Isaac picked his next attack carefully, using the direction of his sword to force Saturos into a large, overhanded swing. But rather than block it, Isaac rolled to the side, causing Saturos to lose balance as the momentum of his swing struck at empty air.
Saturos swore under his breath as he quickly regained his footing, and turned to find Isaac back on his feet, moving towards him to attack once more, and send the Proxian over the edge instead.
Instead, Saturos jumped in the air, blasting fire Psynergy at the ground. The momentum carried him up in an arc, over Isaac's head, who raised his arms to shield himself from the fire.
Isaac turned as Saturos landed several paces away, a safe distance from the ledge.
"Hmm." Isaac frowned.
"You'll have to do better than that!" Saturos called out.
Just then, a number of plants burst from within the bricks under Saturos' feet, weaving into bonds that captured his legs. He tried to escape, but the trap had been prepared before, so the binds had formed too quickly to counter.
Isaac charged, swinging his sword. Saturos, with no way to avoid the attack, was forced to parry it with his own sword. Both blades were caught in place, and neither wielder was able to move.
However, Isaac was ready for that too: his Psynergy gathered around his free hand, forming a small imitation of the stone spires he often used. He swung the fist, ready to drive the stone spike around it into Saturos' face.
Saturos unleashed Psynergy beneath himself, burning up the plants that were holding his legs, but also striking the both of them with a small, contained explosion. The fist-spire struck him at the arm as he was moving.
Isaac recovered a moment later, drawing himself up. He was only slightly singed from the explosion. In contrast, Saturos seemed untouched by his own flames, but his arm had a long deep wound running nearly from his shoulder to his elbow.
The Proxian warrior took note of his wound with wide, burning eyes. He turned his gaze back to Isaac, as if seeing him for the first time.
"Well," he said. "I didn't expected to be wounded so early in the battle. You really have improved."
"You sound almost proud," Isaac mocked.
"It is honourable to note a fellow warrior's skill," Saturos said, rising. Lucky for him, his sword arm was the unwounded one. "I will not underestimate you again."
Isaac was back on his feet, and the two clashed blades again.
On the other side of the aerie, Menardi was contending with a three sided attack from Garet, Ivan, and Mia. They circled her like birds, waiting for a moment when her guard would drop so they could move in and strike.
But Menardi's scythe was large enough to keep them at bay, and she could swing it with surprising speed for such a bulky weapon.
Ivan, who had circled behind her back, made a move, swinging his sword. But she turned in place, her scythe coming around as she did.
"Watch out!" Mia shouted.
Ivan jumped back, just narrowly avoiding the very shape blade, which made a whistle as it cut the air.
Despite her defensive ability, Menardi could not go on the attack. In her left hand, she had the Venus Star tightly clenched. It was clearly awkward to wield her scythe while holding that, causing her second hand to have an uncertain grip on the handle. Yet the Adepts were keeping her on her toes, not giving her a second to pocket the star or change tactics.
Garet was now circling behind her, holding his lighter sword in one hand as he used his free hand to unbuckle the axe from his belt. He met Mia's glance, and they exchanged an unspoken idea.
Garet moved next, and as Menardi was clearly expecting another back attack, she turned to meet him. Garet blocked the scythe with his sword, catching the scythe between the steel blade and the wooden handle.
When Menardi pulled back against Garet, the sword was wretched free from his hand. But he was already moving, his axe freed from its holster. He swung the blade in a low sweeping arc, aimed directly at Menardi's waist.
She had no choice but to block the axe with a quick adjustment of her scythe's handle. The axe buried into the trick wood.
Menardi then caught Mia out of the corner of her eye. It was clear she hadn't given the healer much attention, her focus on the two sword-wielding boys.
A mistake Mia was quick to punish her for.
Menardi was forced to twist in place, or else Mia's mace would have struck her ribs and shattered them. Their timing perfect, Garet released his hands from his axe just as Mia's mace struck the wooden handle of the scythe.
Already weakened from the axe, the handle shattered in the middle, splinters flying everywhere.
As Garet's axe fell to the ground, Menardi tried to move back, but from twisting her body weight, and the sudden change of her holding two halves of a wooden staff, she only made it one step before Mia closed in, quickly swinging the mace again.
The mace struck Menardi's breastplate at an awkward angle. The impact, though mostly absorbed by the armour, was still enough to make Menardi gasp for air.
However, that wasn't her aim.
At the end of her swing, the mace his the very edge of Menardi's left gauntlet. The sudden shock of pain was enough: the Proxian warrior's grip slackened and the bottom half of her scythe's handle was dropped.
And with it, the Venus Star.
"Now, Ivan!" Garet called out, as he leaned down to pick his sword back up.
Ivan responded with a gust of wind, diverting the mid-air course of the bouncing Venus Star away from the four combatants.
Mia watched the moving star with momentary satisfaction. That instant of distraction was enough; Menardi, scowling in fury, bashed her head against Mia's.
Menardi's forehead was protected by a circlet; Mia's was not. Momentarily stunned, the Mercury Adept stumbled backwards. The sudden change of weight from the mace held by a strap at her wrist, threw her balance off.
It was all Menardi needed to swing what remained of her scythe and strike Mia at the side of her waist.
"Mia!" Garet screamed.
Menardi grinned. "Always take out the healer first."
Thankfully, because she only had the top half of her handle, Menardi could not swing the scythe with its full range or force. But it was still enough: Mia's blue and white robed were immediately stained with red as she fell back, collapsing to the floor.
The Venus Star clattered uselessly on the other side of the aerie.
Ivan rushed to Mia's side. Menardi ignored him, making a break for the Venus Star.
She was stopped by Garet, who held his axe in his right hand, and his sword in his left.
"You'll pay for that," he told her.
She did not offer a witty retort: with only half the range of her weapon, she was at a disadvantage.
"Isaac!" Ivan called. "We need you!"
Isaac pushed Saturos back again, turning and noticing for the first time the situation with his companions.
At the same moment, Saturos looked and saw Menardi about to fight with half a weapon against someone with two.
Isaac and Saturos exchanged glares for a split second, before they broke away and made for their respective companions.
Menardi was backing slowly from the advancing Garet when Saturos reached them. The moment Saturos joined them, he attacked, driving Garet away from the Venus Star. Soon, the arena had shifted, and the two Proxians stood between him and the star.
"They've grown much stronger," Saturos said to her. "We cannot underestimate them."
"What do we do?" Menardi asked.
"We have to work together, as they are," said Saturos. "Their combined power has outgrown ours. But remember, we hold the advantage. If we light the beacon, we've won."
Menardi gave him a look, taking in what that meant.
At that moment, Isaac reached the spot where Mia had fallen.
"Isaac, she needs healing!" Ivan urged.
"Oh, oh, oh," Mia gasped, her eyes closed. "It hurts. It hurts."
"I got her," Isaac told him. "She'll be okay. Go help Garet."
Ivan was already moving to do so, as Isaac carefully pulled back the layers of Mia's robe, his hands glowing with healing Psynergy.
Garet was waiting at the ready when Ivan joined his side.
"Two on two now," Garet said. "Will Mia be alright?"
"I think so," Ivan answered.
"Then there's no better time then now!" Garet said, an excited smile growing. "You ready?"
"You know it!"
To the Proxian's shock, they both sheathed their weapons.
"What the-?"
"Alright!" Garet called out. "Let's start with Lightning Ball!"
Garet held his hands out in front of him, gathering his Psynergy into a fireball. Ivan's energy also swirled.
The Proxians readied their weapons, but Garet did not throw the fireball at them, but up into the air.
Then, Ivan let his Psynergy loose, and a bolt of lightning struck the fireball. It changed course, flying at an incredible speed down at the aerie, where the Proxians were diving for cover. An explosion of fire and electricity struck the ground, and the two Proxians just barely escaped the blast radius.
"Yeah, Lightning Ball!" Ivan exclaimed, unable to hide his excitement.
"Now for Flaming Wind!" Garet shouted.
The Proxians were gathering Psynergy of their own.
Ivan conjured up whirling winds in front of himself, and then released it as a cyclone. It hovered there for a moment, before starting towards the Proxians.
Garet blasted the ground beneath the cyclone with a stream of fire, sending fiery chunks of the aerie up into the cyclone. The result was a mess of swirling winds and fire.
The Proxians countered with a barrage of fireballs, but it was ineffective; their flames only added to the inferno of the vortex.
The cyclone only grew as it got closer to the Proxians, forcing Saturos to dive and grab the Venus Star shortly before they were both sucked up into the air.
Grinning, Ivan turned to Garet. "Garet, how about a Melty Shower to finish?"
Garet returned the grin. "Sounds great, Ivan!"
The two Adepts gathered their Psynergy together again, while the Proxians were helplessly tossed around in the fiery maelstrom.
Garet used his Eruption ability, sending fire and lava into the air, just as Ivan conjured a single, powerful blast of wind at it.
The result was a wave of magma pouring over the Proxians, who were helpless to do anything about it.
Then, from within the vortex, an outward burst of fire exploded. The cyclone was distrupted and died out, resulting in chunks of hot material falling all around, as the two Proxians fell.
They hit the ground hard, the impact causing the Venus Star to fly out of Saturos' hand and land several paces away, between the two groups.
"Damn this..." Menardi managed. "Don't have time... for this..."
Saturos, his eyes on the star, climbed back to his feet in a second and ran for it.
Before he could reach it, the Venus Star was suddenly enveloped by a thick block of ice.
Saturos looked up in shock, to see Isaac and Mia standing beside their companions.
"Is that the best you got?" Isaac mocked.
Mia twirled her mace around her wrist, looking back smugly.
Saturos drew himself up, taking slow steps back, glaring hatefully at the Adepts.
"Good luck chiselling at that with your sword," Mia said, pointing with her chin at the ice-encased Venus Star. "And you'll need a lot of heat to melt it out."
Menardi joined Saturos' side.
"We have heat," Saturos answered, grinning. "More than enough."
They lifted their free hands, blasting fire into the sky. The flames gathered, swirling and coalescing into a massive, hot cloud.
"See the power of the northern wilds!" Menardi shouted. "A reminder of the might of Prox!"
The flames took the shape of a massive, two-headed dragon.
The Proxians removed the stream of Psynergy, and yet the dragon remained.
The dragon swooped down at the aerie, at the same time the Proxians moved in to attack.
Isaac and Mia moved quickly, conjuring up a wall of stone and ice to block the dragon, while Garet and Ivan held off the Proxians. The fiery beast burst right through their wall, unhindered, swooping over them.
Everything was suddenly cast in a shade of red, and the heat over the aerie was intense, like one was standing too close to a campfire.
As the sounds of blades clashed, Isaac and Mia turned to the dragon, which came to land, perched at the very edge of the lighthouse. Its body was rippling waves of fire, and on its two heads were eyes of burning red coals.
The dragon leaned forward, opening the jaw of one mouth. Knowing what was about to happen, Mia gathered her Psynergy to counter.
As the dragon let out breath of pure fire, Mia cast a stream of water at it in response. The water struck the center of the flames, bisecting it and diverting it safely away.
As the stream of fire ended, a remainder of Mia's water flew and hit the dragon in the face, sending it recoiling with a loud steaming hiss. The other head turned, snarling.
"It attacks with the fire from itself!" Mia exclaimed. "Water will extinguish it!"
"I have an idea!" Ivan called out, retreating from aggressive attacks from Menardi's scythe.
Isaac moved, his Gaia Blade in hand, and caught Menardi's scythe in mid-swing.
"Go!" he told Ivan.
Ivan ran to Mia, where the flaming dragon was beginning to rise again, with heavy beats of its flickering fire wings.
"Water in the air!" Ivan told her. "As much as you can, right up in the sky!"
Mia did so, forming from her hands a steady stream of water directly above, though the immense heat of the fire dragon quickly reduced it to vapour. Ivan gathered the winds above, condensing the growing moisture into clouds.
The dragon flew around the lighthouse again, circling back to pass over them once more, as the cloud above grew darker.
"Here it comes!" Mia shouted.
A lightning bolt arched from the cloud, striking the dragon at one of its heads.
The fiery beast let out a road of pain, and turned to the side as it reached the aerie. Mia pulled her Psynergy away from the sky, and redirected to a shield to protect her friends.
As the fiery dragon crashed into the aerie, the Adepts took cover from the flames raining around them. Immediately after the initial crash, Mia dropped the shield of water, and let loose one last blast of the water. It struck the fire dragon at its wings, severing them.
Ran began to pour from the dark cloud above.
The dragon howled in pain as raindrops struck it, slowly at first, and then more rapidly. The rain covered the aerie, quickly covering the Adepts
Unable to move or flee, the dragon could do nothing but writhe in pain as the raindrops slowly tore it apart.
Mia and Ivan turned away, content that the threat of the dragon was over.
Saturos and Menardi had backed away, now wet from the rain, staring at their fallen creation, considering their next move.
Isaac and Garet were standing at the ready, and though a bit scratched up and short of breath, looked fine. The Proxians however, looked near to collapse.
In the background, the dragon's strength either gave up, or they released whatever energy was sustaining it, as it let out a final cry and faded into ashes.
"So much of our Psynergy for that dragon..." Menardi said under her breath. "And they destroyed it that quickly."
"We got what we needed from it..." Saturos said.
In his tight fist, he held the Venus Star.
The rain stopped, bringing back the bright sun over the lighthouse. Ivan and Mia walked over to the others, and the four warriors stood together again.
"This is our last chance," Saturos whispered to Menardi. "One of us has to get the star in no matter what, while the other holds them back."
"I'll fight them," Menardi said. "You go."
Saturos considered. "No, I have more Psynergy left, and your weapon is broken. You go, and I'll stay."
He offered her his hand. Menardi took the star, looking back at him grimly.
"Don't give up," Menardi told him. "No matter what."
She took off at a run, while Saturos turned on the Adepts, conjuring up as much fire around them in spite of the wet ground.
Three of the Adepts were caught in the circle of fire, raising their weapons to fight. But Isaac had anticipated this, and was already on his way to intercept the star.
Menardi ran as fast as she could towards the well, and as soon as she was near enough, she threw the star overhead.
Before it could land, a ghostly hand plucked it out of the air, and returned it to Isaac.
"Not so fast," he said, holding the Venus Star with a smug smirk.
Menardi answered with a vicious snarl, and a swing of her scythe. Isaac sidestepped the attack.
"You know," he said. "I think I've had enough of that thing."
A rush of his Psynergy, and thorny vines burst from the wooden handle of her scythe. Cursing, Menardi threw her ruined weapon aside, her hands bloody.
"Give it up," Isaac told her. "What else can you do now?"
"I will never surrender!" Menardi hissed. "Least of all to you!"
With a flick of her wrist, Menardi threw a handful of her blood at Isaac's eyes.
Gah!" he said, quickly wiping it away, just in time to see Menardi tackling him off the ground.
The two Adepts hit the ground, with both the sword and the Venus Star falling out of Isaac's hand. Menardi quickly pushed him away, scurrying towards it.
"Stop!" Isaac shouted, quickly casting Psynergy.
A small stone spire fell and pierced through one of Menardi's legs.
She screamed, and struggled, but she was stuck.
Isaac climbed to his feet, wiping the remaining blood from his eyes.
"I'm tired of this back and forth game," he said, walking past the pinned Menardi to the Venus Star. "This is over. Keep fighting, and I'll have no choice but to kill you."
He reached down and picked up the Venus Star, and was about to stuff it in his pocket when Menardi's thrown dagger struck him in the arm.
Isaac cried out in pain, immediately feeling his arm seize in pain. The Venus Star fell from his hand uselessly, rolling over to where Menardi waited. She kicked the spire free from her leg, and climbed up on her free one, grabbing the Venus Star on her way.
Try as Isaac might, he couldn't move. His entire body suddenly felt heavy.
"Damn it, stop!"
Menardi walked to the edge of the well, ignoring Isaac's protests and his feeble attempts to crawl towards her.
And then, just as she was about to toss the star into the well, she stopped, catching sight of something on the horizon.
"Well..." she said, giving a slight smile. "Better late than never."
Then, rather than light the lighthouse, she stuffed the Venus Star into her pocket.
She went back over to Isaac, and brought her foot down on his chest with the full force of her weight.
"You arrogant child!" she screamed. "I've had enough of you and all your ilk! I want blood! I've waited long enough!"
She kicked Isaac several times again, laughing.
"Look at you! All those times Jenna told me you would be the death of us! And look at how pathetic you are now!"
She went to stomp on him again, but he caught her foot as it came down. Shoving hard, Menardi was pushed off-balance, landing on top of Isaac.
She was more amused than anything.
"How cute," she said. "He still tries to fight back."
Menardi grabbed the hilt of the dagger in Isaac's arm and pulled it free, relishing in the scream he let out.
"Now," she said, holding the blade high. "Die in agony, you filth."
She brought the dagger down. Isaac caught her by the wrists, only millimetres from his throat.
Menardi laughed as he fought against her.
"I still remember..." she mocked, her voice straining with effort. "You were a scared little boy... cowering under this blade... I could have ended you there..."
Isaac pushed against her with all his strength, but the exhaustion of the long fight was setting in, and Menardi had the advantage of body weight. The razor-sharp edge of the dagger grew ever-closer to his neck.
"When I'm done with you... I'm gonna kill your friends...! And then I'm gonna kill your little girlfriend... she'll scream and cry and beg to die... but I'll make it nice and slow...!"
"NO!" Isaac screamed.
The image of Jenna in pain, tortured by Menardi, flashed into his mind. He pushed back, finding strength again in his panicked desperation. Thrown off by the sudden reversal, Menardi could not react in time to stop Isaac, as he pushed the blade to the side and then struck her in the side of the head with his elbow.
Menardi collapsed on her back, her dagger falling between the two of them. Isaac did not hesitate; he was one his feet in an instant. He grabbed the dagger, and then found himself standing over her, holding the blade high.
He hesitated.
"What are you waiting for, you coward?" Menardi demanded. "Would I show you mercy?"
"You did," Isaac said, "once."
"And I should not have," Menardi scowled.
"No, you shouldn't have."
Isaac brought the dagger down into Menardi's chest.
Menardi's last sound was a scream of pain.
The instant he heard it, Saturos stopped, frozen in place.
That second of inaction was all it took; Garet's blade carried the momentum of its master, and came down on the wrist of Saturos' sword hand. There was a sickening slicing sound as the steel severed flesh and bone, and a moment later Saturos' sword clattered uselessly on the golden stone brick of Venus Lighthouse in a pool of blood.
The Proxian warrior barely seemed to notice, even as Ivan's sword followed into his gut. He coughed, choking on blood, but his eyes were locked on Menardi and Isaac.
"Menardi..." he managed to say.
The three Adepts stopped, seeing their opponent was defeated. They waited, still on guard, and glanced back at the well, where Isaac was leaned over the unmoving form of Menardi. In only moments, the entire battle had shifted completely.
Isaac stood, stepping away, breathing heavily, his hands shaking. Menardi was lying, unmoving, her own dagger plunged into her heart.
Saturos started to move, pulling himself free of Ivan's katana as though he did not even notice it. He made his way slowly towards the aerie well, leaving behind both his sword and his severed hand; blood dripped freely from the cut wrist, leaving a red trail. He struggled to rise again, and collapsed back to his knees, coughing up a mouthful of blood; he settled on a crawl, using his remaining hand to steady himself.
"Isaac...?" Ivan asked.
Isaac shook his head in response.
After an agonising crawl, Saturos made it to Menardi's side.
Her eyes were open, but empty.
"I always thought..." Saturos managed, with laboured breaths. "I would die first... Seemed the nobler thing..."
Isaac did not answer him. He did not know what he could say.
Saturos used his remaining hand to gently shut her eyelids. He leaned forward slowly, kissing her, and when he pulled back her lips were red from the blood on his own.
"We've known one another since childhood..." Saturos said. "We've always had this connection. It was never something we could have openly, yet... to deny would have been to deny who we were."
Saturos coughed once more, staining the brick floor red. His dark blue skin had faded to a very sickly pale hue; he was losing blood fast.
"She was a warrior," he said. "This was the death she wanted."
"Yeah," Isaac managed to say.
"This was always where this was leading," Saturos continued. "It was inevitable... From the moment we decided to steal those stars..." His voice caught as he was wrecked with a wave of pain.
Some part of Isaac pitied him, and wondered if it was true that this was the only way this could have gone.
"Go on, end it," Saturos told Isaac spitefully. "I have no fight left in me. It was a losing battle as it was. Just let me go with some dignity, rather than fade slowly from this wound."
Isaac leaned back over Menardi, pulling the dagger free from her. He crossed to the other side of her, and held the blood-covered blade next to Saturos' throat. The Proxian was as high and proud as he could manage, sitting wounded and in pain.
"Do it," Saturos said.
Isaac never got the chance. The Proxian groaned in pain, and doubled over as another coughing fit assaulted him. He spat more blood on the floor of the lighthouse, and his entire body shook and trembled. A moment later, he collapsed over Menardi and stopped moving, his eyes staring ahead unblinking.
Isaac listened, for the telltale sound that Saturos was still alive, but he did not breathe. The two Proxians lay side-by-side, in death.
"That's it, then..." he said quietly, to himself. "It's done..."
"Isaac!" Mia shouted from the other side of the aerie.
He turned in place.
This companions were standing with their weapons ready, and across from them was Felix, having returned at some point, holding the Gaia Blade that Isaac had lost earlier in the battle. Sheba was standing some distance away, near the edge of the aerie.
"You killed them..." Felix said, staring in disbelief. Though he was holding Isaac's sword, he looked shocked and uncertain.
"Yes," Isaac said simply.
Felix looked at the bodies of the Proxians, then back to Isaac, and then to the others. He was hesitating, and Isaac knew why.
If he left now he would save himself, but the Venus beacon would go unlit. For whatever reason, he needed the beacons lit, perhaps more so than the Proxians did. And yet, he knew that if they had killed the Proxians, who were far greater warriors than he was, he would stand no chance against them.
"Give it up, Felix," Isaac said, as he began to approach. "It's over."
"It's not over," Felix insisted. "Not until all the beacons are lit."
"Felix," Isaac said sternly, as if he were talking to a child. "I'm not in the mood for more fighting. So I'm giving you a chance-"
"A chance to what, go back to Vale with you?" Felix scoffed. "That bridge is burned. I can never go back there."
"Think of what you're doing to Jenna, man!" Garet exclaimed.
Felix answered only with a dirty look.
"Why are you doing this?!" Isaac demanded. "What happened to you over there that changed you so much?"
Felix hesitated, his expression faltering for a second. "You... would not understand even if I had the time to explain."
"It's time to make a choice, Felix," Isaac said, stopping before the end of the Gaia Blade. "Saturos and Menardi made their choices. You can either go back with us, and Jenna, to Vale, or you can join those two here."
"Would you really kill me, Isaac?" Felix asked, his eyes drifting to the still-bloody dagger in his hand.
"To save the world from the threat of Alchemy?" Isaac said, considering. "Yeah. I would."
Felix's expression darkened. "Then there is no understanding we could possibly reach."
Isaac pushed the blade of the sword aside with his gloved hand and closed the distance between them, moving to strike with the dagger.
It was not, however, a strike meant to kill. He deliberately held back, allowing Felix to pull away from him with only a lightly-bleeding cut on his stomach.
"I can take you, even with just a dagger, Felix," Isaac warned. "And I have three friends here to back me up. You aren't winning this one, and we're not just going to let you walk away so you can go to the next lighthouse. So you'd better decide what you want to do before I stop pulling my punches."
To that, Felix turned aggressive, moving in and swinging the Gaia Blade at Isaac. Though he easily side-stepped the attack, Felix quickly followed with another, forcing Isaac to put distance between them.
Though the attacks were clumsy and untrained, Isaac could see that Felix was serious. And though he was tired from fighting the Proxians, Felix was fresh. Loathe as he was to admit it, Felix had the advantage.
"Stop it!" Garet shouted, raising his sword, but he held back at a raised hand from Isaac.
"I'll handle it!" Isaac said.
Isaac gathered his Psynergy, and as Felix moved in for another strike, a ghostly hand appeared and slapped Felix with the force of a boulder.
The other Adept fell backwards, tumbling to the ground, still holding tight to the sword despite landing square on his shoulder.
"Felix!" Sheba shouted in worry.
Felix climbed to one knee, as Isaac drew closer. As he tried to lift the Gaia Blade, he found that his sword arm burned with pain, and now struggled with the weight of the weapon.
"Enough of this!" Isaac shouted. "I gave you more than enough chances. I'm ending this now!"
As Isaac lifted the dagger, Felix's Psynergy surged into the Gaia Blade.
Ivan shouted a warning, "Isaac, wait!". But he was not swift enough.
A glowing blade of Psynergetic energy fell from the sky, striking the very spot where Isaac stood. The aerie was still for a moment, before the blade exploded and they were all thrown backwards by the rush of energy.
Isaac, who took the full force of the blast, found himself consumed with a wave of pain that left him unaware of his surroundings until he landed hard on the brick floor.
He groaned, opening his eyes to see that he had landed just beside the aerie.
And then, with a shock, he realized the bodies of Saturos and Menardi were gone, leaving only a trail of blood that led into the well.
Isaac had only precious seconds to realize what this meant before the aerie was bathed in an explosion of golden light.
The ground around Venus Lighthouse shook violently.
Felix cursed his own foolishness.
He had caused his, by trying to fight Isaac. And now...
Sheba held at the edge of the lighthouse, despite the violent tremors that assaulted the tower.
Felix ran to her side, all but allowing himself to be thrown there by the earthquake.
He grabbed the girl's hand just as it was starting to slip from the edge.
"Sheba!" he cried. "Hang on!"
Below them, the seas were raging, striking viciously at the cliffs that bordered the lighthouse. Felix felt a wave of nauseous vertigo at the sight.
He had seen the gold light of the beacon just beginning to erupt from the well before he heard Sheba calling for his name. In only seconds, the earthquake had started. It was all happening so fast...
Sheba looked to him with terrified, pleading eyes.
"Don't let go!" he shouted. "Just hang on to me!"
He tried to pull her up, but his arm screamed in pain.
My fault, he told himself. If I had focused on protecting her instead of letting my anger at Isaac get the best of me...!
The lighthouse shook again, and Sheba nearly slipped from his grip.
"Please!" he shouted, though he was not sure if was to directed at himself, Sheba, or the very gods themselves.
"Felix...!" Sheba said, a slight smile suddenly forming.
Another tremor struck, and Sheba fell.
Felix's blood ran cold. He watched, in paralysed terror, as the image of the helpless girl grew smaller.
He had failed her.
And then, as if the gods has answered him, a wave struck the bottom of the lighthouse, and Sheba was swallowed by it.
Felix sat there, in shock, for several moments, as the lighthouse continued to shake.
Behind him, the Venus beacon rose from the well. Somehow, they had done it after all; in all the chaos, Saturos and Menardi had somehow got the Venus Star in the well.
Felix had done nothing. He had failed in the one thing he had gone there to do: to protect an innocent girl.
And now...
Another wave struck at the lighthouse.
Memories of the storm flooded into Felix's vision: of him falling into the river, of clinging to that fallen tree for life, of the boulder coming towards them on that dock just as he thought he was safe, of his parents' bodies floating by in the river as Kyle pulled him free...
He had wanted to spare Sheba the trauma of being drawn into this as he had. And now, here she was, about to drown in storming water.
But perhaps... if the water had broken her fall and she had survived the impact...
Felix thought of Jenna. He did not regret leaving her to protect Sheba, only that he had failed to do so. If this was up to the gods now, then she could do it. She had the Jupiter Star, and the boat was most likely on its way.
He would not be like Saturos and Menardi, so focused on completing their mission that they cared not for who they hurt to do so. If it was his fate to complete the mission, then he would be able to save Sheba now.
Felix put aside the memories of the storm; it was a distant memory. It would not control who he was.
He drew himself up, and waited a few seconds for the rushing waves to come back, and then he jumped over the edge of the lighthouse.
The water rose to greet him.
Consciousness returned slowly to Isaac.
He blinked, greeted by a bright blue sky. He felt like the entire world was shaking. As he tried to get up, a soft hand gently pushed him back down by the shoulder.
"Whoa, not so fast." He recognized the voice as Mia's.
"What happened...?" he muttered.
"You took a nasty bump on the head," Mia said. "Thankfully the earthquakes have died down, so try to take it easy."
He slowly sat up, realising that he'd been resting his head in Mia's lap. Garet and Ivan were sitting on the brick floor of the lighthouse aerie, watching him with concern.
"You still remember who we are?" Garet asked.
"Shut up, Garet," Isaac replied.
"Okay," Ivan said, letting out a breath. "Was a little worried there for a minute. Take it from a mind-reader, head injuries are no joke."
Isaac took stock of his surroundings. The Venus Lighthouse aerie was a mess, the previously pristine brick floor covered with blood, scorch marks, and shattered rocks and ice. And in the middle, casting a golden glow over everything, was...
"The beacon is lit," Isaac said.
"Yeah," Mia breathed, sounding defeated. No doubt she was remembering Mercury Lighthouse.
"How did it happen?" Isaac asked. "So much of the end is a blur..."
"It would seem Saturos and Menardi fell into the well," Ivan said. "Menardi still had the Venus Star on her. That was as good as throwing it in, it would seem."
Isaac frowned. Something about that didn't feel right, but as he tried to think about it, his head ached more.
It was his fault this had happened. He had finished off Menardi, and watched Saturos die next to her. He should have taken the Venus Star from her the moment he had the chance. And yet, he had left it for the moment, not imagining anything like this could have happened, so he could deal with...
"Felix," Isaac said, remembering. "What about Felix? And Sheba?"
"I saw that part," said Garet. He sighed, looking over at the edge of the lighthouse. "When Felix used the sword on you, the blast sent everyone flying back. Most of us were fine, but poor Sheba was right at the edge of the lighthouse. She managed to grab ahold, and Felix ran to try to pull her up, but with the earthquake shaking everything so much..."
They all fell silent. Isaac looked at his side, where the Gaia Blade was resting on the floor, recovered at some point.
Eventually, Garet added, "After she fell, Felix jumped after her. It didn't look like it was out of grief; I think the waves caught her and he thought he could save her."
"Felix did that...?" said Isaac.
"I wasn't sure what to think after his actions today," Garet said. "But that... well, he looked like our old friend again."
Isaac looked down at the floor. He didn't know what to think. So much had happened, so many things said and done, his head would be spinning even if he hadn't hit it.
The Vale elders turning their backs on Prox, Felix claiming that Jenna had sided with him, him killing both of the Proxians, Felix and Sheba falling from the lighthouse...
And of course, the beacon being lit.
As Isaac looked at the well, it jogged his memory, bringing to mind a visual memory from just before the beacon had erupted.
In those handful of seconds, between landing beside the well and the beacon lighting, Isaac had seen a trail of Saturos and Menardi's blood leading in. Right next to it, he had seen a bloody handprint, at the very edge.
Perhaps it was just a coincidence, but Isaac couldn't shake the feeling that he'd been played. He'd listened close, and had been certain that Saturos was dead. But that handprint had not been there before.
It ultimately didn't matter, because the result was the same: another beacon had been lit.
The weight of it set in. Though they had killed the two Proxians, removing their most immediate enemies, they had failed in every other regard. If Felix did survive, he still had Jenna captive. She had the Jupiter Star, and whatever reasons they had for this mission, they would undoubtedly continue on to the next lighthouse. Alex was still missing, along with Kraden. Sheba was gone, possibly dead, and if she was alive, would likely be taken captive to be used at Jupiter Lighthouse.
Everything they had worked so hard for, all the trials they had overcome, it had amounted to nothing. Though the Proxians were dead now, they had won in the end.
The Venus beacon seemed almost to mock him. He could not see this as anything but a complete failure.
He started to rise back to his feet.
"Isaac!" Mia exclaimed. "Are you-?"
"I'm well enough to walk," he said. "We need to go back to Lalivero, and give Iodem and Faran the bad news. Then we can rest, and prepare for the next step."
"Which is...?" asked Ivan.
Isaac shook his head. "I'm not sure now. I need a night to think on it."
The others exchanged worried looks, but they said nothing. One by one, they helped each other up, and then made their way over to the elevator. They rode back down in silence.
Many leagues away, on the other side of Angara - much too far for any of them to see if even if they lingered to look - the beacon of the Mercury Lighthouse still shone proud. It flickered for just a moment, as a silent message passed to it that no human could have understood. It returned the greeting back to its sister at Venus Lighthouse, the two lighthouses aware that the other was shining.
They would patiently wait for the return of the other two.
A/N: So right off the bat, I would like to apologize for the lack of a proper Fusion Dragon battle. I debated on this for a while, and ultimately decided against including it. I know it's an important and memorable moment in the game, but it just didn't feel right for the story. Allow me to list my reasons below:
1: This fic is much more about the human story of Golden Sun. So I wanted Saturos and Menardi to have tragic human deaths. And it would take away from Isaac's moment where he made the conscious choice to kill Menardi to have a big monster battle instead.
2: The Fusion Dragon is the final boss of the 1st game, but this is the halfway point of a prose story, not a self-contained release like the Broken Seal video game was. If the first game had ended without an awesome final boss battle, I think players would have felt ripped off, but this is a totally different medium with different strengths in its favour.
3: The Doom Dragon is a much bigger and more important battle, and more fitting as the final challenge the characters face. It becomes a bit redundant to have two big dragon battles, so I decided to keep this fight more personal, and let the second one be more epic (and the Flame Dragons work well enough as foreshadowing the Doom Dragon twist anyway).
4: Humans turning into dragons feels more fitting as a divine punishment thing that the Wise One does to others, rather than a secret power the Proxians coincidentally also have. So by cutting it's use here, the other transformations feel more internally consistent to me.
5: I don't have to explain how the hell Felix and Sheba were hanging around just off-screen watching safely while the Fusion Dragon is dropping meteors, body-slamming, and breathing fire all over the place (even still I had a brief line about them 'returning at some point').
Overall, while I do feel like something was lost by excluding the battle, I didn't want to write just out of obligation to include it just because it was a big moment in the game. If you can enjoy the story without the djinn or half of the dungeons, I hope this isn't a dealbreaker (I did at least pay tribute with the big flaming dragon attack that Saturos and Menardi unleash near the end).
As for the rest of the chapter... not too much changed from my initial outline. I liked that so much of the battle came down to fighting over the Venus Star, it added an element of immediate urgency that was missing from the battle at Mercury. I really wanted to differentiate this from that fight, so this didn't feel too much like "the same, but more".
Garet and Ivan's Chrono Trigger-style combo attacks were a lot of fun to think up and write. While those two were the main reason for this, I ultimately wrote similar moments of quick teamwork for pretty much everyone. I wanted to show that the group has gained a lot of synergy (lol) and are able to work together and draw on each other's strengths on the fly, without the need for Isaac to give orders and/or take the risks himself while the others play support. This was a long-building arc between all of them over the course of the TBS half of the story, and I think it worked out really well (it's also not a coincidence that the last-ditch effort the Proxians have to light the beacon is so similar to Isaac's old strategies).
On the character end, I wanted these two chapters to be the culmination of a lot of things that had been brewing since the beginning of the story. While I did clarify a lot of motivations and lore, I also left a lot of it deliberately ambiguous, so that readers may draw their own conclusions as to what was actually going on. Some things will be revealed later in the story, others might not.
I wanted there to be multiple moments where things could have perhaps worked out more peacefully, but one of the characters makes a very human mistake and tragedy results. Isaac getting so violently angry with Felix, for example. While this might feel a bit dark for him, remember how much he's done to try to save Jenna and bring her home, just to be told she doesn't need or want his help anymore. Or how much he personally blames Felix for what has happened and considers him a traitor to Vale. He finally had a chance here to put an end to things, only to see it slip from his fingers. The events here will certainly have an impact on him moving forward.
Next chapter: One journey ends, and another begins!