Disclaimer: I do not own Golden Sun.

I shivered as we entered the dark cave. Altmiller Cave was definitely not a welcoming kind of place. The light was dim, and grew dimmer the further we went.

In the next, completely dim room, we encountered some trouble.

"Monsters!" yelped Ivan. Sure enough, a corpse and a huge mud golem stood there, ready to attack us.

"Monstrous creatures, unhand these chivalrous knights!" cried Gust, flying forward.

"Wahoo!" Flint didn't even need to hear my summon to know that I wanted him to attack.

Scorch raced out, flames gathering at her feet as she dashed towards the golem. It crumbled into dust that blew away in the whirlwind Ivan conjured up.

"Take that!" shouted Hail agressively, ice flying toward the undead.

It groaned as the ice hit its body and raised a hand to hit me. I tried to dodge it, but it caught the top of my head. I used my blade to decapacitate it. The body fell to the ground.

We continued on to a dark hallway.

"I can't see a thing!" Garet complained.

"Yes, we could walk right into a pit and not know it!" agreed Mia.

I sent Garet a disbelieving look. "Oh, come on, Garet, you're a Mars Adept!"

He waved his hand and several flames appeared throughout the cavern. He stumbled and almost fell. Mia grabbed one arm, Ivan the other, and I stood behind him, supporting him from there.

"What happened?" Mia wondered.

"He used up all his Psynergy," Ivan explained. "It's come as a shock to him."

Just then, up came another undead. I rolled my eyes. "It couldn't have chosen a worse time if it'd tried."

"Maybe it did," Mia suggested darkly. "I'll stay with Garet, he's in no shape to battle."

I shrugged and called out Sap. He looked uneasily from one side to the other. "This is scary..."

"We'll probably end up dead," agreed Smog. I rolled my eyes again and made a mental note to keep those two apart, away from the other Djinn, and especially away from Fizz.

The undead swung its thick club and almost hit Ivan. He ducked just in time. Finally, Sap and Smog attacked, sending the zombie flying into the wall and crumbling into dust.

I turned back to ask Mia how Garet was doing and gasped. He was still laying helplessly on the floor, but Mia was nowhere to be found.

"Over here!" she called. I turned to find her battling another chest mimic.

"Just what we need," I muttered, signaling to Ivan. "Ragnarok!"

The giant sword fell from the sky, jabbing the mimic. It struggled out from under it only to get showered with sparkling ice crystals that cut into its metal-like skin. Ivan danced forward and jabbed it with his saber.

I shouted above Ivan's Atalanta to Mia. "Mia, take care of Garet! We'll get rid of this thing!"
She nodded and slowly began retreating. The mimic scuttled forward, its oversized pincers hungry for flesh. I struck it with my sword. Ramses!

But my timing was off. I summoned Ramses at the same time as Ivan called up a whirlwind, creating a sandstorm. The mimic was carried away by the storm. Behind it the real treasure hid-another small bottle of Water of Life. I took it over to Mia, still leaning over Garet worriedly.

She took it without looking at it and slipped it in her pack. "He's just barely conscious! I don't know what to do!" she wailed, frantically checking his heartbeat. "I've tried Ply, and it does nothing!"

Suddenly struck with an idea, I fumbled in my pack, drawing out the crystal. Ivan and Mia watched worriedly. "Maybe this does something! It was in the same category as Water of Life and those elixirs!"

"How do you administer it?" wondered Ivan.

I shrugged. "Maybe you just wave it over them..."

Garet sat bolt upright. "I feel so much better! My strength's back! That crystal!"

I gave him a strange look. "How'd you know about that?"

"I was awake...just barely."

I shrugged and we continued on.

After about five minutes, we encountered something strange. A shape, a figure of someone in a cloak. I could just see the dim edges of the person in the pitch black cave.

"Hello?" I called cautiously.

"You..." The voice was an old man's. He cleared his throat and continued. "You can see me?"

"I wouldn't call it seeing, exactly, but yeah." answered Garet.

"I think it's some sort of Psynergy," spoke up Ivan.

The mysterious voice sounded amazed. "You know about Psynergy? And you can see me?"

"That's what we said!" Garet shouted, his quick temper rising. "Don't hide, show yourself!"

"Even if I wanted to show myself, I couldn't." confided the voice. "As you can see, I cannot move."

"What happened?" asked Mia in a worried tone.

"Hmm, yes, well, I ran out of my draught and collapsed." the voice informed us.

I raised an eyebrow, though I doubted the owner of the voice could see it. "Draught?"

"What kind of draught?" asked Ivan suspiciously.

"You couldn't even begin to comprehend if I tried to tell you." He coughed. The edges flickered.

"You seem to be in a lot of pain," observed Mia. "Your life depends on that draught, I guess."

"Yes, it does." agreed the person. "Might you, possibly, do me a favor?"

"A favor?" Ivan repeated. "What?"

"I'd like you to get my draught for me,"

"Get it?" Garet repeated.

"Where is it?" I asked.

"Deep in this cave..." the voice intoned.

In the dim light of the nearest flame of Garet's, I could see Mia roll her eyes. "What, is there a pharmacy down there?"

"Witty, aren't we?" sneered the voice. "I'll have to tell you how to find it. Would you do this for me?"

I shared a look with the others. Mia looked unsure. Ivan looked downcast. Garet looked downright angry. But they all nodded.

"Yes." I answered. "What do we have to do?"
"First, you'll have to go deep into the cave," the voice instructed. "You'll find five rocks sticking up out of the ground. Rotate the rocks on the left and right sides. When you turn the rocks in the right order, five colored lights will appear."
Garet snorted. "Rotating rocks and colored lights?"
"That does sound weird." agreed Mia.

"Lights will appear on the wall," repeated the voice. "There will be five colors: blue, green, white, yellow, and red. Turn the five rocks in accordance with those colors. The blue light corresponds to the rock farthest to the left. In order, the other rocks are green, white, yellow, and red." I made a mental note: left to right, blue, green, white, yellow, red.

"When you see the light, rotate the corresponding rock," he continued. "If you do this correcly, a hidden door will open."
Garet leaned in and whispered to me, "This sounds more like one of Ivan's adventure stories than something real."
I nodded absently, trying to listen to the mysterious voice.

But he was done, and only his moans of pain echoed in the dimly lit cave. Just as we were about to head down the stone steps, he stopped us. "The draught is on a table behind the door. Please hurry!"

"Yes, sir." I answered automatically, starting down the stairs.

Into more of the dimly lit cave. Garet groaned. "I think I'm gonna have to use Psynergy again."
"No, you're not." Mia said firmly.

"Yes, I am. A floating fireball is what we need, not these random torches!" He summoned up a floating ball of flames. It bobbed in front of us, lighting the path.

"Pretty good!" I complimented admiringly.

We continued on in silence, and my thoughts drifted back to my earlier dream. Where was Jenna? At the next lighthouse? Where was the next lighthouse? I nudged Ivan. "Where's Prox?"
"Pretty far to the north. Why?" he asked.

"Just wondering. Where's, um..." I struggled to remember the name of another town, "um, Lalivero?"
"In Gondowan, not that far from here." he answered.

Lalivero. The city at the base of Venus Lighthouse. I almost tripped as I walked down the steps. Vine laughed in my head.

"Monster alert!" cried Garet. I looked up and faced a gigantic, purple, two-headed, wolflike thing about three feet away. I took a step back, taking in its appearance.

I blinked and mentally called Sap.

I'm on recovery! came the reply.

I rolled my eyes, replying, I suppose Flint is, too?

Yup, he answered. Of course, you could always take...

Yes! cheered Ground happily.

"Achoo!" sneezed Fever.

"I'm sleepy."
"Unhand those Adepts!"

The two-headed thing snarled viciously, ready to attack. Ground flew towards it, chattering all the while. The monster froze.

Ground, returning, grinned up at me. "You better run," he suggested.

I took his advice. Running as fast as we could, four young Adepts fled.