OH MY GOD, AN UPDATE! Yeah, it's been ages, so shame on me. I had been really busy with school, and I didn't have enough interest in my story to force myself to buckle down and write. However, Dark Dawn is coming out (FUK YEA), so my interest has been renewed and reborn. I'd say a chapter every Tuesday is reasonable.

I wouldn't be surprised if my writing sounds rusty this chapter. Although it's been months, I kinda rushed this chapter out there, just so people would know that I was still alive. A quick shout-out to TommyDB, Hawki, Elrandir, Matiels, Supaku, and Artifex Haliband (your penname is in Latin, like mine *thumbs up*). I read all of your reviews, and appreciate the feedback. Hopefully the reviews will continue in abundance. I feel as though this chapter might be a bit too wordy in some places, so if it is, let it be known.

Cheers!


"Ugh, I just can't GET this!"

Garet leaned back in his chair and ran his fingers through his tall, fire-red hair. "It's just too complicated. Impossible to understand, I swear…"

Ivan looked up from his notes with a slight smile. "Oh, come on Garet. Just because it takes some brainpower, it doesn't automatically mean it's incomprehensible."

Garet stretched as he said, "Yeah, whatever. I keep on getting the feeling that Kraden likes you and Felix more than me. I mean, he won't even answer my questions! All I ever get is 'Look in your notes, Garet' or 'You've got to pay more attention, Garet'."

"Maybe it's because you still don't know the basics yet," Ivan said gently.

Garet took a large book from off of his lap and shut it indignantly. "Bleh, I've already experienced Alchemy first-hand, the hell do I need to keep studying it for? Here I am sitting in Kraden's home, reading this gibberish, when I could be helping the villagers rebuild Vale."

"Keep it down over there," said a voice. Garet turned from the table in front of him to face Felix, who was seated in a large, polished wooden chair. He was sitting with one leg balancing on his other knee, a dusty-looking book on his lap. He spoke without looking up, "If you're frustrated, then try harder. You're not putting much effort into your studies."

"Look, Felix," Garet said angrily, "I'm not as smart as you. It takes a lot of effort for me to do this stuff…Kraden says we need to understand Alchemy so we can prevent our world from falling into chaos, but…" Garet trailed off and turned back to face the table in front of him. It was littered with sheets of parchment and books. "Maybe I'm just not good enough for all this," he said flatly.

Felix took a small rectangular sheet and placed it into the fold of his book, sighing heavily as he closed it. "Alright. I suppose I can help you, at least until you can continue on your own. What exactly is confusing you?"

Garet turned his chair so he was facing Felix. "Everything, really…but for starters, I just don't get the idea that everything is made of psynergy. I mean," Garet said, making vague gestures as he clearly struggled to find the right words, "I don't see an ordinary rock glowing with psynergy, and if I break it in half, I still won't find any. Usually when an Adept powers up I notice it right away, but I can't sense an ounce of psynergy coming from the environment. It doesn't make any sense….come to think of it, what IS psynergy anyway?"

Felix was looking down at the ground, thinking so hard that Garet could've sworn he saw his hair bristle. "You're farther behind than I thought," Felix said softly. He placed both of his feet on the wooden floor and leaned forward. "Alright Garet, you've asked a very general question. But…I'll try to keep it succinct as possible."

Garet glanced at Ivan and was somewhat surprised to see he was looking intently at Felix. Looks like I'm not the only one looking for answers…

"What is psynergy…" Felix repeated thoughtfully. "Psynergy is nothing but matter in the form of energy. That's all. It is the product of matter being broken down into its purest form. And when you break it down, you'll find that the matter is made up of four different types of psynergy. I…assume you know what the four types are," Felix said expectantly.

Garet blinked. "Uh…that'd be fire, earth, wind, and water…right?"

Felix nodded satisfactorily. "Mmhm, although that's not totally correct. When you take psynergy and condense it considerably, you get something called hyle. Hyle is what makes up the matter, and with hyle, you can pretty much create anything you want. If we discovered a way to transform psynergy into hyle, we'd essentially be gods, able to mold and shape the world as we saw fit. Unfortunately, Nature doesn't seem to like the idea of humans being all-powerful, so there are problems. You would need preposterous amounts of psynergy in order to create matter, and even more if you wanted to create life. Not to mention, you'd have to be utterly precise with these vast amounts of psynergy, making sure to balance them perfectly. I'd imagine," said Felix casually, "that if all of Weyard became Adepts, and you gathered all of their psynergy into one spot, you'd probably have enough to make a rock the size of your fist."

"…Damn…," said Garet, awed. He caught a glimpse of Ivan and saw that he had a confused look on his face.

"But then…how are we able to control matter the way we do? Shouldn't it take much more psynergy than we possess?" Ivan asked curiously.

"Well, we're not creating matter when we activate our psynergy," Felix said patiently. "Listen, when you use psynergy, you're merely stimulating the hyle contained within the matter. Think of psynergy as the strings, and the matter as the puppet. I can create earthquakes because the psynergy within me is able to react with any sort of Venusian material. This is also how you can detect when psynergy is being used by other Adepts. The psynergy within you is being stimulated in the same way…simple."

Felix stretched both of his arms over his head and arched his back, yawning loudly. He rubbed his ponytail as he continued, "As for your other question, the reason you can't detect the psynergy within the land is because it's not really psynergy. It's hyle. Every bit of matter has hyle from each of the four elements within it, with all four types being balanced in a perfect ratio. A rock has mostly Venus hyle within it, but it also has Mercury, Jupiter and Mars hyle within it. They're all bonded together in a specific pattern. It would be something like five parts Venus hyle for every one part Mercury, Jupiter, Mars hyle. This is where the very advanced stuff starts, so I won't bore you with the gory details.

"Ok, then," Garet said slowly, "but how exactly was the world created anyway? If everything is made of hyle, where'd it all come from?"

Felix raised an eyebrow and opened his mouth, but before he could speak the brass doorknob on the door behind Felix began to turn slowly. The three young men turned as the door creeped open to reveal Isaac. His face was emotionless, but his demeanor foreshadowed some sort of dissonance within him. Isaac was noticeably agitated, yet his eyes were hard and emotionless.

"Uh, yo Isaac," Garet said tentatively. "Looks like you finally woke up."

Isaac slightly nodded in his direction, and turned his focused gaze towards Ivan. "There's something I've got to ask you," he said simply.

Ivan's eyebrows rose, and he said with a tone of surprise, "Uh, ok. We can go in another room-"

Isaac shook his head. "No point. I'll just ask you now." Isaac strode towards Ivan and leaned on the table in front of him, so that their faces were only a couple feet apart. "Have you seen-well, heard-anything abnormal lately?"

Ivan stared blankly, so Isaac elaborated. "You know, like…a telekinetic message? Anything of that sort?"

Ivan closed his agape mouth and swallowed. "Well…yeah, I believe someone did project a mental message the other day. I could tell it used a lot of energy, but it only reached me as a sort of echo, so it was probably an Adept from far away."

Isaac's voice dropped to a dire tone. "Were the words anything like 'It has begun'?"

Surprise emerged from Ivan's soft features. "Woah, yeah, that was exactly it. How'd you know? I didn't know Venus adepts were that in-tune with mental abilities."

Isaac stood up slowly. He was still looking at Ivan, but his mind was far away.

"Hey, Isaac…" Garet started cautiously, "What's wrong? You're acting weird…like you just found out Vault's gonna be attacked, or something." Garet laughed nervously, and when Isaac didn't respond, he added quietly, "We're not getting attacked, are we?"

"Garet." Isaac's voice was sturdy. "I need you to get everyone. All eight of us, and Kraden. Bring them to the sanctum."

"Alright, I guess. For what though?"

"Just do it," Isaac said curtly. "I need to have everyone gathered there in the next hour. There's something all of you need to know." Isaac then spun on his heel and purposefully walked back out, gently easing the door closed behind him.

"The…hell?" Garet said. "What's up with him? I haven't seen him like that in ages."

Felix stood up quickly. "There's something wrong. I don't know, but I'm inclined to believe that it has something to do with the Lighthouses."

"Hey, that's a huge assumption," Ivan said pointedly. "For all we know, it could be a personal issue, or perhaps related to Vale's rebuilding."

Garet shook his head as he also rose to his feet. "No way…Isaac's not the type to tell other people about his problems."

"And if it involved Vale, why ask Kraden to be present also? He's not a warrior," Felix said. "No, this is something more universal, something that threatens us all…"

Garet swallowed. There had been no sign of danger other than Isaac's ominous appearance, but he still felt nervous, even more nervous than he did in the moments before he and the others reached the Mars Lighthouse Aerie. It probably had something to do with Isaac's own behavior. He was the fearless leader, and he was showing everything but confidence. Garet was shaken, but he comforted himself with the knowledge that, even though they returned mere days ago, they would be at full-strength, with all eight of the Adepts prepared to battle.


Isaac sat in the sanctum, impatiently rapping his fingers against the podium at its apex. It had been an hour and ten minutes, and no one had shown up. He had expected Felix to show up early and interrogate him to find out the purpose behind the meeting, but it had been only Isaac and the cold sanctum seats for over an hour. He was seriously considering starting an earthquake to get their attention, when the sanctum door burst open with such ferocity that Isaac found himself reaching for the hilt of the Sol Blade on his back.

All seven Adepts strode up to the podium. Jenna was in front, looking angry. Her hair bounced with each powerful stride, and Isaac could envision sparks flying from her eyes. Felix was behind her, looking bemused, but he had the same purposeful stride as Jenna. Garet, Ivan, Mia, Sheba, and Piers followed them, seemingly in the middle of a discussion.

"Ok, Isaac, you'd better spill the beans," Jenna said sharply. "I was in the middle of something when Garet practically dragged me here."

"Sorry, man," Garet said apologetically. "It took me forever to convince her to show up."

Isaac nodded and stepped down from the podium. "I'm sorry I had to hold this meeting on such short notice, but I wanted to get it done before you guys left," Isaac said, looking at Mia and Piers.

"Oh, it's ok," Mia said cheerfully. "Imil will be fine, regardless of how long I take. The healing waters have basically put me out of a job, anyway."

Piers shrugged. "I'm in no rush, either. I was exiled from Lemuria, so there's no guarantee that I'll even be allowed to return. "

There was an expectant silence as they waited for Isaac to speak. He began to pace thoughtfully, as he wondered the best way to introduce the news to his companions. Telling them would be extraordinarily difficult, as he knew their instinct would be to reject the quest. But, what alternative did they have?

Just as Isaac began to speak, however, a bright golden light blanketed the room, as if an invisible sun was brought forth from nothing. The light was accompanied by a high-pitched shimmering sound.

"The hell is going on?" Garet exclaimed. The other Adepts also began to shout and question Isaac, but their cries stopped when the golden light increased in intensity until it became blinding white. After a fleeting moment, the light seemed to evaporate. Isaac let his eyes adjust, and his gaze rested upon the large, rocky figure of the Wise One.

Jenna gasped. "It's you! The Wise One!"

The other Adepts shouted other interjections, and the Wise One blinked slowly.

"Isaac did well summoning you all here," it said in its amazing voice. It wasn't baritone, alto, or soprano, but some mixture of the three. "But there is no time. There is one final quest you all must engage in, and there is far more peril than your last."

The Wise One paused, seemingly expecting someone to object, but there was silence. It nodded slightly, and continued.

"The Anemos. I'm sure you all remember from your studies, as well as your visit to Contigo. They are planning a return."

A visible ripple of surprise flowed through the group of Adepts.

"The hell? That's…bu-what?" Garet stuttered. "I thought they're supposed to be in the sky, or something!"

"You are correct, and it was so for hundreds of years. But recently, they've made their presence known once more, and they intend to return. They will undoubtedly want vengeance."

"Vengeance?" Sheba said quizzically. "For what?"

The Wise One floated silently, and said, with what appeared to be discomfort, "Isaac shall elaborate. My power wanes, and I must give you instruction. Your duty is to prevent the six Anemos from obtaining the Shaman's Rod from Moapa in Shaman Village. I must stress to you, defeating them there will be the most arduous task of your lives."

The Adepts were shocked, and The Wise One seemed to misinterpret their silence as acceptance.

"Very well. I shall take my leave. May Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Mercury be with you."

A blinding flash, and The Wise One was gone.

There was more silence, then Felix spoke softly, "When did you find out about this, Isaac?"

"He came to me in a dream last night. I came to you guys as soon as I woke up," Isaac replied, even more softly.

Garet grinned nervously and said, "So, it IS a he…that answers one of my questions." He chuckled, but stopped when he noticed that no one else was laughing. Everyone was enveloped in their own thoughts, looks of distress and dismay upon all of their faces.

A single tear dropped from Jenna's cheek. Isaac awoke from his reverie and took a step towards Jenna, but she promptly spun around and stormed out of the sanctum, with even more emotion that she showed when she first entered. Felix departed after her, casting a sidelong glance at Isaac that seemed to say I hope you know what you're doing.

"So…the eight heroes must embark on another quest to save the world," Piers said.

"Mercury, there's just no rest for us, is there?" Mia said, frustration evident in every word.

"Well," Sheba replied, "at least we'll all be together. I mean, between the eight of us, how can we be beaten?"

"Agreed…I don't really feel scared. I mean, after lighting the Lighthouses, what else in Weyard can challenge us, honestly?" Ivan said.

Isaac remained quiet. He took a seat on one of the benches and buried his face in his hands. Garet approached him and rested his hand on his shoulder.

"Hey, man…why so glum? We're here with you, remember?"

"I feel terrible," Isaac said, his voice muffled. "My parents haven't even been able to enjoy being together even for a week, and we've got to go back out on this…adventure. I just feel…I don't know," Isaac said resignedly.

"Hey," Garet said, "we accepted this responsibility when we went into Sol Sanctum. If we don't take care of it, no one will. Sometimes…things get thrown at you. A weak man complains 'Why me?' but a strong man says, 'Show me the bastard who threw this, so I can skin him'.

A smile tugged at Isaac's lips, and he looked up at Garet, who was wearing his trademark wide grin.

"What'd you do, get that out of a book of proverbs?" Isaac said, standing up.

"Nah, I just thought of it. The best ideas come at spontaneous moments, you know?"

"Well," Isaac said, rubbing his chin, "let's hope this moment is spontaneous enough for one to come right now…"