Chapter III:

Sol Sanctum

Felix yawned widely, eying his handiwork critically. He had to say, that all things considered, with the deadline he was working to and the tools he had, and his own intense dislike of water, the new pier was pretty…

"Felix, that's the worst one you've ever built! Just let Hoan do it! He's a real carpenter!" Felix cringed, even though he knew his sister was right; the only reason he was still building piers three years after the first one had been destroyed was that they had, one and all, sucked. He'd never admit it, though. Never ever. He informed Jenna of this, punctuating his speech with hammer-bangs.

"I," –bang– "am perfectly," –bang– "able," –bang– "to build," –bang– "a pier!" He brought the hammer down extra-hard on the last word, sending it straight through the old, wet wood he was using. –bangcrash– "Ahhh!"

Jenna laughed her head off as Felix stood up in four feet of tepid, turbid water, shaking his shoulder-length hair (the parts that weren't tied into a short ponytail) out of his eyes and shivering violently. He scrambled up onto the pier as quickly as he could, slipping more than once, each time convinced he was doomed. Looking up and seeing his sister laughing, he snorted angrily, gathered up what remained of his dignity, and went inside to change his clothes. His parents saw him come in– they were eating a late breakfast– and his father shook his head.

"Fall in?" he asked, somewhat unnecessarily. Felix nodded curtly, still shivering, and went into his room to change his clothes. He pulled on the first things that came to hand; a royal-blue shirt, a greenish-brown vest, which he did not bother fastening, but left open, and trousers the colour of rich loam, the same shade as his hair. As he did so, he heard his sister come to the door and knock.

"Felix?" she called. "Can I come in?" He answered yes, his tone curter than he'd intended, and turned around as she entered. She smiled nervously as she saw him. "You're alright, right?" she asked. He nodded and smiled. "That's good. I didn't mean to laugh. I know…you get scared…" Felix relaxed, his smile becoming more natural.

"Yeah… But it's getting better. …Ah, I'll leave the pier. We should get going." Jenna looked confused for a moment, then slapped her forehead.

"Kraden! Damn, I forgot. Come on, we're late." She led the way out and was going to go straight to Kraden's cottage, when Felix pulled her to the north-west.

"We'd better go get Garet; he forgets, remember?" She nodded and followed him to his home, the one he shared with his parents, and grandparents, and his two siblings. And yet his house was no bigger than theirs. That made no sense to Felix.

They found not him, but Kay, fuming in front of her flowerbed. Which was also Garet's training ground. A large rock had crushed her precious flowers and she was vowing death, pain, blood, destruction and general revenge on her brother. Jenna agreed wholeheartedly with Kay, a fact Felix found slightly… no, scratch that, very– frightening. He interrupted them hastily, before they started trading brother-torturing tips or some such thing, to ask where Garet was. He was at Dora and Kyle's, visiting. In Kay's opinion, he was hiding.

Felix thought he was right to, and he dragged Jenna off before that crazy Jerra-girl could do any more damage to his safety. Aaron teased Felix as they left, calling him a scared-of-his-sister-wuss. Felix threw a small rock at him, taking care to miss. Aaron was actually a half-decent little kid, if you ruled out the… kiddishness.

Garet was indeed at Dora and Kyle's (it had taken a while, but he no longer thought of the house as Isaac's, at least, not consciously), fixing their roof and doing as good a job of it as Felix had been doing on the pier. Dora came out and greeted them, followed by little Aedin. He pointed at Felix and yelled (Venus, he could yell!) "FELIK!", grinning madly. Felix grinned and crouched down. Aedin tottered over, nearly overbalancing once, and pulled on his hair while Dora and Jenna began to talk. Felix lifted the toddler into the air, roaring like a wild animal, his mouth open in a fierce grin. Aedin laughed raucously, and Felix buried his face in the little boy's stomach, pretending to try to eat him. Aedin gripped his hair, his grasp growing ever tighter, laughing the whole time until Felix put him back down. He looked up at Garet.

"How did five holes get in your roof?" he asked quietly. "I know there was a little storm last night, but this house is sturdier than that." Dora looked up and sighed.

"There were only two," she replied. Jenna sighed.

"Clumsy ox," she murmured, before adding more loudly, "You'd better help him, Felix, or else we'll be here all day." Felix nodded and stood up, extricating his trousers from Aedin's grasp before he climbed the ladder. He gathered up a pile of straw from the edge of the roof, and helped Garet fix up the holes, then used his Psynergy to mesh the new bundles of straw with the edges of the holes as Garet put them back in. He was dimly aware of, below him, Jenna going inside and talking with Kyle and Dora. …Aedin had been a godsend for them, dragging them out of their grief for Isaac. And, although Aedin, with his blond hair and blue eyes (although that hair was ice-blond, not sand, and the blue was the blue which would become another colour as the boy grew) reminded them of Isaac, it was easy to see that their pain had faded. Felix, too, felt better when he was around the boy, felt better when he heard Aedin laugh. He often offered to watch him when Dora and Kyle wanted to escape their home. It made his heart feel lighter, to watch over the little guy the way…

The way a brother should, he thought, and threw a little too much Psynergy into his last repair job, making the long-dead strands of grass sprout anew. He cut away the excess, frowning. If it hadn't been for him… Aedin might just have had his own brother to do that. He stood up, shaking the thought out of his head, and called to Garet.

"Is that it?" Garet nodded.

"Yeah. That's it." He ran a hand through his spiky hair, looking relieved. At seventeen, Garet was the tallest and strongest of the three friends, but he was by no means the most graceful or deft. "Thanks, Felix." Felix grinned back.

"No problem. After all, we're supposed to be meeting Kraden in…" he looked at the position of the sun, "…minus two hours or so." Garet swore and rushed off the roof, followed closely by Felix.

They went inside and found Kyle, Dora and Jenna sitting around the table eating cake. Aaron was there too, eating his piece almost politely. (Eh, he's a Jerra, look at his brother, Felix thought.) There were two pieces left and Jenna immediately grabbed one upon seeing Garet. She grinned at Felix. Aedin pointed again and yelled "FELIK!" Kyle laughed.

"He really does like you, Felix," he said as Aedin pulled at Felix's trousers. Felix crouched down and Aedin got behind him and clambered up onto Felix's shoulders, screaming.

"HORSEYBACK!" (Aedin never, never said anything; only screamed.) Felix chuckled and obliged. Kyle smiled apologetically.

"Sorry… still, as I said, he loves you." Felix shook his head in negation, something which was somewhat hard to do, as Aedin had decided his ponytail was a good thing to hang onto, as it was the human equivalent of a mane. Or maybe he thought it was Felix's reins. He was pulling awfully hard, though.

Jenna tried to look put-out despite the laughing fit that had come over her. "You never gave me horseyback rides," she complained.

"You've always been the same size as me," he retorted. "And you never asked, anyway." Aaron grinned evilly, and Garet saw and headed him off.

"No way, Aaron," he said, before stuffing his mouth with the remainder of his cake.

"I want one," he announced, fixing his brother with a little-sibling-gaze-of-doom. Garet winced.

"Aw, you're too old," he replied, as Aedin guided his steed over to the table to accept a 'carrot' (oddly cake-slice shaped) from Jenna. Aaron rushed his brother and leapt onto his back.

"Geddown, horsey!"

"AH! Don't pull my– AGH! Aaron! Stop that!" Eventually, Garet fell on the floor and ended the argument. Aaron kicked Garet, yelling,

"Go, my noble steed! Carry me forth to adventure and glory!"

"Neigh." Garet plodded forward with all the stately mien, nobility and speed of a half-dead-with-age tortoise, clearly put-out. Felix laughed around his mouthful of 'carrot,' and covered his mouth in a semblance of politeness. (The cake was coming out, what was more.) Aedin laughed. Or shrieked, it was hard to tell.

"We have to go see Kraden," Garet eventually mentioned, trying to get out of horsey duty. Jenna yelled and stuffed the rest of the cake into Felix's mouth, nearly choking him. She began explaining to Dora and Kyle, saying they had to go. He removed Aedin while he tried to clear his airways; he wanted to be upright. Aedin watched him, wide-eyed, and began patting Felix's leg, maybe thinking that would help. He managed to get the cake out of his throat (before swallowing it again) and patted the boy's tousled hair. Kyle picked Aedin up, smiling at Felix.

"Felix has to go now, Aedin. Say bye-bye." Aedin pouted, sticking out one hand and his lower lip, and waving to Felix.

"Bye-bye Felik." Felix smiled and waved back.

"Bye, Aedin." He nodded to Kyle and Dora. "Thank you." Dora shook her head.

"For the cake? It was nothing, Felix. You do quite a lot for us, all three of you do." Jenna smiled sheepishly; Garet turned bright red; Felix looked down and rubbed his neck. Kyle's smile had vanished. Jenna and Garet led the way out, and Felix followed them.

"Felix," Kyle called, closing the door behind him. He beckoned Felix over, and, telling Jenna he'd catch up, Felix went over to him. Kyle sighed; he'd left Aedin inside.

"Felix," he asked quietly, as if he didn't want to be heard, "you know, you don't have to do so much for us. You have your own parents, surely they need help just as much as us." Felix shook his head.

"I finish what I have to do before I come over, sir, you know that. Besides, I like to. I mean, you alone can't do everything around here; it's not like you have help with it like my parents and the Jerras–" He stopped as he realised what he was implying. Kyle had seen it too; he smiled sadly and shook his head.

"Felix… It wasn't your fault. What both of you did then was more than most adults managed. You kept your heads and protected those close to you. You don't need to blame yourself. Yes, Isaac's gone, but… We can be proud of him. Just as your parents are surely proud of you, for protecting your sister. You don't need to keep trying to make it up to us. I'll manage with the repairs." Felix smiled.

"Yeah… I know, sir. Still… I can't just stand around. Besides, what would Aedin think if I stopped visiting?" Kyle laughed and clapped Felix on the shoulder.

"You're a stubborn little… ah, well. I suppose I can't stop you. Once you get an idea in your head, you're just…" He shook his head. "And you don't need to address me as 'sir.' Just call me Kyle. And call Dora 'Dora.' You know us too well for 'sir' and 'ma'am.'" Felix nodded, said his goodbyes, and followed Garet and Jenna.

He caught up with them on the path to Kraden's cottage; they were hiding behind a rocky ledge. Jenna gestured for 'quiet'; Garet didn't move at all, only kept his attention focused on whatever was around the corner. Felix joined them and crouched down; the ledge they were hiding behind wasn't all that high. He could hear voices; two male, one female; two cold and emotionless, one somewhat…carefree, but there was a certainty and a severity hidden beneath the relaxed tone. It was a little disconcerting, especially as he knew, just knew, that he'd heard the voices before. He just didn't know where… Even odder, he thought they were Adepts, two fire, one earth. They couldn't be, though…

"He knows quite a lot. More than I thought," the carefree voice said. Male and youthful, it was a nagging itch in his brain. This one, particularly, was familiar to the point of being purely maddening–

"Hmmm… Can we use him?" the other male voice asked, so quiet as to be nearly inaudible. The female voice answered him.

"Yes. We can use him. His knowledge and research will prove useful." There was a snort.

"And of all my research?" The youth again.

"He has decades of research into alchemy behind him, boy, you have a paltry three. Don't overestimate yourself." The other voice was silent in response to the man's rebuke. Felix frowned. What did they want with alchemy? He caught Jenna's eye; she shrugged and shook her head. They scare me, she mouthed. That was almost as disturbing as her conversations with Kay.

"So… what are we going to do now? This kind of… changes the plans, doesn't it?" The youth was the one who asked; the woman answered him with a snort.

"It doesn't matter; he's just an old– Saturos?" There was no response to this question; footsteps began to sound quickly, approaching their hiding place. Felix stood up and motioned to the others to do the same, then began walking forward as if he'd been doing it the whole time. A man came into view around the corner; he was blue-skinned (and surely not scaled?) and clad in scant pieces of armour and white trousers. His hair was blue, like his face, and came forward in a sort of stripe, giving the impression of a crest. His crimson eyes narrowed as his partner, a woman clothed much like him, only with long, blonde hair and reddish-pink skin, appeared behind him.

"You." It was not a question; it was more of an order, aimed at Felix.

"What?" He was not inclined to be polite with this stranger. The feeling seemed mutual.

"Why are you here? You weren't eavesdropping on us, were you?" Felix shook his head.

"Why would I want to? We're on our way through here."

"What business do you have here?" the woman demanded.

"It's our town," Garet replied, his voice soft. "Are you, by any chance, the group who came in and didn't bother to introduce themselves to the mayor?" He was doing a good job of hiding the fact that he was said mayor's grandson. "Have you any notion of courtesy?" The woman's lip curled up derisively and she seemed about to speak when the man cut her off.

"…Were you the ones Kraden had an engagement with? Are you going to meet him?" Jenna nodded, crossing her arms.

"Yeah. We're going to meet him right now," she retorted.

"Then…" the man's eyes flicked to his left, as if checking something. Then he smiled. "Go." The woman glared at him.

"Saturos, are you sure?"

"Menardi, we have no reason to delay these children any longer. Accept our… apologies…" He stepped aside, watching them as a hawk watches a mouse. Felix nodded to them in silence and the three filed past the man and his companion in silence. As they turned the corner, Felix looked around for their companion, the youth, but saw nothing. Had he left? Or did he want to avoid being seen?

Why would he want that? Felix shook his head. That voice… it had been so…familiar.

Kraden was pacing in front of his cottage. He did that a lot, actually; unwary visitors were often tripped by the rut in front of the door.

"Kraden!" Jenna called out, interrupting what had seemed to be a monologue. Kraden spoke aloud to straighten his thoughts; it had seemed odd for the first while, but Felix, Jenna and Garet had grown used to his mindless ramblings. The old man looked up and noticed them.

"Felix! Jenna, and Garet! Hello! Come here, I need to speak with you." The three exchanged glances and went up. This had something to do with those two, or three, whichever they were. Felix knew it.

His hunch proved to be right. The three strangers had been there earlier; they'd visited Kraden and spoken of Sol Sanctum. Most of what Kraden said about the conversation he'd had with them was nonsense (setting the elements in motion and breaking ancient seals, whatever in Weyard that meant) but one thing Kraden said actually made sense. They had spoken of the Sanctum as if they'd seen it themselves. But no-body was ever allowed inside. To Felix, that meant one thing and one thing only: thieves. He exchanged glances with Garet and Jenna. Garet nodded resolutely. Jenna's face showed worry and fear under anger and defiance. Felix bit his lip. Kraden was still talking, a meaningless undercurrent to his thoughts. Felix cut him off.

"Do you think… You think they were thieves?" Kraden adjusted his glasses; a habit of his.

"It is certainly possible. Indeed, I cannot see any reason to enter the Sanctum, if not to steal…" His eyes clouded over, pensive and worried, and Felix returned to his own thoughts. If there were thieves, they had to be turned in; the people of Vale were charged with guarding that Sanctum, and whatever lay inside.

"We've got to alert the elders," he told the other two, crossing his arms. Jenna nodded slowly, looking at her feet, and Garet grinned wildly and agreed with him, but Kraden held up a hand.

"They… may have been lying. They may have made everything about the Sanctum that they said up."

"Why would they do that?" Jenna asked. "What would be the point?"

"They may wish to know what is inside. They may have been trying to goad me into revealing what I have guessed, and how to get to it. They, themselves, may not be thieves, but information-gatherers for true thieves."

"So…thieves." Felix was unimpressed.

Garet agreed with him. "Yeah! I mean, they were no way smart enough to be spies. And wouldn't thieves be more…covert?" Jenna stared openly at him for his use of the word 'covert.' Kraden frowned.

"They may have guessed that others would think that, and have sent these in as decoys. No, we can't be sure… they may only be particularly tactless and rude–"

"And violent," Jenna interjected.

"–students of alchemy," Kraden continued, ignoring the interruption. He shook his head. "No, the only way we can be sure about their claims is to prove them ourselves. Or, of course, disprove them." Felix frowned. That smacked of disobedience, of dishonour and of recklessness. Still…

"Brother, what do you think?" Jenna was asking him; something she only did when she was worried or frightened. And yet, there was something glinting in her eyes… was she excited at the prospect? Of breaking into Vale's greatest, most sacred trust, being very likely yelled at and punished and possibly, just possibly, causing trouble, more damage than they could fix?

…Was he? Oh, Venus…

"Felix?" Kraden was asking him, now. "I can't go on my own… there may be guardians and monsters. Will you come with me?" The answer was out before Felix could consider further; it was as if it had been decided already. He was just an actor on a stage.

"Yes." Then, stunned by his own action, he stressed, "We'll just look around, make sure they were telling the truth." Jenna nodded, and Garet grasped the hilt of his sword, pleased with the prospect of catching thieves, perhaps. None of the three doubted Felix's position as leader; he'd been the undisputed leader since Isaac died. Until then, they had been in two groups, the others bickering whenever they joined up. Now it was quieter, but Felix was beginning to wonder if he liked it that way. But neither Jenna nor Garet seemed interested in taking over, and Thomas had been busy at his forge ever since his father had died. What was more, he'd developed an annoying habit of hitting on Jenna, something that always made Felix uncomfortable, although not to the point of disliking Thomas.

Kraden nodded excitedly and disappeared into his house. He reappeared a moment later with a smile on his face and a small sketchbook. (It was the joke of the town– Kraden was not a master draftsman and his sketches all looked like random scribbles, like Aaron's pictures of his home from when he was four. Except Kraden was about twenty times that age, and yet his drawing had not improved at all.) Felix sighed inwardly; Kraden seemed to think this was a field trip.

As they started off towards the Sanctum, Jenna whispered, "Let's just keep this our little secret, shall we?" Felix agreed heartily. If they did affirm the thieves' claims, then they would turn them in and say nothing of their little excursion. He nodded and patted his sister's shoulder. She smiled and Felix made a promise to himself. If they did get caught, he'd take the blame. He wouldn't let Garet and Jenna be touched by it.

They snuck past the (somewhat inattentive) guard and entered the Sanctum. It didn't seem very… mystical, more mildewy and Vermin-infested. Ghosts, whether summoned demons or restless spirits, Felix didn't know, roamed the hallways, attacking them periodically. Small green ooze-things attacked them too; it took ten minutes to clean the goo off his sword when they'd reached the inner chamber.

Felix had the feeling there was something in that room that was important, important enough to guard but easy to get, like a valuable weapon or a favourite book. The puzzles they'd passed had been simplistic, but they had required the use of Psynergy. It was as if they had been placed to forbid entry to all but those with Psynergy… all but the chosen people of Vale, the Sanctum's guardians. Felix was feeling a sense of urgency now, as if an unseen force pushed him on. It was weak too. Very weak… as if it were dying. That foreign sense was the only thing that kept him from dragging the others out. Try as he might, he could not bring himself to abandon it.

He looked down, at the symbol of Sol, a stylised sun set in tile on the floor. In the other room was the symbol of Luna, a similarly stylised moon, done in blue and silver to Sol's golden fire. Felix sheathed his sword and tapped his foot. Kraden was pondering a portion of the wall (oh Venus, this would take forever), and Jenna and Garet were playing 'I Spy.' He wondered how long they'd been doing it. He whistled and motioned them over to the stairwell.

They climbed it, leaving Kraden behind. At the top was a junction; they turned right. It was a room with four statues and the symbol of Luna connected to a room with three statues (One holding what Garet described loudly as a giant pie) and the symbol of Sol. Felix had the feeling they corresponded to the symbols below. He frowned and pushed one of the statues near the Luna symbol experimentally. As it moved, he heard a warning rumble. The Sanctum trembled under his feet and Psynergy, not just Vale's native Venus and Mars, but powers Felix had not yet felt, likely Jupiter and Mercury, welled up around him, potent and destructive. He replaced the statue hastily and the power subsided. He shuddered- the other powers had been cold– and moved into the other room. He looked at the statues there, then back at the statues flanking Luna.

The sense of urgency increased. He moved one of the smaller statues, causing a beam of light to reflect off the mirror it was holding and illuminate the floor gloriously. Felix stared at it in disgust before a thought struck him. He rushed over to the other statue and moved it; another beam merged with the first, and a hole appeared in the floor.

…Not a pie (of course it wasn't a bloody pie) but a plug! He ran over to the largest statue and used his Psynergy to move it over the hole. It toppled in, the giant disc catching in the hole; it was too big to fall through. Felix heard something click and headed back to the statues in the other room. All four moved easily; the forces in the Sanctum remained dormant, only twitching when all the statues were moved. He looked around; the picture of Luna had been replaced with one of Sol. The picture of Sol, likewise, had changed to one of Luna.

Garet and Jenna were nowhere to be seen. Returning down the corridor, he found them in a small room that looked as if it had less been built as had grown, spontaneously, out of some earlier chamber. The walls were made of Psynergy stones, a glittering wall of gold and green and purple and blue and red, depending on the way you looked at them. One stone lay on the ground, having fallen. Felix picked it up and gasped involuntarily as the power in the stone rushed into his body, leaving the Psynergy stone a nondescript piece of granite and him breathless. All of the Psynergy he'd used moving the statues had been returned to him, which in its turn restored his physical strength to the point where he felt as if he'd done no strenuous work all day.

Jenna was grinning at him from across the chamber. "We thought you'd appreciate that," she informed him. "We didn't have a clue what you were doing, so we left you to it. We've been in here. Have you ever seen so many Psynergy stones?" Felix shook his head– there was a reason the town square had been built around the Psynergy stone there, and it was rather weak from years of use by the townspeople. These were brimming with untapped power. Just standing in the room made him feel more powerful.

"Thanks, sis. I'm all done, anyway. Want to come see? Not much happened, but…" They both nodded and followed him out and down the stairs. They found Kraden, hopping around a beam of light in the Luna room– what was now the Luna room. Felix touched it and it flashed; so did he, the bright golden-green light of Venus. He jumped back as the beam of light vanished and a door of blue and white light appeared, a light that rippled and moved, as if it were gravity-defying water. Kraden gaped; Garet and Jenna stared from the door to Felix and back again. As ever, it was down to him. He steeled himself.

Felix stepped through the door.

See, I'm not dead! Yay! It'll take more than a crappy old laptop, schoolwork, NaNoWriMo and a useless ISP to defeat me! No, my own general laziness is what you have to fear, I'm afraid. That and I've gotten kind of used lately to this cool thing called 'sleep.' It's nice, really. And, lately, I've been drawing more than I've been writing. It's not really writer's block, it's just that I wanted to draw more for some bizarre reason. Weird, I know, but that's my brain. It keeps me alive, so I'm loath to critisise it too much.

I wanted to do a double upload—but I didn't manage it, with the two other fics and NaNoWriMo and all. Sorry. Next time will definitely be a double upload—that should be (by my reckoning) early February. I know this is a big letdown, but, again, sorry. Next time will be better. I promise.