Whew! Here we go again!
Saturos: Uh-oh!
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The Lost Age of Men
Chapter 7
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Kardi glanced up at the horizon, and was able to see the faint outline of the tower in the distance, which was their destination.
"We're almost there," she said.
Lydia run up from behind, breathing heavily.
"Whew! Really? Good, 'cause I'm exhausted!" she exclaimed.
They continued along the beaten down path through the plains. Lydia started to shiver a little.
"You know, it's starting to get a bit chilly," She said.
"Is it really?" Sattimen asked. "I don't really notice it."
"How can you not notice it?! I've got goose pimples!"
"We're Proxian, remember? We don't really notice the cold."
"Oh, yea, I forgot."
Kardi turned around.
"Here, you can have this." She gave Lydia her long, red cloak.
"Are you sure you don't want it?"
"I don't need it."
Lydia glanced up for the first time in a while. She saw a great tower in the distance.
"Hey! What's that?" she asked.
"You'll see soon enough," came the answer.
As they continued closer to the tower, Lydia began to see its features. It was not just tall; it was the biggest building she had ever seen. It also had a bluish color to it. They reached the base of the tower just before the sun was setting. A man with blond hair walked up to them.
"Hey Kardi! What's up? Where's everybody else?" he said.
"They…" She looked at the ground. "They were all killed."
"What! How?"
"We were attacked by a pack of Fenrirs."
"How did you escape?"
"Agar sent me ahead with the children." She looked up. "We had to save them."
"This is terrible! What are we going to do?"
"Go on without them," Kardi answered. "That's no less than what they would have expected of us."
The man sighed. "Alright then. We'll set up a memorial service for them sometime tomorrow." Kardi nodded.
Kardi looked at Lydia. "On a lighter note, we have a new friend. This is Lydia."
"Why, hello there! My name's Paul. I'm a Jupiter Adept." Paul reached to shake Lydia's hand. Lydia smiled back at him.
"Hi…I've never met a Jupiter Adept before." Paul smiled.
"No surprise there. Anyways, I bet you want to know what we're doing here. Kardi, you take those three to the shelter and get them settled. I'll give Miss Lydia a tour of our little project here."
Kardi nodded and took the three Proxian children off toward a small house.
Paul walked over to the enormous tower. "This, my dear, is the Mercury Lighthouse."
"Huh?"
"The Mercury Lighthouse. You have heard that we devised a plan to seal the power of Alchemy away, right?"
"Yes." Lydia answered.
"Well, this is it!" Paul pointed to the Lighthouse.
Lydia was baffled. "I don't get it…"
"Well, it's all pretty complicated, but if you look up towards the top there, you'll see the aerie. Up there is the beacon pit. There are 4 elements, so there will be 4 beacons, so 4 towers. By using these towers we will split the power of the Golden Sun into its separate elements and place them into 'stars'. Basically, round orbs." He began to walk toward some other people loitering around. "We have 4 orbs already. That's the easy part. Unfortunately, we are unable to access the full power of Alchemy from the mortal plane. So we must have someone who has departed from life to aid us. A sacrifice, if you will." Paul explained.
"Erm…well, how can you talk to dead people? Isn't that impossible?" Lydia seriously doubted that this plan would work.
"You'd be surprised." Paul smiled.
They reached a small podium with a blue orb a little bigger than a grapefruit on it. The orb seemed to glow with a light of its own.
"Look here," Paul said. "This is the Orb of Mercury, or the Mercury Star."
Lydia looked into the beautiful star. The flowing surface seemed to contain the essence of water itself. She looked up at Paul.
"Who was the sacrifice for this orb?" she asked.
"Look a little closer."
Lydia looked at the orb again. All she saw was her own reflection. "I just see my…" She watched in shock as her reflection shifted into the features of someone who looked very much like her, but not quite.
"Is that-?"
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Uh, yea, that's it for now. Enjoy while you can. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Saturos: Hehehehe…