Silence.
Darkness.
And then suddenly light.
A heat buzzing over golden dunes.
My eyes slowly began to open, my mouth dry with thirst.
Where was I?
I was here.
Staring across these desert plains.
Sweat rolling off my forehead.
The Sun playing tricks with my eyes in this
Mirage.
This illusion.
I had to get out of this fire,
I needed water.
I looked down at my fingertips but…
Nothing.
Panicking I looked across the sand sea once again.
A glint.
In the distance.
Like a lighthouse, or a beacon of hope.
An outpost.
My survival.
Standing, I began to move across the falling sand.
The hourglass turning as I approached an ancient ruin
Where once children of the moon had fallen.
But as I entered this world of mirrors
Past the white marble columns
I realize another presence had welcomed me
One unseen.
Adepts.
White, Lavender, purple, blonde, green haired.
I turned from the garden's stone path
Hearing their singing in the sun's bright rays.
I moved towards them, instinctively.
But they do not see me
The women and men with purple and green eyes, did not see me
Did I not exist?
Was I not body and mind?
My sight caught gold.
I turned and once again moved along the garden's path
Between rows of columns
Statues.
Atalanta
Procne
Thor
Atalanta
Procne
Thor
Suddenly I stood at Heaven's gates
A temple of the moon
Forgotten in the skies
And then I heard a voice call out to me
Sounds of song from this Cathedral of Jupiter
The realm of the Jenei
And I ran.
Throwing back those ancient doors
To find myself at the end
Or the beginning
Catastrophe
The prayer long forgotten
"Harmony.
Diverging from our chosen path,
Finding measure of cost in these spiritual desires."
A magnet pull
A bond of instant connection and balance
At first I thought it was you,
but I was mistaken.
The boy standing before me
as my mirror image; my Gemini twin
reaching out to hold my hand
His face hidden;
blonde hair covering his eyes
Who are you?
Where am I?
Who am I?
"To every light, there is darkness.
To every darkness there is light.
Threads connected
By the fate of our Dark Art.
Here is Adam
Here is Eve
And I stand here before them as their father
A reincarnation of Sol"
Where am I?
Who am I?
"In time we will rise
Rise from the earth to the heavens
We will be moon
We will be darkness
An eclipse
But never evil
For even within evil there is good."
Who am I?
"To every light, there is darkness.
To every darkness there is light.
Threads connected
By the fate of our Dark Art.
Here is Adam
Here is Eve
And you stand here before them as… "
The boy paused.
Greeting me with liquid gold
As his eyes met mine
"…as Mercurius.
Purified."
Purified?
Then I am complete.
You are my sulfur
My fire and earth refined
I no longer must suffer this thirst for power
The hunger for dominion
Finally
I may rest.
"No,
This is not the end
And this is not the beginning.
As we exist now
In this realm of dreams,
We are Zero."
Realm of dreams?
Then I'm not body and mind…
"Yes, you are Spirit,
A reflection of what is to come."
Then I am to live,
For there's a future.
Pray tell, what is my cure?
And then I held the golden boy's hand up,
As I brushed my lips softly
against his skin
"I am Prophet,
A weaver of stories.
And you are the Chessmaster,
A puppeteer.
The Wise One does not lie
As neither do the cards we hold…"
Silence.
"Isaac…"
And with that name
I felt my soul shatter
Upon the pages
Flying in this darkness
But the pieces came back together
A puzzle solved.
"Is NOT the cure you crave."
Silence.
"Venus carried Mars
away from Sol Sanctum
away from Vale
from lighthouse to lighthouse, till the Judgment day,
Where the Golden Sun gave Isaac
alchemy ingredients he needed
for birth
for purification of mercury.
His son,
The reincarnation of spiritual desire.
Harmony.
The boy that is destined to be your downfall."
His son?
Then I have been chasing false hope these past years.
My fate was never for Isaac,
That is why I still craved the power of the Golden Sun.
And he stole it away from me
For my purification.
Silence.
The Wise One.
Is this a second chance?
He didn't trust me from the beginning
Yet
His faith lingered on Isaac.
"People can never decide,
light
or
darkness?
Good
or
Evil?"
Will I be a monster?
Forever shall I wait till our rebirth?
"We cannot escape our destinies.
the sun shall reach you in thirty years."
My vision began to blur
The cathedral around me blowing away
Like sand
Or a lost memory.
The sky was now lit with shinning stars.
A galaxy in which we existed.
Gravity
Harmony
These are what I seek.
But without them…
I shall remain unbalanced.
"Guilt is but a weak human emotion.
You are not at fault for your actions,
You are Mercurius."
Was this the fate of Weyard?
Did the Jenei know what was to become of us?
I was still left with so many questions,
But the world around me
Began to disappear.
The boy before me
With gold eyes
moved closer as the last step
of this dream
of this foreshadowing
slowly turned into reality.
"The spiritual sun
rising to it's zenith
angels
monsters
our elixir of life."
And the boy
Kissed me on the cheek
Before he too disappeared
Into this mysterious vortex
And once again
I was alone.
Silence.
END OF PROLOGUE
0030 A.R
A sea of darkness hidden aboard the alchemy fueled flying ship of the military country Tuaparang. Within this darkness I sit, waiting in a small pool of light.
It's been thirty years since the Golden Sun event, thirty years since I learned my fate. I've waited so long, and finally the sleeping dragon stirs.
I slowly fix the sleeves of my new attire, something I earned with the new name 'Arcanus". It seems the High Empyror has a fascination with cards of divination, I cannot blame him for his will of hindsight, but my destiny has already been played out for me. My fingers leave the golden stitched pattern on my sleeves to the mask upon my face. Many stories have taken place over these last years and truth did not escape them.
I kept telling myself, it was all for the grander scheme.
I hear movement in the surrounding darkness. I adjust my composure in the throne I sit, "You bring news? Pray tell…."
There is no answer, but immediately a card is thrown into my hand. I glance at it in suspicion. The card shows a picture of a youthful figure, holding a magic sword in hand. His smile is over confident and on the table before him are the symbols of the four elements: earth, air, fire and water.
"The Magician, Magus and Juggler. Who is he?" I ask.
There is hesitation before the darkness speaks back to me, "His name is Tyrell. A fire adept, as he is the son of Garet from Vale."
I inspect the card once again, "The potential of a new adventure, chosen or thrust upon one. A journey undertaken in daylight, in the enlightenment tradition. He brings things out of the darkness into the light. He explores the world in order to master it."
There is silence still within the darkness. I know that I am correct.
One piece has been added to the chessboard and finally motion has been set for the coming era I saw thirty years ago.
I hold out my hand again.
Another card is thrown to me and I inspect this one as well. It shows a young woman draped in purple robes. She holds a book in her lap and a crescent moon sits at her feet "The High Priestess. Who does she represent?"
The darkness does not hesitate this time, "Her name is Karis. A wind adept, as she is the daughter of Ivan from Anemos."
"Knowledge, Wisdom and Intuition. She searches for truth and for secrets to be revealed. To discover and master mystery. She is independent of all men. Now I see, we have bronze and we have brains. Yet, I know you hold one last card…"
Once again I hold out my hand and a third card is given to me, "The Lovers," says the darkness.
Looking down at the card, I knew all along that it would eventually turn up in my hand. A light smirk plays across my face as I reflect on the words I heard not so long ago, Harmony. Diverging from our chosen path, Finding measure of cost in these spiritual desires.
Without waiting the darkness answers me, "Matthew, son of Isaac and Jenna from Vale."
"Matthew,…" I repeat to myself. The son of Isaac finally appears into the destiny of man, "Wait, did you also say son of Jenna?"
I glare off at the darkness in anger. How I loathed that annoying woman.
The darkness does not take offence to my hatred. Instead answers back in monotone fashion, "Purification of earth and fire, Master."
I glance back down at the card lazily. Right, I suppose no one would fit better for the role then that crazy fire adept.
The darkness stirs around me. My personal spy lingers, hidden in its depths.
"You idle. Is there more?" I raise my eyebrow in question. All the cards I had been expecting were now in my hands. So why did he still stir?
"There is one last card,…" and with that another card is thrown into my hand, "from the High Empyror himself."
Once again I look into the distance with question, however, soon my eyes are on the card, "Judgement."
"The High Empyror has a new agenda, he plans on using Matthew's party to light the Apollo Lens. As has been foretold by the cards."
In silence I inspect the cards one last time before pocketing them, "It would seem, Venar, that a new chapter in history is about to unfold…"
And with that I stand in the single pool of light, surrounded by a sea of darkness, and ready myself for this dark dawn.