Another day and another chapter. A little request: If you don't mind, If I'm not making sense or anything, can you please tell me? I can revise this chapter and the previous ones if necessary. Thanks in advance.
There's a major theory here, according to the Golden Sun wikia, the Wise One may have been an artificial being created by a powerful group of adepts, this chapter will address that.
The character who appears here isn't really an OC, but there's one last one for certain who comes in a few more chapters.
Disclaimer: The Golden Sun series is the property of Nintendo/Camelot.
Chapter XVIII: Revelation of the Wise One
Matthew's group raced to the top of a flight of stairs up to the top floor. Sensing danger behind them, Sveta said"Some of the Tuaparang Warriors are still pursuing us."
"Let's take'em out" grinned Tyrell.
The group turned just as the Tua Warriors showed up. Sveta, Matthew and Eoleo blasted three Tua Warriors. Tyrell and Himi engaged two more while barely managing to dodge the bullets.
"Deluge!" Rief managed to defeat two of the other Tua Warriors, only for the remaining five to fire at him. Matthew hurried to heal Rief while Sveta and Matthew took down three more of the Tua Warriors.
"Quake!" Another spell took out the rest of the attackers. Isaac and his group had quickly caught up.
"Thanks" Matthew smiled at Isaac.
Isaac nodded"Regardless, you're safe."
The group raced to the docks, only to find the airship beginning to take off. To the side, Matthew saw Fenrir's body laying dormant"I guess Alex managed to finish off that pyro maniac."
"I hope Karis doesn't come to harm" sighed Ivan, trying to think of a spell to stop the airship without destroying it.
Isaac grimaced"We'd need a ship of our own, but our own vessels cannot fly. And if Prince Amiti is with Karis, I believe he will protect her. Matthew told me of the young Ayuthayian."
"Look" Eoleo pointed the opposite side of their location to see a slightly smaller airship rising to meet them. Canonfire had begun to land upon the bigger vessel, which retaliated with a few smart shots, aided by a blast of Water Psynergy.
"Alex, blast you" grumbled Garet, restraining himself from throwing a fireball at the bigger ship, not wanting to take unnecessary chances.
The bigger aiship flew northwards, Alex laughing and casting icicles to intercept the canonballs"Nice try."
"Isaac, we have to get away from here. The Eclipse is destroying the empire" Felix's voice called as the smaller airship came to meet them next to the dock.
Isaac's group boarded the smaller vessel to find the rest of their allies. Piers grinned as he stood next to the helm"We have ourselves a ride, this ship doesn't need a Psynergy boost to fly, and Lady Florianna's squad along with the Champa Pirates are going to return our water vessels to Kalay."
"We barely managed to get out of this mess without any casualties, though getting back to the fortress took over a half-hour. This vessel was stolen from the airship hanger on the first floor of the Imperial Palace for emergencies. It was docked behind the ruin so no one else could find it" said Alexandra, who had spent the last few minutes teaching Piers how to operate the controls. She, Caeden and a few surviving Tua Warriors who were in the revolution accompanied the rest of Felix's group.
"So what about Alex?" asked Felix.
"Look where he's going" Jenna gasped, pointing to what looked like a large, black and purple airship, which seemed to materialize out of nowhere.
Piers addressed Isaac"Want to go check it out?"
"We must" acknowledged Isaac.
The group piloted the ship north, flying as high as possible. They followed the larger vessel until they came to what appeared to be the entrance, a black vortex which swirled on one side of the monstrous vessel.
"Man, look at the size of that thing" exclaimed Caeden.
Lightning flashed from the side of the monstrous vessel as Alex's stolen ship entered. Sveta grimaced"I'm sensing an unusual, combined amount of Umbra and Light Psynergy in that place. I fear that this is over our heads."
"Let's get on board and find Alex" Piers flew their ship into the vortex in time to see Alex, Karis, Amiti and a other Tua Warriors, who Alexandra assumed must be part of Torang's battalion, disembark the larger Tuaparang airship.
Alex turned to see Isaac's ship and said"Very clever, Isaac. Now, witness a portion of the Golden Sun power I siphoned from you and the other Warriors of Vale."
"Huh?" Mia was shocked.
Alex pointed his hand at the ship and summoned a light vortex. The vortex shot out a wall of yellowish light, encasing the half of the room that he and his group were in. Alex smiled as he turned to escort his two 'captives' and the rest deeper into the place.
"Hm" Isaac studied the barrier"Its of an unknown element."
"What can we do?" frowned Ivan"My daughter is Alex's captive."
"Let us return to the Sol Sanctum. The Wise One may be able to help, besides, I left Sol Sanctum unguarded for too long" replied Isaac, leading his group back onto their airship. The group flew out of the massive purple and black ship, speeding back towards Angara.
The flight took a half-day as they flew above Kalay towards Mount Aleph. To their shock, a familiar black-and-purple vortex hovered above the sanctum, sucking parts of the building up before shrinking and dissolving, weakened by the Silver Power.
"Oh no, the Sol Sanctum... Its destroyed" despaired Jenna.
"Hm. It looks like only the upper portion of Mount Aleph had been sucked up by the monstrosity, let's go find the Wise One" Isaac instructed.
The group landed just outside the wrecked sanctum, heading down to the lower levels. In the chamber where they'd found the Elemental Stars, they looked around for any trace of the Wise One.
Sveta used her Spirit Sense to help detect a form of life before addressing Matthew and Isaac"I sense a great, spiritual power, here. Isaac, it may be the Wise One you speak of, but his life force is somewhat faint."
"Hm. The Wise One isn't human, so what?" grumbled Garet.
"Hold on" Isaac led the group to the center of the room. What they saw surprised them, stone shards littered the floor, one of which bore what looked like a black socket.
"The Wise One... Is he... dead?" whimpered Mia.
A voice spoke from above"That which perished was but a vessel which contained the soul of the man who helped create it. The force of the final Mourning Moon was too much to withstand. With the last of the power within the vessel, I prevented the Mourning Moon from completely destroying the rest of Mount Aleph."
Much to the group's surprise, the spiritual form of a man with long, brownish hair, white robes with a golden sigil on the front, and blue eyes appeared, speaking"The last of the Psynergy within the stone was drained, so it crumbled, reducing me to this ghostly form."
"Who are you?" Isaac whispered.
The man crossed his arms, smiling in amusement"Do you not recognize my voice, Isaac? It is I, the one you and your people dubbed the Wise One. That stone you blissfully call the Wise One was the Philosopher's Stone, or the Stone of Wisdom, as my friends from the time Alchemy was sealed away called it. My name is Gabriel, one of the Adepts who helped to seal away Alchemy, a thousand years before you were born."
"I see, that was unexpected. But why were you inside that stone you mentioned?" inquired Isaac, surprised.
Gabriel replied"My very consciousness was transferred into the Stone of Wisdom, which is why it had a singular eye, so that the being within can see what is occurring around him. But now the Stone of Wisdom has been broken, and just before, I sensed that Haniel's Ark has once more manifested itself into our world."
"We tried to activate the power in the Athena Sanctum, but the High Empyror beat us to it. Not too long after, Alex inflicted a dire injury upon the Empyror and activated the Silver Eclipse" said Sveta, grimly.
The spirit unfolded his arms and spoke"But the Mourning Moon will no longer manifest itself, now. But I suspect that this was all Alex's doing. His hatred for me is unfounded, since I gave you a fraction of the Golden Sun power. The Athena Sanctum may have been the trigger for the Silver Eclipse, but it had a triple purpose, as you have discovered. I apologize for my deception, but this was both your and Alex's tests."
"Isn't there some way to stop the eclipse? And we need to save Karis and Amiti" said Felix, urgently.
"The Althena Lens, which can stop the Silver Eclipse lies within Haniel's Ark. It is very dangerous, you would need power from the Stone of Wisdom to undo whatever barriers Alex may have erected. The Stone of Wisdom can be repaired, but requires an artifact called the Sacred Prism. I can pull myself together once you obtain it, but it must be done within two days, or I shall have moved on to the heavens. I remain tethered here only by what little power lies within the largest fragment of the stone" said Gabriel.
"Where are we supposed to find the prism?" inquired Sveta.
"The Uranus Lighthouse should have one such artifact, it has limited Sacred Power. The lighthouse itself is located south of the Tua Continent" explained Gabriel.
"And what of Alex? We'll have to defeat him" spoke Himi.
"Alex has nearly omnipotent power with the Golden Sun energy. However, by creating a Sun Scepter, you could take back the Golden Sun power. That, too requires the Sacred Prism" acknowledged the former Wise One.
Isaac nodded"Thank you, we know what we must now do."
"Let's go then, time's wasting" said Felix.
Gabriel wished them luck and began to wait, pondering the events that transpired'Alex, you foolish Mercury Adept, you only destroyed a simple possessed stone. I am the true Wise One, and you will soon regret the err of your judgment. Not that I can blame you. Haniel, you kept that ark of yours in a hidden dimension, didn't you?'
This was a pretty short chapter compared to the others, but oh well. I hope you enjoyed it, Amiti and Karis will show up again in the chapter after the next.
I don't know if anyone reading this has played any of the PS2 Xenosaga Trilogy games, but the idea for Haniel's Ark is sort of like the dungeon Abel's Ark from Xenosaga Episode III: Also Sprach Zarathustra.
Please feel free to review.