Finally, Gol and Maia return to planning their next moves. And Gol reminisces about the past some more. It was a very entertaining bit of recollections to write. Oh, and this is not the same monk temple as in "Jak 3", but it's similar.

Chapter 7: The Second Citadel

Gol and Maia flew until just after nightfall before stopping in front of a rather large, stone structure, built on a mountain in such a way that it almost seemed to be a part of it. In fact, at this hour, if Maia hadn't already known it was there, they would have likely passed it by, entirely unaware that an ancient structure stood there. Much of the outer walls were crumbling, but the majority of the rooms within still appeared to be relatively intact.

"I know it's not much to look at, but this place will serve us just fine as a new citadel, don't you think, dear brother? At the very least, it's in such poor condition, no one will bother us," Maia said, before flying ahead. "Come on, let me give you a tour."

Gol followed his sister through a decaying arch that looked ready to topple into a courtyard, as Maia explained further. "This place appears to be an old temple, but there's no sign that anyone has used it for some time. Works well enough for us. Not that I'd have any qualms against 'evicting' them."

They headed through a tilting doorway on the lower floor, into a long hallway. "Don't worry, it won't be those horrid tunnels all over again. I've figured my way around. There's actually quite an extensive basement below here. It's in much studier condition than the upper rooms. Plus, it stays nice and cool."

Maia floated through another doorway leading to a spiraling staircase. Candles resting in alcoves in the walls caused the stairwell to flicker between varying levels of light and dark. Once past the stairs, they arrived in a larger room, high, vaulted ceiling supported by stone pillars. The room was not only lit by large, bowl-shaped containers housing flames, but large, slanting slits cut into the ceiling along one wall brought in moonlight from above.

Gol observed the space, one hand to his chin. A bit dark, but they'd certainly be safe from prying eyes here. "You've done well, dear sister."

"I know, I have, haven't I?" Maia said as she landed. "Oh, and you'll love this." She turned and went through another doorway, heels clicking on the stone floor.

Gol landed, as well, and followed. He found his sister standing in another large room, this one grander than the one before. The walls were lined with bookcases filled with, as expected, books. Many appeared brown and decayed with age, while others seemed like they might have been relatively new at the time the temple was abandoned. A circular skylight that was cloudy with a fine layer of dirt (the skylight was curved, no doubt for the purpose of keeping it from becoming completely buried beneath the constantly traveling sand of the Wasteland), but otherwise in surprisingly good condition, lit the room from above, the moon giving it an almost white glow, tinted a yellow from the sand.

"How nice, dear sister, a library. Our old citadel didn't even have one. Not that I should expect to have much leisure time." The dusty, old things could certainly provide him with more research, though. Probably better than the books Kassra had brought him.

Maia also showed him other rooms, one that she had already made into her own bedroom and another to be used as his, and the Sage decided another larger room would do just fine as his new lab. While this room was part of the basement level, this particular one was built into the side of the mountain, with a wall of windows that would let in plenty of natural light. Perfect for his work. Some of the rooms already contained furnishings, old wooden tables and chairs, and Maia had brought in more from other rooms and placed them where they may be needed. He felt a bit guilty she had done so much work while he had been wasting time in bed this last month.

It was getting late, and his sister decided to retire to her room, but the Dark Sage had too many plans swirling in his head to sleep just yet. He wandered the passageways of the temple. He had always liked old places such as this. He strolled from room to room, enjoying the solitude, while thinking of all the ways his sister and he could go about making the world their own. His dear sister. There was no one better to share such a victory with.

Long ago, when he was young, people had often asked him, Maia, too, why he never got married. It seemed a bizarre thing to ask a man, but he supposed if it seemed proper a woman married, there'd have to be a man to complete the arrangement. He tried to explain that he had no interest in romantic relationships, only in his work, but they didn't seem to believe it. (Like he would lie about such things!) One woman had even tried several times to set him up with her daughter, but said daughter was a giggling, airheaded thing with the intelligence of a hip hog, on good days, head adorned with pigtails that should have been abandoned long before she had reached that age.

And she was very persistent about pushing her affections on him, even when he showed no interest whatsoever in her. He had no choice but to be rather rude to her one day, something he practiced much less often back then, to make her finally leave him be, but this had caused her to run off sobbing. But, minor impoliteness and avoiding her and refusing to answer the door when she knocked and even going so far as to barricade himself inside for a week with all the shutters closed just didn't do the trick. After some discussion with his sister, they had both decided more drastic measures needed to be taken. Nothing else could be done at that point. (He supposed not all people treated them with mistrust due to their association with Dark Eco. He wished that idiot had, though.)

On the other hand, Maia had done her fair share of dating at first, until she had become more occupied with assisting him in his research, which pleased him to no end. None of her boyfriends were even fit to be in her presence. And he couldn't stand the way they looked at her. Plus, he was well aware of what was on the minds of young men. He had no interest in such things and had far better ways of spending his time, but most men were not like him. If he hadn't been such a good brother, he'd have sabotaged her relationships. For her own protection, of course. He had certainly considered it. But, he didn't (he only came close once with one particularly shady young man who wore earrings like some sort of delinquent), and he would never admit to her he had ever thought such things.

After she gave up on such silly notions of romantic love and decided to simply spend her time helping him, Gol's mind was greatly put at ease. He didn't mean to be selfish, but she was much better off putting her intelligence to good use instead of getting married and having children and cooking and cleaning. Well, she did the cooking for him, but that wasn't the same thing, as he was dreadful at it. And he tried to help with the other chores, even if he sometimes made things worse. And besides, no one would ever love her as much as he did. Most people were no better than animals. They weren't capable of caring about someone else above themselves. It simply wasn't possible.

Gol was starting to get lost. Perhaps this wasn't a good place to go wandering around in the middle of the night. At least, not so soon. He headed back in the direction of their quarters, but arrived in a hallway he didn't recognize. After a bit more backtracking and finding himself returning to rooms he was just in, Gol finally found his way back to the staircase. He walked down, hand trailing along the banister. He hadn't done any research yet like he intended, but he was tired. Perhaps he could read just a little.

He went into the library and grabbed a few books from a shelf and sat at one of the tables under the skylight. He opened one. No, that wouldn't be helpful. He put an elbow on the table, face resting on his hand, and flicked through the pages of another book. His eyelids grew heavy, and it wasn't much longer before he was asleep, his head resting on the pages of his current book. His research would have to wait until tomorrow.

Gol opened his eyes in response to a noise, a cough. People were waking him up a lot lately. But, it couldn't be that bothersome Kassra this time. He lifted his head to see Maia sitting across from him, hands clasped together on the tabletop, feigning innocence.

"Can I help you?" he asked.

She blinked at him. "I'm sorry, did I wake you?"

"You know very well that you did."

She got up and walked to one of the bookcases, tracing the spine of one book with a fingertip. "I would never." She looked back, smiling. "I know how old people need their rest."

"Old? You're the same age as I am!" This fact seemed to be disputed when he tried to sit up straighter, an action hindered by the hunch in his upper back.

"But, my poor dear brother, you know as well as I that the Dark Eco made me younger, while you, well…"

He sniffed. She was right. While Gol had been most careful with the experiments on his dear sister, he had been a bit too reckless in those performed on himself, and his body hadn't fared well as a result. The Dark Eco had strengthened him just as it did with Maia, and it had restored his failing vision and healed his arthritis, but it had also aged him. Dark Eco was a contradictory, fickle thing. It was fortunate the experiments on Maia didn't yield the same results, or she would have killed him.

"Find anything interesting?" she asked.

"No, not yet." No need to tell her he had fallen asleep before he had gotten a chance to.

"I'd help, but you know how I hate reading. I don't know how you stand it," Maia said.

"I don't know how you stand your lotions and picking out shoes."

"I have to keep looking beautiful."

"You look lovely enough without all that nonsense."

Maia came back and kissed him on the cheek. "You're sweet. And absolutely correct." She then sat in a chair nearby and crossed her legs. "So, we now have access to all the Dark Eco we could ever hope for. What do you plan to do about it?" She laughed and added, "I don't suppose a bunch of buckets would cut it." Her grin grew wider. "Or a bunch of bowls and soup ladles."

Gol smiled at the reminder of their childhood adventure. "You still remember that?"

"How could I forget? You looked positively ridiculous in mother's dish gloves!" Maia leaned forward, crossing her arms on the table. "Our parents were furious. They were a pair of morons if there ever was one. If they could see us now, they'd die on the spot!" She sighed. "It's hard to believe such idiots could be our parents. Sometimes, I think we must have been adopted."

He crossed his arms and shook his head. "If only we were so lucky. No, they were simply fools, just like everyone else. It's a shame they won't be around to see us recreate the world. They could have seen how beautiful Dark Eco really is."

"They don't deserve to witness our new, perfect world. None of those idiots do, but I suppose we can't kill everyone."

"No, I suppose we can't," Gol said. How can they prove they were right, otherwise?

Maia stretched her arms over her head. "Well, you do your silly research, and I'll see what I can figure out about getting that Dark Eco out of those tunnels." She stood. "See you later. Have fun with your boring books."

He nodded. "I intend to." The Sage went back to thumbing through the pages of his book, then took a short departure from his reading to daydream about how the world will be when everyone recognizes Dark Eco for the magnificent substance it is. He smiled at his musings, then, looked back down at the book. His dream wouldn't come to pass just thinking about it. Best he returned to his work. As Maia had pointed out, the methods devised by the minds of children would simply not cut it this time.

I'm finally getting the hang of Maia's dialogue. Gol's dialogue is easier to write. And yet Maia's movements and stuff are easier. Anyway, please read and review. They make me happy.