The sun bathes Vale’s streets. The straw roofs shine of the same golden light, so much that they seem to be on fire. The river dividing the city in two halves glows of multiple colours. Near the river, almost on the bridge, Felix and his family live. The house has been built right where it was before the flood changed everybody’s lives. Now, that house hosts the entire group of four Adepts and a Sage who had saved the world… or they thought so. Now the group has been reunited, Felix has taken his role back and, in his own home, surrounded by his companions, he walks around the room and speaks his thoughts aloud, glancing at the ‘audience’, explaining the situation, feeling finally at ease, in his own role. Everybody adds whatever he knows. But we already know the things Piers knows. So, let’s move onwards, such as if we were reading a book, let’s leaf through it quick, because we want to hear things from Sheba, finally.

‘So you actually flew to the Moon alone?...’ An incredulous Jenna asks.

‘I did. It was not that hard, I must tell you… I did it some time after I left. The energy from the Golden Sun was still strong, so it was like gliding upwards. Before thinking, I was there…  


…in the Anemos’ city.’

Everybody startles, thinking the same thing but not saying it. ‘Have you found what you wanted…?’

Felix finds the words. ‘What was there…?’

‘An immense, unique city covering the Moon’s entire plain surface. The buildings were very alike to the Anemos’ Sanctum back in Contigo. All covered with gold and jade. And with Dragon Heads on top of every door.’

Sheba looks quite enigmatic as she speaks. Jenna looks at her, questioningly. ‘And… what about people?...’

‘No-one was there.’

Those casual words stab the audience like knives. Felix stops in the middle of the room without an apparent change of expression on his face. Everything goes like in a slow motion and stops and fades to grey, end of the film, credits running on screen. What did you say, Sheba? Then, why did an entire civilization fly to space? Just to go and meet their death? Was it just a joke to tease their descendants, knowing they would have strived for that mystery to be solved?

‘The Anemos decayed soon after the loss of Alchemy, and tried miserably to save themselves by flying away with the whole city, up to space. But their powers slowly diminished with the flow of ages. The Moon remained in the sky; on the contrary the Anemos fell like leaves from a rotten tree. Just like me. Most of them just met their doom by falling in the sea or directly missing the target and jumping to the void, inevitably. I was lucky.’

Just like the ice covering the Isle of Tundaria, these words freeze the pavement and walls. The house is pleasantly warm, yet, Felix feels like if his body had been long immersed in a glacier, never to be found again.  Sheba’s eyes have become the eyes of a stranger. Those once ingenuous eyes now reflect disappointment and cynicism, maturity and seduction.  

‘Have you gone to Air’s Rock, perchance…?’ Piers shyly suggests.

Everybody turns towards him.

‘How would you know that…?’

‘I went to Aqua Rock, and I obtained knowledge far beyond my possibilities. That’s why I thought about that: you could not know the reason behind the Anemos’ decay… and, if nobody was there on the Moon, nobody could have said that to you either.’

‘Is that the way you knew Alchemy has not been restored yet?...’

‘Well, among other things. It’s not that simple, though. Some alchemy has been restored indeed. But most of it still lies somewhere. And the world keeps on crumbling and shrinking dramatically, more than it did before.’

‘But why, though, as you just said, some Alchemy has been restored…?’

‘Because that ‘some’ is not sufficient. The spring is too cold and poor. The bear is still hungry. And tries desperately to devour itself, now.’

Everyone in the room shivers.

Piers wakes from his seat almost in frenzy. ‘That is why we shall leave Vale, right now! King Hydros must have something to tell us other than the things I know.’

Jenna wakes, concerned. ‘But… you are…’

Piers turns towards Jenna. His eyes are on fire as he looks at her. ‘An exile…? Not for long…!’

‘Don’t be reckless.’ Felix’s voice resonates in the room almost solemnly.

‘I am not. But I have to face my problems, Felix. I feel like I cannot be held in a cage for long. I am going to free myself and my hometown from our chains. I will do that at any cost.’

‘In other words, you can’t stay here, and you feel like you can’t stay in Lemuria, either. You want to feel free either to go back home or to come back here whenever you want. Did I get it right?’

‘It is the clearest way to express my wish.’

‘Then, we’ve got no time to waste…!’ Felix smiles.

‘Are you definitely become mad, brother?!!’ Yells Jenna.

‘Men are so rash.’ Calmly comments Sheba, the only one still sitting. ‘But I agree. I can’t imagine Piers living such a long life filling his heart with regrets. And, we’ve got to talk to King Hydros indeed. Maybe he’s got a clearer idea of what is happening…’ Sheba is looking at the pavement: she’s thinking of something more. ‘ …but… ‘She looks at her friends. ‘…we must be really careful in what we will do. We are speaking of a civilization, with its own policy. Except for Piers, we all are foreigners. I don’t know how much we can interfere. Most of all… I fear a civil war.’

‘…I know what you mean, Sheba. People in Lemuria are divided between conservatives and progressists, so, a war may really break.’ Piers has quite regained lucidity.’ But I cannot really leave everything as it is.’

‘You four never change.’ Everybody turns towards the speaker: it’s Isaac coming in. ‘Hello, Sheba! Long time no see!’ Garet follows suit. Sheba says ‘hi’, but the attention is all gathered towards Isaac.

‘Wait for the end of the world to come or wind up accidentally triggering it ourselves... What a choice...! Do you remember?... I said this to you, back in Contigo, Felix. So, maybe, we actually triggered it.’

That is the unspoken thing holding tension in the air of the room. Wherever you look at it, the situation is actually the worst ever possible. Isaac looks at Piers.

‘Please, let’s be real. I don’t think going to Lemuria now would be of any good to us.’

Piers emits a strange sound, in shock. ‘You have never known King Hydros…! How can you say…!?’

Isaac, with sort of a look of pity on his face: ‘His majesty has had more problems, I think, than you ever imagine, since we lit the four beacons. You told me once the Senate opposed you four… well… us for this. So, since we have restored Alchemy, the Senate may be in uproar; not taking into account that you, the Senate’s Public Enemy, were with us, helping to lit them. Translation. If you ever  touch Lemuria’s soil with the tip of your boot, you may really be done for. I would not be surprised if the Senators wanted your head more than anything at the moment.’

Piers flinches a bit, but then adds ‘I will risk…!’

‘Say farewell to us and to any chance of progress for Lemuria then. With your death, a Political symbol will be dead.’

‘…ME..?’

‘Yes, you.’ Felix confirms. ‘The King is fond of you because your mind has not grown senile as that of the other Lemurians. You still hope for Lemuria to keep in touch with other civilizations and prosper. And all of the people similar to you, there in Lemuria, admire you, and maybe hope that you bring them… Conservato’s head.’

‘…you think… they want this…?’

‘Either your head, or his, or Hydros’ one: one of the three has to fall in order to move a step forwards: Lemurian politics have reached a stall.’

Piers’ eyes have become blank all of a sudden. That’s too much to take in. That means he should become either the head of a revolution, or a corpse, next to his parents’ ones.

Jenna moves a heavy step forwards, keeping her head low. Then reaches out for Isaac and Felix and drags them out.

Jenna walks giving them her back. She looks like she’s rather angry. Felix and Isaac almost run, trying to follow her; Jenna marches in a rush. Jenna then stops quite suddenly. Felix and Isaac almost stumble in each other. They’re looking at her in shock. They’re on the bridge. Then, Jenna turns towards them in fury.

‘You really feel like you’re the best ones, right…?!’

‘I don’t understand—‘

‘I DO, so please shut up and listen! We all know those things you said. Piers knows that as well. WAS THERE ANY REASON WHY YOU TOO HAD TO PUT HIM IN SUCH A DISTRESS!? Sheba was trying to put it softer. There is no need to do what you have done. I think he’s not a child, maybe the opposite; he’s the oldest among us…! It’s normal for him to be confused, but if you say things like those, you won’t surely help him to snap out of it. ’

‘Jenna—‘

‘No, please, no ‘Jenna’ or whatsoever. I won’t listen to your excuses.’

Isaac and Felix are rather stupefied. They look at each other and simultaneously whisper ‘She talks like mother…!’  Yes, what Jenna is showing, is sort of a mother’s instinct. It’s the ability to know what to say and when to say it. The ability to understand other people’s feelings and everything behind a specific behaviour. Jenna has matured through that journey too, becoming something really close to an adult. Then she utters the final word.

‘You really feel like you’re the heroes and we’re your poor vassals? Learn modesty.’

Isaac and Felix remain petrified.

‘Uh… I almost forgot.’ Jenna turns back towards her brother and lover.

*SLAP! SLAP! ~SPLASH! *

Everyone in Vale now can see the two Heroes of Weyard lying like geese in water, with a red cheek each, and the former Damsel in Distress walking away in a triumph.




________________________________________ ______________________________________





In the meanwhile, Piers and Sheba have remained in Felix’s house, in an awkward silence.

‘It has been rough indeed of Isaac to explain things like this, but you can’t deny that’s truth.’

‘I am neither escaping, nor I want my people to suffer because of my egoism. But I MUST return to Lemuria. Right now. No matter what it takes.’

‘Is it related to the other truth you saw while you were on the Aqua Rock?’

‘…I guess so. Since then, I have kept following my instinct. It is such as if I have another brain other than mine, and it whispers me things in the ear.’

‘Isn’t it like a god telling you what to do..?’

‘Are you suggesting something is controlling us?’

‘So-so.  I think someone is trying to help us somewhat.’

‘The Wise-One…?’

‘…no… it’s something else.’


________________________________________ _______________________________________



Two sky-blue eyes disclose themselves in a pale shine. Their owner looks around in surprise. The room is enveloped in an astonishing silence, almost inhuman. There’s something thrilling about it. The man rushes in alarm to the curtains, and swiftly moves them to see outside.

Alex stops, completely numb. He hysterically laughs, while his eyes almost let tears go.

Sound of lively footsteps grows nearer, and Samira opens the door, to find him fully awake, for the first time in a week.

‘Master! You are finally awake.’ She smiles. Not noticing any reaction, she walks towards him, and sees him almost shivering.

‘Is there anything troubling you, master?...’

‘Tell me, Samira… is this Imil, perchance…?’

‘Yes, I found you here when we first met.’

‘Hah…!’ Alex slaps his forehead in shame and keeps on laughing. Samira looks at him quite puzzled.

‘This is my hometown’, he explains her. ‘This is the place where I left my lovers when I started conducting my research on immortality.’

‘I see… it must have been your subconscious. You desired to be here, and you somewhat teleported here while desperately trying to save yourself from the… burial under Mt.Aleph.’

‘Yes, it must be as you say.’ Alex still wears his sad smile. A brief silence falls between the two.

‘Now, tell me, Samira…’

‘Yes…?’

‘Will it take any longer for Maximilian to return? I would like to start the journey as soon as we can, my dear.’*

‘He contacted me, and said he already was on his way back.’

‘One more thing.’

‘Yes.’

‘Why did you tell him I sent you a letter to hire you two as mercenaries, while it was you the one who found me and offered to service me…?’

Samira turns towards her master with a cunning smile.

‘Because there are things that shouldn’t be said, at times.’

Alex smiles back: ‘I’m not satisfied with your answer at all.’

‘As if I care!...’

‘Wait…! I am your master, you must answer properly!’

Samira sings something while still smiling, trying to mock at her master.

‘Oh well, I shall find some other way to make you spill this out.’

Samira ignores him. ‘I will make some preparations with the ship.’ Alex momentarily gives up on it. ‘Where are we headed first?’ Samira asks.

‘We are headed towards the continent of Atteka. We will reach Contigo to make sure of a thing regarding your people’s history and, then… I will tell you more after we make this first step forwards.’

‘Roger, sir!’

‘In the meanwhile, I want you to conduct researches about the Golden Sun. Maybe there is still something I don’t know.’

‘Sure thing.’

‘I will take back what’s mine for sure. Everything.’



The moment of departure grows nearer for both sides.




*[AmberRei’s note: I use that ‘dear’ thingie because I remember he uses quite often that term, mostly talking to Jenna, in GS-TLA… I don’t want to hint at some relationship between the two…]