The Path from the Past [Chapter 2]
Jan. 22nd, 2007 12:06 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
esp_dragonFandom: Golden Sun 2:The Lost Age ... ish
Summary: Those who forget the past are doomed to make the same mistakes. Those who know the past are doomed to make new ones. Too bad they don't know that they're part of the past. [Reincarnation fic]
Rating: K
Notes: Ye gods this is going to be long. Right so, another fic started. Just setting the scene and all that so not much is going to be happening yet.
Yeah, since I'm lazy, I'm making the school sort of run like a Scottish one. Form is a short registration class that you go to so that you know the stuff that's happening around the school. (shrugs) Don't know if that makes any sense so if it doesn't, tell me and I'll try to change the wording.
I just don't think these guys are in character...
Spoilers for the ending of Golden Sun 2 from the get go.
Genre: General
Word count: 3,018
Status: Work in Progress
"Yes. I... I do possess strange powers."
A pause. A sense of probing that wasn't physical.
"You have them, too, don't you?"
Another pause. The feeling comes back again.
"What? My power... It's called Psynergy? I had no idea! We have so much in common... I feel I can trust you with this.
"I am quite troubled - Master Hammet's rod was stolen. Would you please help me get my master's rod back? ...Thank you. With your help, I believe we can recover the rod. You're names are...?"
A slightly longer pause this time.
"Isaac and Garet. I am Ivan. Pleased to meet you. My ability to read people's minds frightens you, doesn't it? Am I really... Is my Mind Read so frightening?"
Isaac only realised that he was no longer on his bed when a sudden wave of pain made itself known, forcefully waking him up. Not to mention he wasn't able to breathe when all the air in his lungs had been punched out of them when he had hit the floor.
He lay on the floor tenderly feeling the bit of his forehead that had smashed off the bedside table, his blood roaring in his ears. He wondered if he'd made a lot of noise but since he didn't hear any approaching footsteps -not that he could hear that well what with the blood pounding a beat in his ears and his harsh breathing- he supposed that he hadn't. Isaac tenderly poked the spot that had hit the table and winced; it was already starting to feel like a bruise. This was going to be fun explaining how he got it to the others.
Knowing his luck, it'd end up looking like he'd been in a small fight or something. Which he had been, technically. He could already hear Garet's teasing in his head. Okay, maybe the bump on his head had messed up something up inside because he normally didn't think this disjointedly. He shook his head in an attempt to hopefully get his thoughts in order.
That done, he turned his attention back to the sore spot. Sometimes, Isaac thought with a sigh, he just wished that there was some sort of healing type thing that could be applied to small cuts and bruises. Not a salve or any kind of modern medicine since that was only plasters that they used and that didn't do anything to help whatever it was covering, really.
What was thing that they did from Xian called? Martial arts? They used something called Ki or Chi if Isaac could remember it properly. What they did was concentrate their 'body energy' and then release it. What Isaac had also read was that the same technique could also be used for healing if they held it in or something like that.
With nothing else to do (he knew he wouldn't get to sleep easily because of his violent awakening) Isaac pushed himself into a sitting position in preparation for what he was going to attempt to do, mimicking the pose that he'd seen drawn in the book. He then closed his eyes, tried to regulate his breathing and attempted to 'clear his mind'. 'I want this bruise to heal. I don't want it to be there when I wake up in the morning. The stopping of the weird dreams would be nice as well... And 'clearing your mind' is harder than I thought.'
His bout of spontaneity over, Isaac switched his lamp on and then went quietly over to his bookshelf in his room. After pondering for a few seconds, he selected one of the books that he had never gotten the chance to finish. Flipping through the pages as he tried to find where he had stopped reading from, Isaac paused and had a sudden urge to look outside.
As he glanced out the window, Isaac locked eyes with someone outside on the street. He blinked and the pair of eyes was gone. Frowning to himself, Isaac walked over to his window and tried to see through the shadows. There was nothing there; no man-shaped shadows within shadows or anything remotely like that. He stood there for a little longer, in case whatever it was came back again.
Isaac shook his head at what he was doing and turned back to the book in his hand. He'd probably seen some dog or something. 'Except the eyes were too high for it to be a dog,' something at the back of his mind whispered. He ignored it as he sat on his bed and started to read.
:-:-:
"Oi, sleepyhead." Garet eyed the lump that he assumed was Isaac, wondering if his friend had heard him. Having no immediate answer Garet shrugged and picked up the book that was laid out on the bed with Isaac. Turning it over, he smiled when he saw that it was one of those fantasy magic books that Isaac had obsessed over when they were younger. The smile slipped from his face when Garet remembered how that interest had faded three years ago.
Knowing how much his friend looked after his books, Garet put the book back into its rightful place on the bookcase. He took a step back and then turned his head when he heard movement from the bed behind him.
"You up yet or are you still dreaming?" Garet asked the moving form, having a feeling he knew what the response was going to be.
"'M still dreamin'," was the muffled reply under the covers.
Garet grinned and turned around properly to face the bed. "That's amazing!" Garet said, his voice raised. He heard a groan as a reply. "You heard me and even responded while dreaming!" he exclaimed. He then proceeded to abruptly sit on the bed, rocking it.
The lump on the bed threw a pillow at Garet while mumbling something.
After catching the pillow, Garet rolled his eyes. Honestly, it seemed like all Isaac wanted to do was stay in bed all day sometimes. He wondered if he should continue being annoying or just wake Isaac up completely. Checking his watch, Garet made his decision.
He stood up and yanked the covers off of Isaac.
Isaac yelped in surprise at the sudden cold and then scrambled to get his covers back. A short while later, Isaac decided to give up considering how he was fully awake then.
While Isaac changed, Garet asked him, "So what were you doing last night then?"
Isaac was in the middle of tugging a t-shirt over his head when the question was asked. When he finished with that, he looked over his shoulder and said, "What makes you think that I was doing something?" He turned back around as he searched for a pair of socks.
Garet shook his head in amusement. "I know how much you like your sleep but I normally don't have to go through that much effort to get you out of bed."
Having found a pair, Isaac shrugged as he sat on his bed to put them on. "I think I had another dream last night," he said as he scratched his forehead.
"You think you had another dream?" Garet repeated, an eyebrow raised.
"Yeah. Unless it was one of those 'you dream about something, think you've woken up but you're actually still dreaming' dreams." Next on the agenda was a pair of trainers.
Garet tried to paraphrase him. "So you dreamed that you had another weird dream but you really didn't."
"Something like that," was the mumbled reply as Isaac tied his shoelaces. He looked up to his friend as he finished. "I haven't had two of those kind of dreams two nights in a row before." His face turned thoughtful, his eyes wandering around the room. "Well, three or four dreams don't exactly show a pattern, do they?" He stood up and brushed imaginary dust off his jeans.
Garet shrugged. "There could be and you don't know what it is. Just remember all that stuff we did in maths," he said as a lopsided grin appeared at the thought.
Isaac did an exaggerated wince and then laughed. He moved back to his bed to tidy it up. "Don't remind me. So, I'll be having dreams when the night falls upon a multiple of three or something?"
"Or it could depend on the stages of the moon," Garet added.
"Maybe when the temperature is below a certain point."
"Weeell, the last couple of nights have been a bit on the cold side, or so I've been told." Garet tried to say it seriously but failed. He started to snicker.
"Hmm, could be."
"We goin'?" Garet asked as the conversation slowed.
Isaac looked around the room, making sure that everything was in order. "Yeah." The grin was still on Isaac's face as they left his room to go out.
:-:-:
Ivan stared out of his window as he mulled over a few things. He'd done the same the night before but it hadn't helped - he was no closer to finding out his answers than he was to start with.
He glanced at the mirror beside the window; blue eyes stared dully back. Seeing that, he looked away, almost feeling ashamed for doing it.
'I can't believe that I forgot to put in my contact lenses yesterday!' he thought with a shake of his head. He'd slept in and in his rush to get everything ready for school he'd completely forgotten to put in his contact lenses. How he forgot he didn't know since he'd been using them everyday for years that it had become a habit, a ritual every morning. Ivan had only realised that mistake when his classmates were staring at him as he walked in five minutes late and someone had leaned over and asked him where he had gotten his lenses from.
The blond boy cringed inwardly. If only they knew. They thought he was wearing contact lenses when that was his actual eye-colour. Who in the world had purple eyes naturally? Born with them and other... 'abilities'. The eyes were enough to make him stand out of a crowd as it were - the other 'abilities' would have him labelled as a freak.
He found it hard enough that he was always the 'new kid' because he was always moving; if his 'friends' found out some of the things that he could do ('Like they did before.') he really didn't want to be so completely excluded from everything again...
And then there was that boy yesterday. The one who knew him just by looking at him. How did he know? How did he know who he was? He couldn't have known him from a previous school because the boy would have backed off as soon as he saw him. The only other reason how the boy would know who he was would be if he knew that he was the son of Hammet. Which he didn't. No one knew yet.
So how did he know?
Ivan's eyes widened and he felt his heart began to race. No, that couldn't be possible could it? Something like that, the chance to meet another... He swallowed as he allowed the thought to form fully. What if that other boy was like him? What if the other boy had abilities just like him? Maybe he had been wearing contact lenses as well.
Ivan slumped against the windowsill. Monday suddenly seemed very far away.
:-:-:
Isaac stopped when he realised that he was walking along the street alone. He turned back to where he had last seen his friends; Jenna and Garet were gawking at a window and pointing. Looking at the shop name, he saw that it was one of those shops that sold mantle-piece dragons, had 'medicinal' herbs printed on everything and things like that.
He walked up behind them and looked over Jenna's shoulder to see what they were pointing at. In the middle of the display surrounded by sparkly trinkets and other miscellaneous things was a large blue orb sitting on a cushion. Underneath it was a sign that proclaimed "Elemental Star". He looked at it puzzledly before turning to his friends.
"What's so interesting about it?"
Jenna looked over her shoulder. "It looks cool. Look at how the light plays off it and that it sometimes lights up."
Isaac frowned but Jenna didn't see it since she had already turned around again. He looked at Garet's reflection in the glass but it showed that he didn't think something was wrong with what Jenna had said.
He ground a fist in his eyes just to make sure.
Nope, the "Elemental Star" was still steadily glowing; no 'sometimes lights up' or changing lights. To Isaac, it looked like a lamp.
He was jolted out of his thoughts when someone bumped into him from behind. "Sorry," he murmured, looking up at the person. It was a tall woman with long blonde hair with a similarly tall man with long (for a guy) black hair. She sent him a glare but carried on walking without saying a word.
Isaac rubbed the back of his neck, feeling the raised hairs there. He felt as if he knew her but she looked completely different from what she did before. Maybe she didn't have long hair the last time he had seen her. If he'd actually seen her before since she didn't seem to recognise him.
Wanting to forget the encounter, Isaac asked, "Do you think you'll buy it?"
Garet started to laugh straight away while Jenna wasn't far after him.
"...What'd I say?"
Jenna didn't say anything; she merely pointed at a small tag a little lower than the sign. Isaac saw the number, didn't believe it the first time and then just continued to stare. The mere sight of the sum needed to buy the "lamp" was enough to make him weak at the knees. You'd need a lot of money to buy it and know that you wanted to buy it.
"Ah."
This brought a new onslaught of giggles and laughter.
Isaac heard a noise of surprise to his right before someone said, "Hello." He turned to see Kraden standing there. Isaac thought it was a lttle strange that his teacher looked different when he wasn't wearing what he normally wore in school. "I didn't expect to see you three here." Isaac wasn't sure how to react to that. Thankfully, Kraden continued without much of a pause. "I see that Felix isn't with you," he observed, momentarily glancing over his glasses.
Isaac saw Jenna grin in the glass. "He wasn't able to come because mum and dad needed him to help them with carrying the shopping bags."
Kraden smiled but it was a tired one and it faded quickly. Garet and Isaac noticed this.
"What's wrong?"
The response was another small smile. "Sometimes it's hard to be famous."
This was met with disbelieving looks. "You're famous?" Jenna blurted out.
Kraden looked startled before he chuckled and shook his head. "Oh no. Maybe famous is too strong a word. What I was meaning was well-known; I'm well-known for my knowledge on alchemy." He sighed. "Sometimes, it draws all kinds of people to me."
The three teenagers shared a look. That didn't sound particularly good.
"I've just had a chat with two individuals who were very interested in alchemy. They seemed to have a vast knowledge of it themselves." Kraden paused as he stroked his chin, his gaze not fixed on the teenagers. "Some of the things they asked me about, I only knew from very obscure, very old texts. Whatever it is they're searching for, they're at least well informed on the subject."
"Did they," Garet started hesitantly, "did they say what they're looking for?"
Kraden shook his head. "Not outright. What I've worked out from what they said is that it has something to do with Sol Sanctum." He gave the three teenagers a more natural smile. "I'm thinking about going there just now to see if there is anything there that could tell me what they're searching for. But I've wasted enough of your time," he said, peering over his glasses again. "You don't need to know the troubles of an old man. I'll see you on Monday." He nodded to them as he walked past them and they said goodbye to him.
"Well, that was kinda weird," Garet said quietly.
The others nodded in agreement. Kraden would be fine of course. All he was doing was going to the local museum, nothing wrong with that.
So why did Isaac have a feeling that he should follow Kraden just to make sure that he'd be okay?
:-:-:
Felix flicked though the magazine feeling thoroughly bored. His parents knew that although he had volunteered to help them with the bags, he didn't like following them as they pushed the cart around.
Not that waiting for them was any better.
He put the magazine back onto the rack and realised that there was someone standing next to him if the pair of shoes standing there was any indication. 'Probably waiting for me to move.' He took a step back but the shoes still didn't move forward. Curious as to why, Felix glanced up to see a blue-haired man ('How much dye would he need for that amount of hair?') watching him patiently. He felt bad but he knew he was staring at the man's eyes - his gold eyes. Looking in them, Felix had a feeling of déjà vu.
"Can I help you?" Felix asked the man uncertainly.
The man looked away but didn't move. He lifted his head back to look at Felix, his face calm. "You may, later." He turned and left. Felix stood there, unsure if he should go after the man and ask him what he meant. His inner question was answered when he heard his mum call out to him.
Felix turned back around and started to walk slowly towards his parents. Maybe he'd see that guy again some time in the future.
Summary: Those who forget the past are doomed to make the same mistakes. Those who know the past are doomed to make new ones. Too bad they don't know that they're part of the past. [Reincarnation fic]
Rating: K
Notes: Ye gods this is going to be long. Right so, another fic started. Just setting the scene and all that so not much is going to be happening yet.
Yeah, since I'm lazy, I'm making the school sort of run like a Scottish one. Form is a short registration class that you go to so that you know the stuff that's happening around the school. (shrugs) Don't know if that makes any sense so if it doesn't, tell me and I'll try to change the wording.
I just don't think these guys are in character...
Spoilers for the ending of Golden Sun 2 from the get go.
Genre: General
Word count: 3,018
Status: Work in Progress
"Yes. I... I do possess strange powers."
A pause. A sense of probing that wasn't physical.
"You have them, too, don't you?"
Another pause. The feeling comes back again.
"What? My power... It's called Psynergy? I had no idea! We have so much in common... I feel I can trust you with this.
"I am quite troubled - Master Hammet's rod was stolen. Would you please help me get my master's rod back? ...Thank you. With your help, I believe we can recover the rod. You're names are...?"
A slightly longer pause this time.
"Isaac and Garet. I am Ivan. Pleased to meet you. My ability to read people's minds frightens you, doesn't it? Am I really... Is my Mind Read so frightening?"
Isaac only realised that he was no longer on his bed when a sudden wave of pain made itself known, forcefully waking him up. Not to mention he wasn't able to breathe when all the air in his lungs had been punched out of them when he had hit the floor.
He lay on the floor tenderly feeling the bit of his forehead that had smashed off the bedside table, his blood roaring in his ears. He wondered if he'd made a lot of noise but since he didn't hear any approaching footsteps -not that he could hear that well what with the blood pounding a beat in his ears and his harsh breathing- he supposed that he hadn't. Isaac tenderly poked the spot that had hit the table and winced; it was already starting to feel like a bruise. This was going to be fun explaining how he got it to the others.
Knowing his luck, it'd end up looking like he'd been in a small fight or something. Which he had been, technically. He could already hear Garet's teasing in his head. Okay, maybe the bump on his head had messed up something up inside because he normally didn't think this disjointedly. He shook his head in an attempt to hopefully get his thoughts in order.
That done, he turned his attention back to the sore spot. Sometimes, Isaac thought with a sigh, he just wished that there was some sort of healing type thing that could be applied to small cuts and bruises. Not a salve or any kind of modern medicine since that was only plasters that they used and that didn't do anything to help whatever it was covering, really.
What was thing that they did from Xian called? Martial arts? They used something called Ki or Chi if Isaac could remember it properly. What they did was concentrate their 'body energy' and then release it. What Isaac had also read was that the same technique could also be used for healing if they held it in or something like that.
With nothing else to do (he knew he wouldn't get to sleep easily because of his violent awakening) Isaac pushed himself into a sitting position in preparation for what he was going to attempt to do, mimicking the pose that he'd seen drawn in the book. He then closed his eyes, tried to regulate his breathing and attempted to 'clear his mind'. 'I want this bruise to heal. I don't want it to be there when I wake up in the morning. The stopping of the weird dreams would be nice as well... And 'clearing your mind' is harder than I thought.'
His bout of spontaneity over, Isaac switched his lamp on and then went quietly over to his bookshelf in his room. After pondering for a few seconds, he selected one of the books that he had never gotten the chance to finish. Flipping through the pages as he tried to find where he had stopped reading from, Isaac paused and had a sudden urge to look outside.
As he glanced out the window, Isaac locked eyes with someone outside on the street. He blinked and the pair of eyes was gone. Frowning to himself, Isaac walked over to his window and tried to see through the shadows. There was nothing there; no man-shaped shadows within shadows or anything remotely like that. He stood there for a little longer, in case whatever it was came back again.
Isaac shook his head at what he was doing and turned back to the book in his hand. He'd probably seen some dog or something. 'Except the eyes were too high for it to be a dog,' something at the back of his mind whispered. He ignored it as he sat on his bed and started to read.
"Oi, sleepyhead." Garet eyed the lump that he assumed was Isaac, wondering if his friend had heard him. Having no immediate answer Garet shrugged and picked up the book that was laid out on the bed with Isaac. Turning it over, he smiled when he saw that it was one of those fantasy magic books that Isaac had obsessed over when they were younger. The smile slipped from his face when Garet remembered how that interest had faded three years ago.
Knowing how much his friend looked after his books, Garet put the book back into its rightful place on the bookcase. He took a step back and then turned his head when he heard movement from the bed behind him.
"You up yet or are you still dreaming?" Garet asked the moving form, having a feeling he knew what the response was going to be.
"'M still dreamin'," was the muffled reply under the covers.
Garet grinned and turned around properly to face the bed. "That's amazing!" Garet said, his voice raised. He heard a groan as a reply. "You heard me and even responded while dreaming!" he exclaimed. He then proceeded to abruptly sit on the bed, rocking it.
The lump on the bed threw a pillow at Garet while mumbling something.
After catching the pillow, Garet rolled his eyes. Honestly, it seemed like all Isaac wanted to do was stay in bed all day sometimes. He wondered if he should continue being annoying or just wake Isaac up completely. Checking his watch, Garet made his decision.
He stood up and yanked the covers off of Isaac.
Isaac yelped in surprise at the sudden cold and then scrambled to get his covers back. A short while later, Isaac decided to give up considering how he was fully awake then.
While Isaac changed, Garet asked him, "So what were you doing last night then?"
Isaac was in the middle of tugging a t-shirt over his head when the question was asked. When he finished with that, he looked over his shoulder and said, "What makes you think that I was doing something?" He turned back around as he searched for a pair of socks.
Garet shook his head in amusement. "I know how much you like your sleep but I normally don't have to go through that much effort to get you out of bed."
Having found a pair, Isaac shrugged as he sat on his bed to put them on. "I think I had another dream last night," he said as he scratched his forehead.
"You think you had another dream?" Garet repeated, an eyebrow raised.
"Yeah. Unless it was one of those 'you dream about something, think you've woken up but you're actually still dreaming' dreams." Next on the agenda was a pair of trainers.
Garet tried to paraphrase him. "So you dreamed that you had another weird dream but you really didn't."
"Something like that," was the mumbled reply as Isaac tied his shoelaces. He looked up to his friend as he finished. "I haven't had two of those kind of dreams two nights in a row before." His face turned thoughtful, his eyes wandering around the room. "Well, three or four dreams don't exactly show a pattern, do they?" He stood up and brushed imaginary dust off his jeans.
Garet shrugged. "There could be and you don't know what it is. Just remember all that stuff we did in maths," he said as a lopsided grin appeared at the thought.
Isaac did an exaggerated wince and then laughed. He moved back to his bed to tidy it up. "Don't remind me. So, I'll be having dreams when the night falls upon a multiple of three or something?"
"Or it could depend on the stages of the moon," Garet added.
"Maybe when the temperature is below a certain point."
"Weeell, the last couple of nights have been a bit on the cold side, or so I've been told." Garet tried to say it seriously but failed. He started to snicker.
"Hmm, could be."
"We goin'?" Garet asked as the conversation slowed.
Isaac looked around the room, making sure that everything was in order. "Yeah." The grin was still on Isaac's face as they left his room to go out.
Ivan stared out of his window as he mulled over a few things. He'd done the same the night before but it hadn't helped - he was no closer to finding out his answers than he was to start with.
He glanced at the mirror beside the window; blue eyes stared dully back. Seeing that, he looked away, almost feeling ashamed for doing it.
'I can't believe that I forgot to put in my contact lenses yesterday!' he thought with a shake of his head. He'd slept in and in his rush to get everything ready for school he'd completely forgotten to put in his contact lenses. How he forgot he didn't know since he'd been using them everyday for years that it had become a habit, a ritual every morning. Ivan had only realised that mistake when his classmates were staring at him as he walked in five minutes late and someone had leaned over and asked him where he had gotten his lenses from.
The blond boy cringed inwardly. If only they knew. They thought he was wearing contact lenses when that was his actual eye-colour. Who in the world had purple eyes naturally? Born with them and other... 'abilities'. The eyes were enough to make him stand out of a crowd as it were - the other 'abilities' would have him labelled as a freak.
He found it hard enough that he was always the 'new kid' because he was always moving; if his 'friends' found out some of the things that he could do ('Like they did before.') he really didn't want to be so completely excluded from everything again...
And then there was that boy yesterday. The one who knew him just by looking at him. How did he know? How did he know who he was? He couldn't have known him from a previous school because the boy would have backed off as soon as he saw him. The only other reason how the boy would know who he was would be if he knew that he was the son of Hammet. Which he didn't. No one knew yet.
So how did he know?
Ivan's eyes widened and he felt his heart began to race. No, that couldn't be possible could it? Something like that, the chance to meet another... He swallowed as he allowed the thought to form fully. What if that other boy was like him? What if the other boy had abilities just like him? Maybe he had been wearing contact lenses as well.
Ivan slumped against the windowsill. Monday suddenly seemed very far away.
Isaac stopped when he realised that he was walking along the street alone. He turned back to where he had last seen his friends; Jenna and Garet were gawking at a window and pointing. Looking at the shop name, he saw that it was one of those shops that sold mantle-piece dragons, had 'medicinal' herbs printed on everything and things like that.
He walked up behind them and looked over Jenna's shoulder to see what they were pointing at. In the middle of the display surrounded by sparkly trinkets and other miscellaneous things was a large blue orb sitting on a cushion. Underneath it was a sign that proclaimed "Elemental Star". He looked at it puzzledly before turning to his friends.
"What's so interesting about it?"
Jenna looked over her shoulder. "It looks cool. Look at how the light plays off it and that it sometimes lights up."
Isaac frowned but Jenna didn't see it since she had already turned around again. He looked at Garet's reflection in the glass but it showed that he didn't think something was wrong with what Jenna had said.
He ground a fist in his eyes just to make sure.
Nope, the "Elemental Star" was still steadily glowing; no 'sometimes lights up' or changing lights. To Isaac, it looked like a lamp.
He was jolted out of his thoughts when someone bumped into him from behind. "Sorry," he murmured, looking up at the person. It was a tall woman with long blonde hair with a similarly tall man with long (for a guy) black hair. She sent him a glare but carried on walking without saying a word.
Isaac rubbed the back of his neck, feeling the raised hairs there. He felt as if he knew her but she looked completely different from what she did before. Maybe she didn't have long hair the last time he had seen her. If he'd actually seen her before since she didn't seem to recognise him.
Wanting to forget the encounter, Isaac asked, "Do you think you'll buy it?"
Garet started to laugh straight away while Jenna wasn't far after him.
"...What'd I say?"
Jenna didn't say anything; she merely pointed at a small tag a little lower than the sign. Isaac saw the number, didn't believe it the first time and then just continued to stare. The mere sight of the sum needed to buy the "lamp" was enough to make him weak at the knees. You'd need a lot of money to buy it and know that you wanted to buy it.
"Ah."
This brought a new onslaught of giggles and laughter.
Isaac heard a noise of surprise to his right before someone said, "Hello." He turned to see Kraden standing there. Isaac thought it was a lttle strange that his teacher looked different when he wasn't wearing what he normally wore in school. "I didn't expect to see you three here." Isaac wasn't sure how to react to that. Thankfully, Kraden continued without much of a pause. "I see that Felix isn't with you," he observed, momentarily glancing over his glasses.
Isaac saw Jenna grin in the glass. "He wasn't able to come because mum and dad needed him to help them with carrying the shopping bags."
Kraden smiled but it was a tired one and it faded quickly. Garet and Isaac noticed this.
"What's wrong?"
The response was another small smile. "Sometimes it's hard to be famous."
This was met with disbelieving looks. "You're famous?" Jenna blurted out.
Kraden looked startled before he chuckled and shook his head. "Oh no. Maybe famous is too strong a word. What I was meaning was well-known; I'm well-known for my knowledge on alchemy." He sighed. "Sometimes, it draws all kinds of people to me."
The three teenagers shared a look. That didn't sound particularly good.
"I've just had a chat with two individuals who were very interested in alchemy. They seemed to have a vast knowledge of it themselves." Kraden paused as he stroked his chin, his gaze not fixed on the teenagers. "Some of the things they asked me about, I only knew from very obscure, very old texts. Whatever it is they're searching for, they're at least well informed on the subject."
"Did they," Garet started hesitantly, "did they say what they're looking for?"
Kraden shook his head. "Not outright. What I've worked out from what they said is that it has something to do with Sol Sanctum." He gave the three teenagers a more natural smile. "I'm thinking about going there just now to see if there is anything there that could tell me what they're searching for. But I've wasted enough of your time," he said, peering over his glasses again. "You don't need to know the troubles of an old man. I'll see you on Monday." He nodded to them as he walked past them and they said goodbye to him.
"Well, that was kinda weird," Garet said quietly.
The others nodded in agreement. Kraden would be fine of course. All he was doing was going to the local museum, nothing wrong with that.
So why did Isaac have a feeling that he should follow Kraden just to make sure that he'd be okay?
Felix flicked though the magazine feeling thoroughly bored. His parents knew that although he had volunteered to help them with the bags, he didn't like following them as they pushed the cart around.
Not that waiting for them was any better.
He put the magazine back onto the rack and realised that there was someone standing next to him if the pair of shoes standing there was any indication. 'Probably waiting for me to move.' He took a step back but the shoes still didn't move forward. Curious as to why, Felix glanced up to see a blue-haired man ('How much dye would he need for that amount of hair?') watching him patiently. He felt bad but he knew he was staring at the man's eyes - his gold eyes. Looking in them, Felix had a feeling of déjà vu.
"Can I help you?" Felix asked the man uncertainly.
The man looked away but didn't move. He lifted his head back to look at Felix, his face calm. "You may, later." He turned and left. Felix stood there, unsure if he should go after the man and ask him what he meant. His inner question was answered when he heard his mum call out to him.
Felix turned back around and started to walk slowly towards his parents. Maybe he'd see that guy again some time in the future.