Chrono Trigger: Dare Chapter 2
The Sun Palace
By Crono_12
I knew then what the eye did. It was an eye of control. Like the Lavos eye. In fact, I was willing to bet that was where Queen Zeal got the design. I was about to draw my sword, but then put it back in its sheath.
"You are a fool Crono. Draw your weapon and fight like a man!" Marle said.
I ignored her remarks, and put up my fists.
"Do you Dare…?"
Somehow, she made the capitalization very apparent. I didn’t answer. I suddenly rushed Lucca, and knocked the gun away from her hands. I spun around quickly, then punched her in the stomach. I hated doing it, but I had to get them out of the trance. Quickly, I hit the top of her neck, and she collapsed unconscious. I turned to Marle, but she had her crossbow aimed right at my head. With no time to waste, I focused my internal energy, called mana, and jumped to an amazing height. I clasped my hands together, then brought them down on her head. I made sure I didn’t do any permanent damage, but I hit hard enough to knock her out. She had no chance. My fists landed on the top of her head, and she lapsed into an induced sleep. I then took out a small packet of smelling salts and brushed them under Marle and Lucca’s noses. They woke up after a few seconds, and rubbed their heads.
"Don't look at the eye above the door. It’s a Zealian eye of control."
They nodded, and we passed through the door into the pyramid. To my horror, the walls of the hallway in front of us were filled with the same eye staring down at us! I guessed they would do the same thing as the one outside.
"Marle! Lucca! Close your eyes, and grab the shirt of the person in front of you."
Immediately, they complied. Lucca grabbed on to my shirt, and Marle grabbed on to Lucca's shirt. I was immune to the effects of the eyes for the same reason I could resist Lavos's controlling spell; my magic ability exceeds the magic used on the Eyes. I lead the girls slowly towards the end of the hall, making sure they didn’t bump into each other or into me. Finally, we got to the next room. This one had no discerning marks of any kind. It was an empty room, made of the same dull yellow substance on the outside. No door, no switch, no opening in the ceiling, nothing. It was just a plain yellow room with nothing inside. I instructed Lucca and Marle to open their eyes, and when they did, they rushed to the opposite wall.
"This is it. I wonder why Zeal would go through the trouble of building those eyes if there was nothing here."
"Are you sure there was nothing else? No doors or passages or anything of the sort?"
I shook my head.
"This is it. Nothing else. I made sure there were no other doors," I answered
"It doesn’t make sense. Why would it just end? It’s not like Queen Zeal to make something wasteful," Marle whispered.
I heard Marle gasp, and Lucca and I spun around to look at her. She was looking at her pendant, which was floating in mid air and pulsing busily. Suddenly, a small beam of light, barley thicker than my small finger, shot out from the diamond shaped pendant. It hit the middle of the wall opposite the door, and to my surprise, the entire wall blinked several times, then faded away. Behind the wall was a massive display of electronics. Zealian Interface Pod, an adnvanced form of mind-machine interface, were interspersed at random areas of the huge machine. Lights flashed and blinked, the giant computer hummed, and a hologram appeared. Marle's pendant landed back on her chest as if it had done nothing unusual.
The hologram was a picture of Queen Zeal, dressed in a plain pink dress. Her pointed features glared back at me and reminded me of the time I died at her and Lavos’s hands. I grabbed the hilt of my sword but didn’t draw it. The apparition spoke in a monotone.
"Welcome. I am the Queen of Zeal. This, if you are not Zealian, is the Sun Palace. This is where we stored the Sunstone. It is an artifact of great power. This palace is dedicated to it and it’s history. If you are here, it means that you must have received our signal. We apologize for any pain or discomfort caused, but we desperately had to find strong magic users."
The hologram changed, and a picture of a gray haired scientist.
"Thank you for coming. Allow me to explain why we brought you here. Contrary to popular belief, the Sunstone was not created here. We believe that it fell from the sky a few hundred years before Lavos did. After a lengthy period of time, our scientists discovered that it was from the same area of space that Lavos originated from. More research proved that Lavos and this Sunstone originated from the same planet. Our astronomers estimated that the planet of their origin passes into our view every 3,000 years and lasts there for no greater than 7 days." The man paused to let us absorb all the information.
"After doing the math, we calculated that the planet will be in range within the next hundred years, and built a teleportation device from Zeal to this planet, which we called Tirantis. Thank heavens that the Royal family has such long life spans, otherwise the project would never have been finished. We tried to put the device in the Queen’s Palace, but the location would not allow a safe transportation. After months of adjusting and recalculating, we finally moved it here, the only place it could work without disrupting Zeal. But, we were up against another problem. The teleportation spectrum was too large. In other words, if we turned the machine on, it would teleport this entire palace to Tirantis. A young engineer found the answer; he set the device to teleport an object outside this temple. There was an obvious problem with this. The area that one has to be in to be teleported was fifty feet in the air. So we built a small craft, called the Ephemeral, to transport King Zeal and his honor guard, along with several engineers, to Tirantis. He said that once he got there, he would build another gate as we now called it to teleport him back. He has not returned."
I watched in shock as the image of the gray haired man turned into the image of Queen Zeal, her face all flushed, and her eyes watery. I actually felt pity for the woman.
"And now, my friends, I implore you. Go through the gate and rescue King Zeal. He is the last hope for the Kingdom of Zeal. I am not myself anymore. I feel as if I am being taken over by…a power greater than anyone has ever seen. Lavos. He is trying to control me, and I fear that I cannot stand by myself. I need King Zeal, for he is the only one strong enough to stop Lavos. Please…help me."
The image flickered, then disappeared altogether.
I sat down on the floor, absorbing it all. Behind me, I heard Lucca talking to herself like she always did when something amazing happened. It was a new habit, and it really annoyed me, but I let it pass, considering I was just as stunned. Marle sat down beside me, and put her head on my shoulder. We had just gotten engaged last month, and were planning a wedding for sometime next year.
"You know, Marle, I'd have never thought Queen Zeal had a gentle side. I wonder what did happen to King Zeal?" I asked.
"Well, considering that it's been at least 13,005 years since Zeal was destroyed, I think he's long gone. But still…" Marle answered quietly.
"I know what you're thinking. Maybe there's some remnant of the people who went there. I'd like to see, but there's no way for us to check."
"Say…how long have we been here?" I asked after a second.
Marle shrugged, then turned around to leave. Her pendant stopped her. The jewel glimmered one more time, then fell back onto her chest. Marle shrugged again then almost stepped through the door.
"No! Wait. Remember the eyes? I've got to go first. You girls know the drill."
Marle grabbed my shirt, and Lucca grabbed hers. I lead the way again, this time not taking as much care as last time. When we got out, it was dark.
"Damn. We'd better get home. Lucca, will the Epoch still fly?" I asked.
"Yup. But we only have about an hour of flight before we're completely out of fuel," she answered.
"Then let's go!" Marle added with enthusiasm.
We all boarded the Epoch, and took off. A few seconds after we took off, I saw a bright light where the palace should be. In a split second, the Epoch was engulfed in a misty gray light. The Epoch started shaking violently, then was thrust upward. Lucca, Marle, and I were forced to the floor. Our ship started spinning, and so did my head. I heard the ship start whining, and alarms blaring. My eyes started to shut, and I heard someone scream "CRONO!" before I lapsed into unconsciousness.
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