Chrono Trigger: Dare Chapter 8
Darkness
By Crono_12
Cid and I found places on the ground to sit until Lucca woke up. I asked him about what happened to Tsern. He said he didn’t know. The legends stopped at that point. The conversation continued until he asked about Lucca and me.
"Are you and Lucca…I mean, how close are you two?"
I grinned. My previous guess was true.
"Her family and mine were close friends. I love her like a sister. Actually, the girl your friends kidnapped was my fiancée."
"Yes, I remember Lucca saying something to that effect." He nodded for emphasis. I pressed the conversation on.
"So…do you have anyone special in your life?" I asked dryly.
"No, I haven’t found anyone yet. Most seem to think I’m…strange. Besides, I didn’t have much of an opportunity. I was raised in an all male family," he said. Suddenly, he yawned loudly.
"Oh, excuse me. I must be more exhausted then I thought. Let’s get some sleep. Lack of sleep could lead to fatal mistakes later on. Besides, I doubt Lucca will wake up any time soon."
I heard him shift around and decided he was right. I leaned back against the wall and closed my eyes. What seemed like an instant later, I woke to the sound of Lucca groaning.
"Feeling better kid?" I asked jokingly.
"Who’re you calling ‘kid’? I’m older than you by three years!" She fired back. By now, Cid had woken as well.
"She’s back to normal again," I told Cid. He smiled a wiry smile.
Even though I could only see a silhouette of Lucca and Cid, and even though I knew they could only see just as much, I could tell they were looking at each other. I let them have their moment before saying that we should get going.
"Cid, lead the way please."
I saw Cid’s silhouette stand up, and I, without even seeing her, knew Lucca stood and stood close to him. They started walking as if I wasn’t there, and strangely, I didn’t mind. It didn’t bother me, being last. I kept myself buisy, occasionally firing a lightning bolt or two a few feet ahead of us so that any unsuspecting enemies would be fried. The bolts lit up the tunnel, but only for less than second. Time seemed to have no meaning down there. I couldn’t tell how long it was ever since we came inside. I could barely remember what time of day it was last. These worries took a back place in my mind however as I tried to avoid the pitfalls of our predicament. The deeper we went into the tunnel, the more enemies attacked us. I came to the point where we would take a step forwards, then wait for a wave of unseen horrors to come at us. After what seemed like hours in a stuffy tunnel, we saw a small, flickering light at the far end.
"Finally! The start of the underground hideout!" Cid whispered, relieved. No one had said anything until that point. But, as we came in closer, the area seemed deserted. Not even a footprint was on the ground.
"This isn’t right. There should be at least three of the best guards here. I wonder what emergency could have drawn them off."
I ignored him for now, and bathed myself in the light the candles and torches presented me. Light was a staple of mine. I had always enjoyed sunbathing back home, getting just as much enjoyment from the light as from the warmth, so this light after a long darkness was welcoming. But something was missing. I could feel the comfort the light gave me, but not its warmth. A cold light. I opened my eyes, and glanced around nervously.
"Something is wrong. I don’t like this," I said uneasily.
"I don’t like this either. Where could the guards have gone?" Cid agreed.
The answer presented itself to us. In a strong gust of wind, all but the brightest torch went out. The single torch was dimmed substantially, but just enough for us to see. We bunched up together, our backs touching each other’s. I was facing the way we came, so I saw it first. Or rather, I didn’t see it first. Darkness out of Darkness it came, a hunter stalking its prey. An area of darkness diverged from the main one in the tunnel and headed right for us. Quickly, I slashed with my sword, and it retreated. Lucca followed up with several shots into the darkness, but they hit nothing. It came for Cid next, reaching out with a cold arm to douse him in darkness. He struck out with his Prism Sword, cutting off a piece. It fell to the ground and then dissipated. A voice out of the void called out.
"Infidels. Do you think you can best me? I am everywhere and nowhere. I belong to the Dark, and can live with the Light. Do not try to defeat me, for I shall assimilate you into me." It warned, the voice seemed to come from everywhere.
"Let’s just see where you are, fiend," Lucca said quietly. She motioned with her hands, and spoke some arcane incantation. I knew what she was doing. She was casting her ultimate magic, Nuke. The air itself caught fire, and it spread to every area of the world surrounding us. The wall sizzled, and the floor was charred, but we were unscathed, since we were allies. And somewhere, the thing burned and hissed in pain.
"Ahhh! How dare you! Let’s see how you like this!" The thing said, then it started to chant something over and over again. After the fifth time, it stopped and then shouted another unintelligible phrase. At once, Lucca and I were propelled to the walls, and pinned there by some unknown force. My arms and legs were also pinned. I could barely see Lucca, and she appeared to be in the same state I was in. I tried to cast TriLuminescence, my strongest magic, in hopes that it could light the darkness, but to no avail; I didn’t have enough mana. I looked towards Cid, and found him clutching his head, as if he was hearing a continuos noise. I struggled against my invisible bonds, but I still couldn’t break free.
"Lucca! Try to use your control magic! Any one, doesn’t matter!" I shouted.
Lucca understood, and closed her eyes. Seconds later, I a saw a clock emerge from midair. It swung back and forth, ticking and tocking normally. After a few swings, the swinging and ticking started to slow down, until they both stopped completely. Lucca kept her eyes closed and continued the spell, creating a third eye on her forehead. A beam of red light emanated from the eye, and engulfed the entire tunnel. I fell off the wall, and Cid stood up.
"Quickly, Cid, before she looses her concentration, use your strongest attack," I told him.
He nodded and sheathed his sword, mumbling a few strange phrases. Suddenly, three strands of energy materialized from Cid’s chest, searching for an enemy and finding it in the shadows. A blue aura appeared around Cid, which expanded to fill the entire room, exposing and encompassing the assailant. From several areas of the sphere of energy, bolts of lightning shot out and stabbed continuously at the apparition. It writhed in pain as electricity and light beat it down. Then, for the final strike, the sphere started to shrink around the monster. As the wraith shrank and shrank and finally disappeared, I felt the warmth of the candles come back into the room.
Lucca opened her eyes and then let out a sigh of relief.
"You did it! Great," Lucca told us both.
"Thanks," Cid and I said at the same time. We grinned sheepishly at each other.
"Hey Lucca, I’ve never seen that control magic before. When did you learn it?"
"There wasn’t a set time. I developed it about two years ago. It’s a mix of two that I had from the beginning, you know, the floating clock, and the third eye"
"This place is still a little freaky. Let’s get out of here."
Lucca and I agreed, and soon we were marching down the now brightly lit tunnel to Cid’s hideout.
"Things are finally looking up," I whispered to myself. I didn’t know how wrong I was.
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