A New Threat Part 9
The Five Stones (2)
By Dark Magus
***100 BC
Crono stared up at the stone wall in front of him. It looked different than in 600 AD. It was larger and had less erosion. Crono knew what to do. He jumped, boosting the jump with magic. He brought the star sword down and stuck it in the ground for balance. He concentrated the power of the rainbow. He brought it down on the cliff. With a bright flash, he sliced through the wall. Crono walked into the cave…
*****
Calsa bravely walked up to the door of the mayor’s house. She knew she was up for a fight. She slipped on her claws and knocked on the door. It opened for her. She walked inside. It looked like a normal house, aside from the pictures of hideous beasts on the wall. The place frightened her. She walked past the door frame and was stopped by an imp.
"Human intruder. She is armed. I need help!" the imp shouted out. The room flooded with mystics. Calsa ran. She ran out of the house only to be stopped by another group of cold-hearted mystics. Calsa was surrounded…
*****
Crono drew his sword. He knew that this cave was creeping with animals. He heard a noise and turned. He saw nothing. He crept along in the cave. He rounded a corner. He stared straight into the face of a large scaly animal about twice his size. Crono jumped back and took a defensive position. The scaly creature followed. Behind him, more creatures emerged into sight. They were not as large as the other one. It seemed to be the leader. Crono put his sword back in its sheath. He raised his hands and hovered above the ground. Many lightning bolts formed from the sealing and shot down. The last lightning bolt struck. As the creatures let down their defense, a large bolt came out of Crono’s chest and hit every one of the beasts. The smaller ones died and the larger ones were hurt, all except for the largest one, who seemed to gain power. Crono drew his sword this time. He enhanced his speed with magic and took a whirl around the room. It hit all of the monsters three times. The large ones fell back and ran away. The leader however, made a run towards Crono. It jumped on Crono, sending him to the ground. It stared him directly in the eye as if saying, this is your last minute. Crono got a surge of adrenaline and threw the creature off of him and into the wall. As the creature was getting up, Crono took a clean sweep through the monster’s neck, killing it. He advanced through the cave…
*****
Magus and Schala looked at the Epoch. Where could Crono be? More importantly, where could Calsa be? They waited at the Epoch for what seemed like an eternity. Finally Magus took action. "Let’s look for them Schala."
"What?" Schala asked in a surprised tone.
"Let’s look for them. Let’s use the Epoch to search the area for them. If we can’t find them we’ll come back here."
Schala agreed and boarded the Epoch with Magus. The craft took off to the sky.
*****
Crono neared the mouth of the cave. He withdrew his sword and began to step into the sunlight. He was stopped short by a beast. He jumped backwards and prepared to fight again. The beast that confronted him happened to be one of the animals that ran away. The rest of the cowards followed him. They were coming out of a small opening that Crono had never noticed in 600 AD. Maybe it wasn’t there in 600 AD.
Crono took a step forward and took a slice at the first beast. It fell to the ground dead. The other beasts came forward. One of them slashed at Crono and left a rip in his sleeve. It didn’t hit his skin. Crono had had enough. He called forth a lightning bolt. The bolt struck him. Crono began to glow, and a few seconds later, he shot lightning out in all directions. He left permanent scars in the walls and closed the opening in the wall. His attack sent the animals flying and ended up killing them all. Crono walked out of the cave and found himself in the middle of a thick forest.
*****
"There! There!" Schala screamed. She was pointing her hand at something.
Magus obediently landed the craft. The two of them got out to examine. Schala rushed over to what she had been pointing at. It was a homeless person, not Crono. Being the saint she was, she fished 500G out of her pocket and handed it to the man. The man was overjoyed and shouted his gratitude. The two took to the sky again. They began hovering over the mystic’s continent. What they saw was exactly what they didn’t want to see…
*****
Crono walked through the forest with sword in hand. He heard rustling all over but saw nothing. He didn’t know where to go to find the darkstone, but he decided to head in the direction of the future spot of Magus’s castle. He heard a rustle and turned in its direction. He found no beast, but what he saw was far greater. He saw a spot in the forest without brush or other weeds, but with a nice canopy of leaves from the trees. What really fascinated him was what was in the middle of the clearing. He saw a stone that had a black glow around it. It was large, about 15 meters across and 5 meters tall. The sight of a stone that glowed black made Crono a bit uneasy, but he approached it.
*****
Magus and Schala looked down with horror on the battered body of Calsa. She had been in a big fight and had lost. She was injured and dying.
"We have to get her back to the castle!" Schala said frantically. "There are healers there that can help her. Let’s go!"
Magus picked up Calsa’s battered body and carried her to the Epoch. Schala followed. The ship took off and headed for the castle. When the two of them reached the castle they quickly landed. Magus rushed out of the craft and carried a limp body into the castle. Schala gave him directions and they made their way to the basement. They put her on a cot and called over a doctor. The doctor rushed over at the queen’s command.
"She needs your help, fast!" Schala exclaimed.
The doctor ran his hands over Calsa. Every wound he touched closed and healed. Calsa would be fine.
Calsa blinked awake, only to find herself staring up in the face of her mother. "Mother, I can explain!" Calsa sat up and fell back down in pain.
"OW! What happened?!" She frantically asked.
"Hush." Schala said, "You were attacked by those mystics. What were you doing there?"
"Gaspar said… go find the illumina stone. I had to. No other way to destroy Lavam." Calsa weakly said.
Schala understood, "You need your rest child. Please sleep."
Schala and Magus walked out of the room. "Let me help," said Schala. "I know which rock she is talking about. I can help."
"But Schala…" Magus argued.
"Don’t you worry about me! Sorry. It’s just that… I have to avenge my daughter. If it was Lavam that got her into this, I will destroy Lavam."
Magus had never seen his sister so angry before. "OK. You can come. Let’s go…"
*****
Crono drew the rainbow. He approached the rock. Focusing on the blade’s energy, he sliced at the rock. Crono took out a chunk about the size of a boulder. The rock was light. He made his way back through the forest. He heard a rustle and looked just in time to see a monster jump out of the bushes. Crono didn’t know what happened, but he sent a jolt of energy through the rock. The monster in front of him turned black and shriveled up. It must have been the stone. Crono ran back where he had come from and entered the cave. He ran through it without encountering any monsters. He stepped out of the sunlight and ran to the spot where he had left the Epoch, by the water’s edge. He saw no time machine, but he did see a small boat that hadn’t been there before.
*****
Magus and Schala stepped up to the spot where they had found Calsa. They saw the house right in front of them.
"That’s the mayor’s house." She explained, "I hear he has some special stone that apparently has some magical power."
Magus stepped up to the door and knocked. The door opened and he found himself staring at an imp.
"More humans. I need help!"
"What the…" Magus said, he hadn’t seen a mirror in a while. He reached up
to his ears and felt them. Round. He had reverted from mystic back to human. He drew his scythe and backed out of the house. Many mystics followed. Magus called forth dark matter. It was forming above the mystics when it stopped.
"No Janus, don’t hurt them." It was Schala. "Or else we will have civil war!"
Schala concentrated. Magus watched as she froze the mystics in a solid block of ice. "That should give us enough time to get the rock and get out."
Schala rushed into the cabin with Magus following. She darted into the main room and looked. There above the mantle was a shiny stone. She grabbed it and headed out of the house. On the way out she called forth a great flame and melted the ice block. The mystics returned to life. Magus and Schala boarded the Epoch. They stuffed the rock into the cargo hold. The ship took off and headed for the southern continent. Crono watched as the ship got larger and larger. Finally the Epoch landed. The ramp came down and Crono walked up. He stuffed his stone into the cargo hold and strapped in. He was surprised to find not Calsa, but Schala.
"Hey… where’s Calsa…"
He was cut off as they traveled through time.
Gaspar watched as three figures came up the ramp. The last two he didn’t recognize.
"Hello, who are you?"
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TO BE CONTINUED
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