The Biggest Sacrifice Part 2
Sadness
By Husker Du
Steel against steel, firewaves, spells, blood. That's how it was with the new war that the Kingdom of Guardia had to deal with, from the imposing forces. Guardian troops had never seen such enemies, wizards with the blade and spell. They wore only black armor, with a strange circle emblem on their chest. They lost many a troop that night, both sides, but the turning point came with the arriving of a true hero, Chrono.
Pushing his way through the Guardia soldiers, he came to rest in front of the General. Chrono was in very tattered clothes, as he had just came from another battle on the wartorn land.
"Excuse me but are you the General?," Chrono asked. The man spun around quicker than Chrono thought a man could with his size. He was covered in black blood, and had a very deep cut alongside of his left arm. He was very tall, about 6 foot 4, and looked like he could take out a giant if needed.
"Haha! So this is Chrono, the people's champion eh? So you decided to finally show up, at the ending of this war, so you could finish off the rest of the troops and take credit? What a hero!," he roared bitterly, but was stopped in mid sentence when a black lance pierced his back, driving the object all the ways through to the front of him.
He stared at Chrono with bulging eyes, eyes that begged for revenge. Helping the General down, Chrono tried to apply some tonic to his wounds, but it was too late, he died before he got the chance.
This war, he thought, has gotten out of hand. How was I supposed to fight 2 wars at once, I was already fighting with the legions of demons down at the newly constructed town of Yaglem. Their, the enemy forces were less, but there was hardly any resistance. He finally arrived when the enemy had the citizens trapped, mercilessly slaughtering hundreds at a time. He was able to win that battle, but at what cost? Now, he has to fight in this battle, which was 5 times bigger, and many more lives have been lost.
Chrono, rising up from the fallen general, his red hair blowing in the blood stained wind, unsheathed his great sword, as it glowed a dark red.
"Now this ends!!", cried out Chrono, as he charged directly into the enemy front lines, as the injured Guardia warriors helplessly looked on.
"Look at that madman," said one with a broken leg. "He trying to win this battle single handedly? What a fool!"
Another warrior, not as injured as the rest, noticed who the boy was, and cried out, "It's Chrono! Everyone who can still lift a sword, attack!"
About 80 warriors charged behind Chrono, slicing enemy along the way. Meanwhile, Chrono was attacking anything that moved, casting a spell here, and slicing there, until he finally gouged a deep hole in the enemy forces. Now, standing in front of him, was the leader of the enemy, a huge black figure, with a jagged sword that glowed a eerie black flame.
"Who dares to tempt me to use this sword?" the warrior yelled, as he swung the huge blade, cutting down 8 Guardia men in one swoop. "I challenge you!", yelled Chrono with a huge amount of courage.
"HAHAHA! Prepare to die then, hero of Guardia!", cried out the leader, and swung his massive blade at Chrono. He nearly ducked the huge blade and started to chant a spell of lightning. Ducking another swing, he stretched his arm out to the sky, and from the dark clouds that appeared, came 3 lightning bolts that struck the leader's sword, breaking it into shattered pieces.
"NOO!", cried the warrior, as Chrono swung his blade against his skull, killing him instantly. At seeing this, the enemy started to retreat, but was soon beaten by the newly energized Guardia men.
"I told you that was Chrono," said the troop from the sidelines, nudging the broken legged warrior. "Ow! Ok, I believe you now. Wow, he's something all right."
*****
As Chrono attended to some of the wounded men, casting many a healing spell, a small boy, not even at the age of 10 Chrono guessed, appeared from the back lines, bringing a note up to Chrono, then running back towards the castle. "WHAT?!", yelled Chrono, at the sight of this. The note read:
Please come to the castle at once, the King is missing! -The Chanellor
Trying to hold back his anger, Chrono ran as fast as he could through the woods towards the castle.
*****
"WOW!", said Marle, amazed by the demonstration she had just seen. Marle and about 10 other people were gatherd in the basement of Lucca's house, watching in awe at her latest invention. Her basement was covered in papers, tools, and wierd inventions that looked rather comical.
"I call this the 'Gate Key'", she triumphently stated. "All you have to do is press this button, and a time gate will appear anywhere! Of course, I still have to work on what time it will bring you out at....."
"What??" said Marle. "You mean if I went in there, I wouldn't know what time period I'd be going to?"
"Sadly, no. I hope to get this fixed soon though....." said Lucca, as she tried another portal. "Funny," she said, "portals aren't supposed to be blue like this....."
The visitors left at hearing this, some complaining that Lucca never finishes a project, others telling the detractors to stop getting on a hero of the world.
"Well, I think that's amazing, I can't wait to see you get it done." Marle put her arm around Lucca. "But, now I have to go over and see how the castle is holding up with the war, so if you'll excuse me...." Lucca escorted Marle to the door, and with a farewell, she started to walk toward the castle.
Just then, a call was heard throughout the town. "THE KING'S MISSING!!" COME TO THE CASTLE!" "WHAT??" she said aloud. This can't be right! This can't happen! Running as fast as she can, she headed towards Guardia castle, unaware of what was about to happen...
Lucca heard the news also, and ran to her door, staring up at the castle with a tear in her eye. "It can't.....be....."
*****
Chrono finally made it up to the gates of the castle, when he heard a familiar voice. "Chrono!"
"Marle!" he stated, embracing her with all his might. "Did you hear the news?"
"Yes....." panted Marle, out of breath, as Chrono smiled at her. "Getting old?", Chrono joked.
"No time for jokes, the King!" Marle cried, as she pushed her way into the gates of the great castle.
Running through the castle, they ran up to the antechamber of the king. Seeing the confusion in this room was enough to make Marle bend down and sob, and Chrono held her close. He never had seen anything like this in his life. People were everywhere, sobbing, hitting the walls, crying out in confusion. "What has happened to our king??" "Where is he??"
Someone then noticed Marle along with Chrono, and dashed over, as did about the whole crowd.
"Chrono, Marle, where is the king?!?!" yelled the crowd almost in unison.
"That's what we are hear to find out," said Chrono in a heroic voice, which made Marle feel a little better.
*****
"Where is the king!", cried Chrono, along with everyone else, when they reached his royal bedroom. The chancellor was bending over something in the corner, sobbing. Chrono let go of Marle and went to inspect what he was crying about, other than the obvious missing king. The only thing left there was a black wooden cross, with some strange writing on it. Marle, and the rest of the crowd looked on as Chrono questioned the chanellor, but no answers came from his crying lips.
"Come on Marle, we'll see if Lucca can translate this."
*****
"I have no idea what language this is," sighed Lucca, staring at the writing through a huge magnifying glass. "I only know one word on this whole thing," she said, as she placed the cross down with a sigh, "and that's 'Sacrifice'."
"Sacrifice??", cried out Marle with a sob. "They are going to sacrifice him???"
"I have no idea, all I know is that. Sorry. But.........", thought Lucca, "I bet Robo would know what these other symbols meant."
"It's a plan!" said Chrono. "Let's get in the Epoch..........err.........oops. Never mind," he said with a chuckle. "That's been busted for about 2 years now."
"But!" cried Lucca triumphantly, "I've fixed the Gate key! Now it will take us to any time, we want to go to! It's just a bit unstable at the moment.....
"No time to worry about that. Ok," said Chrono, "let's all meet back here in one hour, and we will go see Robo."
"Wonder how he is doing", wondered Lucca, "it's been so long since we last seen him....."
.