The Fourth Relevant Truth

By Moonraker One

CHAPTER TWO - Pride of the Zeal Kingdom

                The morning came with a sense of pride as Crono awoke with a startle from his alarm clock’s incessant beeping. Climbing (almost falling, actually) out of bed, he shook the sleep from his face and stumbled towards the bathroom of his new living quarters. Each guru had the distinct honor of being awarded their very own dome-like house on the main floating island of Zeal Kingdom, so he and his mother were going to get used to it. Once he could see clearly enough, he stepped into the shower (the concept of bathing while standing up was new for someone like him), and twisted the knob. At first, the temperature of the water almost burned him, but he managed to get it right the second time. With his cloth he washed every important part of himself, and then his spiky hair. Few Enlightened ones understood why he had spiky reddish-orange hair—most Earthbound ones had brown or black hair, sometimes even blonde, and most Enlightened had either blue or a shade of it, and thus it made him feel special to wash it. He finished after that and stepped out of the shower after turning it off. Finally, he dried off and went into his living room to gather his notes for the day.

                He had a lecture to give, on the history of magic as best he knew it, and it had taken him a whole afternoon to plan out and write his notes. This would be his first day giving a lecture as the new Guru of Existence of Zeal Kingdom. While he had his head cocked to the right to read his notes, he began to get dressed, starting with the basics. Over his underwear he slipped on a pine green coverall, which definitely lived up to its name. His outfit was not one that most Enlightened ones wore, but then again, he wasn’t like most of them; he was special, and as a Guru, he could wear what he pleased. His new outfit he’d designed and drawn himself, and the queen’s best tailor made the outfit. It was a drastic improvement over his animal hide outfits his mom had made him while she lived down Earth-side. Next, he pulled over the coverall a pair of off-white breeches, that seemed slightly baggy but did their job. He rolled up the pants’ legs up at the bottom in case he had to go down Earth-side. The final aspects of his wardrobe were a light blue tunic, a belt that pulled the tunic in close to his waistline, a yellow scarf around his neck, and finally, a white bandana. To his right hip he attached his sheath with wooden bokuto in it, and gathered his notes to go.

                He opened the door just before a friend of his would have rung his doorbell. “Kafta!” Crono cheerfully said. “What’re you doing here?” Kafta playfully tapped him on the shoulder with his fist.

                “I’m just here to see how you’re doing, ‘Guru Crono,’” he joked. Smiling he noticed the bundle of papers in his friend’s grip. “What’s that for?”

                “One of the first things I gotta do,” he explained to Kafta, “is that, as Guru, I have to explain my theory about the origins of magic. If you wanna spar later on, I think I‘ve got some free time after three.”

                Kafta chuckled. “You think you have free time?” Crono mutually laughed at the concept of being busy.

                “Look, Kafta, I gotta go, but let’s catch up later!” Kafta shook his head; his friend was indeed something else.

                It was a short, six minute walk up the hill and through a few teleport caves until Crono made it to the auditorium part of Zeal Palace, where several of Dalton’s men were waiting to show him to the stage. Inside, he gathered his papers and looked up to the queen, sitting in the VIP box alongside her main bodyguard, the imposing Dalton himself. Crono didn’t trust the man, but never fully could understand why. Dalton was a big man up close—six foot five from feet to top of head—but it wasn’t merely his physical presence that seemed mistrustful, it was the way he could never fully read what he thought the man was thinking, as he could with some other people. He brushed such thoughts aside as he took the main stage and aligned his papers on the podium. All the crowd stared at him, eager to find out what their new guru had to say, and they all had their own ways by which they were going to judge his performance here. It didn’t affect Crono like he thought it would; stage fright was something he’d never experienced. He cleared his throat with a light cough and looked into the audience.

                “Ahem,” he began. “Well, hello, you may know me as Crono Tekoris, your Guru of Existence.” He glanced down at his notes, but only for an instant. “Many of you have read my first and second published theses on the origin of magic, and here I am to give you my third revision of the theory of magic’s origin. What aspect of its beginnings shall I start with?” He looked to an official sitting in the front.

                “Master Guru,” the man regarded Crono, “we would like you to address your theory that magic did not truly ‘begin.’”

                Crono nodded. “Ah,” he continued. “After about four years of doing experiments and studying magical energy, I have come to the conclusion that when someone says magic had its origins with the first Zealites, they are mistaken. Magical energy is an illogical, irrational energy, and thus, it has had no beginnings.” One man interrupted him by raising his hand. “Yes, sir?”

                “Um, pardon the interruption, Master Guru,” he asked, “but what do you mean by ‘illogical’ and irrational?’”

                “Well, illogical refers to the fact that the logical scientific rules of energy do not necessarily apply to magical energy. For example, the Law of Conservation of Energy states that energy can neither be created nor destroyed in a chemical reaction or otherwise. While it is true that Magical energy cannot ever be destroyed, it can create other forms of energy from nothing.” Another man raised his hand at this point.

                “Example, please, Master Guru?” he requested.

                Crono tilted his head left and right, taking only a moment to think of one. “Let’s say that a magical fire spell generates a fire. What took place was a transformation from innate magical energy to magical fire energy. That fire generates heat energy, but that heat energy is not magical energy. Thus, the ordinary heat energy is being generated from nothing as a byproduct of the fire spell.” The first man raised his hand again.

                “Master Guru,” he requested, “what does ‘irrational’ in terms of magical energy, mean?”

                “Irrational merely means that it cannot be detected by electronic equipment. Are there any questions thus far?” Crono looked from left to right in search of a raised hand. “Moving along then, it is only reasonable to assume that magical energy has always existed. When someone says, ‘Zeal was the beginning of Magic,’ they are not wrong, but they aren’t completely right, either. A corrected, complete version of this statement would be, ‘Zeal was the beginning of magic…in human beings.’” He stressed the point to add spoken effect. “You see, it is my theory that past cultures existed without magical ability, merely because their souls and minds were not potent enough to transform innate magical energy into physical forms of energy. Thus, they had no kataga.” He knew someone would raise their hand with a question, and sure enough, someone did.

                “Excuse me, Master Guru,” the man inquired, “what is ‘kataga?’”

                Crono cleared his throat again. “Kataga, named after the first Zealite to be capable of manipulating magic some two thousand years ago, is a measure of how much magical energy you are capable of utilizing at any given moment. Your ‘Maximum Kataga,’ is a value given to the maximum amount of magical energy you can utilize, ever. This value is predetermined at birth, and cannot change during the course of your natural life. You can never exceed the Maximum Kataga value your soul assigned you at birth.”

                “Then how,” the man continued, “do we hear of people going far beyond that point and still living?”

                “Well, they undergo a special type of training called death training.” That statement alone shut up most of the audience that was engaged in small chat with nearby spectators. Most of those paying strict attention to Crono sat confused, almost afraid to ask what it meant to be “death training.” A full twenty seconds of unbearable silence passed before anything happened.

                Finally, a woman in the front row asked, “What is this ‘death training?’” Crono had waited for that question.

                “Death training is a type of training that one undergoes to raise their maximum Kataga.” He’d done this particular type of training on more than one occasion, so he knew more than his fair share about it. Each time he’d do it, it would be a very taxing experience, yet the result was worth the pain. “For this training, one must put themselves into a death-like trance, and summon all the magical power they possess. At first, the result is merely an intense amount of pain. If done correctly, though, the person undergoing the training will raise their maximum Kataga by a significant amount. Any more questions?”

                The crowd remained silent, which came as good news to Crono, who had grown slightly impatient with their constant interrupting of his carefully planned speech with questions. He waited an extra minute to ensure that no one had anything to ask, and then continued with his lecture. “I have, by means of experimentation and data gathering, come to the conclusion that in order for one to have magical power, their mind must be potent enough to transform innate magical energy—which is magical energy’s primary state—into a useful form of energy. If one cannot do this, they cannot utilize magic spells. Are there any further topics that any of you would like me to cover?” He scanned left and right, and even up in the VIP boxes, with no one raising their hand at first. Then, on his second glance around, he saw Queen Zeal herself shyly raise her hand, as though she were causing blasphemy by interrupting his speech. He found her shyness confusing, for she was the queen, and normally she was not one to hesitate to show her emotions.

                “I would like for you to cover the various types of magical energy,” she requested, “and if you could, the cause of immortality.” He smiled; leave it to her to give him a topic that would actually require him to think.

                “I shall now, at the request of our queen, cover the various types of magical energy,” he began the second part. “Innate magical energy is the useless type of energy that most magic exists in. It is innate magical energy that permeates every corner of the universe, and is within every being regardless of their ability to utilize it. It is the form that all used-up magical energy inevitably reverts to, thus keeping the amount of magic potential constant throughout time.” A man raised his hand, and if Crono had not had such patience, he might have lost composure.

                “I’m sorry, Master Guru,” the man apologized, “but didn’t you say that magical energy was irrational, and the amount of energy changed often?”

                The punk-haired guru caught himself almost rolling his eyes; staying calm proved more difficult than he initially thought. “No,” he corrected, “what I said was that magical energy could create other types of non-magical energies from nothing. Believe me when I say it is impossible to create magical energy from nothing.” His answer satisfied many members of the audience who were confused about the subject the man had asked about. “Where was I? Oh yes. Other types of magical energies include the elements of Fire, Water, Shadow, and Lightning. Wind, Earth, and Light magical energies, while possessing some elemental qualities, are NOT elemental magical energies. There is also physical magical energy, which is similar to telekinesis. There is also mental magical energy, which allows for powers such as telepathy, extrasensory perception, and clairvoyance. Finally, there are the two purest forms of magical energy: Creation energy and Destruction energy. Creation energy is the magical energy of forming an object from nothing, while Destruction energy is the magical energy of annihilation of an object into nothing.”

                A woman in the front row asked, without raising her hand, “Isn’t there controlling energy?”

                “Raise your hand to speak,” a guard announced to the audience. “Master Guru does not have to answer questions that are asked without a hand being raised.”

                “There are two types of controlling energy,” the punk-haired guru answered anyway. “There is Mind-controlling energy, which falls under a subcategory of telepathy, which falls under mental energy, and Body-controlling energy, which controls the form but not the mind, which falls under Shadow energy.” The woman smiled, satisfied, and sat back down. “What was the other thing I was asked to discuss?”

                “Immortality, Master Guru,” the guard quietly replied.

                This subject had been relatively knew to Crono, yet he tried his best to answer. “Your life span is a direct result of how high your maximum Kataga value is. The higher your magical energy limit, the longer you live. In order to be eternally young, you have to have a maximum Kataga value of five billion katagas or higher. Also, the higher your chakra—the combined value of Max Kataga and Max Ki—the higher your ability to recover from injury. Thus, to be almost indestructible, your chakra value has to be eight billion or higher. True immortality, which is recovery from any injury regardless of how fatal it is, is not possible. Ever.” He looked at his watch and addressed the audience. “I have time for one final discussion.”

                Queen Zeal, raising her hand, almost didn’t catch his attention. When she did, he stammered a bit to ask for her question. “Guru Crono,” she began. It amazed him how she was the only one allowed to use his first name in public. His own mother had to refer to him as “Master Guru” when they walked the streets of Zeal Kingdom. “Can you give…” she hesitated a moment, which confused him, “…a demonstration of…” it seemed at first as though she would speak of a taboo subject, the way she’d stop mid-statement, “…shape-shifting?” Although he made no gesture to betray this feeling, he thought she was way too shy for a queen when speaking in public.

                He raised his index finger, telling the crowd non-verbally to wait a moment for him to prepare. “Ah, shape-shifting. It is a type of spell that falls under Shadow energy, and despite its high innate energy requirements, is possibly the simplest of all shadow spells.” He stepped out from behind the podium, and closed his eyes to concentrate. Due to his level of skill, it only took him a brief instant to go over the spell in his mind. With his eyes closed, he felt a mild gust of wind whoosh through the auditorium, and when it passed, he heard the entire crowd gasp in amazement. None of them saw before what had just taken place; the bodies, from the neck down, of Queen Zeal and Crono, switched places. The punk-haired guru had the queen’s body and clothes from the area of his neck on below, and she had his. Lifting his newly-acquired arms to a welcoming position, outstretched, he regarded he audience. “As you can see, simple.” With a nod of his head, the effects of his spell reversed and gave him back his own body without difficulty. Everyone began clapping and cheering. “Thank you,” he said, smiling as he left the stage, “good afternoon.”

                He smiled as his mother greeted him outside the auditorium, embracing him in a warm hug. “Oh, Crono,” she began. Immediately she corrected herself. “I mean…Master Guru…”

                “Mom, please,” he countered. “You’re my own mother, for crying out loud!” They both chuckled a bit.

                “It’s just that this is such an unexpected turn! You were always bright as a kid, but I never expected you to be made into one of the legendary four Gurus that look over this kingdom!” She shed a soft tear as she overlooked his wardrobe, in all its vibrant colors and how it contrasted to the bland brown of the animal fur they’d been forced to wear their entire lives. She knew that it was him and him alone that allowed her to live a life she’d never otherwise be granted. “I’m gonna go home and get back to enjoying the rest of my time off from working at the magic tab assembly line.”

                “I’ve got a meeting with the other three Gurus today,” he informed her. “I’ll see you later on for dinner.” As he began to walk away, he quickly turned around and finalized it with, “I love you, mom.” She watched him amble down the hill and through the series of warp caves to the building where he would discuss the latest matters with the Gurus of Life, Time and Reason. She recalled the day he was born, and how she held him tightly in her arms, wondering what the future would bring.

                “I love you too, son,” she whispered.

**           **           **

                Gaspar alternated between glances at his watch and the door. “Where’s that kid?” he asked, mostly for himself. Melchior couldn’t help but chuckle. “What’s funny? My time’s being wasted here!”

                The Guru of Life shook his head as he laughed a bit. “You’re so darn impatient, Gaspar,” he reminded. “I mean, for crying out loud, you’re the Guru of Time. They call you that because you‘re supposed to be the expert on it. Can‘t you be a little more patient?” Belthasar, the Guru of Reason, had a concurring viewpoint.

                “I agree with Melchior, Gaspar,” he flatly stated. “You’re the time expert; didn’t you say it would be best to get here fifteen minutes early?”

                “YOU two aren’t the ones that have to work on the Chrono Trigger—a project that requires the Guru of Existence’s magical knowledge—mind you,” he informed them. “This kid’s wasting my time.” It was at that precise moment that the door swung widely open. The three gurus examined Crono, eyeing everything from his wardrobe to his reddish-orange spiky hair. They each had their own unique feelings about the boy, based solely on their perception of how he looked, but Gaspar already had a slightly negative first impression due to his impatience.

                “Sorry I’m late, everyone!” he announced, sitting at his end of the table. Belthasar broke the ice by extending his hand in friendship. Melchior sensed a positive aura in the kid, and thus he felt slightly at ease. “Allow me to introduce myself; I’m Crono Tekoris, as you know the Guru of Existence. We have an hour or so to discuss the matters we each are involved in, so to save time, I‘ve been briefed by Dalton on each of you. Let‘s get straight to business.” Gaspar’s mood changed when he heard of the kid’s conservative use of his time.

                “The Lavos discovery,” Belthasar quickly stated. It had been one of the most heated discoveries of the past hundred years, and as such, there were two sides to the issue. “I have conducted some research on it and I believe it would be conducive to the power of Zeal Kingdom if we act immediately and build a machine capable of transmitting the power emissions of Lavos to every corner of the kingdom.” Melchior attempted to hush him by making halting motions with his hands.

                “Whoa there a minute, Belthasar!” he replied. “Are you suggesting we go off half-cocked? I say we do more research before we jump to conclusions!”

                “But have you done any research, Melchior?”

                Melchior rapped his fist on the table. “No, and that’s a further point! You should let us all research it and then make our final decision.”

                “I’m sorry to interrupt, fellows,” Gaspar entered, “but the Queen’s asked us to come to the final decision on this matter by five o’clock, three days from now.”

                “Dammit!” Belthasar said, a little louder than he wanted to. “We’ll never make the decision in time!”

                “Excuse me,” Crono announced, attempting to get the attention of the other three. All he heard was the arguing of the other gurus, and thus they did not hear a word he’d said. When he realized this, Crono screeched, “EXCUSE ME!” At once all of them halted and glanced at the source of the breakup of their argument.

                “What is it, Crono?” Gaspar asked. With a smile on his face, the punk-haired guru threw down a bundle of four pieces of paper that was stapled together. The time guru picked it up and read it over very quickly. He pulled it closer to his eyes, disbelieving of what he actually had just read. “You can’t be serious with these results, Crono! You’re saying that Lavos has the ability to create time gates?” Gaspar’s statement caught Belthasar’s attention, who swiped the paper out of the time guru’s grip. He too, seemed startled.

                “You’re telling me that Lavos is a living creature and not merely a meteor with a storage of energy within?!” Belthasar’s surprising outburst caused Melchior to read over his fellow guru’s shoulder, and he seemed the most surprised.

                “How did you get close enough to Lavos to measure his power readings and aura?!” Melchior couldn’t help but question. Crono, as was typical of his style, had the answer before the question was asked.

                “The one who discovered the energy emanations of Lavos did so by doing a bit of spelunking in the deepest cave above the water’s surface down Earth-side,” Crono explained. He shrugged his shoulders as though his studying of the mighty Lavos was a trivial matter. “I merely did the same thing, only I have much more talent with reading aura and energy emissions than the man who discovered Lavos some fifty years prior.” The punk haired guru predicted his fellow Guru’s next question before it even had to be asked. “You’re wondering exactly what I think we should do about the ‘tapping into Lavos’s power’ issue. My idea is that we attempt to study the psyche of this ‘Lavos’ creature, and attempt to communicate to it that we mean it no harm, before we attempt to start sucking in its power for our own use.”

                Belthasar shook his head. “Our previous source of power was a sun stone,” he explained. “It was supposed to have been capable of storing a near infinite amount of the sun’s energy within it, yet we used it up in less than a hundred and seventy years. What are we supposed to use for power? This tired, old planet’s only gonna put out so much more power. We have to make use of whatever we have!”

                Melchior did not completely agree, but he at least saw where his fellow guru was coming from. “Belthasar, we can’t just go sucking power out of a living being. I agree with you that the Earth has only so much more power left, but where’re we gonna get the power to save Zeal Kingdom if this Lavos creature attacks us for using its resources?”

                “But,” Gaspar interrupted, “we can‘t be sure that this Lavos is really capable of that degree of thought!”

                “Guys, you’re missing the point,” Crono interrupted. “You guys haven’t been as far deep into the Earth as I’ve been. I’ve studied the Earth’s energy stores from deep within. Don’t worry about this planet; we’ve got more than enough energy left in the Earth to last us another fifty-thousand years. Surely in that much time someone far wiser than any of us will be born and have the ability to answer that question better than we.”

                Belthasar looked at Crono grimly as though such were too terrible an option to take. “We just can’t take the easy way out and let our descendants have to put up with our inability to solve the power issue. I’m casting my vote for using Lavos as an energy source. Who’s with me?” Melchior looked at him like he was nuts.

                “Belthasar,” the Guru of Life argued, “don’t you realize the risk that we’re taking?! Based on Crono’s data, this creature has more than enough power to destroy our entire kingdom in an instant! I’m voting against you.”

                “You two are both nuts,” Gaspar said of Crono and Melchior. “How is Lavos going to have enough power to annihilate our kingdom based on our high energy requirements?! I’m voting for using Lavos as an energy source.” Melchior turned to the young Guru of Existence. Crono almost felt sad, for he almost knew word for word what would be said next.

                “Crono,” Melchior shook his head and admitted, “I’m sorry. I just can’t get us all four tied up in this decision. I’m voting to use Lavos as an energy source.” The Guru of Reason lifted to his side of the table the paper which had a list of all the issues they had to discuss, and stamped “accepted” on top of the item, “Use Lavos as power source.” They one by one decided for or against the remaining issues within their allotted hour’s time, except Crono felt defeated that his side of the primary issue had been completely disregarded. He felt, more than anything else, that by tapping into the power owned by a living being, they were making a grave mistake.