The Fourth Relevant Truth

by Moonraker One

A/N: Chapter three wasn't long enough, so instead of making a true “chapter four” I'm making a chapter “three and a half.”

CHAPTER THREE AND A HALF - The Devil's Throat (continued)

Crono shook his head; had the aging time Guru actually said what he thought the man had said? He'd read of time gates being open throughout the world's history, but never before had he had a chance to see one. Many questions flooded his mind as he stood opposite his fellow servants of magic and science. One of the main ones was in regards to the energy patterns that had to be unique to a time gate. Gaspar, however, predicted that this would be one of the first reactions his fellow Guru would have to learning of the existence of a time gate within Zeal’s current time, and as such he had data beforehand that he had gathered. He wasn't as good at reading auras or energy fluctuation patterns quite as well as the young man, but he had his skill in the field of magic; he wasn't a complete waste of time.

“Guru Gaspar,” Crono stammered, once he actually got his breath together and his mind had at least a vague idea of what he should say, “tell me, where did you find...a time gate of all things...! I mean, the particular information about it would be excellent to get! I have to do some research on this at once!”

Gaspar chuckled a bit. “Don't worry, Guru Crono,” he advised, presenting the folder to his younger Guru. “I'm not that rusty on reading magical energy.” Crono snatched the folder from the aging time Guru's hand like a child getting his first Christmas present. Flipping open the folder revealed information he'd never imagined. Not only was the fluctuation readings unlike just about anything ever seen, the particular way that the wave pattern of magical energy went up and down predictably according to the presence of people proved correct Gaspar's long-standing Conservation of Time Theorem that he'd been developing for a long time. It stated that if a person was to step into a time warp with three or more people alongside him, they all would be sent to the time-space coordinates that provided the least life ki-to-magic energy resistance: the end of time. The reason was so simple to see now that Crono had the information in his hand; with four or more, the amount of life ki emanating from the group overwhelmed the capacity of that particular warp and forced them all into a side warp heading to the end of time. One of the reasons Gaspar was so eager about this discovery was because it validated his theorem.

Crono stared at the paper with wide-eyed ecstasy; it was almost too much for the young man to take in. Later on, after he was done with his class, he'd have to activate the warp and see where it went. First, however, as he stood in the presence of his fellow Gurus, he realized that he had to first teach his scheduled class on the details of reading aura and sensing magical energy. He looked at his watch to determine the exact time and very nearly fell backwards in shock; he would be late if he did not leave immediately. “Sorry, guys, but I have to go!” he shouted, dashing out the door as fast as possible.

*

In a building just at the bottom of the hill atop which the Zeal Palace stood, a classroom full of Earthbound and Enlightened students sweated due to the fact that they'd been told to wear heavy coats for a Earth-side trek. A whole two minutes had passed beyond the start time and the teacher had not arrived. Suddenly, though, some of them found their patience to be worthwhile as none of them expected their instructor to be the Guru of Existence; usually, they had an ordinary teacher that would come in to give them magic lessons. They'd never actually received word that it was going to be Crono, they merely got the written instructions via their regular teacher that a different one would be with them on this day.

“M...Master Guru!” one of the students in the front row called out, surprised.

Crono managed a stupid grin and waved at the class. “Sorry I'm late, I just had a discussion with the other Gurus that went longer than I hoped,” he explained. “Is everyone ready?” It became immediately apparent that some of them were more skilled than others at magic; he could tell by their unique aura patterns. Still, they all had vast amounts of learning left to do and he had just the right level of talent to properly teach them aura reading. “I can tell just by sensing you that there are some who've already passed the basic test to utilize magic, while others of you have no magical energy inside your aura at all.” He could tell that the truth he'd just stated weighed heavily on the minds of some of the students who couldn't yet use magic; he too, had been discouraged before he began his learning, about age six when he wandered into a cave for three days and came out with the ability to use magic. “Don't worry. Today I guarantee that all of you will at least be capable of reading auras, and by being able to read auras, you will soon take grasp of magic.” On the scale of magical capability, Crono was somewhere in the range of three hundred million katagas-more than enough magical ability to put him as the second most powerful mage in the Zeal kingdom, next to the queen herself. “The other three Gurus will be joining us in the Devil's Throat cave. Let's go!”

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An angry winter sky hovered menacingly over a young child of six frightened out of his wits. He had been lost for two days in the wilderness of ice that was the Earth side. Somehow, over the past third of a day he'd wandered away from the group of his mother and a few of her friends that were gathering furs for clothing. Clutching his fur overshirt, he shivered while moving onward, desperately, insanely praying that some refuge from the never-ending storm of snow and ice would present itself before him. God, please help me, he thought to himself.

Somehow, through the foggy wall of descending snow he saw the image of an opening begin to take shape out of the torrent of white. Th...thank you, God! A cave! he shouted inside his own mind as he tossed aside his sense of cold and dashed towards the cave entrance.

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Guru Crono smiled as he thought of his class; he recalled his years in the academy. The group of students, however, had mixed feelings about the day's scheduled field trip. Some of them were more used to it than others, but inevitably they grumbled and complained about how far away the cave was; far on the other edge of the land mass near the water's edge, it was more than a forty minute trek, and they'd been crossing it for a good deal of time. Once the class did reach it, though, they were largely unimpressed with their surroundings; it was not brightly lit, nor was it even very well revealed from the surrounding rock. Crono surveyed the entrance and his class, and responded, "Well, we're here. It is in a cave near here that I first learned about magic. Now, as we descend the cave, I'm certain that a good portion of you will find yourselves more readily able to use magic; that's due to the level of energy being higher here than other places." He waved them on. "Follow me!"

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Pitch black.

An all consuming darkness swallowed all possible chances of seeing the walls, or even the path for a young Crono, six years old and stranded from his family. In fact, being unable to see his hand an inch from his face had a slight maddening effect. To further his suffering, he had no idea how much time he'd wandered; all he knew was what he could feel. His legs, like lead weights refused to move without a huge amount of effort, and his arms hung down as he could no longer hold them up. It had been what seemed like an eternity since he last ate or drank and he could not press on. He took one final step forward; one final act of defiance against the immovable object that was death. Then he fell forward, landing flat on his face with his hands above his head.

"Crono."

The boy, near death, opened his eyes only slightly, as it was all he could muster. A light entered his field of vision, and lifted him to his feet with one swift motion. Finding newfound vigor in his limbs, he looked at himself a moment, ensuring that there was no major difference between what he had been a few moments prior, and when he found nothing different, he pressed on. Pulsating lights came from...well, somewhere up ahead. It was the only thing that kept him from giving in to the pain that wanted to force him down on the ground. It took him a few moments to make sure that the light was not a hallucination that he was suffering from, and then he entered the chamber from which the brilliant illumination came from

"You've come here for a reason." The strange voice, that he felt more than heard, came from what had to be the single brightest light he'd ever seen, emitting from a crystal in the center of the room. The room was vastly unimpressive, and looked no different from the cave's entrance with the sole exception of the crystal in the center.

Crono shook his head. "W...who are you?!" he asked, largely confused. He had absolutely no idea what was going on.

"Too much suffering you and your family have suffered," the crystal stated. "Do you deny this?"

Crono rolled his eyes; this...crystal or entity or whatever it was, had a knack for stating the obvious. "Yeah."

If the crystal had a face, it would be smiling, as the young child in its presence could feel a positive mood about it. Crono immediately disregarded anything of the sort; to sense another being's mood required magic, and he had none. The mysterious glowing crystal noticed at once the confusion. "Do not worry, as you soon shall be the one who will make a difference." Not the very instant the voice ended, the crystal's glow intensified what seemed like a thousand times.

What, the... Crono thought, as the light began to die out. Once the light had gone back to normal, he felt a lot of strange twinges that he'd never felt before...it was suddenly as if he could feel every person in Zeal kingdom, even though he was far below the mighty kingdom in the sky. He immediately realized what had happened.

Magic. He suddenly had the ability to use magic! It was a dream come true!  The secret technique, reserved only for those of Enlightened descent and position! Magic! He could only previously imagine what he could do for his family if he had magical capability, but now, it was his! An afterthought struck him. "You soon shall be the one who will make a difference;" what had the crystal meant? He shook off his confusion and began the long journey back to the entrance, except this time he had fire spells to keep his pathway lit.