The Fourth Relevant Truth

By Moonraker One

A/N: Sorry for another short chapter.

CHAPTER FIVE – A Confrontation

Crono stormed down the halls of the palace. Never before had he any reason to suspect that Dalton had any sort of ulterior motive, but he knew that the bodyguard had excelled in one field of magic: the time-delayed activation spell. He had personally overseen the instruction of the bodyguard in spells that would defend the queen as needed and he noticed that in ordinary magic, he was merely an average magician. When it came, however, to delaying a spell to activate at a certain time or by a certain event, though, he could pull that off in his sleep. Therefore, if there was anyone who could know something about the queen’s strange reaction to Lavos’s energy, it would likely be him.

“Master Guru!” the girl outside the bodyguard’s office said. “Are you here to see Mr. Dalton?”

Crono nodded. “I have urgent business with him,” he told her. “Could you please tell him I’m on my way in?” She tapped her intercom button and informed the large presence, and he opened the door.

“Master Guru,” he introduced, bowing. “You have business with me?”

Treading carefully, conversation-wise, Crono gathered his words before speaking. He cleared his throat. “A few days ago, at the ill-fated activation of the Mammon Machine,” he began, “you recall the queen’s negative reaction to the energy emissions, correct?”

“Oh, yes, that was a big fiasco,” Dalton recalled. “I am in your debt for hastily acting, because it was your actions alone that saved our highness.”

“That is what I came here to discuss, Dalton. I sensed that the queen’s energy pathways were the main reason that she did not lose her soul, and I sensed after healing them that they had been tampered with.”

Dalton showed nothing short of negative surprise. “You’re kidding!” He looked down, thinking a minute of potential culprits. “W…Who would do such a thing?”

Crono shook his head. “That’s what I’m here to ask. I would appreciate it if you could assemble a list for me of the people who seem to be utmost skilled in time-delay activation spells.”

Without hesitation the bodyguard nodded. “It shall be in your possession in exactly two days. Is that acceptable?” He awaited an answer with careful eyes; he did not trust the guru, and suspected that it had been he who tampered with the queen so as to get closer to her.

The guru nodded. “Of course. Thank you.” He shook the bodyguard’s hand and left the room. Greeting the secretary, he walked off. Dalton shut his door, worried that he was a suspect in his young superior’s mind. Darn Gurus, he thought. They’re nothing but old news and outdated science.

Crono was glad he had not given in to his initial anger and shouted at the bodyguard; he had noticed several things. I suppose he’s not lying when he implies he’s not the culprit, the Guru noted. And if he IS manipulating his memories to prevent me from reading them, he’s doing it with magic more advanced than I’ve seen him capable of. Dalton’s shocked reaction did not surprise Crono, it merely told him that either one of two things had been true: either the bodyguard had been responsible and hid it well, or he genuinely did not have anything to do with it. But if it wasn’t Dalton, it meant someone else had been responsible, and the prospect of such meant he’d have to be looking over his shoulder.

Shaking his head, he realized that he had little time to think of such things. For this day he had a schedule that seemed completely filled. His first item of business was a personal tutoring in magic for Schala in regards to her summoning ability, and second was another personal tutoring of Janus in regards to his ability to control shadow spells. The boy had exceptional talent in spells, but the determination and energy lacked. He would have to practice if he aspired to be a sorcerer of any power.

After he finished with his personal tutorings he planned to take a visit to the Crystalry, a new building constructed by order of the queen for the purpose of analyzing crystals from the Earth which gave off exceptional or bizarre energies. Such a science posed a great deal of promise, and he hoped to find a few which could provide for him some of the things he wanted to figure out. One of his biggest hopes was to build an amulet that cut magical energy use by more than seventy-five percent. So far, that is the highest that had been achieved, and the materials required were rare. He hoped to make it more available.

The first stop on his daily schedule was Schala’s room, which he made it to with little resistance. Eagerly he knocked on her door, and awaited an answer. Through the door he heard, “Just a minute!” He assumed that she either had not been dressed, or had some other business to take care of. Such was irrelevant as he heard her footsteps approaching the door, and then it swung open. She greeted him with a smile. “Master Guru!” she recognized, bowing to him. “I thank you for taking time out of your list of tasks to help me improve my summoning ability.”

Crono shook his head. “It is no burden at all,” he reassured her. “I’d be glad to.” He waited to be granted permission to enter and then slipped off his sword holsters and placed them on her desk. To keep out intruding bothers, he shut the door. “First, before we begin anything, you must clear your mind of all thoughts. If you are upset or worrying about something, your ability to summon will fail.” She took up a folded leg position on the floor and began to focus on removing the concerns of the day from her mind. “Now,” he instructed, focusing magical energy onto the palm of his hand, “you must imagine in your mind the creature you wish to summon.” She did as told. “If you cannot come up with a clear image the summon will fail.” He clenched his fist. “The second thing you must do is wait until the magical energy builds in your hand, causing a mild tingling.” With speed he drove his open hand downward towards the floor. “Then you must press your flat palm against the floor and shout, ‘VACHIES!’” Once his palm touched the wood floor, a brilliant flash shone from a singularity point a few inches in front of his hand. It faded a second later, revealing a six-foot tall golden-scaled dragon. She sat in awe at the magnificent beast before her. “The more you focus, the better your summon will be. However, you must continuously feed energy into it for it to remain existent in this dimension.” Releasing his power, the creature dematerialized instantly. “Now, you try it.”

Schala stood up. She closed her eyes just a moment to picture her summoning beast. A golden cluster of magical energy built up on her palm, which she drove towards the floor. “VACHIES!” A light flashed, similar to the one Crono had created, and it vanished, leaving behind the creature she had summoned.

Except it was the size of an anorexic mouse.

“Crud,” she swore. She turned to the guru. “Master Guru, this is the problem I always have! I can’t make it any bigger, regardless of how much energy I pump into it!” He was left dumbfounded as the creature disappeared. Seldom had he seen this problem. She appeared to have focused enough, and used enough energy, so what was it that had created the problem? Perhaps, he thought to himself, she just doesn’t have the spirit for it.

Bam. That was IT.

Oh, my god. SPIRIT!

It amazed him how simple the oversight had been. She simply did not put enough of her spirit into her summoning! “Schala,” he instructed, a gleam of hope in his eyes. “I think your problem is that you’re not placing enough of your spirit into your magic.”

She shook her head, unable to understand. “Spirit? What are you talking about, Master Guru?”

He grinned, not expecting her to know. “I can sense that you’re using most of the magical energy from your magical energy reservoir. Instead, put a little bit of your life energy into it as well. THAT’S what you’re not doing.”

It confused her. “You need a piece of life energy to make a successful summoning?” He nodded. She rolled her eyes. “Good God, is that all?” He nodded again, as she chuckled a bit. “That’s the reason why I haven’t been able to master summoning?”

“Not too much,” he reminded.

She closed her eyes, focusing intently on the image of her summoning beast. Magical energy—and a small piece of life force—pooled in the palm of her hand until the surface of it began to tingle in her grasp. With a single smooth motion she raised her hand above her head and brought it crashing down to the floor, all the while focusing and she shouted, “VACHIES!”  All at once a cloud of smoke popped into view and then dissipated. In front of her stood a great beast with large leathery wings. Crono gave a nod of approval and a smile; she had a summoning creature worthy of a princess and heir to the throne of the Zeal Kingdom. While not quite possessing the degree of power as his had, it would pose quite the threat in combat against a foe.

He shook her hand. “See? I told you that you could do it. Now, just practice and I’m certain that you’ll master it in a very short period of time.” He reattached his swords to his hip. “Now I must go.”

A short trod of a distance was it from Schala’s room to Janus’s. The young son of Zeal stood quite respective of the guru in his presence. Crono once more removed his swords, placing them on the bed of the young prince. He sat in a chair across from his pupil. “Master Guru,” Janus uttered, a characteristic lack of enthusiasm in his voice, “I can’t seem to be doing very well in the field of shadow spells.”

“That’s precisely what I’m here to address,” Crono reassured. “I know more about lightning spells than I do shadow, but believe me, if there’s anyone who can provide you with shadow spell assistance, it’s me.”