[Chrono Trigger Novel - Episode 57] Two Fires, One Opening
Masa was waiting at the foot of the stairs.
Crono stopped a few steps above him. He knew that face from the Denadoro Mountains. Back then, Masa's laughter had filled a cavern. Now he stood with one hand against the wall, his small fingers stirring whenever the stone trembled beneath them.
“You saw Mune up above?”
Crono nodded. Masa pointed to his belt. A thin glow escaped the cloth around the red knife. Crono untied it and uncovered the blade.
“Melchior put something of himself into that.”
Masa brought his hand closer. Red light touched his fingers before they reached the knife.
“Stone alone can't become something like this. What the maker hoped for stays in it, too.”
Lucca came to stand beside Crono. When they had received the broken sword in the mountains, Masa had looked at them differently. Here, his gaze held no recognition. She did not ask about their earlier meeting simply because she knew his face.
“If we use it on the Mammon Machine, will it stop the way he wanted?”
“Too much power has gathered there. You need to hurry.”
Masa looked at Marle's throat. Her pendant had slipped free of her clothes and was pulsing in time with the knife. She closed her hand around it, deepening the red glow between her fingers.
“That's the same stone.”
Melchior's knife. Schala's necklace. The pendant that had come down to her. Marle began to draw the three together, then let the gem fall. Trying to find an answer now would cost them time they needed to reach Schala.
“We'll go on.”
Masa stepped aside. His small figure blurred as Crono passed him. When Crono glanced back, the foot of the stairs was empty. He wrapped the red blade, hiding its light, tied it securely, and stepped onto the platform ahead.
The lift was broad enough for all three of them to stand with their arms outstretched and still have room to spare. A waist-high rim ran along its edges. Grooves in the opposite wall plunged straight into darkness. Lucca pressed a glowing spot on the left. The platform gave a short jolt, then the whole floor began to descend.
The stairs rose out of sight. Marle moved back from the rim. Something scraped overhead.
Crono looked up as a long-armed creature peeled away from the wall. He sprang clear of the place where it would land. Its weight tipped the platform, sending Marle's foot sliding. Lucca caught her elbow and pulled her inward. Before the creature could straighten, Crono's blade passed beneath its shoulder.
Another shadow landed across from them. Marle slung her bow and opened both hands. Cold climbed a blue guardian's legs. As its checked movement broke into cracks, Crono moved closer to the wall to meet the next attacker. Fighting in the middle would leave them surrounded by whatever dropped onto the lift.
“Over here. Keep your back to the wall,” Lucca called.
She and Marle drew together. With Crono holding the space in front of them, fire and ice struck in turn. The creatures descending on them wore different colors, but each faltered for an instant when it landed. The three gave them no time to recover.
When the last creature went over the rim, Crono lowered his sword. He did not look down after it. The lift stopped. The wall ahead parted, revealing solid ground and a way forward.
A deep channel cut across the lower passage. Lines of light led from rooms on either side, and a floor plate lay near their feet, much like the ones upstairs. Lucca started toward it, then stopped. Two lights still burned on the mechanism blocking their path.
“The side rooms first.”
They entered the room on the right, defeated its guardians, and pulled the handle on the wall. After they had done the same on the left, the machinery outside changed its note. Crono stepped onto the central plate. A narrow bridge rose out of the channel and settled against the opposite edge. They crossed without waiting to see whether the handles would reset.
At the far end, Marle raised a hand.
A voice carried from ahead. She nudged one of her four remaining arrows upward, then left it in the quiver. Across a broad chamber, a familiar gloved hand was tracing a circle in the air.
Dalton did not look surprised to see them. His expression soured, however, when he saw how steadily Crono walked.
“You really don't know when to stop.”
“Where's Schala?” Marle asked.
“A little late to worry about her.”
He spread his hands. Openings of light appeared on either side of the room, and an enormous foot descended from each. Thick, stony bodies followed, topped by small heads. They looked like the golem they had faced at the palace.
This time there were two.
Crono brought up his sword. The left golem raised a hand, gathering a black orb above it, much like Dalton's. Crono leaped aside, but the force bursting from it washed through his legs. Marle reached to steady him, then ducked as a second orb came. It burst against the wall, shaking the cold she was gathering at her fingertips.
Dalton was already retreating toward the inner door.
Lucca sent a flame to cut him off. The right golem's broad arm blocked its path. Red spread beneath its ash-gray surface where the fire struck. It raised its heated hand and spat a fireball much like the one it had received.
“It sends your attack back!” Lucca shouted, rolling aside.
Lightning burst against the golem on the left. Its shoulders recoiled; then a white streak shot from between its arms, scouring the floor all the way to Marle's feet. She caught herself with one hand and sent a healing warmth toward Crono as she rose.
The single golem in the palace had changed when they attacked it. These did the same. The difference was that each had learned something different. Lightning reached into the space where they dodged the flames. If they stopped to prepare another attack, a black orb stole their strength.
Crono started between the two, but Lucca waved him back.
“Don't use your sword. We can't take both of them hitting back like that.”
He shifted his leading foot to the side, slipping past the right golem's arm and keeping a way open to Marle. A door closed behind the creatures. Dalton was gone. There was no time to look after him.
Lucca backed away until she could see both golems at once. White light still clung to the left one. The right was gathering another flame. For a moment she tried to shape a fire broad enough to engulf them together. Her hands spread, then drew closer. The wider she cast it, the less force she could give it. She would have to work within her reach, one attack at a time.
“Marle, keep them apart for a moment.”
“Freeze them?”
“No. Tell me if the fire comes your way.”
Marle asked nothing more. She moved at an angle, watching the right golem. Lucca sent fire into the left. Its white streak broke off, and red filled its body. When the answering fireball came, she twisted behind a projecting section of pillar. Heat brushed her cheek. Before she could draw breath, Crono caught her shoulder and pulled her another step clear.
The stone blackened. Lucca aimed at the right golem without pausing to check herself. She sent her second flame, and it raised its arms in the same posture as the first.
Both used fire now. That did not make them harmless. Attacks still came from two directions, leaving less and less floor to escape across. But the eyes that had been tracking lightning and fire at once could now follow a single kind of movement.
Marle pointed between them.
“The right one's a little slower.”
Crono nodded. He moved as soon as the left golem lifted its arms. Its fireball burst behind him. The other turned to aim at him too, giving Marle time to reach Lucca and lay a hand on her. As warmth spread through her back, Lucca's short breaths lengthened.
“Can you keep doing this on your own?”
“Not forever. Let's finish one first.”
She aimed at the left golem's chest. The fire had gouged it more deeply than before. Copying an attack did not undo the damage it took. Lucca concentrated her flames there. Whenever its arms rose, Crono moved first. Marle healed whoever fell behind and called out the next place they could dodge.
After the third strike, the left golem dropped to its knees. Its great mouth opened. Remembering Dalton's last attack, Crono raised a warning hand. A foul blast erupted from the creature. They scattered with their faces covered, but could not stop it draining their strength again.
The right golem turned toward them.
Lucca reached out before she could get her knee beneath her. Fire struck its chest, but not hard enough. Cold air stirred beside her. Marle was crouching, gathering ice.
“I'm changing it.”
Only one remained. Crono sheathed his sword and helped Lucca up. The red glow receded from the golem's body, giving way to cold. He drew Lucca away from the whitening floor. Marle did not follow them. As the creature lowered its arms, she struck it with another rush of ice.
The golem collapsed. Marle crouched over her bow as its final foul gust swept past. Crono knelt beside her and sheltered her shoulder. When the air cleared, both huge shapes sank into openings of light and were gone.
Lucca stared at the empty floor. She could still see her own fire coming back at her. When Marle offered the waterskin, she took it but could not drink at once.
“We'd still be dodging lightning if it wasn't for you,” Marle said.
Lucca swallowed a mouthful and nodded. A cough came before she could answer. Marle patted her back and waited. Crono sat against the wall, catching his own breath without urging either of them on.
When some of their strength had returned, Marle took each of their hands in turn. No wound would require a long rest. Fingers chilled by the effort of spellcasting grew warm again, and the thrum beyond the door Dalton had used became distinct.
Crono stood. Returning the waterskin, Lucca looked across the chamber. Scorch marks mingled with frost where they had scattered and run. They had spent enough time here.
The inner door was unlocked. They passed through a narrow antechamber and stopped at the next doorway. A Nu stood beside it, broad-mouthed and still. It resembled the one Belthasar had left in the future, though neither its task nor what it carried was the same.
The Nu looked at each of them. Lucca waited for it to speak, but apparently there was only one way it could direct them. Slowly, it moved aside.
A voice came through the gap in the door.
“Please, stop.”
Marle passed the Nu and put her hand against the door. This time, she would not lose Schala's voice.
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