My faithful readers. I regret to say this will be the last chapter of Dark Chronicle, on account of the fact I'm killing myself from writing it…
By the way. Only joking; just making sure you're paying attention!
Dark Chronicle
Chapter 3: The Sage who became a star
Part 2: Venturing into the memories of the past
The blow came fast but she checked it with her sword. The midget creature hopped back, knowing it didn't have the strength to match his assailant. Holding his knife point down, the blue skinned, bat eared warrior rushed forward and swiped its blade rapidly. The girl simply held her sword in his way so the knife scratched off it and sent sparks showering about them.
The weekdayz (or 'smiling fairies' as they were more commonly known) were not monsters as they didn't have primal instincts. Monica knew that meant they were soldiers of Griffin's army. She snarled in anger as she knocked the weekdayz back with a shoulder barge and hacked down at his head. She had lost too much time since she began her mission, and was now paying the price, starting with the ambush by six smiling fairies and a charging ram on a lead.
The forest had been bad enough, having to solve the mystery of the firbit's disappearance and then the search for the rainbow butterfly. At least then it was necessary to complete her mission. Now she was on a wild goose chase to help a sick girl, possibly at the cost of countless people in the future.
Only the memory of Max's anger stopped her from abandoning Lin and concentrating on trying to restore the moon crystal.
She hadn't meant to sound so blunt. She was desperate to act; to make up for her helplessness when her kingdom had been attacked. If only she could explain to him how much she'd lost, it might be different. But she wasn't prepared to do that. Max had been dragged into her fight far too much already. But the look in his eyes when she'd said the moon crystal was more important than Lin had been...disturbing.
She assumed that since the mission to restore the world had been appointed to her, Max would follow her lead. But instead he'd made it clear he was determined to do the right thing (as he saw it). Admirable, but didn't he realise that in war, sacrifices had to be made? Apparently not. Monica knew she should continue her quest without him, even though he had the red Atlamillia. But she couldn't.
Monica gritted her teeth, ashamed at her own weakness, and decapitated the smiling fairy with a powerful swing.
She had to except that she couldn't bring herself to go on alone now she met Max. Not just because she was she linked to him by the Atlamillia; they saved each other's lives, learnt a lot about each in a short time, and Max was the only person who had made her feel...
'welcome', since she arrived in this time. She'd already endured enough loss, and couldn't bring herself to give up her only companion.
So Monica controlled her temper, and her impatience, and delayed her mission for what she considered to be a completely selfish purpose; staying with Max. She felt guilty for what she was doing, but the knowledge that Max would be at her side when she returned to her important task lifted her heart slightly.
She stamped on the chest of the last weekdayz in her path and turned to help Max, who was trapped in an alcove in the cliff by the last weekdayz and the savage ram. A single fireball was all it took to set the beast's stormy grey fur aflame. The ram wheezed like a pig, dropped its club and ran over the edge of the path they were on, down to the rapids below. Max quickly defeated the final enemy by piecing its head with the drill bit on his wrench.
"That was a close one." Max panted as he wiped a strip of cloth on his wrench.
"They were soldiers of Griffin's army. We're going to have to move faster. The longer our mission takes the more of these guys we'll meet on the way."
Monica turned away and headed further down the path, berating herself for having another dig at Max about how long they were taking. When she felt him walking next to her, she was expecting another threat of going on without her.
"I'm sorry I got mad at you back at Crest's house." he said, surprising Monica. "It's just that, when I left Palm Brinks I didn't think I'd be trying to save the world. But I am, and I don't want to start turning my back on people who need help. Don't you see? People are depending on us. I know that without you I won't stand a chance, so I want us to be able to work together." Max stepped in front of her slightly and held out his hand, saying "Truce?"
Monica looked at his hand, considering her response. She was touched by what he'd said about needing her help, but she had to decide how best to respond. Should she say the Starlight Temple needed to be restored and go her separate way? Should she try to convince him that Lin wasn't the priority and he had to help save the moon crystal? Or should she stay with Max and work to his agenda after all?
She didn't get the chance to answer.
The visibility in the Starlight Canyon was terrible. The sides of the canyon weren't as high as Balance Valley so there was a little more light, but the pathways were so low they were barely a dozen metres higher than the river. Thick spray flew everywhere, making every rock dripping wet and preventing anyone from seeing clearly. Max and Monica were already soaked though, and couldn't hear each other unless they were practically shouting over the roar of the waters.
Out of the blinding, deafening, water soaked pathways of Starlight Canyon came a yo-yo barrel.
It appeared to be a wooden box balancing on two tiny red wheels, each decorated with a large yellow star. The whole thing was tipped forward, balancing on two larger wooden limbs that were jointed in the middle and each rolling on a barrel like wheel, decorated in red with a yellow star.
"So, you vant to save the Starlight Temple, eh?" came a rough, high pitched voice. On top of the contraption sat the driver, who resembled nothing more than two floating gloves, a small top hat and a balloon with a face drawn on it.
Crammed under the magical beast's hat was a geostone.
"Then you'll half to get past meee!" it shrieked with glee.
The machine began trundling forward. Monica immediately hurled a few fireballs at it, leaving steaming trails of evaporated spray in their wake, but they merely smouldered and went out as they struck the machine.
"It's coated in fire proof stuff." Max warned her. "Leave this to me."
Max darted forward and drew the Jurak gun. The yo-yo barrel stopped dead as Max stood in front of it. He raised his new pistol and aimed it at the magical creature that was driving, when suddenly the barrel wheels at the front where thrown out to the sides of the machine, extended on long chains. Before Max could recover from the surprise, the yo-yo barrel span towards him, swinging the barrels like a propeller. Max disappeared as the war machine swept over him like a vortex.
"Max!" Monica yelled, but there was no reply, and then she needed to worry about herself.
The yo-yo barrel was fast. It hurled one of the barrels along the ground, forcing Monica to jump aside as it threw up clouds of dirt. She stumbled as her feet came precariously close to the edge of the shear drop.
Monica dropped into a crouch, getting ready to leap aside again. She planned to try and lure the blasted machine over the cliff and into the river. I was risky to let the geostone go over the side as well, but after several hours of travelling through Starlight Canyon she was in no condition to fight such a large enemy on her own.
The balloon driver threw the gears to full power and charged Monica. She held her ground till the huge wheels were within arms reach, then she rolled to the right and chucked a fireball at the ground. The earth quickly melted into a small patch of mud.
As the yo-yo barred tried to turn the left wheel slipped in the mud and the whole thing toppled over the edge. Monica grinned at the sight, but one of the barrels suddenly flew back onto the pathway and dug into the ground with retracting spikes. The chain on the wheel snapped taut, and as fast as it had fallen, the yo-yo barrel hauled itself back up the side of the cliff.
Back on level ground, the wheels began spinning vertically,coming down like a deadly waterfall over and over again. Balancing on the two small wheels it charged again. Monica braced herself.
There was a bright green flash from behind the machine, followed by an explosion of green and yellow flames. The yo-yo barrel scattered into a dozen pieces. Monica stared in confusion, and as the smoke and spray cleared she saw the explanation she was looking for.
Max was flat on his back, obviously dazed but alive and well, still aiming the Jurak gun at the place previously occupied by the now broken machine.
"Max!" Monica bounded to her friend's side."Are you alright? That was amazing! I knew that gun must be powerful, but man! Did it really cause that explosion? It just ripped that thing to pieces. I'm glad you're alright though. When that thing ran you over I thought you were done for. Man, that so cool!"
Monica babbled excitedly on for a few more seconds before she calmed down and helped Max onto his feet.
"Uh, how did I survive that?" Max asked, still looking very dazed.
"Guess you had a lucky break...again." Monica smiled as she remembered her previous joke about Max and his 'super luck'.
"Seriously, I can't believe that gun could be so strong. It blew the yo-yo barrel with one shot."
"It wasn't the shot that did it." Max shook his head and tried to concentrate. "I shot at a fuel line poking out of the back."
"A fuel line? How did you manage to target a tiny little fuel line after being run over and aiming upside down while lying on your back?" Monica asked with disbelief.
"Lucky break." Max grinned.
Monica frowned for a moment, but then grinned back.
"Alright lucky guy, I think it's about time we went back to the valley and used some of these geostones."
"About time!" a gruff voice came out of nowhere, startling the pair of adventurers until they realised the voice was coming from the radio that Donny had given to Max.
"We got fed up 'anging round waitin' for yer," Conda's voice squawked over the radio "so w came to see what yer was up to."
Both Max and Monica looked up. High above, obscured by the mist they could see the shape of the Carpenterion gradually descending.
"Hop on board and we'll give yer a lift back to the valley. And one of yer get hold of that stone yer just found."
The Carpenterion only took five minutes to get back to Balance Valley when the canyon pathways had taken half an hour (not including the various battles). While the creating machines reactor greedily consumed the collected geostones, the two adventurers decided to take a break for lunch.
"You know, the food people eat is this time is kinda weird." Monica said as she inspected the apple she'd just bitten. "Everything tastes a lot more...simple."
Max, who thought the food was fine except for the firbit's moss soup (which he'd been forced to taste by Tollbo) said "Why's that?"
"Probably because we have to put a lot of anti pollutants and pesticides in our food. It's strange, but compared to this time, my time seems a little grim."
"Come on, it can't be that bad. The Jurak Mall looked fine. I'm kind of excited to see what a city in the future looks like." Max looked over at the door leading to the bridge of the Carpenterion. "That last geostone must be important if that...thing was trying to protect it."
"Hmm," Monica replied as she carefully inspected a grape "guess you're right. We were lucky that neither of us were hurt."
"Well, he certainly won't cause us any more trouble. Which reminds me."
As Max reached down to his belt he said "I noticed that your magic didn't work on that machine, so I thought you could do with one of these."
With that, he held out an unusual, but fine looking brass pistol with a small funnel on the end of the barrel.
"Wow, that's a strange looking gun." Monica took the gun from Max's hand "It kinda looks like the barrel is made from an old fashioned telephone."
"Well, it is." Max grinned sheepishly "I not very skilled at making weapons, so I made this using some of the faulty stuff the firbits made. But don't worry; I tested that thing carefully and it'll work fine."
"So that's why you were away so long when you went to make those new boots of yours." Monica looked up. "But you didn't have to go to all that trouble for me. You could've just given me that classic gun."
"Nah. That's Donny's, and it's ancient. This 'bell trigger' gun is way more powerful and accurate. Besides, I felt I owed you something decent for that knife."
"Thanks Max." Monica smiled.
They enjoyed a moment of comfortable silence, then Monica said "By the way. There's something I've just remembered too."
She sat forward on her chair and grasped Max's hand which was resting o the table and held it as though they were shaking hands.
"I agree with what you said about us working together. If we don't, we haven't got a chance. I'm sorry for the things I said before, and I'll try and be a little more patient"
Max blinked, then gave her a small smile.
"Thanks Monica. I knew I could rely on you."
Monica instantly blushed and moved back, folding her hands in her lap and staring at them determinedly.
Max stifled a laugh (once again thinking she look really cute when she was embarrassed) and added "I'm sorry too- for threatening to go on alone. I wouldn't do that after all you've done for me. If it weren't for you I'd still be wasting my life away in Palm Brinks."
"That or you would have been killed by monsters a dozen times over." Monica grinned cunningly "Although from what I've heard from the townspeople I doubt you're capable of wasting your life unless you've, like, completely revolutionised your home town. Donny says you're a better inventor than Cedric."
Max chuckled, knowing that Donny only ever said that when Cedric was in earshot to try and irritate the old engineer.
"So we agree then? We're both gonna work together on this?" he asked.
"Sure thing."
Into the comfortable little conversation, a much harsher voice chose that moment to get involved.
"If ye two'd stop fillin' each others 'eads with all tha' crap we cu' doo with sum 'elp 'ere!" a particularly aggressive firbit with blue clothes and an extremely large dark ginger beard barked sharply.
Predictably, Monica responded just as aggressively.
"Hey, don't lose your temper at us! We're taking a rest, can't you see?"
"Well while ye sittin' doin' darn well nothin' we bin' slavin' away for you's wit no break nor food fer hours, se why don't ye ge' off ye backsides an' do ye share a' work?"
Monica looked close to exploding, but fortunately Max was quick enough to defuse the situation.
"Look, I'm sorry that you've had a lot of work to do," Max said, keeping his voice firm but steady "but we're also been working hard and we're only taking a short break. And will be over to help you in a minute, so there's no need to lose your temper, okay?"
"Hmm," the angry firbit calmed slightly at Max's words. "Alrigh' then. Ye both come yonder sharpish though. We gutta' problem we needs sortin' out."
"Okay, we're coming." Max assured, then while the grumpy firbit began walking away, tactlessly added "keep your hair on."
"I TAKE NAH BLEEDIN' LIP FREM YU LAD, SE WATCH YE TONGUE!" he hollered.
The small man continued to growl and sneer as he left, while Max went back to the table to get his things.
"That little runt had no right to say we're slacking off." Monica hissed as she glared at the door as though expecting him to come back for more. "After all that's happened; he dares to say that? I ought to..."
"I know; he was completely out of line." Max agreed. "Next time it happens though, maybe you should... be a bit calmer about it."
"What's that 'sposed to mean? After all we're done for them; after all the effort we've made you're happy to let that guy come down here and shoot his mouth off at us?"
"I'm just saying there's no need to get mad about it. We need these guys help if we're going to rebuild towns so we don't want to argue with them. Plus it's easier to deal with someone like that if you don't lose your temper, else you'll get nowhere."
"Perhaps you have a point," Monica grumpily agreed "but either way, I won't let him speak to us like that. If he so much as-"
"I know Monica," Max interrupted gently "but there's no point being as bad as him. Let's just see what they want up there and you can save your temper for the next monster we meet."
Monica turned her stern gaze on Max. Then she took a deep breath and said "Alright, you win. I won't get angry with firbits."
Max nodded and led the way to the ladder which went up to the control room of the Carpenterion.
As he began to ascend the ladder, he heard a mutter of "I feel sorry for the next monster we meet."
Max frowned, but said nothing.
"Yer see, the thing is," Conda explained as the two kids stared blankly at the progress of Balance Valley "we weren't entirely sure where to start buildin', what with the plateaus bein' so dodgy."
Many different structures had been built, but they had all been stacked on the narrow ledge where the entrance to the station was. Crest's house was completely concealed by the wall of buildings, and those few people from Palm Brinks who had come up from the station to see the valley were pushed into a tight corner.
"Haven't you done anything?" Monica asked.
"We put up a few bridges. But every time we try to build somethin' the whole place starts shudderin'. An' with what yer said about the whole pace fallin' down if there not all balanced, we wondered if maybe you had any ideas."
"Well... Max. You have a creative mind. Any ideas?"
"Er..."
"Well," said Conda "the geostones say that there needs to be a priest, a cook, an art-ist an' a sheriff livin' 'ere. Now a hear there's people like that on yer train so we don't need to worry 'bout going back to yer town for more."
"That's good. But we still need to build this town. To be honest I don't know what to do. I only ever saw the Starlight Temple once, and it looked totally different from this. Maybe we co-"
SNAP!
Monica stopped talking and both she and Conda looked to where the sound of a camera shutter had come from.
On the right side of the room, Max had commandeered one of the computer banks and had crudely linked it to his camera with a thick cable.
"Max?" Monica moved over to him "What are you doing?"
"This Carpenterion is designed to get information about Balance Valley from the geostones, and my camera can design things using the pictures it takes." Max explained as he worked "I haven't used many computers before, but if I can combine the two, maybe..." he trailed off into deep concentration.
Monica and Conda watched as Max work furiously with both the computer and his camera. After two minutes one of the firbits complained loudly that Max had just stolen all the information off his computer screen, but a hiss of "Shut up!" from Monica kept him quite. Another thirty seconds later Max stopped working and watched the screen of his camera as it made multiple clicks and beeps. Then the noise stopped.
"YEAH! It works!" Max cried out, startling everybody and earning a few colourful words from some of the firbits.
"Take a look at this!" he said excitedly as he bought the camera over to Conda's control chair, practically tripping over the cable in his haste. Conda stood up in his seat and Monica leaned forward so they could both see what Max had come up with. On the screen were four 'T' shaped blue images with numbers on them, and at the top of the screen were little words in boxes, indicating the building which the firbits had built.
"The geostones already tell us how much weight each plateau can hold," Max explained as he pointed to the numbers "and your computers say how much each building weighs. So," Max pressed a few buttons on the side of his camera. One of the words at the top of the screen (church) moved so that it was above the first 'T' shape. The simple picture of the land island shrank down and turned red.
"You see? That means there's too much weight."
Another few buttons pressed and the word 'Church' moved to the third picture along. The first one changed back to its original size. The third one shrank down a little but didn't change red.
"Look! The third plateau can take the weight of the church. All we need to do is make sure the others get pushed down to the same height."
"Max, you're a genius!" Monica beamed.
"That's a nice bit'er work there boy! We can get this town built in no time!" Conda slapped Max on the back with one of his vast hands.
The building of Balance Valley began immediately. Along with the church there were several warehouses, dozens of brick houses, a scattering of rope bridges and an oriental take away stand.
Very few people seemed interested in living in the gloomy little valley. Most of the people who moved in were former miners who had worked in dark and damp places for so long they didn't mind the conditions. Ferdinand, the recently resigned chef from the Zelmite household eagerly agreed to take charge of the takeaway stand so he could experiment with eastern cooking. The moon person Rufio point blank refused to even get off the train as she wouldn't be able to see the moon from inside the valley. Fortunately, the geostones didn't say anything about needing a moon person to live there, and Father Bruno knew enough about magic to keep the force spells on the plateaus from dying out, and also fulfilled the criteria specified by the geostone of 'A priest must reside in Balance Valley'. After an hour and a half of hard work Balance Valley was almost completely restored, and Max and Monica decided they were ready to travel through the time gate.
Max remembered hearing that Balance Valley was in a place called Argentum City. Max had never seen a city before, but he was sure there should be more than this.
The four pillars which Max and Monica had helped to build on only a few minutes ago were eroded so that they were too thin to build even a single house on. Rope bridges connected them to each other and to four sides of the valley
The valley walls had also been badly eroded, meaning they were far smaller. At the same height as the four plateaus, ledges had been carved into the walls so they were like the ledge that the two adventurers stood on now. The ledge to the left held some small buildings; on the opposite side of the valley the ledge held nothing but a guard station at the entrance of Starlight Canyon, and on the right was a whitewashed building with steps leading up to a oval shaped door which appeared to be made of clouded glass. On the same ledge as Max and Monica were multiple tents of all shapes and sizes, housing hermits, monks, nuns and moon people.
Max turned around and saw that side of the cliff which used to contain Balance Valley station was gone altogether. A dusty trail led down a slight hill and ended at the edge of a field that stretched far into the distance. The field was almost completely flat for miles till they gave way to more hills. To the right the cliff tops became lower the further away they went from Balance Valley, till they reached a black sanded beach. In the distance a small fishing village was built at the edge of the sand. The only of sign of civilisation was something that looked like a ruined castle which was so far away, Max was sure it must be the future Palm Brinks.
The sky was a deep blue, almost violet coloured twilight. The fields were covered in light blue grass, almost exactly the same colour as the sea. Yellow green tumble weeds travelled slowly across the landscape. The rocks which made up Balance Valley were steel grey.
All in all, it was quite depressing.
"There's not much here." Max said, trying not to sound as unimpressed as he felt. He looked over at Monica when she didn't answer.
Monica seemed to be staring fixedly at the distant horizon. She was standing very stiffly, and her expression seemed to indicate some inner sadness. Max looked in the direction of her gaze but the only thing he could see was the ruined castle. He looked back at her.
"Monica, are you alright?" Max asked carefully as he reached out to tap her on the shoulder. She looked round quickly.
"Yep, fine!" she said brightly; perhaps too brightly to be believed.
Monica walked quickly to the rope bridge connecting There ledge to the ledge on the right of the valley, and said "Guess there's more to be done in the past to restore this place. Nothing we can do for the moment. Guess that means it's okay to put saving the world on hold while we visit an orient restaurant."
Max watched as she walked away, dumfounded by her bizarre mood swing.
I just couldn't understand it. Monica seemed to change her personality in the blink of an eye. It was only at this point that I started to realise that something must have happened to her in her time. Something that she hadn't gotten over. Of course I know what it was now, but back then the only thing I knew was that I probably wouldn't be able to do anything to help. In the end there was only one person who was able to help Monica, but all I'll say for now is that I'd never had guessed it, and I doubt you would either.
As luck would have it, Monica was distracted from whatever had upset her so much. Like Max, she'd never seen anything of the distant eastern culture.
The first unusual thing they noticed was the doors were made of paper, and slid to the sides instead of opening inwards. The second was the smell of the food being cooked inside, which was totally unique and undeniably delicious.
The walls inside of the bistro were covered in wallpaper with a remarkable complicated design, incorporating gold and brown swirling patterns. The floor was made of stone and a red plush carpet led down the small flight of steps at the entrance and up to the counter that separated the kitchen from the dining area. The tables in the restaurant were so low they were practically flat against the floor, and there wasn't a single chair in site. In place of chairs, each table had four large cushions lying around them.
Behind the counter a fat man with orange robes and a hat which looked vaguely like a chef's hat was scratching his long moustache in bewilderment.
"Ah, by the powers! What has been happening here of late!" he said in a high pitched voice.
"Are you Lao Chao?" Max asked as they approached the counter.
"Ah! My honourable customers!" the chef grasped his hands in front of his chest and gracefully bowed "Welcome to Lao Chao's bistro. I am indeed Lao Chao, chef of high renowned, but forgive me for we are not serving today, for something catastrophic has happened!"
"Well you'd better explain it to us then." Monica said. "I am Monica Raybrante," Monica held out her arm to show the Atlamillia stone on her wrist "and this is my companion Max."
"Raybrante!" Lao Chao adjusted his glasses and peered at Monica. "That means... you are Prin-"
"Yeah, no need for formality," Monica interrupted "You say something bad has happened."
"Oh, it has your honour- Starlight has been reduced to a dishonourable state. The moon crystal is lost, as is the great Argentum City. I still have the memories of when all of the temple and city existed, but now I also have memories of a different life I lived here- memories which lead to the poor state of this valley. I do not understand how I have these two different memories or what has happened to the temple."
"This is Emperor Griffin's doing." Monica explained. "We've only managed to restore some of Balance Valley back in the past. You still remember how things were, but now you have memories of the new timeline that we've created by restoring part of the past."
"Then, if I may ask, why have you come to the future when there is still work to be done in the past?"
"We're come here because we need your help." Max joined in. "Back in the past there's this really sick girl. She's been poisoned by a toxin and we need you to make something to cure her."
"Ah, a toxin." Lao Chao looked mournful "Alas, I fear I have nothing that will be able to cure a toxin, for they are notoriously resistant."
Max looked absolutely horrified.
"Lao Chao, I heard that you once made a dish called miracle dumplings that were capable of curing any type of physical problem. Isn't that true?"
"Ah my lady! It is true, but the vital ingredient for miracle dumplings is a white windflower. Her ladyship, the high priestess of Kazarov brought a single flower back from one hundred years in the past after she predicted the honourable Lord Agaris would fall seriously ill some years ago, but in truth the white windflower is extinct, having died out fifty or more years ago."
"Hold on. You're saying that the white windflower is extinct now, but existed a hundred years ago?"
"Yes my lady. It is said that the great condors who once resided in these lands would pollinate the white windflowers in the far south of the Starlight Canyon. But the condors have also become extinct, and in time the white windflowers were lost."
"That's it then!" Max said enthusiastically. "The condors were alive back in my time. All we need to do is search Starlight Canyon in my time and we'll find a white windflower."
"And while we're there we can look for more geostones to complete the Starlight Temple." Monica added.
With a quick goodbye to Lao Chao (which was answered with another graceful bow) the adventurers were on their way again.
X
At last another chapter. And now we're coming to the good bits