Chapter 20: Gasper's Tale

The air was perpetually still, not so much as a weak breeze blew through the place Gasper had come to know as the End of Time. At least that was what he had believed in the beginning, but after having been there for so long he had come to know the subtleties of the place. He felt the ever so slight pressure of the air on his face. Even the smoke that hung in a wreath above his head seemed to hold still, but the air had moved. Gasper took another puff of his pipe and turned his gaze up to the raised platform that was separated from him by only a short stone stairway.

Several pinpoints of blue light appeared and slowly made there transformation into cylindrical pillars that shone coldly against the cobblestone floor. As he watched one of the pillars began to swell, until it exploded upwards into the empty black sky. The whole event transpired without a sound, not so much as a whisper, but the air moved oh so slightly that Gasper thought at times that he was only imagining it.

Out of the shining pillar a young man with fiery red hair done up in exaggerated spikes emerged. Gasper knew the man was called Flare, and had been expecting that it was him and his companions once again. No sooner had the red headed youth stepped out of the light than four others followed. Three men and a young woman. Gasper had been asleep when they had returned for the second time, but would have known they had returned even if Spekkio hadn't informed him.

The young man calmly approached him, the others following with a look of uncertain expectation on their faces. Flare's face alone was set in an emotionless mask as he came to stand before Gasper under the lamppost. Gasper took another casual puff of his pipe as he met the young man's intense gaze. "Tell me what you know about Xavius," Flare said levelly.

Instead of responding Gasper simply continued to puff on his pipe, adding to the halo of smoke above him. With reflexes considerably quicker than Gasper knew the young man had, Flare drew his sword with a swing that stopped mere centimeters from his neck. "I don't have time to play games with you old man," Flare said in a dangerously calm voice. Neither his voice, nor the blade he held against Gasper's neck shook in the slightest.

While Gasper's expression didn't waver, the shock on Flare's companion's faces was apparent. The blonde girl let out an involuntary gasp. The brown haired youth's hands clutched the hilt of his own sword, clearly uncertain of what to do. The giant prehistoric man's entire body tensed in response to his smaller friend's unexpected aggression. Only the man with the hard gray eyes didn't flinch, seemingly not surprised by Flare's course of action.

"Flare, what are you…," the stocky brown haired man began cautiously.

"Quiet Tai," Flare cut him off with the same dangerously calm voice.

After a moment Gasper harrumphed through his thick gray mustache. "The rashness of youth isn't something I've never been exposed to, and neither is the desperation of young love."

Flare's surprise only slightly broke the emotionless mask he wore, but Gasper noticed it as easily as though he had shouted. "You mentioned a girl named Gina when you were here before, and even if you had not, it is easy enough to read the motivation in each of your eyes." He took another slow puff ignoring the razor sharp blade at his neck. "You and the young lady are motivated by love, I'll assume for the women that Xavius has kidnapped. Your friend here is also motivated partially by love, but mostly through loyalty. Ayla's son-"

Wroff smiled slightly at the mentioning of his mother. "Oh yes, Wroff, just as your mother remembered me I too remember her. As I was saying, Wroff is motivated partially by sheer wanderlust, and now too it has been tempered with the loyalty born of friendship."

Gasper's gaze shifted to the gray eyed man. "And you are driven by revenge."

"That's all very interesting," Flare said, "but we didn't come here for you to tell us about ourselves; we came to learn what you know about Xavius."

Gasper nodded. "Very well, despite your individual motivations you all share the same resolve…" He glanced at the blade held at his neck for the first time. "I'll be able to speak more freely if my head remains attached to my neck."

Sheathing his sword Flare said, "So speak."

Gasper reached into one of his coat pockets, producing a small pouch of tobacco. Flare forced himself to remain patient as Gasper refilled his pipe and resumed his habitual puffing. As he adjusted his bowler hat his eyes widened slightly as he looked at Flare, or rather Flare's hair. He hadn't noticed until then for the simple reason that it was too familiar. "With your hair like that you look like someone," he said, frustrated that he hadn't noticed the resemblance before.

"An ancient King of Guardia, right?" Flare said, using what patience he had to keep the sarcasm in his voice to a minimum.

"Ancient doesn't have much meaning here, but yes, I suppose he did become a King of Guardia," Gasper said to Flare's surprise and looked at him curiously for a moment. "I must not have noticed the resemblance earlier due to the hair. With him all you really noticed was that ridiculous hair…but that's neither here nor there is it?"

"No," Flare agreed. "It's not."

Gasper recollected his thoughts and began, "Xavius was, or rather still is I suppose, a Prince of the magical kingdom that was known as Zeal."

Flare gave a small nod. "Yes, we've already learned that much, but go on."

"Oh you know that? I see. Yes, he is a Prince of Zeal, though I must admit that I assumed he had been killed by his own magic; unfortunately, that seems not to be the case. Xavius Zeal was the younger brother of Jansen Zeal, the man who became Zeal's king. He was a gifted student, not the most gifted I've ever seen mind you, for there were those who came before, and after, with more talent than he. His talent wasn't the kind that only surfaces once in every several generations, but rather the kind that is present in every generation, but only in a few individuals every generation. Still, besides being skillful at magic he was also cunning and very tenacious."

Gasper paused to give Flare a meaningful look. "But sometimes tenacity is a greater asset to have than skill, skill can to a point be taught after all, while tenacity cannot." Flare returned the look levelly and remained silent until Gasper resumed. "He was also ambitious. In time he fell victim to the call for greater power and I suppose it is then that he began practicing forbidden magic. He disappeared and no one dared to speak his name when they thought the King might somehow overhear. Still, rumors cannot be stopped, and the Kingdom for the most part knew he had used forbidden magic, and when he never returned everyone assumed he had finally fallen to his own magic, destroyed by his very ambition.

"The King I believe was involved with whatever Xavius's goal was. At the beginning anyway, when they were both just young men, the Princes of Zeal. King Jansen had the good sense to get out, but I'm afraid Xavius did not. No one ever asked the king directly what he and his brother's youthful quest had been, but I think we can now assume with confidence that it pertained to the manipulation of time. That he may have succeeded, in full or in part, is a disturbing thought."

"I take it that time manipulation is not a common usage of magic," Flare said as Gasper paused to momentarily focus on his smoking.

He harrumphed again. "Not common? No boy, it's barely even heard of. Apart from myself, there's only one man I've known that has successfully manipulated time. He was only successful once exposed to high levels of technology and used that in conjunction with magic. As for my own eventual success, it was only achieved once I found myself here, and had gotten a far greater understanding of time than that could have been attained from within the normal temporal flow, and before you ask, I cannot aid you in time travel. All I achieved was the creation of a single device, and it has already been used."

Tai frowned as he spoke, "But you've obviously time traveled to get here, and you weren't overly surprised to find us as visitors. Not only that, but you've known other time travelers, like Wroff's mother."

"Yes," Gasper agreed, "but you must realize that time Gates are a naturally occurring phenomenon. Much like, say, a thunderstorm only much, much less common. Xavius should not be capable of personally constructing his own Gates via magic."

"Yet he is," Flare said dryly. "If it should be impossible how then does he do it?"

"I have a partial theory," Gasper said. "Let me explain. Ah, I know. First a demonstration. I believe Spekkio told me that your name is Paige."

"That's right," the young woman said.

"Paige, if you would be so kind could you levitate a bit for us. Not very high my dear, just say a foot or two off the ground," Gasper asked.

"No, no I can't," she stammered.

"Please try."

"Okay, I'll try," Paige said uncertainly. She closed her eyes and stood still. For the first few moments nothing happened, but then a thin wave of heat began emitting out of her body, quickly growing into a visible red glow. Flare and the others were forced to step away from her once the heat grew too intense. She opened her eyes and looked to her feet, which were planted firmly on the cobblestone below. "See, I can't do it."

"Of course not," Gasper said with a kindly smile, "or rather it's more accurate to say that you do not know how, because you could, anyone with magic could, but you've only had control of magic for a very short time. All four of you with magic could levitate and more if you learned to control your magic, but at your current level the most you can manage is elemental manipulation, which is much easier because all those with magic can instinctively control the magic of their own element." He reached into a coat pocket and pulled out a plain silver ring. With a slight flick of his wrist he tossed it to Paige. "Now put that ring on and try again."

She slid the ring onto her right index finger. "It fits," she said with mild surprise. "It looked too big."

"Yes, well it is a magical ring after all," Gasper said smiling. "Now go on, levitate."

Before Gasper finished speaking Paige rose off the ground, clearly surprised to find herself at Wroff's eyelevel. Gently floating back to the ground she laughed. "That was amazing!"

"So the ring has the power to make people fly, even if they can't on their own," said Flare.

"Not quite," Gaspar said. "It was Paige's own magical power that caused her to levitate. What the ring did was direct her magic in a way that she didn't consciously know how to do on her own. To someone without magic such as Wroff the ring is just a ring, nothing more." Paige made to hand the ring back, but Gasper shook his head. "You may keep it if you like. I don't have need for it."

Gasper turned his attention back to Flare. "That ring was made by someone who had utterly mastered the power of levitation, beyond simply being able to levitate unaided. That ring's crafter understood exactly how it was done. Paige could levitate on her own if given a few years of training, but with the ring she can do it now."

"So you think Xavius has something like that ring that lets him open time Gates," Flare said.

"Something to that effect, yes," Gasper replied. "Not necessarily a ring, but something either aiding him or giving him instructions on how to perform magic that's above his own level of skill."

"But who or what has that kind of power?" Flare asked as his frown deepened.

A look crossed Gasper's face, almost as though he had had an idea, but then he shook his head rejecting it. "I don't know, but I'm assuming that this is not the pressing issue that caused you to threaten me at sword point."

"No," Flare said shaking his head. "It's something to think on, but not why we are here. Xavius blocked his latest Gate. We can see where the Gate should originate, but it's inside a red cube shaped shield. We can't open it."

"That confirms it then," Gasper said with a nod.

"Confirms what?" Flare asked.

"That he is being aided in his use of time manipulation. If he fully understood how the Gates worked he could simply cause them not to open to anyone but himself. Imagine the time Gate as a door. If he fully understood the door he could simply lock it, but he cannot. Instead he blocks the door with a much cruder form of magic. The shield he's placed on the Gate is akin to him pushing a large boulder in front of the door."

"If the shield's so simple and crude isn't there a way for us to remove it?" Flare asked. "To push this boulder out of the way."

"Crude in comparison to the time Gate," Gasper said with a sigh. "I'm sure it would take experienced mages a while to puzzle out one of Xavius's shields. You would have to study for decades before you could break the seal he's used."

Gritting his teeth Flare's words came out almost a growl. "We don't have that kind of time, and don't tell me there's no other way."

"You can't push this boulder away. You don't have the training or the time to train. The only other thing to do is smash the boulder. Crush it into pebbles," Gasper replied calmly.

Flare shook his head, anger overcoming his voice. "Don't you think we tried that?"

"Oh, I'm sure you did," Gasper began, "but the amount of magical energy required to destroy the shield is vastly higher than what the four of you have combined. I doubt even Xavius could simply destroy a shield like that. No, what you need is something with vast magical properties."

"What kind of something?" Flare asked, "Couldn't you just come with us and remove the shield? You must have magic."

"I'm afraid that I cannot remove the shield for you," Gasper said, "but perhaps I can help in another way. Objects that have enough magical energy to destroy something as powerful as a complex sorcerer's shield are very rare, but I know of one that you might be able to get your hands on. It's a sword born in the time of Zeal, and since then it has appeared repeatedly throughout the world's history. I don't know of its exact location at any given time, but I do know that the Kingdom of Guardia had it in their possession for quite a while, in fact you've probably heard of it. Some call it the Holy Sword, or the Sword of Legend, but its true name is the Masamune."

Tai blinked. "You mean the sword that the heroes Cyrus and Glenn used to defeat the Fiendlord Magus during the Mystic War?"

"You're right Tai," Flare said with a glance to his friend. "That sword is called the Masamune, but dammit…" Flare's face crinkled in frustration. "We'll have to break into Guardia Castle to get it."

"That won't be necessary," Randall said after a moment of silence had passed.

Flare turned to Randall. "What do you mean?"

"We can return to my time, and I can get the Masamune," Randall told him. "I know where it currently is in my own time. We can get it without difficulty."

Gasper smiled. "Ah good, well it looks like that's one less problem to solve."

Flare turned to Gasper and said, "Thank you for your help," then back to Randall. "Lead the way, we don't have time to wait around."

Randall nodded and started off to the pillar of light that would lead back to his time. The others all thanked Gasper and turned to follow. "Flare, wait a minute if you would."

Flare looked back toward the lamppost and the old man underneath, "Yes?"

"More than a few people have found themselves lost in time, and most of those who have, I've met," Gasper said between puffs. "I've learned to get a feel for them. I don't know how to describe it properly, but it's like a feeling of importance around certain individuals, some more so than others. Some of my visitors don't fit into a bigger picture; however, some of them do. I didn't notice until a little while ago that your group has this feeling. Normally I feel it right away."

"Why would it have taken so long to get this feeling about us?" Flare asked. "What makes us different?"

"Nothing, I think," Gasper said. "I believe that it doesn't have to do with you, but rather another event that's recently taken place."

"What kind of event?"

"A group that got lost in time didn't like what they saw in the future, so they took it upon themselves to change it. Against all odds they managed to do just that."

Throughout his whole time traveling experience Flare had never thought of trying to change anything, his singular goal had been to rescue Gina from Xavius. "Is this a bad thing? Should they not have changed it?"

Gasper leaned on his cane and gave a shrug. "People have changed the future before, and I imagine will likely do so again. In fact I'm sure that you've inadvertently caused some changes yourself. Mostly it's small things that get changed, but on occasion a major change gets made. Still, the flow of time has its own way of dealing with these changes no matter how big or small. Normally, the ripples of change flow into the future and change what is to be changed, but for some confounding reason the change that they've made has caused ripples to flow backwards as well. I'm sure these abnormal disturbances are what threw my senses off."

"Backwards? In what way?" Flare said.

Exhaling a small cloud of smoke Gasper asked, "Flare, how many moons are there?"

"That's an odd question," Flare said. "There are two moons. The white and the red."

"Did you see these moons back in Wroff's time? Or in Zeal?" Gasper asked.

Flare frowned in thought. "Clouds covered the sky most of the time back during Wroff's time. I guess I only ever saw the white moon, and I don't think we were outside much during the night in Zeal."

"If again given the chance you should look," Gasper said, "or on the more short term ask Wroff how many moons there are. I believe you'll find that he'll tell you that there is only a singular moon, and that it is white, not red."

Flare arched a skeptical eyebrow. "Then where did the red moon come from? I've never heard of a time when there was only one moon."

"That is because," Gasper said, "the second moon appeared roughly thirteen thousand years prior to the year you are from. As to where it came from, I have a theory, but all that really matters is that a change in the future caused an entire moon to appear in the sky fourteen thousand years before the change ever occurred."

"Are these backwards ripples somehow going to affect us?" Flare asked the worry clear in his voice.

Gasper took a moment before responding. "Not in any way you should worry about, the weave that surrounds the others I mentioned seems to be a dominant one, even compared to your own, that is to say, I don't believe anything you do will affect it one way or another, and any changes to your own weave have been made without your knowing, but that is not my point. My point is that this quest you're on is more important than the two of us previously believed. Keep that in mind, and good luck."

Flare nodded, still confused about most that he had just been told, but in truth it mattered little to him at that moment. At that moment he knew that in order to stop Xavius he had to go with Randall and get the Masamune. That was all that mattered right then.

Gasper watched the five step into a pillar of light and one by one vanish, returning to the normal flow of time. Those five were more important to the flow of time than they knew. Gasper hadn't told Flare half of what he felt. Something more important than the lives of a few girls was riding on them. Of course, Gasper knew that to Flare it didn't matter. Nothing was more important to him than saving the girl he loved.

"What are you up to, Xavius? What is your endgame?" Gasper muttered to himself. With a sigh he looked down at his pipe, which had again gone out.