Rated: PG-13
Language: English
Categories: Humour/Adventure
Title: RoChronicles
Summary: Life was good for Zira, Shujiri, Swift, and Eos where they lived in the division of Rune Midgard known as Void. Then one day, a dark cloud fell over the land and everything they knew fell apart. Will they ever be able to pick up the pieces? More importantly, can they remember who they were along the way?
Author's Note: Ahh, Gakudon; you gave me so much more of a headache than you should have. I had to destroy a bit of his back story and re-work it to make him useful for RoC, but at long last, I think the main details for the story are done. All we should really have to worry about now is just writing it out and keeping up with everyone. Admittedly, that last part will be the hardest...Anyhow, to explain quickly; Chrnos is my newest character on Delusion. He's my Clown/Bard, and is my first attempt at one. Xabel, meanwhile, has been remade at least three other times. We're using them to fill in holes in the plot. I also feel the need to alert you to the creation of a king for Prontera. As well as an entire castle. Creative licensing, we love you! As to the song this time, we've used it before but since they're in Prontera we'll use it again - it's Theme of Prontera. Hmm...I wonder where it's from?
Name Explanation: (1) Vinova - Taken from the Latin "Vita Nova," or, "New Life." It seemed fitting.

RoChronicles

Chapter Twenty-Two: The King of Prontera
"Whut d'you mean we're un'er arrest?" Jackel cried out, jumping to his feet in outrage. "We ain't destroyed nothin' 'round here; it was all that-"

"Easy, Quick Draw." Pharin chirped, eying the Paladin standing before them and then glancing around at the other Knights that had accompanied him.

"No, actually, Jackel raises a good point." Falcone started gently. He turned to the white-haired man and continued, saying, "In all fairness, yes, Sahari did attack that..Cleaner, you called it?..but it was that monster that was responsible for the damage you see here."

Firm in his statement, the other man shook his head. "You aren't from this area, I take it? Most people know better than to attack one of those things; especially with their recent behavioral patterns."

"Aye, ye'd guess right." Shujiri confirmed, stepping up.

"We were, er, looking for someone." Ghebriel added.

Speaking up after his unusually long silence, Jeliel hopped up in one smooth move and dusted himself off, his arms going to cross over his chest. "And you are...?"

Interjecting quickly, Zira amended, "What our painfully blunt companion means is, we've not gotten to ask your name after you helped us."

Dmitri snorted. "Saved us, is more like it." An elbow to the side from Sahari effectively silenced him.

The tall man in front of them heaved a soft, weary sigh, his eyes never leaving Jeliel. "I suppose not...Very well, then; if you would accompany me to the palace, I will explain things to you there. There are things that need not be said in public, but I get the feeling that the lot of you are hardly the run-of-the-mill travelers. I would like to avoid creating a spectacle in the public eye."

"Understandable." Lana said, smiling. "Let's go!"

At the castle..

Standing before a large, elegant throne, the ten friends looked around the room into which they had been lead to wait. It was huge, as was to be expected of a palace - even in such a humble town as Prontera. The decor consisted largely of expensive works of art and priceless instruments that would make any Bard or Gypsy foam at the mouth. Even the ceiling, itself, was a myriad of stained glass art and boundless colour; the sun shining through it sent every colour known to man spiraling down from above to coat the things below it in a veritable kaleidoscope of hues and shades. (Almost bad enough, Ghebriel had made the corny joke, to be "a really bad acid trip." For his part, Falcone had had the grace to bite his tongue and simply close his eyes, his hand resting on the 'Chemist's shoulder. Although, whether it was out of pity or empathetic mortification that his love interest was too flighty to feel himself, even the Scholar wasn't certain.)

Hoping to break the silence that had befallen them as they waited for the Paladin's return, Alex turned to Jeliel with a teasing smirk and said, "Boy, he seemed pretty interested in you; didn't stop staring until we got here!"

"Oh...Sexuality jokes." Jeliel sniffed, looking away. "How..quaint."

Zira and Shujiri snickered as Lady Lana giggled a bit more conservatively into her hand.

"No! That's not how it's supposed to go!" Sahari declared, tugging Jeliel away from Alex. She shoved the dark-haired High Wizard next to Zira and smiled. "That's better." Turning and grinning at Jackel, she asked, "Don't you think?"

The answering uproar of laughter from her teammates, the flushing Jeliel and indignant Zira excluded, was loud enough to echo through the room until a cough caught everyone's attention. When they all turned back to the throne, they were surprised to see the man from before taking a seat in it - with a crown on his head.

"Have I missed that much?" he joked, trying to ease the sudden mountain of tension that had just piled up.

"Er, no. That is-" began Alex.

The king lifted a hand to silence the Whitesmith. "Don't let my change of wardrobe deter yourselves from your earlier airs, by any means. Now, shall we begin the explanation with introductions?"

Jeliel scoffed. "Let's start with yours."

Several things happened at once, now, beginning with Zira's foot making direct, painful contact with the slightly taller man's foot. Next, and with such a small integer of time between it and Zira's action, was Lana's elbow in the High Wizard's side. The others settled for what would, to onlookers, seem like synchronized smacking of various body parts - from the head, to the arm, to the back.

The king merely chuckled. "I am King Gakudon Girard of Prontera. Son of former King and Queen Aice and Anise. And you are...?"

"Jeliel Damasqus, a High Wizard from Yuno and son of Enochiel and Iliza."

Gakudon nodded slightly, his expression becoming that of a man perplexed by something. "And you..?" he coaxed the blonde at Jeliel's side, hoping they would fall in line at introducing themselves without further prodding.

"Ah...Zira Vinova(1), High Priest of The Order of Freya; son of Abriel and Zire. I hail from Rachel, primarily."

"Shujiri, an Assassin Cross originally from Morroc."

"Alex Armyst, a Whitesmith from Einbroch; son of Golbez and Rosa."

"Dmitri Equins; Stalker from Comodo, sort of...Son of Derin and Autumn."

"Lady Lana Aquesta; High Priestess for The Order of Freya, from Payon. I'm the daughter of Thaelib and Lady Nicolette."

"Sahari Y'atamne, Assassin Cross from Comodo, mainly; daughter of..uh..." Sahari faltered slightly, but then perked up again, grinning as she pointed to Dmitri. "This guy here."

Eying Sahari with subtle concern, Jackel said, "Jackel Vane; Gunslinger ex'tr'ord'naire from Ayothaya. 'Parents were Roger 'n' Jacklynne."

"Ghebriel Ma'alin, and the little homunculus on my shoulder is Pharin - my Filir. My father is Embriel and, at least I'm told, my mother was Gwynn. We make our home..Er..."

Falcone took the Creator's hand in his and interrupted, saying, "With me, in Amatsu. I am Falcone Vanalstyne, a Professor from Yuno and the son of Valse and Hawke."

At this, Pharin spoke up, pointing his wing at the icy wolf pup at their feet. "And the puddle-waiting-to-happen, here, is Tyr."

"I see. So," Gakudon coaxed when their introductions were complete, "What is it that brings you to Prontera? And for what I believe I can safely assume is most of you's first visit, no less?"

"We came to look for someone..I think." Sahari supplied, looking over to Shujiri. "Right, Shuji-Fu?"

"Rine." Shujiri confirmed. "We have to find him for something; it's important."

Gakudon's brow quirked. "Oh?"

"Sire?" Dmitri spoke, gaining the king's attention. "By any chance, have the other monsters around town been acting kinda funny? Like, have they been unusually aggressive or more active than usual?"

"They have, at that, now that you mention it."

Now it was Falcone's turn to step up. "We've just made our way from Lutie, where the Knight of the Windstorm, Stormy, was causing a commotion in the Toy Factory. He was uncommonly aggressive - half-crazed, it seemed; Tyr said there was an evil influence over him."

Shujiri, too, spoke again. "His mother, Garm, was under the same influence at first. We know what's causing it, and we know that it has to be stopped."

Suspicious, Gakudon leaned forward a bit. "What might that be?"

"It's a long story."

"Humour me."

"Satan Morroc." stated Zira. He may not have all of his memories back, but he did know for certain that what was being said was absolutely true. Something inside him was screaming out that it was that very beast that was the root cause for the terrible nightmares that plagued him nearly every time he slept.

Shujiri nodded. "It may be hard to believe, but we've gone through pretty much all of this before - some with more memories in-tact than others. Satan Morroc can and will destroy everything in his path if he isn't stopped."

With this piece of serious news, King Gakudon moved to stand again, expression serious. His eyes scanned the faces of the men and women before him. He watched the High Priest, Professor, and Assassin Cross for a few moments before he spoke again. "It does sound hard to believe, you're right." When they started to protest, he raised his hand in a silencing motion. "However, I do believe it. Quite a bit, in fact."

"You do?"

"I've listened to your situation and now it is your turn to hear me out, too."

"Alright."

"As the king of Prontera, certain things are bound to come to my attention that cause concern for me and my royal assistants. One such instance was during a recent game day we held to celebrate the town's 'birthday,' so to speak. One of my guards came to me with news that a Bard was in the middle of town, acting like a fool possessed - and swearing that the town was burning down around him."

"Special in the head sounds more like it," Pharin noted.

"You might have thought so to see the panicked state he was in, from what I was told; Prontera was perfectly fine, but..It was cause for worry. I went to see him personally, but by the time I had gotten there, one of my Lord Knights had ushered him away from the crowd that had gathered around him, saying that the Clown was merely acting out a new song he was in the process of composing. Later, I tracked down that Knight and spoke with him about the matter. He said the man..Well, he said he 'sees' things. Things that can't have happened in this world, but his descriptions were so vivid and the fear so real that he couldn't have been making it up. But we had no idea where he would have gotten ideas such as those."

"What other kinds of things did he see? Was it just Prontera?" asked Alex, a sinking feeling in his stomach.

"You must realize, first, that I didn't believe it to begin with. I kept a close eye on the man for a while after that, and the Knight stayed with him. Apparently he had taken to seeking out the Clown to listen to him play whenever he would sneak away from his training sessions, so he had become quite familiar with his behavior when he would stumble into one of those visions. The first one I saw, myself, was one of the more tame events."

"What was it?"

"The Clown, Chrnos...When he has one of his visions, he becomes completely involved in it, acting out the part of one of whoever is in them. That particular incident saw him wandering out the city gates to talk to someone else that must have been in the vision - a High Priest, from what I could gather. He spoke for a while about the hidden shrine in Amatsu, pets, the legendary Endless Tower..."

These things grabbed Shujiri and Zira's attention so violently that they almost felt the need to check for bruises, but the two friends remained silent. They settled for exchanging a serious look as the king continued his tale.

"On a more serious occasion, Chrnos spoke to the Knight as if they were lovers in the middle of a battle with something. By the end of the vision he was so disturbed that he was screaming about something we couldn't even understand and then he just..passed out. When he came to, he had no memory of anything he had said or done. That was unusual, as he usually remembers a good deal of what is revealed to him during these fits. Stranger still was another such occurrence. In the middle of a song, he stopped, turned to the Knight, and said he 'was such a fool for believing every story they had fed him about their beautiful plan.' He said the world would be remade in the image they designed for it, and nothing he did would stop the end from coming. He referred to him as the High Wizard mentioned in a few obscure legends around these parts - sounded as if he thought that man was him, and what's more, he attacked him."

"He attacked?" Falcone inquired, jotting all the things he had heard so far down in his little notebook and shoving his glasses back up his nose.

"Indeed. But in a very..unusual manner. As you may be aware, Clowns and Bards are poets, musicians, and comics. The primary weapons they use are their instruments or their songs. But rather than fire arrows or sing, he seemed to be using the guitar as a sword. He was very skilled at it, too; Xabel and I-"

"Xabel?" The Scholar's head tilted slightly, brows furrowed. That name sounded somewhat familiar...

"The Lord Knight, yes. We struggled for a while against him to subdue him before he finally came to his senses. He was remarkably skilled with the style he used against us for someone who had never held a sword before. And, just like the last time I mentioned, he was confused as to why we were restraining him and why he was so breathless. In the end, he and Xabel set out to try to figure out what those visions meant. I don't know how, but I believe that what he was experiencing is, in some way, tied in with what's happening and with what you've told me."

Everyone was silent as the Paladin king's explanation drew to a close. He was right - it had to be related somehow, but they weren't quite sure why. How was it that the Bard had come into these visions?

"Do you know anyone of the name Chrnos, Shujiri? Zira?" Lana asked softly.

"No such luck..." Shujiri sighed. "But then again, not all the names are the same now as they were before, so it's possible. But ye know, so far, all of us have had the same jobs we had before, so maybe not."

Shujiri glanced to Zira to ask if he had known anyone of that name before they met up in any of their past lives, but stopped at the expression on his face. It was a mixture of surprise and a shock of fear; something Gakudon had said had triggered a memory, and apparently it was a rather disturbing one. "You okay?"

Blinking and shaking his head a few times, Zira jumped slightly as he turned to Shujiri. "Oh- yes. Sorry..I'm fine. It's just that some of that,..It's some of what my nightmares had been about before we met. This time, I mean."

"Then I think finding Rine has just become our second priority. The first should be to find Chrnos and find out what all he's been seeing."

Shujiri glanced around the group to take in their opinions of the idea, quietly noting the perplexed and somewhat aggravated look on Jeliel's face. He would have to ask about it later, but for now...

"Where might we find this Chrnos?"

King Gakudon motioned vaguely towards the east with his right hand. "I believe he and his self-proclaimed 'guardian' are headed for Amatsu. You should be able to catch up to them there."

"Then we're a-goin' east, I take it?" Jackel asked.

"Y'know," Sahari beamed and said, "The consensual age is like, way lower over there."

"That so."

"Too bad the rate of unhappy marriages isn't." Dmitri said casually, eying the girl beside him. "Those consensual gals might want to slow down a bit and wait a few years to finish growing up before-"

"You have to put a damper on everything, don't you, Mr. Realistic?" Sahari grumbled.

Jackel chuckled and patted her shoulder. "'M sure y'all will fig're things out even'chally."

Moving forward to the taller Paladin, Shujiri offered a smile. "Thanks for your help. And for understanding."

Gakudon smiled and nodded. "The lot of you had better take care of yourselves. I guarantee you, your journey only gets harder from here on out."

"Aye, thank ye."

As the gang turned to go, King Gakudon said to Shujiri, "From here, you'll need to go east towards Izlude. You'll be able to find a ship to Alberta there, and once you land in Alberta, you'll be needing another boat to Amatsu. Farewell; I wish you all every ounce of luck this world has to offer you on your mission. May the gods keep you all safe."
To Be Continued...