CHAPTER FOUR
The Temple of Black
The two strangers entered the first Earthbound and Enlightened town. The town was not what the two expected at all. Lying next to the ocean was two wharfs and a few taverns. The town's buildings were actually made from thick timbre. The land was recovering from the long ice age and plant life was growing once again. Even the sky had shown the end of the ashen cloud that was left behind after Lavos crashed on the planet.
Janus walked about the town, noticing the people living in harmony and growing. The sorcerer's stomach began to twist when he saw a couple walk pass him with a child. The man was an Earthbound, a magicless human while the female was Enlightened, a human blessed with the wisdom and knowledge of magic. In her arms were their beautiful baby girl and the Enlightened one was with child.
A wave of nausea came over the wizard as he held himself up with the support of the nearest house. Janus shook his head, refusing to accept the sight before him. Crono placed a comforting hand on his friend. Janus looked at Crono over his shoulder. The red headed swordsman gave him a smirk. The sorcerer shook the hand off of his shoulder.
"I know. It was destined but I don't have to like it. If one of those powerless humans even touched my sister," Janus let the statement end there.
The two continued through the town, searching for any leads for the missing princess of Zeal. The townsfolk ignored the two and went about their business. Anytime one of the two men did happen to stop one of the civilians, the only answers they received were shrugs.
Janus leaned against the nearest house and began pondering what to do next, when a touch of fur brushed against his calf. The prince stared down and a soft smile came to his face. The smile lasted only a few moments.
A pair of blue eyes stared up at the wizard, followed by a mew. The cat began to brush against the leg of the prince.
"Go away, Alfador," whispered Janus.
"Get back here!" yelled a man in torn clothing grabbing Alfador harshly.
Janus glared at the old man in rags. The man hasn't shaved in years and he smelled of body odor and alcohol. He appeared gruff but he did pet Alfador gently and shot Janus a dark gaze. The old man back away, as he was noticing who he was just threatening with his eyes. He eyes fell to the floor, refusing to even look at the wizard.
A strong hand grabbed him by the collar and lifted him effortlessly off the ground. The prince stared deeply into his eyes, promising a very long and painful death.
"I'm sorry, Prophet. After all these years, we thought you dead along with the others," whimpered the old man.
"Now how would I die if I knew my own fate?" Janus asked manically.
"I'm sorry, Prophet. Many, many apologizes," begged the old man.
Janus dropped the old man to the ground but he didn't take his gaze off of him. The wizard circled around the man, preventing any type of escape.
"How many years have I been gone?" ask Janus quietly.
The old man looked up confused. Was he not a prophet? Also, wouldn't anyone know the year by remaining on the surface? Without questioning, which he knew would only enrage the Prophet, the old man answered.
"Um, if my memory serves me right, twenty-eight years."
"Has anyone seen or heard of the princess during that time?"
"No, master Prophet, none has. Only the legend can hope to bring the princess or the prince back to us," the old man replied hugging the feline close.
Janus squatted down to the man's height but the tall wizard still towered over the old one. The wizard eyes narrowed.
"What legend?"
"D… Da legend states, that in the Temple of Black can the search end for the lost royalties. Um, but only the one holding the royal key may enter and only that of royal blood may be tested. That is all I know, I swear," begged the old man.
"Where is this temple," said Janus lifting his head up.
"It's forty kilometers to the south of the Sun Cave," the old man replied.
The prince rose and looked off to the east. Quickly, the prince snapped his head back to the old man. Kilometers? How would an imbecile know what a kilometer is? That type of measurement was thought up close to the first millennium.
Before the prince could question the old man farther, he noticed Crono heading back the way they came, towards the Epoch. The wizard gave the old man no more notice and ran to keep up with the swordsman. The old man stared up at the departing prince, noticing that he was floating more then running.
The illusion of an old man fell. The brown hair that was in disarray was now straightened and groomed to the side, showing a lovely shade of blue. The ragged clothes were replaced with a rich, shining red cape. The wrinkles faded, leaving a young and vital man.
Noah smirked, "Good luck".
"A CHALLENGER COMES, SATURN," called a demonic voice from across the void.
The specter looked out of his prison window, noticing some sort of flying vehicle. For the past sixty-five years, the ghost was caught between dimensions. The keeper of the damned in Limbo gave him a chance to save his eternal soul, by being the keeper of the Temple of Black. Only of royal blood may set his soul free.
As the craft landed before the mountain, two young men stepped out. Saturn frowned at the sight of the two. Neither was of royal blood. He knew of only three royalists thus far. Queen Zeal, who hovered above him in the black omen; Schala, who would be a fair and beautiful woman; and Janus, who would be, by now, reaching his thirtieth year birthday. The specter shook his head.
"Foolish boys," Saturn said, his voice echoing throughout his prison.
Most of the planet has begun to thaw, except here before a large mountain range. Embedded into a mountain was a large spiraling tower. The two men walked up before the door of the tower and were not surprised to see that the door was sealed by some magic force. Janus extended his arm to Crono.
The swordsman nodded and handed the prince the pendant of Zeal. Janus grasped the pendent in his hand and channeled his strength through the pendent. The magical doors opened, showing only darkness on the inside. The swordsman began to walk in but Janus threw his arm across his chest, stopping him in his tracks.
Crono turned and tilted his head.
"I must go alone. Do not follow," barked Janus as he began to walk slowly to the entrance. With a flick of his wrist, the prince threw the pendent behind him.
"If I don't come back in a couple of days, move on," commanded the wizard.
Crono lifted his hand up and caught the pendent, turning his hand up with his middle finger sticking up. The swordsman began wondering if he should've left the blue hair Zealian where he found him. Crono shrugged, as if it didn't matter. As long as he was on the road again, he could ignore the grief he felt in his heart. The swordsman drew Rainbow and began going through a simple battle technique.
The door slammed behind the wizard, hardly surprising him. Looking around, all that Janus saw was darkness. The wizard spun around and chanted for a spell of fire. A ring of flames went around and out from the wizard, which in turn lit several torches.
The inside of the temple was thick with metal. This caused the prince to raise an eyebrow. The Enlightened Ones used to use metal with all sorts of tools and architectures. But, by the looks of the temple, the Earthbound must have made the temple for it looked older then Janus.
The prince shrugged and grabbed a torch. This place is primitive except for the fact it's mostly made of metal This prince shook his head. No. The door required magic.
Janus began to walk down the hall. The temple was strangely quiet. Janus' breathing was the only thing that could be heard and except for the torch light, the temple remain pitch black. Within an hour, the hall forked in three perpendicular directions. The prince placed his torch in the middle of the crossroads. The flames began moving to the right; therefore air was coming from the left.
The prince turned left and headed down the corridor. As the wizard continued his trek, to either side of him were doors that he didn't bother to open. He felt a great and powerful presence down this corridor. The corridor ended in front of a door.
Janus grabbed the handle and pulled the door open. A gust of cold wind whipped out of the door, blowing out the torch. The prince dropped the torch and started walking up, noticing the stairs with the little time he had to look pass the door. At the top of the stairs was a square room. In the middle of the room was a big throne. The walls and ceiling began to glow an eerie light purple.
"Who dares enter the Temple of Black?" a voice asked and echoed.
"Hmph. My name is Prophet, who are you?" sneered the wizard.
"The one who will only test those of royal blood! Prophet, you may not be tested. Be gone!" screamed the echoing voice.
The prince closed his eyes and nodded his head down. He began chuckling.
"Very well then, test me whoever you are. I am Prince Janus of the fallen kingdom of Zeal that is now buried underneath the ocean," Janus laughed.
"Do not mock me. I am no fool. Prince Janus is a middle aged man. You, Prophet, are a very young man. Maybe eighteen winters?" pondered the echoing voice.
Janus sneered at the remark but quickly regained his composure. The prince grabbed his scythe and began to walk to the chair.
"I am Janus Zeal and I am here for answers which you will give me," whispered the wizard.
A blinding light shot from the chair, dazing the wizard. Janus shielded his eyes with his cape, keeping the light from blinding him further. The flash ended quickly. Janus blinked a few times, trying to adjust to the darkness again. There before him, seated in the chair, was a middle aged man with short blue hair and well trimmed beard. The man wore impressive armor, like the knights of Gaurdia would wear, with a red flowing cape which was held up by a brooch. The brooch, upon closer examination, was the royal crest of Zeal.
"Who are you?" questioned Janus.
"Your death," replied the man, who echoed with each word.
The man vanished before Janus' eyes. The wizard spun and looked everywhere for the man in armor. Above he heard chanting, so the wizard dived towards the chair, and not a moment too soon. Two blocks of ice slammed down were the wizard was, shattering the ground beneath them.
Without wasting another moment, the prince let loose his Dark Bomb up at the ceiling. A black dot shot out of the wizard's forefinger. The dot landed on the ceiling, causing a globe of shadow to surround the area. The man was no where to be seen. Janus turned around in time to see a wave of fire coming towards him. The prince dived down flat on his stomach, feeling the heat roll on top of him but doing no real damage.
A sword came down upon the prince. Within the last possible second, Janus brought his scythe to bear, locking the blades. The prince rose slowly and glared into his opponent's eyes. The man withdrew his blade, leaving a wide opening. Janus took the shot. The scythe went right through him.
As Janus spun around, millions of questions went through his mind. Many more questions came as the man was hovering above him chanting a familiar spell.
"Kuna pinjea kilmax veto delio Dark MATTER!" screamed the man.
Crono spun around in his Cyclone Attack, trying to improve the technique. The swordsman wanted to not just have his blades spin and slash an enemy but also he was confident that he would be able to kick twice in each rotation in the spin. The problem was that he didn't want to have both his legs and his sword tangled up in the attack.
The swordsman tried to kick once but caught his leg in the spin and had a nasty cut that almost removed his leg. Sheathing the Rainbow, Crono went to stop the bleeding but the wound was too great. The swordsman removed his bandanna and began to make a tourniquet for his leg.
The blood began to flow too quickly for the swordsman to stop. Crono's eyes rolled to the back of his head, falling unconscious in the freezing snow.
"DIS-SPELL!" countered Janus, before the last word left the man's mouth.
The man pointed in the wizard's direction but nothing happened. The man's eyes went wide in shock. No one has ever mastered the shadow arts and it was even rarer to find an Enlightened One who would even know the power of shadow. The man came out of his reverie as Janus' Doomsickle went right between his eyes.
"Do quit that," the man said, vanishing again.
The wizard nodded, completely agreeing with what he could only assume was a ghost. Janus began to look around again, wondering where the next attack will come from. The wizard turned his head straight ahead. Dodge this.
Janus jumped into the middle of the room and threw his hand to the floor. Lightning bolts shot out in four directions from the wizard and continued to spin around him. To the left Janus heard a groan. Then he heard clapping.
"Good job," the ghost smiled, "but how about this element."
The specter began to chant and his cape blew up above his head. The room began to shake, the ice blocks shattered into thousands of shards. The glow in the room began to flicker on and off. Janus threw up his Magic Wall.
"Jinda pinjum dayo vicka dous Bright NOVA!" screamed the ghost.
The room lit up as it seemed a thousand suns just appeared. Janus screamed in pain, as the searing light blinded him. The light was the lease of his problems. A ball of light encased the wizard, seeming to snuff out his powers. All the magic Janus used today, from the simple floating when he 'ran', to the powerful Dis-spell magic, came back to him three fold in a sheer holy power of light. How the prince screamed.
The ghost opened his eyes after the spell wore off. The ghost took a step back, seeing that his adversary was still standing after such an attack.
"By oblivion," the specter whispered.
Janus looked at the man with as much hate as he would've given Lavos. If the prince didn't put up his Magic Wall, he knew he would have been dead. Normally, Janus didn't care if he lived or died, but the question of if his sister was alive kept him going. No old man with his tricks would stop him. The prince took a step forward, then collapsed
Janus slowly opened his eyes, which was indeed difficult with the extreme lack of strength. The prince sat up and glared at the chair where the man sat, smiling at him. A growl escaped Janus' lips.
"You survived my Bright Nova, congratulations Janus of Zeal," announced the ghost.
Janus placed his scythe on the ground and used it as leverage to stand up, though he tried to make it appear that he stood up without any help.
"So, did I pass?" Janus asked sarcastically.
"Ha ha, no, not yet. The test comes in three. The first is of body…" the ghost started.
"…then the next two must be mind and spirit," Janus finished rolling his eyes at the cliché.
"Ha ha, of course. Time to test the mind," the specter laughed tapping his forehead.
Janus nodded impatiently, wanting to get the test over with and start looking for his sister. The ghost smiled all the more at Janus' lack of inner calm.
"Where are we?" asked the ghost.
Janus moved his head left then right and then back to the ghost. "We are in the Temple of Black," Janus responded.
"It had a different name, what was it?"
"How the Nine Hells would I know?"
"You are Janus Zeal correct?"
"So?"
"You may have been too young but you should know. Of course only if you are Janus Zeal."
Janus placed his chin down to his chest and closed his eyes. The prince began from the here and now and slowly began to reminisce back to when he was a young boy. The thoughts of his sister came to him then, a memory before the Mammon Machine, Prophet, and even the idea of Lavos. He was outside, playing tag with his sister and mother. Both women Janus loved above all others. They were a happy family.
But then taking the memory into closer light, something was missing. His eyes shot open, gazing at the ghost that still was smiling at the prince. It all began to make sense; regardless on how far fetch the prince thought it was.
"We are in the first Blackbird," Janus whispered. The ghost nodded. Janus reached up with his thumb and forefinger and pinched the rim of his nose.
"Let me guess… you are King Saturn Zeal," asked Janus.
"Very good son, now for the test of spirit," announced Saturn.
"Are you sure son?" asked King Saturn.
"I said quit calling me that! Of course I'm ready but only if I will find Schala," snapped Janus.
"I told you it will enlighten you which in turn will help you in your search," replied the king.
Janus grunted and stood very still. He was completely taxed by the battle and the realization that his father been haunting the old Blackbird for all this time did not sit well with the prince. Now, the ghost planned on draining him of even more energy. But, this test, Janus had to be completely willing to go through with.
"Above Heaven and below the Earth, within yourself, do you surrender the Dark Curse of the Zeal family?" asked the ghost.
Janus nodded. Saturn softly walked right into Janus' very being, possessing him fully. The prince began to shudder and spasm but couldn't scream out in agony. He felt his very soul being torn asunder. All went black and then the prince awoke again before his dead father.
"I'm proud of you, Janus. I saw your life history and I couldn't be prouder," smiled the king.
"Shut up. Did it work?" asked the prince.
The king nodded and opened his palm where a blacker than black ball of shadow rested in his hand. There, before the prince, was both his very being but also the cursed power that has haunted him his whole life. That power gave him the power to enslave Ozzie and all the Mystics but it cost the wizard something more, something deep within himself. There, in King Saturn's grasp, laid the Black Wind.
"Once you see the world through your new eyes, you'll come to understand to find your sister is an easy feat. When you find her, bring her here to let me rest in peace," Saturn said.
Janus nodded and walked pass the chair and pass the illusionary wall. Staring down, Janus saw his comrade unconscious on the ground, with what seem to be many pints of blood around him. Something unusual tugged at Janus, screaming that he needs to see if his friend was in need of help. The wizard didn't understand and just pushed the feeling away. Janus walked out of the broken window and floated down next to Crono.
With a kick from the prince had Crono sitting up. A wave of dizziness overwhelmed Crono as the lack of blood made him feel weak. The swordsman managed to look up and smile to his friend before fainting. Sighing, the prince lifted up the swordsman and began heading for the Enlightened/Earthbound town.
A gust of wind pushed King Saturn to the far wall. The new intruder came in without the king's knowledge and with more power than he has ever seen. The fact that Saturn used all of his magic today in the fight against Janus didn't help. The youthful mage threw another gust of wind at the king, causing him to hit the ceiling.
Noah walked up to the fallen king and picked up the ball of shadow.
"N… no," begged the king.
Noah gazed down at the specter without any pity whatsoever. He tried to kick Saturn but his foot went right threw the king's head.
"I have what I want. Now I'm sorry," Noah paused, using his powers to lift the king up into the air, "but it is time you went away. Limbo seems nice this time of year."
"N… no." the king continuously begged.
The young so mage threw the king out of the Blackbird cockpit, into the forbidden outside world. The king howled in anguish as his very soul erupted into flames. Within seconds, Saturn was gone, never to return again.
Noah stared down at the Black Wind. Without another moment of thought he thrust the cursed powers into his body. The Black Wind engulfed his entire body in darkness. The pain, sorrow, anger, jealousy, and rage within Noah began to swell. The young mage felt as if he was going to explode. His scream was inhuman. Then, all was quiet.
Noah looked down at his hand, feeling something he wasn't sure was right. He expected to feel more power, instead he felt truly hallow. But then he felt the hole in him began to be flooding with dark energy. The young mage's laugh could be heard throughout the night.