Start Date: April 15, 2023

Windwillow

Note: The bold segments are a direct replication of the data being read.

A Masterpiece of Revenge

Chapter I: The Deposed King

Scene One

The Kingdom of Magic had ceased to exist. Consumed by its own hubris and the insanity of its queen, the entirety of the Kingdom of Zeal vanished into the seas in the span of a single day and night, with all its enigmas and glorious developments cast into the deep oceans, never to be found again. What remained in the ruined world were a few patches of livable land, some of it mercifully forested, and only a single village where two peoples mingled. One group was the last vestiges of the Kingdom of Zeal, stripped bare of their magic and thrown naked into an empty new world. No trace of their wondrous abilities remained; they had become the equals of the peoples they oppressed and treated as inferiors. Blessedly, they were welcomed into the arms of the remaining survivors, who bore no ill will and allowed the Enlightened Ones to mingle with the Earthbound peoples in peace.

There was, however, a single vestige of the lost kingdom left untamed, the former commander of its military who had survived the fall by casting his steel wings to the winds and weathered the storm. Dalton, as the sole survivor of Zeal, had alone retained his magic through his strong connection to Lavos' malice, and he intended to create a new empire with himself as its sovereign. Unfortunately, the three troublemakers he'd abducted had left behind their Wings of Time to his tender mercies. Dalton, determined to rule the Earth from the skies, latched iron wings to the improperly named Wings of Time and labeled it as his personal chariot: the Aero-Dalton Imperial. As he launched himself from the craft's hangar, the incredible pressure he generated had ripped several of his followers along with him and into the emptiness of the skies. Dalton didn't care; he had plenty of slaves left to replace them. Dalton cast his arms to the sky and laughed, his happiness having reached its peak.

"A fitting chariot for a supreme being!" he laughed. In his glee, however, he only vaguely caught sight of a shadow in his peripheral view. When he turned he was confronted by a beautiful young blonde, dressed in a white jumpsuit who had now narrowed her weapon - a crossbow - at his face, and he was unable to suppress his horror at her arrival.

She'd gone through more than she could bear. In the aftermath of the murder of the young man she'd come to love, all the sorrow and all the hatred was now narrowed at the caped figure in the pilot's seat. "You killed Crono, you piece of trash!" Marle screeched. When Dalton tilted his head in confusion she angrily lashed out and a dagger of ice from her fingertips ripped off Dalton's eye patch. "You did it!" she snarled. "And I'm going to make you pay for it!"

"You're nuts, you little hoochie!" Dalton growled as he put a hand to his eye, and felt the icy cold spread to his entire face, the frost moving from his eye to the front of his head. Appalled, Dalton angrily began to gather a mass of nuclear energy with which to maim Marle with. As he reached back to retaliate, however, Dalton caught sight of another incoming threat and managed to dodge just in time to evade Lucca's limp body that passed by him and landed on the Epoch with a thud.

As she skittered to her feet, Lucca angrily produced her middle finger to her friend. "Never, ever, do that again, you crazy old bat!" she shrieked, her anger turned towards the cave woman who had landed just as she had on top of the Epoch. Lucca turned to Dalton, shook off her anger, and pointed her weapon between his eyes. "And you! I'm going to make you pay for what you've done!" screeched Lucca.

"Lucca?! What just happened to you?!" exclaimed Marle.

As her anger built, Lucca angrily pointed at her friend Ayla and choked out an expletive. "The crazy damned nutcase threw me here!" she snarled. She turned to the cave woman and glared at her, though when Ayla glared back she quickly gave up.

"What the hell did I do?! I never even saw the guy die!" Dalton insisted furiously. "And if you want a fight..." he sneered, "then the Golem Boss will be your opponent!" Dalton opened his palm and lifted it to the sky, causing a summoning gate to appear behind him. While the idea was to summon his servant, Dalton never got the chance to do so because the cave woman planted her fist in his face and sent him flying into the gate himself.

Scene Two

After passing through the shadowy, mist filled void, Dalton landed unceremoniously on his back, bruising it. Dalton dragged himself to his seat and watched as the summoning gate he had created faded into nothingness. He reached out his hand but was unable to reach it in time, though he caught sight of his servant hovering just ahead of him. The Golem Boss had hesitated on the Blackbird and had fled to its own dimension in terror, so the summoning spell did nothing but open a portal to the Golem's dreary dimension.

"Y-Y-You stupid-" he rasped, unable to form words. Because of the Golem's cowardice, he'd been sent here, and the beast stared haplessly at him in search of a response. He delivered his answer in a massive blast of lightning that incinerated the Golem Boss and left himself stranded in an unknown world. "God damn it!" Dalton screeched. Even as the light of his spell extinguished, he quickly realized he was in a completely empty, black void.

Dalton flicked his finger and ignited a small fireball on the tip of his index finger to allow him to view his surroundings. Everywhere he looked there was nothing but black emptiness, no walls or even a floor to stand on, but somehow he lay on his back atop some sort of surface. Once he'd gathered himself, Dalton thought back to what had happened and understood that he was in the Golems' realm, trapped. He lifted his hand to his face and held it to his nose, and when he drew it back he saw a trickle of blood on his fingers. He was bleeding from Ayla's punch.

That damned ape! Not only do I have a bloody nose, but now I'm trapped here?! And I don't even know where "here" is!

The realm where Golems dwell is a world of darkness, utter black and emptiness. In fact, the Golems fed off of their environment and its lack of light. If the reverse of good is evil and the reversal of light was dark, the symbolic nature the black void provided enabled them to draw upon its dark magic. The negative aspect of negativity is, of course, well... it's negative, and horribly depressing to spend time in.

Dalton muttered an expletive and slammed his fist to the "floor" in sheer frustration. If there was no hope... what then? "I refuse to admit defeat!" he scoffed. He clenched his fist and grit his teeth, gnashing them in frustration. "I was meant to rule the whole damned world, and now I'm in this hell hole?! Oh, hell no!" screamed Dalton.

Okay, okay, stay calm... You are, after all, beautiful, and beauty means calm and sunshine. So! I am calm and sunshine! If I can't walk out of this place... I'll just have to warp out of it!

He'd come here with a summoning spell. Why not invert it and leave with one? Having calmed himself, Dalton extinguished the light on his finger and clapped his hands together. The Golem summoning spell tore open the dimensions between reality and the Golems' realm. He clenched his fingers together, prayed, and surged a massive amount of energy out from his core. The very foundation he was on rumbled and the void warped, darkness became light and Dalton landed squarely in an unknown location. Anywhere was better than where he was.

Scene Three

Having landed squarely on his face, Dalton unsteadily pushed himself to his seat and examined his surroundings. While Zeal used technology that was mixed with magic, the circuits and wires in this place were utterly devoid of spiritual energy. He seemed to be in a room covered with wires, cords, and iron plates that vaguely formed the shape of a room. A primitive room, yes, but a room. The fact that the technology was so advanced and he was in such a remote location only irked him further.

"I deserve better than to be stuffed in a steel closet!" cursed Dalton. He lifted himself to his feet and examined the room again, finding that he was in a totally square space without windows or skylights. Luckily he saw what appeared to be a door, and so stepped up to it and attempted to open it. When he was unable to, he took his fist and blasted through it and walked into the greater part of his present locale. "Well, well... Anyone here?" he shouted, seemingly to no one. It was truly infuriating!

Tch. Just peachy. I land in a damned broom closet from the future... Wait, what?! What would I know about the future?! Besides that, it should have been my future! And this place's decor is abominable! Where are the colors, the lights? I need a stereo system to survive, and I demand that my favorite channel turn on right now! I am not missing my favorite program! Until I find out who killed Mr. Burns, what the hell am I supposed to do?! What kind of podunk hole did I fall into?!

Once he'd gathered himself and settled his petty frustrations, Dalton took a look around the place where he'd ended up. It was a highly technologically advanced facility of some sort, but what kind of technology? There were tubes and cords and flashing lights, but nothing seemed to have any magical power in it. So, how was it functioning? Several doors of the same kind that he'd... exited... from were scattered around the area, so he chose one at random and opened it. This time, it didn't take a fireball; simply waving his hand over a small console was enough to open the door with a marvel of engineering that raised Dalton's eyebrow. The door opened to reveal a large open space that was occupied by several men wearing white robes of some sort, though oddly enough they didn't have any scholar's caps like they did in Zeal. A quick look around the room revealed a series of keyboards linked to large, colored windows that were covered in lines, squares, and circles of all sorts. The room's inhabitants reacted negatively to his arrival, for some reason, and that irritated him considerably.

Folding his arms over his chest, Dalton turned to each of the scientists one by one and narrowed in on the youngest, a black-haired young man wearing some sort of headset. "I demand to know what this place is for!" he barked. "What kind of mucked up dimension am I in?! Am I still in the realm of Zeal, or did I pop up somewhere else?!"

Slowly, hesitantly, the scientist's heart resumed beating and he loosened his stance. "This is the Temporal Research Laboratory... I don't know what you mean by dimension, but it's the year 2300 C.E. and... You said Zeal?!" the scientist exclaimed, his eyes widening. "You mean to say that the kingdom really did once exist?!"

Dalton tilted his head in confusion, unsure of the man's issues with Zeal. Didn't everyone know of the Kingdom of Zeal?! Even the Earthbound slackers knew the name. Once he'd gathered himself, Dalton quietly brushed the hair from his face and gave a two-fingered salute. "I am Dalton, head commander of the Kingdom of Zeal's military. Now, I demand to know what this place is used for..." he said coldly. "What kind of laboratory am I in?"

The idea that the kingdom truly existed was a historian's dream. Learning of the culture and advances of the legendary magical nation first hand would chill the souls of any scholar in the world. "We research history and temporal theories from around the world..." said the technician. As the realization of the situation kicked in, he cheerfully stretched out his hand to Dalton. "Our database has no knowledge of the Kingdom of Zeal! May I interview you?!" he tittered.

"You will absolutely do nothing of the sort!" snapped Dalton. "And if you know something about history, I want to get some information about a few worms that I've encountered... Give me all the information you have, on the double, and a latte would be nice!"

"B-But... You need to be authorized to access our data..." the technician muttered. As excited as he was at the chance to interview Dalton, he couldn't break official protocol. "There's no way we can share official information with someone we've never met before..."

Dalton stretched out his finger, narrowed it at the technician's head, and fired a beam that turned it to mush. As his body dropped inertly to the ground, Dalton repeated his demands: "All the information, on the double!" he snarled. "I am a superior being, and I order you treat me as such!"

Panic immediately set in and one of the technicians slammed his hand against the emergency security button, causing loud alarms and red lights to start flashing all across the room. Disgruntled, Dalton again fired against the scientists and within five seconds the lot of them had been cut down, falling to the floor with holes in their heads. Outraged at their refusal, Dalton angrily pounded his fist into the wall, slowly realizing that he'd killed everyone who could give him the information he needed.

"Damn it! How dare you make me kill you, you miserable wretches! And where is my latte?!" he screeched madly.

Outraged, Dalton blasted the door he'd come through with a fireball and stomped out of the room. He was quickly greeted by several men, apparently soldiers, who had lifted some sort of weapon at him, each of them in turn. As his anger built, Dalton's fist began to tighten and a red flush coated his face.

"You're under arrest! Put your hands behind your back, or we'll use force instead!" barked one of the soldiers. Disinterested, Dalton clicked his fingers, causing ropes of energy to bind the soldiers both hand and foot, forcing their weapons from their fingers and tethering them in place.

"I'm getting tired of saying this! Either give me access to all these facilities or I'll slaughter the lot of you!" snarled Dalton. "Tell me how to operate these machines, now! I've just gotten punched in the damned nose by an ape, and I will not tolerate you worms talking back to me!"

Trembling in terror, none of the security officers could say a word. Their reluctance proved too much for Dalton to take, so he extended his finger and shot each of the soldiers in the head, causing them to fall inertly to the ground. As they fell down dead, however, Dalton came to the sickening realization that he'd killed everyone who could help him again. Flushed with rage, he dropped to his knees, screeched out an expletive, and cursed the fact that he still had no latte.

Scene Four

The situation seemed hopeless, but he'd had his fill of hopelessness for a lifetime just in the span of a day. Resolving to find a way to survive, Dalton ransacked the room where he'd killed the scientists, desperate to find either food or some way to use their technology. After a few minutes of searching he found a strange book, some sort of manual. Since it was in the common language he was able to read it, and so he learned the procedures to manipulate the artificial beings in the facility, who he could grill to find out everything he'd need to know.

"It's about damn time!" Dalton shouted gloriously. Once he'd done a short little happy dance, however, it occurred to him that the book said nothing about food or water. Disgruntled, he stormed from the room and headed out to search the larger facility for sustenance. Even if he found everything he needed to exact his revenge, not being able to survive sort of defeated the purpose.

They had better have some sort of coffee machine... I need my caffeine if I'm going to deal with all this garbage. It's bad enough I never got my latte...

Dalton took the rest of the day to search the entirety of the Temporal Research Laboratory in search of food and water. He eventually did so, but found only tap water and freeze dried foods that he estimated would sustain him for four months. It was a less than ideal situation, but it really was better than nothing. He would have to finish his research within the next four months or starve to death. It didn't take more than a day to understand the technology of the facility, leaving almost the full four months to plot his revenge.

As he took up position in front of a large computer console, Dalton input a series of commands and the device whirred to life. He leaned back in his seat, threw his arm over the chair, and slowly began to research his present situation. "Hmph... So I'm in the year 2300 C.E. and this facility is extremely isolated from the rest of the world... Fortunate. That way I don't have to worry about anyone coming to rescue those fools..." muttered Dalton.

The Temporal Research Laboratory contained a complete database of history throughout the ages. Every event, major and minor, was stored inside its mainframes. Dalton frantically researched for information about the Kingdom of Zeal, but found only that it was a mythical location long lost to history. Small matter; it should have been the Kingdom of Dalton either way. As he continued to research, a certain name continued to pop up, one that he vaguely remembered.

"'We've been researching the theories and theses of Lucca Ashtear, a scientist from 1000 C.E. She was a leading expert on scientific developments even in that remote age, and it is her theories on time travel and black holes that we continue to research even today.' Hmph... Where have I heard that name before?!" murmured Dalton. The realization struck hard. "Lucca! One of those worms called that geek with the glasses Lucca! So... She comes from the year 1000 C.E. and developed... Ugh. I always hated science class."

Much of her research had been classified by the Central Regime, and there existed no civilian codes that could access the bulk of her work. There were certainly juicy tidbits to be found there, but he had no way to access it, so he cursed for a few minutes before continuing to read.

"Lucca Ashtear, a scientist from the eleventh century of the common era, was employed by the Kingdom of Guardia as head technician and researcher. Assuming the other brats come from the same time period... I need to access historical... What?!" Dalton choked, nearly expelling his meal that was already ready to expel. As his anger grew, he grit his teeth together tight enough that he nearly cracked one open. "That little punk married into the royal family?! Gah! Well... How did the damn kingdom end in the first place?!" he screeched.

The Kingdom of Guardia, whose founding began the official calendar of Earth, reigned up until the twenty-first century, when it was replaced with the Central Regime. The advent of advanced technology and growing political tensions resulted in the kingdom's dissolution and incorporation into the Central Regime, which governed the rest of the world in addition to Guardia in a democratic republic. This persisted throughout into the second millennium, which we now live in. We've enjoyed an unprecedented level of peace and harmony since the millennium began, and we all look forward to a future even brighter than the era we live in now.

"God damn it! Everyone turns out all goody-goody and things are peaceful? How boring is that?!" shrieked Dalton, his rage overtaking him. In his fury he slammed his fist onto the console, which brought up a new section of information that he found much more promising. The politics of the Kingdom of Guardia until it was replaced by the Central Regime.

While the Kingdom of Guardia governed peacefully for most of its history, in the era circa 1000 C.E. it was plagued with internal disputes regarding trade. One of its satellites, the nation of Porre, voiced extreme displeasure with the Kingdom's trade practices, which they felt were unfairly weighted against them. With their economy deteriorating and political tensions increasing, war seemed imminent. Fortunately, the policies of Princess Nadia solved the dispute via mediation. Porre was granted greater economic freedom and was satisfied with the status quo, leading up to the formation of the Central Regime.

"So... this Porre state voiced opposition to the Kingdom and war nearly broke out... Heh. Ha! Ha ha ha ha! I've found my opening!" laughed Dalton, overcome with glee. "Now I only need to reach this time period... and then..." His planning was interrupted by a huge fart, sending noxious gasses throughout the research room. Embarrassed and outraged, Dalton screeched out an expletive and bashed the console again, nearly breaking it.

Scene Five

The task was set: Reach circa 1000 C.E. and muck up things enough to make the Kingdom of Guardia fall. The problem: How to reach 1000 C.E. Even Dalton's advanced magic wouldn't suffice to transport him from one era to the next, so the advanced technology of the future would be needed. It took nearly the full four months of planning, trial and error, which was mostly error, before the technology Lucca Ashtear developed using black holes bore fruit. Even then, the device was unstable and it was uncertain whether it would work in the first place. And in fact, in the first place, it didn't work. Frustrated, Dalton angrily cursed, farted, and cursed again before trying once again. This time, however, he incorporated his Golem summoning spell. The end result was a tiny tear in the space-time continuum that literally yanked him in and deposited him inside a dark, swirling void. The voyage was rough, and involved much gas and cursing, but at the end of the test Dalton landed squarely on his face in the middle of a forest.

"God damn it! That bloody hurt!" screeched Dalton. As he lifted himself to his feet he listened closely, and heard the distinct sound of birds singing, and felt the soft summer sun bear down on him. He turned his eyes to the sky, inhaled a deep breath, and crossed his fingers that he was in the right place.

As it happened, he'd managed to reach the precise point in time he'd been hoping for: 1004 C.E., in the middle of a Porrean forest. Once he'd made enough money as a petty thief, Dalton took the opportunity to visit the local pub. Given that he'd eaten only M.R.E.s for the last four months, taking the first sip of liquor and the first taste of red meat was a feeling that he would never forget.

"Ha ha ha ha! I've been waiting for this for ages!" cackled Dalton, reclining in his seat. He took a deep swig of his beer, belched, and slammed down the glass hard enough to almost crack it. Although the barkeep looked at him strangely, he certainly didn't care.

Now that that's out of the way... Did I make it to the right time period? Even if I didn't, this stuff is glorious. A few more expeditions and I can... Wait, what?! I almost forgot the point! Argh! Even if I have meat, what's the point if I can't fry those little hoochies?!

Dalton's jaunt at the bar, however, bore fruit when he overheard several juicy tidbits of gossip that implied Guardia's trade practices had indeed been hard on the people of Porre. Further listening proved that the situation had almost breached the point of no return! With mad laughter Dalton celebrated with another drink. Unfortunately, a heavy fart and a bar fight forced him out of the pub and landed him flat on his face on the street, much to his outrage.

Using all the underhanded tricks he could muster, Dalton managed to get an audience with the Mayor of Porre. He introduced himself as a wandering wizard, and offered to use his powers to overthrow Guardia. Instead, he was thrown out of the mayor's manor. While at first he pouted (and destroyed a couple of trees), an idea slowly entered his head: if he could prove his power, then that would have to attract the mayor's attention. His opportunity came when a slight rain storm broke out over the mayor's manor. By using his advanced magic he intensified the storm, whipping it up into a thunder storm so great that it threatened to destroy the town itself. With that done, he again approached the mayor and offered his services.

"You're talking nonsense!" the mayor barked. "Get the hell out of my house!" With a wry smile, Dalton lifted his hand and snapped his fingers. Almost immediately the storm passed, all the rain and lightning abated, leaving the mayor in complete awe.

"Allow me to repeat myself: I offer my services to you, in exchange for a promise to destroy that wretched nation..." sneered Dalton. As he placed his hand, palm up, in front of him, he created a small whirlwind that was complete with thunder and lightning, leaving the mayor in awe. "Are you in or not?" he smirked.

Stunned silent, the mayor weighed the merits of the offer. Although the princess and her husband had offered mediation to resolve Porre's grievances, there was no telling whether it would be a fair discussion or not. And if nothing came of it, what then? Slowly, carefully, he extended his hand to Dalton, who took it and clapped both hands around it with a wicked smile. Then he stopped, farted, and choked out a few expletives before he began to pout.

"Are... you okay?" asked the mayor hesitantly.

Gathering himself, Dalton wiped the anger from his face and replaced it with a look of unmistakable glee. "We'll both be okay," he snickered, "once Porre takes what it deserves from those blasted Huns up north."

Just wait, you little hoochies... I'm going to make you suffer for what you did to me.

Author's Notes

This is the first chapter of my three-chapter piece that shows the rise of Dalton and the fall of Guardia. I first got the idea when I thought of novelizing Chrono Cross and revising my novelization of Chrono Trigger, and figured that I'd start with a little bridge piece that shows a little bit of exposition on the Fall of Guardia. In the game(s) there's little to no information given about how Dalton instigates the destruction of Guardia, so I figured that I'd step in and create my own version of how things went down. The next chapter will be from the vantage point of the Crono team, with the final chapter dealing with a very important character that involves Chrono Cross as well. In other words, Magus. I won't insult your intelligence. -_-