Fan Fiction ❯ The Last Sunrise ❯ Prologue

*Prelude*

*1005 A.D., Guardia Kindom*

The sun slowly penetrated the dark curtains, creating streamers in the dust that floated about the room. He looked up weakly, feeling destroyed on the inside. The things he had seen… Just in the last six hours, the bloodshed… It boggled his mind. How had things gotten out of control so fast? He could remember… Only five years ago… Five years… Had they grown up that fast?

He slowly walked to the window and peered out onto the kingdom that he had worked so hard to save… Now it lay in ruins, flames licking hungrily at the buildings… Burning everything… Everything… He collapsed against the wall in silent grief. His right arm panged and he looked at it, wincing at the blood-stained cloth, and the horrible wound concealed beneath. The bone was showing through at one point, and he gingerly covered it back up with more of his robe. He had long ago lost feeling in his hand; the damage in his arm was just too great. So now he hid, not like a coward, but like a predator stalking its prey… He knew that the assassin would come for him, and he would make a last stand. He looked up towards the window, where only five years ago… He bowed his head, unable to stop tears. He had seen so much in his short life… He was only twenty-one now, finally a man. The others were even younger… Only twenty. And the others who had been lost… He looked back to the window, feeling the warm sunlight on his face. Even in this time of unending darkness, the sun was still able to shine. And it glimmered before him now, blazing in the sky like a great beacon, urging him on. If the sun could find the courage to rise, so could he. He looked to his katana, which laid beside him. As the sun's rays gently caressed the blade, it began to glow vibrantly. The prismatic colors danced about the room as the crystal blade accepted the energy of its life giver-the sun. He took up that glowing, blessed sword, and closed his eyes as the suns warmth washed over him. He opened them again and looked at his reflection in his blade, his crystalline eyes trying to take in every detail of his own face, just to make sure that he was still real-still alive. The face that stared back at him was a mere shadow of his former self-the once courageous, sparkling blue eyes were now dull, almost empty. The spirit had been sucked out of them by the events that those eyes had had to witness. One of them was swollen shut. His red hair was in complete disarray, which wasn't what actually surprised him. He always wore it spiked, even though it made him look very unprofessional. What surprised him was that the spikes were drooping, sloppy, and matted together. His face was pale, almost gray. Four jagged wounds had been inflicted to the rest of his face, and one of them had made a direct hit to his left eye. There were rings under his eyes-those same blue eyes that had watched the death of his father, and now… The deaths of those closest to him… Tears dropped onto the blade, but he wiped them away with his good arm, refusing to submit.

"I am the king of Guardia." He said to himself, in as strong a voice he could muster. "My name is Chrono, and I can't submit to Porre… No matter what they do. No matter…" His words failed him, and his hand dropped back into his lap. Now the tears came faster, drowning his courageous spirit in a torrent of sorrow. After everything we did… He thought angrily. After we worked so hard… Lucca… Marle… Why couldn't we see our own fates written in the future? Why was Guardia able to go on in that future? Did defeating Lavos seal the fate of the kingdom that we fought so hard to protect? In creating a new future, did we erase our own? The thoughts were irrepressible. He had heard what Lynx had said very clearly. He had known for nine days that they were dealing with a monster from the future that was not allowed to exist… But he had no idea… No idea that that monster would bring an army… He slammed his good hand into the ground before him, clenching this fist so hard that it bled.

It had all begun ten days ago… And he knew inside as he looked at the sun… That today's sunrise would be the last he'd ever see.