"What!?!" Spekio gasped, his glee replaced by fear.
"I'd like to ask the same thing," Magus said, "of why you turned me into a child."
Spekio slowly stepped backwards. He could feel everyone's eyes gaze quizzically at him. Magus was still lying down with his eyes shut, trying to control himself. This won't end well… Spekio thought.
"Um, well," he stammered. "You see…"
"No, I don't see. Why did you change me into this?" Magus' voice was layered with ice, and his patience was wavering.
Might as well just say it… "TheEntitymademedoit!" Spekio yelled out quickly.
"…Pardon?" Frog asked, as many were thinking the same thing.
"He said: 'The Entity made me do it," Robo answered.
"That still doesn't make much sense," Marle commented.
Suddenly Magus sprang to his feet. Marle and Ayla immediately backed away as Spekio emitted a small squeak. "What I do know that makes sense," he told Spekio darkly, "is that there is no counter-spell to a transformation curse, and only one cure." Magus put on a feral smile. "That cure…is to kill the caster."
"What!?!" yelled Spekio in shock. "Y-you can't do that!" Slowly he backed away from the prince until he felt the cold iron of the fence against his back.
"And why is that?" Magus asked in a cold, playful tone.
Chrono, silent as ever, decided to intervene. He leapt from the corner of the room he was in to the small distance between Magus and Spekio. Waving his arms around frantically, he started yelling words no one could hear.
"Like he said!" Spekio said in a last-ditch effort, pointing at Chrono.
"He didn't say anything!" Magus spat back.
The rest of the party just looked on in stunned silence. This was pretty entertaining. But, now that Chrono was involved, someone else needed to step in before things got ugly. Marle bravely volunteered for the job.
"But you still can't just go and kill Spekio, Magus," Marle said. Man, talking to a chibi-version of the most feared warlock of the ages is an unsettling experience.
"Yeah!" Spekio slipped in.
"Because it's wrong," she added.
"Yeah!"
"And we don't even know the whole reason behind this yet."
"Yeah!"
"…So?" Magus asked, angry. "If I don't I'm stuck like this!"
Then Gaspar stepped in. "It doesn't matter."
All eyes went on Gaspar. "What?" was the question everybody asked.
Gaspar gave a knowing smile. "Spekio, I promise no harm will come to you. Just stay where you are," he instructed. Spekio nodded; sweat still trickling down his brow. "Now Magus, I'd like to pick any spell in your arsenal and use it against Spekio."
"WHAT!?!" Spekio yelled for the third time.
"Just go along with this," Gaspar calmly answered. "You should be fine."
Yeah, Spekio hopelessly thought, should be...
Meanwhile, Magus had decided that he'd just start with a Dark Bomb spell. He was sure that he should be able to pull this off even if he was just a child.
At least I should be…he thought.
"Alright, Magus, fire away," Gaspar called.
Magus nodded shortly and then focused his narrowed eyes on the trembling Spekio. Even for a six-year-old boy, he still looked very intimidating. He spread his arms wide, and then made markings in the air quicker than the eye could follow. Finishing the silent casting, he performed his trademark point.
A hushed, anxious silence filled the room as the occupants waited for the explosion of dark mana.
And waited.
And waited.
About half a minute after the spell was cast, a small spark was feebly fell from Magus' outstretched finger. It weakly dropped at Magus' feet, where it then dissolved in a pathetic fizzle.
"…"
For the first time in a long time, Magus was surprised. Slowly, with wide eyes, he brought the treacherous finger closer to his face and examined it. On the other side of the room, Spekio let out deep sigh.
"That," Magus said after a moment, "was not supposed to happen."
"Actually, it was," Gaspar amended.
"Explanation please?" Lucca asked, voicing the question on everyone's mind.
"Well," Gaspar began, leaning on his staff, "we can all agree that Magus is now a child, correct?"
There was a collective nod in response, with the exception of Magus who still gaped blankly at his finger.
"Thus saying," Gaspar continued, "Magus only retains the level of magic, among other things, that he had when he was at that age."
"But I could do magic when I was a kid!" Magus shot in defense.
"But that was after you met Ozzie, Flea, and Slash," Gaspar calmly added. "You must have been transformed into an age younger than when you met them. And stop gaping like that. It's completely out-of-character for you."
Magus promptly closed his mouth.
Gaspar added one more thing. "And besides, even if you were still able to do magic, there's still one thing standing in your way."
"And what's that?"
"While Spekio can only be harmed by magic, he cannot be killed by magic. He's immortal," Gasper finished.
Spekio slapped his forehead and laughed. "Oh yeah! I completely forgot about that." So that's why the Entity said the spell could only be cast once…Spekio realized.
Robo, though silent throughout the intire fiasco, decided to add a similar realization of his also. "That means logically, since Spekio cannot be terminated, that Magus has to remain as a child."
Upon hearing this, Magus visibly flinched. Today was just not his day.
"Isn't there anything else we could do?" Marle asked, noting the uncharacteristic lost look on Magus' face.
"Not that I know of, but you could always ask the Entity."
"And how are we to do that?"
Gaspar gave a glance towards Spekio. "He should know.
Meanwhile, back at the office…
After being allowed by Darcy to come in, Spekio hesitantly entered the Entity's office. Finding no one there, he crept towards the middle of the room, looking around for any sign of divine life. Suddenly, he heard a voice from behind him, coldly whispering, "Hello…Spekio."
Spekio, taken by surprise, quickly turned. But because of the momentum, ended up quickly turning over and falling flat on his face before a pair of dirty hiking boots.
Wait a moment. Hiking boots?
Glancing up at the Entity, Spekio noticed that the Entity was sporting snow pants, a heavy fur-lined coat, gloves, and other such cold-weather gear.
"Once again, Spekio," the Entity said cheerily, "I must ask of why you are lying prostrate on my floor?"
Spekio blushed. "Well, you see-"
"Never mind," the Entity interrupted. "That was rhetorical. Go ahead and take a seat." As Spekio did so, the Entity continued. "So let's see…you're here because Gaspar asked you to help clarify things up with me?"
"How did you-?"
"Call it divine intuition," the Entity answered, sitting down at his desk. "And…Darcy told me on the way in." He gave a laugh, which Spekio weakly joined. The Entity always made him nervous.
"Now, as for the question given to you from Gaspar," he continued, "I have only one answer."
"And that is?" Spekio asked with nervous impatience.
The Entity responded in a mystical voice, "All will be made clear in time… Cliché, I know, but that's all I can say."
"Dare I ask why, sir?" Spekio asked.
"The reason is right here," the Entity answered, reaching into his desk. He pulled out a leather-bound book about the size of a paperback novel. "Behold!" he said triumphantly, holding the book above his head in one hand. "The D.U.H.!"
Spekio raised one of his kiwala eyebrows. "…Sir?"
"You know," the Entity said playfully. "D.U.H.: the Deity's Universal Handbook!"
"…Oh," Spekio replied. He didn't even know that Entity's had a handbook.
The Entity flipped through the book, looking for a page. "Found it," he said to himself, before saying to Spekio, "See? It's right here in rule #382.9: 'No Telling. An Entity, God/ess, Kami, Mhondoro, or any other such Entity are not permitted to depart the information of their holy plans to anyone of the souls, living or deceased, placed in their holy charge.'"
"But what about prophets?" Spekio ventured to ask.
"Those are covered in rule #382.91: 'Exemptions to rule #382.9: No Telling. Any divine being may use prophets to reveal to the world(s) in their charge, as long as the situation is dire enough (i.e. world salvation, apocalypse, etc.) A request for a prophet must be filed at least a hundred years before one is needed, and the prophet in question must be approved by the Lord High Oracle…' and it goes on and on."
"Alright…" Spekio said, still confused. "Hey, do you know what that sounds like?"
"No, what?" the Entity queried.
"A plot device."
The Entity burst out laughing. "Good one, Spekio! But why would I need one of those?"
"Point."
"Anyways, as you can see," the Entity explained, "I'm pretty tied up with regulations. I can't really tell you exactly what I'm planning. I'm only allowed to instruct you in exactly what I need you to do.
"Now for as our current mission," he continued, "we must move onto the next step. I'm sorry to tell you that I won't need you anytime soon," – Spekio didn't know whether to be relieved or worried by this – "but I possibly will farther in the future. In the meanwhile, could you be as kind as to fetch Darcy for me?"