The Dark Sorceress
Book One in the Vortex Chronicles
A Chrono Trigger Fan-Fiction by Majin Magus
Oddly enough, Ozzie hadn't died from his fall in his own fort. He was barely able to teleport away and leave his shield to crumble, creating the illusion he was dead. Ozzie had almost died at the hands of Ayla, Crono, and his former master, Magus.
"Traitor." Ozzie mumbled as he floated around. Slash and Flea were alive too, they had just teleported away right before what would have been the killing blow.
None left the fort, for with almost all their magic drained and no lackeys to protect them, the three Mystics would surely be killed.
"I am getting SO bored!" Slash yelled, cleaving up a suit of armor. Flea stopped her absentminded wandering and whirled around at him.
"And what do you propose we do? Go out there for humans to kill us? Go ahead, suicidal fool! Ozzie and I are not so stupid!" Flea screamed. Ozzie floated down the staircase.
"Perhaps we shoulda made Magus's old place our hideaway. I know there's more room in there." Ozzie moaned. Flea turned around to face him.
"Oh, okay! I get it! We're always doing this, complaining that we don't have anything to do! We haven't done this since, hmmm…" Flea put on finger on her chin in mock-thoughtfulness.
"YESTERDAY!"
"Don't get your braid in a tangle!" Slash muttered. Ozzie floated back up the stairs and Flea stormed down to the entrance chamber. Slash just slumped down and began to doze.
"Fools. Maybe they want to be killed by humans, but I don't! things were so much better before Sir Magus betrayed us. I wish he hadn't." Flea's anger made a griffin-like statue at her side explode.
"Bored are we, my dear Flea?" A voice asked. Flea snapped her head up. It couldn't be!
Magus stood there, grinning maliciously. He was bedraggled and his cape was torn in several places. Flea could see that he was so weak he could not support his own weight. It's what was supporting his weight that caught Flea's eye.
"Hello…" The girl said. She smiled in almost the exact Magus had. She had spiky long blonde hair and a blood red bandana across her forehead. Her eyes were an icy blue and she wore a long purple cape. She had black gloves that were gray where the glove ended on her arm. Her ears were pointed like Magus's. She was about eighteen.
The girl wore a deep blue tunic and the same color for her pants. Her boots were the exact color as her gloves. She also wore a long black leather string with a single icy eye shaped medallion.
"I am the wizard Vortex. Pleased to meet you…" Flea grinned and flung a fireball at Vortex.
"Psy powers!" Vortex grabbed a medallion at her chest. The fireball did a 180 and shot after Flea. She ran screaming up the stairs with her own fireball chasing her.
"Heal!" Vortex healed Magus and he stood up. The two wizards walked up the stairs. They had gotten to the fifth room when:
"The traitor returns!" Three voices said. Slash, Flea (her hair was charred and singed), and Ozzie appeared. They all gloated like they were superior. Since his power was very weak, Magus took a step back, which symbolized Vortex should fight.
"So…a mere girl wishes to fight us! This shouldn't take long!" Slash took out his Slasher. A fire blazed in Vortex's eyes. Her medallion began to ebb. Magus stepped back to the wall.
"Yea! Magus, you've become this weak? Sending a girl to do work for you? And I weak one I'll wager!" Ozzie laughed. Vortex's medallion was shining like crazy and Magus felt the Black Wind.
Magus smiled. "Ozzie's gonna be aching in the morning…" He said in a soft singsong voice.
"WAGER THIS!!" Vortex screamed. Her spiky hair flew straight up and an eye appeared in the middle of her forehead. She grabbed her medallion and chanted.
"Natoosay…Nokeelay…" Vortex whispered. She was chanting a long spell, but she could concentrate on a shield and prepared her attacks at the same time.
"Mapatta cooyosaie…" All three of her eyes closed and she rose her medallion up into the air. It began to twirl madly in midair. Ozzie and his companions had stopped their spells to watch.
"FIRE!!!" Vortex pointed her hand and…they were gone.
"Vortex why did you do that?" Magus cried, enraged. Vortex folded her arms and leaned against a tree. They were in the woods near Glenn's home.
"My power is too extreme to waste on them…and yours is too. Now, what do you say we go visit the frog?" Vortex suggested. Magus sighed. He wasn't about to go and toy which such a power…yet.
Vortex and Magus started walking. Vortex's third eye had disappeared and her medallion wasn't glowing.
Just as they entered Glenn's house, he hopped down from the rafters and put his sword to Magus's throat. Then his eyes flickered for half a second to Vortex, but then he was staring with his frog eyes at Magus.
"Villain…" Glenn hissed. "Why art thou here? If I need make such and inquiry. Thou art here to slay me! Do I speak the truth?" Magus rolled his eyes and shook his head slightly.
Glenn, still suspicious, but away the Masamune. Magus's power had been drained slightly from the sword so he sat down. Glenn then bowed to Vortex.
"And who art thou, lovely lady?" Glenn asked politely. The fire in Vortex's eyes began to blaze and her medallion began to flash madly. Seeing the infuriated look on her face, Glenn said
"Uh, and who art thou, mighty warrior?" Vortex calmed.
"I am Vortex. I have many talents. Pray you never find them out." Vortex went over to Magus and helped him up.
"And so? Why are thee here?" Magus shrugged. He slightly jerked his head toward Vortex. Glenn's eyes opened wide. If Magus wasn't here on his own will, Vortex must be stronger than him!
"Um, oh! I forgot to tell ye! Sir Crono and his friends are stopping by today with Epoch. Would thou…would thou stay?" Glenn had forced the last sentence out. He didn't want Magus in his home.
"Yes." Magus answered. They sat down and conversed slightly until they heard the Epoch outside. Crono jumped down first, then Marle, Lucca, Robo, and Ayla in that order. Ayla immediately walked over to Vortex. Magus motioned for the others to come over to him.
"That's Vortex. Call her lady, girl, chick, whatever and she'll kill you. She more powerful…more powerful than all of us together.
"Hello. You warrior?" Ayla asked. Vortex nodded.
"And you'd be…?" Vortex questioned, while her medallion ebbed slightly.
"Me Ayla, chief of Ioka. Pretty jewel you have. Ayla see?" Vortex reluctantly held up the glowing eye medallion on a thick leather string.
"Nice jewelry. Where you get it? It pretty." Ayla smiled. She was two inches from the line of the other side of Vortex's temper. The medallion was flashing every other second now. Ayla was treading the thin line that leaded to death.
Ayla walked over to Crono and said, "Nice girl. Pretty and nice jewelry.
That did it. Vortex flung a solid wall of black energy from her already outstretched hand. Ayla staggered and fell. Lucca used a Revive and Ayla rose to her knees panting. Everyone but Magus glared at Vortex.
Vortex simply smiled. "She deserved it. That was one my many talents. You'll find about another one tonight. Lucca, Marle, and Ayla alone are invited." Glenn was about to ask why when Magus kicked him in the back of the leg.
"Magus!" Glenn hissed. When he turned, Magus's eyes were opened wide and he shook his head furiously. Glenn looked puzzled but decided to trust Magus.
That night Ayla, Lucca, and Marle were sitting on the ground next to Glenn's home. The hole to it had been sealed with impenetrable shadow energy by Vortex. She alone could undo it.
"Ready?" Vortex asked, standing on a log. Marle nodded while Lucca and Ayla looked suspiciously at the mage.
Vortex opened her mouth…and sang.
It was an unearthly, beautiful sound. The song she sung…it was in a language none had never heard and yet had no words. Vortex sang for what seemed like an eternity but was only about ten minutes.
That night when Vortex had gone out (she didn't say why), Marle described what happened to Crono and the others who weren't there. After the explanation, Magus interrupted Marle's description of Vortex's voice.
"She's a Siren." He said plainly. Everyone stared. "Don't know how or why…her talents, they're not of this planet. Think about it. She's superior to us in every way we know. She must be alien."
Lucca shrieked. Everyone turned to look at her. "You don't think…no…she could be here to take over our world?!"
"You mean…like another Lavos?" Marle moaned. Everyone looked nervous.
"If she was here to take over the world, she could do it in the blink of an eye. Let's find out her intentions first. We can't attack her, we'll be slaughtered." Magus then looked up through the hole out of Glenn's house. "If she went to a town she probably be presumed as one of my affiliates."
Honestly. To think that those idiot people think I'm still waging a war with them." Magus stopped as Vortex appeared. She hadn't come from the hole, she had just…appeared.
"I went to Truce and they were all raving about how I was part of 'Magus's army' and that the war was starting again. Suppose they'll kill you on sight now…not that they wouldn't have before…" Vortex looked at Magus and smirked.
"So…what's next on the agenda?" Vortex looked around and saw everyone staring at her. She saw a clutter of different emotions. Anger, suspicion, fear, amazement, hatred, bewilderment, and a strange sort of melancholy.
"Okay, so now you're all staring at me, why??" Vortex asked, her medallion beginning to glow.
Magus shook away his thoughts and sent a tiny electric shock to each of the others. They all blinked and then began to look away from Vortex.
"Well, if everyone's done staring at me!!" Vortex hissed. Robo stepped up and walked to Vortex.
"There is a beast in the Trann Dome that is…um, eating the humans there. Vortex, we could use your help." Robo beeped. Lucca nudged the tan colored robot.
"How come you didn't ask US?" she whispered. Robo then explained that the monster had a large power and he didn't think all seven of them combined and at their very best could destroy it.
"I'll help…but only because I'm bored." Vortex sighed. "Meet you there. Trann Dome? Okay." Vortex clasped her left hand over her medallion and raised her right arm up, her fingers clenched save the index and middle.
"Time…Medallion…Power!" Vortex's eyes closed for a moment then flashed open again. "EMBARK!" She yelled. In flash the mage was gone.
"Oh God…she can time-travel!" Marle gasped. Then, Crono, Marle and Lucca got in the Epoch and went to Trann Dome. In seconds Crono was back and he let Glenn and Ayla climb in.
Glenn returned in Epoch. He watched grudgingly as Magus jumped into the machine.
"Forward to 2300 AD!" Glenn ordered Epoch. The machine dipped into the wavy energy of time. Magus laughed as the Epoch rocked violently.
"So smooth of a driver you are, frog!" Magus snickered. Glenn looked behind him and bared his teeth.
"Magus! Hold thy tongue!" Glenn yelled. They then arrived in the bright future. There was green grass, shiny running water, but the people were still dreary and drab. Trann Dome had been rebuilt but…
BOOM!
Lucca came running up. "We got here, but we can't find Vortex!! Those people are being slaughtered! Magus, Glenn, HELP!!" Magus hid a smile. Vortex was probably watching the onslaught with a box of popcorn. He flew over and entered the dome.
Sure enough, Vortex was sitting on a rafter out of the sight of the humans being killed by a beast that resembled Heckran. Magus grinned then flew up to sit by her and watch.
Magus was just creeping up behind when Vortex said, "Robo was wrong. You and Ayla together could take it." Magus nearly fell out of the air with shock.
"Yes, it doesn't feel all…that…" Magus watched as the Heckran-monster fired a red energy beam and its power went up ten-fold. Vortex sighed.
"I suppose I could go kill it. The survivors might want barbecue." Vortex summoned an attack. It was called the 'Deadly Crystal Barrage.' Her icy blue eyes focused on the monster. It must have felt the power signature, for it turned. As soon as it laid eyes on Vortex it bellowed a laugh.
"Ha haa haaa! Stupid girl not hurt me…blonde with blue eyes…weak warrior! Stupid girl!!" the monster laughed. A slit then appeared in the middle of Vortex's forehead. The slit opened to reveal another icy eye. The medallion was blazing with a blinding golden light.
"DEADLY CRYSTAL BARRAGE!!" Vortex roared. She blasted hundreds of black crystal at the monster. The monster disappeared and the remaining humans fled from Trann Dome.
"Such power…" Magus whispered.
"And it just disappeared?"
"No body!!??"
"Yes." Magus was describing Vortex's powers. They were all back in 600 A.D Magus was about to describe the immense power and yet it wasn't an alien power when…
Magus…come to Magic Cave. Something…is going on. Magus whirled around and flew out of Glenn's home.
"Vortex sent me a telepathic message! I'll be back." He flew with the moon reflecting off his face and cloak. He quickly cast an invisibility spell when he saw hundreds of tiny fire around Magic Cave's entrance. He perched on a ledge a foot about the entrance.
"Evil demon!" One of the people yelled. Hundreds of angry people with torches (some with pitchforks) were surrounding Vortex, who was grinning broadly.
"Admit it! You have come to prepare our lands for the return of Magus!!" the Elder of Porre yelled. Vortex smiled again and shook her head.
"I'm only here to have a bit of fun! You should be thankful I don't slay you all where you stand!!" Vortex cried, demonstrating by creating a great ball of ice blue energy over herself.
"Death threats! Kill her!" One yelled.
"STOP!" Magus roared. He uncloaked himself and dropped next to Vortex.
"Magus!!" The entire crowd gasped. Magus grinned maliciously. Then he glanced over at Vortex.
"You idiots! I've been gone for months and you still think I'm waging a war against you! Sure, Ozzie, Slash, and Flea are still living, but I betrayed them…I never cared for the war!! I didn't care whether my own armies lost or won!" Magus yelled.
"IT IS TRUE!!" Vortex roared when the crowd was getting ready to call the wizard a liar. Vortex then grasped her medallion and both of them vanished.
Magus woke up on his back. He was soft green grass and the sound of a waterfall was distant. Vortex was standing on the edge of the isle. There were some buildings close by, but Magus's vision was blurry.
"Where is this?" Magus asked harshly. Vortex didn't flinch. She gripped her medallion and chanted a tiny phrase. Then she looked up.
"My home." She said simply. Magus quickly whipped his head to see where they were. What he saw made his jaw drop.
"ZEAL!!" Magus gasped. He glared at Vortex. She looked back, her eyes a bit glazed over. "Liar! You do not live here…and why is it here?"
Vortex snickered. "You saw my ability to time travel, yes? We are currently in the year 12,050 B.C." Vortex flicked her purple cape back. "I once lived here…I'll tell you, if you like." Magus nodded slowly.
"I'll use my medallion to show you my memory. I will narrate, of course." Vortex held the medallion tightly. "Memories…come alive! Show me the past!" The grassy plain of the Enhasa Isle seemed to fade around them, replacing it for the inside of Kajar. Magus and Vortex vanished from their own sight.
It was night. The books of Fire were opened to those who needed to work in the dark. Along a dark corridor Magus and Vortex moved. Vortex seemed to be willing their movement with her mind.
"I lived here, in Kajar. My family and I didn't care for sleeping our days away in Enhasa. My brother and I were members of the Royal family's adviser council. I had been sleeping in my room when I heard a sound." Magus watched as a young girl, no more than thirteen, crept silently out of a room. Soft, lavender robes draped about her. Oddly, her ears were not pointed. She had icy blue eyes and bright blonde hair, both which shown brilliantly in the night gloom.
"That's me. Anyway, I followed the sound to Kajar's doors. There I found…" Vortex paused as her younger self gasped at a boy with black hair and shiny green eyes. He wore completely black, from his cape to his boots. He was about sixteen.
"…my brother Storm." Vortex stopped talking as the two young people engaged a conversation.
"Storm! Where are you going?" the younger Vortex said.
"Vortex…I hoped I would see you before I left." Storm replied, looking forlorn.
"Answer my question!" she snapped. Storm chuckled lightly and dug into his cape. He extracted a medallion that was shaped like a single icy blue eye.
"I was going to keep this, but since you came, I'll give it to you to remember me by." Storm pushed the medallion into Vortex's hand. She slipped her over her head and pulled her long blonde hair out the way.
This event was familiar to Magus. "Schala gave me a pendant. But not one that powerful. It was a defense weapon, not an offense weapon." Vortex (the older one) sighed.
"Mine's defensive, too." She whispered. They kept watching the two Zealen people.
"I'll wear it always." Vortex (now the younger one) whispered. Storm's face suddenly turned serious and stony.
"We are not of this race, Vortex. Have you ever guessed this?" He looked up at his sister.
"Yes. Every night. Our hair, our spirits, they are warrior spirits. We're not like all the other Zealen people." Vortex smiled faintly. "My eyes…"
"We are…well, whenever mother tells us about our heritage…" Storm paused to listen. Vortex nodded.
"She is lying. I know. Good bye brother Storm. Stay clear of the Black Wind, Storm!" Vortex grinned as Storm chanted a spell.
"Come find me, I doubt I'll make it back. Just…for now, sister, keep your spirit to yourself. Careful of your hidden powers. That medallion will channel them a hundred-fold. More, perhaps." Storm jumped and disappeared suddenly. Vortex turned and went back to her room.
"That was last time I saw him. Now we'll go to the day I was…well…you'll find out." Vortex concentrated and Magus and herself vanished from the night.
It was the opposite of the last memory. The Enhasa Isle was bustling with Enlightened going in and out, and using the Land Bridges all the time. Vortex, now exactly dressed the same as her current form, with the absence of pointed ears, hovered a few inches from the ground next to the edge.
Her blonde hair was ruffled with a slight breeze, and against the eighty-degree weather her eyes looked especially icy. The young girl turned her head to look over her shoulder at the group of young Enlightened girls, about her age, chattering noisily about how cute the prince of Zeal was.
"Hey! Come join us!" one of the girls called out. Vortex turned her head back the opposite way and snorted diversely. Then she flew up to the Isle with Kajar and the palace on it. The group of girls marveled her ability to fly.
"I wonder if there's a way to leave this accursed place. No matter what the price, I'd pay it." Vortex mumbled. Suddenly, as the young girl turned her head to look down on her medallion, she discovered it was not there.
"HEY!" Vortex screamed. Her head spun around wildly until she saw him, a young Zealen boy, about five years old, running towards the cave transports with her necklace.
"COME BACK HERE!!" Vortex roared. She sprang into the air and flew at about one hundred miles an hour. The boy darted in and out between trees. Then he slowed down and danced a bit by the edge of the island.
"Give it to me…" Vortex hissed as she landed beside the boy. He clutched the precious medallion and shook his head with a grin on his face.
"Okay…we'll do it MY WAY!!" Vortex yelled. An icy eye appeared on her forehead. It blinked and looked at the boy. All three of her eyes were bloodshot.
"Aaah! Mommy!!" the little boy ran screaming for the cave. Vortex retrieved the medallion and blasted an enormous energy ball at him. There was a chunk missing from the edge of the island. A small figure could be seen writhing and tumbling to the freezing land below.
"Vortex! That behavior…" the Queen of Zeal screeched.
'Was unacceptable, you'll be banished for this.' Vortex thought, mentally shaking with glee. No matter where she went from the banishment, it wouldn't be here! She'd be gone from Zeal forever.
"We will banish you from Zeal." The Queen said. Vortex tried to look sullen and afraid, but internally she was shaking with excitement and joy. "You will be throw into the Portal at five PM tomorrow."
"No! No…Queen Yor! Spare my daughter! She is…is…" the woman who called herself Vortex's mother gasped.
"An evil creature. Your 'daughter' is evil. She murdered my nephew without showing a qualm! For what? A necklace!" Yor grabbed the medallion from around Vortex's neck, snapping the leather band. She examined it and was about to crush it when,
"Give…it…back." Vortex said slowly. Her blue eyes were sending a chill and her fists clenched and unclenched inside her gloves. A shimmering mist appeared in the center of her forehead.
"Give back your stupid jewel? And what for? You cannot get it from me! You are a commoner! You killed my nephew with a weapon…the Queen of Zeal is the most powerful person that lives!" Yor laughed as Vortex glared darkly at her. Vortex's 'mother' backed away.
"Give it to her, Yor." The woman whispered.
"GIVE IT TO ME!!" Vortex roared. Her blonde hair flew up in every direction. Her third eye appeared. Unimaginable power flowed and coursed from her.
"We can do this the painful way, or we can do this…my…way. Your choice, lest you join your precious nephew!" Vortex hissed. Yor tremblingly threw the medallion at Vortex, who caught it in a second.
"The Portal! NOW!!!" Yor screamed. Two soldiers shoved Vortex into a hole of nothingness. Vortex stayed by the entrance for a few seconds.
"Fools!!" she yelled. "You have no idea what power you have released…" Vortex chanted and gripped the medallion. The black nothingness of the Portal turned to a mixed blue and purple. The Portal closed and Vortex was gone.
Magus returned to the ground. Only now, instead of warm Zealen grass, it was crisp, leafy dirt. They were back in the Cursed Woods.
"You…you…" Magus gasped. He was shaking on his knees. Vortex smirked and pulled out her medallion from within her cape.
"That was me. It's been five or so years since I left that stinking place. The weaklings of Zeal kingdom…I was never one of them. So Magus, what say we return to our allies?" Vortex spoke as if nothing had happened.
"What day is it?" Magus asked slowly. Vortex laughed.
"The same as when we left. The same hour, in fact. We were never anywhere but in my own mind. I used my medallion to replicate my memories to show you how different, and alike, we are." Magus didn't respond. Instead he walked to Glenn's 'door' and climbed down. Vortex heard of shriek of surprise. She dropped down into the burrow.
"Vortex! Where were you?" Vortex simply smirked and headed for the exit.
"I'm going out for a few hours. No doubt Magus will want to regale you with what happened this night." Vortex indicated Magus, who was more pale than usual and shaking.
"I wonder what I should do now." Vortex sighed. She stared at her medallion. The unblinking charm stared back at her. Vortex put it away and flew towards the woods near Ozzie's Fort.
Vortex landed with a slight thud. She inched towards the blue pyramid, her face growing ever more excited.
"If this is what I think…" She held up her medallion. The eye shot out a beam straight into the pyramid.
"The ancient treasure. I'll reveal it's true power!" Vortex floated up and charged all her powers. She lifted both her arms is a guard motion over her forehead and swiftly struck her arms back to her side. Her energies penetrated the blue mistiness around the structure and the outer wall vanished.
"The Cysta Staff…it is mine. No mere sword or helmet will I receive, but the ultimate weapon ever created on this planet!!" Vortex laughed a chilly laugh that echoed up the towers of Ozzie's Fort. Vortex rushed forward and pushed aside the Nu that was waking up.
Kicking the small treasure chest open, Vortex reached with trembling hands into the box. She pulled out a stick, no more than a foot long, but heavily engraved with gems of all sorts. Rubies, sapphires, diamonds, emeralds…they all meant nothing to the female warrior. She read the inscription just above a fabulous shining amethyst.
"Nihtiw rewop eht eraweb, nopaew siht smialc reveohw…" Vortex snickered at the inscription. " 'Whoever claims this weapon, beware the power within.' Backwards writing. Really!" Vortex gripped the staff and it lengthened just enough to be easily handled and powerful. Vortex took off back to Cursed Woods.
"So…she's from Zeal?" Crono asked skeptically. Magus nodded.
"She's from 12,050 B.C, just fifty years before you came. But she's not an alien. She may not be Zealen, but she is human. She showed me her memories, as I explained, and well…I guess every world has to have a supreme-being." Magus sighed. He had talked since Vortex had left four hours ago.
Vortex appeared suddenly. "Ha hah!" She waved the extended staff over her head in complete joy and triumph. "All hail me, for I am the champion of the world!!" Ayla almost dropped to her knees but caught herself.
"What's that?" All seven of the people asked at once.
"The Cysta Staff!" Vortex cried happily, gazing straight into Magus's eyes. They opened wide in shock. He shuffled forward.
"Come…we must go see Melchior…" Magus grabbed Vortex's arm. She used the time-travel technique and they arrived at the small hut within minutes.
"Ah Magus! And who…might…your… friend…" the Guru stopped in mid-sentence as his eyes darted from Magus, to Vortex's eyes, hair, and medallion.
"No! Vortex? How…" Melchior then jumped back in shock when he saw the Cysta Staff.
"I gave only that power to Storm! No…you can't have opened the seal…but your medallion…"
Vortex smiled smugly. "Storm gave it to me…guess this spoils the plan, huh?" She swung the medallion around.
"You couldn't! You won't!" Melchior gasped. Vortex smiled maliciously.
"Oh, of course not…not while I'm on the planet anyway…" Vortex threw her head back and laughed. "I know now what Storm was trying to say. For five years it has plagued me, day and night, night and day. 'We are not of this race…' he was trying to give me a hint." Vortex turned to Magus.
"You thought I wasn't an alien? Well guess again. I'm positive I am…I'm right aren't I, old man?" Vortex turned back to the Guru who face had gone as deathly pale as Magus's.
"Yes…you're of the race Nakabuto. We found you outside Enhasa, with your brother. The bravest family in Zeal took you in and was trying to stamp the alien out of you. You're like Lavos, though you have not yet discovered it." Melchior whispered.
"Lavos? No, I am far smarter than he! I will not appear on one day and allow myself to be slaughtered by a trio of weaklings! I will not suck this planet dry of energy, or purge it of all life." Vortex's head drooped. "I will not kill or destroy…those who do not deserve it!"
"But, be serious. You have more power than all of the life here together. Why bother with conquest?" Magus asked, turning his head towards Vortex.
"CONQUEST?" Vortex shouted, enraged. "Who ever, ever said anything about conquest?? I am NOT here to enslave. I simply wish to explore. Explore the world, which if fully informed, would never admit me. Explore the world where vicious and kind beings are an everyday thing!" Vortex turned and walked out the door. In a flash she was gone.
"Well, maybe this will work itself out…" Magus looked at the aging guru. Melchior shook his head sadly.
"I'm afraid not, Prince Janus. The race…I know one day one of theirs will attack us. You must wait here for your friends, they should be coming soon." Melchior looked out the window and saw the Epoch flying straight at them.
Vortex parried and thrust at an invisible enemy. She had time-traveled to 12,000 BC and was training with the Cysta Staff there. She was just about to go back to 600 AD when an eerie black portal with purple bolts of lightning shooting out appeared.
"What the…" Vortex whispered. And out of that doom portal emerged her brother Storm. His black hair was sticking up and his green eyes were shining out of his sockets. His clothes were ragged and torn but still black.
"Hello Vortex. My, how you've grown. I have come in the name of the Nakabuto race to destroy this world. Come with me, we are blood!" Storm reached out his hand to his sister.
"I am not here to kill, though it may seem so. I know why you gave me the medallion…you knew you'd be consumed by the Nakabuto power! You knew I'd fight it! Now you're just a shell…like the victims of Lavos!" Vortex yelled, charging up her icy strength. Her cold eyes blazed with a rage of fire.
"I see you are not to be fooled…okay, you can gather those seven pathetic allies of yours. Come to the Dactyl Nest tomorrow." Storm whispered. Vortex quickly searched her mind. The Dactyl Nest? What advantages would he have there? Of course… the planet was new and full of life for him to absorb!
"No. The Geno Dome." Vortex's medallion throbbed with cool blue light. The Cysta Staff vibrated in her hand. The jewels embedded in it began to shine brightly.
"You're no fool at picking fight grounds, but you don't have the skill to win! Tomorrow at dusk." Storm disappeared and Vortex went back to 600 AD.
"Where were you? You abandoned me with Melchior!!" Magus said, enraged. Vortex waved her hand impatiently.
"This is beyond that. My brother has returned. We must all fight together, or we will never win. The battlefield is Geno Dome tomorrow at dusk. Come with me to save your world." Vortex gestured towards herself. Lucca walked up and lightly touched the warrior's right arm.
"Our world." Lucca whispered. Vortex smiled and her medallion glowed.
"The Cysta Staff will help only with suicide." Vortex looked around as no one was understanding what she had just said. She sighed.
"The Cysta Staff will only activate at full power when the bearer is going towards certain doom. There is no turning back." All the seven looked around. Then Marle stepped up.
"I'll do it." She said. Crono ran up and touched her shoulder. She shrugged his hand away. "We'll just ask Gaspar for another Chrono Trigger. I won't be gone for that long.
"No." Magus spoke up. Everyone turned to see what he had to say. "Only one Chrono Trigger can be used. Even Gaspar cannot make another one. And even if he did succeed, the events at the mountain in 2300 AD would not take place. One of us will die forever."
"I'm doing it." Vortex whispered. Before they could say no, she explained. "It's my brother, it's my race. It's my death that will not affect the time-continuum that much. And, the Cysta Staff must be destroyed, for its is a power that has never been seen in the history of time."
Glenn walked over. "Then again, thou's is a power never seeneth in the history of time." Vortex took about five steps backward.
"You…you think my power is unimaginable?" Vortex asked slowly. All seven nodded. Vortex laughed weakly. "In my terms, I'm the weakest thing to ever walk this planet." All the color drained out of all's faces.
"Then we haven't a prayer." Magus said quietly. Vortex lengthened and shortened the Cysta Staff. She was growing tense.
"It's almost dusk in 2300 AD. We'll save time if we only make one trip. Magus, grab my arm!" Vortex commanded. Magus took Vortex's left arm in his hand and then Vortex gripped her medallion with her free hand and began to mutter.
"Now! Grab hold! Marle, Lucca, Crono, Frog, and Robo!" Vortex yelled. There was and icy blue orb surrounding all of them now. Vortex transported them all through time.
"We are here. Charge your powers to maximum. All must combine. Lightning, Fire, Water, and Shadow…even the non-magical powers. Now! YAAAH!" Vortex clenched her fists so tightly her thick gloves ripped open around the knuckles. A power unlike anything the seven had ever felt was coursing through the alien and themselves as well.
"Luminaire!" Crono yelled. He raised his arms skyward and cast the most powerful Lightning spell. He absorbed the cast energy into himself, which was tripled.
"Ice 2!" Marle screamed. The ice chunks fell on her and she took in all the frosty energy.
"Water 2!"
"Shock!"
"Flare!"
"Triple Kick!"
"DARK MATTER!!"
All used their most powerful attacks and regained their energy ten-folded. As soon as all the energy that could be multiplied was, Vortex and the others walked slowly toward Geno Dome. What they did not notice was that the Epoch had followed them and landed by the sea.
"Are you so sure you want to do this?" Magus asked Vortex quietly. Vortex grinned sadly.
"I would let some one else do this in an instant if I didn't know for certain that I alone can activate the Cysta Staff with my death. The Cysta Staff is activated by my medallion." Vortex gripped the single icy eye then released it.
"It's too bad you have to do this. You're the most powerful, talented, skilled warrior I have ever heard about and seen." Magus shook his head with melancholy. "It's a waste."
"We've arrived." Vortex hissed. The sky was black but they could make out a figure floating about the factory. It turned and came down.
"Vortex…I knew you would come. I see you have the Cysta Staff. Give it to me!" Storm rushed forward.
"Back! All of you!!" Vortex screamed. The seven warriors stepped back, watching the battle.
Storm threw a punch but Vortex blocked it with her staff. She shoved the end of the Cysta Staff into her brother's stomach.
"Oof!" he grunted. Vortex raised the staff high above her head and brought it down on down on Storm. He slammed into the dusty ground. Vortex cast Deadly Crystal Barrage but Storm dodged. One black crystal went right through his hand. Storm wrenched the shard out and grasped his hand in agony.
"I have no problem with killing you, for you are not my brother!" Vortex roared. She shot an icy beam at Storm. The wounded mage vanished and reappeared behind Vortex.
"Stupid girl! You cannot win!" Storm yelled. He threw a giant ball of purple energy at Vortex. She ran quickly out of the way, passing Magus as she dashed. She nodded quickly.
Vortex halted in point-blank range of Storm. She raised the Cysta Staff high above her head. She began to chant the verse which activated it. She had learned it back in Zeal, during a magic class. Once the line was said, there was no turning back.
" 'I take death willingly, for the need is great. I know the power of this artifact, and my own strength. I know I have sealed my fate with the accursed Cysta Staff of dismal power.'" Vortex said. She raised the staff high, then dug the top into the ground.
"NO!! Not that staff! Vortex!!! STOP!" Storm shouted. He could not move for the power emitting from the staff was keeping him in place.
Now Vortex said her own verse. "I have embodied all my dreams, lived my life to the extent, and now I go to the most honorable death any can imagine. I have died for my world and all the inhabitants in it. To slay evil. To destroy the destroyers. It is my destiny." Vortex chanted, lightly rubbing an aquamarine on the Cysta Staff.
"No…" Magus whispered as Vortex leapt into the air. Her staff cut Storm's powers instantly.
"No! Vortex! I am your brother! Don't do this!!" Storm cried. Vortex collided with the paralyzed wizard. There was a brilliant light and they were both gone.
"Look!" Marle pointed at the air. Seven gems flew down, each a different stone. To Glenn, a dazzling Tourmaline mineral shard. To Lucca, a beautiful Star Ruby.
A glistening diamond dropped into Crono's palms while an emerald fell into Ayla's hand. Marle caught the most lovely amethyst gemstone. To Robo fell a rose quartz.
Magus flew up to catch his gem. He looked at it intently. It was a Tiger's Eye. The gem seemed to stare back at the dark mage.
One by one they each used the Epoch to return to whichever era they desired. Except for Robo, who stayed in 2300 AD. They all mourned the lost of a great warrior, even Magus, for a little while.
And even though there was no threat, they all worried about the rest of the Nakabuto. But they agreed on one subject.
"The supposed 'Dark Sorceress' was not so dark after all…"
Fin