Chasing Lost Dreams
Magus awoke uneasily from his dream. He took a look at his surroundings and noticed that everyone was asleep. Only he had been awake. He walked over to a clearing and struggled to remember what had occurred in his dream. It was Lavos. Or was it? It looked like Lavos, but yet he wasn't certain it was. It was a different color, for one, and it had a cry that was not like the Lavos he had spent his life summoning. He knew that cry in an instant. His senses picked up on someone approaching.
"Lucca," he said, with his back still turned. "What brings you awake?"
"I would as you the same." Lucca replied, not surprised she wasn't able to sneak up on him.
He turned to face her. "Did you have an uneasy sleep as well?"
"Yes… I had an unsettling dream."
"Tell me about it."
"You were there, and someone else… it might have been Chrono, and we were fighting Lavos… but it wasn't Lavos."
Magus gave a look of disbelief. "His cry was different…"
"Yes!" Lucca exclaimed. "You had the same dream too?"
"Yes. It must mean something. I must find out. Somehow, I think that whatever this dream was about, affects me in a profound way. "
"Do you think something happened at another time?"
"I think that this occurred in a place where time does not flow as it normally does… then again, it has never flowed normally for us."
"Do you think you will be able to find what you are looking for?"
"Maybe. But I know I must search for the answer."
"Let's go back to sleep, Magus. We can ask the others if they had the same dream in the morning."
Lucca and Magus headed back to the group, in the clearing at Fiona's wood.
Lucca was able to change the course of time, and everyone was even able to bring Crono back to life, Magus thought to himself. Then why was he the only one who wasn't able to bring his loved one back? No matter what he tried, no matter how strong he had become, the flow of time would not bend for him. He would not give up though. Schala, I won't give up for you…. I can't. He went back into an uneasy sleep.
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The next morning, Magus interrogated Crono about what he had dreamt the night before.
"Well I don't know, Magus." Crono replied. "I don't usually remember my dreams… though I did have one last night, it's all kind of vague."
"Try." Magus commanded. He did not want to feed Crono the answers so he could get a false sense of importance. He was too careful for that.
"Well I know that you were in a battle. I guess I was there. This thing, it had a very eerie cry. Like it was Lavos, but it wasn't. It was something else."
"That's all I need."
"Wow, Magus." Lucca commented. "We asked everyone, and you, me, and Crono all had the same dream last night. I asked everyone else and other than a dream about 'kicking reptite butt' and another about 'eating an entire room filled with crepes', no one had dreamt anything like the three of us."
"I think the meaning is clear, so far. You, Crono, and I were involved in some kind of battle. For some reason, the outcome of the battle lead us to our memories being erased, but the work wasn't done fully. Whether it be because of the lack of ability of the mage, or circumstances, I don't know. But I must find the answer. I must find out what transpired in this battle."
"Magus." Lucca said gently, "What if the answer is something that you don't want to have."
"I fear it may be. But I cannot rest until I find this answer."
"If it's so important to you, I will help you. I don't want you to feel like you are alone."
"Maybe it is better not to be involved with my affairs. All of my life I have just used others to get what I want. I am meant to be alone."
"You wouldn't be using me, I am enlisting myself to help you. And Crono too. Besides, since the three of us had the same dream, I think it's necessary that the three of us find out what happened."
"Then I won't stop you." Magus replied, looking at her. "We must as the old man of time where to go next. Crono, you and I will make up the party to search out the answer."
Lucca followed Magus to the end of time. She somehow knew right away, and wasn't sure if he knew, whatever the answer was, would hurt him a great deal, somehow. She was scared to go ahead with the mission, but she knew she had to be there for him. She was the only one who cared enough, and without her, he could not succeed.
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The entire group headed to the end of time separately. Lucca, Crono, and Magus took the Epoch while the rest took gates. Magus wasted no time asking Gasper how to find what he was looking for.
"So you want to get your memories back, eh. Well I can't say that it is as impossible as reviving the dead, but what do I know. The answer you seek lies in your time period, mage. Though be careful not to look where it is obvious. Sometimes time flows in indirect paths, as does magic."
Lucca glanced at Magus to gauge his reaction. She knew it would be difficult to go back to his time period. While everything had been destroyed with the fall of the Ocean Palace, she knew that 12,000 BC brought back memories for him that he had always struggled with.
"Then we will go back to 12,000 BC," he said calmly. "It should not be so difficult. Everyone just lives on one small piece of land. One of those people must have our answer."
Crono started up the Epoch as Lucca and Magus got on. He set the time gage for 12,000 BC. "Somehow, I think that this won't be so easy. Whoever is responsible for this wants us to try a bit." Crono said.
Magus didn't reply, though he didn't want to think about it, he knew Crono was probably right.
When they arrived at 12,000 BC, a villager immediately told them that "A strange distortion loomed over the horizon. "The rest of the villagers are scared of it and won't approach.
"It must be a time gate!" Crono exclaimed."Let's check it out."
Magus and Lucca followed Crono to the time gate the villager mentioned.
"There is something unusual about this time gate." Magus said, when the three of them surrounded the new time gate in a small wood near the ocean.
"It's a different color" Crono remarked. The time gate had an eerie shade of violet as opposed to the regular blue they were used to.
"There is a different energy from it too…" Magus said quietly.
"Are you uncomfortable about going in?" Lucca asked.
"Yes, I am… I am uncertain where this gate will lead us, but I am certain that it is the direction where we will find the answer to our predicament. Let's enter."
The three of them entered the gate. They stepped out to find themselves in a cave with the icy wind blowing.
"We're still in 12,000 BC." Magus stated. "Though this is sometime before the fall of Mt. Woe. Why did it take us here?"
Lucca and Crono headed to the entrance by the cave. Sure enough, they saw a Light Gate over the horizon. "I guess that's where we go next," Lucca said. "though I forgot how cold it was here…"
Magus handed her his cape. "You can use this for now."
"Thank you…" She looked down, suddenly shy of the offer. She wrapped herself around it and headed outside. "Let's go, guys." She called Crono and Magus.
The three of them took the skyway and immediately arrived in a warmer climate.
"We will start with Enhansa." Magus commanded. "We will seek out Masa and Mune. They will know where to go, even if the answer is a riddle. They will not tell us directly."
"Sleeping is wonderful," an Enhansan sighed as she greeted them at the front door.
"We get that." Crono said. "Don't you think you guys tend to sleep too much and miss what's going on the outside?"
"What's there to miss in the tangible world when the dream world is limitless?" She asked.
"Don't bother." Magus told Crono. "The people of the kindom of Zeal live in the sky and their heads are up in the clouds. There are only a select few who understand what life really is. They are sheltered and they don't care about the real world. Those that manage to survive the fall of Zeal are in for a rude awakening that they deserve."
"Maybe they should be prepared…
"They would never believe you. Their life is a dream in of itself. They are stupid and conditioned to be this way. Let's continue onward to find the two riddlers. Let's hope they will not annoy me too much."
Lucca found one of the two brothers overlooking a sleeping Enhansan.
"Masa?" She asked.
"Nope! I'm Mune."
"Don't believe his lies, he's Masa" Magus approached.
"How do you know?"
"It's easy to tell you two apart. You are the older one. Where is the other twin?"
"It's not easy for most, only those who seek our knowledge."
Mune appeared from the air next to Masa. "You want to ask us something."
"Yes." Magus answered. Old man Gasper told us of a person here in Zeal who can bring back lost memories."
"Zeal, eh." Mune replied.
"You search in the wrong place!" Masa exclaimed. "Do you think the people of Enhansa have this ability? How could they bring back memories when they don't understand what it means to live. They are not who you seek."
"Then Kajar?" Magus asked.
"The answer should be clear to you. Ignore proper conventions. It will lead you astray." With that, the two disappeared.
"What does that mean?" Crono asked.
"Those two constantly speak in riddles. We must try Kajar next. The Nu at Kajar may have our next clue."
As they headed up the land bridge, Lucca couldn't help thinking that they were looking at this in the wrong way. Both Gaspar and Masa and Mune had told them not to look in the obvious places. But where was an unobvious place to search? She didn't bring up the issue with Magus yet because she didn't know herself where this was.
Magus set of the books in the sequence of the elements and opened the secret passage. Crono and Lucca were surprised to find a Nu inside.
"Nu, tell us of the person who can find lost memories."
"This person is here, but not in the sense you think." The Nu replied, mysteriously.
"So all you will tell us is that we are again looking in the wrong place?"
"Why ask me questions to which the answer you already know? Now, please let me go back to sleep." The Nu closed its eyes.
The three of them headed outside to think. Crono sat in the grass while Magus slowly paced nearby.
"Well I'm really stumped, are you Lucca?" Crono asked.
"What is a place here that none of us would think to look, Crono?" Suddenly, the answer blazingly appeared.
"Magus, I got it!" Lucca ran to him. "Listen. The person is not from the kingdom of Zeal. They are in the Earthbound village. It's obvious if you think about it?"
"Those people? What can they do?" Magus scoffed. "They are dirty and know nothing about magic"
"Don't be judgmental, Magus. Schala believes in them and soon enough, everyone in the world will be the same. Besides, we don't need them to know magic, there are other powers in this world that are not magical."
"I think you're dead-on, Lucca!" Crono praised. "Let's go, Magus. I know your answer is there."
"Maybe you're right. We will go see." Magus followed Crono and Lucca to the skyway.
The three of them soon arrived at the Terra village.
"Welcome, outsiders." One of the village elders greeted warmly. "What brings you to our humble abode?"
"We are seeking a special person. They live here."
"Oh? Well us Earthbound folk are not known as being special. But maybe I could later help you find the person you're looking for. For now, how about I introduce you to our other guest. She has been coming down to visit us for many years, who knows why. But maybe she can help you too."
The villager lead them to another room where a familiar figure smiled at a child as she gently tossed a ball to him. She turned around as the group approached. Magus stopped in his tracks.
"Schala." He gasped.