Chrono Trigger
The End of Time; Along with Robo, Crono, Lucca, and Marle arrive at a strange new location and receive a new power…
The dark and dismal world gave way to a shining corridor of blue light.
All felt as if a great weight was lifted from their shoulders as they left that horrible world. A sense of strong accomplishment came over them when they realized that after all of their trials they were finally on their way home. They would rest and relax; take some time to study and find out more about Lavos. Crono and Lucca sighed in content when they imagined the thought of food fresh from the oven and Crono's lovely mother serving it to them with a bright smile. Marle was a little less enthusiastic, but was still longing for the green filled world which they had left. She longed to hear chirping birds and to feel a warm breeze again.
It is very strange what we miss when it is taken from us…
Sometimes fate plays into the hands of certain people, sometimes fate deals a bad hand, but in a few moments the entire party will think that fate was very cruel and unkind indeed. Suddenly the shining corridor of blue began to fade, almost as if a giant glass window were shattered before their eyes. Their poor hopes rose as a scene began to unfold before their eyes. You could tell when they realized what they had seen because all of their countenances fell at the same time.
"Where in the world are we?"
They were standing in the midst of a very heavy fog that blanketed a ground made of cobblestone. The sky was dark and they could see barely anything past their hands save it was for the fog that seemed to glow eerily in whatever light there was. They took a few steps while looking about themselves nervously as if they expected something horrible to happen at any moment, yet nothing happened.
"That's weird," Crono said, "there are three pillars of light here."
The party turned to him, seeing that he somehow meandered off in his own direction, and in doing so he spotted what he had specified. Three pillars of light shined in the darkness, and although it shined brilliantly it shed no light upon any of them. Rather, the light radiated a small distance away from the pillar, yet it only remained blazingly bright in the immediate vicinity of the pillar. It also seemed as if the light came up from the ground which caused Lucca to tilt her head in confusion. She bent down low so that she could trace a finger on the ground. Her finger entered the strange phenomenon and the light seemed to cascade off her finger in a shower of brilliant white sparks. It did not burn or consume her finger, rather, the sparks continued to ascend and disappear much like embers from a bonfire.
"It almost seems like a time gate, but is that possible? It seems completely different from the unexplained geothermal energy…" Lucca mused.
"Let's see what else we can find." Marle offered conclusively.
It was at this moment that they had seen something they hadn't before. (Whether it had been there this entire time or merely appeared all of a sudden was beyond them). There was an open space only a few yards ahead of them where the floor was visible and a lamppost stood. It was an old lamppost that cast a softer glow then the pillars they had seen, but it did shed light on them insomuch that they could suddenly see a stairway that descended to the secondary area. As they carefully descended the stairs (for it was still fairly dark) they noticed a barrel which had a glowing mirror resting on its lid. They also noticed a pair of old, wooden benches and an old bench that also sat underneath the lamppost. What they noticed next was a brown lump on the bench underneath the lamp.
"What is that?" Marle asked with an oddly amused smile.
They grew closer to the slumped form and slowly their world became brighter as they neared the lamp. The brown lump was actually a body wrapped in a long, brown trench coat that would come down to your knees if you were to wear it. There was also a pair of matching dress pants that came down to a well-polished pair of shoes that shined like mirrors in the lamplight. They looked to the face, but it was obscured by a wide-brimmed fedora and the only visible thing was a snowy white mustache and an old weathered chin.
"Hello sir! Do you know where we are at this moment, if you would so kind as to tell us?" Crono asked very politely, which seemed the thing to do with a man like this. Despite his courtesy, there was no answer.
"Sir?" Crono asked again. "Hey, come on! We need your help here!"
Crono reached outward and shook his shoulder gently, but the man merely slouched further as if his body were a lifeless doll. His jaw hung agape and a line of drool ran down the corner of his mouth, earning a grimace from Marle and Lucca. While his neck lolled backwards he let out the most profound snore before swallowing it along with his saliva, smacking his lips all the while. Crono righted him and gave him a gentle shake which made the old man murmur in confusion while his eyes slowly opened.
"Oh!" Was his first word, "Why, there are visitors here?"
"Sir, where are we? What is this place?"
"Well, excuse me if I sound improper, but who are you and why are you here?"
"We are a group of travelers and we want to get back home is all we'll say, but we came here instead."
"From what time have you come from?" was his casual reply.
"We have just come from the…what a minute," Crono began, knowing that something was odd, but he could not put it into words.
Fortunately, Robo was never taken by surprise, "How do you know that we have time traveled?"
"I am a wise old man," the geriatric chuckled, "and I have nothing better to do than to observe time from this place."
"And what place is this?" Lucca asked, feeling a very familiar feeling of annoyance.
"You are currently abiding in the end of time."
There was a stunned silence that followed. There is no silence that could be as profound as the silence that hung in this place. The air made no sound nor did the ethereal fog that surrounded them. There was no gentle bubbling of streams nor was there the rustling of leaves. Perhaps the only thing that could be heard was the slow breathing of the old man and the electrical humming of the lamppost. No breathing came from either of the visitors, seeing as hearing such a thing robbed them of all breath.
"What?" Crono said is an astounded tone.
"The end of time; where time stands still and moves not; a place that is traveled by the very few who have mastered the effects of time itself."
They suddenly felt lightheaded. The horrendous emotions they experienced when they discovered the advent of Lavos returned in full force as the full weight of his words bore down on them. Crono almost felt numb as he said very softly, "All things; all life; all time; no matter what we do…will end?"
The answer was enough to pull them from their shocked state as the old man irreverently guffawed and slapped his knee. The four travelers gave him a look of hostility and demanded to know what would possibly be so funny about such a dramatic thing as all of time coming to an end. The old man looked up at them with eyes whose eyelids were damp with merriment, "You misunderstand! Time will never end!" His sleeve went to wipe his eyes.
"What do you mean, 'time will never end'? That is a pretty ridiculous thing to say if you call this place the end of time!" Lucca said, placing her hands on her hips.
"Think about it, if all things were to come to an end, and if we were standing at the end (if there ever will be one, which there won't) would we be here, alive, now, at this moment?"
The four gave each other confused glances and that was an answer enough for the old man. "Exactly. Time will never end because forces beyond our comprehension shall continue to expand and to grow. There are many times and many worlds and ours is not the first, nor will it be the last. Furthermore, is all life were to end at this point, would we be standing here?"
"Can you please start making sense?" Lucca said snidely.
"This place is not called the end of time because of what you supposed it was, rather it is called the end of time because all of history may be traveled to by coming to this place. See those pillars over there? Those are gateways to other times that occur in the history of this world, but in our world only. There is no possible way for us to transverse other worlds, nor is there any need."
"If you are still confused, perhaps a metaphor will help. Have you ever seen a row of houses that were built so that they were all connected? Although they are connected, different houses in that row are separated by walls and cannot be entered save by their front doors of each respective house. However, in every row of houses there is a hidden attic at the end of each row and that attic connects all houses together. If you wanted to, you may go into any house by going through the attic. So you may think of this place as an attic in the timeline. An attic at the end of a house which leads to other houses or to other times so to speak."
"I understand now," Marle said while putting a finger to her chin, "but why not make a name that conveys that meaning? Say, 'the connecter of times' or maybe 'the gateway to history'!" She added a little flair to her pronouncement.
"I like mine better," the old man said with an amiable smile, "it always gets a good reaction the first time anyone hears it."
"You are a sick, sick man, aren't you?" Crono said with a broad grin.
"I can be, yes." The man replied with his own grin, tapping his cane on the ground. "May I ask for your names?"
"Well, I am Crono," thus he began to point to the respective persons, "this is Marle, Lucca, and Robo."
"And I am Gasper." That was when he took off his fedora and put it to his chest, politely bowing to his guests. He had a head full of snowy white hair about the same color of his mustache, only there was a strange bluish tint in his strands. Although he was full of wrinkles there was something healthy exuding from his countenance. That was perhaps due to his pearly white smile which never seemed to disappear. He was an old man, but he was still a very handsome one at that. He also had very broad shoulders, which was probably an illusion created by his heavy trench coat, but one could never be certain.
"What are you doing here, Gasper?" Lucca said, sounding rather irked.
"I am just an old man that likes to observe history. I have been here from the beginning."
"And when was that?" Lucca asked, tapping her foot.
"I am sure that you may figure that out on your own. In any case, why are you on such a journey? I presume you strive to rid the world of that horrible monster?"
They jumped back in surprise, "How do you know about that?" Crono inquired, leaning in closely.
"As I said, I am here to observe history and what is to occur. I will not hide the truth from you, but I feel that you are all very vital pertaining to fate of this world."
"What do you mean? Are you some kind of fortune teller?" Lucca quipped.
The man looked mildly offended, "I am not such a thing! As I said before," he added a warm chuckle, "I am a wise man."
"Well, seeing that you are such a wise man at all, perhaps you could point us towards the gate that would lead us to 1000 AD?" said Robo.
"Of the three pillars, you should take the middle."
"Would you like to come with us?" Crono offered, "It might be dangerous here."
"It is not." Gasper said waving a hand, "The gate leading to this place shall not wane, but if it does I will know. I also believe that you will need to use this place many more times, and perhaps you could use what I know as well."
"Do you happen to know anything about the origin of Lavos and where he came from?" Marle asked hopefully.
The man gave a nod and said, "Take the middle portal and you shall find yourself in the city of Medina."
A chill went through the three human travelers while Robo was unaffected. That is only because he knew nothing about this nation of Mystics who were bent on the destruction of the humans who had suppressed their domination. Robo suddenly realized that something strange had caused their body to cool and their faces to slightly become pale. "Is there something wrong?" Robo asked.
"Is there another gate that leads to our time?" Marle asked hopefully.
"I am afraid not," Gasper said, "you may be able to cause more tears in time so that the wide space you have come from will be filled with pillars, each one leading to a different space and time. However, for now you are limited to your choices."
"Well, I suppose that if you won't come with us, we will be going…"
As the group walked away they were stopped by Gasper's voice, "Wait a minute…How do you plan to defeat such a massive demon?"
"To be honest, I don't know, but we have to try!" Crono said with a weak smile.
"That is what I wanted to hear…Please, come back. I may be able to help you yet."
Crono drew near while his party looked on. Gasper stuck a balled-fist in the air while and dropped a simple key into the palm of Crono's hand. Crono only looked at him with a queer expression and said, "What am I supposed to do with this?"
Gasper laughed, "Why, open that door, of course!"
Crono looked over and saw that a door stood at the edge of the cobblestone street in between the rail that bordered the edge. If they were to lean over the rail they could see the backside of the door and if they were to feel past the rail they would feel nothing. Having said that, it is easily understandable why Crono looked at him as if he were a madman, to which Gasper replied with a wink, "Trust me."
Crono obeyed and went to door that seemed to lead into nothingness. He inserted the key and felt the lock lift as his friends gathered around the door. He took a breath and pushed the door inwards and was surprised to see that another cobblestone walkway stretched forward. Crono moved from the door and looked over the rail at the open frame, yet he did not see walkway or the door which lay inwards. "How is this possible? Is this some kind of witchcraft?"
The old man gleamed when he said, "Why do you scientific types always brand something with such a name when you do not understand it? Have you realized that others would say the same about traveling through time? All things are possible, and they do not break the laws of nature. If there is a supreme Creator, and I believe there is, he had made laws that cannot be broken and must be followed, seeing that he is perfect and cannot break them, because that would make him a liar and therefore imperfect, do you understand? However, one may use the knowledge of how things are to make the laws of nature to bend to your will. Steel is unbreakable by human hands, but if heated it is easily molded to whatever you wish. So it is with nature, space, and time. If one gains knowledge of how the world and worlds beyond our own works, you may mold it into whatever you please and reap the consequences that follow, be they good or bad. Keep that in mind as you go into that room."
Hearing such a strange and profound argument caused the group to think twice about entering this room. However, curiosity drove them until Crono stuck a foot outwards as if he were stepping over the edge of a monumental cliff. As he passed through the door he was also surprised that all he could see of the former room was within the door frame. What he saw next was something that surprised him altogether.
In the middle of the room that was the size of an acre was a strange creature that seemed as feeble and as adorable as a kitten. It stared with wide unblinking eyes as the rest of the group entered the room. As soon as the last person entered the room the door slammed shut behind them, causing them to nearly leap out of their skin. They looked towards the creature again as it puffed up its belly, rotating its shoulders and saying, "I am Spekkio, the manifestation of war and the fighting spirit."
All the members of the group looked at each other with grins before Lucca said with great cynicism, "You, the fluffiest little thing I have ever seen, are the manifestation of war and the fighting spirit? I knew that Gasper was nuts." Although Crono and Marle would not want to admit it, they were tempted to cover their mouths to prevent them from laughing; instead they wore contorted expressions that tried to keep serious faces.
"Do you doubt what I tell you?" The small creature said.
"Well, quite frankly, yes I do." Lucca added.
"Then, you would have no trouble defeating me then?"
Crono, Lucca, and Marle could only look to each other and laugh awkwardly before Lucca looked forward and said gently, "Listen, I didn't mean to offend you. We don't need to fight. Besides, we wouldn't want to hurt you." Although the three were easily confident, Robo stood strangely silent as he watched Spekkio as he smiled, showing a toothy, pointed grin.
"I would not worry about myself getting hurt. I will give you a warning. If you are willing to prove yourselves or mock me, you shall be enlightened."
"Hey, you don't need to be so menacing." Lucca said placing her hands on her hips, "If you want some catnip I'll give it to you!"
While Lucca laughed freely with Crono and Marle trying their best to suppress their own, something strange that Robo never sensed before crept into his systems. He held out an arm to silence the group and said, "Wait, do not tease him. There is something strange about this one."
"Don't be silly, Robo!" Lucca said while walking towards the creature and reaching out towards him with her hand, while talking in a tone reserved for pampering babies and new-born pets, "this little fellow just needs a-"
Lucca never finished this sentence. As she reached out to touch Spekkio a soul shattering wind tore across the room, lifting and throwing Lucca as if she were a rag doll tossed by an angry child. She landed very roughly on the ground and skipped across the floor, very bloody and damaged. So great was her astonishment that she could not even manage to scream in pain. Crono, whose eyes followed her as she flew though the air, whipped back towards Spekkio and he instantly drew his sword, advancing on Lucca's assailant. He leapt into air, raising both arms above his head which clamped the blade. As he brought it crashing down he saw that Spekkio did not move or even show the slightest hint of fear. The blade struck Spekkio and vibrated with the strength of the blow, but there was barely a scratch to show for it. The manifestation of war merely stood there, unmoving, his eyes shut tight in what seemed to be deep concentration. Suddenly a deep cold crept along Crono's skin and he found that he could not move. He looked downwards and saw that his feet were encased in large blocks of ice which continued to creep up to his knees and midsection. He yelped in pain as his body felt the jab of a thousand needles as prelude to absolute numbness. He desperately tried to hack away the ice with his blade, but his arms were eventually covered in thick ice causing his complete immobility.
While Crono faced the pains of freezing to death, Robo and Marle began to fear and tremble, advancing forward with the intent of destroying this hellish beast that seemed to toy with them as if they were mice. Marle dashed towards Lucca and picked up her weapon, aiming it towards Spekkio and fired constantly. Meanwhile, Robo dashed forward and let his massive arm collide into Spekkio, which only moved him slightly from his original position. A clap of thunder sounded and Robo fell to the ground as he was struck by a great bolt of lightning. Marle shouted with rage and continued to fire, but felt her feet fly up from under her as the ground quaked and columns of earth which formed from the cobblestone hit her repeatedly. The tremendous noise came to an end and Spekkio stood over his victims as they looked towards him, each one still barely clinging to life.
"No…I must…"
Spekkio looked towards the voice which called out so weakly. It was Crono whose eyelids were slowly growing heavy. His head jolted around as tried to break free from his prison. Spekkio gave him a calm and cool look, "You tried your best, but you have still lost. You have underestimated me. You and your friends are too weak to save the world as you are now."
"NO!"
Spekkio looked towards him with as if he were interested in some unseen metaphor. As he stared Crono jolted about more violently. Suddenly, to even Spekkio's amazement the ice began to crack and give way. Shards fell from his prison as he rocked back and forth, "If I can't save the world then at least I will save my friends! You can't stop me!"
"Just give up. Surrender. I will make your death quick and painless if you only let me."
The ice continued to break, "No! Let my friends go! Are you afraid of me? Are you a coward?" Crono screamed, his voice beginning to break.
"You are only trying to anger me. You have lost, and your lives are forfeit." Spekkio lifted a hand towards Lucca's direction.
"No!" Crono sobbed, "Please! Let them go! You can take my life, just let them go!"
It was at that moment that Spekkio gave a very warm and soothing smile that befitted his appearance. He nodded towards Crono while still pointing towards Lucca who was immobilized before. Crono turned to her and was amazed to see that she was no longer bloody or battered, but she seemed almost as healthy as she was before. Then, Spekkio stretched an arm towards Marle and her bloodied body, instantly turning her into healthy vibrant person once more. He then turned to Robo who lay lifeless on the floor and Robo rose as if nothing befell him. Crono rejoiced when he saw his friends rise from the ground, but suddenly he looked towards Spekkio and realized the words he just spoke. He closed his eyelids, which trembled and shook. He felt as if he were falling.
And he was.
He opened his eyes and found that he was face down on the ground. He patted his person and saw that he was no longer encased in ice, but felt as the others looked; strong, healthy, vibrant, and full of life. Crono instantly jumped to his feet and cast a suspicious glance at Spekkio. "Why did you let us all go? Why did you heal us?"
"It was never my desire to harm you."
"You could have fooled me!" Lucca spat, still remembering how the fall felt, notwithstanding feeling none of the former pain at all.
"Do you believe that I am the manifestation of war and the fighting spirit?"
All four unanimously nodded their heads.
"It was a harsh lesson, but I see that it was well received. Now that you believe me, you can learn what I will teach you."
"And what is that?" Marle asked with a raised eyebrow.
"What you would call 'magic.'"
"I thought Gasper said that it wasn't magic." Robo replied.
"And he is right. Magic is not real, but what you will learn is very real. In time you will develop the power and the knowledge to move entire mountains and cause steams to turn into rivers in the blink of an eye. You will learn to master the elements themselves."
"How do we do that?" Marle said, suddenly feeling very eager.
"Walk around the room three times in a clockwise direction."
Silence.
"What?"
"I said, 'Walk around the room three times clockwise.'"
"Are you serious?" Marle asked sounding agitated.
"Have I lied to you yet?" Spekkio said with a slightly impatient tone.
"You are saying that we will learn the mysteries of elemental control if we walk around this room three times?" Crono restated.
"…'clockwise'. You forgot 'clockwise'."
Lucca scoffed, "I'm out of here."
Crono stopped Lucca by grabbing her arm, "Hey, come on. It won't take more than a few minutes. Why not give it a shot?"
Lucca sighed and rolled her eyes as they began to walk around the room. As they walked alongside the rail, Spekkio watched them with a strange sense of glee as they grew closer and closer to the third rotation. As soon as they finished they heard him yell for them to draw near. When they did he gave them a wide smile and said, "Faith proceeds knowledge. We are never sure of something until we have faith in it first. We believe in something, test it, and see if it is true or not. You have been shown that I am the manifestation of war by losing to me, and now you have shown faith in yourselves and towards me by performing this strange and seemingly pointless task. You have proved yourselves worthy and willing to learn, because you have shown a desire to study and your determination. Now, as a reward, receive your knowledge that comes after faith and every trial!"
Suddenly a blinding light came across all of them insomuch that they stumbled back, but when they opened their eyes they could feel some strange new power coursing through their veins. They felt confident and full of ambition while Spekkio continued, "Right now, you are weak. Perhaps you may have wondered why the manifestation of war looks so weak? That is because when you are weak, I appear weak, but when you are strong I appear strong. I have caused you to understand this new power, but your understanding is not your own. Continue to use your new skill and it will become your own knowledge and you will grow immensely. As you continue to master the elements, you will become infinitely stronger, insomuch that swords cannot pierce your flesh nor will scalding fire or icy torrent or any other element affect you. I hope you grow stronger. One day I hope for you all to see me for what I really am. You may leave, and feel free to return to challenge me. I believe that you may be more effective in the future."
"I remembered dreaming about becoming a hero when I was young…"
The group of four sat in the midst of swirling darkness while Gasper continued to sleep peacefully. They rested on benches, amazing themselves by exercising their new skills. Although it was very weak, Crono was able to cause a stream of cracking electricity to flow from his fingers. Lucca conjured fire in her palm while Marle caused small ice shards to float in front of her. Robo also contented himself to summon a dark vale which hovered in the air, covering him in darkness. Crono looked into his hand as he continued his contemplation.
"I always thought that the knights I have watched were impervious to death, even to pain."
"Why are you talking about this now?" Marle asked him gently, afraid of the direction in which this was going.
Crono continued to stare at his hand, "We almost died back there."
"Spekkio told us he wouldn't kill us." Marle threw in defensively.
"Well, Lavos will, and how much stronger is he?"
A cool voice talked next, "Sir, it is my mission to aid all of humanity. I was built for that purpose. I cannot turn from my purpose now."
"I'm not saying that we are going to stop." Crono said firmly, almost so much that he sounded frustrated. "All I'm saying is that I want to know if you guys want to go through with this. You saw how easily we were at his mercy. Do you really want to pursue this thing?"
"Well," Lucca offered, "we don't really need to fight him, necessarily. I imagine there is a way we can prevent him from ever existing."
"Yeah," Marle threw in, smiling at Lucca before turning to Crono and saying, "I think we can find a safe way to help. Cheer up, Crono! We can do this!"
"Alright then! If you guys are all for it, then I am with you! We better keep our heads collected. We are going to have to go through Medina and find our way home."
"We'll be okay." Lucca said with an affirmative nod, "We just need to be careful not to draw so much attention to us."
And with that they made their way over to the pillars of light that barely illuminated the dark corner of this strange place. As Crono stepped in the middle pillar there was a sudden image that filled his head and he was able to see a city full of Mystics walking about, engaging in activities that humans would find normal. "Hmm, so this definitely leads to Medina. Alright; when we get there we cannot allow ourselves to be separated, okay?"
"What is so dangerous about Medina?" Robo asked.
"We'll tell you when we get there!" And with that, Lucca took a hold of Robo and led him to the gate, which enveloped them with a white light unlike the other portals they used in their travels. The world around them grew brighter and brighter and suddenly the world grew dark, insomuch that they could not see. A few seconds that seemed longer than minutes passed as the four felt very cramped and uncomfortable. There was a strange, faint, murmuring noise, but it was so indistinct that none could understand it.
"Are we here?" Lucca asked with a worried tone in her voice.
"Where are we?" Crono asked, straining as if he were pushing against something, "I can barely move!"
"Don't tell me that we ended up in some other horrible world instead!" Marle whined. "Ugh, it's so stuffy in this place."
"Who is there?"
All froze and said nothing else as a strange tiny voice yelled. The sound was slightly muted as if it were coming from the opposite side of some unseen door. They stood motionless, waiting for another sound only to hear the sound of something unlocking. Suddenly, they felt their bodies fly forward as they were once again blinding by a brilliant flash of daylight. They fell to the floor in a messy heap, fortunately Robo falling first. Crono got to his knees and pushed himself upwards with his hands, seeing for the first time in what seemed like years, a hardwood floor. He looked behind him and saw that he and his friends tumbled from a large wardrobe that was slightly damaged from the inside. He looked to his sides and saw modern inventions and decorations lining the walls, leading to one solid conclusion: "We're back!"
"Uh, Crono?" Lucca said, pointing forward.
Crono's brilliant smile of triumph quickly gave way to a frightened gawk as he found himself facing the point of a pitchfork aiming at his face. He followed the handle until his eyes arrived to a creature covered in smooth, seamless scales so it almost looked like green skin. His eyes were large and bulbous, completed with a large, sloping forehead. He was also a short thing, less than half his size. It was a Mystic creature known as an imp; an imp being a small monster, yet amazingly agile, and rumored in old times to be ruthlessly cruel.
"Uh, hello…" Crono said while raising his hands so that they were level with his shoulders, "Um, are we in Medina?"
Author's Note: I hope you enjoyed this. I am wondering how to go about this whole cave thing that leads back to their home. We will see what happens:P