If history is to change, let it change.
If the world is to be destroyed, let it be destroyed.
… If it is my fate to be destroyed…
I must simply laugh!!
I'm coming, Lavos.
A boy from the year 1000 AD has drastically changed history.
He and his friends have saved the entire world from Lavos,
By destroying the destroyer before it could conquer Zeal Kingdom.
But a shadow warrior, with history in both medieval Guardia and ancient Zeal kingdom, remains. His story has not yet come to conclusion.
The threat of Lavos is gone, but only time will tell
What will become of Magus.
Based on the sub-ending in Chrono Trigger right before Zeal kingdom is destroyed, and the story of that complex ending which remains untold. I don't own any of the characters from the original Chrono Trigger SNES game; they are all property of Squaresoft. Any original characters of my own creation will be listed at the end of the fic. I'm not making any money off this fic, nor am I asking for donations. Duh. Does anyone actually read these disclaimers? Anyway, let's get started on the fic.
Split-Image History
Tale of the Undestroyed Zeal Kingdom, and the Untold Story of Magus
"If history is to change, let it change." Magus said to himself, standing just outside the entrance to the Ocean Palace's throne room. The floor below his feet glittered with ominous Zealean technology, just as he remembered it; channels of gently flowing lava coursed through the Ocean Palace like veins in a hellish monster, just as he remembered it; statues of gargoyle-like fetches, reptilian humanoids with bristling muscles, and maidens holding strange glowing offerings to unknown deities in their cupped hands, all exactly as he remembered it. The Ocean Palace: ominous, dark, and powerful. The construct queen Zeal had built to honor her kingdom's long-awaited eternal reign. But Magus knew how it would all end. Zeal Kingdom would be destroyed upon the moment queen Zeal summoned Lavos. The Ocean Palace would be the point from which the apocalypse would begin, ironically ending the ice age, reuniting the Enlightened and Earthbound, and reviving life once again on the face of planet earth.
All at the cost of hundreds of lives, … and the loss of his sister, Schala. This one event had, long ago, sent him to the Mystics in the year 600 AD, and now he was about to relive it, fully aware of what was about to occur.
"If the world is to be destroyed, let it be destroyed."
He was well aware the potential ramifications of his next actions. By challenging Lavos, he ran risks far greater than he could comprehend. Not only was he taking his own life into his hands by facing Lavos, but at this crucial juncture in history, much more was on the line. Supposing, with all hope, that he was able to destroy Lavos here and now; it would alter the timeline so drastically that he could not be certain what would happen. Almost unquestionably, something would happen to himself, even if he knew not what. He imagined for a moment standing victoriously in front of Lavos's destroyed form, only to suddenly blip out of existence, assuming the identity of Janus, only a Janus that had never been sent through time, a Janus that had never had everything he held dear torn from him. Then there was the future timelines to think about. What would the world be like if Zeal had never fallen?
But even worse possibilities presented themselves. Magus was now tinkering with the time-space continuum, not just of Zeal or even the earth, but the entire universe. What if by destroying Lavos, then ceasing to be Magus and losing his powers, he caused a rift in time-space,… that could destroy the entire universe, all existence. Or what if he discovered that timeline changes would prevent Lavos from being destroyed whatsoever? Such thoughts, he realized, were far too vast and outreaching for even his own well-attuned mind to comprehend.
Still, he had to go on with his plan. He could not bear the thought of being helpless and unable to protect Schala, twice.
"If it is my fate to be destroyed… I must simply laugh!!"
Even if anyone in this vast empty fortress was listening to his seemingly insane ramblings, they would give it little thought. Since establishing his guise as a 'prophet' in Zeal Kingdom, the citizens of Zeal had made it a point not to attempt to understand him, which gave him excuse for many odd behaviors that queen Zeal and the royals took as 'simply a part of the nature of those who are prophetically inclined', as queen Zeal had put it. By comparison, he was like a well-trained hacker who acted like a demented teenager; he was put up with and left alone because he could give the desired results, regardless of how bizarre his behavior became.
Then, in a low voice, he whispered to himself "I'm coming, Lavos.", almost as if to intimidate the unseen monster through sheer the determination of his cause.
He was a dark agent of death, set on destroying the destroyer, even at his own expense. With his secret weapon, a dreamstone scythe he had dubbed the Lunar Cry, concealed within the folds of his prophet's cloak, he walked slowly forward towards the doorway which would lead him into the central room of the entire Ocean Palace, queen Zeal's throne room.
Queen Zeal looked up as the prophet entered the darkened throne room. The Mammon Machine, completely still and silent with no energy whatsoever flowing through it, was directly behind where she now stood. Schala, in her usual long flowing purple robe, stood to her mother's right, looking visually nervous and uncertain. Magus knew all too well what his long-lost sister was thinking and feeling at the moment. Dalton was notably absent at the moment, left in Zeal Palace upon Magus's suggestion, in case Glenn and his band of interlopers somehow found their way back into Zeal's time period. A handful of other prominent Zeal citizens stood nearby, all anxious and excited. 'Why shouldn't they be?' Magus scoffed inwardly. 'These fools think they're about to receive eternal life. They're like children huddled around a Christmas tree, unable to wait any longer to open their presents.' But what these Zealeans were about to discover… would likely cost them their lives, not prolong life endlessly. Inside, Magus felt a mix of pity and scorn for these people who were about to open a proverbial Pandora's Box with far greater consequences than they could ever imagine.
"Ah, prophet." Queen Zeal stated upon seeing Magus arrive. "I am glad to see you are here. I trust everything is going well?"
"Yes,… everything is exactly as I saw it." He stated, putting no emotion into his reply so as to hide from the queen the true meaning of the statement.
"Good, good! Not a bad omen in sight. Then let us proceed." She turned to one of the attendants. "Send a messenger to Dalton. Tell him to leave the Golem Twins and a handful of soldiers to guard the entrance to the Ocean Palace; I want all the right people here to witness this event and take part." She then turned and looked into each Zealean's eyes, one by one, as she spoke. "We shall be the first fruits of the eternal kingdom which shall reign on the face of the earth from now until the end of time! The kingdom of Zeal shall soon extend it's borders far beyond just this simple planet; the universe in all it's glory shall become our limitless adventure to which there shall be no end. And all thanks to the unmatched power of the mighty Lavos…" She turned to Schala. "Schala, begin to increase the energy intake of the Mammon Machine. Give it time to reach nominal levels before we begin to tap into Lavos's true power. Then turn it up until we at last achieve immortality."
'And now it begins, again.' Magus thought to himself as he took his place on queen Zeal's left. Schala hesitated, then sighed in defeat and began chanting.
But the Mammon Machine did nothing. Not even the smallest glow. It was like the Mammon Machine was dead.
"… W-what is wrong? Schala, I told you to activate the Mammon Machine." The queen chastised.
"I,… I don't understand it." Schala stuttered. "I'm doing everything right. It should activate."
"Try again, and this time put more energy into it." The queen demanded, obviously irritated but not concerned by the situation. At least not yet.
Magus raised an eyebrow in inquiry. He never remembered there being any difficulty in Schala getting the Mammon Machine to activate. Never.
Schala continued chanting for several minutes, but still nothing.
"Mother, it just isn't working." Schala stated with an 'it isn't my fault' tone in her voice.
"Where's Dalton?" Queen Zeal demanded. A few minutes later, Dalton walked into the throne room, and all eyes locked instantly on him. He stopped dead in his tracks as he realized everyone was looking at him.
"I apologize if I've kept all of you waiting,-" Dalton was quickly cut off by the queen.
"Dalton, your engineers were in charge of installing the Mammon Machine into the systems of the Ocean Palace, correct??" Zeal demanded.
"Y-yes, queen Zeal."
"Then perhaps you can inform me why it is not functioning?"
Dalton cringed a little at the intensity and anger in the queen's voice.
"It's not working?" Dalton asked in a feeble, innocent tone.
"Dalton, if it was working, would I be asking you right now why it isn't working???"
As Dalton fumbled for words, queen Zeal turned to one of her attendants.
"Have the engineers Dalton used to install the machine brought here immediately. I want every component examined, checked, and double checked within one hour, and whatever's wrong fixed." She then turned to the others in the room, obviously fighting for composure. "For the moment, it appears that we shall have to wait. Dalton, I want you personally overseeing the repairs to the Mammon Machine. If it does not function within one hour, I'll hold you personally responsible."
Magus walked away from the throne room feeling somewhat confused. Had his coming here altered the timeline somehow? He had taken specific care not to tamper with any important events in Zeal history until now. He was certain that he remembered the Mammon Machine had functioned at the exact time queen Zeal had arranged when he had lived in Zeal as young Janus.
'Perhaps nothing more than technical difficulties; a loose conductor crystal or absorption node.' He thought to himself.
An hour later, the machine still would not function. Queen Zeal, taking personal oversight of the operation, could even herself find nothing wrong with the Mammon Machine. In utter confusion and frustration, Zeal had ordered everyone back to their positions, muttering vengefully about the three Gurus sabotaging the massive device.
Now Magus knew without a doubt that something was wrong. The timeline had changed, but he had no idea why. As he stood on the brown bridge that overlooked the Zealean lake and waterfall, he couldn't shake the odd feeling he'd gotten ever since Schala failed to activate the Mammon Machine the first time. He had been preparing restlessly for this one event, the one time where he would have his chance to take revenge against Lavos. It didn't make sense…
… Could Glenn and his band of mismatched misfits… have succeeded in destroying Lavos, just as they'd intended?
'No, that's impossible. Those fools wouldn't have stood a chance against Lavos, even with the Masamune.' Magus thought to himself. 'Besides which, if they had destroyed Lavos, it would have been obvious by now,… wouldn't it?'
Now that it was nighttime, Magus had slipped undetected back into the throne room of the Ocean Palace, and now knelt in silent observation over the different bits and pieces of the disassembled Mammon Machine. Using the Lunar Cry like a dowsing rod, he scanned it over every piece of the behemoth reactor in search of even the faintest sign of Lavos's energy. None. Queen Zeal's fountain of youth had run dry.
'There should at least be a little bit of energy left over, or at least some sign that there was energy here to begin with.' He paused in mid-thought. 'But there isn't even the slightest trace. That's impossible…'
"Princess Schala, the prophet wishes to speak with you." One of the attendants stated, coming to the top few steps of the room's staircase but no higher. Schala, brushing her hair, stopped mid-motion.
"What does he want to speak to me about?"
"All he would say is that it's both private and urgent, princess."
"Alright, then. Send him in." She said, obviously perplexed slightly by the nature of this sudden visit. The attendant walked back down the staircase, and moments later the ever-mysterious prophet entered the room, covered as always in his ritualistic garments and cloak, only now with the hood off and left to fall loosely below the back of his neck.
"You wished to speak to me?" Schala inquired.
"I've been having,… confusing visions as of late." Magus replied. "Princess Schala, . . . do you believe it's possible that the reason the Mammon Machine is no longer functioning… could be because Lavos has been destroyed somehow?"
"I only wish such a thing was possible." She laughed, her tone revealing her total disgust for the creature. Then she became more serious. "Why do you ask?"
"… Do you recall those travelers that I had you send back through that portal, then seal it?" He asked. She nodded, not sure what he was getting at. Magus continued. "I believe that they might have been time travelers."
"I'm sorry, but I don't understand what this has to do with the Mammon Machine not working."
How could he explain? His theory didn't even make sense to himself. But he knew three people that might be able to unravel this mystery.
"Princess Schala,… assuming for a moment that perhaps Lavos has been destroyed somehow, do you believe that the Gurus might be able to verify it?"
"What are you saying?" She inquired, suddenly seeming strangely hopeful. She then added in hushed tones "Are you going to attempt to rescue Melanchoir?"
"… Perhaps. If he can help me to locate the other two, it may be a starting place." He then added, very serious. "But you must promise me not to tell the queen about this."
"You have my word; she'll never find out from me." She paused. "But once the Mountain of Woe falls, it might be hard to keep from her."
"What do you mean?"
"There's a built-in security measure on the Mountain of Woe. In order to rescue Melanchoir, you'll need to destroy the defense robot, but if you do, it'll start a reaction that causes the giant chain that anchors the mountain to the ground to break."
"Causing the mountain to continue to float up until it leaves the atmosphere, effectively killing everything still on it." Magus assumed.
"No, but close. Melanchoir himself is the energy source for the entire mountain. Once he's free, he'll regain his powers quickly, but the mountain will also quickly plummet into the ocean. It's nearly impossible for anyone who cannot teleport away to escape alive."
"Then I shouldn't have much to worry about." Magus stated, turning to go. "Thank you, princess, for your help. I promise that I'll rescue Melanchoir."
(Well, that's the end of chapter 1. If you liked what you read, leave a review. No new characters at the moment, but maybe in the next few chapters. As always when I'm starting a series, if I find out I don't have an audience, I'll discontinue the fic, so REVIEW IF YOU WANT MORE!! That's it for now. See ya!)