Chapter 3
They got out of the Gate, only to find out that someone beat them there. Everything had been completely destroyed, Gaspar and Spekkio were nowhere in sight, and all that was left were the Gates, a few rocks and a broken lamppost. Janice sniffed the air, and let out a howl of fury.
"Ercassam was here!!! As was my father!!!" she screamed in rage.
Finally, she calmed down. Magus was thinking for awhile, and then sighed.
"Janice, do you think you can fix this place?" he asked.
Janice looked confused for awhile.
"I think so, but it'll take awhile, and I can't do it by myself," Janice said.
Magus nodded and turned to the rest of the group.
"Robo, you and Ayla stay here and help her, the rest is coming with me."
Marle, Lucca and Glenn looked at each other, before shrugging and nodding.
"But… where are we going?" Marle asked shyly.
Magus sighed and turned his head over his shoulder to look at Janice, who was thinking.
"Uh… I have no idea where he might've---"
Suddenly, she sniffed the air again, as if smelling something.
"What the Hell??" Janice muttered.
Ayla sniffed the air too.
"Ayla no smell nothing. What be wrong?"
"There are no traces of life anywhere, let alone a scent of a person," Robo added.
Marle, Lucca and Glenn sniffed too, but they didn't smell anything. Magus also sniffed, and he blinked in confusion.
"Crono…" he muttered, and everyone looked at him in confusion. "He was here too."
By pinpointing the source of the smell, Magus finally came to the Gate that led to Zeal. He turned to Marle, Lucca and Glenn.
"Let's move, I have a feeling they're heading for Zeal, though I don't know why," he said, and the trio looked astonished.
"Don't be so sure Magus," Janice muttered, lifting a large piece of brick along with Ayla. "My father could've changed them, for all we know."
Magus nodded and the quartet stepped into the Gate, heading to who-knows-where.
Somewhere…
Gaspar and Spekkio were forced to their knees by a pair of heavy-muscled guards. Gaspar growled and still held onto his cane tightly, and looked up towards the throne above him. Ercassam stood halfway down the stairs, not blocking the view of his master, arms crossed tightly across his chest, eyes glittering dangerously, and teeth bared in an angry fashion. He growled softly, but Gaspar growled back, louder. Ercassam would've jumped at the old Guru, had his master not spoken up.
"Ercassam! Down boy!" he said, after which he chuckled.
Gaspar looked up, and his jaw dropped.
"YOU?!?!?!" he choked out.
The man atop the throne simply tapped his fingers against each other, smirking mercilessly at the Guru and Nu. One leg was lazily draped over the other as he watched them for awhile, his dark red eyes twinkling with emotions his rock-hard face hid so well.
He was mad; and for him, that wasn't a good thing.
"You know him Gaspar??" Spekkio asked, confused.
"He used to be a King in the Kingdom of Zeal. I haven't seen him ever since he tried to fight Lavos. I thought he died, along with his daughter and wife."
The man chuckled. "And yet I lived, as did both my wife and daughter."
He closed his eyes and smirked at the memory.
"Tell me, Old Man," he said, opening his eyes and removing something from inside his cape, "do you recognize this?"
He held up a crimson, tear-shaped pendant with the emblem of Zeal embossed in it, dripping with a red liquid; blood. On the side, in ancient runes, was written the name of its creator; Melchior.
Gaspar couldn't believe what he was seeing.
"T-t-the Queen's pendant! Where'd you get it?! Is she still alive?!" he asked frantically, until he noticed the man chuckling, before he erupted in maniacal laughter.
"You are truly a fool Old Man! I got this pendant clear from her throat," a chuckle came from his throat, "right after I practically snapped every bone in that fragile little body of hers, before ripping it off, along with that pretty head of hers."
Gaspar blanched.
"Looks like even Vampires can be killed, what do you say Ercassam?"
Ercassam chuckled too, and said, with a voice more like a horrid screech: "Vampires are weak anyway, far too weak to defend themselves against anything serious!"
Gaspar had to restrain himself to not flung himself at the man, that's how mad he was. Suddenly, the man snapped his fingers in recognition.
"Damn, I almost forgot! Ercassam." Ercassam looked at his master. "Go find the Gurus of Life and Reason, and bring them back, ALIVE!!!"
"I know I know," Ercassam said, and bowed, his tail making a whooshing sound as it whipped through the air. "By your leave."
"Move."
The creature ran out of the throne-room, and Gaspar gasped at it, shaking his head in denial. Spekkio looked at the man, murder in his beady eyes.
"What did you do to him!?" he hissed.
"None of your business, take them away!" the man shouted, and a few guards took them away.
Gaspar shot him a hateful glare, before he was out of the throne-room.
"My lord," a voice said, and one of his men walked over to him, bowing respectfully.
"You may rise," he said, fingering the pendant he had around his neck.
A very old pendant, but it was his.
"Your son and three others are heading to the future, apparently, they tried to follow you," the soldier said.
He was silent for awhile, then said: "Good, you're dismissed."
The soldier bowed, and left.
The man smirked evilly and mumbled to no one but himself: "Let's just have some fun while they're around."
A heavy pounding on glass was heard and a feminine voice shouted: "Bastard! You'll never get away with this!!"
He looked up at the lovely Schala and chuckled. "I already have child, I already have. And not even your brother can be able to stop me."
Schala was furious, a rare sight, but sat down and tried desperately to calm down.
Meanwhile…
Magus, Lucca, Marle and Glenn stepped out from the Gate, each looking where they were. Glenn was the first to realize where they were.
"'Tis the future. But why be he here?"
Magus looked around, his ears straining to hear the slightest of noise. They had no idea where they were, but they had arrived at some sort of canyon, which was moving two ways, so Magus did a very reasonable thing.
"Lucca, you and I go down the right path, Glenn, you and Marle go down the left. We'll meet back here in two hours. If you see anything that might help, shoot some Magic into the sky."
Lucca, who would do anything but go with Magus, tried to look like she agreed, even though she was screaming inside of herself. Glenn however, didn't bother, and he and Marle left down the trail heading toward the south. Lucca watched them for awhile, until she realized Magus had already started walking up north. She hurriedly ran after him.
'Great, why am I stuck with him?! He could've taken Glenn or Marle! But noooooo! Of course it had to be me! Who else?!'
They had been walking for nearly an hour, and still nothing, besides two trees on the way that had seemed awfully familiar. It was as though they had been on this place before, because they both felt like they could go down this road blindfolded. They entered a cave, walked up a few stairs, and arrived outside yet again. They continued, and arrived at a bridge, where flowers of all colors could be seen. They walked down this road, not noticing the broken Poyozo Doll, which had been destroyed by a swing with something sharp. Really sharp. They continued to walk, until they finally stopped, eyes wide at what they saw.
A giant spiked shell stood against the wall, the only sign of the threat that had been nestled in the planet. They finally realized where they were, and why this place was so familiar.
They were on Death Peak.
Magus looked around and was shocked at what he saw. Lucca too, looked around, and gasped in horror.
"I think I'm gonna hurl."
Below Death Peak…
"Why do you think he had gone to Death Peak?" Marle asked Glenn, clueless as to why they had gone there.
Glenn shrugged. "Not a clue lass, but it's probably no good and---"
A giant explosion sounded, and they both turned to see Fire Magic shooting up into the sky, followed by a large wave of Shadow Magic, which came together and exploded loudly, from somewhere near the summit.
The amphibian and the princess quickly ran toward where Magus and Lucca were, hoping they were okay. They arrived at the place where they had fought the last spawn, and they noticed Lucca looked a little ill. Marle looked around and her eyes widened. Glenn looked too, and gasped.
4 different women lay sprawled across the place, different colors of blood seeping into the ground. Light red, dark red, and black.
One of them was a pale woman with curly auburn hair that was now painted into a darker shade due to the amount of blood seeping from her bashed skull. Her jaw had been punched out of joint, her lower body had been twisted into an unnatural position, as were her legs and arms. Her chest had been ripped open to reveal an empty hole.
A different one was a blonde Fairy, who lay on her stomach, her back ripped apart, her wings ripped off and shredded into tiny pieces, and her arms and legs torn from her body.
A third was a red half-cat, and half her fur had been burned, while a few tuffs of fur were still burning. Hundreds of burn wounds covered her, and her tail had been ripped off, and her legs squashed.
The last was an Elf with lovely orange hair, painted black by the blood coming from her stomach. She had been thrown upside-down against a rock, making the blood from her shot liver run over her face and into her hair. It looked as if her neck had been broken, by the angle it was in.
Marle tried to keep her stomach in check, and was glad Ayla wasn't here, seeing as Ayla had eaten way more than any of them at the party. The air was filled with the stench of blood, and no one spoke for quite some time, until Magus gave a sigh. He walked over to the giant Lavos shell, and climbed up. The others reluctantly followed him up to the summit, and walked on, until…
They saw the tree where Crono had been resurrected, and it was still the same, and near it, lay the fifth, and final maiden. Her eyes were wide in shock and horror, waist length silver colored hair was sprawled around her head, which had been ripped from the rest of her body by a small piece of rope, or a chain of a necklace. Her lips were slightly open, revealing a set of razor sharp fangs, and they could easily see her sharply pointed ears. She was dressed in the same armor as Magus, but she was missing the glove of her left-hand. Her bones appeared to be squashed, snapped in half and then crushed. Her skin was chalk white.
Lucca looked at Magus, and back at the woman. She could've sworn she looked exactly like Magus, or Janice. Same high cheekbones, same slanted eyes, same hair-color, same fangs, same ears, you name it. Well, they looked alike beside the fact that Magus and Janice were alive and she was dead.
Above them, the moon shone brightly, almost full.
Glenn was spluttering for awhile, trying to find the right words to say, but nothing came. Magus walked over to the woman to take a closer look, when he noticed something on her left-hand. He turned it with the back up, and examined the emblem embossed on it with multi-colored ink. It was the emblem of Zeal.
"I'm guessing, that she's one of our descendants," he finally said, standing up.
"Could be, the lass looks a lot like thee, Magus," Glenn said.
Oh, but you're wroooooo-ooooong!! a new voice chided with a teasing tone.
The four turned toward the summit, and were blinded for a second. When they could look, they noticed a well-built figure, who had flaming-black hair with red strakes through it, and wore a strange armor none of them had ever seen. On his face, was a scar that ran from just above his right eye to above his chin. His scorching red eyes were nearly burning a hole through their souls, and there was a smirk plastered on his face, with one of his fangs showing from under his lip. He had his arms crossed in a way that demanded superiority.
"Huh??? Who are you??" Marle asked, a little confused.
The man chuckled, his eyes closing as he did, but his smirk didn't waver. Instead of answering however, he spoke in a strange way, as if someone else was forming his words.
Pity really, the first Queen of Zeal, left to die on a mountain named Death Peak in a future where her Kingdom was destroyed for nearly 14300 years. And then to be changed into a Vampire along with the rest of those pests. It's a pity.
"What!?!? Hey wait a second!! YOU are Haelles! Aren't you?!?!" Lucca nearly screamed.
The figure chuckled again, holding the back of his hand in front of his mouth to muffle it.
Nice observation. And I think, that by now, you know my power. Everyone who tries to defy me, meets a certain doom. Just like that poor fool, Crono.
Magus quirked his eyebrow in confusion. Haelles was using the same lines Magus had used during the meeting at North Cape in the year 12,000 BC.
"WHAT?!?!" Marle screamed. "WHAT DID YOU DO TO HIM?!?!"
He's history. Play with fire and you get burned. Humans were meant to die anyway. I'm just finishing a task left undone. It's why I came to this shitty planet in the first place! Lavos was trying to reach the same thing, so why not join forces? Now that I have Life Eternal, nothing will be in my way! Not even that pathetic boy you call the 'Chrono Trigger'!
Magus was burning up on the inside. He wouldn't be able to swallow anymore of this, but Lucca, Marle and Glenn continued to questioned him.
"What about Janice?! She's your daughter!!! You're just going to let her die?!?!" Lucca demanded.
That little pest is not of pure blood! She does not deserve to live. I didn't even allow her mother to live, as you can see.
Magus noticed Haelles was looking down at the woman with silver colored hair, and Magus fought the urge to jump up to him and kill him.
"WHY YOU!!!" Marle screamed.
"HOW CAN YOU DO THIS?!?!" Lucca screamed as well.
"THOU ART EVEN WORSE THAN LAVOS!!!" Glenn hollered.
You and your measly friends can't stop me. You are but insects to me. Just face it, this is Destiny in its most brutal form! This world would be peaceful if there weren't any humans around! My species will replace you, and create a new order!
Dalton, Zeal, and Mother Brain, and Magus guessed he had plenty more. He was close to breaking, if Haelles continued, Magus'd snap and shoot at him in utter fury.
"What about Queen Zeal?! Didn't she matter to you at all?!?!" Marle shouted.
I just needed her to feed Lavos, nothing more. Sadly enough, the only way to do so, was to make her pregnant and make her see the glory of Life Eternal! Personally, I despised the filthy urchin. Ch, he's too much like this little bitch.
Magus clenched his fists angrily, clenching his teeth to try and calm down. He was lucky that Haelles didn't pay him any heed.
"What did Lavos do to your brain? He must've done something bad," Lucca said.
Haelles laughed maniacally, making them cringe, besides Magus, who was still shaking with fury.
Indeed! Lavos remade me to destroy humans more efficiently! And once I have the Frozen Flame in my power, I will be unstoppable!
Magus' eyes suddenly widened when he realized what Haelles was talking about.
Ayla word. 'La' mean fire. 'Vos' mean big.
That just wasn't a coincidence!!
"YOU CAN'T DO THAT YOU-YOU!!!" Magus screamed. Haelles chuckled.
What makes you say I won't? Hey hold on.
He studied Magus a little more closely, and then groaned.
Damn, it's that urchin again! Get lost kid! Go bother your mother or something! She should still be around.
"She's not! We killed her!" Glenn said, a smirk on his face.
Haelles quirked an eyebrow.
And? Is that supposed to scare me?
Suddenly, the Masamune began to glow bright blue, and Glenn unsheathed it, confused. The Masamune glowed and soon, it made room for two yellow Mystics.
"Masa, is that who I think it is?" Mune asked, looking at Haelles.
"I think so, but he's different somehow," Masa answered.
Well, well, well. Masa and Mune. This day can't get any weirder than it already is. Or that bitch of a Doreen has to show up as well.
Masa and Mune gasped in horror.
"You take that back!!" Mune shouted.
"Don't you dare talk about Doreen like that!" Masa said angrily.
I will and you can't stop me!
"You jerk!!" the two Mystics hollered.
"Monster!" Lucca shouted.
"Asshole!" Marle screamed.
"Bastard!!" Glenn shouted.
But Haelles didn't flinch
Magus had heard every decent insults, and didn't know what to say. He didn't even want to say anything.
At least someone's being clever and not opening his mouth. Probably the best move.
Okay! That was absolutely IT!!
Magus' blazing red eyes shot up as he screamed on top of his lungs: "SHUT THE FUCK UP YOU MOTHERFUCKING MONKEY!!!!!!"
Haelles' eyes widened and his mouth hung open slightly. He looked horrified that someone had called him a monkey.
At the last second, Magus had remembered that Janice had said she got her tail from her father, and, hadn't it been for the color, it could've been mistaking for a monkey's tail.
Finally, Haelles snapped out of it, and he looked utterly furious.
ALRIGHT YOU FILTHY URCHIN!!! ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!!! I SHOULD'VE DONE THIS THE SECOND YOU WERE BORN!!!!! BE READY TO FACE THE PAIN OF HELL!!!!!!!
He grabbed a stick from a ring around his thigh, and it extended into a dark black sword, dark energy literally seeming to float out of it. Masa and Mune's jaws dropped, before they changed back into a sword.
Magus grabbed his scythe, Marle grabbed her crossbow, Lucca pulled out her gun, and Glenn grasped the Masamune clear out of the air.
To Be Continued…