Chapter 5

The Crono-look-alike blinked, twice, and cocked his head to the side. That's when I noticed that he had highly pointed ears. It was odd, looking at that fool without him seeming to recognize us. As if he never saw us before in his life.

"Have we met?" he asked. "I don't remember meeting you people before."

I couldn't believe it, and neither could the others.

"Crono! Why you no know us?! What happen?! What Haelles do?!" Ayla demanded, making the Crono-look-alike gasp in shock.

"Haelles?! What are you talking about? And who are you?!" he asked again.

Laze suddenly flew over to him and told him: "They're mistaking you for their friend. Apparently, Haelles kidnapped him."

The man nodded in understanding.

He turned to us.

"Sorry to tell you people this, but I'm not who you might believe I am."

"You responded to the name Crono! Explain that!" Lucca shouted angrily.

"Because that's my second name!" the guy answered.

We all looked shocked, and the man introduced himself.

"My name is Elvor Crono Greadon, and I assume you already met Ms. Ze---"

"SAY THE WORD AND YOU'RE DEAD BUSHHEAD!!!" Laze screamed, enraged.

Elvor hurriedly slapped his hands in front of his mouth.

"Uh… oops."

Laze seemed a little steamed and her eyes were a blazing red as her hair began to change lightly too, before it was gone. I shook my head. Was it just me, or did her hair get the urge to go blue?

"If you'd said the words, you'd be dead!" she hissed icily.

"Alright, alright, Laze. Chill out already," Elvor said, holding up his hands in defense.

"Anyway, the reason I came here, was because I felt them," he tipped his head in our direction, "and two of them were uh…"

He whispered something in Laze's ear that I couldn't hear, but whatever it was, it made Laze gasp and look at Elvor as if he turned green and gained antennas.

"Excuse me?!?!" she asked. Elvor just nodded.

Elvor then turned to us.

"Does anyone of you recognize this?" he asked, and grabbed a broadsword from his sheath.

Beautifully polished, the sword was a masterpiece, with intricate designs all up and down the blade from a time long ago. A small orb of untempered Dreamstone formed the pommelstone on the smooth golden hilt, and I could tell instantly that the blade razor-sharp. Glenn spoke first.

"'T-'tis the Masamune!" he said, and Elvor looked at him with a strange grin that was suspiciously familiar.

"That it is. And how, may I inquire, do you know the sword?" he asked.

Glenn harumphed, and unsheathed the Masamune he carried along. I had a feeling that something was wrong here. One of the swords was false, and I knew it was that of Elvor, but I never voiced my thoughts. Sadly for me, Laze had read my thoughts, and smirked lightly.

'What's she smirking about?' I wondered, and Laze's smirk instantly vanished.

I growled.

"Damnit! Stop reading my thoughts Laze!!" I shouted.

Elvor looked at Laze, who was lightly chuckling, holding a claw in front of her mouth to muffle it, and Elvor smiled a little. Elvor sheathed his sword, and Glenn did too.

"Well, how about we head home?" Elvor asked of Laze, who simply nodded.

With a few giant claps of their wings, they soared off into the sky, with us following them.

We flew over some sort of forest that seemed to be completely made out of ice, an area surrounded with volcanoes with millions of fire-spitting craters in it, a field where lightning kept on striking the ground, seeming to power the ground up, a large lake where the water kept on making the strangest figures, and a large forest that was the exact opposite of the forest we had arrived at; the trees were of a pure white, and the leaves were white with a golden core, and the lakes in it looked like they were made out of liquid-crystal.

I won't say I liked it; I just say it's rather soothing. The previous ones I mean; the white forest and the strange lake gave me the creeps. What came next however, caught me completely off guard. It was a castle of about 50 stories high, with towers that pierced the sky, and spikes rising threateningly along with the towers and circling them like ivy. Dark black energy surged through one, leading upward; another one contained dark red energy, but when I looked closer, I saw they were flames; crystalline sparkles went through another, which reminded me of the white sparks that circled around Marle when she used her Ice Magic; another contained electricity, which was crackling wildly, as if someone was trying to use Luminaire; crystalline water poured through the fifth, but it went up instead of down; a strange light emitted from a sixth, and the seventh held dark black flames that surged upward at rapid speeds. They went up, towards the roof, where a large crystalline flame rested, six strange amulets encircling it, sending strange power at the flame. The castle itself was drenched in every possible color one could imagine, creating the most fabulous view anyone could wish for.

Elvor smiled and said: "Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. We will be landing in approximately 15 minutes, so please remain seated until the plane has stopped moving completely. We hope you had a pleasant journey."

"Oh shut up," Laze mumbled.

Elvor just smiled, and focused his attention on flying again.

Within 15 minutes, we landed on the property of the castle, which held thousands of flowers, trees, and other things we had never seen before. I jumped off of the Dragon, and reluctantly helped Lucca down, because she was still a little scared of falling from heights. We stared around the giant garden in awe, and Glenn looked up against the castle. I can't imagine how high that must look to him.

We went inside, and it was absolutely magnificent. The walls and floors were made out of marble, polished wonderfully so you could see your reflection in it. Large chandeliers hung above the ceiling, illuminating the large halls. The entire insides were done with Zealean architecture, which actually surprised me. Who did the renovations here? Thousands of paintings decorated the walls, showing humanoid beings crush the strangest beasts you'd ever seen. The humanoids wore the same armor as Janice, yet some had shoulder pads or thigh pads, and a few had no cape or cloak.

It felt odd, looking at people I hardly knew, battling battles that seemed to have no specific use. No war is actually advantageous; it's all purposeless. But something kept me busy… what had been the start of all of this? Someone must've started these battles, and why did that person start it?

"Wars are so easily made, yet so hard to win," a strange voice mumbled, and I looked to the side.

There, stood a woman with a strange pale complexion, blazing red eyes, curling auburn hair, wearing a dark black trench-coat with brown pants and shirt, and black leather army-boots. Strapped around her back, was an axe. Her eyes shifted to me from the corner of her eyes.

"And sometimes, no one even knows what started them."

I looked a little shocked, I know, but I couldn't help but think of another person I'd seen.

Her curly auburn hair was 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. He chest had been ripped open to reveal an empty hole.

The Vampire on Death Peak had looked the exact same, but who was this woman?

"Name's Zaloya Ancle Mirana, Ancle among friends. And you are?" she asked.

"None of your business," I growled.

Ancle shrugged and said: "Suit yourself."

A sudden trickle in the back of my mind made me turn around. I noticed Laze motioning for me to follow, and I reluctantly did. Ayla, Lucca and Glenn had also been admiring the wall paintings, but were now following me as I followed Laze toward the center of the room, which was positioned on top of some stairs.

The symbol on the ground was easy for me to recognize, seeing as it was the same I had painted in my castle when I was summoning Lavos. Laze turned to us, and Elvor soon joined us. I never noticed him leave in the first place, but it didn't really matter.

"Look up," he suddenly said, and gazed up, toward the ceiling. I lifted my head to gaze up, and was amazed by the distance between the floor and the ceiling, but I could still see everything up into the slightest detail.

A giant monster covered in spikes and raging spiked hair, showing the thing's Magic was Lightning, sharp spiked wings on its back, a large whipping tail, and blood red eyes, was battling a dark, demonic creature that seemed strangely familiar, with large horns protruding from its head, razor sharp teeth that were shown as the beast gave a roar, long hair flowing down his back, with claws, and a tail with the same color as its hair. Around them, the world was dying, volcanoes erupted, people were being slaughtered by strange monsters, while a larger demonic creature watched it all, not making a move to help anyone.

What I noticed, was the strange bubble floating near his head, and it seemed to contain a person, who was watching the battle with a look of horror. It took me some time to finally realize who it was. I was unsure of what it meant, but I had a feeling that this was still to happen. I looked at Elvor and Laze, who were still gazing at the ceiling, with looks that seemed to pierce straight through it.

"What does it mean?" I asked, and Laze looked at me.

"We don't know. The walls and paintings show ancient wars, and we were hoping that you might know this battle. Guess we were wrong then."

I was slightly confused, when a sudden sound made us all whirl around. A person who looked exactly like Laze, besides the fact that he was male, walked inside, after having slammed the door open. His wings clapped once, and he was sent airborne. He softly landed not far away from us, his eyebrows arched downward.

"I see we have visitors," he said icily.

"Ah, Norak, glad you could make it," Elvor said, a smile on his face.

Norak? Strange… but I've heard that name somewhere before.

"Guys, this is Norak Milen, Laze's twin, Norak, these are Magus," Elvor says, and I send a glare in Norak's direction, who returns the favor.

"Lucca."

She simply looks at Norak like he was as terrifying as Haelles. Well, I had to admit, he did look a little like Haelles, but only a little.

"Ayla."

Ayla walked closer to Norak to examine him, and he allowed her to walk in a circle around him.

"And Glenn."

Glenn croaked, which made Norak quirk an eyebrow at him.

"He looks like a frog,"

Norak stated. I rolled my eyes. When did he figure that out?

"Shut up, Magus!" Norak suddenly hissed.

I growled.

"Damn you and your mind-reading abilities!"

We were guided into a large hall, with thousands of mythological creatures on each side. We each got a seat on a rather long table, not that you heard us complaining. Elvor leaned back in his chair and asked us to tell what had happened to Crono. We told him, Laze and Norak about this monster, Ercassam, showing up and throwing Crono into a Gate, after which it closed, not leaving a sign that it had been there. Laze was surprisingly quiet, and was staring straight ahead, as if not at all listening.

Lucca noticed this, and finally asked: "Hey Laze! You listening?!"

I could hear she was rather agitated.

"Yeah," Laze said, not turning around or moving at all.

Elvor looked at her a little strangely, then shrugged and told us to continue. We did. Haelles seemed to be familiar with these people, due to the fact that Laze was slowly starting to show small signs of anger. Once we were finished telling our tale, Elvor nodded to show he was satisfied.

"That must really suck," Elvor said, and I noted that Laze wasn't saying anything.

And I had a feeling she wasn't planning to either.

"Elvor, thee said something about 'sensing' us, what didst thou mean?" Glenn suddenly asked.

Good question, that was something I'd been dying to know myself.

"Before I answer, could you please stop talking with such an odd accent? It's rather confusing at some points," Elvor said.

Glenn harumphed, and said: "If I could, I wouldst. But that can only happen if I be human again, and that only happens if a certain mage dies."

Glenn sent an angry look in my direction, and Laze finally moved, looking at Glenn in confusion (Glenn was seated diagonally of her, and she sat beside Ayla and me).

Her gaze shifted between Glenn and me, until she looked at Elvor, almost pleadingly. My eyes widened the fraction of a millimeter. Was she really going to---?!?! Elvor gave a nod, and Laze turned back to Glenn, who looked confused himself. It all seemed to happen so fast, that I hardly noticed, but when Laze's eyes turned a blazing red, Glenn grasped his sides and groaned as if in pain. Ayla was about to jump up, when we all noticed that Glenn's structure began to change. Within seconds, the glow stopped, and Laze heavily shook her head, after which she held it in both her hands… uh, claws, whatever.

Meanwhile, Glenn was busy examining himself, and so were we, because somehow, Laze had managed to revert the spell I'd cast on Glenn. How did she do that? It took me months to figure that spell out, and it would have to taken even longer to figure out the spell to reverse it. Glenn pulled on a lock of his curly green hair and yelped in pain. Elvor chuckled. Laze was still holding her head, groaning lightly, not even looking up to see how she did.

Ayla rubbed her eyes and gawked at Glenn, and Lucca was staring at him as well.

"Glenn… y-you're…" she started.

I looked over to Laze, and noticed that her breathing was irregular, and she was still holding her head, as if she had a migraine.

Glenn finally looked up, to thank Laze no doubt, but the words died as he noticed Laze holding her head in her claws.

Ayla also noticed it, and asked: "Laze be okay? What wrong?"

Elvor looked at her too, but Laze removed her hands and looked at Ayla, a practically stone mask covering the pain that had been visible before.

"Nothing's wrong, I'm fine," she said, resuming her staring at the wall in front of her.

Lucca blinked, and adjusted her glasses.

"Well, then why did you cradle your head? I mean, what reason did you ha--"

She never got to finish.

"I SAID I'M FINE!!!" Laze screamed, standing up rather fast and slamming a fist on the table.

I had a suspicious feeling… that she was mad. Elvor instantly stood up and said something in a language spoken in a harsh and rather fast voice, which resulted into Laze screaming at Elvor instead at Lucca, as she had probably intended. Laze finally ran, her claws scraping some of the marble off of the floor, making indents in them the shape of her claws. Elvor sat down again with a loud sigh, and looked at an indent in the table that Laze had created. Gods, she was strong!

Norak hadn't moved. He had simply watched his sister leave, not even bothering to go after her.

Elvor sighed and said: "Miss Lucca, please try not to provoke Laze unless you are her enemy. But even then, I still wouldn't recommend it, because you would be dead if you did."

Lucca looked confused.

"Laze has been through much, believe me. She doesn't need anyone provoking her."

"What happen to Laze? She get beaten?" Ayla asked.

Elvor smirked and said: "A couple of 100 times."

We all looked at him in shock.

"What?!" Lucca asked. "Who beat her then!?"

"I did," Elvor muttered.

We were even more shocked by that statement. Elvor gazed up at the ceiling, leaning on one of his hands, as if recalling something.

"Although I shouldn't have turned Mega-Saiyan on her, she could've died."

I wasn't quite sure what to think. This was all just a little strange, but how could he possibly kill her?

"How did you almost kill her?" I asked then.

Elvor looked at me and said: "I tore open her shoulders and sorta ripped her nerves."

We all looked at him as if he had gone crazy.

"Look, it was an accident, all right? I shouldn't have turned Mega-Saiyan, but she was extremely persistent. And the result… well, let's just say I won't do that again!"

Laze aimed a kick at Elvor's face, but missed him as he faded out. She landed gracefully on her feet, looking around for him around the dim-lit area, yet wasn't fast enough. Elvor appeared behind her and grabbed her in a chokehold, which almost suffocated her. She tried to make him release her, but he was too powerful. A sudden excruciating pain in her shoulder made her want to cry out, but she didn't.

Her nerves were disabled, so her right arm now hung limply by her side, blood trickling down her arm and onto the ground. Then came her left arm, which now also hung, limp by her side. Laze actually felt the life being drained from her, her skin turned chalk white, her lips grew icy blue, and she did the only thing she could think of to make the bastard let her go. Taking 4 quick breaths, she fully opened her mouth, and sunk her teeth into his arm, making him scream out in agony.

"Now THAT, was a clear 'yeouch'!" Elvor said, rubbing his arm as if it still hurt. "That bitch swallowed at least 9 gallons of blood!"

Lucca immediately fell down.

"9 gallons of blood?! A human doesn't have that much blood!!"

Elvor was about to respond, but Norak beat him to it.

"We're not human to begin with, so it makes sense that we have more blood than humans."

Elvor rolled his eyes and looked at Norak.

"Norak, why don't you just shut up?" he said in a voice that demanded no argument.

Elvor seemed to think for a moment, until he said: "Anyway, we have the capability to sense someone's life-energy, also known as chi. However, there are people who can hide their chi so that we can't find them. Also, there is the possibility of raising one's chi-level, making them stronger. This comes natural for us, seeing as we're part Saiyan."

That was a statement that reminded me of Lucca's question to Laze.

"Now that you mention it, how exactly do you recognize a Saiyan?" I asked.

Elvor smiled, before it was gone.

"At first sight, Saiyans could be mistaken for mere humans, but Saiyans have a larger chi-level," he began ticking off on his fingers, "their power increases 10 times when they heal from serious injuries, they're born to be fighters, and the easiest part, is their tail."

I was left speechless, eyes a little wider than usual, and Norak noticed this.

"What? Not the answer you were expecting?" he asked me.

"What if the Saiyan's tail is cut off?" I asked.

Elvor nodded and said: "Good question. Well, if that happens, a scar marks the spot where the tail has been. Why are you so curious about Saiyans anyway?"

I didn't answer; I didn't feel like I should.

"I have a question too, why did Laze leave like that? And what did you say?" Lucca asked.

Elvor chuckled.

"I wouldn't dare repeat it to you guys."

Ayla looked a little confused, and was about to open her mouth, when she shut it, then blinked, twice.

"What be that strange glowy thingy?" she asked, pointing somewhere above Elvor's head.

Elvor looked up, and smiled up at the rather strange glowing energy boll.

"Hey Ancha, what's up?" Elvor asked.

"Me!!" a cheery voice said, and with rapid spins, the boll raced down, becoming bigger and bigger until it's the size of a normal human.

The boll left a trail of white sparks behind.

We soon discovered, that it was no thing, but a human. Uh… sorry, my mistake. She was a Fairy. The woman had blonde hair and aquamarine colored eyes, and looked revoltingly sweet, and had a smile that made me want to vomit.

"Not anymore," Elvor said.

The woman smiled and said: "You're right. Now I'm down."

Man, that woman was far too cheery. I didn't like her.

Hey, wait a second!

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.

What was going on? Were they still going to die? Or do we have to prevent that? I had no idea.

"So, who are these people? They look nice enough," Ancha, I figured her name was, asked.

A brief introduction followed.

After some time, I managed to slip away, without anybody noticing. Out on the halls, I decided to just walk around for awhile, without anyone interfering. The battles became more and more violent as I continued on, but it didn't seem to register. That is, until I reached a hall that caught my interest.

I rubbed my eyes to check if I wasn't seeing things, and was finally sure that I wasn't. I saw a lot of people I didn't know, but there were a few of them that I recognized. One of them being Laze, although she was… different. I could see that there was an evil air around her, and a strange shadow loomed over her, almost… human. She was fighting a lot of people, and I could see a scene I had seen before, only it had been too fast before.

That's when I noticed something.

"Haelles…"

He was there too, grasping something that resembled a Chrono Trigger, but it was… different somehow. What was going on?

"You shouldn't look at battles that happen in the future," a familiar voice said. "For people from the past, it can become confusing, for those who live beyond it, can feel pain, and become buried in sorrow……… Like I had been buried in self-hatred…"

I turned, and asked: "Why? Why would you do this?"

She looked at me, and it dawned to me, that it was a little harder to recognize her without her claws, horns, or wings.

"You shouldn't bother with the future of others. Just focus on your own."

"What's there to look forward to?" I asked, and focused on the wall again. "Pain and sorrow will be all this world knows when Haelles is through with it."

She sighed, and gazed up.

"Do you see that black and red haired man with sapphire green eyes?" she suddenly asked.

I looked closely, and noticed the man she was talking about.

"What about him?"

"His name stands for many things, one of them being 'Predictor Of Terror'. A different one, is one hardly anyone knows about, but is used a few times."

"Tell me then."

"Innocent Son Of Lavos……"

To Be Continued…