Chapter 1
Crono's House: 1000 AD
Crono began to stir as the sound of the distant chiming of Leene's Bell passed through his room. Strange, he thought as he began to regain consciousness, I don't remember the bell having such a low pitch.
He was too tired to care, though. Though Lucca's idea to use the Epoch to see the next Millennial Fair was a great idea, Crono had gotten more than a little worn out. He'd spent most of the trip with Marle while Lucca and Robo studied the local inventions on display. Ayla had gone off by herself but seemed perfectly happy dancing the night away at the Jurassic rhythm festival. The only two members of their group who hadn't come were Frog, who politely declined, saying he was in the middle of some rigorous training and couldn't afford the distraction, and Magus, who hadn't even been asked because frankly they knew what his answer would be.
As much fun as the fair was, Crono could barely keep his eyes open as they dropped Ayla off in the past. After returning Marle to the castle, Lucca invited Robo to stay the night at her place, so there was no more need to travel, which was good for Crono. Though they'd dropped him off early enough in the evening to get a good night's sleep, he still felt a little tired now and decided to rest for a few more minutes before getting up.
"Crono..."
Or maybe not.
"Crono!"
Crono tried to ignore the feeling of déja-vu coming over him and rolled over.
"Good morning, Crono!" Crono's mother walked in to wake him as she did every day. "Come on, sleepy head! Get up!"
He shut his eyes tight as she opened the curtain and sunlight flooded the room and listened to the chiming of the bell. "Ah, the Mystic Bell makes such beautiful music!"
The MYSTIC Bell??? Now that certainly got Crono up. "What did you just say, Mom?"
"I was just mentioning what a lovely sound the Mystic Bell makes. It was so generous of Lord Ozzie VIII to let us have it."
"Lord WHO???" Crono's jaw dropped wide open, though she didn't seem to notice.
Crono's mother shook her head. "It's a shame though, that they only ring it when he's coming to collect his dues." She turned to Crono. "Now get dressed quickly! You know how the Warlord likes his subjects neat and proper when he comes by. Remember when he visited Lucca's house to collect and her mother had a bit of mud on her dress? He had his thugs break the poor woman's legs! I don't want that happening to you."
As his mother walked out of the room and Crono started to dress, he felt like his head was spinning. Ozzie VII had originally been the head of Medina Village. When Crono and his friends had defeated his ancestor Ozzie in 600 AD, history had been changed so that Ozzie VIII was just a humble servant. Clearly someone had gone back in time and changed history yet again, making it even worse than before. But how? His friends were in control of both the pendant and the Epoch, which were, as far as he knew, the only two remaining methods of traveling through time.
Crono needed answers and he knew the best place to start would be to see Lucca the first chance he got.
Denadoro Mountains: 600 AD
The Free Lancer could barely breathe as Magus slammed him against the face of the cliff. "Are you telling me I came here all the way for nothing?" Though his voice was barely louder than a whisper, his tone and eyes showed he was dangerously close to losing his cool.
"It's... it's not my fault. I never said I knew where she was!" The hooded, bird-like creature stammered. "Our mutual contact must have misinterpreted my message!"
"Well you'd better have something to give me for my trouble. I fried a lot of Ogans and Goblins to get here and I have no qualms about doing the same to you."
The Free Lancer nodded quickly. "I do! I do!" He then pulled a small object out of his pocket. It was a small rock, whiter than pearl and harder as well. At first glance, he dismissed as simply a fancy stone the Free Lancer was attempting to bribe him with.
As he looked closer, however, he felt a growing sense of recollection. Having lived in the kingdom of Zeal, Magus could easily spot power when he saw it and there was something in this stone he hadn't sensed since he was a child...
It couldn't be, though. It just couldn't be. This stone was smaller. It's shape was different.
However, taking the stone from the Free Lancer, he could feel its texture. It was just as he remembered it; and the power...
Magus had no idea what this stone was but the power emanating from it was more than he'd ever seen before. More than he'd seen in the sun stone, the Mammon Machine, his mother, or even Lavos itself.
He glared at the Free Lancer with even more intensity than before. "Where did you get this?"
The Free Lancer started trembling, looking like he regretted giving Magus the stone. "F...further up the mountain. I was looking for power tabs a few weeks ago when I found it. Just as I was picking it up, I saw two small boys walk by. One of them said 'Uh-oh. You should throw that away. Schala warned us it was trouble.' They ran off before I could ask them what they were talking about."
That would make sense, thought Magus, given what Melchoir had told her about that stone. But what was that stone and why had Melchoir been so afraid of it and so insistent that Schala hide it?
The Free Lancer started to back away from Magus. "I don't know what that thing is but if it's dangerous, I don't want anything to do with it. You can keep it!" Magus didn't even try to stop him as he ran off.
Moments later, Magus himself started down the mountain, fully aware of two things.
The first was that his need to find Schala was more urgent now than ever.
The second was that someone was following him.
Retaining his composure, Magus simply stated, "Unless you enjoy suffering, I suggest you show yourself."
A hooded figure emerged from the bushes, chuckling quietly to himself. Magus wasn't even sure it was a "him".
"I should have known better than to try to sneak up on you, Magus" The figure whispered in a raspy voice.
Magus raised an eyebrow. "I hope you weren't trying to impress me simply by showing you know my name. It takes a bit more than that."
The figure stepped closer. "All right, then. What if I were to call you Janus?"
Now that did impress Magus. Save for Frog and a handful of the Mystics who'd raised him, no one indigenous to this century should know his real name.
Still, Magus retained his composure. "All right, so you know my real name. Just what do you think that will get you?"
"It's not what you can do for me. It's what I can do for you."
"And just what would that be?"
The figure stepped even closer. "A chance to save yourself. I've known you for a long time, Janus, and I'm not particularly fond of having to kill you. Because of that, I'm giving you this one chance to survive. Give me that stone and forget you were ever here. I promise you'll be better off than if you refuse."
Magus chuckled, looking down at the white rock in his hand. "Somehow I get the feeling I won't be any safer with you controling this."
The figure sighed. "You had a fair warning." Suddenly a huge bolt of energy emerged from the hooded figure's arms, knocking Magus to the ground.
Magus immediately leaped up. "That was very stupid." Not wanting to waste time with this lunatic, he immediately cast his most powerful spell: Dark Matter.
The hooded figure quickly summoned a massive forcefield around him. Magus was stunned to see the cosmic spell simply bounce off its target. "Is that all you have? How did a weakling like you ever defeat Lavos? Clearly you're not worth what little time I have."
The hooded figure reached out their hand. Then, pulled as if from some sort of vacuum, the stone flew from Magus' hand to the figure's. The figure continued to chuckle. "Thank you very much, now let me give you something in return."
Another bolt of energy emerged from the figure, striking Magus dead center. However this bolt was even more powerful than the first. Rather than knocking Magus down, it sent him careening over the edge of the mountain...
Crono's House: 1000 AD
Crono began to stir as the sound of the distant chiming of Leene's Bell passed through his room. Strange, he thought as he began to regain consciousness, I don't remember the bell having such a low pitch.
He was too tired to care, though. Though Lucca's idea to use the Epoch to see the next Millennial Fair was a great idea, Crono had gotten more than a little worn out. He'd spent most of the trip with Marle while Lucca and Robo studied the local inventions on display. Ayla had gone off by herself but seemed perfectly happy dancing the night away at the Jurassic rhythm festival. The only two members of their group who hadn't come were Frog, who politely declined, saying he was in the middle of some rigorous training and couldn't afford the distraction, and Magus, who hadn't even been asked because frankly they knew what his answer would be.
As much fun as the fair was, Crono could barely keep his eyes open as they dropped Ayla off in the past. After returning Marle to the castle, Lucca invited Robo to stay the night at her place, so there was no more need to travel, which was good for Crono. Though they'd dropped him off early enough in the evening to get a good night's sleep, he still felt a little tired now and decided to rest for a few more minutes before getting up.
"Crono..."
Or maybe not.
"Crono!"
Crono tried to ignore the feeling of déja-vu coming over him and rolled over.
"Good morning, Crono!" Crono's mother walked in to wake him as she did every day. "Come on, sleepy head! Get up!"
He shut his eyes tight as she opened the curtain and sunlight flooded the room and listened to the chiming of the bell. "Ah, the Mystic Bell makes such beautiful music!"
The MYSTIC Bell??? Now that certainly got Crono up. "What did you just say, Mom?"
"I was just mentioning what a lovely sound the Mystic Bell makes. It was so generous of Lord Ozzie VIII to let us have it."
"Lord WHO???" Crono's jaw dropped wide open, though she didn't seem to notice.
Crono's mother shook her head. "It's a shame though, that they only ring it when he's coming to collect his dues." She turned to Crono. "Now get dressed quickly! You know how the Warlord likes his subjects neat and proper when he comes by. Remember when he visited Lucca's house to collect and her mother had a bit of mud on her dress? He had his thugs break the poor woman's legs! I don't want that happening to you."
As his mother walked out of the room and Crono started to dress, he felt like his head was spinning. Ozzie VII had originally been the head of Medina Village. When Crono and his friends had defeated his ancestor Ozzie in 600 AD, history had been changed so that Ozzie VIII was just a humble servant. Clearly someone had gone back in time and changed history yet again, making it even worse than before. But how? His friends were in control of both the pendant and the Epoch, which were, as far as he knew, the only two remaining methods of traveling through time.
Crono needed answers and he knew the best place to start would be to see Lucca the first chance he got.
Denadoro Mountains: 600 AD
The Free Lancer could barely breathe as Magus slammed him against the face of the cliff. "Are you telling me I came here all the way for nothing?" Though his voice was barely louder than a whisper, his tone and eyes showed he was dangerously close to losing his cool.
"It's... it's not my fault. I never said I knew where she was!" The hooded, bird-like creature stammered. "Our mutual contact must have misinterpreted my message!"
"Well you'd better have something to give me for my trouble. I fried a lot of Ogans and Goblins to get here and I have no qualms about doing the same to you."
The Free Lancer nodded quickly. "I do! I do!" He then pulled a small object out of his pocket. It was a small rock, whiter than pearl and harder as well. At first glance, he dismissed as simply a fancy stone the Free Lancer was attempting to bribe him with.
As he looked closer, however, he felt a growing sense of recollection. Having lived in the kingdom of Zeal, Magus could easily spot power when he saw it and there was something in this stone he hadn't sensed since he was a child...
It couldn't be, though. It just couldn't be. This stone was smaller. It's shape was different.
However, taking the stone from the Free Lancer, he could feel its texture. It was just as he remembered it; and the power...
Magus had no idea what this stone was but the power emanating from it was more than he'd ever seen before. More than he'd seen in the sun stone, the Mammon Machine, his mother, or even Lavos itself.
He glared at the Free Lancer with even more intensity than before. "Where did you get this?"
The Free Lancer started trembling, looking like he regretted giving Magus the stone. "F...further up the mountain. I was looking for power tabs a few weeks ago when I found it. Just as I was picking it up, I saw two small boys walk by. One of them said 'Uh-oh. You should throw that away. Schala warned us it was trouble.' They ran off before I could ask them what they were talking about."
That would make sense, thought Magus, given what Melchoir had told her about that stone. But what was that stone and why had Melchoir been so afraid of it and so insistent that Schala hide it?
The Free Lancer started to back away from Magus. "I don't know what that thing is but if it's dangerous, I don't want anything to do with it. You can keep it!" Magus didn't even try to stop him as he ran off.
Moments later, Magus himself started down the mountain, fully aware of two things.
The first was that his need to find Schala was more urgent now than ever.
The second was that someone was following him.
Retaining his composure, Magus simply stated, "Unless you enjoy suffering, I suggest you show yourself."
A hooded figure emerged from the bushes, chuckling quietly to himself. Magus wasn't even sure it was a "him".
"I should have known better than to try to sneak up on you, Magus" The figure whispered in a raspy voice.
Magus raised an eyebrow. "I hope you weren't trying to impress me simply by showing you know my name. It takes a bit more than that."
The figure stepped closer. "All right, then. What if I were to call you Janus?"
Now that did impress Magus. Save for Frog and a handful of the Mystics who'd raised him, no one indigenous to this century should know his real name.
Still, Magus retained his composure. "All right, so you know my real name. Just what do you think that will get you?"
"It's not what you can do for me. It's what I can do for you."
"And just what would that be?"
The figure stepped even closer. "A chance to save yourself. I've known you for a long time, Janus, and I'm not particularly fond of having to kill you. Because of that, I'm giving you this one chance to survive. Give me that stone and forget you were ever here. I promise you'll be better off than if you refuse."
Magus chuckled, looking down at the white rock in his hand. "Somehow I get the feeling I won't be any safer with you controling this."
The figure sighed. "You had a fair warning." Suddenly a huge bolt of energy emerged from the hooded figure's arms, knocking Magus to the ground.
Magus immediately leaped up. "That was very stupid." Not wanting to waste time with this lunatic, he immediately cast his most powerful spell: Dark Matter.
The hooded figure quickly summoned a massive forcefield around him. Magus was stunned to see the cosmic spell simply bounce off its target. "Is that all you have? How did a weakling like you ever defeat Lavos? Clearly you're not worth what little time I have."
The hooded figure reached out their hand. Then, pulled as if from some sort of vacuum, the stone flew from Magus' hand to the figure's. The figure continued to chuckle. "Thank you very much, now let me give you something in return."
Another bolt of energy emerged from the figure, striking Magus dead center. However this bolt was even more powerful than the first. Rather than knocking Magus down, it sent him careening over the edge of the mountain...