Chapter 2
I am the decrowned king of the dragons, not of this world. My soul is clocked with the one of the most powerful humans throughout their history, I am Molor.
And right now I couldn't be closer to being torn apart.
Something is wrong... terribly wrong.
"Molor, what's happening!?"
Grudgingly I wrap my tail around Ceredan's arm and push him away.
Please, I must concentrate...
"Molor!" he calls, pleading.
I like the boy... he's much like his older sister. Really, he's the one who should be named after his uncle, Janatzer looks much more like Cered with his red hair. Ceredan reminds of my kindred spirit…
He's afraid... the last thing that happened was that his parents and uncle disappeared, more or less hysterical. And he doesn't know what has happened, more than that there's something about his brother. I don't know either for sure, but I have a bad idea about what it is. I have to go... now!
But the boy is afraid.
I open my throat in the necessary way, ignoring the singeing feeling.
"Shh, Ceredan."
"What's happening, Molor?!" he shouts, desperate.
"I don't know, it's just... argh!"
"Molor!"
The next thing I know is that my head is resting on his small hands and lap, but through the dark mist I can hardly see the boy's face.
"Janus... is..." I croak, forcing my long body into a proper position, "dang... er..."
"Uncle?!"
"Ceredan..."
"Wait!"
He runs after me as I clumsily slither out, pushing the door open with my head. I'm still dizzy, but that just increases the power of desperation.
I guess the people of the town stare at us as I sway further away from the house with the young boy anxiously rushing after me.
"I have to go and..."
FOCUS!
"... I'll save them all, I promise, Ceredan."
My already hoarse voice turns into a growl. That rising... power? I know it... from Janus' memory?
"What are you going to do?" he whispers.
"Back off, I need some space. And don't be afraid."
Doing this in the middle of town might not be wise, but I have no choice and no time. I don't have my human friends' ability to warp from one place to another.
"Back off! Hurry!" I croak.
Ceredan stumbles backwards.
This will shorten my lifespan with about fifty years, again. But, that's just half a century less I'll have to live as a half being.
"AARGHHH!!"
Ecstasy... transforming, taking my body back. It leaves me weakened afterwards, but I have to. I just wish I didn't miss it so much!
I can hear screams, humans screaming in terror from far away. But their horror falls so puny in my mind as my body grows, wings and legs erupting from me.
This... pleasure that costs me life force. I can do it anytime, which is painful enough since I cannot keep my true form for very long. But, even though I fear a future where Janus won't be there, I can't even use it to shorten my agony in any way. I must only use this for the darkest emergency, a time which is now. Suicide... is not tolerated by dragons.
Ecsta... sy... power and... I'm... alive.
And I can feel him better again. He's... what the Cursed!?
JANUS!!
With a roar I take the sky, spreading my crimson wings.
Holy flame, let me be wrong, let me be wrong!
I'm... feels like... argh... let me... leave... I... so... stop... stop...
... stop...
... it...
...
..
.
... stop...
... p... stop...
'Now what was that?'
... pl...
'I must have something in my sound sensors, I can't hear you.'
... ple...
... augh...
'One more try.'
... stop... please... stop...
'You ashame yourself, prince. On the other hand...'
... ah... h...
'... There's not much left of you.'
..
'Hmph, better hold back or you won't do at all...'
.
..?
... n...
... o...
...
'That's enough my dear. Let him go.'
... ouff...
'You knew you wouldn't get away. Guess I better fill you up with a little energy so I'll be able to move you.'
... n...
... augh... no... you...
... won't...
'Watch me, prince, watch me.'
... no.
'What? Wecroch, him again... how irritating.'
... ouff...
'Janus! Friend, hold on!'
... Mo... lor...
... light... I can... I can breathe again?
'Better?' Molor's powerful mind whispers, still pouring his own strength into my battered being.
'Thank you...'
I become alive once more but... I'll never be strong again. Damn him...
'It always amazed me how a creature such as you could decline enough to make allies among humans,' Lavos growls.
'So it was you...'
Molor's voice is thick and rumbling, with rage and due to his transformation.
'I guess you were too weak to choose when you came here.'
Lavos smirks and continues:
'After all... humans are nothing except small lumps of interesting cells that tend to try to defy their fate all the time.'
'And their fate, that would be have their bodies harnessed by you after their death to help you get stronger?' Molor icily replies, 'but let me tell you something Lavos, this little piece of meat is mine!'
St-stop shak-king me...
'Just when, when did I become groceries?' I exhaustedly grunt.
'And furthermore,' Molor snarls, 'I can aim very well even from this height!'
'I knew I should have warned myself...' Lavos snarls as a roaring of massive flames almost deafen me.
There's a sharp, numbing screech of pain and another violent rumbling as the ground close around the gigantic shell.
'Better,' Molor snarls.
'Wouldn't you wish?' Lavos sneers.
'What the icetalon!?'
The dragon roars aloud in rage, and though I'm limblessly hanging from his tail and thereby isn't too close to his mouth my ears ache even more.
Damn it all...
'Where are you, you accursed parasite?!'
'Parasite, ah yes. Can't deny that, it's my profession.'
I can feel Molor turn his enormous head at his tail and me in horror. Friend...
'That's right,' Lavos says, soft as silk, 'you're holding me.'
"NO!!"
'There's still time,' I groan, 'I'm not gone yet.'
'Oh, but I won't even let you be gone,' Lavos merrily says, 'ever. There's no fun in letting the soul go...'
Agh...
"Janus!"
Schala rushes forward and violently hug me as Molor lower his tail enough for me to come into reach.
"Brother!"
Cered...
"Be he well, Molor?" Schala's husband concernedly asks.
"It... could be better," my kindred spirit sadly replies.
"Schala..." I groan.
"I'm here, he won't get to toy with you, I swear!" she growls.
"Schala... I must die... quick..."
All three of them freeze and stare at me as I weakly shake my head.
"Listen to me," I groan, "you have to..."
"No!"
Their combined screeches almost turns me deaf, again.
"Listen to me!" I snarl, "I'm not Lavos' new toy! I'm his new body!"
"I don't want Ceredan to see me like this... augh..."
The world spin around and everything turns dark. It's like being blind... but I'm not unconscious, I'm still aware... I don't know what he's trying to do now. Probably just attempting to disrupt me further.
"Hang on, Janus!" Schala grimly snarls as she mutters the teleportation spell.
Molor has claimed his snake form again and is helping Cered support me as we and Ceredan's body are dematerialized and magically sent away from the foul battlefield. I think we end up in my room in the house...
"How can we get him out of thy head, Janus?" Cered snarls as I more or less fall down on what's probably my bed.
"Molor might..." I grunt.
I hear him sigh.
"I know what it was all about when it came to Charash," he bitterly says, "but now you're asking me to wrestle Lavos?"
Agh...
It's like my soul has been torn out of my body. In horror I stare down at myself, Molor, Cered, Schala and Ceredan's corpse as my eyes flare up with a dirty red light. The three that can move back in pure shock as my lips move into a horrid sneer.
"You may try, dragon..."
The hoarse voice coming from my mouth isn't mine.
Oh no you don't! Not yet!
I plunge back into my body, forcefully pushing Lavos backwards. I hardly manage...
But I look up at my family again, through a thick mist.
"He's getting a foothold..." my broken voice mutter.
"Dammit!"
They all watch me with despair, but I'm nearly unable to feel any emotions by now... tired...
"How can we strengthen our odds?" Schala snarls, thinking aloud.
"Making my body uncomfortable?" I slur, a cruel thought forming in my head.
'You wouldn't dare!' Lavos snarls, making a mistake.
He's got nothing that can stop me this time.
"I always wondered how poisonous you are, Molor..." I whisper, now hardly audible.
"By no means!" my kindred spirit screeches, and my sister and brother in law stare down at me.
I can hardly see them by now, the mist is growing thicker for every second. He's reaching out to snare me properly...
"Do it... and Schala, get Glenn and the others here... in... case... agh..."
I think I'm falling. But I'm not sure. And I'm beyond any fear, I have no emotions anymore.
Distantly, I feel a great weight wrap around my body, so that it can't move at all. Molor...
"Go now," I can hear him whisper, "I don't want you to watch this."
"... Alright."
And leaving footsteps, a door closing.
With a silent screech Molor's long body grow tense as he tries to assemble enough strength to take the next step.
If I had more control I'd scream in agony, but I can't.
Molor's long, sharp teeth bury in my flesh, tearing it to pieces. And he screams, silently.
Agh...
I can't say that I lift my heavy head to look around, for I have no body.
Still, I'm hanging in a dark nothingness.
"Welcome to your eternity. "
I grunt something inaudible at Lavos.
It's his core that emerges from the darkness and steps up just in front of me. If I could summon enough strength I'd glare coldly at him.
"I hope you like it here, " he icily says, "because when I've killed your pet this is where you'll stay. "
"We haven't even begun yet," Molor's sharp voice says as he crawls into sight.
Lavos turn to him and sneer as his two life support blobs materialize in his hands.
"Indeed... "
Schala furiously paced back and forth in the corridor while her husband just helplessly could watch her.
"I can't go away when I know they're in there and fighting over Janus!" she finally growled, shivering with hopeless rage clenching her fists.
"But thou must bring Glenn here, sunlight," Cered bitterly said in a slightly hoarse voice, "should Molor fail to defeat our foe then Janus will truly be condemned should he not be saved by the Masamune."
"Dearest, I..."
"And Schaliya must now what has happened," the husband grimly added.
Schala stopped and covered her eyes with her hand, shaking her head.
"Mother, father!"
They both spun around as they heard the call and found their youngest son running towards them, his face a mask of horror and worry. Schala caught him in a tight hug, for his sake trying to keep her tears down. Silently Cered wrapped his arms around both his wife and son.
"I'll go, I'll get them..."
Schala pulled out of the embrace and backed away from Cered's powerless try to calmingly caress her cheek.
A moment later she stumbled through time, briefly entering the year of 604 AD. She stood frozen in Guardia forest, through the naked branches of the snow less October looking up towards the roof of the castle which she knew carried her beloved daughter.
Schaliya who loved her uncle...
Schala turned around and reentered the flashing darkness, furiously chanting for a new destination.
'Not yet! I can't, good powers!'
She rushed towards another future, this one four hundred years after the one she had visited first.
'Janus... my dearest Schaliya...'
She almost fell over as she once again entered Guardia forest, tears stinging her eyes. This forest was full of fresh new leaves and the sun sparkled through the greenery. The beauty of the early summer's day seemed mocking to Schala.
'Cered, I wish you could support me now! Mother, please help us!'
Clenching her teeth she regained her balance, fighting to keep the despair from taking over her mind. Stay focused...
The Gate closed behind her and she hurried through the forest, not trusting her senses enough for the moment to try a teleportation spell.
She reached the last trees and began hurrying towards the nearby town.
Get Crono...
Suddenly a magical flash lit up the forest to her left and she spun in that direction, just in time to see burning trees explode from the green ocean. Schala's heart almost stopped.
Two stumbling bodies tumbled out between the brown trunks, the smaller one trying to support the bigger. After them came a third one, blindly firing a small laser gun at the bushes behind her.
"Come on Crono!" Marle screeched, hardly able to carry his weight as he was almost unconscious, "don't leave us! Na matala sela!!"
Leave me and run...
"No!"
"What's happening?!" Schala shouted, finally finding her voice again.
Crono, Marle and Lucca stopped dead, staring at the princess. But another explosion behind them caused them to rush forward again, or at least flee as good as they could.
"Come back here you pathetic cretins!" a deep, screeching voice roared in scorn, knowing the prey wouldn't get much further.
Through the forest the Lord of Darkness came.
Schala stared, as pieces of burning wood and crumbling green leaves fell around her.
He was rushing forward through the air with scythe in both hands, his cloak reminding of a flood of human blood in turmoil. A cruel sneer twisted his pale face, and his eyes shone red as the flames of Hell.
The curved blade of the weapon was stained with blood.
At the sight of the paralyzed woman he stopped and landed, sneering even wider. The escapees stopped behind Schala, trying to catch their breath and get a hold of the situation.
"Ah," the voice said, "it's the princess of Zeal."
"No..." Schala croaked.
"Let's see... is the proper word in a situation such as this 'behold'?"
"No..."
"Fifteen millenias I waited..."
"No!"
"... and finally, the warlock is mine!"
"NO!!"
Lavos cruelly chuckled as Schala's scream of anguish rose towards the blue sky.
"Perhaps you shouldn't have left your dear little brother back there?" he smirked, "now, now… don't give me that look, it hurts!"
"You condemned demon!" Schala screamed.
"That's a fine quality of your family, princess," Lavos taunted, "you really know how to scream."
"You… you…!"
With a screech Schala sent her hand through the air, painting flames with her pointing finger. As she grabbed the fire and spun into an attacking stance at the same time, the flaring sparks turned into her staff.
"Stone age…" the parasite smirked.
"Schala, he's got Janus' magical defense!" Lucca harshly screeched, "we need Glenn and the Masamune!"
Lavos threw his stolen head backwards and laughed, sending frozen needles through the four humans' souls.
"Ah yes, of course," the alien finally said, mockingly hiding his wide smirk behind a hand, "the Masamune. Where is your little frog with his sword now?"
"G-Glenn?!" Marle stuttered in a high-pitched voice.
His smirk only growing wider Lavos slowly brushed his pointing finger over the scythe's blade, pale skin being colored darkly red.
"I have the body, and the weakness. I'm not a fool, you know," he sneered.
"Schaliya…?!" Schala croaked.
"Oh, she was screaming too last I saw her."
He chuckled.
"I couldn't kill her yet, dear. To be able to kill you all I'll have to do it from the future and backwards not to destroy the seeds of you pathetic worms."
Lucca stumbled backwards and fell to her knees when the glowing eyes turned to her and the voice spoke again.
"The robot is gone. Your turn."
"I swear Lavos!" Schala snarled in a thick voice, "you will pay!"
"You want to fight me too?" Lavos purred, "like your daughter, son in law and the foolish black worm?"
"Molor…"
Not until then it fully hit Schala that Lavos' presence not only meant the end of her brother. She couldn't hinder herself from taking a step backwards, doubt's poison infecting her very being.
"Indeed. What are you, compared to that dragon?" the parasite agreed, easily reading her thoughts by the reaction.
Clenching her teeth Schala resolutely stepped forward again. If she didn't even try, then everything she held precious was certainly doomed. But she feared it already was.
"I won't run away from you, beast!" she snarled, gripping her staff tighter to draw courage from the familiar grip.
"Your last child is in the past, he will close history," Lavos thoughtfully nodded and smirked, "I can kill you now, it's alright."
Schala glanced around and found Lucca, Marle and Crono grimly nodding, their faces pale though. The young man was staggering, but his fiancée's magic had healed most of the wound on his hip.
Looking back the blue-haired princess paled even more however.
Lavos had put two fingers on his right hand against his forehead, not unlike how Janus' had done when focusing. And a ray of horrible light came from the meeting of fingers and head, showering over the ground.
It was taking a form.
Schala's mouth just fell open, she couldn't even produce a whimper.
"Janus…?" Lucca stuttered in a weak voice.
The illusion's head just fell aside a little as its name was spoken. It was an almost completely transparent image of Janus, limb-lessly on his knees. The only reason that he wasn't sprawled over the ground was that his arms were tightly enveloped in dark tentacles; their sharpness against his transparency giving a strong clue about how weak he was. With his head hanging it was impossible to see his face.
Without a word of explanation the four humans knew that it was all that remained of the warlock they had known; trapped deep within Lavos' mind.
Janus didn't produce even the tiniest sound in protest as what once had been his own hand grabbed his spirit's hair and threw him several yards aside; though the move was just another show of Lavos'. An illusion could not be touched even by the creator; it was the mind-power that moved the beaten soul and not the hand.
He didn't try to get up; didn't have the power. The tentacles rose however, carrying him with them.
"I like him better as crushed, don't you?" Lavos cruelly said.
He did it all only to torture his opponents even more, and he did it well.
The little focus Schala had managed for the hopeless battle ahead was completely shattered; she was desperately searching through the spoils for anything she could hold on to.
Lavos would of course not give her that mercy. With a wide smirk he attacked, smashing his palm against Schala's chest. She fell backwards, unable to withstand the force.
"Don't give up so soon, princess Schala," the parasite sneered, easily parrying a small, desperate icicle sent by Marle.
The blond princess' strength was almost drained after her struggle to save Crono. The young man clenched his teeth and tried to summon enough willpower for a spell, Lucca raised her gun in despair…
"Laohn sha nebal!"
Lavos swiftly ducked for the glowing boomerang being hurled at his head, with amusement looking towards the fields facing the forest he had just wrecked havoc on.
"I can't kill you just yet, lady," he said, mocking a mild tone.
"Thou foul sherack!" a young woman's voice shouted, torn by hatred and grief.
"Schaliya…" Schala croaked.
Her daughter's simple white dress was blemished with blood, it covered her chest and stomach, crawling over her arms as if she had hugged a deadly wounded warrior. Her eyes weren't anything like they always had been, now burning with blind rage.
In her hands was the Masamune, roughly broken in half.
"I swear Lavos!" she shouted as she moved forward, "thou shalt pay!"
"Hm."
He smirked, amused.
"I suppose I just have to convince you to calm down then…" he said, "for before you've reproduced I cannot kill you."
Repro… she was…?
"Schaliya, don't!" Schala croaked, stumbling to her feet.
"Stay out of this, mother!" Schaliya hissed and glared at Marle, Crono and Lucca, "and so shall thee!"
Janus' heavy head moved a little.
"No…" came a weak, almost inaudible groan, "don't fight… trap…"
But even though Schaliya perhaps heard her uncle's warning, she was still deaf for it. With a screech she flew at Lavos, and he parried her crippled weapon.
"And in your state…" the alien almost purred, easily holding the scythe with his right hand while the left caught a dark glow.
"Schaliya!" Schala screamed, seeing the danger that her daughter ignored in her frenzy.
"Shut up!"
"No…" Janus whispered.
Still locked with Lavos, the young woman didn't even pay attention to his hand that was moving towards her like a praying demon.
"Stop!" a sharp, strangely familiar voice came from out of nowhere.
A shining star at the size of a fist shot down from the blue sky, crashing in between the two combatants and pushing them away from each other.
"What the…" Lavos even growled.
Schaliya stumbled further backwards as the star followed her, pushing her away.
"When he warns you about a trap, you better listen!" the voice growled.
It was obviously coming from the star. So familiar…?
"You…?" Janus' whispered.
All of a sudden it zoomed in the other direction, stopping a couple of yards behind Lavos. Before he had time to turn around towards it, the star swept into an almost human form and sent out an arm. Something long, glowing and red whipped through the air.
"Hey!" Lavos growled, clutching at the whip that had snaked itself several laps around his throat.
He didn't seem to have any troubles breathing however, more irritated by the interference.
"Freaky…" Lucca managed to whisper, she the only one able to air her shock.
A pink-skinned Mystic with his red hair in a pig-tail winced, placing one foot before the other and desperately bending backwards as he tried to keep Lavos in place.