The sun is high by now, shining down at our small troop as we proceed. We're closing in on the summit.
As soon as I reached the foot of the mountain I felt something calling me there, intuition or something else I do not know.
'You'll see,' my oldest guardian mutters in the back of my head.
'I understand.'
Neither of them will interfere, just watch and comment my thoughts. I must say I enjoy it, strange as it may sounds.
But on the whole I'm not very amused.
I'm delighted to have met my destined allies, still their reason for being here troubles me.
Crono explained to me that in his future there is a village of monsters who doesn't bother the humans, and I figured it is placed on the Mystic island in the northeast. In any case, there Crono, Marle and Lucca had learned that the great magician Flea had predicted the coming of the great beast Lavos.
If there is even the tiniest connection between them…
I have never battled Flea personally, though he is the one that officially is crowned as my archenemy. Crowned by both sides. In any case, I never felt his full strength when I was skilled enough to measure it.
'You've got greater skills,' my teacher grimly mutters, 'however one should never underestimate any one of those three.'
'Agreed,' the one who was "those three's" king says, 'they are fools on the whole and Ozzie is an all-out idiot. But they can be dangerous foes still, considering that they're prepared to use every dirty trick there is at the same time.'
'Did you allow them to live despite all they did to you?' my teacher asks in distrust.
'Yes, I even let them be my generals.'
My eyebrows take a flight as my possibility reveals another part of his story. He clearly doesn't want to, but force himself into it.
'At first it was only to keep the monsters assembled,' he grimly tells the two of us, 'and of course to humiliate them. That last thing never changed. Looking back, I am also amazed that I never killed them while still ruling. That came later, with Glenn and the others.'
'Why did you lead the war?' I ask.
I have to know…
He's silent for a while.
'I tried to summon Lavos to kill him myself,' he finally confess, 'and no, I couldn't have been more arrogant. The spell to do it doesn't require sacrifices, so that wasn't the reason. No…'
He actually sighs, once again showing that he isn't the cold creature he pretends to be by habit. I stopped believing in that mask as soon as I saw him by his… our dead nephew's side.
'Ozzie had already started the war when I took over. I think I was twenty by then, I had lost count over the years. And it was a disaster; a complete, bloodied lock for both sides. However I saw that the humans might get the upper hand and in the end crush the Mystics. And I needed time to find a way to summon and fight Lavos. Having my surroundings crumble and burn around me was not in my plan, so I had to do something to hold back the humans.'
'I see…' I grimly think.
And to think… I could have been doing that.
'There's worse, even if that might be a term defined by the observer,' my teacher says in an emotionless voice.
'Quite right,' the former king of monsters grunts.
He sighs again before he speaks once more.
'Tell me, do you even know why the Mystics were formed, in the very beginning?'
'Why?' I repeat, rather blankly.
'Ah yes, I never bothered to tell you more about Lizard…' my teacher says.
'Well, he needs to know as well, because that monster will save your lives. I doubt that will change considering the circumstances.'
'What?' my teacher sharply says.
'What are you talking about?' I ask with a frown.
'Lizard is Ozzie's ancestor,' is the patient reply, 'and the complete opposite to the monster sprung from him. That goes for Warrior and Magician too, Slash and Flea's ancestors. Look, it's a rather long story. I'll just pour the tale into your mind from mine next time you sleep.'
'Very well,' I say after a moment.
Not exactly anything I ever had considered possible…
'Me neither,' the two voices says almost simultaneously.
Heh…
Suddenly something dashes through the air and I have to duck.
"Look out!" I snarl as another small rock almost hits Crono's head instead.
"It's one of the armored birds inhabiting the lower lands," Robo calmly beeps.
It's standing on top of a cliff, too far away to be hit by magic. The freelancers, as they call themselves, are… well, let's just say that they are smarter than goblins -which goes for bushes as well- and stronger than imps. And they are fairly fit with those swords and the armor they're using.
He can't kill us with the rocks, but they might hurt.
Let's just walk past, Crono proposes, irritated.
"Very well," I agree.
The monster screeches as we quickly slid down an almost smooth cliff to a lower ledge, out of reach for the bird. Too late I realize that the call isn't frustrated.
The bushes around the new ledge move…
"Crap!" I mutter and stab my staff into the ground to release its blades.
'What's wrong with Zealan curses?' the oldest of my companion grunts, '"crap" is hardly worth to be entitled curse.'
'Oh, I don't think they're threat enough to really deserve worse…' I say with a light smirk.
'Good point.'
Another freelancer and three goblins with big wooden hammers rush out of the bushes and surround us. Crono already has his sword ready, Robo doesn't have any visible weapons but his fists.
"Be careful, the goblins can be tricky when they've got those hammers," I warn from the corner of my lips as we back up against each other.
"Hey, dirty human," one of the green monsters grunt with the others' approval growling, "we ogans, no goblins!"
Normally you wouldn't call that a voice coming from the creature's throat, it sounds more like the sound of somebody stepping in thick mud. I roll my eyes.
"Ogans," I nod with a sigh and big deal of sarcasm, "got it."
"Good," he snarls, smugly.
'Which simply is their word for "goblin with big hammer",' my teacher dryly comments, 'you know how to fight them, don't you?'
'Of course I do.'
Well this is refreshing. It was some time ago I actually could use magic during a battle, since all my personal threats are immune to that power. Ever since my third. That was when I learned the hard way that I had put physical training aside for far too long. I was just lucky to still have…
I clench my teeth at the memory, it can still cause me loss of concentration during battle.
Robo attacks one of the ogans before I can stop him, and the monster easily parries the robot's blow with his weapon of hardened wood. Meanwhile Crono has engaged battle with the freelancer.
"Powers of the world, lend me the power of Fire!" I shout while Robo tries to fend himself from two of the green beasts and the third approaches me with the hammer in both hands, ready for a blow.
Don't even try it.
I bury one of the staff's blades in the ground as I call out the spell's last word in old Zealan, focusing all my will at the sharp sound as earth enclose metal for perfect concentration. I have trained this well. Of course I don't need the staff to cast spells, but this is a trick I discovered.
Spells must be mastered to perfection, that's a well known fact. Sometimes they can be magically learned through desperation, that works just as good as studies. But you have to know them to the fullest to use them for incarnating your power of will.
But you can take a step further.
My whole body knows the feeling of forcing the staff downwards, the sound at impact is as familiar as my own voice. Power, will, knowledge and familiarity creates a perfection and my magic is flawless. When I cast a spell, I am the magic. I am every sparkle of the lightning bolt, every drop of water, shard of ice, shadow of darkness, star of healing. And now I am every flame that erupts from my body and scorch the air without harming my allies or the nature around us.
But the ogans growl and drop their burning weapons, the freelancer leaps backwards with a pained screech.
"Now you're goblins," I calmly conclude, smiling a bit at the former ogans and their rage.
'Very impressive!' my teacher congratulates, sheer amazement in his voice.
'I give up,' the old king of monsters very slowly says, 'you are almost an impossibility.'
'I'll take that as a compliment.'
'Do that.'
Just a few minutes later all of the still living monsters flee; the goblins are nothing without their weapons.
Good thing you were around, since we hadn't brought Lucca, Crono smiles and sheaths his sword.
I return the smile and nod before rehiding the staff's sharp ends. I don't like having them out when there's no battle, it takes some by surprise and I don't risk cutting somebody by mistake. Besides, the metal might reflect the sun and give me away to an observer.
We begin to walk again.
Hm. Magic is my strongest point, many can fight. I always knew I needed both, and as I said I neglected battling with my body for a little too long.
I managed to fight back my first and second assassin by myself, but the third one had the magic shield that everyone have had since then.
If I hadn't had my life guards then I would most certainly not have been able to walk in Denadoro mountains now.
Thomas and Justin risked their lives to help me with that accursed thing. It was a ghostly creature, more the skeleton of a humanoid monster than anything else. I clearly remember the thin red eyes it had, burning with delight as I stumbled backwards. Horrified as I realized that my magic was useless against it.
I was still weak, depending too much on my magic. Foolish. But that I was a fool, that's not the worse thing. I was still a child, so I suppose that it's not a real crime not to think of everything at the same time.
Justin attacked first, my memory turns to slow-motion as I try to recall the battle. Thomas was just behind him.
I'll be them forever grateful, and I let Justin know that whenever I see him. And I try to visit Thomas' grave whenever I can.
Yes, the bastard killed Thomas and gave Justin a bad wound that almost robbed his life as well. That was the price of my foolishness.
I suppose that at that point I wouldn't have stood much of a chance either, even if I had been able to fight a little. Still, I couldn't do much to help. Nothing to save my guardians who tried to save me.
Damn you, Flea.
Thomas died, for me. I still remember his laugh… he and Cyrus, I couldn't save either of them. Both of them good friends I lost, just like Schala and Alfador.
Damn you, Lavos.
The assassin fled, but came back later. To pay, it turned out. With help from my other guards, new ones and more of them.
I began to train, so that nobody ever would be hurt in my place again. That was when I befriended Glenn and Cyrus.
Knowing there was a chance I'd loose at least one of them later…
I try to push the thoughts away. No time for that now. And I'm grateful for that the two watching spirits respect my feelings by being silent.
This war has to stop. And Lavos must be stopped at all costs. I have to focus on the future and not the past. Well, not literally spoken… some things in the past need to be mended as well.
"I believe that there is a cave up ahead," Robo reports.
The itching in the back of my head is tingling as he speaks. Something really is calling me there. And that's literally spoken.
'What took you so long, prince Janus?' a singing, warmly laughing voice calls to my mind, and I almost stumble.
That was neither of my mirrors. But… familiar…? Wait, I know this… only three creatures I ever knew had such voices, and that just has to be…
'Masa?' I call back, silently.
'Does he remember us, big brother?' another voice cheers in the background.
'Seems so,' Masa replies, 'say, do you, prince?'
'Quite well, I had my suspicions about the sword's name.'
I smile in my thoughts.
'Who's with you?' Mune curiously asks.
'Some friends that'll help me fight Lavos,' I tell them.
'Great!' Masa grins, 'we've been waiting for ages here!'
'We'll have to test you!' Mune happily shouts.
I nod at them without moving my head.
'I understand. But you'll have to promise me one thing.'
'What then?' they almost breathlessly asks.
'Don't call me prince when we meet. These people here don't know about Zeal yet.'
'Alright, we promise.'
'Thanks. Now are you ready to be beaten by the bratty little prince and his friends?' I grin.
'Let's rumble!' the guru Melchior's "children" merrily calls.
And Crono reaches the cave. Robo and me are just behind him.
Here we go…