As they approached the teleporters, one of them lit up as someone began teleporting in. After a brief moment, the figure had fully appeared, and Omega recognized the person as his son, Magus.
"Janus! Is that you?" asked Omega.
"I've not been called by that name for many years. Now I am known as Magus, but you do look vaguely familiar to me." said Magus as his expression began to change to one of suprise. "Fa...father?"
"Yes, it is me. I've finally made my way back to my homeworld. I am sorry to what happened to our family. I, unfortunately, was unable to prevent Lavos from tearing our family apart." Omega told him.
"I wondered what had happened to you. You simply vanished one day without a trace, and I never saw you again until now." replied Magus. "Where did you go?"
"The gurus and I discovered that Lavos was taking control of your mother. We also learned that Lavos' true self was elsewhere, and that the beast sent to this planet was only a tool of the real Lavos. They helped me open a portal leading to where Lavos was residing. I'd hoped that if I could beat him there, that his beast would disappear, and all would be well. But it turned out that he was far more powerful than I had anticipated, and I was unable to defeat him fully. He opened numerous portals, and I was drawn into one. Since then, I have been travelling from dimension to dimension trying to find my way back home. I am glad to see that you are alright." said Omega.
"If, by alright, you mean alive, then yes. But when mother woke the beast, I was drawn to the future. A little before 600 A.D. A mystic warlord found me and 'raised' me. I'm certain the only reason he took me in and eventually made me leader of the mystics is because of the power I held. He feared me, and wanted me as an ally instead of an enemy. As I discovered my powers and abilities, I spent my time searching for the beast in hopes of destroying it, and finding Schala." He then looked over at Chrono. "I joined with Chrono and the others and we defeated the beast, but I never found Schala." Magus said.
"Me and my friends found a part of Lavos that was trying to merge with Schala, and we destroyed the beast, saving Schala...but, we don't know where she went or what happened to her after that." added Serge.
"Schala spoke to me in a dream a few nights ago. Lavos has once more captured her. He wants to take her power for his own, but he cannot do so until he is once more whole." Omega told the others.
"Whole? What do you mean?" asked Magus.
Omega then proceeded to tell about his initial battle with Lavos and how the three pieces were broken from him, and how one had absorbed itself into him.
"He is waiting for me to come to him, so that he can take back the piece. If he regains all three, he could be able to take her power. If that happens, then all is lost." said Omega.
"I have devoted my life to stopping Lavos and finding Schala. I'm coming with you to end this once and for all." said Magus.
"Thank you. The more of us there are to fight Lavos, the better our chances of stopping him. We are headed for the El Nido Archipelago. I believe there is something important there I must find." said Omega as they returned to 1000 A.D.
They got a ride on a ship to El Nido and soon arrived at Termina. There, they stayed for the night to rest, as it was late upon their arrival. Once morning came, the left Termina and headed south towards Arni Village. Once there, they were able to hire a fisherman to boat them to the edge of the Sea of Eden. They entered the nearby cave and not far inside, it came to a dead end.
"We needed the Masamune when we entered this place." said Serge.
Omega slowly walked to the wall of the dead end and stretched out his hand towards it. Strangely, the wall disappeared, leading to the open space of the Sea of Eden.
"It looks so different." said Serge.
"That's because this is twenty years before you came here." said Omega.
Out in the middle of the confined sea, they saw the empty city of Chronopolis. As Omega stepped towards the water, a small walkway rose from the sea, leading straight to the city.
"It's almost if it or someone is expecting us." said Magus.
"I suppose we'll find out who then." added Omega as they crossed the walkway to the city.
"I wonder why it was abandoned." asked Omega to nobody in particular.
"I remember," began Serge,"when we were here before, we saw some ghosts. Of some of the people who lived here. When the city was thrown back in time, it somehow pulled a floating tower from an alternate timeline. The tower was ruled by reptilian people called reptites. There was a great war between them, and the reptites lost, though many from Chronopolis were killed. The Tower fell into the sea and became the Sky Dragon Isle. Other than that, the only other island here was the isle of Eden. The people of Chronopolis created the other islands and moved people to them, to study their lives here and in other dimensions, I think. After awhile, many of the people left Chronopolis to live amongst the people of the islands and eventually integrated fully with them. If all the people from Chronopolis went or not, I'm not sure. That's all I know about the city. Oh, and the theories the were using for their study of time travel were from someone names Lucca." Serge told them.
"That's not too suprising." said Chrono. "She always was a genius. And she was always curious about how we were able to travel through time."
They finally reached the entrance to the large city. They went inside, and it was deathly quiet. Not even the slightest noise of wind or a scurrying little animal could be heard.
"Seems like this really is a ghost town." said Omega as they looked around inside the city. "Such advancements! I wonder from how far in the future this city came from."
They soon came across a part of the city containing offices. Omega stopped suddenly when he saw what was written on one of the doors.
"What is it?" asked Magus as he looked at the door too. He was just as suprised.
On the door it read, 'Omega Zeal's Office'.
Without saying anything, Omega went inside and looked around. There were many file cabinets, completely full of papers and files. Omega spent some time looking through some of the files.
"Apparently, I founded this city in 3324 A.D. after coming across some ancient artifact of unknown origin. It's strange properties caused me to start this city, to study its effects on time." said Omega aloud as he continued to read the report silently to himself. After a few moments, he figured out what the artifact was. "The artifact, it was another piece of Lavos! That means it must be here in the city! That's why the city was thrust into the past during their experiment. Because it was only a small piece, it was unstable, causing the experiment to display unstable results."
Omega then looked around some more and found a map of the city. "Here." he said as he pointed to a place on the map. "That's where it's held."
The four of them quickly made their way to the room where the piece was held. They came to the door of the room, which was locked.
"I can get us in." said Serge as he put his hand on the plate next to the door.
"UNAUTHORIZED USER. ACCESS DENIED."
"I don't get it. I was able to get in when I travelled here before." added Serge.
"That was in the future. Perhaps something changed between now and then." said Omega as he placed his hand on the plate.
"OMEGA ZEAL. ACCESS GRANTED."
They entered the large spherical room. In the very center was a small orb, with many wires and other objects connected to it from the walls of the room. It glowed with a faint aura as they looked at it.
"What do we do with it?" asked Magus. "Do we destroy it?"
"No, we can't destroy it unless we destroy Lavos. It is part of him. No, we must take it so that Lavos cannot get it." said Omega as he climbed the steps leading to the orb, containing the piece.
"What are you doing!" exclaimed Chrono.
"The power of Lavos flows through the piece. Through it, Lavos can take control of its host and use them for his purpose. I have lived for a long time with a piece in me, and I have the willpower to subdue the fraction of his power the pieces contain. I can safely contain the piece and its power in me." said Omega.
"That may be true, but if you collect all the pieces, Lavos would simply have to defeat you, and he would be able to get everything he needs, to be unstoppable. In short, you are making his search easier." said Magus.
"True, son, but if I do not take it, then who will? Who has the strength and willpower to supress such a power? You, Magus? Perhaps if you had been raised in the light instead of a cloud of darkness, you might be able to do so. Unfortunately, because of Lavos, that is not possible. You have trained yourself in powers of darkness, and it would be easy for Lavos to use that in controlling you. Even if Lavos had not interfered with our family, and your mother and I were able to raise you they way we wished, you might not have been able to do so either. Your mother, was the most caring and loving person I have known, save perhaps Schala. She was raised in the light, and even she was tainted by Lavos without the inner force caused by these pieces. Do you think Chrono or Serge could hold them? I have seen Chrono's future, and I know of Serge's past. And there are things there that prove to me that they could not bear the burden upon themselves, though I know they are more than willing. I understand your concern, Magus. And I understand your resoning as well." Omega stopped for a moment.
"I do not mean to be harsh or cruel to you, son. I just know that because I have bore the burden already that I know for certain that I can handle it. And should Lavos still be powerful enough that he could defeat me, us. I know what I could do to keep him from taking the pieces back. And I know that it would give you time to train your talents in areas and magics other than that of shadows. I know thatif I cant stop Lavos, I could delay his plan long enough for you to gain the strength you would need to stop him. You have great untapped potential in yourself. I just don't want you to try and carry such a heavy burden until you have more than enough strength to handle it."
Omega then reached into the orb, and the second piece of Lavos floated over to him and absorbed itself into him...