Magus's eyes opened, the first thing he saw was a blue abyss that seemed to stretch on forever. Just like that, everything came back in a flash. He, Crono, and Frog had entered a gate, it was a much stronger gate than the others, much more unstable. They were in another dimension, as told by Gaspar in the End of Time, a dimension beyond Time's Eclipse.
Getting up off of his feet, Magus looked towards the distance…nothing but a dark void, just like the one when they fought Lavos. Sighing, he turned towards his two companions, who were still trying to regain their energy. "Get up, we're here."
"What…What is this place…?" Crono asked, squinting his eyes and seeing the neverending blue void.
"Time's Eclipse?" Frog added, "If that is true, could Lavos be still out there?"
"No…" Magus blankly stared at the empty abyss, feeling a strong feeling of loneliness and despair. Closing his eyes, he could hear, could feel the wind blowing in his ears. "No…something far worse."
Crono gripped the handle of his sword tightly upon the former Fiendlord's words. "Worse? Magus, what do you mean?"
He turned to face Crono, shooting him a glare. "I mean there's someone…or something much stronger than Lavos."
"Ah, there is a lone figure up ahead. There also seems to be a gate there too." Frog pointed, and Magus turned and saw what he was talking about. That figure was not there before, a familiar aura could be seen from them.
Thus, the black winds picked up once more, ice cold and full of dread. "Come, let us check it out." Urging his companions forward, he began to walk towards the figure and the gate.
The figure in question had a dark red cloak that went over their head and a cape went down their shoulders. To Magus, it was a very familiar cloak, although he had worn one of a different color. Though they had been saying nothing, haven't they noticed the three yet?
Growing terribly annoyed at the silence, Magus asked the figure. "Who are you?"
"I am merely a traveling prophet." They said, turning towards the three. "Here, Lavos is no more. This is the future in which we have defeated him." The figure turned towards the group as Magus began to realize who this person was. That was himself was it not? The same cloak, the same voice…the only thing that was holding him back was the disbelief, was this his future self? Or himself from an alternate timeline?
"Show thyself!" Frog demanded, taking the words out of Magus's mouth.
Adding onto Frog's exclamation, Magus asked. "Let me ask again, who are you, where are you from?"
"Must you ask me so many questions, I do not have much time." They quipped, before looking at Magus right in the eyes. "And you…you should have figured it out by now."
Magus stared at them for a moment, before the realization hit him as his eyes widened. After that, the figure took off their hood, and he was right, lilac-gray strands of hair, the pointy ears, the red eyes. There was no doubt this was him from another world.
With that final confirmation and his realization, he backed away in shock. "You're-"
"Is that…" Crono asked, just as surprised as Magus himself.
"Magus?" Frog filled in Crono's question,
Keeping himself calm, Magus brought his unanswered question. "So…are you me from the future? Or are you from a different timeline entirely."
"With the defeat of Lavos, the world has been brought to peace. However, there have been great rifts in time's fabric. Each different world has been affected." His future self focused his gaze onto the other. "But you three…you might have dealt with them, however, I fear that Lavos may still be alive."
Crono's eyes widened. "Lavos? But I thought we…"
The alternate Magus looked toward them, before continuing his monologue. "If Lavos is defeated or not, I do not know." He turned towards the closed gate. "What I do know, however, is that I can feel its energy. A new foe has arisen here in the far abyss of Time's Eclipse."
Now that he had mentioned it, there was a lingering energy of Lavos's presence. Something terrible was about to happen, that much he knew. "Tell me, what is out there? How does Lavos still live?" The current Magus asked, feeling the lingering feelings of vengeance, anguish, and grief, of his counterpart's.
The counterpart looked towards him, a dead expression on his face. "This foe is more powerful…it feasts on dreams, memories, and thoughts." turning back towards the gate, he made one final statement. "Before you try to attempt anything, do not think to meddle here, this enemy is my affair and mine alone."
"I…but-" Magus's words began to fall as his counterpart opened the gate, leaving without another word before the flickering gate closed. He sighed, defeated yet still not giving up hope. "It's no use, we have to go after him…"
"Go after him? Must we?" Crono questioned, but didn't show signs of backing down either. "The stability of the gate…it is nothing like I have seen before."
"I do not like any of this." Frog said, drawing the Masamune. "Magus, are you certain it is safe?"
"No, it is not safe." Magus replied bluntly to the both of them, taking a few steps towards the closed gate. "However, I felt his sense of loneliness and longing…something is up."
Crono, also taking a moment to look at the gate, said. "Oh…could this mean…?"
"I really hope not, but we only have one way to find out." He replied, this time with a tone of absolute dread. Turning to Crono, he demanded. " I am going to head there. If you two find it unsafe, you can leave."
"No, I will not let you go alone." Crono said, shaking his head. "I know we haven't been, and still are not on the best terms. But we have gone through many battles, and even defeated Lavos." He knew that Crono's words were true, but it was still foolish of him to think such things, he never was the one to actually talk to him anyway.
"I will not let you go out there alone either. If you are to be defeated, it is by my hands." Frog chimed in, gripping the Masamune tightly.
Ignoring Frog's passive-aggressive statement, he turned toward Crono, extending his hand. "Hmph…very well. Hand me the Gate Key then."
Crono nodded, giving him the Key and gave him a look of uncertainty as he looked towards the gate once more. Magus sighed, there was no turning back now, he thought, it did not matter how dangerous this foe would be. So long as he knew what was out there, and why his alternate self said it was his affair.
Soon, the gate opened, the bright blue light shining brighter than before, yet flickering at an unstable pace, almost like it never should have been created in the first place. Just like when they entered the fight with Lavos. Magus, with a sense of urgency stepped into the gate, the other two following him along.
The moment they stepped out of the gate, it was too unstable, along with the fact the ground was shaking, they all collapsed. Magus heard sounds of battle going on, trying to make up what was happening and why everything was so out of control.
The instability of the area was messing up his vision, everything was blurred, shaking, and the amount of indescribable sounds were overwhelming him. With what he had of his energy, he lifted his head up, and saw a giant figure, a half globed shape figure with spikes all around. He blinked a few times, his vision resurfaced, just enough that he could see the shape more clearly, confirming that yes, that was indeed Lavos.
There was something different about what he saw, however. With what stability his body could hold, he stood up, trying to keep his balance. He could get a better view of Lavos, but it looked stronger, and there was a blur of colors that were far too familiar for his liking. A mixture of light lilac blue, a dark scarlet red, and cold shade of grey.
The light lilac color was what caught his eye, the royal Zealian color that he and his sister bore, upon seeing what was at the center of Lavos. He couldn't believe what his eyes had befallen upon him.
"SCHALA!"
He screamed, he cried out, seeing his dear sister floating right in the center of Lavos, a violet aura surrounding her, like a barrier. His mind was growing numb, he felt his body on the verge of collapsing; yet he also felt a burst of adrenaline, the urge to let all of his emotions out on that horrible beast that was Lavos. Not only was Lavos still alive but it absorbed Schala, that was enough for him to just let it all out.
"You…YOU MONSTER!" He shouted, running towards the beast and casting a Dark Matter spell at the beast. However, the spell had barely any effect, only doing a small amount of damage, Magus simply stood there in shock as he looked towards his right and saw his alternate self fighting with a red scythe. One a lot similar to his own Dreamreaper scythe that he held.
The alternate Magus turned towards him after striking a blow. "I believe…I told you…not to interfere."
"What is going on? Why is…Schala…" Grief and anger was all he could feel as he saw his dear sister right in the center of Lavos itself.
His counterpart, however, did not answer, as he struck another blow with his scythe once more, and in turn he landed a critical strike, which seemed to put a dent into the beast. Realizing that magic wouldn't do anything, the present Magus decided to do the same and fight with his scythe as well.
"Magus!" A voice called from behind him, it was Crono, followed by Frog. They must have just gotten up after hearing the scream. "Magus…is that…Lavos. Why is Schala with it?"
"This is not Lavos…" The second Magus added, looking right at Schala. "No…no this is something far powerful. This is…the Dream Devourer."
"Let all that once was, fade into oblivion. I welcome the end of existence."
The once soft and soothing voice of his sister was now loud and demonic, like it was Lavos taking control of her and her power. Magus's ears rang, yet he still would not give up, however as he was about to make an attack, his counterpart did so first.
"Schala…free yourself from it's spell. Please, open your eyes Schala…" He begged, and the present Magus began to wonder if he almost didn't want this timeline to know of what happened to Schala.
Suddenly, a powerful laser attack came from Lavos-the Dream Devourer, knocking down the alternate sorcerer. Fortunately the other three managed to dodge it before they could get knocked down too. Finding that there was no other option to go back now, the group got ready for battle.
"No…impossible! Schala, how did this happen…?" Magus asked, but he knew that she would not be able to hear him.
"It seems we have little choice but to fight." Frog sighed, readying the Masamune.
"We will defeat this beast, and rescue Schala!" Crono exclaimed, readying a lightning spell.
Magus managed to get a few hits in with his scythe, managing to hurt the Dream Devourer a little. Meanwhile, Crono casted a lightning spell onto the Masamune, Frog using this to stab the head of the new Lavos, doing some damage.
He once again hit the head of the Dream Devourer, however, this time when he did, he was hit with a mana-draining attack. Which caused his magic to be drained, however, he was prepared this time, the group had bought a lot of Ethers before they went here. So he used that to his advantage, taking out an Ether and using it.
He decided to cast magic instead, there was still some damage that was being dealt, even if it was little, it did not matter to him. Casting spell after spell, Dark Bomb, Dark Mist, even Fire, Water, and Light after noticing that his shadow magic did barely anything at all. He did all he could.
The battle went on for a while, that was, until Crono commanded. "Alright, Magus, Frog. X-Bomb!"
Ah, the one attack they all agreed upon, it had only been done once, and that was against Lavos itself. There was no wrong in trying it here, perhaps it could even land the killing blow, and he could finally reach his second goal in saving Schala.
As he began to ready his Dark Bomb spell. He looked up towards Schala, upon seeing his sister, looking to be in a hypnotized trance, he froze, looking up at her helpless state. He wished he could have saved her sooner, when he had the chance, when he still was able to stop the Ocean Palace incident. If only he had not been so focused on defeating Lavos, then none of that would have happened.
Still, the past was in the past now.
Before he could get any more worked up over his sister, Crono snapped him out of his emotional trance. "Magus! Now!"
With that, he focused on his magic, this was his chance. While Crono and Frog were doing their well-known X-Strike, he used this chance to cast Shadow Magic onto both of their swords, causing a shadow explosion. Then, once that was done, Magus casted Dark Matter, in hopes to finally take down the wretched beast.
With the immense power of Dark Matter, a massive dark explosion engulfed everyone's eyesight. A fog began to form the moment Magus's eyes opened again, pushing it away with his magic, he wondered. "Is it…gone…?"
"I do not know." Crono stated, it feels…odd to call this a victory.
"Hmmm…" The Fiendlord walked closer to where the Dream Devourer was, moving the dark fog away so he could see.
When he moved the dark shadowy fog, however, he saw the same greyish purple Lavos as before. He impulsively attacked the Dream Devourer with Dark Bomb, however, it merely absorbed his magic. Then he was blasted with that same purple laser, with no chance to dodge this time.
"Magus!" Crono shouted, running toward him, only to be shot down himself. Frog, meanwhile, tried to cast a healing spell, but failed too, not noticing how close he was to the Dream Devourer.
"Schala!" Magus exclaimed, looking up towards his still entranced sister. He reached his hand out, in hopes to get her to notice, but to no avail.
"Schalaaa!" He heard the voice of his alternate self, with now regained strength, run toward them again.
Magus was barely conscious now, ears ringing as the roaring was getting louder and louder, he could only slightly understand what was going on. His vision was blurring again, and his body hurt everywhere, was he about to die?
The last thing he heard was the faint sound of his sister's voice, reciting a spell similar to the one she used at the Ocean Palace.
Then, all went black.
A/N: I should probably mention that I have not played Chrono Cross, I hope to soon with the release of the remastered version. I have only went through the dimensional vortex and fought the Dream Devourer, a tiny thing that bothered me which was Magus only having a small, if any, reaction to seeing his future/alternate self. So I made this. Crono and Frog were the other two party members I used during the fight, so they were added here too. I also took some creative liberties here, as I feel like making it sort of my own take on how it goes would make it better for some of y'all.
Also, I like to think Magus is on somewhat better terms with the party, just because it feels right to do so, I tried to make him in character still though.
Anyways I hope you enjoyed, and please feel free to leave reviews! They're always appreciated!
