The next morning, Janus was staring intently at a wounded, dying rabbit. It looked frightened, but unable to escape the young prince. Its fur was seared and blackened on one side, and it was twitching, as if attempting to move its legs desperately.

With stone-faced stoicism, Janus picked it up and snapped its neck before driving a stick through its warm corpse and starting a small fire, which, ironically, was the easiest part.

"I'm not going to cry anymore..." He thought to himself as he stuck the whole animal over the flames. "There's nothing left. I always said Zeal's foundation was trickery and lies... Well, here I am on the surface, in the middle of it. The middle of the harsh, cold truth..."

Suddenly, the rabbit popped, hot blood and grease spattered on Janus's face.

He... ...probably should have skinned it first.

"AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

He fell back and dropped the rabbit directly into the fire, where it popped and bubbled and spattered more. "Oh shit!" he thought, and quickly pulled it out, blowing on the flaming remains of the animal to try and put it out.

...was it supposed to be that black?

Janus's breakfast tasted like charcoal, as he continued through the woods, not sure which direction he was going.

"Alright..." he smiled. "I kinda messed up. But it's not like I can't make a fire now! Ok. Ok... No clue what I'll do for clothes or shelter... but hunting's a cinch at least..."

Janus wandered through the woods, crossing ravines and using fallen trunks as bridges. All the while, he kept trying to snack on burnt rabbit. It tasted terrible, but at least it wasn't a turd on a plate, which possibly came out of Oz...

...Janus stopped.

Something ahead was giving off an eerie blue light.

As he drew closer and closer to the curious object, his face began to light up. Was that...?

"Hey..." he smiled. "I know what that is..."

Janus came into a small meadow, where a large, clear, blue pyramid sat before him.

"This is.. the Zeal North Palace... I don't believe it!"

Janus grinned widely as he explored the structure. It looked like it had been lost and ruined for ages. "Mother always told us never to go near this... well, she's long gone, now. She can't tell me what to do anymore.

Janus began circling the ruins.

Keeper's Dome, 2299 AD

"No... no..." Belthesar mumbled to a small robot he constructed. It resembled a Nu, but was fully artificial and had no intelligence of its own. "I want to record. RECORD."

The construct spoke. "Understood. Wreak Hoard."

"What!? RECORD MESSAGE."

"Recording now..."

"Alright, finally" Belthasar mumbled. "To you who opened the sealed door... I am B-"

"Message Saved."

"Oh, for the love of..."

The Nu-like robot smiled. "Would you like your message deployed now?"

Schala giggled and gently stroked its head. "Can you ask him to record a longer message?"

Belthasar shook his head. "I don't think it could comprehend that. It's impractical, but I think I'll need to record several small messages and just have them deployed on a path, like breadcrumbs."

Queen Zeal shook her head. "Seeing you do this does not leave me with much confidence, Belthasar. You're the one calling the shots here after all..."

"Well..." Belthasar spoke, "The hope is that I'll be able to build a vehicle that operates independently of gates. Frankly though, I don't think it can overcome the strong attraction to specific relative points in history... ...and I'm not even sure it should."

"As long as we don't have to make long journeys to get from gate to gate, that's not too bad", Schala shrugged.

Belthasar shook his head. "Let me make one thing crystal clear for both of you: From this point forward, there is to be no more time traveling unless absolutely necessary. The potential to devastate the continuum of space and time is severe... and it may interfere with... things."

Schala seemed slightly upset. "So we must stay here..."

Belthasar gave her a suspicious look. "It is bleak here, but there is no chance of unexpected... alterations... involving Lavos."

"I understand," Schala spoke, disappointed. As she was turning to leave, she glanced at Belthasar's gate key, sitting on the table next to him. It was not like Lucca's gate key at all - this one was silver and cylindrical, far more hi-tech looking.

"If only I could..." she thought to herself as she left the hangar and approached her mother.

"Mother? I would like to seek counsel with you."

Zeal remained quiet for a few moments before responding. "Very well. Attend to me, Schala, and speak your mind."

Schala bowed her head for a moment and the two began walking together. "Belthasar says we are to remain here forever."

"Is that so?" Zeal replied. "Unfortunate. I have wished better for you than to end your life tending to my grave."

...a morbid thought. Nevertheless, Schala continued.

"I'm worried about him. Sometimes, he mumbles to himself, then suddenly shouts. I'm worried that the Guru of Reason is... ...at a loss of it."

Zeal looked in her daughter's eyes and saw fear. This, right here, melted her heart.

"Schala... ...my light of Zeal... Belthasar is sick, in a way medicine cannot fix. We have both suspected it, and now I am certain. He puts on a brave face for both of us, but eventually you and I will be on our own."

"And then you will leave me too..." Schala sighed.

Zeal did not respond with words. She simply slid an arm around her daughter's back and held her.

"My Light... immortality achieved or not, I will never leave you. It would be irresponsible of me, when you are always so loyal. Even if you cannot see me... I will be there."

Schala couldn't help but blush. It was unusual of Zeal to hug either of her children. She was always strict and rigid, expecting both of them to adhere to royal protocol- and that was before the Mammon Machine was built. At that point, Schala was a near-constant demand, and Janus fell by the wayside, completely free to do as he pleased. Speaking of whom...

"Mother... there's... something else."

"Speak..." Zeal... less ordered, more encouraged.

"If the Black Wind only affects us... why do you suppose this 'Magus' spoke of it?"

"Perhaps he was an ancestor," Zeal suggested, "one who was lost to the flow of time just like Belthasar. It is also possible his family descended from the fiends of Mount Woe, and they picked it up from some ancestor of ours."

Schala shook her head. "...I don't think that's it."

"Hmm?"

"Mother... I need to confess something to you."

"Go ahead" Zeal replied. "I doubt highly that I could be angry with you anyways."

"Janus... ...was not impotent."

Zeal smiled a bit. "Is.. is that so? Well then, towards which element did he lean? Did you know?"

Schala hesitated to speak it, and Zeal could see the difficulty in her eyes.

"...S-... Shadow, mother..."

Zeal's smile faded. "...Shadow!? Interesting... I can see why he would hide that from me, now."

Schala nodded in confirmation. "He was... afraid. He saw what was happening to you and I. He tried to avoid the same, but... Mother?"

"Don't say it, Schala," the queen replied. "You believe his heart was twisted, and he became this evil man of the past?"

"Well, I don't know for sure. I would..."

Zeal subtly shushed her, as Belthasar had entered the room. Schala continued, quietly.

"...I would need more information."

Zeal nodded. "We will continue this discussion later. Be on your way, Schala."

Nodding, Schala walked away. Belthasar looked on, in suspicion before turning to his construct. "I am beginning to regret mentioning the Black Wind. Did you remember to provide Janus with something to defend himself?"

The construct smiled. "I left a short sword outside the ruins. He should encounter it outside of the sealed pyramid."

Belthasar nodded. "Very good."