Zenan Plains, 599 Kingdom Calendar
Schala dare not look back. She was happy and victorious, but also weak and injured, she and her brother both. They could only go so far on magic alone, and knew that the fiends would likely be looking for them, but if they could just get through that gate, they would be home free.
Magus dare not look back, either. He didn't exactly fear the fiends, but he knew what he was leaving behind, and was afraid he might change his mind about this.
Suddenly, Schala stumbled in front of him. Magus quickly caught her, and helped her up.
"Let me help..." he whispered. "My magical strength is greater, after all."
"I-I'm ok..." she tried to say, bravely. In truth, she took quite a beating and had hardly anything left. Magus realized this and, despite her protests, picked her up and began carrying her into the air. The land shrank beneath them, as the night air grew cold. Wrapping his cloak around her, he sailed toward Truce Canyon, where it all began.
"How amusing," he thought to himself, "that my quest for vengeance in this... 'primitive' era should begin and end in the same place."
"LET ME GO!"
A very angry looking green blob in a robe was hovering across the sands under the pale moonlight. A screaming child was slamming his fists into the creature's back, as he had been hoisted over its shoulder.
Ozzie was already more than steamed that his trek to the top of Truce Canyon provided another non-sale with those irritating imps, but then this kid literally popped out of the sky and proceeded to telekinetically puree his clientelle. He'd be damned if he wasn't getting *something* out of this.
"SHUT UP!" he shouted back at the annoying brat. "You cost me a fortune today, you know that? You better hope your parents are rich, because if I'm not getting a ransom out of you, you're getting in my belly!"
"You fool! Of course my mother is rich!" Janus stupidly replied. "She rules the entire kingdom of Zeal! If she finds out what you've done..."
"Gods..." Magus thought to himself. "Was I truly so insolent? It... embarasses me to have been that child, so long ago... ...but, if Janus is alive, then I must bear it."
Schala was sleeping peacefully in his arms.
Below, unknown to either, a lone figure was racing across the land, following them.
...Janus had no memory of what came after. One minute he was screaming for Flea to stop, and the next... ...Flea was on the ground, in the fetal position... he was screaming, crying, and... covering his smoking, smoldering crotch.
...there was blood.
"Oh shit."
"UUUWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!" screamed Flea in pain and terror "OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOZZZZZZZZZZZZZIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! *sob* OOOOOOOZZZZZZZZIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"
"I almost forgot how unbearable he was when we were young... that he is the same child I so horribly mutilated all those years ago..."
Janus found a sword to his throat.
"You fiends are a blight upon our kingdom", the Sultan shouted. "I should have you executed one by one, like vermin past the threshold of my home. What have you to say in your defense?"
"Not much..." Janus smiled, "...except that I intend to lead you to the rest of them..."
Within minutes, guards had raided the den, slaughtering some students and arresting others. Those latter, along with the Prophet of Alucinatio, were then summarily and publicly beheaded. Janus couldn't help but smile as he watched, a necessary bridge burned so that he may reign unopposed.
"I led Slash and myself to slaughter with my new abilities, shortly after..." Magus kept thinking to himself. "Did the Sultan and his family truly deserve such a fate? His bigotry was violent...as was that of the inhabitants of Zenan. Schala would not agree with me... but not only does she forgive me... she was willing to forcibly pull me away from that. To think, perhaps I did not truly understand my sister's love until today... for if I cannot forgive myself, then at least she does."
Magus's mind turned further back, to his departure from Zeal.
"Hmm...! A Dimensional Warp!"
"No! We'll be dragged in!"
Janus cried out Schala's name.
"NO!" she screamed. "JANUS, STAY AWAY!"
He was confused at first, thinking she meant to protect him. But she didn't understand: he came to save her, and that's what he was going to do. He wasn't afraid. The Gurus were rattling off about holes in the air swallowing them up, and before Janus realized it, he was being dragged away as well.
"S-... Schala!?"
"JANUS!" Schala screamed. She reached out for her brother, but their fingers only touched before he was suddenly and violently sucked in.
"Lavos..." Magus growled. "How dare you do all of this... and to think, where we go, you have already had your way with the rest of this planet... it is insulting...
...taunting...
...mocking me for my fai-"
Magus stopped. Taking a breath, he looked down at his sleeping sister.
"No... perhaps that's what you wanted. After all, she says you lived, and I did not. Perhaps this is my victory..."
After some time, Magus and Schala arrived at the canyon. Magus quickly took a look around, making sure no one was there before turning to his sister, who was leaning on him.
"What do we do now?" he asked. "How do we make it appear?"
Schala smiled. "With this", she said as she produced the small metal wand and pressed a button.
Magus jumped back in alarm, as a familiar blue void of doom appeared. He'd seen this before: it spat him out in this hell, decades ago. And now, he was going to a time period even worse off? Willingly?! But if Schala was there, then maybe it wouldn't be so bad.
Reminding himself that this was a good thing, Magus took Schala's hand and nervously approached the gate.
"It is... safe, right?"
Schala nodded. "It's safe, but... once we cross, I need you to destroy this gate key for good. Belthasar will be unhappy, but... I think it needs to be done, and I have barely the strength to hold it up."
"Just a little further then..." Magus smiled, holding her hand.
"Just a little further..."
...
...they never entered.
Just as they had taken one step, Schala suddenly lurched forward, screaming in agony. Alarmed, Magus knelt down to help her, confused as to what happened until she was laying on the ground... ...with an arrow in her back.
Magus's vision went red.
"Schala..." Magus begged. "You have to get up... we're almost there..."
She was too weak though, and the arrow... it pierced something important. She couldn't breath, and she was bleeding profusely.
"Janus..." she gargled, before blood fully filled her lungs and throat... "I-...ah-... I... I-"
...
...
...and she was gone.
Literally three steps to safety, and she was gone.
"No..." Magus whispered. "This cannot be... not when we were so close... not when I was willing to redeem myself... !"
"Until you realize that you cannot accomplish any of your true goals by yourself, you will slowly and steadily begin to lose everything, just as you did instantly when your kingdom was destroyed."
"Is this your idea of a joke!?" Magus shouted to the sky. "I wasn't alone! She was helping me, and you took her! I TRIED TO CHANGE! I TRIED TO CHANGE!"
Looking down at the gate key, Magus angrily squeezed it, until it crushed to pieces in his hands. Then, he looked to the sky, his eyes filling with tears.
"I... tried..."
"Yeah..." a voice called out. "..but that doesn't work so well for the rest of us."
Magus whipped around, his eyes redder than usual, to see none other than Axl, holding a fired crossbow.
"You did this..." Magus growled lowly.
"I did," Axl replied. "I had to. She was bringing you down, and this was the only way to stop her. But it's okay now," he smiled. "You're going to bring forth Lavos, like you said you would. Like you promised us... without interruptions this time... right?"
...
...
...Without fanfare, or words, Magus immediately compressed his scythe into nothingness, much to Axl's awe and confusion... before Axl, suddenly, felt something deep within his body.
"M-Magus?"
Magus stared at him, blankly, replying only with one word.
"WandaIn..."