CHAPTER FIVE

Empty Roads

The swordsman opened his eyes wide, sitting up too quickly than his recuperating body would permit. Crono winced and grabbed the torn leg with a rough tourniquet strapped to his thigh. Looking around the room, Crono saw mostly darkness except the glow of a fireplace lighting just a small section of the room. The fire was warm and welcoming.

Off to the far wall, with his back to a couch, Janus stared off into space. The wizard was completely oblivious of his comrade's presence. Memories of the past have been haunting the wizard, ever since he freed himself of the curse, the Black Wind. With those memories, questions began to stir in his mind's eye. Still, that was not what was bothering him.

Once Crono was breathing regularly and seemed like he was going to live, Janus ventured back to the Temple of Black. When the wizard, as tired as he was without dragging a heavy warrior, he knew he heard a laugh coming from the temple. He swore if anything happened to his father's spirit, he wouldn't rest until whomever or whatever harmed him would pay. In the temple, all was quiet. Not a soul wandered, not a single soul.

Without knowing what has happened to his father and the people of the city having no idea where his sister was, the wizard was growing tired of these empty roads. He needed to return to the End of Time and ask Gasper his opinion on where Janus needs to check next. For some strange reason, Janus couldn't tell, he needed to watch over his fellow traveler. Thinking about his companion, the wizard tilted his head over and noticed that Crono was awake and was warming himself by the fire.

The swordsman felt his friend's gaze and turn to meet his eyes. Crono grinned his usual cocky grin and nodded his gratitude. Janus returned the nod and began to stare off again. The stare didn't last long when the wizard looked back over, seeing Crono still smiling at him with his head tilted. Janus gritted his teeth.

"Forget it, I'm not telling you a damn thing! It's none of your business!" Janus barked.

Crono continued to smile and nodded his agreement. The swordsman understood well that one must look within themselves to understand any trials they must forgo before they ever want to open up to others. Looking at his friend, the swordsman couldn't help but compare himself to Janus. They may seem different, but in truth, they were very much the same. Janus knew more than any wise man, but never spoke any more than he absolutely needed. Crono, though was not nearly as wise but he always kept to himself, unless he absolutely needed to speak.

Janus got off the ground and offered a hand to Crono. The swordsman accepted it, lifting his weight to his unwounded left leg.

"Come. Our search here proved worthless," whispered Janus as he slung Crono's arm over his shoulder.

Together, both swordsman and wizard traveled many miles out of the city. It took more skill than Janus realized, getting Crono into the Epoch without harming him. The wizard stopped lifting Crono up, noticing what he was doing that has been prolonging his search. Janus began to push Crono higher without regard for his comrade's safety until he heard a whimper.

"Damn it," the wizard whispered to himself.

After succeeding in getting the swordsman into the cockpit, the wizard leapt up to the control chair. He grasped the knob and was just about to turn it as far as it would go to the right, until the wizard felt a presence. Turning around, scythe in hand; the wizard looked behind him and saw only Crono. The swordsman raised an eyebrow, turning around and looking out the window, also seeing nothing.

Janus eyes continued to dart around. Eventually, the wizard growled at his own paranoia and turned the knob far to the right. The Epoch went up into the sky, moving faster then the speed of light. During the travel in the wave, the wizard glared back. Something was amiss.

The Wings of Time stopped in the darkness that was the End of Time. The wizard shrugged away the feeling and wrapped Crono's arm around his shoulder. Together, they jumped out of the cockpit. Three thumps followed as the two landed, not even waking the guru, who seems to be peacefully resting at his lamppost.

"Wake up old man," Janus coolly said.

Gasper awoke with a start, noticing that Janus and Crono were before him. The appearance of the two did not help him, trying to think that their survival was just a dream. The guru looked down at Crono's leg and back up to Janus's eyes. The old man smiled softly, noticing something was different about Janus. The wizard growled and stepped in front of the old man, towering over his frail form.

"We cannot find Schala. Tell us where she is," demanded the wizard.

Gasper sighed. Something is different about him but not his attitude.

"I told you. My knowledge is worthless. Seeing the time stream is like a cloud of smoke, obscuring my sight. I can't see where she is," Gasper calmly replied.

A creak to the side took the attention from the swordsman whose been listening to the two men arguing. The door to the creature known as Spekkio was slightly ajar. Crono took a step to the door when he heard Janus speak in a kinder tone, turning his attention back to the two Zealians.

"Forgive my ignorance. You were a great wise man, guru, and scholar back in Zeal, what I can remember. All I ask is that you give me an educated guess on where she went," Janus said bowing his head.

Gasper looked up to the man who stood before him. Oddly enough, at that moment, Janus seemed exactly what Gasper felt that the wizard would grow into if he wasn't thrown into a hostile environment. But than again, Gasper was thrown into a lonely environment and it didn't change him… much

"I'm sorry, I can't even begin to think where or when she is, let alone if she is alive," Gasper paused as that last statement that had Janus's eyes glaring down at him, "Um, regardless, I'm not the only 'guru' you can speak to about such matters."

Janus features did soften before he turned to the side, placing his chin in the palm of his hand. Indeed, the wizard knew of such a man but to bring him into this could send him into an early grave. An inhumanly shriek interrupted the wizard's thoughts.

The three slowly turned their heads to the entrance, leading to Spekkio's room. They cautiously approached before the door exploded from its hinges. The door flew across the room, pushing Gasper to the wall, crashing him between the solid wall and the door.

"I… didn't see that… coming," Gasper softly said before falling unconscious.

Both the swordsman and wizard followed the episode that took mere seconds. They both shot their heads back to the door, awaiting the threat that was emerging from the doorway. The wizard gritted his teeth, drawing his scythe. Crono stood, jaw agape. Out of the doorway came a familiar blue haired man.

"Noah?" Crono breathed.

Noah turned to Crono and nodded, then turned his attention to the wizard. Janus didn't waste a second when Noah turned his head. The wizard charged, jumped into the air and began to come down and sink his scythe into the young sorcerer. He was held in place, once Noah lifted his hand as he encased the wizard in a small vortex. Noah gazed up at the wizard and smiled as if he was not impressed.

"Noah… what are you doing?" asked Crono limping to the young sorcerer.

"Stop where you are," demanded Noah. Crono froze where he stood.

"Your aura. It's the same as that old man. Well kid, you know some tricks," Janus coolly responded, waving his arms wide, dispelling the wind magic, "is it safe to assume you also know how to become invisible?"

Noah smiled and took a deep bow without taking his gaze off Janus. The smile disappeared. Crono noticed his eyes, which means he knew Noah's secret, that he took the Black Wind. Even if he didn't know, Janus was sure to put it together.

"Noah… why is your eyes red?" Crono said, "and why are your eyes violet Janus?"

Janus snapped his head up at the realization that Noah was somehow behind his father's disappearance. The wizard opened his palm, chanting his spell as fast as he could. Janus began feeling weak; obviously he was not over the battle with Saturn. He growled away the lack of energy, trying to finish the spell.

"Kunapinjeakilmax VETODELIO DARKMATTER!" hollered Janus.

Nothing happened; other than the wizard fell to his knee from exhaustion. Janus began shaking his head, disbelieving that his spell failed. The wizard looked up in time to see Noah lift his hand and a gust of wind that was ten times stronger than a hurricane, blew him hard against the wall, knocking him out of the fight.

Before the young sorcerer could turn around to his last threat, Crono leapt up and began twirling in the air, repeatedly slashing at Noah's chest. The swordsman landed and fell to his knees when his right leg couldn't absorb the fall. Crono's eyes widened as Noah was not harmed, not even a shred in his clothing.

"I'm merciful, don't forget that," Noah coolly respond.

The young sorcerer lifted his hand up, which in turn lifted up the swordsman. Crono turned upside-down and saw the floor coming far too quickly.

For the second time today, Crono awoke with great pain that was almost too much for him to handle. The swordsman choked back the agony in his leg and on his head. He reached to his sheath for Rainbow, but the sword was missing. Using the sheath as a crutch the swordsman went to the bucket where the magical water could cure all wounds. It was, for the first time, empty.

"We are smarter than this, aren't we?" asked a spiteful voice.

Crono turned to see his friend, lending against the doorway to Spekkio's room. At the lamppost was Gasper, though he appeared more awake than ever before. The swordsman turned his attention back to his friend and tilted his head, which made the wizard roll his eyes.

"Come on, Crono. First you were saved by a blue hair, magic using human, back in 1000 AD," snapped the wizard. Crono shrugged. Janus had to rub his temples from that answer.

"Listen, he is obviously from the Dark Ages, so something had to be up. Or was that moment of weakness of throwing away your life kept you blind?" sneered Janus.

Crono's eyes widened at the remark. His gaze fell to the floor.

"That's enough Janus or have you forgotten your own stupidity?" replied Gasper.

Janus opened his mouth to speak, but decided to shut it instead. The wizard couldn't ignore his own doing in this obvious trap. He knew something was wrong about the 'old ragged man' and looking back on it, how could Alfador be alive after twenty-eight years? To top it all off, he knew that something was in the Epoch.

The wizard closed his eyes and bowed his head, completely defeated. Crono limped over to the balcony and noticed that the Epoch was missing as well. The swordsman stared at the guru for answers.

"This 'Noah,' whoever he is, planned this from the beginning. How, I have no idea. He somehow knew you both would live against Lavos and he saved you to get Janus out of Limbo. Then in the Temple of Black, he knew Janus would surrender his Black Wind, which Noah took for himself. Of course it gets worse," paused the guru.

Crono limped over to the old man. When he was just inches from the guru's face, only then did he noticed that he had fallen asleep. Crono sighed and looked over to his wizard friend.

"I guess he stole Spekkio's power, my Rainbow and the Epoch," Crono announced.

Janus opened his eyes and gazed up at the swordsman.

"What do you mean, stole Spekkio's power?" asked Janus.

"When I attacked him with my blade, it didn't do anything," replied Crono.

Janus rolled his eyes, murmuring something like 'just great' and then closed his eyes again, falling back into his own thoughts.

"Oh, and thanks for freeing me from one oblivion and trapping me in another," the wizard coolly said.

Crono lips narrowed and he began his walk up to the hall which would lead to the gates. The swordsman stopped short as the room and half of the hall was gone. The hallway continued to slowly fade away into nothingness.

"Great."

Noah stepped through his tapestry and almost into one of his kneeling chancellors. The young sorcerer grinned and walked over to his large red throne. The chancellor forced her eyes to look over her shoulder without lifting her head to see her liege.

"Arise Chancellor Euphrosyne and report," commanded Noah.

The chancellor did just that. She was of average height and weight of a twenty year old woman. She kept her long brown hair up in a tight, simple pony tail. She wore a black tank top and jeans with a large belt that held many tools, over her tank top, she wore a brown trench coat with many inner pockets, which many believe to hold even more tools. Her almond shape eyes were exotic, her violent eyes made her even more enticing.

"The war continues into a stalemate. Both tribes continue to assault us as they wear themselves thin when they also battle against one another. How about you my liege? Did you succeed?" asked the chancellor.

"Aye, I did. I found a living Janus and tricked him into forfeiting the Black Wind. Now the Black Wind is within me. I also managed to find that annoying Spekkio, which I also bent, crushed, and infused within myself. As a bonus," Noah paused, throwing a prismatic sword in front of Euphrosyne, "I have that. Please inform Chancellor Thalia to melt the blade and form it into a couple of half-moons."

"Sickles? Why?" asked Euphrosyne.

Noah raised an eyebrow and stared daggers at his chancellor. Euphrosyne bowed and stepped back a few steps, forgetting that she was questioning her king.

"Of course sire," Euphrosyne corrected herself.

"Now as for you, is the invention created?" Noah said with a yawn.

"No sire," responded the chancellor, "I'm afraid that we are missing two rare metals that aren't in this world. We'll need what is called a Dreamstone and Sunstone to complete it."

The young sorcerer sighed and nodded to his Chancellor of Inventions. Noah knew exactly where to get these metals, but he was growing weary of time and space travel. Knowing that he'll need to rest for traveling through planes again, Noah excused himself and went to get a peaceful night sleep.

"Argh!" screamed Gasper, rubbing his head.

Crono stopped his training with his spare sword and looked at the guru who was on the ground. The swordsman gazed up after hearing a snicker coming from his wizard friend. Janus continued to snicker with his back to the wall and staring at the guru with one eye open.

"Enjoyed your peaceful night rest?" mocked the blue haired wizard.

"What happened?" Gasper said ignoring the remark.

Crono opened his arms wide and the guru took in the sight of his home. Where there was a hall that lead to a small room with nine gates, Spekkio's room, and half of the main room plus one lamppost was missing. The physical structure of the End of Time seems to be fading away. The guru nodded and rose, using his cane as support.

"I see. Without Spekkio's powers, the constructions here will vanish," the guru sighed, "why didn't anyone warn me that my lamppost was fading and let me fall to this hard nothingness?"

The guru's question went unanswered. The swordsman went back into his training while Janus closed his one eye, going back into thinking about the events that has occurred and how to get out of the mess that they were in.

"Whatever. I only got an hour of rest anyways," Gasper shrugged, watching Crono spin, trying to kick without cutting himself.

That remark hit the wizard hard. His eyes opened wide and his head snapped to attention, staring at the guru.

"What? An hour! We've only been here for a measly hour?" screamed the wizard.

"Yes, time really does have no meaning here," replied the guru.

A loud explosion sounded from behind the wizard. The explosion sounded familiar, like the Epoch has docked. The wizard ran as fast as he could and looked down at the docking bay. There before his eyes was the Wings of Time. His jaw dropped.

"Let's get out of here. Come on you two," demanded the wizard.

Crono walked over to his friend and stared down. The swordsman grinned at his luck and jumped into one of the back seats. Gasper walked over as well, not impressed in the slightest that the Epoch came back for them. The guru hesitated, which was making Janus's patience run very thin.

"What is it old man?" the wizard said through clenched teeth.

"I can't go with you. My knowledge of the time stream would be too dangerous," replied the guru.

"What about the new future?" asked the wizard.

The guru looked up at the wizard, taking in that new light. He never thought of leaving the bleakness of the End of Time, but he was not too enthralled of spending eternity in oblivion. Gasper nodded and hopped beside the swordsman, followed by Janus in the seat up front.

"We'll drop you off in 2300 AD…" the wizard stopped, looking over the control panel.

"I take that back, we'll drop you off in 2000 AD. Alright, forward," said the wizard.

"Thalia! Thalia! Stop that noise at once!" yelled Euphrosyne at the top of her lungs.

The room was glowing in bright reddish-orange; the sounds of hammering coming from an anvil was deafening. The room was hot, well above a hundred degrees, but the blacksmith continued banging her hammer onto a piece of black metal. Bang. The hammer repeated its song, bending the metal just enough so that the blade would have a perfect curve. Bang.

The blacksmith, Thalia, had short blue hair which was always unkempt. She wore a tight one piece leather suit, which gleamed in the firelight of sweat. She was physically fit for a woman, but still had the grace of a feminine figure.

Euphrosyne never was one for patience; (other than working with machinery) began chanting a simple spell. Bang. The Chancellor of Inventions pointed her finger at the metal. A bubble appeared and floated to the piece of metal, popping when the blacksmith smashed it with a hammer. Bong. The water quickly began cooling the metal, ruining hours of work. The blacksmith glared at the chancellor with rage.

The chancellor bowed. "Forgive me Chancellor of Forging, but the king wishes for you to begin on creating two weapons for him."

The blacksmith scowl returned to her neutral expression. Normally, Thalia would ask whoever would dare interrupt her work to pick a blade on the wall behind the forge so she would kill them with it. But, since the king demanded her attention, she would stop whatever she was doing and immediately follow her king's orders.

"What type of weapons, Euphrosyne?" asked Thalia.

"He wants two half-moons," replied Euphrosyne.

"Sickles? Why?"

"That's what I asked. Big mistake. We shouldn't question our lord's motives."

Thalia nodded and walked over to a block of black metal. She turned around immediately when Euphrosyne cleared her throat.

"Do you think you can make them out of this without ruining the magic?" asked the inventor handing the blacksmith Rainbow.

The blacksmith's eyes widened at the perfect craftsmanship and unique material used to create such a blade. Thalia took Rainbow in hand and did some battle movements with the blade. The smith frowned, not wanting to destroy the work that the craftsman must have put into creating the sword. Thalia nodded.

"Yes I can. It will take a while, but I can… without interruptions!" Thalia snapped. Euphrosyne smiled wickedly.