Chrono Trigger Omega
Episode Zero Zero One - "Nightrunner
Character Interlude Two - "Flashfire Interlude"

It always starts out this way.

I feel like I'm weightless. Hell, at that point I don't even know who I am. The ghostly darkened corridor I lazily find myself drifting through is filled with wafts of fog all around.

It's cold. Not so much 'freezing', but that kind of lingering cold that gets under your skin and chills you to the bone if you give it enough chance. It's frightening enough to not know where you are but to know who you are in a place this unnerving is down right torture.

However, the fun hasn't begun yet. Glimpses of a past unknown to me appear in flashes of light around me, bringing moments of light to the cloudy tunnel as my drift gradually increases in speed. I'm not sure if it's my imagination, but it feels like temperature is starting to rise for the better too.

The flashing moments are a relief to witness while I start to comprehend that they might have something to do with me after all.

Life through the eyes of a child as his life begins. The first time his eyes open and they rest upon the woman that brought him into this world. The restless nights of crying for his parents attention. When he adventures into crawling, then upgrades to the dangers of those first steps.

There are faces he sees of those he should remember. His lively mother. His tall and stern father. His oldest and far too pushy sister. His other older sister, who he'd notice, was quiet & solemn, sitting up nights alone and wondering why she couldn't function during the day like other children.

Danielle! That's her name! How could I ever forget the name of my own sister? She really had it rough didn't she? Then there's Rashel and my parents. Those were the days when it just was the five of us. That didn't last long. The twins. Idrina and Xana. Found myself to be the older brother and the middle child in the same stroke.

Things are speeding up as the corridor's cloudiness becomes clearer. The flashes are coming at a faster rate too. Elementary school. Pop's new reassignment orders. Us moving. Transition to middle school. More moving. High School. Last move. Brooklyn. One strange night. Those eyes. Intense. Desperation. Incense & Peppermints? A Dream? Senior Year. First Job. Unrequited Love. Bittersweet life lessons. Graduation. College.

Was this me? My life seemed so normal. Something isn't right. Am I supposed to remember this? Sure feels warm in here…

A memory shatters right in front of me. In the shards I see myself with Danielle and Idrina. That's right, I used to call them "Ella" & "Jojo". We're much older now. Late teens. Early twenties. Walking together. Taking shortcut through construction site.

Fatal mistake.

Shady characters. Expecting us. I stall. Hope sisters escape. Captured. Construction elevator. Upward. Unfinished skyscraper. The slowly revealing skyline. My executioner stands before me.

That red beret. Those knives. Pathetic self-defense attempt. Strategic knife throws. Tortured. Crippled. Covered in blood. Slumped against elevator railing. Final blow. Dagger pierces heart. The world fades from view.

Death.

The corridor washes over in white light. What once was warm returns to stark cold again. What I once witness in memories returns to a fading echo while I struggle to retain what I once knew. The speed increases as the light fades and flashes of new memory decorate the tunnel.

Eyes open. Operating table lights. Strangers in shadow stand over me. Can't remember anything.

I have no name.

My existence is explained to me. A protector of time and space. An "ACT-Raiser". Assigned to a white-haired man. Looks the same age as me. Seems much older. "Wintersnake". Says he was a 'shaman' in his 'former' life. Gives me a name. "Nightrunner". Oversees my training for being an "ACT-Raiser". I step into the fourth dimension.

Training complete. Transferred to the espionage division. Become a subordinate of a enigmatic woman. Her eyes pierce my soul.

Those emerald green eyes. One could become lost in them.

Rough beginnings. Still our missions are successes. She is distant. I am forgiving. Time spent together passes. Weeks. Months. Years. Decades.

Centuries.

Still we never age. Artificial Chrono Trigger. What they put inside of me when I was revived. A blessing and a curse wrapped in one. She has one too. All A.C.T.-Raisers do.

Sent on one particular mission. We encounter individuals seeking to revive the worst threat to existence. She is exposed to it's power. I rescue her from it in time. She is worse for wear. Nurse her back to health.

Post-recovery. She seems different. More emotionally attached to me. I am severely charmed by her. Love is in eyes that once were cold. Romance ensues. We make love.

Mission on Earth. Atlantic City. World seems familiar. Can't quite remember why. Unconventional proposal. She accepts. We marry on the boardwalk. Private ceremony. Justice of the peace. Marriage not condoned by our agency, but it meant something to us.

More time. I travel faster. The flashes are more rapid fire. Warmth has return to the tunnel. I love her. She lets me into her heart. Something else resides there. Curiosity. About what effected her when exposed to that power. Start to suspect that she's keeping secrets from me. The heat rises.

Separation. Made a solo-agent. She is also given the same rank. Spend decades apart on missions. Learn fighting techniques on many worlds. Train other agents. Best student is a quiet girl. Equinox is Wintersnake's name for her. She is made a 'sweeper'. Lose touch with Equinox. Separated from her too on more missions.

Become used to solitude and taking false identities. Never knew myself to begin with. Encounter interesting and dangerous people. Daisy. Must be one everywhere.

Given special mission. Protect the events of the 'first encounter'. Undercover at the Millenia Fair. Almost jeopardize those events. Cross paths with HIS mother. Olive-haired woman. Tells me I look like someone she used to know. Her eyes. Intense. Familiar. Inspires a flood of emotions I can't comprehend.

"Max".

Why is that name familiar to me? The mystery within me grows.

Complete mission. Return to base with burning questions. Wintersnake can't answer them. Points me in the right direction. Manhattan. 1999. I take a long vacation.

Chance encounter. Meet a girl who I find familiar but don't know. Become fast friends. Idrina. Tells me to call her "Jojo". I remind her of her brother. Wants me to meet him. She has a life-threatening incident. Her brother is killed in that incident. Her sister saves her during the incident, only to almost kill Idrina in the process. She turns to me for support. Falls in love with me. Can't requite her feelings due to a strong intuition.

I abandon Idrina.

Severe regret. Private exile brings across another familiar person. Daisy?

A year later. Dreams. They call me to where the incident happened. The building is completed. I infiltrate and ride the elevator to the top floor. Just like the dreams instruct. The doors open. I find someone waiting for me.

The ghost of Maximillian Ramnarine.

A hallucination? The missing piece of my former life? He congratulates me. Says it's time to forge my destiny. The viewing room fills with light and swallows me with it.

The memories stream past with unbelievable velocity. The euphoria I'm experiencing transforms into writhing pain as the corridor around me erupts into a blazing inferno. I can barely make out anything as I close on the end of the tunnel.

Subliminal images.

Reunion. Betrayal. Death. Resurrection.

Xia...

Confrontation. Loss. Massacre. The beast.

Lavos.

Alone. Isolation. Depression. Self-Loathing. Guilt. Nightmares. Three women. Sword.

Death. Resurrection.

All over again.

To Be Continued...

Next Chapter - "Morning Star"