Shadic: Hey everybody, this chapter was actually fairly impromptu. It'll take me a while to update the next chapter, as I'm trying to figure out what order in which to do the side quests. trying to make it logical. Well, enjoy what I've got!

A Step Onto Chronos Chapter 18


Corwin of Amber and the Beginning

By: Shadic the Hedgehog

Disclaimer: Haven't done this in a while, but CT isn't mine, nor are the characters of the Amber Chronicles or the Slayers anime series. However, the Invincibles and their separate forms do belong to myself, Lord Tobies (screen name), and, not-related-by-blood-but-still-my-little-brother, Frank Look.

As we reached the End of Time, I laid Lucca down next to the wall and sat down beside her sleeping form. Next thing I knew, Magus' shadow was above me. "What is it, Magus?"

"I have something to speak with you about, as well as a small trip to my castle library for a book I'm quite sure you'll find intriguing." I noticed that in his right hand he held my copy of The Great Book of Amber. "So, will you come with? It will only be us on this trip, so that the others won't be overly alarmed until we're sure of the answer."

"What answer?"

"Whether Corwin of Amber in this book," he waved the book, "is the same person as the one who drew the Progress of this world."

Glenn approached from the side, "I had my suspicions about the stuff you know since you mentioned the Progress on the Black Bird."

"You slimy toad, what are you doing here?"

"Frogs have better sense of hearing than most humans. I could hear you from across the room."

Robo appeared as well, "The same holds true for robots, such as myself. There is little you can hide from us."

Glenn glared at Magus. "You're taking me and Robo with you. First off to make sure that you don't attack Joe, secondly to find out the answer as well."

I laughed a little, "Come on, guys. We all know Magus can't really destroy Barog Firestorm. Plus, I don't want this conversation to get so loud…" I glanced at Lucca.

Finally, we all agreed to go together to Magus' Castle (I wasn't even sure it was still standing, mind you), telling Crono that we were going on a minor side-quest that shouldn't take too long. We opted to take the Epoch because then we could land right on the castle grounds. Magus lead us all inside, grabbing a torch so I wouldn't use up any magic unnecessarily. He wasn't sure if any Mystics were left, and if they were, he wasn't sure if we would have to fight them.

We made it to the library without much trouble, and Magus lead us over to the book he was talking about. "This is a history book I had with me when I was brought to this time period. Thusly it contains knowledge that other history books wouldn't. Here, look at page one hundred fifty one along with this section of your Great Book of Amber."

"They both detail the drawing of a pattern using a gem called the Jewel of Judgement!" I exclaimed. "Only real difference is that the history book calls the "New Pattern" the Progress, which is in line with my own awakened memories. That means…"

"Perhaps your world has more anchor in all the realities than any other, because you say it had details of this world in a game, and it had this book." Magus tapped The Great Book of Amber, "Those two things are amongst how many other types of 'fictional' stories on your world?"

"I've never counted them… But perhaps you're right. It says in The Great Book of Amber that the Shadows where the families of Amber and Chaos reside become more real. Perhaps the fact that I was living there had caused it to become one of the more real Shadows. But that doesn't explain how it would have been in contact with other Shadows."

Robo's eyes blinked as he reached a conclusion, "Perhaps there was another? Or a descendant of Chaos or Amber?"

"Could be…" Magus nodded. "Now, why don't we deal with the raving masses at the door?"

"Right." There had been sounds coming from the other side of the Library door, a the sounds of massing Mystics, actually. Perhaps they were being driven mad by the overflow of Lavos' power when he opened the Time Gate in the basement. Whatever happened, they were blocking our way out.

"It was a good thing we insisted on coming along, then, huh?" Glenn croak-chuckled.

The door burst open and I quickly transformed into Barog. I put a shroud of fire on my Crystal Sword and charged, but was surprised at the creature I saw: it was one of those large, yellow, winged beast that you fight in the Black Omen… Hold up - I slashed the creature in two - there was a problem here! The Black Omen didn't rise as we took off in the Epoch back when we recruited Magus, but it must be here now, otherwise the creatures wouldn't be here! We fought our way out of the castle, myself at the point to at least weaken the monsters as we escaped.

We piled into the Epoch as fast as we could and I hastily turned the Time Dial to the End of Time. I pushed "y" and we took off, the sides of the ship being bombarded by the Black Omen's laser systems. Just before we broke the Time Barrier, we were hit just right to send us bouncing around, Robo's shoulder hitting the front dash. The time travel engine cut in and we were gone, but there was a problem: the ship was shaking progressively worse.

"What the hell is going on?!" bellowed Magus.

"How the hell should I know?!" I yelled back. "This didn't happen in the game. Travelling to your castle wasn't even possible after the fight!"

Suddenly, the Epoch began to drift off course, the shaking so bad it was as if we were under fire again. The port wing began to dip and it touched the edge of the Time Stream Tunnel, a wake appearing behind it in the fiery edges of the tunnel. The turbulence became worse, until finally we were ripped away and spun out of control, throwing us all over the ship itself.

I woke up and immediately closed my eyes again. I hadn't felt that blinded by light since the we drank Dizzy Juice way back when. Geez, that feels like ages ago… I groped to my forehead to get my shades to find them missing. There was a booted foot sitting two inches away from my skull, though. I tapped harshly on the person's leg (it wasn't Robo, thankfully) to wake him up.

"Nnngh, wha-what happened…?" I recognized Glenn's baritone croak. "Gah! My eyes!"

"Sorry I didn't warn you about that. I'm not sure what's going on, but it's either really bright out there, or we're both drunk."

"You are not drunk," beeped Robo. "It really is that bright out there."

"Hey, Robo, can you find my shades? They're missing from my forehead."

"They're on my face," Magus muttered. "And they're not helping as much as you would want them to."

"Damn. Well, I guess we'll just have to get used to it, then."

"Actually, why don't I just dim the lights a little for you," this was a voice I didn't recognize. I could tell, even with my eyes shut, that the brightness surrounding us had faded a little at least. "It should now be safe for you to open your eyes without fear of permanent blindness."

"Thanks." I opened my eyes slowly and with much blinking. The light was still powerful enough to make me want my sunglasses, like a day without clouds. My shades were thrust into my hands, and I looked over at Magus as I put them on. He had his own pair of sunglasses on, only they had purple rims as opposed to the red ones I wore. He produced a third pair with a smirk, these with green rims and shaped kind of oddly. He tossed them to Glenn who stuck them on, grinning from eye-to-eye. Robo lowered his own sort of refractive lenses over his eyes when he saw us. We all climbed out and glanced around where we had crash landed.

It was a platform, much like that at the End of Time, though it was much more open than that platform. The light, as noted before, was also different, being completely opposed from the dim gloom of the End of Time. There was no Lamp Post in the centre of the platform, that was one bit of difference, another was that of other doors there was but one. I found the man who had been speaking standing just to the left of me, so I asked him who he was.

"So, who are you, and when the hell are we?" I demanded, grabbing him by the shirt collar. Of course, I'm not sure what it was he was wearing on his upper torso, but shirt will do for now.

"My name is of no importance, and I welcome you all to the Beginning of Time," the man smirked. Magus whipped his scythe out across the man's throat.

"I don't care how unimportant your name is. You will tell it to us. NOW."

"Very well, Prince Janus 'Magus' Zeal, you may call me Xelloss." I dropped him and he brushed off his purple robes. "I know all of you. Barog Firestorm, Glenn 'Frog' MacDougal, R66-Y 'Robo' Prometheus, and Prince Janus 'Magus' Zeal."

"Just how do you know of this? And what is this Prometheus designation you have assigned me?"

"Oh, sorry, you haven't done that yet, hmm? Then I guess that's a secret." Xelloss raised a pointer finger to his lips and smiled secretively.

"So, why are we here and not at the End of Time?" asked Glenn, hand on sword.

"You were closer to this end than that."

"And how did you get here?"

"That's a secret." he put his finger to lips again.

Magus put his scythe up again and Xelloss suddenly appeared behind him, a staff with a gem at the top next to his neck, glowing with power. Magus growled under his breath and shrank his scythe back into a simple two-foot cylinder. We followed Xelloss into the other room, he promised that he would have the Epoch repaired while we were talking in the back.

The room was filled with weapons. "Whoa. This place is loaded."

"Yes, isn't it. I know Mr. Spekkio gave you access to the magic in your blood, but there is a bit more power that can be given here, at the Beginning. These are facsimiles of your greatest weapons. You might find others that are better later, but they shall serve you for a time." He moved over to the rows of weapons and started plucking down assorted types. I noticed a couple of them that were fairly odd: One that was just a hilt, as if the blade had been simply… pulled out. The other oddity was a small cylinder just slightly shorter than Magus' scythe became. I knew it wasn't another scythe for Magus because Xelloss had pulled out a full-length scythe as well.

He laid the weapons out on a table in the centre of the room. "There is a weapon for everyone in your party, except Glenn 'Frog' MacDougal." He pointed at the Masamune. "Because the Beginning of Time shall not appear on your Time Dial, no matter how far back you turn it, we have weapons for those at the End of Time. From right to left, the weapons are for Crono Trigaru, Nadia 'Marle' Guardia, Lucca Ashtear, Barog Firestorm, R66-Y 'Robo' Prometheus, Ayla Ioka, and Prince Janus 'Magus' Zeal." The weapons were the cylinder, a strange crossbow that seemed to send a song to my mind, a glowing pistol, the bladeless sword, a pair of black robotic arms, a pair of metal-lined gloves, and a scythe with a skull on the top.

Magus looked at Xelloss, "Why are you doing this? Why give us these weapons?"

Xelloss put his finger to his lips and said, just as coyly as before, "That's a secret!"

Robo beeped and turned to me, "None of the weapons appear to be dangerous. May I put on the new arms now?"

"Of course. We have these new weapons, why not use them?" I reached for the bladeless sword and suddenly heard a roar from off to my right. I looked and there was a dragon, shaped like a large dog, slung low to the ground, running into the room. It started growling and roaring, and I could understand it as if it spoke actual words.

"Lord Firestorm! Away! Those weapons are cursed! This one seeks to trick you!" Xelloss opened his eyes and glared at the dragon.

"Wretched animal!" His voice had lost all its playfulness, and had turned so poisonous, I thought I should use Purify right then. "If I was at full power, I'd kill you right now. Be grateful I'm not! Unholy Water, get them out of here." and he vanished in a sphere of Dark Flames, as a formless creature of water and ice formed and charged at us.

"What was that about?" asked Glenn, as we ran out, to get away from the thing.

"I don't know. But the dragon recognized me. Called me Barog…" I answered, then looked around. "Where are Robo and Magus?"

The dragon flew out the door behind us and rolled across the ground. He stood up and limped over, whining. "Lord… Firestorm… Your friends… they took the weapons…" The dragon coughed up blood that splattered across the floor.

"How were the weapons cursed?" I said, kneeling down.

"The weapons control the holder. Make them fight their friends. Dark Flame had me trapped, but I managed to get out before he did too much harm. He intended to destroy you before you fully awakened."

Glenn tapped me on the shoulder and pointed at the door. Magus and Robo stood together, eyes glowing a bright red, visible behind even Magus' shades.

"Crap. Glenn, they aren't themselves right now. We have to get rid of those weapons."

"What?"

"The weapons were cursed by 'Xelloss.' Actually, I don't think that's his name at all. I think that was my worst half."

"You'll have to explain it all later. Right now, we have friends to disarm." I drew the Crystal Sword as Glenn pulled out the Masamune. "I've got Magus." Glenn grinned maliciously.

"Fine, I'll fight Robo. We've got the greatest wizard in history, and the most powerful robot in the future, this will be tough. We don't want to kill them, but I have the feeling they want to kill us."

Magus charged, swinging the scythe at me. I blocked the blade in time for Robo's now black fist to knock me away. Glenn jumped up to swing at Magus' hands, as I stood up and spit a bit of blood out. Thankfully my teeth were still intact. I flew towards Robo and sliced at his arm, hoping it would come off, but he slid out of the way, faster than he should have been able to move.

"Joe! Magus is doing stuff he shouldn't be able to do since Lavos drained his powers!"

"Yeah, Robo jut moved faster than he should be able. I think the weapons increase their power. Too bad they had to be cursed." I dodged an Uzzi Punch from Robo and struck back, trying to at least cut the chain holding his hand, but he pulled it back too fast. Suddenly, there was a blast of fire over my shoulder, and it pushed Robo back. I glanced at the source to see the dragon, standing shakily on three legs. "Thanks." I turned back and used Cross-slash to try and paralyze him.

Glenn told me later that, even though he was glad to fight Magus, he wasn't doing very well himself. He was pulling out every trick in his repertoire to try and disarm him. Not even Wind 2 could pull the scythe away. Meanwhile, I now had a partner fighting alongside me in the form of the dragon.

Robo turned to face the dragon, and opened his body, revealing his lasers. There was a whine as the lasers charged up. I dashed to cut off his arms, and was suddenly shoved out of the way by the dragon as the laser fired. I watched the dragon's body fry and fall to the ground. If Robo was himself, he'd suggest dismantling himself for such a senseless killing. Myself, I was mad at the fact that such a friend as the dragon was killed. I decided to try a technique from Final Fantasy VII, the summoning of Pheonix.

I charged the flames around me with as much energy as I possibly could, concentrating on the image of the Pheonix. "Pheonix Flare!" I yelled, hoping that the idea worked. I felt a warmth, not the burning of the flames I was using, but a comforting warmth rise through me and spread throughout the room. As I had hoped, the visage of a flaming bird rose before me and sang a soft note that soothed my few wounds.

As the flames spread from the Pheonix, the cursed weapons began to crack and fall apart and the red light faded from Magus' and Robo's eyes. Magus grabbed his head while Robo fell to his knees. I looked over to the fallen dragon to see that his body was burning. The Pheonix whispered a hello and good bye to me, with Barog's name, and folded in on itself. I walked over to the ashes of the dragon and kneeled. I saw an egg inside the ashes and smiled. He would be fine, with time.

I glanced over at Glenn, who was looking slightly miffed. "Well, guys. Pick up your old weapons and we'll go."

Robo blinked. "I'm afraid that I'm armless and can't pick anything up."

I laughed as Magus went into the back room and came out with Robo's arms and his folded scythe. "We'll get Lucca to re-attach them, don't worry. Now, let's hope Dark Flame did get the Epoch fixed, or we're tuck at the Beginning of Time."

We walked over to the Epoch, and saw it was sitting on the lowered landing struts and completely fixed. There was a tall blonde guy standing there, wiping his brow, standing beside a girl with steel-grey hair and a wrench.

"There, we got it done," said the guy.

"Yeah, but why'd you make me help you?" muttered the girl.

"Because I'm, uh, what's that word…"

"Incompetent?"

"Yeah! That's it! Dark Flame said that he would have the ship fixed and you wouldn't do it on your own, so I had to get you to do it!"

"Oh, Creation, why'd he have to give you his conscience?" The girl put her hand on her forehead.

"Umm, who are you guys?" Glenn blinked.

The girl whipped around. Her skin was covered in stone, as grey as her hair. The guy turned slower and looked at us with a blank stare.

The guy looked us over and said, to the girl, "What did Dark Flame say for us to be call ourselves?"

The girl smacked him upside the head with the wrench before replying. "I'm Zelgadis, that idiot is Gourry."

I looked closer at them and came upon a realization. "You're the Spoiled Earth and the Cursed Wind, aren't you?"

"Shit! He figured us out. Wind, get out of here!"

"Why?"

"Just do it, dammit!" The Spoiled Earth sank into the floor, leaving the wrench, and the Cursed Wind waved dopily before vanishing into the air. A stone hand reached back up and grabbed the wrench, pulling it into the ground.

Robo checked over the Epoch to make sure that it wasn't overly tampered with, finding it completely fixed and ready to go. So we piled in and travelled to the End of Time.

Along the way, I explained everything to Glenn about the Dark Elementals: "The Dark Elementals are the opposites of myself, Frigida, Gaia, and Kaze. Usually they're combined into Absolute Evil Elemental, so that they can cancel out the problems caused by our recombining. You see, a long, long time ago, there was a war amongst the stars, between Creation and his brother Tailies. Somewhere along the line, they were forcibly split into Earth, Flame, Wind, Water, Tobies, and Tailz. After that, the four elements wandered away to make things, while Tailz and Tobies, the Power and Reason of Tailies, began fighting.

"After a while, Tailz realized he couldn't win on his own and decided to ask, well, us to help him. However, Tailz wouldn't allow anyone he was working with to have a chance to join his brother, so he asked us to split off our evil. The reason we're full-fledged gods, instead of half of each other, is because of our spiritual war-wounds, which healed when we split. Anyways, that's when the Evil and Holy Elementals were formed. They were the Light and Dark Flame, the Holy and Unholy Water, the Blessed and Cursed Wind, and the Pure and Spoiled Earth.

"The Evil Elementals joined Tobies as quickly as we had pledged allegiance to Tailz, and so began another leg of our long war. After who knows how long, the Pure Earth finally lost his patience and decided to get something from our evil selves. He absorbed the power to kill, but now that we were whole creatures, and people cannot be more than a hundred percent of themselves, something had to be taken from the Pure Earth, and he lost his courage. Next, I stole the Dark Flame's destructive capabilities, and he took my emotional control, hence my emotional problems. Holy Water got the worst deal, because, while he managed to get amazing cunning, he became so frickin' arrogant that he proclaimed himself the best at everything. Finally, Blessed Wind had a good idea, and forcibly gave Cursed Wind his conscience for Cursed Wind's intelligence, hence 'Gourry's' stupidity back there."

When we arrived at the End of Time and disembarked, Lucca was awake and talking to Crono. Then she looked over and saw us. "I'm not awake for more than an hour, and you've already got work for me! As she got to work on Robo's arms, she said that Crono told her the whole story of our adventures after she died and before we resurrected her. I filled in some of the blanks and when she was done, Gaspar gathered us around for a quick meeting.

"In the immortal words of the DnD players manual version 3.5, page 88, column 2, paragraph 8, line 6, word 3: 'the'"
-Firbealvn, the Academy of Magic Forums. (A/N: I've checked this out. It's true!)