A Step Onto Chronos Chapter Twenty-Two
Memories of the World
Shadic the Hedgehog
As we settled into camp, Lucca and I starting a fire from some fallen branches, Robo began his speech on the Gates. "Now that I've had four hundred years to think on things, I have realized that perhaps Lavos was not the origin of the Time Gates."
I raised my hand, "Um Robo, I think I may have missed something. When did this theory of the Gates being Lavos-borne come into being?"
Crono answered, "After we defeated Azala at Tyrano Palace, Lavos fell from the sky and crushed it. In the crater where it fell, we found a Gate, and after going through, we returned to the End of Time, as we had an extra member, and told everyone the idea. It seemed reasonable considering the botched summoning spell created a Gate in Magus' Castle."
"Ah, thanks. Please continue, Robo."
"Well, my new theory on the origin of the Gates is that someone, or perhaps something wanted us, or at least someone, to see all this. The different events over time, that we have witnessed. It is almost as if some Entity wanted to relive its past."
"Ayla understand!" Ayla cheered, pumping her fist into the air, "When people die, elders say see whole life pass by eyes!"
"It does seem to hold that us mortals tend to relive their most profound memories before death claims them. But it seems those memories are usually sad ones..." Glenn agreed.
"Probably because thinking things like, 'If only I had done this,' or, 'I shouldn't have done that...' triggers unpleasant, old memories. That is the most likely cause of such times," Robo commented.
"Do you think that will happen when our time comes?" asked Marle.
"Hopefully by then we'll have so many happy memories we'll forget all about the bad times," I replied. "But either way I don't know."
"Is there a bad time you'd want to change, Joe?"
"You have to ask?" I murmured, looking at Lucca. "But we already fixed it, so I don't have any major regrets otherwise."
"Not even if you could prevent yourself from coming here?" Crono interjected.
"Why would I want to do that? Despite all the near-death experiences I've been in the past few months, give or take all of eternity, I've had some fun and discovered I'm the re-incarnation of a God. Beats out lazing around home and going to school any day."
Marle, Crono, and Lucca chuckled, while most of the others in the party wondered what school was.
Glenn decided to return us to the original topic of the discussion, "It seems to me that whoever or whatever this Entity is, Lavos plays an integral part in it's life. After all, we've found evidence of Lavos in nearly every time period we could get to, especially now that the Black Omen floats above the world."
That comment made us all glance up in the direction we just knew the Black Omen to be in, despite being unable to see it through the thick trees. Magus returned us once again to the thoughts of the Entity.
"So, just who could this Entity be? That it can manipulate space and time into Gates, and call together a group with a such a wide range of skills such as us? We have here, two swordsmen, a Robot, a cave-woman, representatives of every form of magic, and, though he may not have been in the group in the first telling of it's story, the God of Fire. I doubt this is mere coincidence."
"It is unknown just whose memories we are reliving, or how such a group could be called together through circumstance. It could very well be beyond our understanding, and our journey may fully come to an end when we discover this Entity's true form."
"I think it's the planet."
Everyone looked at Lucca, who had made the comment. "I mean, how else could we have gotten to sixty-five million BC before Lavos' fall with enough time to get to know Ayla and the Ioka Villagers. Then there's the fact that Robo's time is the farthest we can travel into the future, barring the End of Time, of course, and it's when the planet is dying and Lavos' spawn are trying to leave the world and do the same thing to others."
We all looked thoughtful at that before yet another person spoke up, only this time, none of us recognized the speaker. "I have another theory. Ever hear of the Progress?"
We reached for our weapons and looked for the speaker, who stepped forward to reveal himself. not long after. I couldn't quite make out his face, but his clothes were very familiar looking. Or at least, they looked like they were described in the books. The figure wore a well-cut tunic and leggings of black, with a silvery belt around his waist, a broadsword hanging off it, and a reversible silver-and-black cape down his back, clasped with a silver rose.
"Corwin of Amber!" I exclaimed. Then my ears caught calls from Magus, Ayla, and Robo.
"Master Corwin! I thought you had gone down with Zeal!"
"Elder Corwin! How be you here?"
"Sir Corwin, how is this possible?"
"All of you are right, but wrong as well," he replied. "I prefer to go by Corwin of Guardia these days, as I am the imprint he made upon the Progress as he made it, and the Progress itself rests beneath the Castle of Guardia. I have watched the rise and fall of civilizations, and even helped out where I could."
"Elder Corwin give very good advice to Ayla when Ayla young, help Ayla become strong leader," Ayla nodded. "So that mean Elder Corwin ghost now?"
"I suppose I am. After all, my son called me a 'Pattern Ghost' before I told him it was called the Progress, as he had encountered imprints of other people made by the Logrus and the True Pattern before he met me."
"If you've been a ghost this whole time, Master, then explain why you're only explaining yourself now," Magus growled.
"In time, my old student. But for now, I wish to tell you that the Entity you all were just discussing was the Progress. As the reason Guardia is an actual place, it has the ability to warp space and time, and through the prophecy of a girl not yet born, it learned about Lavos and how to keep it from destroying the world, which would include the Progress itself, had Lavos' Hell spawn been able to leave the atmosphere."
"So that is part of the reason you instructed me to seal myself in that room of Proto Dome in 1999," Robo commented.
"Partially, I suppose that's true. The other part, though, is that you just told me I would, so now I'm going to."
"Ayla's head starting to hurt."
Everyone else shared a light chuckle at the cave woman, before the topic became serious again. "When everyone next goes back to Ayla's time, leave a note with the Nu in Laruba Village that says, 'sixty-four million, nine-hundred eighty-seven thousand, nine hundred and ninety years from now, the Silver Rose teaches the magic-less prince of magic how to read the winds. You'll know what to do. PS, don't forget the Gurus.' Because of this note, I will have taught Prince Janus of Zeal how to pay enough attention to his surroundings and the magical threads of wind throughout the world that he will be the greatest spell caster of all time, and become a prophet when it is necessary."
"Why the Nu in Laruba Village?" asked Lucca.
"Because his name is Spekkio, and somehow he will, after reading that note, find the Progress and walk it. That will get the message to me, and through me, he will eventually ascend to become the God of War in the End of Time."
There was a stunned silence until Corwin turned to look at the moon. "I'm running out of energy, so I can't stay and chat much longer. I've delivered what message I could, but I'll probably see you guys later." He started to fade as he turned around. "Oh, and the King's trial is in two days, so be sure you get there in time..." his voice echoed the word "time" throughout the grove.
Marle looked about to ask another question when she suddenly up and conked out, asleep in an instant. Crono put her in her sleeping bag and we all got ready to sleep (or go into stand-by mode in Robo's case).
--
Later that night, I woke up to see Lucca walk by me. "Answering a call of nature?" I joked quietly. She "eeped" and spun to look at me before getting closer and whispering back.
"Not funny, but no, I'm not. I've got this weird feeling I should go over there." She pointed in the direction she was originally headed and from my angle on the ground I could see the sparkle of the closed Red Gate.
"Maybe I should go with you, after all, only Robo knows what lies in this forest."
"All right." I slipped out my own sleeping bag and shouldered my trench coat, not bothering to put my arms through the sleeves. We approached the area Lucca had pointed out and she stopped short of the closed Gate. "Why is there a Gate here?"
"Well... First I want to ask you a question when we had our earlier conversation. When Marle asked me if there was anything I would have wanted to change, did you ask yourself the same thing?"
"...Yes. Does that mean...?"
"This Gate is a special one. The only Red Gate I've heard of. Where normal gates take us to a specific time period in approximately the same spot, the Red Gate takes us somewhere else with only a minor deviation in time. This Gate, if I remember correctly goes back ten years, to when your Mom got caught in that machine."
Lucca covered her mouth with one hand then looked back at me. "I have to go and fix it. I want Mom to be able to talk long walks with Dad, and go somewhere without needing help. I didn't know the password then, but now that you're here we can change things. But... what if things change too much and somehow our journey becomes different? What if-"
"Shh, don't keep asking 'what if,' that just leads to trouble," I put my hand on her shoulder comfortingly. "Anyway, ten years isn't nearly enough time to cause effects THAT major to the time-stream. It didn't in the game, and so far, things have been going about the same as they have there. Do you want me along, or would you rather do this one alone?"
"I think... I think I should be okay on my own. But first, what's the password?"
"Lara, your Mom's name. In the kitchen is a sheet of paper that should confirm that, written by your Dad. You can stay as long as you need to there. Since the Red Gate brings you back with only a little time having passed on this end."
"Okay, thanks." She pulled out the Gate Key, but just before activating it, gave me a quick hug and kissed me on the cheek. She giggled slightly as I blushed, raising my hand to the spot, then turned and opened the Gate. The red light was brief, but just after the Gate closed, Robo stepped around a nearby tree.
"Robo? You're awake? Or, well, operating? Erm, what word would be best?" Robo gave a light chuckle, which prompted me to raise my eyebrows in amazement, before answering.
"Awake would be preferable, thank you. And, yes, I am," he gave another mechanical chuckle. "My sensors picked up your signatures and so I decided to investigate. I have learned over the years how to reserve my energy more efficiently, allowing me to work at normal parameters with minimal output. On top of that, I have done some minor reprogramming to give myself some emotional ability."
"So with all the time you had, do you know what the Ultimate Answer to life, the universe, and everything is?"
"Forty-two." We shared a quick laugh.
"So did you hear when Lucca was going?"
He nodded. "I already knew, somehow, about this Gate. I do not know what the outcome will be, but I do know that things will somehow work out."
As I was about to reply, the Gate re-opened, then closed permanently after Lucca stepped out. So I immediately turned my attention to Lucca and said, "So... how'd it go?"
She smiled at me with teary eyes. I knew that things had turned out for the best. "Everything was right. The password, the paper, all of it. Thing is, I remember things the way they were, and how they are now at the same time."
"That can happen, I suppose, when one changes time in small amounts," theorized Robo.
Lucca glanced over at him in surprise. "Robo...?"
Robo's eyes lit up a little and he opened his torso. "Here, this is for you. It is a piece of amber I created using the sap from a tree in my forest. It took 400 years and a lot of pressure to make! Keep it as a memento of this occasion."
"Thanks Robo, you're a good friend."
"I am happy that you think so."
We all returned to camp together, and in the morning, we set out for Guardia Castle.
Either it possesses a certain element of irrationality itself, like living things, or it is an intelligence of such an order that some of its processes only seem irrational to lesser beings. Either explanation amounts to the same from a practical standpoint.
-Merlin, Prince of Chaos, The (Second) Chronicles of Amber
--
A/N: Wow, I sure updated fast this time, eh? and on my twentieth birthday to boot. The part in this chapter with Corwin just showed up, I didn't plan on it. Much like pretty much all of Chapter Eighteen. I hope you like this, and the next chapter is about King Guardia's trial and the fight against Yakra XIII! See ya then!