Chapter XII: Home

The first thing Chrono sensed upon coming out of the portal was the scent of pine, followed shortly by the scent and sound of two surprised friends and one robot landing on top of him.

Truth be told, there was no other place to land, for as each of them appeared, Chrono realized there was less and less room to accommodate them. In fact, there was no room at all, and no light. They were in some sort of box. Chrono couldn't see his own hand in front of his face (if that was indeed his hand), but he could feel a bunch of sharp things digging into his back. The box wasn't long enough for Chrono's body, so his legs were splayed straight up until his shoes pressed tight against the ceiling. He wanted to cry out, to say something, but he couldn't even breathe, let alone speak.

Judging by the others' silence, he was sure nobody else could breathe, either. Aside from the initial crashing sound of their arrival, there had been no noise from anyone. So it was very easy to hear what was going on outside.

So far, Chrono had heard a sharp cry and the scuttling of feet. Then there had been silence. Finally – "Are you sure the noise came from in here?" The voice was a little low and gravelly, as if whoever were speaking had eaten a bowl of broken glass before coming in. Chrono gulped… as well as he could with three friends pressing into his lungs.

Then – "I think so. It sounded like someone was raiding the pantry." This voice was a bit higher and much friendlier sounding.

"Are you sure?" The gravelly voice.

"No. It's still locked. No way someone would have had the time to close and lock the door." The friendly voice replied. There was a knock on the wall right next to Chrono's ear, loud as a gunshot. He jerked in reply, or rather, his feet, the only things not weighted down, jerked until they kicked the ceiling. "Wait – what was that?"

"I don't know."

"It sounded like it came from inside this cabinet. Let me check…"

Suddenly light shot into the box, and the four very surprised people tumbled out onto an even more surprised blue creature.

Chrono peeled himself from the floor and began dusting off his rags when he had a knife pressed against his stomach. "What's all this?" It was the gravelly voice, which Chrono could now see belonged to a small, brown creature. His eyes darted back and forth between the two. They looked relatively alike, besides one being brown and the other blue. And now that Chrono really could look, the blue creature had a striking similarity to the creature he met back in the past, when he went to save Nadia.

What? Then is this a mystic? Where are we – I mean, when are we? Oh, great. We must have gone back to the past again, in the land of the Mystics or something. But the house looks normal, like any place in Truce…

Chrono craned his neck to see around him. Seems he wasn't the only one up against a knife. Nadia had one to her chest, courtesy of the blue creature. All right. Now what? If we move, we're dead. We can't escape. We'll just have to… well, take care of these things. All right, why am I fooling myself? We'll have to drop them – either knock them out or something… else. If we don't have to kill them, that's even better. If I just…

"There's four of them, and only two of us!" The gravelly voice brought Chrono back to reality. "What do we do?"

"All right." It was the blue one. He – it – still had the pearl knife pressed against Chrono's stomach. "I don't know who you are or how you got into my pantry, much less got into my house. But if you don't get out right now you'll be going out in two pieces." (So much for the "friendlier" voice.)

"Hey!" Chrono threw up his hands in surrender. "We're going, we're going."

The brown one growled. "Good, they talk."

Nadia gasped. "This is definitely not home."

"What was your first clue?" Lucca muttered.

"Get in the chair!" The blue creature pointed to a round, wooden table behind the four of them. The table was only waist height, and the chairs were ridiculously low. "Get!" To reinforce the message, the creature twisted the knife harder against Chrono's midsection.

"All right, all right!" he shouted, tumbling back into one of the thatched chairs. The seat burst when he fell on it – and the blue creature growled at him. "Sorry!" Nadia and Lucca flopped into similar chairs but managed not to break them. Robo stood distinctly behind them.

The two creatures both audibly gasped – they finally saw Robo, and realized that he was no ordinary creature and could not be hurt by conventional means. So in a lapse of intelligence they both of course turned their very conventional knives on the robot. This gave Chrono and Nadia the needed opportunity to pounce and pin their opponents to the ground. Both knives clattered at Robo's feet.

"Mercy!" The blue creature cried. (The other one was stonily silent.)

Lucca raised an eyebrow. "That was fast."

"Mercy!"

"Maybe you should get off it."

Chrono and Nadia returned to their seats. The creatures rose to their feet, a little shaken and far more cooperative. Now they were staring at the two pearl knives, one in each hand of the robot. "Please be seated." The humans stood and allowed room for the creatures. "Thank you," Robo said, and put the knives on the table. The humans each braced themselves for another fight, but the creatures didn't seem interested in taking the weapons.

"Take what you like," the brown one growled. "You won't get far."

"We'll see about that," Lucca growled back.

Nadia held up her arms. "Hold on! Who's taking what?" All eyes went to her. "We're not taking anything!"

There was silence until the blue creature shook his head. "Maybe not. But you all got yourself locked in the cabinet. Explain."

"Do you have some more chairs?"

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

The two creatures sat silently the whole time the humans retold the story of their adventures. Except for the occasional narrowing of the eyes, there was no display of emotion. That is, until the name Lavos was mentioned. Both creatures jerked upright and paid attention for the rest of the explanation.

"How do you know all this?" the blue creature gasped.

"Know all of… what?"

"Quiet! Listen – for now, my brother and me will just have to believe you. But do not say that name in here! Do you want to cast a shadow on this house?"

Chrono traded glances with the others. "Well, no, but – "

"Follow me," the blue creature continued. He and his brother hopped out of their chairs and motioned the humans to follow around the corner. "Please don't look for a moment," he said. Chrono turned his head away until the blue creature said "that's all. We're going in here." The creature bounded into a doorway where a wall had been moments earlier. Nice trapdoor. The brown one pushed Nadia and Lucca through the opening.

Chrono followed and immediately noticed the lack of light in this new hallway. The walls also looked rougher, hewn out of rock. He ran his hand along the surface and pulled it back – like rubbing on sharp teeth. Just then all light was cut off as the brown creature and Robo entered and shut the door. The room was perfectly black for a few seconds until a point of light appeared a couple dozen feet ahead – the blue creature must have been holding a lantern of some kind. How much good is it? I still can't see the walls. Still, Chrono blindly followed the bouncing point of light. It felt like he was walking downhill. After what seemed a quarter mile the light stood still, and Chrono jogged up to it.

"Hey, where are we?" Lucca's voice fell flat.

"This door will take us outside."

"Why are we going outside?"

The creature didn't answer. A line of daylight appeared in the ceiling, like it had suddenly split open to reveal the outside world. Chrono felt like he hadn't seen real daylight in weeks, which reminded him of the need to take a long, hot bath. The creature pushed the door up all the way and led everyone out.

Now they were all standing in a little ditch. Chrono supposed this was an escape route for these other creatures. It worked well for them, but not for the humans. Their heads all poked up, seemingly from the ground. If anyone had been walking by, there was no way Chrono's red hair would not have been seen against the green underbrush. As best he could tell, the ditch stood on the rim of a forest. It probably served as some sort of rain collector, but right now it was useful in helping them all escape. From what, though? On the other side of the ditch was a straight dirt road stretching to the left and to the right.

"Heads down!" the brown creature hissed.

"Okay!" Nadia hissed back.

"Now that we're all outside together," Lucca began curtly, "will someone explain why we have to be so secretive all of a sudden?"

"I'll explain," the blue creature raised a claw to shush her, then stood on tip-toe to see if anyone was coming down the road.

"Why don't you start by telling us where we are."

The blue creature ducked down again. "This is the outskirts of Medina village."

"So, we are home…" Nadia muttered.

"Not necessarily – " Lucca said. "What year?"

"436."

"That's not possible. Medina wasn't even founded until 800 something."

"Sorry…" the blue creature blinked a few times, as if in deep thought. A few seconds later, he said "1000."

"Told you we were home."

"Almost," Chrono pointed out. "We have an ocean between us and home."

"Just one?" Nadia shot back.

Lucca cut them off, thinking aloud. "Medina. The land of the Mystics."

So these wimpy things are what's left of the Mystics?

"Yes, just down that road. We took you out here to be safe."

"Safe from what?"

"Safe from God."

"Pardon?"

Nadia jumped in. "Oh, I get it now, you mean Lavos – "

"Shh!" the brown one jumped up. "Be careful!"

"Sorry." She wasn't.

Lucca rolled her eyes. "It's just a name. See, watch. Lavos, Lavos, Lavos, Lavos…"

"Quiet!"

The blue creature held up a hand. "If anyone were to hear you, a human, use the name of… you know, in public, you would be killed!"

"Outright? I'd like to see them try," Lucca chuckled.

"No, they'd kill you and make it look like the Wrath of God," the brown creature answered, narrowing his eyes. "They call on the wizards – the great mages of old." Chrono raised his eyebrows. He had heard of mages recently. "Especially Magus the Great. Magus the Great, the Black, the All-Knowing... the title changes a lot."

"Oh, that's nice," Nadia rolled her eyes now.

"So I've heard. I'd just never believed it," Lucca said. "You two aren't that stupid, are you?"

Both of the mystics gave her a harsh glare. "Careful what you say, human," the blue creature warned. "You are only filth to a Mystic. I could murder you right here, right now, and never be punished."

"But you won't…" Nadia's eyes were wide. "Will you?"

"No. Not all Mystics are that way. If we wanted to kill you, we would have done it in the kitchen." The blue creature looked at each human in turn, then finally at the robot.

So far, Robo had said nothing nor given any indication of understanding the conversation, aside from the word "Lavos." But now he seemed compelled to speak. "You fear your god Lavos?"

The mystics were surprised to be faced with such a direct question. "Do I fear him?" the blue one repeated. "Yes."

"Lavos is not my god, that's for sure," the brown one growled.

"Wait a minute…" Lucca was thinking again. "We're in Medina – we meet you two, luckily, so we don't get killed. You drag us out into the middle of nowhere because you're afraid someone will hear us say the name of a god who is not a god. What are you leaving out? We could have said all this in your house."

"That is, until a concerned neighbor overheard us talking," the brown creature interrupted, "and came over and saw us keeping humans – no ordinary humans, but humans who use the name of Lavos. We would have to kill you or be killed right after you."

"Right," the blue creature continued. "You four just had the bad luck of showing up here, if your story is true – "

"It is," Lucca blurted.

"Yes, but you're in trouble now. The only way to the human kingdom is across the ocean, that is, by boat. All boats here are operated by or overseen by Mystics."

The brown creature completed the thought. "That means unauthorized humans on board are enslaved or killed… trust me – death would be easier."

"Thanks. Is there another way? We can't just swim across an ocean."

"No," the blue creature said, "but there is a way to get you on a boat. Follow me to the kitchen."

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

By the time the plans were made, the sun was setting. The blue creature (who had now introduced himself as Jarob) herded everyone to the other end of the house. "Night Restrictions: only certain mystics are allowed out after dark. Besides, we have a better claim for closeing the shutters up here." He led them all to a bedroom. It was quite small and had no decoration – just bare wooden walls and a mattress on the floor. "I'm sorry. There's only one bed in our 'guest' room, and it will hardly fit one of you. The others will have to sleep on this floor. We have never made this kind of guest preparations, so you're going to be without a head for tonight. Janob will get you something to cover yourselves."

"Which leaves the question of who gets the head… er, mat," Lucca quipped.

"I think Nadia should get it," Chrono said.

Nadia smiled. "Thank you, Chrono."

"She is the shortest one, so she'll have the most room. Right - and the mat doesn't look so good anyway."

Her smile faltered. "Okay. I take back the 'thank you.'"

"You get to be the one without the head," Lucca added.

The mystics returned and handed some crude blankets to the humans. "Do you really think we'll look like slaves?" Nadia thought aloud.

"We'll see. Everyone knows we've never own slaves - we're too poor and weak to afford humans anyway." Jarob shrugged. "But we can say you just came on a slave ship yesterday. By the time anyone can check slave-trade records, you'll be gone."

Lucca groaned.

"Don't complain," Janob continued. "We could pretend you have been here a long time, but we would have to beat you before we left tomorrow." Chrono frowned; he couldn't tell if this was some sort of Mystic joke. "I have a scourge ready. It hasn't been used in a long time, so the hooks are rusty."

Now he was hoping it was a joke.

"Relax. Janob and me will take care of you."

"We won't even have to get you clothes," Janob smirked, indicating the rags the humans had taken from the future. "Sleep in them. You'll make them dirtier." Chrono didn't want to know why Janob thought they would consider sleeping without them.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Okay, first of all, I know I said I'd put a note once at the end of every chapter, but I thought I'd be finishing these chapters once a month - as in, two to three updates. That has not happened, so I've resorted to putting these in whenever I feel like it, which includes now.

First of all, I know, I know I've changed Medina around a little. (A little? Try "a lot.") But as far as the story goes, the original Medina just didn't work - like the Jail Escape sequence. In the game, it's fine and even believable, but not in a novelization. For one thing, there's no conflict in the city of Medina. There is no reason for the city to exist except to tell you Magus "created" Lavos. (If you don't know the story, stop reading because I'll reveal more here.) That could have been done anyway. Plus, Heckran's Cave is just an excuse for a dungeon - I've tried moving that conflict of life/death to the actual city of Medina. Otherwise, I could have just skipped this whole sequence.

In other words, every scenario, scene, place, whatever, has to have some sort of conflict - the characters have to risk something (it doesn't have to be life/death) or face something or there is nothing to write. Example: the trial. Obviously, Chrono is faced with guilty/not guilty. You don't know (unless you've played the game) how the scene will turn out. In the original Medina, the biggest question you have is "oh no, are those imps going to get really mad that people came out of their closet?" So, this long explanation is really me making excuses for why the whole Medina sequence is going to undergo triple bypass surgery. (Besides, if this really is a separate culture of Mystics, why do they behave so humanly as in the game? You'd think they'd have totally different customs and such.)

If something bothers you, go ahead and yell at me. I might "fix" it in the next update (coming before 2007 I hope). I might have already planned to fix whatever problem you find. After all, I never really explain here what's going on. That'll come later, but I promise I know what I'm doing.

Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?