Part 1: Father of the Flame

Chapter 1: The Mystical Seven

The moon began to rise before the sun had even completely set. After an hour's time, the moon was all by itself in the starless sky. It shined its silvery light against the completely barren ground. That's all there was. Nothing but ground. No plants, no animals, no water, no air, and no clouds. The dry planet had nothing.

If only for the moment.

After a few more minutes, a bright dot appeared in the night sky. Just a little dot. It stayed like that for a while, then slowly started to get bigger, and bigger, and bigger as it neared the lifeless planet's surface. Finally, it reached the ground, where it was giving off nearly the same amount of light as the moon.

And out of the orb came seven figures. Each wearing a different colored robe: White, green, violet, black, yellow, red, and blue. Even today, no one knows who, or more precisely what, these beings were. They had many names, but they were most commonly known as the Titans, demi-gods of extraordinary power.

The white robed figure, who's face was obscured by his hood, left the portal and landed gently on to the ground. He took a moment to survey his surroundings. After what seemed like an eternity, he looked over his shoulder to glance at his friends and nodded. Then the man clad in green left the portal and approached his colleague.

"Remind me again why we're here," he asked.

The white robed man let out a sigh. "For the fourth time, Epimetheus, we are hear on our superior's orders to bring life to this universe."

The woman wearing the violet robe joined them. "Did our creator bother to tell you why this must be done, Prometheus?" she asked the white robed man.

"No Dione," he responded. "The only words I got were 'Go in there, do your business, and leave before it's too late.'"

"Too late?"

"Yes, as I understand, this is only the first stage of the plan. And once it is over, we won't be able to keep our forms here any longer."

The black robed man now joined the conversation. "Let's just get this over with," he said brusquely. "I don't like this place. It makes me feel empty just looking at it."

"What's the matter Coeus?" The yellow robed woman teased. "Are you afraid?"

"Of course not, Phoebe," he retorted. "Are you? You're looking a bit whiter than usual."

"The moon is responsible for that, you dolt."

"Sure it is."

"Will you two stop your bickering for a moment!?" Prometheus shouted. "Cronus! Rhea! Why are you two still lingering at the door? Get over here!"

The two remaining Titans hesitated, and obeyed.

"Sorry," muttered the blue robed figure called Cronus. "Rhea wanted to wait until you two were finished just in case things got ugly. I decided to follow her strategy."

That earned him a glare from Coeus and Phoebe.

"Children these days," Dione sighed. "Can we get started now?"

"That's the smartest thing I've heard ever since we arrived here," Coeus replied. "Okay so what are we going to do first?" asked Epimetheus.

They all chose to overlook his question.

"Well first this world will need a little reshaping before it can support creatures of any size," Prometheus responded. "I trust you all know what to do?"

The others nodded.

"Okay, let's get to work," said Cronus, teleporting away.

The others did likewise and reappeared at different spots on the planet.

"We give this world water!" declared Dione as she, Epimetheus, and Coeus raised water from beneath the planet's surface.

"We give this world air!" cried Cronus as he, Phoebe, and Rhea brought roaring winds into the atmosphere.

"I give this universe light!" thundered Prometheus as he tripled the number of stars in the area surrounding him.

With that done, he and the others then got to work moving the continents around.

They continued their work in this manner for some time. After a day of shaping the world, it was finally ready. The Titans watched as plants started to grow from the soft soil, and a number of simple insects and small animals began to appear at a surprising rate.

"Now that that's all been taken care of," said Prometheus. "We just need to create a dominant race to monitor and watch over the planet, and then we'll be finished with this world. Do any of you have any ideas?"

"Ideas for what?" asked Epimetheus.

"Any ideas for a dominant race to create!" Prometheus breathed.

Coeus quietly muttered to Phoebe. "Who's idea was it to bring Epimetheus along with..."

But Prometheus overheard what he was saying and held up a hand to silence him.

"Anyway, does anyone have any suggestions? Dione? Coeus? Rhea? What about you Cronus?"

Cronus stepped forward.

"Well," he said. "I've given it some thought and I think I may have something."

"Well what is then?"

Cronus responded by raising a hand, and from his palm emerged some type of illusion. It was of some creature with a spiky shell, and a head that composed of a valve-like mouth with one eye at the mouth's center.

"What is it?" asked Epimetheus.

"I call it nelcro," said Cronus. "It's an immortal parasite that absorbs energy generated by other creatures through the planet's soil. Whenever it feels as though something is threatening either the life of the host creatures or its own, it has a number of defense mechanisms that can work against the enemy. Basically, it harvests energy from the creatures on the planet's surface as a food source. And in exchange, it protects them from any possible threats."

"Sounds pretty good for someone who has given it only a little thought," Rhea commented.

"Thanks."

"How about a demonstration?" Dione asked.

"Gladly."

Cronus placed the little illusion on the ground, where it began to take a more solid form. Then it immediately burrowed in the soil.

"Are they really meant to be that small?" Phoebe asked.

"Yes," Cronus replied. "But don't let its size fool you. They're very powerful."

"Okay, if you say so."

"As of now," Cronus continued. "The parasite is absorbing our energy through the ground. Making us the hosts."

"But I don't feel..."

"We cannot feel it," Cronus interrupted. "Because it has the ability to mask its presence, so that the hosts won't be bothered by it. Furthermore, it isn't very big, so it doesn't have to take in too much energy from just seven beings at once. Now Epimetheus, why don't you cast a small spark at our little friend?"

"Why?"

"You'll see."

Epimetheus shrugged and did as he was told. A tiny bolt shot from the tips of his fingers to where the nelcro had burrowed and, almost immediately, the creature emerged from the ground and its mouth/eye opened, firing needle-like objects at his face. Epimetheus quickly brought up a protective force field to prevent the needles from temporarily blinding him.

"You see?" Cronus said with a laugh. "They're very good at what they do. And that's just one of their little tricks."

Prometheus was really pleased.

"Well it seems like you've come up with something that's really going to work. How many should be created for this world?"

"I was thinking maybe somewhere around a thousand in total. Maybe a couple hundred for each continent."

"That sounds like it'll do the trick," said Prometheus. "You get started on that, the others and I will wait here for you."

Cronus teleported away. By the time the sun had set, a thousand or so of the nelcro parasites were burrowing into the ground all over the reshaped planet.

"Finished," He declared as he reappeared in front of the others.

"Good," said Coeus. "Now we have only about twenty-something more planets to fix up and then we'll be completely finished."

"I just contacted our superior to explain that we've finished with the first world," Prometheus told them. "Very pleased to hear it."

"Shall we go then?" suggested Phoebe.

"We shall," remarked Prometheus, opening another portal.

Together, they all exited through the shimmering doorway and found themselves back in a zone with paths leading to all of the different parts of the physical realm. They drifted through the one closest to them, where the next world awaited them on the other side.

"Okay," began Prometheus. "Now we just have to repeat what we did with the first...er...wait a minute. Why hasn't Epimetheus gone through?"

Everyone looked around and realized that they were all here except for Epimetheus.

"What is he...?"

But before Prometheus could finish his question, the missing Titan came dashing through the door and nearly ran into him.

"Epimetheus!" Prometheus exclaimed. "We're not going to be able to finish our job if you keep goofing arou...what's the matter?"

Epimetheus was shaking very badly.

"Cronus, you'd better come quickly," he stammered. "It's about your parasites. Something horrible is happening."

Chapter 2: The Purging

"What?" Cronus asked, startled.

"Come ON! You have to see it!"

Epimetheus grabbed his arm and pulled Cronus back through the portal, back to the world they had left behind only moments ago.

"Epimetheus, I'm sure if you'd just tell me...oh my goodness!"

They came out the other end, and Cronus saw now that the world's sky was red with fire, and the ground was cracking beneath their feet. Somewhere in the distance he could just barely make out small, spiky things floating in the air spitting flames at one another. He then took a look to his left and saw, near a forest, a bed of flowers that had been unearthed. As he picked up a flower, it and the rest of the forest suddenly and immediately died as more of the parasites emerged from the ground and began firing needle-like projectiles at him. He brought up a shield of magical energy to stop the attack in its tracks just as Epimetheus had done before him. He then muttered a word of mystical power and the parasites were quickly cooked to a crisp as flames shot up from beneath them.

"Cronus, why are they behaving this way?" asked a stunned Epimetheus.

Cronus was wondering the same thing, and took a moment to think. Then he said. "The nelcro seem to be mistaking others of their kind for possible threats, and in a desperate attempt to destroy each other, they're sucking all living things dry for energy to empower their attacks. Whatever is left alive is then ultimately killed in the crossfire."

"What does this mean?"

"I'm afraid it means that my idea wasn't so wonderful after all. These little guys have too much power, and they don't know how to use it. Nor do they realize that what they are trying to protect is being destroyed as a result of their actions."

"Then what must be done?"

"There's only one logical thing we can do," Cronus sighed. "We have no choice but to destroy them. They are now the enemy."

"Fine," came the voice of Prometheus as he and the others drifted through the portal. "You will deal with them on your own. We'll stay here until you have killed them all."

"But aren't we to help, Prometheus?" asked Rhea.

"No," he responded. "Those creatures were created by Cronus. They are his responsibility and his mistake. We are all responsible for our own errors and our creator said we must learn from them without each other's help in order to achieve personal enlightenment at its fullest."

"But..."

"Prometheus is right, Rhea," Cronus argued. "Anyway, I am telepathically linked to the nelcro. So I know where each and every one of the blasted creatures is located, and we can't afford to lose any time by letting me give you all vague hints on where to find them. Let me carry this out in my own fashion."

Rhea brought up a finger as if to make a statement, but then stopped and nodded.

"Good," said Cronus. "I'll be back shortly."

Moments later, Cronus appeared in a field where a hundred or so of the parasites were fighting each other. Cronus took a moment to observe the slaughter, then snapped to attention and began to chant. A huge bolt of lightning ripped into the center of the fighting parasites. Half of them were killed outright, the other half quickly recovered and darted towards the attacker. Cronus responded by vanishing from sight. The creatures stopped, wondering where the Titan had gone. Then Cronus reappeared from above and made a few quick gestures with his hands. About two thirds of the group turned to stone and crumbled. The last one third, which composed of somewhere between fifteen and twenty parasites, flew upward towards their enemy. Needles erupted from their backs as they spat flames from their mouths. Cronus brought up a hand and clenched it into a fist. The flames and spikes were returned to the ones who unleashed them, killing all but one. The last nelcro of the group opened its mouth one more time and a black material flew out, getting Cronus in the eyes before he had a chance to respond. He brought his hands up to his face to try and pull the material off, and the resulting distraction was enough to enable the creature to ram its creator right in the midriff. It then fired a poisonous needle into the Titan's stomach, and Cronus fell to the ground with a loud thud. For a moment, the parasite seemed to have won, it flew down to the spot where Cronus had fallen and landed on to ground next to him. Then the fallen Titan vanished one last time, and when he reappeared, he had his foot above the parasite. He plucked the needle from his chest with a chuckle and quickly smashed the creature. The parasite let out a shriek before dying. Cronus lifted his foot and wiped off whatever of the creature was left on it. Then he turned around to see if there were any he missed. After a few minutes of looking here and there, he was finally satisfied and was about to teleport away when he suddenly froze. Off in the horizon, a dark cloud was approaching him fast. Then he saw that it wasn't a cloud at all. It was what appeared to be every single remaining parasite that he had yet to kill. They were all packed closely together and were flying towards him at a very fast rate.

"Why aren't they fighting each other?" he thought. "What are they doing?"

Then as the creatures' mouths all opened in union for a combined attack he suddenly remembered. "Of course, after I presented the other titans with the first nelcro and got the idea approved by Prometheus, I decided to give the race one last ability. Where if they were ever confronted by an enemy strong enough to eradicate a group of their kind, one of the parasites would give a signal that would be received by all of its brethren across the world. They would all instinctively respond by rushing to the scene of their siblings' deaths, joined together to deal with the threat as a single wave of fury. That last nelcro's shriek wasn't a cry of pain, it was calling its fellows."

By now, the wave of parasites was now only a few yards away, and Cronus had to act quickly. He brought up his hands and huge flames quickly flew from them, hitting the parasites at the front of the onslaught but killing only one twentieth of it. The others split apart and began to encircle the Titan, trapping him. But he had one more trick up his sleeve, literally. He pulled a golden colored scythe out from inside one of the sleeves of his robes, then quickly left the ground and vanished into the clouds above. The parasites followed suit, chasing after the retreating demi-god.

After a few seconds, Cronus then came floating back to the ground, having lost them in the clouds.

"I had better hurry," he muttered to himself. "It won't take too long for them to realize that I'm not up there anymore."

Using the tip of his scythe, he began to trace shapes into the dirt ground. First he drew the form of a star, and at each tip he drew a spiral, and in the center he drew an X. After that, he got to work carving runes of power on the inside of the shape with what little room it still had to offer. When he finally finished, he leapt into the center of the star, right where the X was, and began to chant.

"Aloona dore onu dora...ash thera donna dor...hindulie retha ashall ther i das..."

But as he began his chanting, one of the parasites popped out from the clouds above and spotted him. It let out a screech to alert the others, and they all came swarming, right down to where Cronus was standing.

"Loch re gar nogal, ashire no thal ONTAMUS!"

They came a second too late. As soon as Cronus finished his chanting, a brilliant light came in between him and the parasites as a large gateway of nothingness opened before them. The portal of darkness began to suck the creatures inside like a black hole. The parasites fought its vacuum, trying to get away, but with little success. Cronus brought up his hands to shield his eyes from the light. Protected by the runes he had drawn into the ground, he could only watch as the gateway sucked what was left of his creations into an oblivion. They were going...going...gone.

The portal disappeared as the last one vanished into it, exterminated.

Cronus lowered his hands and looked around just to be sure that his trap had caught them all. When nothing jumped into his field of view, he rose into the air as the wind gently blew away what was left of the symbols dug into the soil.

"Well, it's finally over," he said quietly. "I had better go tell the others."

"Well, good riddance," Coeus snapped when Cronus had finished describing what had happened. " It's because of your blasted pets that we're now behind schedule!"

"Brother, I don't believe any of us could have seen this coming," said Cronus. "How was I to know what would happen?"

"Well normally you test an idea several times before bringing it into fruition."

"At least I had an idea when we arrived here, unlike you."

"I didn't even want to participate in this project! I only came along because the superior told me to. And if I DID have plans for a guardian race, you can certainly bet that I wouldn't have suggested it unless I was absolutely sure it was going to work, due to the fact that once this universe has entered its second phase we won't be able to stay here any longer. And that is why you must experiment with your ideas before giving them a try right there on the spot."

"You are in no position to—!"

"ENOUGH!" Prometheus roared. "There is no point in arguing about these things. What's done is done. And by squabbling we only continue to shorten our stay here. Now come, we must hurry and get this job finished."

With that, Prometheus reopened the gate. He gestured for the others to go first, and Coeus, Dione, Phoebe, and Epimetheus glided through. But Cronus didn't move from where he stood. Rhea and Prometheus stopped at the door to look at him.

"Cronus, are you all right?" Rhea asked.

"Maybe Coeus is right that I should have tested this out more," he muttered, staring at the ground. "I gave simple minded creatures more power than they were capable of knowing how to use, which led to the early death of the world they were meant to protect. I should have done more."

"You're being too hard on yourself, boy," said Prometheus. "No one is perfect, not even our creator. You should understand that."

Cronus looked up at them.

"Yes, you're right," he said. "I say we try again with the next planet, but this time I aim to create dominant races that are smarter, less powerful, mortal, and don't draw energy directly from the planet they inhabit. That is what went wrong with the nelcro."

"Agreed," came Prometheus's reply.

"Well come on. The others are waiting." said Rhea.

They nodded and left through the portal, abandoning the world of ruin...

But before the gateway closed, a pointy creature emerged from the ground nearby. It was the parasite that Cronus had used for his demonstration, the one born from an illusion, the only one Cronus hadn't bond to telepathically, the only one born without the instinct of responding to a call of danger.

It looked around and seemed to conclude that there was no more energy on its home world. So, the creature left the dead planet behind and entered the portal, where there would be more promise no matter where it'd take the little creature.

Chapter 3: A Curious World

For the following days, the titans continued their work shaping worlds and granting them life without suffering too many casualties. They would introduce water and other necessities for life, wait for it to appear, and leave. How long they would stay depended on the size of the world in question. Intelligent mortals who caught glimpses of the titans before they departed would be sure to record what they saw, and it would be remembered by countless generations to come. In the span of almost a month, the titans brought life to over twenty different worlds before the First Age had nearly finished. Those planets that remained unpopulated would act as future bases of operation for the inhabitants of the life-bearing ones.

Near the end of their work, they encountered a particularly small world full of promise.

"This will be the last one we fix up before leaving," declared Prometheus.

"Well, it's about time," huffed Coeus. "I just want to get back home and take some much needed rest."

"Well then quit complaining and let's get to work," Phoebe complained.

So they did. They repeated their practices and soon the little world was teeming with life. Afterwards, they took some time to investigate the planet and see if whether or not everything was in order, and were surprised to find one blue-
skinned race that was very different from the others. The race called itself the nu, and each member gave the impression of being just a simple head with very feeble arms and legs. What scared the titans, however, was that the nu seemed to posses incredible strength, and not too many brains.

"They're just like the nelcro," Dione said indignantly. "I say we dispose of them now before they can do any harm."

"I don't know," said Epimetheus. "The nelcro were violent and attacked intruders by instinct, but these nu creatures seem to posses a more peaceful nature. It's not like they're going to attack anything that threatens the other life forms. They're only looking after themselves."

It seemed as though Epimetheus was quite write, much to the other titans' surprise. The nu were gentle and only attacked when attacked, and even then they wouldn't kill the attacker. Just hurt it enough so that it wouldn't bother them anymore. Eventually, all of the predators that came into contact with the nu learned to leave them alone. So the titans decided to leave them be as well.

"It has become a very beautiful world," Rhea said to the others. "Wouldn't you agree?"

"Aye," said Cronus. "This is perhaps our greatest work. The planet may be small, but it's very diverse."

"What really intrigues me," said Prometheus. "Are those cold-blooded creatures capable of speech who call themselves the reptites. In only a short matter of time, they've begun building primitive huts out of what nature has to offer."

"You know, I'd say we finished pretty early. We still have a few days to spare until it becomes time for us to go." Epimetheus remarked.

"Yes, I guess we were in such a hurry after the incident at the first planet that we got a little ahead of schedule."

Coeus just wanted to leave, claiming that there was no point in staying now that they were finished. Finally, after the last few days went by, the others relented and gave in to his complaining.

"Thank god that's over with," he said. "Now I can go back to our realm and sleep."

"Yes," Phoebe said with sarcasm. "It seems as though resting is your best occupation. Just laying back and letting the rest of us do the work."

"Excuse me? I didn't see you contribute too much. At least I didn't shirk what duties I was given. May I remind you that I had to take care of that problem with the volcanos' constant eruptions when you were the one told to do it?"

The others decided to just leave them to their arguing as Prometheus opened the portal that would take them home. As Rhea was waiting, she noticed Cronus staring back into the starlit sky, apparently looking for something.

"Is something troubling you Cronus?" she asked.

"I don't know," he said. "I just feel like we've missed something. Like some part of me is shouting that I must double check everything one last time."

"You're probably just imagining things. We...oh no...I mean YOU did take care of the only major threat at the beginning of all this. And we triple checked every world to be sure that everything was going according to plan. Whatever happens after we leave is none of our business."

"Yes, but even so..."

"Will you two hurry up?" Dione called at the portal's entrance.

"All right, we're coming," Rhea started towards the doorway, then saw that Cronus hadn't moved yet.

"Cronus? Are you coming?"

"Yes, in a moment. Just to be completely sure..."

He brought his hands up to his forehead and concentrated on the world around him. Sending his telepathic mind into the universe, he began to search everything one last time.

Chapter 4: Overlooked

"Wait a minute," he thought to himself as he spotted a nearby star. "What is that thing orbiting it?"

As he zeroed in on whatever the little dot was, he let out a gasp of horror and disbelief.

A spiky shell.

A mouth that came in the form of a valve.

A single eye inside of it.

It was a nelcro, and what also struck Cronus was that the parasite seemed...larger...than the ones he had created at the beginning, perhaps twenty times as large.

"Cronus, what is it?" asked Rhea the moment she heard his gasp. But Cronus remained silent after that, taken away by what he was seeing. Then Prometheus came walking out of the portal.

"Why are you lingering?" he asked.

"Brother," said Rhea. "It's Cronus, he seems to be..."

"How is this possible?!" Cronus nearly shouted. "I thought I had disposed of every one of them! And how did it escape!?"

"What?" asked a perplexed Rhea. But Prometheus was sure he knew what Cronus meant when he blurted out the part "disposed of every one of them."

"Where is it?" he asked. "Do you know?"

"At the thirty fifth star of the Kain system."

"What is it doing?"

"I don't know, It's...wait a minute."

The parasite opened its mouth and Cronus watched as it began to suck in the energy and light given off by the star into its being. Slowly, the creature began to grow some more. When Cronus first found the thing it was the size of a small boulder, but when it had finished eating off of the star, it had grown to the size of a castle. Cronus could hardly believe what he was seeing.

"Something must be done, this is a threat to all of our work. Unless I'm very much mistaken, that thing will search for a breeding ground, and judging by its size, the offspring will probably be enormous as well."

"Cronus, is it one of the nelcro? A survivor?" Rhea asked, even though she was sure she knew what was coming.

"Yes," Cronus said, a part of him still unsure if what he was seeing was real. "I must stop it!"

"Cronus," Prometheus started. "I don't think—!"

But before he could finish, there was a flash of light and Cronus had gone.

When Cronus reappeared, he was right in front of the now-colossal-monster-of-a-
parasite. Upon discovering that it wasn't alone, the creature fired a beam from its mouth at the Titan, who canceled it out with a flick of the wrist. Even though the parasite's power had increased tenfold, Cronus was still the stronger.

"I don't know how you survived the scourging of your kind or how you were able to escape your home planet, but it's all going to end right here."

He summoned a dark wave of energy and directed it towards the beast, where it collided with its spiky shell.

Nothing happened.

Cronus paused for a moment, then unleashed another attack composing of huge bolts of electricity.

Again nothing happened to the parasite. The attack left it without a scratch.

Cronus couldn't figure out what was going on. "That attack should have reduced it to a pile of ash," he thought. That's when the creature responded by breathing flames at him. Cronus wasn't quick enough to bring up his shield this time, but to his amazement, the attack that should have scalded him went right through him. That's when he first noticed that his hands had turned transparent. He looked at his torso and at his legs and saw that they were also vanishing. In less than ten seconds, he had vanished completely from the face of the newborn universe.

Chapter 5: Orders and Punishment

When everything came back into focus, Cronus found himself in a peaceful realm with white skies and roads made of an equally white marble. Standing next to him were the other six titans he had traveled with. Coeus heaved a sigh.

"Ah, home at last," he said. "Now we can continue our meditation."

"But wait," said Cronus. "How did we get back? I didn't..."

Prometheus then cut in.

"Didn't I tell you? I said that our time on the mortal plane was limited, and it was time itself that kicked us out."

"But, why?"

"Our superior said that once the first ages of creation would end, the force called time would begin and the universe we just left would no longer be able to support our solid forms."

"But why are you so upset brother?" Epimetheus asked. "We finished our work there, why didn't you come back through the portal with us?"

"I'll give you one word," said Cronus. "Nelcro! One of those...mistakes...had escaped and is threatening to undo all of our work."

"WHAT?!?" Dione, Epimetheus, Phoebe, and Coeus all shouted in union.

An hour later, the group was standing in front of a large stone palace, presumably the home of their creator. They were waiting for Prometheus, and he came out, dragging his feet.

"The superior is very angry with you Cronus," he said sounding grim.

"Will I be punished?" asked Cronus.

Prometheus nodded, saying. "You are to remain here in the waking world from now on, never to join the rest of us in our slumber."

"And nothing will change that?"

"Unless you can find a way to somehow exterminate the survivor, then yes, nothing will change that."

Cronus sighed.

"I...understand."

"Cronus?"

Rhea poked her head through the door of a chamber with runes carved into the floor. It was almost completely empty except for a chair and a window. Sitting in the chair was Cronus. Before Rhea had entered, he was observing an orb floating before him, but then looked up to see who had disturbed him.

"Rhea, shouldn't you be sleeping with the others?" he asked. "Your work is done, you have no further reason to be here. I, however, must continue my fight against the parasite."

Rhea walked in, shaking her head.

"Cronus, I don't want to go to rest until I am sure that you have a plan on how to defeat that thing, and if you don't, then I want to help."

"No, this is my punishment. Our creator says I must carry this out on my own. Go to sleep, you must work on your own enlightenment by following the dreamway of the Soul Realm."

"Will you at least tell me what you hope to do to destroy the surviving parasite?"

Cronus took a moment before responding. He returned his gaze to the orb in front of him.

"I've been monitoring its behavior through the Orb of Truth, and so far, I haven't been able to gather too much information," he then commanded. "Show me the survivor again."

The Orb of Truth gave a flash and its inside displayed a large, spiky creature drifting through space.

"Two millenniums have passed in the mortal realm, and from what I see, it seems the creature is still searching for a new home, where it can breed. But my power over the home of the mortal races has weakened greatly since we left it, and it's almost impossible to manipulate anything there so long as I'm stuck here," he let out a sigh. "I don't know if there is really any hope of stopping this thing."

Rhea walked over to him and peered into the orb. Then she withdrew to think for a moment.

"Cronus," she finally began. "The mortals..."

"What about them?" he asked curiously.

"Are you sure they couldn't destroy the invader on their own?"

Cronus just looked at her.

"Rhea, no mortal could oppose that creature. It was meant to be a guardian. Its newfound power is almost godlike and could bring forth an apocalypse, which I'm sure it will do when it finishes with whatever world it plans to consume first."

"Yes, but the mortals vary from one another, don't they? They all have their own talents and whatnot. Perhaps if you searched the planets and picked whichever mortal was strongest, you could..."

"Rhea, one wouldn't be enough. I would need a group of them, all with varying combat talents, the very best! Really, the only way it would work is if I combed the time streams and found those ideal warriors and, somehow, brought them togeth—!"

Suddenly, he paused. His eyes lit up and he looked away from the orb and up at the ceiling.

"Cronus?"

He didn't answer, but continued to look off into space.

"Brought...them...together?" he mouthed. "Time...travel?"

Silently, he went over the prospect in his head, then turned his head to Rhea, sounding gleeful.

"Yes!" he breathed. "Why not? I'll bring them together through time TRAVEL!"

"Time travel?"

"Yes!" he began. "The parasite may be stronger than any individual mortal, but if I unite all of history's greatest fighters under a single cause, then maybe...just maybe...they could stand a chance!"

"But...how?"

"Listen Rhea, I'll explain," he paused for a moment. "Now, the mortal universe is a realm of strict order, even stricter than it is here. And space and time are what keeps everything in check. They act as blankets to confine matter and keep it all from falling apart. But what if you ripped the blanket's delicate fabric? Or the fabric of time to be more precise?"

"What?"

"You have a method of travel that can take you not anywhere, but anytime!"

Rhea was finally beginning to understand.

"And if you ripped another hole in time," she said. "The person who entered the first hole would then come out the second?"

"Right!"

"Cronus, that's ingenious!" Rhea exclaimed. "I really think it could work! But wait a minute," she added suddenly. "If the rips are left untended to, won't they enlarge after a certain amount of time? And if so, everything could fall apart."

"Ah, but that's only if they're left alone, like you said. Don't worry, Rhea, if this works, I will, of course, reseal the holes."

Rhea thought for a moment.

"How will you create these rips if you're stuck here?"

"Well, you have to remember something, Rhea. My power over the physical realm has been greatly limited, but there is still some left. I don't have enough to make my own time rip, though. Instead, I'm going to need a power source for the first few. A power source on the other side."

"I see," said Rhea.

Cronus returned his gaze to the orb.

"But before I can try any of that," said Cronus. "We must first find the perfect specimens. Show me where the parasite plans to strike first!" he said to the orb.

Part 2: The Plan

Chapter 6: Red Dawn

The orb's interior turned a misty shade of green for a moment, then cleared up, showing a small blue world that looked oddly familiar. And less than a lightyear away, hurtling towards the world at an incredibly fast pace, was the parasite.

"Isn't that the last world we gave order to before leaving?" asked Rhea.

"Yes, I think it is," said Cronus. "The home of the nu?"

"That's right."

"Why is it going there?"

"I don't know, maybe it's because it's the only one still ripe?" Rhea suggested, somewhat jokingly.

Cronus gave her a stern look and glanced back at the orb.

"We should find out what the inhabitants of the planet are doing right now and see if they may know anything about what's coming their way," then he commanded. "Give me a closer view of the world."

The silver sphere obeyed and once again turned a green before showing Cronus a landscape of the planet.

"I would expect the world to have changed much after two millenniums," said Rhea.

"And you're quite right," Cronus remarked. "The reptites, it seems, have become more advanced over the past two thousand years. Look," he said, pointing at the image of a mountain that had taken shape inside of the orb. "They've appeared to have built some type of fortress on top of that inactive volcano. And I think I can see another lair they have created somewhere in the lower region of the world. Some type of cave with a huge complex, right in the middle of a jungle, and I think I can also see huts to the north of the cave, but the inhabitants don't appear to be reptites."

"Could it be the nu?" asked Rhea.

"No, these creatures have pinkish-whitish skin, not blue. Let me get a closer look...Oh my!"

"What is it?" asked Rhea, startled.

"I don't know what those creatures are, but their forms resemble our own."

"Really?!"

"Yes, see for yourself."

Rhea leaned forward to gaze into the orb, then gasped in surprise. The mortals had hair on top of their heads. They had the same skin, same structure of the hands, feet, and head. Their entire bodies were similar to the Titans in every way. The only difference was the clothing. Unlike Cronus and Rhea, who both wore bright colored robes, the mortals wore animal skins and leaves strung together in a crude fashion. Right now, it seemed that most of the adults were gathered at what appeared to be some meeting ground in the center of the village. They were all holding either clubs, spears, or simple axes made out of a tough rock. Apparently, they were either getting ready for a hunt or a fight.

"I wonder what those things call themselves," Rhea said thoughtfully.

"I have no idea," said Cronus. It was apparent that the creatures were a few centuries behind the reptites, perhaps one of the newer, younger races. Their huts were crudely built and seemed to act as simple shelters. One hut in particular quickly caught Cronus's eye, though. It was decorative and fancier looking than the others, and the Titan suspected that maybe, just maybe, that was where their chieftain lived.

"Show us that hut's interior," he commanded.

Inside, they found a dimly lit fire place, animal skins laid out on the dirt ground to both carpet it and be used for sleeping; spears and clubs hung on the wall for show, and support beams made of bamboo kept the little shelter's roof in place. Sitting on the ground, facing each other, were two of the mortals. One was a blonde muscular female wearing boots and whose body was covered with the fur of some enormous cat...complete with the tail. The other was a not-quite-as-muscular male, who also sported blonde hair, and wore a type of black fur on his chest with some fine leather bands on his ankles and wrists.

"Time is now, Ayla?" They heard the male say, his voice echoing through the orb.

"Uh huh," replied the female called Ayla. "Red star brighter that before, Kino. Once hit, not enough food for both reptites and us. One must go, must not be us."

"Red star?" whispered Rhea. "Do you think they're talking about—?"

"Shh!" was all she got out of Cronus.

"Must find Laruba tribe," said Ayla. "If no stand together, we no survive."

"How find us other tribe?" asked Kino. "Tribe hidden. Besides, they no can fight."

"Ayla WILL find tribe!" she shouted. "Laruba tribe CAN fight! Tribe also have dactyl, and dactyl only way to reach Azala."

Kino was silent, then. "What we do?" he asked.

"Kino take one half of Ioka tribe and root out all reptites in south," said Ayla. "Ayla take some of second half to search for Laruba tribe, while other part of half stay here to watch village. When Laruba agree to help, all go to fortress to fight. Kino join after all in south dead. Must win before Lavos fall from sky."

It was that last word which really caught Cronus's attention.

"Lavos..." he repeated as he watched Ayla and Kino leave the hut. "That must be what these mortals call their soon-to-be invader."

"It seems that way," said Rhea with a nod. "The mortals are smarter than I first anticipated. To know what would happen after something that large would hit their world is a true sign that we shouldn't judge them too harshly."

As they continued to watch, the mortal called Kino began to organize one half of the troop gathered outside and then ordered them, in his poor grasp of the common language, to follow him south. They marched, in a clumsy fashion, out of the village and to the southern jungle where the cave complex of the reptites was hidden. After he left, Ayla took half of the remaining group, and together, they headed north into another jungle.

"Laruba...Ioka...I guess these creatures chose different paths and split into two separate tribes. And judging from what we've heard, these members of the Laruba tribe don't usually fight if they can help it." Cronus speculated.

"Do you think they even stand a chance of defeating the reptites?" Rhea asked. "Those cold-blooded creatures have been around for more than two thousand years now, longer than those white skinned mortals, and seem to be more advanced in every way."

"Speaking of the reptites," said Cronus. "I wonder how they're planning to deal with the upcoming conflicts. I mean, if the younger races know what's coming, then surely the reptites do too and are discussing their plans. Show me their fortress." he commanded.

The orb blurred for a moment, then as it refocused, they could see the outside of the reptites stronghold for a few seconds before the view was taken indoors.

It was some kind of primitive throne room with a collection of the green, bipedal lizards standing before the throne. Sitting comfortably in the throne, was an elegantly-dressed reptites wearing tough armor complete with a cape. Cronus assumed this one had to be Azala, the one Ayla had previously mentioned.

"We searched the surrounding area per your instructions, O' mighty one," said one of the reporting guards.

"And did you find anything worth mentioning?" asked Azala.

"The apes have become more active than usual," said the guard. "Do you think they're aware of the upcoming events?"

"Well, they're filthy, ungrateful, incompetent and lots of other things but they're not stupid," replied Azala. "I should know, given how often I have confronted them and their leader. So, to answer your question, yes, I feel we should be prepared to believe that they know exactly what's going on."

"Should we organize a force and attack at dawn tomorrow?" another soldier asked.

"No need," said Azala with a wave of his hand. "The secret weapon I've been...er...raising for the past ten years should suffice. It's as powerful as a small army, and the apes know nothing of its existence. Hopefully, there won't be any need to sacrifice a reptilian life, as we'll just kick back and let it do the work for us."

He picked at something on his chin, then added. "Besides, if we were to attack at dawn, it'd be too late."

"Why is that sir?" asked a confused servant.

"Lavos will fall from the heavens approximately three hours from now," said Azala. "As my most trusted astronomers have informed me."

The room fell completely silent at this pronouncement.

"Th-three hours!?" another servant stammered.

"Yes, three hours," Azala assured him. "Everything must be ready and finished before that time expires."

"Sir, may I ask a simple question?" the first soldier asked.

"Well you just have," the leader of the reptites noted. "But we have time for one more. The apes already have a head start on us, judging by the sound of your report."

"Er...yes. Well sir, you've been keeping this 'secret weapon' a secret from all of us except your elite guard. We've been hearing these peculiar sounds coming from the top tower of the castle, but you never told us what they belonged to. What is this weapon of yours exactly?"

"Ah yes, I saw that one coming. Well if you come with me I'll show you. There really is no further need to keep it a secret now."

Azala got up from his throne and began to head for a stairway that led to the next floor. But before he had taken five steps, an enormous creature, which slightly bore the resemblance a triceratops trained to walk on two legs, came barging into the throne room.

"Master!" it thundered.

Azala turned around.

"Nizbel!" he said angrily. "You dare enter my domain without permission?"

"Yes, sorry about that sire," the creature called Nizbel said quickly. "But I have urgent news!"

"What is it?" asked Azala, concerned.

"The apes have taken our southern outpost. Nearly all of our guard were killed, including," he added, teeth clenched. "My father, Nizbel senior. The survivors have retreated to the north and are coming here to prepare for the next battle. We also have reason to believe that another company of apes is searching for the tribe in hiding. If we are to do something, we better do it quick."

Azala looked back to the staircase.

"So it has begun," he said quietly. "No matter, our comrades in the south will NOT have died in vain. For we have a surprise for those apes. Come Nizbel, perhaps you should see it too."

He beckoned them to follow him. They climbed one long flight of stairs, and then crossed a stone bridge that stretched to a tall tower on the other side. Along the way, they thought they could hear (and feel, for that matter) a rumbling coming from the tower. Almost like a low snore.

"I believe it to be the last of its kind," said Azala whispered. "Even I was surprised when I first found it, healthy and alive. I brought it up to the castle when it was only an egg and have been raising it in the tower ever since. I never told anyone about it except my closest servants. Not that I thought any of you would betray my trust and go to the apes," he quickly remarked. "I just didn't want to take any chances. If the apes were the kind who'd take prisoners of war and beat some valuable inside information out of them, that would almost assure ourselves a downfall since the primates would know what was coming. But it doesn't matter now, it's time to see if those special treatments have paid off."

He ordered one of the servants to retrieve some meat from the kitchen. The assistant nodded and headed back down the stairs, returning moments later with what appeared to be the drumstick of a fairly large dactyl. Then, with the drumstick in hand, Azala took a few more steps towards the tower's enormous entrance. The snoring abruptly ceased and was replaced with the sound of some heavy sniffing. Azala extended the hand holding the meat and, oddly enough, began to whistle, like an owner would with his dog when trying to summon him. As Cronus continued to watch with fascination, he could hear Rhea by his side, choking back a laugh (Hey, even demi-gods can find something funny). But when Azala tossed the drumstick towards the tower entrance, Rhea's laughter quickly ended with a gasp. Out of the entrance came a gargantuan dinosaur-like creature. It's tough scales were a dark, very dark, green and it wore an iron collar around its thick neck. Only two seconds after the drumstick touched the ground, it came thumping out of the tower, picked up the tiny strip of meat with its huge jaws, tossed it up into the air, and caught it inside of its mouth with a loud SNAP.

Cronus, Rhea, and the reptites who had followed Azala were all stunned.

"Tha-that's a Black Tyrano!" exclaimed a flabbergasted Nizbel. "B-but how is this possible? They died out ages ago! And how could it have gotten so large in only ten years?"

"You wouldn't be asking that had you paid attention," Azala growled impatiently. "I've already told you, I don't know how it survived. I just found it inside of a nest with no sign of a mother or father. And the reason it's grown so much is because of the treatments I've been giving it, as I have already indicated!" he glared a Nizbel.

"Er...yes. Sorry master," said Nizbel, looking highly discomforted.

"Remember, I will not tolerate insolence from any of you," Azala said, addressing the others.

They all immediately sprang to a salute.

"Good, now come. We must prepare for battle. I can only prey that the deaths on our side will be minimal."

Despite protests on their part, Two soldiers were left behind to care for the Tyrano. And with that, the others headed back downstairs.

"It seems there have been more changes than I first anticipated," said Cronus. "The skies are now filled with the cries of war because of...Lavos."

"So, are we to speak of the parasite by using the name the mortals have given it?" Rhea asked.

Cronus shrugged.

"I don't see why not," he said. "We never had a proper name for it ourselves. We only ever called it the parasite."

"Yes I suppose," said Rhea, nodding. "I wonder what the apes are doing for the final fight right now."

"Only one way to find out," said Cronus as he turned to the orb again.

"Show me the mortal named Ayla," he ordered.

The orb turned bluish and revealed a collection of huts that were surrounded by the jungle's vegetation.

The Laruba tribe wore purple instead of red, and the majority of the tribe was at the meeting grounds, where a familiar cavewoman was speaking with the village elder.

"Ayla, why you bother us?" asked the old man. "We no fight reptites. They around longer than us, they cunning. Reptites live on top of tall mountain, well protected, but Ayla still want fight?"

"Yes!" said Ayla. "Must destroy reptites. Time is now. If not kill before Lavos fall, both humans and reptites die out together. Lack of hunt assure that."

"Humans?" said Rhea. "What are—?"

"SHH!"

"Ayla, we no can fight," said the elder. "We never fight before."

"Oh?" said Ayla. "Then how Laruba get food from hunt? Laruba hunt large beasts many time, and win! If Laruba fight large beasts, then Laruba fight reptites too!"

The elder fell silent on that remark. Then...

"Ayla, how we fight reptites? They high up on mountain in strong fortress." said the old man.

"We use dactyls," said Ayla. "Attack from sky! Knock reptites from nest."

The elder paused again to think.

"OK," he finally said. "Laruba fight too. If die, better die fighting than die hiding."

"Thank you. Old man not dead on inside after all." said Ayla.

A few minutes later, as Ayla and the Laruba tribe prepared to head out for the dactyl nest, Kino and the remainder of his fighting force entered the village.

"Kino!" said a gleeful Ayla. "How battle go? And how you find Laruba?"

To answer her second question, Kino pointed to the large clearing in the jungle that Ayla and her group had made while searching for the village themselves.

"Reptites in south beaten!" said Kino triumphantly. "Survivors head for fortress."

"Then we go there too," said the elder. "Fighting ends now!"

And with that, the Larubians who were to fight picked up their weapons, and the combined forces left for the mountains, where their rides awaited.

"Who are these humans they spoke of?" asked Rhea.

"I suspect they were referring to themselves," said Cronus. "Their name for themselves is human."

"They have two names, then?" Rhea asked.

"I don't think so," responded Cronus. "Considering how the reptites despise them, I think 'ape' is meant to be an insult more or less. If that really is the case, then I would go with the term human as what they must really be called."

Rhea nodded.

"Though speaking of the reptites," began Cronus, addressing the orb. "Show us what they are planning."

The orb flashed and as the fortress came into view again, Cronus was immediately able to register one fact: At every window, door, tower, there were guards equipped with spears, slingshots, knives, and several other throwing weapons. They all stood vigilant, watching the area around them as though expecting the enemy to arrive at any given moment.

Which they would, in less than half an hour.

Meanwhile, in the throne room, a soldier approached Azala, who sat in his throne, clutching a spear.

"Everyone and everything is in place, sire," said the soldier. "We now await only your commands."

"I have none," Azala said simply. "Once the apes show up, we knock them out of the sky and leave the survivors for my little pet. However, I don't want anyone to lay a finger on their leader, Ayla. I wish to have the pleasure of dealing with her personally."

"Yes sire."

The soldier headed for the exit, but as he reached for the knob, the doors suddenly flew open. The resulting impact sent him flying across the room.

Azala was outraged.

"I've HAD it with your behavior, Nizbel!" he shouted at the large figure that came running in through the entrance. "Not even your father was this—!"

"Master!" gasped the enormous creature, pausing for breath before saying. "They're coming."

"Kino, you take main group and attack front door. Ayla go to Azala," said the muscular woman as they and the other warriors approached the enemy fortress. Each of them was rode a dactyl, a master of the sky, and were all armed with a quiver filled with spears.

Kino nodded and directed the others to follow his mount. Ayla, meanwhile took a company consisting of only four others and flew towards one of the castle windows. As Kino and the rest of the fighting force came swooping closer towards the main gate, he brought up a hand and the others reached into their quivers, pulling out a spear.

"On three, charge!" said Kino. "One...two..."

He was quickly cut off by a rain of spears and stones that came flying out from an opening in the gates. He and the rest of the force tried to swerve away, but his ride took a spear in the wing while he got a stone in the eye. About nine of those behind him were killed outright, and Kino's dactyl screeched as it began batting its good wing even harder, trying to keep both of them airborne, but it did little good as they continued to plummet.

Seeing all this, Ayla let out a warcry and directed her dactyl to one of the windows. Shifting her weight, Ayla jumped onto the window sill, attracting the attention of those on the other side, who began poking their knives through the window in an attempt to get her. Ayla leapt to one side to avoid the knives, and the four fighters who came with her joined in the fight.

Grabbing their spears, they flew up to the scene, and lobbed the projectiles into the window. Ayla heard a few shrieks of pain and some shuffling noises, as if the reptites were pulling their wounded away. A mistake.

Ayla and the rest of her team jumped inside and came at their attackers. The reptiles who were unhurt brought out their knives, but Ayla and the others slammed them against the back wall and began jabbing and hitting them until they stopped resisting altogether. After the quick beating, Ayla took one last look outside and was glad to see that Kino was okay. Having no choice but to abandon his mount, Kino had leapt onto another tribe member's dactyl flying nearby and was now continuing the assult on the front gate, which now had several spears stuck in its thick oak. Kino and the others quickly landed near the gates as the reptilian defenders paused to retrieve more throwing weapons and they began ramming the doors in an attempt to knock them down.

Soon, with a loud crack, the doors collapsed inward, and all reptites who were in the way at that precise moment were crushed. Kino's forces then came pouring in and Ayla could hear more cries and the clashing of weapons.

It was at this point that Ayla suddenly remembered that she had to find Azala.

"Come!" she said to the other four. "Kino continue main fight. We go find Azala."

And with that, they all headed for a nearby staircase.

"Master!" roared Nizbel after barging into the throne room a third time. Before Azala had a chance to say anything, the large soldier continued. "The apes have made it past the front gates! They are now fighting their way through the main hall while slowly gaining ground. There doesn't seem to be any sign of the one called Ayla, though. One soldier said he thought he saw her enter through a window in the southern quarters, but we don't know where she is now."

"Typical," said Azala, smiling. "She leaves the main force behind and comes to deal with me personally. She is so predictable sometimes. She can do what she wants, but will not be able to prevent the inevitable. If you encounter her, Nizbel, would you be so kind as to bring her to me?"

"Yes master, of course master." Nizbel turned to leave, but before he could.

"And Nizbel," Azala began cooly. "If you EVER barge in here again without permission, I will leave you to be the Tyrano's first meal of the day. Understand?"

"Y...yes, sir."

"Good! Now get out and bring me what I want if you ever want to be shown respect around here again!"

"What to do?" Ayla asked herself as she hid behind a pillar with enemy guards closing in on her from all sides. Not too far away, her company of four was trying to fight off a second group of reptites that was attempting to get them all cornered.

Ayla looked around for a weapon of some sort or maybe even a way of escape. Then she peered up at the pilllar in front of her and something daring occurred to her. She knew it was risky, but she also knew she had only seconds to act.

As the enemy soldiers drew closer, she quickly grabbed the base of the support beam, and with two mighty tugs, pulled it out completely. With no bottom to hold it up, the pillar quickly collapsed, as did a portion of the ceiling above them. The moment she pulled the base out, Ayla leapt over one of the guards and darted away. The soldiers whirled around, but before they could act, hundreds of stone came tumbling onto their skulls and they were crushed by fragments of the collapsing ceiling.

The chaos seemed to temporarily distract the other guards who were closing in on Ayla's companions, a moment that proved fatal for them. The four human warriors lept on the enemy guards the second they took their eyes off them to see what had happened on the other side of the room.

Chaos ensued, and the team of four along with eight reptites guards were involved in a kind of free-for-all-barroom-brawl-style fight on the floor. Ayla, seeing her friends were outnumbered two to one, grabbed a piece of stone that was once part of the ceiling and chucked it at a guard. It caught him plunk on the head and he went out like a light.

Ayla's actions managed to pull five of the seven remaining Reptites away from the brawl and they came after her. Ayla seized a spear formally belonging to one of the soldiers, now crushed. With her club in one hand and the spear in the other, she leapt up and charged at them. She then began clubbing, spearing, punching, kicking, biting, and a whole bunch of other nasty things that just aren't worth describing.

After the fight, Ayla ran back to her followers and found that two had, unfortunately, been killed.

"We leave them," she said. "No time to put away properly. Azala must die soon, time of Lavos nearing. Must go before more come."

So they left the bodies undisturbed and headed for the next room. But as Ayla's two companions pushed the doors open and headed inside, a large pair of green hands grabbed them from their right, one in each hand, and pulled them out of sight. They shrieked and Ayla quickly ran into the room after them.

It was then that Ayla realized the room's torches had been extinguished, and when someone slammed the doors behind her, she was engulfed in total darkness. The cries of her comrades had stopped now, and all that could be heard were some more shuffling noises, like as though someone was dragging something heavy across the floor. Ayla raised her club.

"Who there?!" she bellowed. "Show self!"

The shuffling stopped, and moments later, something conked Ayla very hard on the back of her head. She fell and everything went even blacker, if that was really possible. The last thing Ayla recalled before blacking out was some large hand picking her up.

With the cavewoman slumped over his shoulder, Nizbel pushed the doors to the throne room open and approached his master. Catching eye of what Nizbel had with him, Azala dismissed the soldiers who were bringing him reports of what was going on with the battle and beckoned Nizbel to come closer. The room was empty of anyone except him, Ayla, Nizbel, and a couple of soldiers stationed on either side of the throne where he sat.

"Aaaah I see you found our friend," he said. "Where was she?"

"At the third hall," Nizbel grunted. "She came with a group of warriors and they made a real mess of the place. But I intercepted them as they entered the corridors and dealt with her friends. I then sent her to dreamland and...well here I am."

"Good, good. Now will you please wake our guest? I wish to address her before I kill her."

Nizbel pulled Ayla off of his shoulder and slapped her hard across the face. She woke with a start and at first seemed to forget where she was, but as Nizbel put her back down on her feet, she caught sight of Azala and her weary expression changed at once.

"Azala!" she shouted and she lunged at him, club raised. The two guards darted forward to protect their leader, but Ayla simply knocked them aside with her incredible strength. Azala, grinning, leapt from his throne with surprising agility and Ayla's free arm, instead of seizing Azala's throat, grasped nothing except for the cushion which he had been sitting on only seconds ago. Meanwhile, Azala landed next to Nizbel and as Ayla came at him with a fist, Nizbel quickly grabbed her by the arm and restrained her.

"It's good to see you too, Ayla," Azala laughed as the cavewoman struggled to free herself from Nizbel's grasp.

"Azala! Fight now! No mess around!" Ayla shouted.

"No, I think not," he said, still grinning. "The last fair fight I allowed between the two of us resulted in complete disaster, and it's not like you acted very fairly yourself. No, I'm tired of playing fair with you, and now I wonder why I even allowed it since we first met."

He glanced up at the ceiling, grinning, and said. "Instead, I'd like you to meet someone. The thing that will be the key to my victory over your people. Now would you please follow me? He's upstairs, you understand."

It wasn't like Ayla had much of a choice. Still holding her firmly, Nizbel followed Azala up the flight of stairs that would take them to the domain of the "secret weapon."

Once they crossed the stone bridge, nearing the tower's large entrance, Azala began to whistle again like last time. The familiar stomping noise was heard and the Black Tyrano emerged, bigger and more terrible looking than before. Ayla was stunned.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" said Azala as the Tyrano let out a roar that echoed across the land and shook the very foundation of the fortress. "And with it, I will finally be able to exterminate those filthy apes. You two may have the pleasure of being the appetizers."

"Two?" said a confused Nizbel. "Master, Ayla and I are the only ones here with you."

"I'm well aware of that, Nizbel, but that will soon change. You see, when I said 'you two' I was referring to both miss Ayla and yourself."

"Huh?!" Nizbel dropped Ayla in shock.

"Didn't I warn you that if you ever barged into my throne room again without permission, that you would be fed to our large friend here?" Azala asked in a cold voice. "Or did you think I was joking? I never joke about such things. You chose not to listen, so now you must pay the consequences!"

"But...master!"

Still lying on the ground, Ayla looked from Nizbel to Azala, then to the Black Tyrano and its tower home. An idea suddenly occurring to her, Ayla slowly and quietly slipped away from the two reptilian creatures before her.

"You and your father never were very bright. I guess I only kept you two around for muscle," Azala sighed. "Oh well, my new pet is more powerful and probably even more obedient."

"I never meant to be so disrespectful! It's...it's just that since we were on the verge of achieving victory, I...I forgot a few of my manners. Please...give me another chance!"

"You were only ever given life in the first place so as to fight the apes, but since the war is practically finished, it would pretty much be a waste to keep you alive. You still wish to serve me, Nizbel? Then give yourself to the Tyrano! He needs his protein, after all."

Azala, sniggering, turned to the Tyrano, which snorted impatiently.

"Consume all who oppose me!" he ordered.

The beast looked towards the door, but saw none there with the exception of Nizbel.

"Wait," said Azala, having also noticed that Nizbel was all by himself. "Where did the ape go?"

Little did he know, while he and Nizbel had been talking, Ayla took advantage of the distraction to climb up to the tower roof and was now positioning herself for a jump. With a cry, she pounced onto the Tyrano's neck and fastened her arms around it. The Tyrano roared and began thrashing around angrily, trying to shake her off, while narrowly missing its master and helper, who both quickly leapt out of the way to avoid it stomping feet. With one hand still clamped around the creature's iron collar, Ayla retrieved a sharp stone hidden inside her cat skin and plunged it into the Tyrano's right eye. The beast shrieked with pain and began swinging its head even harder. Ayla then yanked the knife-like stone out of the ruined eye socket and prepared to take aim again. But before she could pierce the other eye, the dinosaur's long, thrashing tail came up to meet her and painfully knocked the stone out of her hand. Figuring that to jump off now would be out of the question, Ayla again clamped her arms tightly around the Tyrano's neck in an attempt to choke it.

"Shake her off, confound it!" Azala shouted. "It's not that difficult!"

Meanwhile, Nizbel was trying to get the doors open, but with little success. It appeared that they had somehow gotten jammed when he shut them and was now desperately trying to get them to become unjammed.

The Tyrano continued to try and buck its unwanted passenger off, but Ayla, though thoroughly dizzy, refused to let go. Its brain being starved of oxygen and its strength going fast, the Tyrano knew something had to be done quick. Then, as though suddenly coming up with a solution, the Tyrano charged towards the opposite wall, where Nizbel and Azala were standing, and slammed the back of its neck (along with Ayla) against it. Nearly knocked out, Ayla fell off and landed on the hard ground, stars dancing in front of her eyes. The Tyrano doubled back and, after catching its breath, began shifting its gaze from Ayla to Nizbel, and then back to Ayla, trying to decide who to eat first. By now, Nizbel had given up trying to get the doors to open and now stood up against the wall, horrified and at a loss of what to do.

"Hurry up and eat them! They're only the appetizers, after all." said Azala.

Finally, the Tyrano decided to go with Nizbel first, since he was bigger and also because it looked as though Ayla was going to be out of commission for a time. The Tyrano lunged at Nizbel, jaws open, and picked him up in its mouth. Nizbel shrieked and tried to fight back, clawing the roof of its mouth in a desperate attempt to get it to drop him. But the dinosaur threw him up in the air just as it had done with the strip of meat it was fed earlier, caught him in its mouth and swallowed.

The result of these actions was incredible, and almost unbelievable.

Only seconds after swallowing, the Black Tyrano began making gagging noises and swayed around slightly as though drunk. Azala and Ayla watched in amazement, and at first neither of them seemed to understand what was going on.

Then...

"It...it...it's choking!!" Azala gasped in horror.

So it seemed, the Tyrano had bitten off more than it could chew. Nizbel had ended up finishing what Ayla attempted moments before.

Finally, the beast stopped swaying altogether and collapsed...right on top of Azala. Azala screamed in pain and tried to pull himself out from underneath the Tyrano. For five agonizing seconds he tugged before finally removing his smashed legs from their place under the dinosaur and he clutched them, whimpering in pain.

Then, amazingly, the Tyrano rolled over and tried to get up, still gasping for air. But by now, the large stone bridge that connected the two towers couldn't take any more, and a portion of it collapsed underneath the Tyrano. It fell along with the remainder of the bridge, never to be seen again.

For a moment Azala and Ayla nearly fell with it, but Ayla leaped for the tower's ledge and escaped the collapsing bridge. Azala wasn't as fortunate. Despite having had his legs crushed, he too made a wild jump for the ledge and grabbed onto its edge, holding on with all his might. Ayla watched as Azala continued to hold on for dear life, all the while slowly losing his grip.

"N...no, it can't be," whispered Azala. "Could the heavens have truly sided with the apes?"

He looked at Ayla for a moment, then heaved a sigh.

"What am I saying?" He asked with a bitter laugh. "Of course it's true. It was our fate to perish. I guess my people and I were just being stubborn this whole time...we thought things could be different."

As he spoke, one hand lost its grip and slid off the ledge. He now held on by just one.

As she continued to watch him, Ayla began to hear pounding noises on the other side of the door that they had walked through. Then, with a final thud, the doors flew open, and looking outside at them were Kino and the other warriors who had fought their way up the castle.

Azala looked at them, then he looked back at Ayla. He sighed again.

"Listen well, primates, and let it be known," he whispered. "We reptites fought bravely to the bitter end. Let it be known that we tried everything we could to prevent the inevitable, but just couldn't win out in the end."

On that day, Ayla's opinion of the reptites changed forever.

She finally figured that maybe she didn't hate them as much as she thought. After all, they had only been fighting for their very survival. They only ever fought because of Lavos, and the upcoming Ice Age. If it weren't for that, there would have been no reason to fight, and as she continued to watch Azala, she realized that deep down inside she admired him and his people. She thought that, perhaps, their different races could've been allies...even respected friends...if not for Lavos.

In a way, he was like the sibling Ayla wished she had: Strong, intelligent, and always willing to sacrifice anything for the sake of his fellows. Yes, he didn't treat Nizbel very well. But then again, Nizbel was not of their kind. He had been a weapon, just like the Black Tyrano. Created only to fight a war between two races that learned to hate each other over the ages. A hatred that was given life by an old prediction of an Ice Age, brought to them by an alien force.

"Ayla understand," said the cavewoman, and to Azala's slight surprise, she took his hand and heaved him up onto the platform. "Azala right. Things could be different, but they not. And nothing be able to change that."

Azala tried to stand on his legs, but they were so badly crushed that they just wouldn't permit it. So he sat up.

"Thank you for your understanding." he said.

Then he looked up at the sky.

"You have only ten minutes, you know?" he added.

"What Azala mean?" asked Ayla.

He just simply pointed up at the sky. And when Ayla looked up, she saw that the red star, which was none other than Lavos, had grown larger since the last time she looked at it. And as she watched, it continued to grow.

"In under ten minutes, it will enter the atmosphere. And it will land at this very spot. So I advise that you leave, and quickly."

Ayla looked at Kino in shock.

"Kino call dactyls!" shouted Kino, bringing his index and middle fingers up to his mouth and letting out a long whistle. Within ten seconds, the flapping of wings could be heard, and the dactyls appeared right in front of them, waiting for them to mount. Kino and the remaining fighters quickly claimed their mounts.

"Ayla! What you waiting for?" Kino bellowed.

Ayla paused for a moment, then she looked back at Azala and extended her hand.

"Come, Azala! Come!"

But Azala did not take it. He just looked her as if she was out of her mind.

"Absolutely not!" he barked. "The powers which be have spoken."

"Ayla! Hurry!" Kino shouted.

Ayla gave Azala one last look, then ran to Kino's dactyl to join him.

"Azala, Ayla not forget." she promised him.

"Future...." Azala muttered.

"Future? What about future?" Ayla asked curiously.

"We...have...no future." Azala said weakly, and he fell silent.

Ayla looked at Kino and nodded. Kino then patted the dactyl's head and it took off with its brothers and sisters following from behind. Soon, they were gone.

"Ayla, look!" shouted Kino after flying a few good miles away from the fortress. They watched in shock as Lavos plummeted from the sky like a meteor and landed right where the mountain was, which had Azala's castle nestled on top. The resulting impact was similar to that of an explosion as smoke, dust, and other flotsam rose into the sky while the mountain, along with the fortress, crumbled to the ground.

When the dust and smoke cleared away, all that was left was a deep crater, marking the long awaited arrival of Lavos.

"Ayla, where Lavos?" Kino asked, noting that the parasite was no where to be seen inside of the crater.

"We investigate," she responded.

They and the others directed the dactyls back towards the scene where Azala's fortress had stood.

Upon arrival, Ayla jumped off her dactyl and looked around. She then ran to the center of the crater, knelt down, and placed her ear to the ground.

"Ayla, what—?" Kino began.

"Quiet!" she snapped, and as she listened harder she could just barely hear a rumbling noise that kept getting fainter.

"Lavos fast digger," she said. "He already deep under ground. That where he go." She got up and looked at Kino.

"Ayla, what we do now?" he asked her.

"Nothing we can do now but go back to village and fix things up." said Ayla. "Long winter ahead of us."

So they headed back towards the dactyls, where the others were waiting for them.

"Enough," muttered Cronus, and the image of the crater vanished.

"I can't believe the reptites are really...gone." muttered Rhea.

"Yes," replied Cronus. "They were a good people...but still, it had to be one or the other. Only now, the humans find themselves opposing something hundreds of times worse."

He paused for a moment to think about all they had just witnessed.

"This mortal, Ayla," he began quietly. "She is quite the warrior, I must admit. She possesses incredible strength and the mind of a cunning opponent."

He then looked at Rhea.

"You know what? I believe we found our first fighter. Someone who could help in the fight against...Lavos."

"Yes, I think she's perfect." Rhea said, nodding. Then she too thought for a moment.

"But I wonder...if Lavos plans to do anything before it destroys the world and turns it into a breeding ground for its young." she said at last.

"Only one way to find out," said Cronus, looking at the orb again.

"Show me the point in time when Lavos shall first rise from the ground."

Chapter 7: The Lost Kingdom

The orb's interior blurred again, and then it showed a snow covered land lost in a never ending blizzard.

"How far in time is this?" asked Rhea.

"I'm not sure," said Cronus. "Probably a few million years or so, because nothing here looks at all the same. What do you think caused this change in climate?"

"Hmm," Rhea said thoughtfully. "I guess Lavos's arrival had a bigger impact on the world than we thought. This is probably what Ayla meant when she said the fall would result in a lack of food, and do you remember Azala mentioning an Ice Age?"

"Oh," said Cronus. "Right. Of course."

There was not a single living thing in sight.

"Where is everybody?" Cronus wondered as he searched the snowy wasteland with his eyes, then, hoping they had not died out, said to the orb. "Show me a human settlement."

The orb turned a blue color, then revealed a collection of land masses that were...

"—floating in the sky!?" Rhea said, almost unwilling to believe it. "What...enabled the mortals to accomplish a feat like this?"

"Give us a closer view." Cronus commanded, and the orb zeroed in on the flying continents.

There were four of them in total, one fairly large and the other three slightly smaller in proportion. The continents, they saw, were holding up a wonderful kingdom. The buildings themselves looked as though they were made entirely out of white marble and were very beautiful. As Cronus and Rhea also noted, the kingdom seemed to evade the cold of the planet's surface beneath it, for the continents were covered with green grass and appeared to live in a never ending spring time.

On one of the smaller continents was a blue, transparent structure in the form of a pyramid. On another was a tower-like palace which seemed rather small compared to the other major buildings on the other continents. Cronus suspected that these two buildings were of particular importance, because no one could be found traversing on these two separate continents.

Instead, all of the activity could be found on the other two land masses. The third smaller continent carried a city, as well as a couple of platform-things which Cronus was unable to identify. In the city, humans were moving about, entering and leaving different buildings, wandering the streets, carrying important documents, or just sitting on the warm grass talking. Unlike there ancestors from several millions of years ago, who wore animal hides, these humans wore robes of blue, silver, and gold; stylized in a fashion much like the type Cronus was wearing. One man in particular caught Cronus's eye. He was fairly old, judging by his white beard and mustache; wore sapphire blue clothing with a matching hat, and resting on his right shoulder was a cape as white as his beard. Following close behind the man was a nu.

"The humans and nus are coexisting in this time period?" Rhea asked, watching the old man.

"It seems that way," Cronus responded.

They continued to watch the old man and nu as they headed for a dome-shaped study hall. The man pushed the doors open and they entered.

"Take us inside that building," Cronus said to the orb.

The orb blurred again and showed them a library, where the man and Nu were walking down an aisle towards another set of doors. People here were either reading, talking, or sleeping in specially made beds placed near the building's windows, apparently participating in some kind of meditation.

One thing that really caught the Titans' attention was this one woman who, when asked by a fellow researcher to retrieve a certain book, raised a hand and the book in question came flying off the shelves and into her hand.

"Wh..wha...what..was that?! What she just did?" said Cronus.

"I'm not too sure," said Rhea. "But I have a feeling it might have something to do with how the mortals managed to get the continents up in the sky to begin with."

It didn't seem like they were going to get an answer anyway. The woman handed the book to the person who requested it and then got back to work. It was at this point that Cronus realized they had forgotten all about the old man. Looking around, he found that the man had obviously left the library.

"Show us the man and his nu," Cronus ordered.

The image inside the orb dissolved and was shortly replaced by another one of the old man and the nu walking down a corridor. They stopped in front of a door with a silver plaque on it that read: PRIVATE. DO NOT DISTURB.

The old man removed an amulet he was wearing around his neck and brought it up to the door. The amulet gave off a small glow, and the door shifted upwards, revealing an opening. The two walked inside and the door shut behind them.

It was a dimly lit room with no windows, and at the other end were four figures. One was another elderly man with a large white mustache (not unlike the one the first man had), wore sunglasses and black and orange colored clothing. He was standing near an anvil, and appeared to be some type of weapon smith, because, in one hand he held a knife as red as blood, and in the other hand he held a simple stone. He brought the stone up and dragged it across the blade's edge, creating tiny sparks as he worked.

Two of the other three were a couple of pointy eared, bright eyed, brown skinned, white robed creatures. They were about a head shorter than the man with the knife, and stood on either side of him, watching as he continued to sharpen the weapon. The fourth figure was a third elderly man with a thin mustache. He wore red, and was standing next to a shelf with a book in his hand. The title of the book was "The Foundations of Zeal: By Guru Belthasar," and he was reading it out loud to himself and to the others.

"It all began ages ago," he read. "When man's ancestor picked up a shard of a strange red rock...It's power, which was beyond human comprehension, cultivated dreams."

It seemed none of them had noticed the sudden intrusion. The old man with the knife continued to work while he and the two strange creatures listened to the second man read.

"In turn, love and hate were born," he continued. "Only time will see how it all ends..."

The man in blue cleared his throat "Ahem!" and the others snapped to attention.

"Ah, Belthasar!" exclaimed the first man as he set his knife and stone down. The two small beings that were watching him seemed a little disappointed at this and walked away to find something else to do. "Good to see you back. What did the queen have to say about your plans?"

"Not much," the man named Belthasar replied as the nu walked over to the bookshelf to examine the book that the third man had been reading out of. "While I tried to explain my ideas for a time machine and its functions, she just kept nodding and yawned every now and then. When I was about half way through, she cut me off and said it was all very clever and everything, but that she wants the work on the Ocean Palace finished before we can get knee deep in another project. She says once we have achieved immortality, she will have time for anything."

The first man gave an understanding nod.

"I still don't agree with her decision on all this," he said. "The queen is forcing us to meddle with a power we can't even recognize. I don't see what convinces her that Lavos is as harmless as a fly. Incidentally, were you able to speak with her about the risks involved in this project she is determined to undertake?"

"No," said Belthasar, shaking his head. "I was dismissed before I had the chance to address the operation in general. I agree with you, though, it is foolish to use the power of something like Lavos for self-gratification, especially when we don't even know why it's here, if it wants to heal or harm us. For all we know, it could smash us in a heartbeat if we try to take its energy. As far as I'm concerned, we should just leave the creature alone."

The room fell silent for a moment, then Belthasar glanced at the knife which the first man had been sharpening previously.

"And what, may I ask, is that you have over there, Melchior? Your latest weapon?"

The man called Melchior picked up the knife, admiring its features.

"Yes, the queen told me to come up with some new specialized weapons for the guards acting as security around the Ocean Palace," he said with another sigh. "She wants everything to go as smoothly as possible once we attempt to tap into Lavos. I call this the Ruby Knife, and it is my life's work."

"What makes it so different from the others you have forged?" asked Belthasar.

Melchior smiled for a moment, then said. "They often say that a fighter should not put too much faith into a weapon since it's only the tool. That the weapon doesn't make the fighter, the fighter makes the fighter, and the soul is at the heart of it all. Well, I took those words into consideration and thought: 'What if a blade was granted a soul of its own? Could the two minds work together in combat and give birth to a fighter that would be legend? It could be like the power of two combined into one.' So I forged a knife out of the same Dreamstone which gave life to Masa and Mune, and here it is." he handed the knife to Belthasar, who took it and examined it.

"The same Dreamstone you used to create the twins?" he asked as he glanced down at the two strange figures that were running around yelling "I am the wind, WHOOSH!"

"So then does that mean—?" Belthasar began.

"—that they are the ones bound to the knife?" Melchior finished. "Yes, and instead of one soul giving the blade its special power, there are two. Where the knife goes, they go. They can also determine if whether someone is worthy of wielding the blade or not. Unless the warrior's heart in pure and their intentions true, the knife will never achieve its full effect. And, since it's made of Dreamstone, the knife is something of an anti-magic weapon, absorbing the enemy's magical abilities, if any."

"Almost sounds like you could take on the kingdom with just that knife if you wanted to," Belthasar said with a slight grin. Then he turned his attention to the man with the book.

"Oh, my apologies Gaspar," he said with a wave of his hand. "We've been ignoring you this whole time. How are you feeling? What book have you got there? Ah, my documentary on Zeal. I hope you are enjoying it?"

"Yes, very," Gaspar replied as he snapped the book shut. "And after reading the first few chapters, I'm beginning to feel as though the kingdom has become too reliant on magic. I think the people should remember the basic necessities of life and realize that this power of ours is not one of them. Because...if they do not and if we were to find ourselves without it some day, then how long will it be until we all waste away? Is magic a gift...or a curse, I ask you?" And almost as though driving home the point, he raised the hand holding the book and sent it soaring into the grasp of the nu, who began to read it at once.

"Yes," Melchior said, nodding casually as Gaspar seemed to realize what he had just done and walked over to a desk in the corner of the room. He pulled out some type of blueprint and began reading through it, taking notes all the while. Melchior then turned to Belthasar again. "So, was there anything else the queen wanted to say?"

"Not much," Belthasar replied as he stroked his beard in thought. "But she did mention a meeting that was to take place in her throne room in about two hours time, and she wants us to attend."

"What is it going to focus on?"

"She wants to find out who should be the one to lead the operation at the Ocean Palace once it is completed."

Melchior was silent.

"Oh," he said finally, in a dark tone.

No one spoke for a while. Then...

"Well, we may as well go now, I suppose," Melchior blurted out. "After all, it's an hour's walk to the palace, and it wouldn't hurt to arrive a little early. Besides, I feel as though we should maybe take the extra time to tell Queen Zeal about our...concerns...regarding Lavos."

"Well...okay," Belthasar said with a shrug, he then turned to Gaspar. "Are you coming, Gaspar?"

At first, Gaspar didn't reply as he continued to read through the blueprints, then Belthasar said. "I'm sure you can continue working on...whatever it is you're working on once we get back. Come, maybe we can have some tea once we arrive there."

"Augh, all right just a minute," Gaspar impatiently replied, and he started folding up the blueprints. Looking over his shoulder, Belthasar thought he could make out some kind of oval shaped object sketched onto the paper, similar to an egg.

"Okay, let's go," said Melchior, and he turned to Masa and Mune.

"You two watch this place for us, okay?" he asked.

"Sure thing, master Melchior," said one of the twins as he jumped happily up and down like a little child.

"You can count on us, master," said the other.

Melchior nodded and walked out the door, Gaspar and Belthasar following in his wake. They headed down the hallway and came upon the library again. By now, most of the people in the library had left and only a few were at the tables, reading or talking. The gurus suspected it having to do something with how late it was getting, because they could see outside the windows that the sky had turned an orange color. They walked down the aisle leading to the exit and some of the readers looked up from their books and greeted the gurus. They headed out the doors and moved down the main road leading out of the city.

"This...magic that they speak of," Rhea began. "Some sort of supernatural power they gained from a rock? I wonder where they obtained such a material."

"Yes," Cronus agreed. "I guess that planet is filled with more surprises then we thought. Those two creatures, though, Masa and Mune, they were made by the will of man? I can sense an unnerving force working between them and that knife."

"Indeed. But what's that thing that there heading to?" Rhea asked, suddenly pointing back at the orb.

The gurus approached one of the platform-type structures that Cronus and Rhea had seen earlier before and climbed the steps leading to the top. The top of the platform was covered with bizarre hieroglyphics, and when the gurus' feet touched them, they glowed.

Then the trio simply vanished.

"Wh...where did they go?" asked Cronus, startled.

The orb seemed to take those words as an order, and blurred again before showing them some kind of building stationed on one of the planet's snow covered continents. The gurus could be seen leaving the building, and they were marching through the snow while some kind of magical force field surrounding them protected them from the cold winds. Gaspar could be heard telling the others about his thoughts on Lavos and the Ocean Palace as the three stomped their way across.

"—completely irrational," he was saying. "But what I would like to know is where Lavos is getting it's power from exactly. I remember the queen telling us that she believes Lavos absorbs the nutrients found in the soil for energy, but then would that mean that this thing is feeding on the planet from the inside out?"

"That's exactly what I'm worried about," replied Melchior. "If that's really the case, then it must be some kind of parasite, and I've never heard of a parasite that did good for its host."

"How about we just drop it?" suggested Belthasar. "No point in getting worried about this right now, let's save it till we reach the palace."

"Oh, very well," said Gaspar.

And so they continued their march across the continent is silence. About thirty minutes later, they reached another structure identical to the one they had been to previously before. They walked inside, thoroughly glad to be out of the snow, and then climbed the steps leading to yet another transport of some sort. The platform let out a glow just like the last one, and once again the gurus vanished. This time, however, the orb followed their progress, and showed them moving down a path crossing an enormous lake after they had stepped down from the transport. It didn't take long for the two titans to realize the gurus were back in Zeal. Only now, they were on the central continent.

If you were to think the other land masses were impressive-looking, this one put all of them to shame. It was undoubtedly the largest of the four, and, unlike the others, had a magnificent lake crafted in its center. The water was crystal clear, and connected at the southern end of the lake were two rivers branching off in different directions. A pair of bridges connected the eastern and western sides of the lake, while meeting at a small island right in the middle. Underneath the bridges, the water would run through the rivers till it reached the continent's edge. From that point onward, it would fall, sparkling, to the planet's ocean below.

At the continent's western edge stood another spectacular city and a kind of station. Nestled at the station was a strange ship-like thing unlike anything Cronus or Rhea had ever seen before. It bore a very vague resemblance to a bird, though. It had a tail and wings of metal, so then it was used for flight? Cronus didn't find that possibility too hard to believe, since the kingdom itself was in the sky.

At the northern end of the continent, near the lake's shores, stood a tall mountain. It literally dominated everything around it with its size, and at its peak, scraping the skies, was the palace.

The gurus continued onwards, crossing the bridges and heading for a fork in the road on the other side. They took the path to the right leading to a cave in the mountain. They went in, and reappeared only a few seconds later at the mouth of another cave higher up on the mountain. "There must be some type of transporter inside the cave that functions in a way similar to the transcontinental ones outside," Cronus thought to himself. Meanwhile, the gurus continued up the path, crossing a third bridge along the way. On one side of the bridge, a waterfall could be seen falling to the great lake below, replenishing it of any water lost as it continued to fall into the sea. The gurus came to the opening of yet another cave, and headed inside only to reappear again at the fourth and highest cave entrance. They then began climbing a long series of steps which would eventually take them to the palace's front gates.

The palace itself outshone every other building in the kingdom. It's immense walls seemed to be made out of nothing but pure marble with a silver coating. The rooftops, meanwhile, were covered in gold. Its windows were clear and clean and you probably wouldn't have even known they had glass in them unless you touched them yourself. Cronus doubted if even his creator's palace would have been able to stand up to this amazing structure.

The gurus pushed the large doors open and entered an extremely decorative hallway filled with people, all discussing the power of Lavos and what promise it may hold. They continued forward, passing a group of people talking near a fountain (some of whom smiled and said hello to the gurus), until reaching another set of doors and headed inside.

It was a kind of study hall, and only one person could be found in here. A little boy sitting in a chair with a book lying open on a table to his left. He had purple robes, stunning blue hair, and bright green eyes. A piece of string was tied around one of his fingers and he dangled it at something in his lap, seemingly oblivious to the fact that someone had just entered.

"Working hard, Janus?" Gaspar asked, smiling.

Uttering a small yelp, the boy quickly shoved what looked to be a white and violet fuzz ball off of his lap and underneath the table, then pulled the book towards his face with a grunt that sounded oddly like "Yes."

"Hmm that's good," replied the guru as he and the others approached and stopped for a moment to watch the child named Janus.

Silence followed those last words for a while, until the head of a small cat peeped out from underneath the table, emitted a soft meow and was quickly pushed back underneath by the boy's foot. Gaspar's grin widened at the sight of this.

"What are you doing here anyway?" the boy asked rather bluntly in a let's-get-
straight-to-the-point kind of tone as he put the book down for a moment, then his expression fell.

"Not another tutoring lesson? We already had one today!"

"No, my boy," Melchior said as he and the others laughed, "no, we're here for a meeting with your mother and the high council. Though we are a bit early, so I guess we're just looking for a way to burn some of the time."

"Yeah? Well, please stop," Janus replied impatiently as he returned his attention to the book, though his eyes didn't move an inch as he stared determinedly at the same word on the same page. "You're making me feel uncomfortable."

"Oh alright," said Belthasar and he tugged at the others to follow him to the doors, where he quietly muttered. "Kids these days, no respect."

Melchior stopped at the doors for a moment, then turned to Janus again.

"By the way, Janus, would you happen to know where we could find your sister?"

"Schala's in the throne room with mother," said the boy, and he quietly added. "They're talking about that...that thing that mother wants to disturb." Janus shook his head in disgust.

Melchior nodded. "Yes my boy, we're ALL worried about that, though we probably shouldn't be. I doubt your mother would tap into a power she felt was dangerous. We'll talk to her about it, she'll listen."

But Melchior secretly doubted all of this, and so, apparently, did Janus.

"She's changed since the discovery of Lavos," the boy said sadly. "She won't even listen to Schala or me."

"Well, we'll see what can be done, my boy. Now we'd better go."

The gurus headed out the door at the other side of the room, and Melchior was about to shut it after him when he paused again.

"Oh and Janus," he said, smiling, "I would advice that you untie that string before it cuts off the circulation to your finger for too long."

The boy jumped and looked at his left hand, having completely forgotten about the bit of thread he was using to play with his cat. As he struggled to yank it off, the cat in question came out from underneath the table again, assuming that the coast was clear.

"Alfador, no!" Janus whispered urgently as he attempted once again to shove the cat back under the table. Melchior just smiled one last time and closed the door behind him, muttering. "Kids."

"Interesting child," Rhea said thoughtfully as she and Cronus watched the gurus head up a flight of stairs that most likely lead to the throne room. "There's definitely something different about that boy."

"Yes," said Cronus, "I'm almost certain that I felt some kind of inner force within him."

"What do you mean?" asked Rhea, looking at him.

"When I looked into his eyes," Cronus began, "I saw something deep inside. Some kind of magical force unlike any other I've felt so far. Though it appears to be asleep, it's unusually strong. All of the other humans seem to have their magic linked to some type of central source, perhaps dreamstone. But that child appears to have his own unique brand of magic that doesn't come from any such source."

Cronus hesitated before adding. "I suspect that Janus will grow up to be far more powerful than any of the others."

"Uh huh," Rhea said with a nod. "What do you suppose this could mean?"

"I'm not sure," replied Cronus, "but I have some thoughts..."

Belthasar held his amulet up to a specially designed door and it opened the same way their apartment door did. The three gurus entered an enormous circular room with brilliant lighting. At the opposite end of the room three people were talking. One was a man, clearly at the height of his fitness with long brown hair, a flowing golden-colored cape, a blue vest, and an eye patch over his right eye. The person standing next to him was a young woman somewhere in her early twenties by the looks of it. "This must be Schala," Cronus thought to himself. "The apple clearly doesn't fall far from the tree in this royal family." For Schala had bright blue hair, just like her brother, which she had in a pony tail. She also wore robes of a violet color, and around her neck was a golden pendant with a large blue gem set in the middle.

The third person, who sat on the throne elevated high above the ground, was obviously the queen. Like her two children, she had blue hair. Some of it was wrapped in a messy bun on the top of her head. She wore a combination of blue and orange, a cape on her back, and two shoulder plates on her shoulders. The mother and daughter had been talking before the gurus came in, but stopped to see who had entered.

"Who dares to distu—?" the queen began angrily, but when she saw who it was, her attitude changed completely.

"Ah! Melchior! Belthasar! Gaspar!"

The queen raised herself from her throne and began to descend down the steps.

"How nice of you to come. Now I suppose you're wondering why I summoned you?"

"Eh?" Gaspar raised an eyebrow. "You summoned for us?"

"Er...well yes," replied the queen, who seemed equally confused. "I sent a servant only a while ago to your sanctuary, or did you miss him?"

"Must have," Melchior said with a shrug. "We didn't encounter anyone who wanted to tell us anything. We're here because of the meeting, though we are a bit early I suppo—"

"Oh yes, about the meeting, I canceled it." said the queen.

"You did?" said Gaspar, a little startled. "Oh okay, but all the sa—"

"All the same," the queen interrupted, "I thought I'd call for you anyway, since you three are obviously the best candidates for leader of the ocean project. I figured why should I waste time with a pointless meeting?"

"Ah yes," Belthasar sighed, "about that, look my queen, the other gurus and I thought we should speak with you about a few concerns regarding the creature we call Lavos."

"What is there to be concerned about?" the queen asked with a small chuckle. "Lavos is harmless."

"My queen," Gaspar began, "do we even know where Lavos is getting its power from?"

Queen Zeal looked at him.

"Wh-what has that got to do with it?"

"Practically everything," he replied, his eyes widening having just discovered that the queen had not taken this into serious consideration. "Throughout my studies, your highness, I've never known perpetual energy to be anything more than fantasy. Fuel is always a requirement for energy, and only a few of my recent studies on Lavos have led me to believe that it may be absorbing the nutrients found in the very soil of our world."

"What?" said Schala and the man with the eye patch in alarm.

"Meaning that it's eating up the planet from within?" said the man.

"Dalton! Schala! Be silent!" the queen snapped. "You will speak when spoken to. Of course it isn't like that. Lavos is not going to bring any harm to us or the planet."

"How do you know that, my queen?" asked Melchior. "And, also, how do we know that Lavos is going to cooperate? If it really is powerful enough to grant immortality, then I shudder to think what would happen if it turned its power against us."

"No more questions!" shouted the queen, who was becoming quite angry. "Now, I want—!"

"Which leads me to my next question," Melchior continued, as though she hadn't uttered a word, "how do we know that this power can grant immortality? And if it can, then what will be the price? Can it really be worth—?"

"ENOUGH!!" the queen bellowed. "I don't have time for this! Now listen, the Ocean Palace will be finished in two days time, so—"

"In that case, we should have plenty of time to discuss this project you wish to carry out so badly," pointed out Gaspar. Zeal ignored him.

"When it's ready," she continued, "the Mammon Machine shall be relocated in the palace's main hall. There, it will act as our direct link to Lavos. However, it can only be fully activated with either the amulet or the pendant that Melchior crafted for it."

Belthasar put a hand on the amulet around his neck, while Schala looked down at her pendant.

"You three and Schala can handle the power of those artifacts better than anyone else," said Zeal, and she turned to Belthasar.

"Belthasar, you're holding the amulet right now, and as the Guru of Reason, you've been more involved in this than either Gaspar of Melchior. I want you to lead the project by activating the Mammon Machine once the time comes."

Belthasar looked at his amulet, then he looked at the queen, then he glanced at his fellow gurus. Finally, he heaved a sigh and looked back at his queen.

"No," he said quietly, "I will not."

An uncomfortable silence followed these words.

"You...you dare to disobey me?" the queen said in silent fury. "You dare go against the words of your ruler? I thought you loved your queen."

"Yes, my queen, I do love you," replied Belthasar.

"Good," she said. "In that case, you won't hesitate to follow my—"

"However," the guru interrupted, "I love my kingdom more."

Zeal looked as though she had been hit square in the face by those words. In reaction, she reached for Belthasar's neck and painfully yanked the amulet off.

"You are unworthy of wearing this symbol of power," she growled, then turned to Melchior and Gaspar.

"If he isn't going to cooperate, then it looks as though one of you will have to do it instead," she said and she held the amulet out to them.

Melchior just looked at her and said. "No, I will have no part in this. I will not endanger my home."

Gaspar gripped his staff tightly and said. "Nor shall I."

The queen couldn't believe what was happening. The gurus never disobeyed her like this before, and what would her people think if they got wind of this? If she just simply stripped the gurus of their positions and kicked them out of the castle, they could still spread their worries to the rest of the kingdom. What would she do then, if the majority of the people were to stand up to her?

She figured that if everything was to go as planned, she would have to deal with the gurus for good. They could not be allowed to return to civilization. She would have them removed, and do the same to any other who'd might refuse to follow her.

"Very well," she said after a long pause. "Dalton, could you come here for a moment?"

Bewildered, the one-eyed man approached his queen. She beckoned him to lean foreword and she whispered something in his ear. His eye widened for a moment, and he stepped back and gave her a quizzical look. She leaned towards him and again whispered something to him. Dalton's expression changed to surprise, and then a grin split across his face. He turned to the gurus.

"Could you three come with me please?" Dalton asked, and he ushered them to follow him out the door.

Once they left, the queen walked over to her daughter and addressed her.

"Schala, from this point onward, you and I will be the head of the operation," she said, then narrowed her eyes, "and I should hope that you will be more obedient than those other three?"

Schala gulped and replied. "Y-yes, of course, mother."

"Good," said Zeal, then she handed the amulet over to her daughter. "You hold on to this, since we're only going to need your pendant for the project. Now I would advise that you take care of anything that needs taking care of right now. Tomorrow and the day after that we will be focusing entirely on what is ahead of us."

"Yes mother," said the young girl, then she added. "Um...what will become of Melchior and the others?"

"Never you mind about them," the queen said darkly as she headed back to her throne. "Don't pry into anything regarding them. Just focus on what's important."

"Well...alright mother."

"You are dismissed, Schala."

"Thank you, mother."

Schala turned on her heel and walked out the door. Once out in the hall, she noticed that Dalton and the gurus were gone.

"What DID mother tell Dalton to do?" she thought.

In her living quarters, Schala looked at the amulet her mother had given her. She placed it in her pocket, then looked out the window and said. "Please don't let anything bad happen to mother, and please let the gurus be okay."

Suddenly, a cold wind wrapped around her body. She shuddered and closed her eyes in fear. All of the room's windows were shut, but she had a pretty good idea of what caused the sudden breeze.

"Schala?" came a small voice.

The princess turned around to see Janus standing near the doorway with Alfador at his heel.

"You're back!" the boy said with glee.

"Yes," said Schala with a smile, "sorry it took so long. Mother was keeping me busy, talking about the Ocean Palace and Lavos."

At the mention of their mother and Lavos, Janus's smile slid off his face like mud.

"Oh," he said simply.

Schala walked over to her little brother and put a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"I know you feel that the idea of using Lavos to our own advantage is questionable," she said soothingly. "I do too, but I'm not the one in control at the moment, mother is."

"She's NOT our mother!" Janus shouted as he stepped back. "She looks like mother, but inside she has changed. We both know it."

"Janus, please."

"But you're still following what she says," said Janus. "You need to take charge a little. Please tell me you'll do something about all this." And he stared up at her, a look of plead in his eyes.

Schala let out a sigh, kneeled down and took her brother's hands.

"Alright," she said, "I promise I won't let anything bad happen. But Janus, you're too young to be worrying about this. You're right. Lavos has had some sort of influence on her, but I'm sure that somewhere along the way she'll see that tapping into that creature's power involves too many risks, and that will be the time for me to try and talk her out of it. She'll listen to me, I'm her daughter after all. We need to have faith."

Janus looked down, his eyes closed.

"Thanks Schala," he said. "You're one of the few whom I can really count on."

She smiled and embraced him in a hug. Several seconds flew by quietly.

"Oh wait a minute," Schala said suddenly.

She pulled away and reached into her pocket. From within it she withdrew Belthasar's amulet.

"Here," she said, and handed it to Janus.

"What is it?" Janus asked as he eyed it curiously.

"It's a kind of amulet, very much like my pendant," Schala explained. "Unfortunately, I won't be seeing you much for the next two days, and while I may be going to the Ocean Palace with mother, she has prohibited you from coming along. She doesn't want any children to be present during the operation, and that's including you, I'm afraid. So I'm giving you this to look after you. If something should happen, it'll protect you."

Janus took the amulet and examined it more thoroughly.

"Oh, I remember guru Belthasar wearing this," he said. "He had it the last time we met. But how will it protect me?"

"Janus, you know the gurus," Schala replied. "Anything they make can bring great things."

Janus grinned and placed it around his neck.

"Thanks Schala," he said. "I'll keep it forever and ever."

"That's good," she said.

Janus's smile then vanished again.

"Wait," he said, "there's something else that troubles me."

"What is it?" Schala asked, concerned.

"It's the black wind," said Janus. "I can feel it."

"I know," said Schala, "I feel it too."

There was a pause. Then Janus spoke up.

"Will everything be okay, Schala?"

"Sure, Janus. Everything's going to be fine. I guarantee it." she said. "Now you get to bed and stop worrying. It's very late."

Janus looked out the window, and could see stars appearing in the dark sky.

"Alright," he said. "Come on Alfador."

Alfador, who had been sitting at a corner the entire time, followed his master out the door. After they left, Schala collapsed onto her bed without changing.

"Yes," she assured herself. "Everything will be fine. Mother may be acting a little reckless right now, but if nothing good can come from Lavos, the others and I will be able to talk her out of it."

She turned over on her bed and thought. "At least I hope we can."

Then she closed her eyes and fell into a deep, untroubled sleep.

Day 1

"Fuel is always a requirement for energy," Schala muttered to herself the next day. She had been thinking about what Gaspar and the other two gurus had said last night, after it was brought up in her mind as she entered the hall of the Mammon Machine to watch a group of engineers as they made several modifications to the device.

With a curious power core capable of adding to and even possibly multiplying the power of a targeted source, it was a large, vertically positioned mechanism painted gold with several bright lights. At first glance, a person might not have thought too much of it considering what it was supposed to be capable of, but it was indeed a very mysterious invention which even its creators had trouble fully understanding. It represented the pinnacle of the kingdom's position in the world, and it was through this device that Zeal would attempt to tap into the wealth of power that was Lavos.

"Hurry it up! It's already been eight hours!" Dalton called impatiently from outside the door. "That thing needs to be moved down to the palace by tomorrow, you know?"

"Sir, the machine has very delicate settings," called one engineer as he wiped a bead of sweat off of his forehead. "This cannot be rushed."

"Well, at any rate," Dalton stated, "just be careful not to blast the entire kingdom out of the sky."

"We will," called the engineer with a roll of his eyes.

"Remind me again how that oaf got to be the queen's top guard," whispered a second engineer.

"He had a 'connection,' if you know what I mean," said the first one.

"Make that a pretty unbelievable connection," said a third, "if he would be able to banish the gurus and not get in trouble with the queen about it."

"Eh? What was that?" thought Schala, surprised.

"Where've you been?" the first engineer asked. "It was the queen's orders. Dalton didn't just suddenly choose to get rid of them for no reason in particular."

"The queen made him do it?" asked the third. "Why'd she want that? For what reason?"

"Based off of what the palace guards have been telling everyone," began the second, "she apparently got ticked at them for rejecting the idea of using Lavos. So she had them disposed of as punishment."

"To where? The village of Algetty?"

"Home of the Earthbound ones? Nah. The sentence was far more brutal than that."

"You don't say? Where then?"

"Mount Woe."

Schala let out a silent gasp. Mount Woe was an artificial mountain that floated very much like Zeal itself. Except it was much closer to the planet's surface and chained to the ground.

"Well," continued the second engineer, "at least that's where Melchior was sent to. I dunno where the other two are, and nor does anyone else."

"How long is the sentence for?" asked the third.

"From what I understand, it's for life."

"Life!?" thought Schala.

"Boy," said the first, "I'd hate to have the queen mad at me."

"No kidding," said the second.

"Everything alright, princess?" asked the third.

It was then that Schala realized she had been staring at them with a mixed look on her face and they were all now looking at her in return. She quickly recovered herself.

"Y-yes," she said, "just do your job, we need this finished."

"Yes, madam," said the three workers.

After a while, she spoke up again.

"So, can I trust you all to take care of things once you're done?" she asked.

"Yes, your highness," said the first.

"Good, because I just remembered something I need to take care of. So just finish up so that I may charge my pendant later today."

"Sure thing, just leave everything to us."

Schala immediately headed out the door, questions buzzing around in her head.

"A life sentence for the gurus? Mount Woe? Why was I one of the last to find out? What is mother thinking? And where are Gaspar and Belthasar?"

She was so lost in her thoughts that she nearly ran into the queen.

"Anything wrong, child?" her mother asked sweetly.

"No," she responded, a little quicker than she meant to.

"That's good," said Zeal, then she added, "now, could you please fetch Dalton for me? I would usually get one of the assistants to do such a thing, but everyone is either putting the finishing touches on the Ocean Palace or working on the plans for the draining of Lavos."

The Queen then stopped and scratched her chin.

"Which, by the way, we will be going over all day tomorrow," she said. "So be sure to sleep well tonight, child, because you'll need to be fully awake for what we'll be going over."

Schala nodded, then she said. "Oh, and mother, I have a question."

"Yes dear?" asked the queen with a grin.

"I was wondering...about what Gaspar said regarding perpetual energy. DO we even know where Lavos is getting its pow—?"

Zeal's eyes narrowed, then she moved towards Schala and only stopped once their faces were literally an inch away.

"Schala, I—" the queen began in a tone that sent a chill crawling down her daughter's spine.

And then, Schala saw something that would forever haunt her.

In one of her mother's eyes was a clear flame, a bright red flame, then it turned a blue and suddenly extinguished itself. From the dark smoke, a creature emerged. A spiky shell, a valve-like mouth, and an eye right in its center, it was one of the most hideous things she had ever seen, if not THE most hideous. To Schala, the creature's eye was extremely small considering it was seen in the eyes of another. But it was clear and unmistakable, and it contained an emptiness that seemed to go on forever. Schala was hypnotized by what she saw, and time seemed to stand still for a moment. That is, until she could hear her mother's again.

"—thought I told you not to pry into the matter of the gurus," she said. "They have a warped view on Lavos. It gets its power from the sun, obviously."

Schala closed her eyes for a moment, and when she reopened them, the thing that had materialized in her mother's eye had gone.

"Oh...okay mother. Well thanks anyway...I...I better go and get Dalton then. Don't want to keep him waiting."

Schala didn't care if she sounded a little odd, she just wanted to put as much space in between her and her mother before she tried thinking clearly. She broke into a fast walk and headed down the hall, leaving her mother behind.

"Dear," her mother began, "Dalton's quarters are the other way."

Schala stopped and walked back passed her mother. She entered through a door and went for the guards' chambers, where Dalton would most likely be found, yelling at his top lieutenants. Based off of what Schala knew about Dalton, putting others down was his favorite method of relieving stress whenever there was a lot to do.

"Power from the sun. As if a being living deep in the ground could get enough solar power to create an energy that would excite an entire kingdom," Schala thought, shaking her head. "Mother clearly didn't put much thought into THAT one either."

As she left the inside of her brain, she found herself standing in front of the door to Dalton's quarters.

"Hmm, I wonder if I could get anything out of Dalton concerning what he did with Belthasar and Gaspar," she thought as she turned the brass knob. "I'm his superior, so he'll most likely cooperate if he remembers his position."

Interestingly enough, Dalton WAS shouting at two of the top guards as Schala entered. From what Schala was able to gather from the bit of talking that reached her ears untroubled, there had been some accident at the Ocean Palace construction site, and Dalton was blaming the guards for not being vigilant enough to be able to prevent it from happening.

"—could have set back the entire project by another day if any of the critical support beams had been knocked down!!" Dalton was yelling. "You bunch have a job down there! You're not supposed to sit back and enjoy the scene, you're supposed to prevent anything that threatens what may be the most important event of our lives!!"

The two soldiers cowered as Dalton loomed over them, both hoping that their punishments wouldn't be too harsh.

"We...humbly apologize, sir," one them squeaked as Dalton paused for breath. "We never meant for it to happen, but you have to understand: One Earthbound worker called for us to help him with a stone-filled wheelbarrow that had fallen over, and we were too occupied to—"

"That is NOT a compelling argument!!" Dalton shouted. "Why didn't just one of you stay behind as the other went to help that worthless, non-magic wretch, may I ask?! You both set poor examples of our kingdom's might and mark my words, if anything serious had happened, you both may have well turned in your uniforms and gone to join the Earthbound ones at that rat hole they call their home. Now get out!!! I need a moment to myself."

And with that, he turned his back on them and went to look at a report sitting on his desk at a corner of the room.

Stunned by their luck, the duo hastened to obey in case Dalton changed his mind about letting them stay on the force. Once they reached the door, they both stopped and bowed respectively to Schala, then rushed out. Dalton however, who now had his back turned to Schala, did not notice her come in as he had shouted at the two lieutenants.

Schala coughed lightly to get his attention, and Dalton turned around with a scowl on his face.

"Ah! Princess Schala!" proclaimed Dalton as he replaced his scowl with a completely unconvincing look of delight. "How nice of you to drop by. I am at your service."

And he bowed deeply.

"Stand straight, please," Schala answered simply. "I want to ask you something."

"Yes?"

"Could you possibly tell me where the gurus, Belthasar and Gaspar, are being held?"

Dalton raised his left eyebrow.

"Why do you ask?" he said.

"Oh, just curious," Schala said simply.

"Well then, I'm afraid I can't tell you anything about them," he replied.

"Why not?" asked Schala, somewhat angered.

"Queen's orders," said Dalton with a shrug of his shoulders "Unless under special circumstances, I'm not to tell anyone regarding the locations of the gurus."

"Not even me?" Schala asked incredulously.

"Not even you," Dalton confirmed. "Her Majesty and I are the only ones who know the whereabouts of guru Gaspar and guru Belthasar. Although a few guards know of the holding place of guru Melchior, they too are prohibited of giving any details. And I'm pleased to find that at least they have the Queen's best interests in mind, unlike a couple of useless, clumsy knaves I could name."

"Wow," thought Schala. "Clearly, he hasn't left his quarters all day, has he?"

"Is there anything else, my princess?" Dalton asked.

"N...no, that's all I came for. You can go back to whatever you were doing."

And with that, having completely forgotten about what her mother had asked her to do, she walked out the door and closed it behind her.

"So much for that," Schala thought to herself that night as she laid in bed. "But at least I know where they're keeping Melchior, and I did promise Janus I would do something about mother and....that thing."

At those words, Schala suddenly recalled what she had seen in her mother's eye the last time she encountered her. The flame...and the creature that emerged from it.

That night, before falling asleep, Schala's last thought was. "Mother must be stopped."

Day 2

The next morning, Schala knocked on the door of her mother's study, and it flew open almost at once. There was Queen Zeal, grinning again.

"Ah, you're here," she said. "Good, we can start now."

She beckoned Schala into the room, and the moment she stepped in, Schala could see that nearly every inch of space had been taken up by scrolls and bits of parchment. The floor was completely covered with papers, and on the table were several stacks of reports waiting to be riffled through.

"We're going to be reviewing everything today," Zeal declared as she approached the table at took a scroll from one of the stacks. "So you better be ready, this is going to take up most of the day."

Schala reluctantly joined her mother at the table and they began.

Hours crawled by slowly and Schala quickly lost focus. Her mother, however, seemed to be completely unaffected by the passage of time, as she held up special prints for Schala to look at and pointed at anything vital.

"God, how can something such as draining a special force sound so simple yet be so complicated?" Schala thought to herself as she rested her head on her hand, her eyes drooping a little. She just let her mother's talk wash over her while she would occasionally say things like "Right" and "Sure" and "OK, that makes sense."

They worked well into the evening, and the light outside had almost completely gone by the time they had finished reviewing everything. As Zeal began brandishing the last file in front of her daughter's face, pointing out everything that had to be known, Schala was about ready to fall asleep.

Until she heard a voice that didn't belong to her mother.

"Schala? Schala! Are you there? Can you hear me?"

Schala's eyes flew wide open and she jumped out of her seat, knocking the report her mother was holding out of her hand in the process.

"Child!" the Queen shouted angrily. "This is not the kind of thing to—!"

"Shh! What was that? Who said that?" Schala said, looking around.

"Don't you shush me!" Zeal snapped. "I should hardly think that—!"

Then, Schala heard the voice again.

"Seems I chose a bad time," it said. "Oh well."

And all was silent, with the exception of Zeal's continued nagging.

"S-sorry, mother," Schala said quickly. "I must've dozed off and thought I heard something."

Although she knew she was quite awake once she heard the voice a second time, something in her conscience told her not to get her mother suspicious.

The Queen looked at her.

"Clearly you've been dreaming, child," she said, then after a while she seemed to calm down a bit. "Well, that's really no surprise when I think about it. We HAVE been working all day, and you're still young too."

"The way you say it," thought Schala, "you make it sound as though I'm still five years old or something."

"Very well," continued Zeal. "That last report wasn't really too important, anyway. We've pretty much covered the bulk of the project and that's what really matters. And since you've been very obedient and working hard, I'll let you go THIS time."

The queen stood up from her chair.

"We better get our rest for tomorrow," she said. " For the project itself is what really counts."

But then she stopped and frowned at Schala.

"However," she said. "You better be ready for whatever comes, Schala, or I may change my mind about punishing you."

"Y-yes, mother."

Later that night, Schala returned to her room and sat at her own work desk, trying to recuperate from the long day of nonstop reviewing.

"Well, I wasn't able to do too much today," she said to herself, "but I promised Janus that I would do something about mother."

She put her head in her hands.

"But then again, what can I do? Even though I'm now convinced that tapping into Lavos's power is a bad idea, I don't see how I can stop mother on my own. The only other people who were critical of the risks besides Janus and I were the gurus."

She stopped talking and looked at her pendant for a moment.

"Melchior, I wish you were here," she thought. "You, Gaspar, and Belthasar always had several solutions whenever trouble came."

"Then I feel you may be in luck."

It was the voice from only a few hours ago, and it made Schala jump again.

"Wha...what?" she stammered.

"It's good to see you've been doing well," it said. "I wish I could say the same about myself."

It was hard to identify the voice, but Schala thought she had an idea of who it might be.

"Melchior!?" she said.

"Yes, Schala, it is I," the voice responded.

"Wh-where are you?"

"At the top of Mount Woe, unfortunately."

"Then, how are we...how are you...? What's going on?"

"Yes, perhaps I should explain first," Melchior began. "You know that pendant that was given to you?"

"The one that you had crafted?" said Schala. "Yes, I have it. I'm wearing it right now."

"Uh huh, well let's just say that your pendant is capable of more than we, the gurus, chose to tell you and your mother about," said the voice of Melchior. "In addition to things like channeling powers, opening doors with the kingdom's special seal, and linking up with the Mammon Machine, that little piece of jewelry and I share a special connection."

"Continue," Schala said after the guru paused for a moment.

"No matter where in the world," said Melchior, "if someone other than myself is wearing that pendant, I can speak to them inside of their brain through the gem. I originally came up with the feature so that if someone were to borrow it from me, Belthasar, or Gaspar and I felt I wanted to keep track of them and their business, I could focus my attention on the power of the pendant and it would tell me exactly where the person was and what they were doing, in addition to letting me speak with them through the mind. And unless I'm very much mistaken, Schala, you are in your room and were thinking about the Ocean Project prior to my arrival?"

"Why...y-yes," replied Schala, amazed. "Telepathy, I never would have thought it possible in real life. But why are you speaking to me now, guru Melchior? And do you know where the other two gurus are?"

"In response to your first question," Melchior began, "while Dalton was taking us to our new...homes two days ago, I had temporarily forgotten about the pendant. However, it probably wouldn't have mattered anyhow, since I wouldn't have been able to contact you without getting Dalton suspicious of my actions. It then came to me once I was in my cell that I would be able to reach you with the help of the pendant. But I met a little resistance at first."

"What resistence?" asked Schala. "Did any guards see—?"

"Guards?" said Melchior. "Oh no, there isn't a soul up here...with the possible exception of Dalton's pet, Giga Gaia. No, it's my cell. Dalton must have put some anti-magic charm on it, because it took me the whole two days to get through to you."

"Oh," said Schala, "I see. You must've been busy then, if it took both days."

"You'd might say that," said Melchior, "and as for the whereabouts of my colleagues, I have no idea. But never mind about that just yet. Tell me, Schala, what has been going on over there?"

"Well for one thing, mother still hasn't given up on her plans."

"As I suspected," said Melchior.

"When you and the other gurus refused to have any part of the project," Schala began. "Mother turned to me and gave me the job. But I'm not enthusiastic about it at all, and Janus and I fear the worst. I was hoping I could find someone whom I could speak to without arousing suspicion, but everyone seems to be in league with mother except Janus and I."

"I'm sorry to hear that. Please go on."

"At first, I just merely became uncomfortable with the thought of using Lavos without studying it further, but after yesterday, I decided that mother had to be stopped no matter what."

"Why? What happened yesterday?"

"Yesterday, when I confronted her outside the hall of the Mammon Machine, I saw something in her eye, something dreadful."

"Describe it for me."

Schala retold everything she had seen with perfect detail. From the color-changing flame to the mysterious creature's eye/mouth. Melchior was silent.

"Even though it was all so small, I could see it perfectly," Schala finished, "and although I'm scared to admit it, it seems Janus was right. She may look like our mother on the outside, but internally, something has happened to her."

"So it seems," Melchior remarked sadly.

"And it's all because of that...that...THING Lavos," said Schala. "This mad rush for power must be stopped, I know it must, but I don't know what to do, Melchior! Janus and I won't be able to confront mother on our own."

"Well, if she's not going to listen, then it seems to be time for us to carry out the escape plan and shut down the Mammon Machine itself. Once it's out of the picture, Lavos will be unreachable."

"Eh?"

Melchior chuckled, and it echoed throughout Schala's brain, which she found somewhat unnerving.

"Perhaps it's time I shared with you ANOTHER secret of the pendant and the amulet," he said. "Now as I'm sure you know, the two are made from the same dreamstone."

"Of course," said Schala.

"Well, that brings certain advantages that I'm sure our queen is unaware of," he continued. "Not only can I speak with whoever is holding either one, but if Gaspar, Belthasar, or myself is holding one of the two pieces of jewelry, a certain enchantment enables us to transport ourselves to whomever is bearing the second, no matter where they are in the world."

"Are you serious?!" Schala asked, thunderstruck. "Even the Ocean Palace, with its anti-teleportation enchantments?"

"Most definitely, it is a brand of magic still unexplored by all except me," replied the guru, taking some pleasure in knowing how blown away Schala was by his creative talent. "Best of all, the enchantment is bound to all three of us, so if one is teleported, like me for example, the other two, Gaspar and Belthasar, will appear right at the same spot."

"So then if we were to use this spell you speak of, we would be able to bring the other two gurus back to Zeal too, even though we know nothing of their whereabouts?"

"That is correct," said Melchior. "Which should save us some trouble."

"Well that's good to know," said Schala, "but Guru Melchior, tell me, why did you and the other gurus keep this spell a secret from mother and I?"

"Well I guess you could say it was simply because it had just slipped our minds after a while. We originally came up with the concept as a way to catch any who would attempt to steal either the pendant or the amulet for reasons we would object to, but since no one really ever did try such a thing, we eventually felt it was probably just a waste of effort. Furthermore, the other gurus and I are the only ones who can unlock the enchantment, so we didn't feel any urgency to mention it to you, your mother, or anyone else for that matter since it wouldn't have been able to do you any good."

"Well, that was a rather silly thing to think," said Schala. "A all-purpose teleportation device, I'm sure the palace's researchers would have wanted to look into that."

"Yes perhaps," replied Melchior, slightly embarrassed, but after a while he added, "but then again, since it WASN'T shared with the queen, she'll never expect anything of the sort, so maybe it's better this way."

"Oh...well, I suppose so," said Schala, "but wait, do you really need to be holding either the amulet or the pendant in order to use this spell?"

"Yes. Why?" he asked.

"Well, how then are we going to execute this plan of escape? We can't do it tonight, as all of the waygates have shut off for the evening. And tomorrow morning, mother will want to see me at the Ocean Palace with the pendant the moment I get out of bed. Even then, if I was somehow able to trick mother into letting me leave, I wouldn't be able to get past Giga Gaia or any other form of security on Mt. Woe without help, and it is unlikely that any of the kingdom's soldiers would—"

"Whoa, child, don't worry about any of that," Melchior interrupted. "I never said you had to be the one to come to me, you can leave that to the twins."

"The twins?" said Schala, confused "Do you mean...?"

"Yes, Masa and Mune," came Melchior's reply. "They have their own combat skills and will be capable of dealing with any threats here on Mount Woe, and that's including Gaia."

"But still, Melchior, I won't be able to give them the pendant. Mother—"

"Well of course not. If the other gurus and I are to pop in before our queen goes too far, you'll have be down there with either the pendant or the amulet so that the spell can have its effect at that spot. Tell me, who has the amulet right now?"

"Janus," said Schala, feeling rather silly having forgotten about the pendant's sibling.

"Then, might I suggest the following?" asked Melchior. "Now, you say that the waygates are currently inactive, right? Well then, tomorrow morning, before you go to the Ocean Palace with your mother, you will retrieve the amulet from your brother, Janus, and give both it and my latest weapon, the Ruby Knife, to Masa and Mune. Tell them I need their assistance and that they can find me on Mount Woe. Once they've left for the mountain, you will head for the Ocean Palace like your mother wants. Meanwhile, the twins will give me the Ruby Knife and the pendant and once you've reached the Palace's main hall where the Mammon Machine is, I will activate the spell, bringing Gaspar, Belthasar, myself, and the twins all to the scene. Before your mother has a chance to react, I will drive the knife into the Mammon Machine and destroy it. Once the accursed machine is gone, Lavos's hold over your mother will hopefully weaken enough to allow us to break it completely and show her that nothing good can come from the beast. How does this sound?"

"It sounds okay," Schala began, "but will all of those steps really be necessary? Wouldn't it be quicker if the twins and I went down to the Ocean Palace and used the knife right there and then? And once the Mammon Machine would be destroyed I could talk to mother and get her to release you after everything was settled."

"Well, Schala, I'm not exactly having the time of my life up here, you know? I think I'd prefer to be there with you and help take care of the situation. Besides, when was the last time you handled a weapon, Schala?"

"Um...I don't know. Why?"

"Well then what makes you think you'll be able to handle the Ruby Knife properly? We're likely to get only one shot at crashing the project, so everything must go right the first time. And the twins won't be able to use the weapon either, seeing as they provide the source of its power and must be joined with it before it can achieve its full effect. I may not be as youthful as I was when I first took up weapon smithing, but I still have an accurate throw. The machine must be hit at its core in order to power it down completely, and since I helped design the Mammon Machine, I know exactly where the core is located."

"Oh," said Schala, "I see what you mean. Sorry."

"No, it's okay, don't apologize," said Melchior. "Besides, I have the feeling that stopping your mother is going to require a combined effort from all of us."

"Right," said Schala, then she slowly added, "and...and if we...can't convince her?"

There was a pause which followed these words.

"We need to stay optimistic, princess," said the guru. "Everything will work out if we believe in ourselves. I promise."

"Okay," said Schala, who was suddenly reminded of what she told Janus the last time she saw him.

"Good, now get some sleep, Schala, you will need it. And I'll see you tomorrow...I hope."

There was then complete silence and Schala never heard another thing for the rest of the evening.

Finally, the day came.

Schala knew the moment she saw herself in the mirror that she had slept horribly the night before. A part of her dreaded the approaching day and just wanted it to remain night for the rest of eternity. Another part couldn't stop thinking about Melchior's conversation with her last evening. It was a wonder to her that she was able to sleep at all over the night. She gave her eyes a vigorous rub and fixed her hair into the usual pony tail.

She left her room wearing robes of the usual violet and thought to herself. "I had better hurry. Mother will want me at her side soon. First, I should get the amulet from Janus."

She new this was going to be a hard thing to do, especially after telling her brother it would have to watch him during her absence. But when she reached his room and pushed the door open, she was surprised to find the floor littered with books, bits of parchment, and other items. Janus's bookshelf had been emptied of all contents, the drawers of his desk had all been pulled open, and frantically searching one of the drawers, was Janus with Alfador at his side as usual. The cat seemed just as puzzled about his master's actions as Schala was, as they both watched Janus tear through the drawers, his eyes wide with apparent fear.

"Janus, what are you doing?" Schala asked.

Janus leapt to his feet and stared at Schala, stunned. He had been so occupied he didn't even hear the door open. He hesitated and repeated Schala's question to him.

"Wh-what am I doing?" he said. "Oh...uh...nothing. Why?"

Schala took another look at all the things thrown carelessly onto the floor, then raised an eyebrow at him.

"Now Janus, tell me the truth," she said. "You can share it with me, don't worry."

Janus's lip trembled. His eyes filled with tears and he collapsed onto his knees, his face in his hands.

"Oh Schala!" he cried. "I'm so sorry. I lost the amulet you gave me!"

"What?!" said Schala, horrified. Only then did she finally note that the amulet wasn't around his neck.

"I know!" he said. "I couldn't believe it either, and I'm sorry! I said I would keep it forever and..."

"Where did you last see it?" Schala asked urgently.

"S-somewhere in the library," he said tearfully. "I wasn't doing anything at the moment, so I decided to find out what kind of metal its chain was made of. I went to the library, took the amulet off for a moment, and went to search for a book that contained descriptions and info on all of the precious metals. When I came back to the table where I had left it, it was gone! I went through the entire building and couldn't find it anywhere, and before I knew it, I began searching the entire Palace. Dalton didn't know where it was, mother didn't know where it was, and none of the guards knew where it was. I only came back here a few minutes ago to see if anyone had found it and brought it back to my room, but it doesn't seem to be here either!" he continued to cry. "D-do...do you think someone stole it from me?"

Schala walked over to him, took his hands and pulled him up to his feet.

"There, there," she said. "Have faith, Janus. It'll turn up soon." then she thought to herself. "I pray it does."

"If...if you're not busy, will you help me look for it?" Janus asked hopefully.

"No, I'm not busy enough to restrain from helping you, Janus. Of course I'll search for it." said Schala.

"Great," said Janus with a watery smile, "thanks Schala."

"No problem," she said. "I'll go look back in the library, you can continue your search up on this level."

"Okay," said Janus as Schala walked out the door.

"This is a problem," thought Schala as she went down the stairs that would take her to the palace library. "So much depends on that amulet. If it can't be found, the entire plan will fail before it can even start and mother will be impossible to stop!"

She reached the bottom of the stairs and took the corridor leading to the library. Interestingly enough, once the entrance to the library came into view, she saw the twins, Masa and Mune, standing near the doors. And one of them was holding what clearly had to be...

"Oh, Princess Schala!" said Masa as she approached. "It's good to see you. Master Melchior hasn't been to the apartment recently, so Mune and I decided to go out and see where he had gone to. We found his colleague's amulet laying around the library—" he lifted up the amulet, "—and decided he must be around here somewhere. We only just came back to see if either he or master Belthasar had returned, but they don't seem to be around. Do you know where they are?"

"Um...well I don't know where Belthasar is right now," replied Schala, her internal self breathing a sigh of relief, "but I do know where you can find Melchior. In fact, I've been meaning to speak with you two."

"Yes?" said Mune.

"Well, guru Melchior is...er...visiting the top of Mount Woe right now, but he just told me that he needs the amulet for some...business up there. He wants you to take it to him, so could you?"

"We live to follow his orders," said Masa.

"We shall depart immediately," said Mune.

"Okay," said Schala, quickly adding, "and could you take that...that knife of his with you too? He needs that as well."

Mune pulled the Ruby Knife out from underneath his sleeves.

"You mean this?" he asked.

"Yes," said Schala, thinking. "Wow, this is all pretty convenient. I wonder why—?"

But Masa interrupted her train of thought.

"What is the master doing up there anyway?"

"Eh? Oh, uhh..."

She knew she was already late for meeting up with her mother and she wondered if it would be wise to risk the time needed to explain the plan to them.

"Just go to him," she finally said. "He'll tell you why."

"Okay," said Mune. "Come on, brother, I'll race you!"

"You're on," said Masa.

And the two glided down the hall, Mune making a loud "Whoosh!" sound.

"Hmm, I wonder why I told them Melchior was 'visiting' the mountain rather than giving it to them straight." Schala thought. "I guess it's probably because I always feel as though I'm speaking to a couple of children whenever I talk to those two."

Turning, Schala left for the throne room.

"Oh well, I was a little scared at first when Janus told me the amulet was missing, but at least the twins spared me the pain of having to take the amulet myself. But I'd better hurry now, or mother is going to kill me."

With that, she broke into a slow dash.

"Schala! You're late!" snapped the queen in an angry tone as her daughter entered the room. Zeal was standing at the base of her throne with a few of her most trusted adversaries. They had been whispering excitedly to each other about the possibilities that were waiting to be tapped into once Lavos's energy was available, but went quiet at the queen's outbreak.

"S-sorry mother," Schala breathed. "I...had to take care of something."

"I thought I told you that all and any business you had had to be taken care of before this time," said Zeal. "Honestly, putting something off till the last day, I would have expected better from you!"

"Sorry mother," Schala repeated.

"Spare me your pointless apologies," Zeal snapped. "We can't afford to waste any more time."

She walked to the center of the circular throne room and raised her hands. They glowed a brilliant blue and a pool of light formed in the center of the floor.

"Now come, all of you," She barked. "Humanity's greatest chapter is about to be told!"

She stepped into the pool of light and vanished from sight. The queen's adversaries followed suit, stepping into the light one by one, and they too vanished. Soon, Schala was the only one left in the room, and she was about to follow the others when she suddenly stopped in her tracks. It had only occurred to her just how slim their (her's and the guru's) chances were in stopping the project completely.

"This is all relying on the destruction of the Mammon Machine," Schala said to herself. "Melchior and the others will have to appear right at the moment when mother and I reach the machine and before I'm forced to activate it. The timing must be perfect in that case, and I'm not sure how I can contact Melchior to let him know when the time will be right."

She looked at her pendant. Only Melchior was able to use the spell that enabled them to speak with one another last night.

"Furthermore, the fact that the Ocean Palace will be crawling with guards won't help things either," she continued. "And even IF Melchior appears at the right time, he'll still need to hit the machine in the right spot before anyone has a chance to stop him."

"Mistress?"

Schala jumped. One of the adversaries had reappeared and was now staring at Schala.

"Mistress, will you please come?" the woman asked. "The queen wants to hurry and says she is getting very frustrated with your apparent lack of enthusiasm."

"Right, sorry," said Schala, then she thought. "Did she hear what I was saying a few moments ago?"

The assistant, however, looked simply puzzled at her princess's quietness and not at all suspicious of anything.

"Mistress?" the woman repeated.

"Yes, I'm coming."

Schala followed her into the pool of light and they both vanished from the throne room.

"Masa! Hurry up!" shouted Mune as he waited impatiently at the foot of a floating mountain. The mountain in question was roped to the planet's surface by a solid chain as thick as a tree truck. This was the Mount Woe that held the Guru of Life captive. And slowly descending up the chain was the figure of Masa.

"Don't rush me!" shouted Masa. "The children of those Earthbound folk back at the village thought it would be funny to see how I'd react if they threw pebbles at me. I was just teaching them a lesson, that's all."

"The master never likes it when we delay," said Mune. "He mustn't be kept waiting."

"Yes, of course."

Once Masa reached the top of the chain, he jumped off, landed next to his brother, and the two were about to head up the mountain when a couple of small, green-
skinned creatures leaped out in front of them. Large heads, small bodies, they were like a couple of goblins only a head shorter than the twins. One stuck his tongue out mockingly at them, and Masa replied by making a sweeping gesture with his hand. The little creature went flying backwards several feet with a loud "AIEEEEE!"

His comrade reacted by letting out a holler of some kind. In a matter of seconds, more creatures leapt out from behind some bushes and lunged at the twins, who quickly moved out of the away. The new monstrosities were taller and meaner looking than the imps. The first ones were menacing-looking, bird-like beasts swinging sharp scimitars, while behind them were a few gray-skinned creatures with bat-like wings and gargoyle-like features.

Mune let out a sigh.

"Mystics these days," he said to Masa. "I suppose they chose this for a hunting ground."

"Go away," Masa said to the creatures. "We have work to do."

He snapped his fingers and the creatures were all propelled into the sky, where they remained, hovering a few yards and helpless.

"Let's go."

The twins continued up the mountain, dealing with any creatures that got in their way, until...

"What's that?" asked Mune.

Menacing tusks, large claw-like hands, a thick purple shell with numerous spikes on it, Dalton's pet, Giga Gaia, leered at them from above an encasement made out of a special crystal. The brothers sensed a familiar life force inside of the crystal prison and quickly recognized it as their master's.

At that moment, Gaia swiped at them. The duo quickly and easily dodged the attack, floating off to one side.

"Delays...delays," muttered Masa, shaking his head.

"I don't know what the master is doing inside that crystal, do you?" asked Mune.

"Not a clue," said Masa. "Humans are strange. I wonder if the master is playing around with us."

"Well, let's get him out of there and find out."

"But first we should take care of this trouble-maker." Masa pointed at Gaia.

"Sure, that should be fun."

Schala, the queen, and the rest of the attendees continued down the hall until they reached an elevator that would take them to the very bottom floor of the Ocean Palace, where the newly located Mammon Machine was kept. The Ocean Palace was almost completely submerged in the planet's sea, and its bottom floor was positioned only a few feet above the ocean floor, right where Lavos was sleeping, several hundreds of miles below the surface of the planet's crust.

As Schala had expected, nearly every single soldier had been called to help keep watch over the palace and the project at hand. Waiting for them at the bottom floor was none other than the captain of the guards, Dalton.

"Ah! My queen! Princess!" he said as Schala and Zeal, along with the others, came into view once the elevator platform reached the bottom. "How happy I am to see you both."

"Everything in order, Dalton?" asked the queen.

"Yes," he promptly answered. "Only the Mammon Machine must now be activated, and ultimate power will be ours!"

"Good," said Zeal, "and what of the earthbound workers?"

"They were dismissed as soon as the palace was completed. I doubt they'll try and give use any problems."

"All the same, I want you to stay here with the rest of the guards and keep watch over the entrance. There's no telling whether someone may come at the last minute and ruin everything, and if that is to happen, I want you to be here so you can fight."

"Huh? But...but I wanted to participate in the ceremony."

"Dalton," said the queen in a dangerous voice, "you have your own job to attend to. This is perhaps the most important day of our soon-to-be-immortal lives, so everything must be thoroughly checked and supervised. I won't allow anyone to shirk their proper duties, and that's including you. Have I made myself clear?"

"Yes, your highness," said Dalton, entering a reluctant bow.

"Good," said the queen, then she turned to Schala and the others. "Now the rest of you, come with me."

They moved down the hall, and Dalton continued to eye them before muttering under his breath. "I hate my job."

Brilliantly lit by magically empowered lights, the main chamber of the Mammon Machine was a wonder of design. A few of the kingdom's most respected researchers and priests had gathered around the strange machine, and they all turned to see their queen and her daughter enter the room. They quickly retreated to the left side of the chamber and took their rightful spots. The adversaries who came with Zeal followed suit while both the queen and Schala approached the Mammon Machine.

"Alright, my child," said Zeal as she backed off a few feet, "you know what you must do."

Schala walked closer to the machine and lifted her hands. Everyone in the room held their breath.

Schala paused.

"If you're listening, Melchior, now would really be a nice time to act," Schala thought.

But there came no reply.

"Dearest," said the queen, "is there something the matter?"

"Uh...no mother," said Schala.

Hating herself, yet not knowing where to go at that point, she began chanting and the Mammon Machine came to life, emitting a strange, whirring sound.

"Good...good," said Zeal in a quiet tone. "Now stretch out your feelings and locate the mighty one."

Still, there wasn't any sign of Melchior or any of the others, and Schala knew she couldn't do it alone. A sudden horror grasped her, what if the twins had been unable to reach the Guru of Life?

"Schala!" Zeal shouted impatiently.

"Yes, sorry mother!" Schala stammered, and she proceeded.

Deep in the planet's surface, right below them, a mysterious force of biblical proportions laid dormant. Lavos. Schala closed her eyes and reached out to the creature, creating a connection between it and the Mammon Machine.

Without warning, Schala felt it. The black wind, blowing harder and louder than ever. She broke her connection to Lavos, but the one existing between creature and machine remained intact, and the whirring sound increased in volume.

"Excellent!!" yelled the queen, a look of insane happiness playing across her features. "Now, Schala, begin the draining process!"

Schala looked back at her mother. There was a hungry look in her eyes, a kind of look she had never seen there before, and it scared her.

However, there was another thing in her mother's eyes that she had no trouble recognizing. Something she had seen only once before, but was too familiar with.

A spiky shell, a valve-like mouth. A creature not of this world.

Schala broke eye contact with her mother, fully aware of what the thing had to be.

The black wind still strong in her, she made up her mind. With or without the gurus, Schala was not going to let this go on any further.

"Schala," said Zeal. "We're waiting."

"No," Schala said simply.

"No what?"

"I'm not going to continue the ritual."

Queen Zeal had a funny expression on her face upon hearing these words. The rest of the people in the chamber kept silent, staring at the two members of the royal family.

"Why is that?" Zeal asked finally.

"I'm not endangering my kingdom or its people," said Schala. "I will not disturb Lavos. It is a wicked thing, and I want nothing to do with it."

Zeal was beside herself with rage.

"I DON'T BELIEVE THIS!!" she screeched. "You're just like the gurus!"

"Yes," replied Schala, "and I completely understand what they were talking about that day in the throne room."

Zeal had had enough. From this point on, she didn't care if the entire kingdom rebelled against her. She was already so close, too close, to achieving her dream. If Schala wasn't going to cooperate with her either, then she would take the pendant and finish the incantation herself. Only one person was needed for this.

"Very well," said Zeal. "In that case, I'll just have to punish you like any good mother would."

Schala knew what was going to happen the second before it did. She began a defensive spell that would create a shield between her and her mother. But Zeal's spell came at Schala from behind, much to her surprise. The next thing she knew was extreme pain and she collapsed to the crystal floor. She wanted to scream, but her lungs wouldn't allow it. The pain eventually ceased and Schala laid motionless on the floor, barely conscious. Nobody came to her aid. Everyone just continued to watch in a kind of horrified fascination. Queen Zeal smiled and approached her daughter, ready to take the pendant away from her.

Schala, watching her mother through watery eyes, soon figured out what she was planning to do, and reached a decision herself. Without the pendant, the Mammon Machine would be incapable of functioning, so if Melchior wasn't going to come and destroy the machine, then Schala would do the next best thing: Destroy the pendant. She didn't want to, she was very fond of her pendant, but at least that way, the project would crash and she could then try and locate the pendant's brother and destroy that too, assuming the twins really did fail.

Queen Zeal was only a foot away, but Schala grabbed the pendant tightly in one hand and started to chant a spell. Before she could finish, there was a flash of light and then...

"Hold everything!" came a powerful voice and everyone turned to face the source of it.

Standing near the entrance to the chamber was a triumphant looking Melchior, the twins, and the other two gurus, both of whom looked quite shocked to find themselves standing where they were.

Schala quickly stood up, overjoyed. Zeal was completely and utterly stunned.

"You...here...how...what?" were the only words she could manage.

Gaspar and Belthasar both looked at Melchior, hoping he could provide them with answers. Melchior looked back at them, smiled, pointed at the amulet in his hand, pointed at the twins, and then pointed over to Schala's pendant. His colleagues caught on after a few seconds, and soon they too were grinning, fully aware of what had to be done now.

"My liege," Melchior said to the queen. "We've come to close this operation for good."

Despite her puzzlement, Zeal glared at him and the others.

"I don't know how you got here," she said, "but I will be damned before I allow you to mess things up now."

Absentmindedly, Melchior dropped the amulet he was holding and walked towards Schala and the queen, the Ruby Knife firmly grasped in his other hand. Gaspar, Belthasar, and the twins followed behind him.

"What is going on in here?" came Dalton's voice as he and a few other guards dashed into the chamber and stopped at the entrance upon seeing the gurus.

Quick as a flash, Belthasar and Gaspar whirled around and performed a couple of spells before Dalton had a chance to react. Gaspar's spell sent Dalton and the guards who had accompanied him flying out the door. Belthasar's spell created an impenetrable force field right at the entrance.

"So much for security," said Gasper, and Belthasar nodded in agreement.

Undistracted by what had happened, Melchior continued forward, knife raised high. The twins floated upward and then darted towards the knife. In another flash of light, they had become one with it at last, and the blade shone with unfathomable power.

"No," said the queen, and she sent a ball of fire hurdling towards the Guru of Life. The knife simply absorbed the flame, and Melchior broke into a faster walk. Then, with a burst of energy that was surprising for a man his age, Melchior ran a few more steps, stopped, took aim, and threw the knife.

Time seemed to stand still as everyone watched the blade sink into the machine, hitting the exact spot where the core was meant to be.

The humming sound coming from the machine stopped and the entire gadget shut down completely.

"NO!!" the queen wailed. "How could you do this?!"

Schala could barely contain her joy. Despite the odds, they had done it. The threat had finally passed.

Or so it seemed...

Suddenly, the machine kicked back into power, and it began reacting with the Ruby Knife in a very odd way. The knife glowed brightly, and through the Mammon Machine's ability to multiply an object's power, the blade started to grow. Soon, the knife was no longer a knife, but a two-handed sword.

"Amazing," said Melchior, who seemed to had temporarily forgotten the situation at hand.

At that moment, the force field preventing the guards from getting inside gave in, and Dalton and at least ten other soldiers came marching into the chamber.

"Stop right where you are!" ordered Dalton "You are all under—"

But Dalton never got a chance to finish. Before anyone could say anything else, the newly-formed sword suddenly vanished from sight. Then, all of the researchers, priests, and adversaries who were attending the event disappeared as well. After they had all gone, Dalton and his guards also vanished.

After that, Queen Zeal, Schala, and the gurus were the only ones left in the room, and the palace began to shake as though in an earthquake. The humming sound that the Mammon Machine was emitting kept getting louder as a strange light started to appear around it. Suddenly, the chamber they were all in began to shift in and out of focus. Gaspar was the first to put the dots together.

"Hmm..! A dimensional warp!" he declared.

Then, inexplicably, all of their bodies were filled with a tremendous force. Schala felt any pain left over from her mother's attack subside immediately. It was then that she realized the sudden power they were receiving was coming from the creature Lavos. The draining process of the Mammon Machine had started on its own.

"This power is beyond human control!" cried Belthasar.

He seemed to be right, for suddenly, Schala experienced a pain just as bad as what her mother had put her through. The power of Lavos was pushing their bodies to the limit. For a moment Schala thought the power would tear her apart.

"Please," she pleaded inwardly, "let it stop!"

Miraculously, almost as though the machine had read her thoughts, the power vanished only seconds after it appeared, and again the room began to shift out of focus, only more so this time. Melchior let out a gasp.

"No...!" he shouted. "We'll be dragged into the warp!"

It was then at that point that they heard another person's voice.

"SCHALA!!" cried Janus, from the back of the room where the door was located.

Zeal, Schala, and the gurus all turned around. They had all been so absorbed into what was happening that none of them had heard Janus arrive. The young boy was staring at the scene in front of him, the amulet firmly clenched in his small fist. Evidently, he had picked the amulet up from the ground where Melchior had dropped it shortly after his arrival. Something behind the boy meowed, and the cat, Alfador, came into view.

Schala was horrified. She told Janus he wouldn't be allowed to participate in the Ocean Palace, yet he had come nonetheless, and arrived at what may have been the worst time imaginable. Evidently, it was his search for the amulet that lead him here.

"No Janus!!" Schala shouted urgently. "Stay away!"

Janus hesitated.

"B, but...!?"

Before any of them could do anything, the Mammon Machine shut down again, there was a blinding flash of light, and they were all warped out of the Ocean Palace.

When the light dimmed, Schala found herself, her mother, the gurus, the cat, and Janus all standing on a shimmering blue surface, and when she turned around, she found herself facing a larger-than-life version of the creature she had seen materializing in her mother's eye.

A spiky shell, a valve-like mouth, and an eye right in its center, the creature was even more horrific with its size multiplied like this.

For a moment, no one spoke. Then Belthasar broke the silence.

"This...THIS is Lavos!?" he asked, terrified.

After remaining silent for so long, Queen Zeal finally found her tongue again.

"Unbelievable!" she cried with glee. "Lavos has actually brought us to it. It wanted to greet its new ally, me!"

Lavos, however, didn't seem to consider Zeal its ally at all. Nor did it seem pleased by the fact that its sleep had been disturbed. Because suddenly, it opened its mouth wide, and bolts of electricity shot out at Zeal and the others. Schala and the queen took most of the attack, and they both collapsed to the ground. Behind them, Janus and the gurus were hit by the remaining bolts; they too fell.

Janus's cat, Alfador, was the only one that remained unhurt, and he rushed to his master's side and began licking his face. Janus let out a moan of pain and pushed his cat away.

"No...Alfador," he said weakly. "Go...get out of here. Please."

Lavos, manipulating the shimmering ground in its own way, began to draw its victims closer, and closer. It was going to devour them.

Outside, things were generally unaffected by what was going on in the Ocean Palace, but all of that was about to change...

The Ocean Palace shook as its structure started to crumble. Within minutes, the palace buckled in upon itself and sunk to the bottom of the sea, where it would lay for all eternity. Right where the palace had stood, a whirlpool erupted from the depths of the ocean, and from inside the whirlpool, the parasitic Lavos emerged.

The creature fired destructive beams high up into the sky, up to where the kingdom of Zeal was positioned.

The beams collided with the floating land masses, disrupting the magical field that kept them aloft. Slowly but surely, the kingdom went down...down...down...down...

Until they landed in the planet's oceans, causing severe disturbances in the water. From atop a cliff, a man in rags, a member of the Earthbound people, watched in amazement and terror as the magical kingdom continued to sink. He soon became alerted to something else. Dashing back to the village of Algetty, he alerted as many people as he could, shouting. "Tidal wave! Tidal wave!"

As people ran out, they could see a colossal body of water heading for their settlement. They all ran for cover, bracing themselves for the impact...

One day later.

Nearly the entire planet had been completely covered by water after what happened the day before. Only three pieces of land remained above water level, and it was on the largest of the three that the world's survivors had taken up residence. The surviving Earthbound Ones had put together crude huts for shelter and to keep the wounded out of the cold. Although there were a few Enlightened survivors as well, there were no distinctions between the enlightened and the earthbound anymore. Along with their kingdom, the surviving Enlightened Ones had lost their magical abilities, and now lived side by side with the earthbound folk. Although a few were deeply depressed by the losses and contemplating suicide, some of the others pointed out a few of the positives. For one, the never-ending-blizzard had finally ended, meaning that the ice age was likely drawing to a close. And although the land was limited, one of the educated pointed out that the planet's surface was still shifting, and that new land masses were bound to rise from beneath the waters. Encouraged by these facts and convinced by the Earthbound Ones that they wouldn't need magic to survive, the former Enlightened Ones agreed to help build a new kingdom that they, and their earthbound counterparts, could call their own.

And somewhere along the beach, digging in the sand, was a familiar purple cat trying to find food for itself, until something shiny and half-buried in the sand caught its eye. Slowly, the cat pulled the sword out of the sand with its teeth. The sword abruptly came to life and yanked itself out of the cat's mouth. From within the sword's blade, small voices could be heard.

"Where are we?" came the voice of Masa.

"I'm not sure," Mune's voice replied. "I only remember us being thrown into the Mammon Machine, then there was a light and I could feel a growing sensation. There was another flash of light and lots of water...but everything else is a blur."

"Same here," said Masa, "but wait. There's something else."

"What?" asked Mune.

"Our master, I can't sense his presence anymore."

"Neither can I."

"He must be gone."

"What are we to do now?"

Silence followed these words. Masa was clearly thinking about it.

"Well," he said finally, "our master created us for the purpose of defending virtue, and that is what we shall do. We won't let all of his hard work go to waste, will we?"

"Where do you think we should start?" Mune asked.

"We should start by finding ourselves a new owner," said Masa. "Someone who can unleash the full potential of the blade."

The blade rose up into the air.

"Come," said Masa, "we will find ourselves a comfortable shelter and test any warrior who happens to come upon us."

Without another word, the blade took off like a rocket, heading for the mountains.

"End," said Cronus and the image of the sword drifting towards the mountains vanished.

He and Rhea remained silent for some time.

"That was awful," Rhea said finally in a depressed tone. "Janus, Schala, Zeal, the gurus, and their kingdom...all gone. Lavos has already caused so much tragedy for that world."

"Yes, I know," said Cronus, "but at least it was forced back underneath the planet's surface once the kingdom fell, preventing it from exterminating all of the humans. Also, the planet's snowing has now ended, so in the long run, the mortals should be able to recover from the disaster."

"Indeed," said Rhea.

After a few seconds, Rhea spoke up again.

"The one named Schala possesses exceptionally powerful energies," she noted. "I feel she could be of help in the battle against Lavos assuming we can find a way to save her from the catastrophe."

"Her and her brother," said Cronus. "She is skilled, yes, but I could sense an even greater power inside the child, Janus, even though it never surfaced. He too would make a wonderful addition."

"And then there are the gurus," Rhea pointed out. "Their wisdom and knowledge are things worth considering, especially since they were immediately able to recognize the threat posed by Lavos. They may not be of the fighting type," she looked at Cronus, scratching her chin, "but do you think they could be of use as well?"

"Possibly," Cronus replied, "especially after seeing a few of their inventions, like Schala's pendant, Janus's amulet, and that sword of Melchior's creation."

He paused for a moment.

"Which reminds me," he said, "what the twins talked about after the kingdom of Zeal fell."

"Yes?" said Rhea.

"They said something about waiting for someone who could unleash the full power of the sword," Cronus recollected. "After the Mammon Machine morphed the knife into a sword, I could feel its magical properties rising to a level to match Janus. Whoever could skillfully handle that sword may well be the next person to join the fight against the parasite."

"I see," said Rhea. "Yes, that's definitely a possibility."

Knowing what to do next, Cronus returned his focus to the Orb of Truth, but instead of issuing a direct command, he asked the orb a question.

"At what point in time shall Melchior's blade be claimed by someone who has the talent required to use it?"

The inside of the orb changed colors and began to blur.

Chapter 8: The Hero of Legends

When everything cleared up, they saw a world quite unlike how it was at the end of the Ice Age. As predicted, some new continents had surfaced. There were seven major land masses in total now, as opposed to three, and they were all free of snow. Instead of ice, they were all covered in vast amounts of vegetation. Large grassy fields, towering mountains, and lush green forests, it was all a wonder to gaze upon.

The human race flourished once again in this time period. Cronus could count out a total of four different civilizations on three of the larger continents. Starting at the very Southeast, there was an island with one human settlement on it and a rather old and moldy-looking ruin at its northern tip. A little to the Northeast above the first were three other landmasses. Two were uninhabited, but the third had a couple of structures on it, one of which was very familiar looking.

Cronus could hardly believe it. It was the blue, pyramid-shaped building that used to be a part of the kingdom of Zeal before its fall. Evidently, it had resurfaced like the rest of the drowned world, but it appeared to be the only Zeal structure to make a return. It was completely engulfed in a thick forest and seemed utterly inaccessible. The other building, meanwhile, was a large fort of some sort. Inside and moving around the fort were not humans, but instead, odd looking creatures of varying shapes and sizes, and among them, Cronus thought he could see more of the peculiar beasts that the twins, Masa and Mune, had encountered on Mount Woe back during the Ice Age.

The mystics.

The strange creatures had apparently survived the fall of Zeal just like the humans, and in this era, they too had risen to a dominant position in the world. Cronus thought this was very interesting. It seemed that in each time period, a different race would rise as one of the two dominant forces in the world, the second one always being the humans of course. In the time before Lavos arrived, it had been the reptites and the humans, who both fought each other for survival, and during the Ice Age, it was the humans and the nu, who coexisted together peacefully. This time, however, it was the humans and the mystics, but unlike the reptites or the nu, the mystics were more like a class of different races rather than a single species.

Further to the west on a separate piece of land was another mystic fortress surrounded by trees very much like the building from Zeal, though it wasn't quite as unreachable. This one was a castle, and it was much more intimidating than the mystic fort.

Further west still were the other three human civilizations. Two shared one continent in the Southwest, and up north on another landmass was the fourth town, where there were also two other buildings separated and surrounded by forest. One was a tall, rather elegant structure with stained glass windows. Evidently it was something of great importance, but the other structure dwarfed it. The second building was an enormous castle, even bigger than Zeal Palace, though not quite as impressive looking. Its walls were made of a simple stone, some of its windows bore no glass in them at all, and instead of the gold covered rooftops of Zeal Palace, the roofs of this castle were made out of a dark, ruby red slate very much like the ones of the human towns it watched over.

The Northwestern continent and the Southwestern continent were joined by a single bridge, and it was there that something caught the titans' attention rather quickly.

Humans, armor-clad with swords in hand, were locked in fierce combat with a company of mystics. Swords flashing, arrows flying, soldiers falling on both sides, it was not a pretty sight. It appeared that the mystics were trying to gain access to the north where the castle was, while the humans struggled bravely to defend their home. As Cronus watched, he suddenly became aware that part of the human settlement at the northern tip of the southern continent, just before the bridge, was on fire. Green fire, oddly enough. He assumed that the mystics must have landed on the continent a little to the west of the town and attacked part of it before moving on to the bridge. He returned his attention to the battle and was soon able to register one fact: the mystics were slowly, very slowly, beginning to gain ground. And although they were outnumbered by the humans, how they were managing to push them back became apparent. Once a certain number of humans and mystics had fallen, a few fighters on the mystic side began summoning bright lights around the defeated warriors. The corpses of the slaughtered mystics rose and continued to fight, while the fallen humans also rose from the dead and suddenly turned on their living counterparts. The humans fell back in disarray, shocked to find themselves fighting their deceased kin. A few of the human archers quickly caught on to what the enemy was planning, and directed all of their fire onto the mystics who had risen the corpses. Half of them were killed outright by the archers' accuracy, but the others managed to conjure up protective barriers which repelled the arrows. The mystics, it seemed, had acclaimed their own brand of magic after the humans lost their own, and this was one of their advantages in combat.

The loss of half of their sorcerers appeared to have an impact on the mystics' position in the battle, but still they pressed on. It was around this time when Cronus suddenly noticed one soldier, wearing golden colored armor and a blood-
red cape, being carried away from the carnage by two of his colleagues. An arrow was wedged into his right shoulder, and his two friends quickly placed him down on the ground once they were a good distance from the battle and then attempted to wrench it out. The wounded soldier let out a groan of pain once the arrow was successfully yanked out of his punctured armor, then the two blue armored soldiers picked him up again and began to lead him to the castle, but the yellow clad warrior kept making indications of wanting to go back.

"Captain, please," one of the men implored. "You can't fight like this. You'll at least need to be patched up a bit first..."

"Alright! Alright!" said the captain, finally giving in. "But once we reach Guardia Castle, I'll need to speak with the king and queen before we can do anything else."

"Sir, can't it wait? Or can't we take your message to them once we get you to your bed?" asked the other soldier.

"No!" the captain shouted indignantly. "I must report to them about the events back at the front before I can retire to the knights' quarters, and I also have a question for them that I'd prefer to ask myself."

The two soldiers seemed to realize it would be pointless to try to talk him out of it.

"Oh very well," said the first knight as they approached the entrance to the forest.

The path through the forest was relatively short and soon the knights were climbing up a set of stone steps leading to the castle's massive wooden doorways.

As soon as they reached the doors, one of the knights raised a gauntlet covered hand and knocked loudly. A voice came from one of the lookouts above.

"Who goes there?"

"It is I, sir Gerald, with sir Mortimer and the knight captain!" called the knight who had knocked.

No reply came. Instead, there was a shuffling sound from behind the doors, like a barricade being moved from place, and the doors opened by just a crack. A soldier, holding a crossbow, peered out, then said to the others. "Okay, it's them."

The huge doors swung open all the way, and upon seeing that their superior had been injured, five guards rushed out to help get him inside.

"No! No! That's quite alright!" the captain shouted in protest. "It's only my shoulder, I'm not going to die for Pete's sake!"

The knight captain pushed his way through and marched inside.

"I need to see his majesty about the battle," he said.

"You'll find him in the throne room," said one of the guards as he and the others followed their captain into the hall, "but sir, shouldn't you have that wound treated first? It'll get infec—"

"Later!" said the captain as he climbed another set of stairs leading to a second pair of doors. "This will only take a minute."

He pushed one of the doors open with his uninjured arm and walked through.

Inside, a luxurious-looking, purple-colored carpet led to a couple of thrones placed right in the middle of the room. In the left throne sat the king, who had a dark brown beard and was wearing royal robes of violet and red; very good quality. In the right throne sat the queen, who was wearing a fancy hoopskirt dress, and had her blonde hair raised into a mass atop her head. Placed directly in front of the thrones was a large table with reports containing info about past conflicts and the current one happening at the bridge. Huddled around the table were a few of the castle's tacticians and a spare knight who hadn't entered battle just yet. At the knight's side was a boy in his late teens, who had to be his squire.

The knight captain climbed the third set of steps leading to the thrones and the table and everyone turned around as he approached.

"Captain!" cried the knight. "What's been going on out there?"

The captain came up to the table and addressed his king instead.

"Sire," he began, "the fires in Dorino have gotten worse and the people there are saying the flames seem to be impervious to water. To make matters worse, the enemy has been keeping a few secrets from us. Only recently, after a fair number of men fell on both our side and theirs, a few of the mystics' best sorcerers unveiled a spell that can raise the dead. Slaughtered men and mystics alike have risen again and both are cutting through our lines at an alarming rate. My men are getting their faces shoved in the mud!" he finished with banging his right fist on the table, though he soon regretted this as the pain returned to his wounded arm, and he clutched it, wincing.

"Mud? On the bridge?" the young squire asked, confused.

"It's a figure of speech, Clark," his master explained in a hushed whisper.

"What would you suggest then?" the king asked the knight captain.

"Well, some of our archers caught on to what was happening and began firing at the wizards, a few were killed but the rest created a protective field to prevent any further casualties on their part," the captain explained. "However, I doubt they'll be able to keep their shields up forever, knowing how tiring spell work can be for those cursed mystics. I would suggest sending archer back-up to the field, and once those sorcerers are forced to bring down their barriers at certain periods to rest, the bowmen in the back can go all out on them, because so far, they've been giving us the most trouble."

"We'll do just that!" shouted one of the tacticians. "We've been expecting some reinforcements from the eastern settlement of Choras and they should be here shortly."

Just then, another soldier from the battlefield came running in, pausing for breath before speaking.

"I'm afraid there's more bad news," he said. "A group of mystics apparently managed to slip by our sentries stationed at the shores near Truce Village, and while most of the scoundrels were killed upon sighting at the beach, the thirty-
something survivors are right now making a wild dash to the castle, apparently determined to hit us as hard as possible!"

If the soldier thought this news would throw them into a panic, he was widely mistaken. Nearly all of the tacticians laughed at this, and even the captain chuckled a bit.

"Only thirty or so?" asked one of the tacticians, wiping a tear from his eye. "I didn't think they'd be that anxious to die."

Highly embarrassed by the uselessness of his report, the soldier turned and headed back for the door, limping after every other step.

"What happened to your leg?" the queen asked, concerned. It had been the first time she had spoken up.

The soldier stopped and looked back at her.

"Oh this?" he asked, pointing at his left leg, which turned out to have a deep open cut across it. "It's...it's nothing, just a sword cut. Going to go back and fight anyway..."

"No, you won't," said the queen, standing up. "You're going to the nurse to see to that. I don't want you fighting if you can't even stand straight."

The soldier muttered "Yes, your highness." and left for the knight's quarters.

"Very good, Queen Leene," said the knight captain proudly. "Always looking out for those brave fools. That's only one of the reasons why we love you so—"

"By the way, what happened to your shoulder?" interrupted Leene, pointing at the captain's right arm.

The knight captain only then realized that he was still clutching his shoulder, and his punctured armor was also somewhat obvious.

"Oh this?" he asked, sounding very much like the soldier who had left. "Just a flesh wound, nothing too serious."

"It would still be a good idea to get that fixed up before you go back into the field," said the queen. "You are right handed, correct? How do you expect to be able to grip your sword properly?"

"Right, of course," the captain admitted, turning red with embarrassment, and was about to leave when he stopped again and addressed Queen Leene. "But before I go, I've been wondering something."

"Yes?" she asked.

"You still haven't told me anything regarding Glenn and why he isn't at the field with us," said the captain. "What is he doing?"

"Oh right, about that," said the king, then he glanced at his wife. "Well, it's probably safe now to talk about it, do you think?"

"Yes, he should nearly be there by now," said the queen, nodding.

"Where?" asked the captain, but the squire named Clark cut in.

"Who is this Glenn?" he asked curiously.

Everyone in the room looked at him incredulously.

"Do you know who that young boy reminds me of?" Rhea asked Cronus as they watched the young squire.

"Who?" asked Cronus.

"Epimetheus," Rhea said simply. Cronus chuckled.

"Idiot boy!" the squire's master snarled. "You don't know who Glenn is? Do you shut yourself in your room and make no contact with the rest of the world whenever I dismiss you?"

"I'm...I'm sorry master!" Clark squeaked in a frightened tone. "I-I lived in the southern town of Porre before coming here, and very little news regarding the north reached my ears back then and there..."

"And nothing appears to have changed since then!" barked the knight. "You've been under my roof for four years now!"

"Oh leave the boy alone, Alastor," said one of two laundry maids who had been passing through the throne room and stopped once Clark's question had reached their ears. "You're always so hard with him, he just wants to know a little story." she finished with a smile.

"Uh oh," said the knight named Alastor.

The maid looked at Clark the squire, then smiled at her fellow worker.

"Violet, would you like to do the honors this time?" she asked the other maid.

"I would, thank you," The other maid replied with a bow of her head and she turned her attention to the squire.

"Glenn was the best friend of this kingdom's greatest knight, sir Cyrus," she began. "You do at least know of sir Cyrus, right?" she added, raising an eyebrow (Clark quickly nodded his head, clearly anxious to show he wasn't that dense), then continued. "The two had known each other since their childhood days and were as close as brothers, I'd say. Young Cyrus was an icon to all of the children of Truce for his skills with a blade, his intelligence, his courage; he was the definition of perfection to all of them, especially Glenn, who was generally considered a bit of a wimp back then."

Somewhere during the story, the knight captain had risen a hand and opened his mouth as though to tell the maid she'd have to continue another time, but the knight named Alastor placed his hand on the captain's arm, brought it back down, and whispered to him. "Don't bother, you know how the castle servants are, they love to gossip and hear themselves talk, and once they start, it becomes exceptionally difficult for even the royal family to shut them up. Though then again, the king and queen have always been soft with them."

And so they, the tacticians, the squire, Queen Leene, and her husband kept quiet as the maid went on.

"Well anyway, after entering his twenties, sir Cyrus joined the Knights of the Square Table in hopes of helping them spread order throughout the world. He wanted Glenn to join as well since they had been sparring partners, but Glenn refused. He said he'd never feel the same about himself if he ever had to kill another. So the two took their separate paths while still maintaining a strong friendship.

"Sir Cyrus became an immediate success among the Knights of the Square Table and soon rose to the rank of captain. Even later, when he was recognized by the entire kingdom as its greatest knight, he was given the additional job of acting as personal guard for the queen." she stopped and gestured at Leene, who gave a slight smile but remained silent. Then the maid continued.

"Even though he was praised as one of history's greatest warriors, Cyrus kept telling his fellow knights how his friend, Glenn, had always been better with a sword than he. However, many of them thought that even if this was true, Glenn still lacked the courage and optimistic views that Cyrus himself possessed.

"But the times were slowly growing more dangerous back then and still are. Because it was around that time that mystic-human contacts were becoming more frequently hostile. This was mainly because the leader of the mystics, Ozzie, had chosen to share all of his views with the rest of his people at that time. He holds this odd belief that whenever a new race is born, it is the destiny of these new folk to overthrow the world's dominant race and take control themselves, just as humanity's first ancestors had done when the world was ruled by lizard people, according to legend. Ozzie was, and still is, under the impression that it is now the mystics' turn to take complete control over the world. He believes his people must destroy Guardia and enslave all humans who survive.

"After sharing his new ideas with the rest of those scum bags, a wave of mystic attacks arrived. Though the war had not officially begun, it certainly looked it. Mystics raiding caravans, launching hit-and-run tactics on Porre and Dorino, human guards chasing after groups of imps, only to fall right into concealed traps. Boy, it was sickening.

"It all started around eleven years ago, and after an entire year of attacks had passed, sir Cyrus decided to act. He called upon his old friend, Glenn, and the two departed to search for the bane of all sorcerers, the Masamune! He felt that if he used it to fell Ozzie and his top lieutenants, the mystics would have second thoughts about trying to overthrow humanity, and go back to living their regular lives, whatever they were anyway.

"The pair of them left, fully equipped and promising to return, but nothing was heard of them for a week. Finally, on the seventh day, Glenn arrived at the castle gates alone. He had a deep cut across the side of his face and in one hand he held the Masamune. At first he refused to talk about what had happened, but when the queen herself asked what became of sir Cyrus, he told her and everyone present that he was dead. Then he started to elaborate.

"It turned out that, after emerging from the cave where the sword was rumored to be, the two adventurers were ambushed by Ozzie and his lieutenants, Flea and Slash. Ozzie, as it was discovered, had been given a tip off by the Frog King, who had encountered the duo during their journey, and rushed after sir Cyrus. Ozzie and the magician, Flea, went after sir Cyrus while the swordsman, Slash, focused on Glenn. Sir Cyrus was slain by the nefarious Ozzie, but before he died, he told Glenn to run off with the Masamune and look after Queen Leene as a last favor to him. Glenn agreed, and escaped with nothing but the Masamune and a gash across his face, given to him by Slash during their face off. He's been watching over the queen ever since."

The maid finished her tail and looked around. Sir Alastor and the tacticians had returned their attention to the reports on the table long before the story had ended, and the knight captain was leaning on his sword, eyes half closed. The first maid, Clark the squire, the king, and Queen Leene were the only ones who had actually listened until the end. As soon as the story finished, Leene looked down at her hands, a tear trickling down her face.

After a momentary pause, the knight captain snapped awake and turned to the queen.

"Yes...yes well anyway," he said, "I believe you were telling us that Glenn has left?"

Queen Leene looked up at him.

"Oh right," she said. "Yes, well regarding Glenn, he hasn't been able to join you on the field because he has left on a mission to strike at Ozzie directly."

"What do you mean by that?"

"He's going to try and finish what he had originally intended to do back when he left with sir Cyrus those ten years ago," the queen explained. "He has gone to Ozzie's castle to bring him down once and for all."

"Alone?!" the captain asked, stunned.

"No," said the king, "he took two soldiers with him, sir Jonas and sir Ian, the same two warriors who were found trapped in the hidden catacombs of the Manoria Abbey, where the mystic Yakra was holding Leene hostage, preparing to kill her."

At these words, the knight captain pulled a look of disgust.

"Yes, I could never forget that," he growled, then added. "But, thankfully, we dealt with Yakra and got Queen Leene out before anything bad could happen, thanks to Glenn."

"Indeed," said the king, looking at his wife lovingly. "Well after the events at the abbey, when Glenn was revealing his plans of invading Ozzie to us, sir Jonas and sir Ian were in the room with us and volunteered to accompany Glenn on his mission."

The knight captain then gave the king a puzzled look.

"But sire, why would Glenn take only a couple of soldiers?" he asked. "Especially when he is heading towards the most dangerous place he could possibly go? Why couldn't he have taken an entire company? I would have gladly spared one for him. I know we're currently suffering from a slight shortage of trained knights, but still...going someplace that could determine the outcome of the war and taking less than—"

"Glenn decided it would be safer if he didn't take a whole force of soldiers with him," said Leene. "As you might remember, captain, only four years ago, we chose to send a spy to the mystics' castle to try and uncover a few of their secrets, then inform us of them via carrier pigeons. One of the last few things he was able to unveil to us before getting caught was that the castle has all sorts of special enchantments on it that are specifically supposed to eliminate large groups of invaders. Now what kinds of advantages do you think Glenn has in going with only a couple of soldiers?"

"Well, I would imagine he'd be able to get in without setting off any of these traps you speak of," said the captain, "but there's the matter of the castle guards."

"True, but remember, captain, the mystics are now throwing everything they have at the men on Zenan Bridge, which likely means that there aren't too many soldiers stationed at the castle," said the king. "And knowing Ozzie, he probably isn't expecting an attack anyway, since we're fighting for our own castle right now. Glenn and the other two will be able to sneak in and any guards they encounter they can avoid. That wouldn't be possible with a company of one hundred men, and any guards who do encounter Glenn shouldn't be too much of a problem for him anyway."

"Yes, we should have faith in Glenn," said Leene.

The knight captain paused for moment, then spoke.

"Agreed," he said. "So long as Glenn remains tactical and is able to stop any guards who meet him from alerting the rest of the castle, he should be okay...I hope."

The captain looked out of one of the windows, and could see stars forming in the night sky.

"May his way be guided and his fate secure," the captain prayed to the stars.

"So, does that cover everything, captain?" asked the king.

"Yes," he said, but then thought for a moment. "Er wait, no there's one more thing."

He turned to the king again.

"Why weren't my men and I informed of this sooner?" he asked.

The king surveyed the captain for a moment before answering.

"The Yakra incident left Leene and I fearing that Ozzie might have other spies hidden in the castle. So when Glenn informed us of what he had planned and left with sirs Jonas and Ian, we agreed not to mention it to anyone until we felt he was nearly there. That way any reports sent to Ozzie would likely not reach him in time."

"I see," said the captain, nodding.

"Captain," began the queen, "how about you see to your shoulder now?"

The captain's eyes widened as he looked at his right shoulder, having nearly forgotten about his injury.

"Oh...right, of course."

He walked out the door and quietly closed it after himself.

Cronus looked at Rhea, who nodded, then turned again to the orb.

"Show us this mortal, Glenn," he commanded.

The Orb of Truth shifted its focus from the castle to the Northeastern tip of the southern continent some way away from the fight on the bridge. There, in the cold evening wind, were three men standing in front of a small mountain. Two of the men were identical in terms of how they dressed. Each wore metal armor, a matching gray helmet, and a sword and shield strapped to his back. At a closer perspective, however, one had a rather bushy mustache and looked middle-age. His colleague, meanwhile, had no mustache and seemed much younger.

The third one, standing in front of them, staring at the cliff, had to be Glenn. He wore a golden breastplate, a dark green cape, black gloves, white breeches held together by cross-stitches, and black leather boots. A large black sheath complete with a broadsword, which Cronus recognized as the Masamune, hung from Glenn's belt, while a round buckler could be seen strapped to his right arm. As a second resort, he wore a quiver of arrows, complete with a bow, on his back. But before Cronus had noted what the swordsman was wearing, the very first thing he had noticed about Glenn was that on one side of his face, from the bottom of his ear to the corner of his mouth, was a long, deep, cut which had evidently healed but left a rather obvious scar behind.

The green-haired Glenn continued to search the cliff with his eyes as though looking for something.

"I'm pretty sure he said it was somewhere here," Glenn muttered.

"Sir Glenn," began the mustached soldier, "what exactly are we looking for?"

"A passageway, Jonas," said the swordsman. "One frequently used by the mystics as a sort of detour to their castle, so they don't have to sail across the water to reach it. It was kept a secret from Guardia, but a friend of mine, who died four years ago, was able to leak it out to us before getting caught."

Glenn let out a sigh, then said to himself. "Yes, I'm pretty sure he said it was this one. The cliff east of the Denadoro mountains, with a magical seal. Right, in that case...Jonas, Ian, stand back."

The two soldiers retreated a few steps as Glenn pulled the Masamune out from within its scabbard. The starlight coming from above threw the blade into sharp relief, and it was clear that the sword had been unable to escape the age and wear brought by the thousands of years following the destruction of Zeal. The Masamune's golden guard looked worn out and several small cracks could be found in the double-edged blade. But evidently, the sword still had the anti-spell properties it had been granted, otherwise it was doubtful Glenn would still be using it. Glenn examined the sword for a moment, then pointed it towards the heavens and said in a clear, loud voice. "My name is Glenn! I have been granted Cyrus's hopes, dreams, and now the Masamune!"

He pointed the sword at the cliff and continued.

"With which I shall slay Ozzie and restore honor!"

A shimmering golden light surrounded the blade as Glenn marched towards the cliff, weapon raised. Once he was only a foot away, he brought the sword down upon the mountain's hard, earthen surface.

A large crack ran through the cliff from the bottom, where Glenn was standing, to the very top of its peak. Then, slowly, two sections of the cliff on either side of the newly formed crack began to move away from each other, like a pair of sliding glass doors. When they finally stopped moving, Glenn and the other two could see the mouth of a long, dark cave that had been carefully concealed inside of the cliff.

Glenn sheathed the Masamune and turned to Jonas and Ian, who both looked thunderstruck.

"This way," he said. "The path will take us below sea level and open up on the island where Ozzie's castle is located."

"Wow," muttered Ian as the three of them entered the cave, "I never thought the mystics were capable of something like this."

"I guess it goes to show you," said Jonas, "what sort of things you can pull off with magic."

The three emerged from the other end of the tunnel and, as Glenn said they would, found themselves on the island just east of the Guardia mainland. In front of them, surrounded by trees, was the most magnificent, and horrific, structure they had ever seen.

Ozzie's castle was as tall, dark, and intimidating as ever when viewed up close. Several windows could be seen with light shining out of them, and on the topmost spire of the castle, illuminated by the moon above, sat an ugly stone gargoyle with bats flying around it. Like Guardia castle, two massive, wooden doors marked the main castle entrance. To Glenn's surprise, they were unguarded.

"Er... do we now just turn the door knob?" asked Jonas.

"No," said Glenn. "I don't want to try the front doors, yet. Let's see if we can find a trapdoor leading inside. You know, an alternate escape route that the mystics may have built for drastic measures."

"Right," said Ian.

"Search the walls and be careful not to come into the light," Glenn warned as they approached the castle. "We don't want to alert anyone to our presence."

Slowly, for an hour the three of them moved around the front walls, searching for alternative entries, but kept in the castle's shadows and didn't dare go any further than the front walls for fear of being spotted by someone. Finally, they met up again in the shadow of a tower near the main entrance.

"I found nothing," said Glenn. "What about you?"

Jonas and Ian both shook their heads.

"What do you suggest we do now?" Ian asked.

"Perhaps we could climb in through a window..." suggested Jonas, pointing up at one of the lightless windows.

Unfortunately, the lowest windows were more than twelve feet high, and the walls were smooth and flat and it was clear to them they'd never be able to scale them with just their bare hands.

"...or maybe not," Jonas finished somewhat lamely.

Glenn couldn't think of any other options...except one, and he wasn't sure if it was any better than what Jonas suggested.

"All right," he said after a short pause, "this leaves us with nothing but the front door, and just in case...."

Glenn pulled out his bow and fitted an arrow in place, then moved back towards the main entrance. Jonas and Ian followed, swords drawn.

They climbed the stone steps, up towards the wooden doors. Glenn came to a halt.

"Now listen," he muttered to the others, "when I throw open the door, be ready for anything waiting on the other side."

The soldiers nodded, and Glenn, bow and arrow still in hand, pressed his back against the door and shoved it open.

A hall lit by torches awaited them. Glenn, with his bow raised, quickly searched the hall with his eyes, but it appeared to be empty of all and any living things, except for the three of them. Two suits of armor, human armor by the looks of it, were positioned on either side of a set of stairs. The path at the top of the stairs branched off in two opposite directions, leading to two separate doorways, which evidently lead to the rest of the castle. A few torches hanging off the walls illuminated the hallway, and while there was enough light to actually see, the room was still quite dark and eerie looking. A carpet covered the path leading up the to stairway, a luxurious carpet very much like the ones in Guardia castle.

Jonas moved ahead of Glenn to get a better view of the surroundings.

"How unusual," he said, looking around. "Nothing, not a single soul. Are they all asleep or something?"

"Highly unlikely," said Ian, coming a bit closer. "I doubt even Ozzie, as lazy as he might be, would rest during a major battle. I mean, surely they'd want to stay around to hear any news."

"Don't lower your guard too much," warned Glenn as he put his bow away and, instead, removed the Masamune from its sheath. "The mystics could be of the type that waits in ambush."

"Aye," said Ian.

"I wonder why the mystics would decorate their lair with human armor," said Jonas as he walked to one side of the carpet and approached the armor to examine it.

"Probably keep them as trophies," said Ian as he too walked over and stood next to Jonas, a sound of disgust in his voice. "I'll bet my money those suits of armor belonged to knights they had slain in the past."

"Regardless, we shouldn't waste any more time," said Glenn as he stepped forward onto the rug. "We came here to—"

But almost immediately after his feet made contact with the wool, all of the torches in the room extinguished themselves, plunging them into complete darkness.

"Hey! What...?!" came the voice of Jonas, and then there was a yelp of pain.

"Ow! Jonas! That was my foot!" said Ian's voice. There came a sound of metal clanging against metal, another shout of pain, and something hit the floor with a loud clatter.

"Ian? Jonas? What hap—" Glenn began, walking to where he heard their voices, but before he could finish, he tripped over something protruding from the stone floor and felt his face collide with the ground. The Masamune went flying from his grasp.

"Master Glenn!?" Jonas called. "Where are—?"

"Shh! Keep you voice down!" Glenn whispered urgently as he picked himself up off the floor. "Stay where you are and don't talk. We'll alert the whole castle if we keep this up."

"I wouldn't be too surprised if they HAVE all heard us," came Ian's voice from somewhere on the ground, "what with the racket we've already managed to create."

"Still, let's not take any chances," said Glenn as he groped around for his sword. Once he found it, he began searching for whatever it was that had caused him to trip. His hand met what felt like a loose stone sticking out of the floor. When he was able to conclude that it was, in fact, a stone, an idea suddenly occurred to him.

"Jonas, Ian, hold on a second," he whispered. "I'm going to see if I can relight one of the torches."

"Okay, but hurry up," said Ian's voice. "I could really use some help here."

Glenn put the Masamune back in its sheath and started to pull the loose stone out of its place. Once he managed to wrench it out, he tucked it underneath his arm and slowly approached the wall. He began to feel around for one of the unlit torches. When he found one, he extracted a dagger that was carefully concealed within his left boot, brought both it at the stone towards the head of the torch, and struck the dagger against the stone. Sparks began to flicker in the darkness, and after a few failed attempts, he finally relit the one torch and removed it from its holder.

He dropped the stone, put the dagger back in his boot, and looked around.

The room was still empty except for the three of them. Jonas was standing near the stairs with one hand resting on the banister. Not too far away, Ian was laying on the ground with one of the suits of armor on top of him. Apparently, after Jonas ran into him, Ian fell back onto one of the suits of armor and fell down with it. The moment they saw he was unable to get up on his own, Jonas and Glenn moved forward to help Ian push the suit of armor off of him.

"Thanks," he said once they had gotten him out from underneath the armor and helped him back on to his feet. "That definitely wasn't the lightest suit I've ever felt."

"What now?" asked Jonas.

"We should probably head for one of those doors," said Glenn, pointing at the two doorways on the higher level. "But avoid standing on the carpet, as I have the feeling that that was what caused the torches to go out."

They climbed the steps, careful to avoid touching the carpet again, and decided to take the door to their right. Once they walked through, they found themselves in what seemed like yet another empty hallway. This room was also free of any light, with the exception coming from Glenn's torch, and since they didn't want to risk setting off any other possible traps, the trio flattened themselves against the left stone wall and began moving against it towards the next door.

"I'll bet this must look pretty silly," whispered Ian as they came closer to the exit. "Imagine what a mystic would think if it came in here right now and found three human soldiers moving around with their backs aga-AAAARRRGH!!"

Without warning, a portion of the wall behind Jonas and Ian suddenly vanished, and the two soldiers fell backwards through the gap. Once they disappeared, the hole in the wall sealed up as the stone blocks came into place again.

"Ian! Jonas!" Glenn shouted, quickly moving away from the wall in case it was going to swallow him up as well. "Oh my god, can you guys hear me? Where are—?"

But before Glenn could finish, a carefully concealed trapdoor opened up beneath his feet and he fell through the floor. After Glenn vanished too, the trapdoor shut itself, blending in perfectly with the rest of the ground.

Glenn groaned and picked himself off the ground. This new room was also dark, with the exception of the light coming from his torch which, miraculously, had survived the fall. Glenn made to grab it, but a gray leg suddenly came out of the darkness and kicked him back to the ground. Glenn looked around and saw the owner of the leg, holding a second torch.

Bat-like wings, gray skin, and a face and body similar to that of the gargoyle statue Glenn had seen outside of the castle, the mystic let out a shriek and dived at him. Glenn quickly rolled out of the way and put as much distance in between himself and the mystic as he could before the creature turned around, ready to strike again. Quick as a flash, Glenn grabbed his bow, put an arrow in place, and took aim. The gargoyle-like creature charged at him again, and Glenn released the arrow, getting the mystic right in its leg. The mystic screamed in pain and collapsed onto its good knee, trying to remove the arrow. Glenn took advantage of the distraction by running up to the creature and landing a good, hard kick right in its face. The mystic fell backward onto the ground, wincing, before another arrow was planted in its neck and it fell silent. Glenn, though somewhat shaken, put his bow away, picked up his torch, and looked around. He was in a rather small room, perhaps a dungeon, that was empty of anything except for him and the now dead mystic. He saw a door on the other end of the room and moved towards it. He was about to grasp the doorknob when he heard footsteps on the other side.

"Someone must've heard the struggle," he thought to himself. He snuffed out his torch and leapt to one side of the door, sword drawn. The only source of light was now coming from the fallen mystic's torch, which lay on the ground.

The door flung open, hitting Glenn full in the face, but he kept any moan of pain from escaping his lips and stayed behind the door as two more mystics entered the room. One of them gave a cry of surprise and Glenn heard a gruff voice.

"Somebody got Bane! Oh god, I think I'm gonna be sick!"

"No one else is here," said another voice. "They must've found a alternative way out when they knew they'd caused a ruckus."

Glenn chose to risk looking out from behind the door, and saw two stout mystics, wearing boots and leather clothing of a blue color. They both were holding torches of their own and had their backs to him, looking down at the dead mystic.

"Henches," he quietly murmured to himself, referring to the known creatures among the mystics.

"This is the work of a human, make not doubt about it," said the other hench. "These are human arrows, I recognize their design. The filthy creature must've popped in while Bane was clearing up here. Porche, go raise the alarm, Ozzie must be notified of this. We have invaders. I'll stay here and see if I can find anything else."

Glenn quickly hid behind the door again as one of the mystics turned around and headed back through the entrance. Once his footsteps had died, Glenn came out from behind the door.

The other mystic, on his knees now, was still observing the dead one as Glenn emerged.

"The intrusion is what caused the lights in this quarter of the castle to go out, undoubtedly," the hench was muttering to himself. "Sheesh, what a stupid idea. 'Let there be a black out should any invaders find their way inside the castle.' What was master Ozzie thinking at the time? Nearly poked my eye out when the torches went out like that. I thought 'there's bound to be an invasion somehow.' but Ozzie's always so sure of things. 'Just send half of the guards out to help the army battle its way to the human castle, the humans won't find there way here, and even if they do, the castle's enchantments will be able to stop them.' boy, I've got a bad feeling about this."

The hench turned, and found himself looking up into Glenn's grinning face, sword raised.

The mystic let out a squeak.

"Porche!" he yelled. "I fou—"

WHAM!

Before he could act, the hench was struck plunk on the head by the flat end of the Masamune and went out like a light. His torch fell to the ground with a clatter.

"Hmm, I wonder why I didn't kill him," Glenn said to himself as he bent down to observe the unconscious mystic. "Guess maybe I wanted to save as much of the killing till I reach Ozzie."

As he spoke, his eyes suddenly caught sight of a ring of keys attached to the hench's belt. He slipped them off and examined them more closely.

"Could these come in handy?" he asked himself, then pocketed them as he heard a voice.

"Boss?! Did you say something?"

It was the hench named Porche. Glenn picked up the unconscious one's torch, sheathed the Masamune, and retreated to the other side of the door.

The second mystic had barely set foot in the room when his face was met by Glenn's fist. Once he was sure beyond doubt that the hench was completely knocked out and that he had brought no reinforcements with him, Glenn pulled him into the room and propped both him and his fellow up against the wall.

"Perhaps I can lock them in," said Glenn as he pulled out the keys to see if any of them matched the silver lock on the door. When he found what he believed to be the right one, he slipped out of the room.

"Alright, you boys be good while I'm gone," he said to the mystics sleeping against the wall, then he shut them in and placed the key in the lock. He heard a satisfying click and pulled the key out. He put the keys away, pulled out the Masamune, and continued down the corridor, holding the torch in front of him.

"I only hope Jonas and Ian are okay," he thought.

At the end of the corridor was another door. Glenn opened it, and found himself staring at the foot of a spiral staircase leading upwards. Once he reached the top, he pushed open a third door (The hinges squeaked loudly in protest), and entered what had to be a torture chamber. An iron maiden, racks, thumbscrews, and a head-crusher, some of them covered in what obviously had to be...blood. Feeling a little uncomfortable, Glenn quickly left through the other door, and began walking down a second corridor.

Sword still in hand, Glenn was surprised he hadn't had any other encounters yet. The castle seemed even more empty than he expected it to be. Still, he couldn't help but worry about his colleagues, and was praying that they had been able to escape any tight spots they may have entered when the three of them were separated.

Glenn walked through another door, and entered a large dining hall. Several chairs surrounded a long, rectangular table covered with a rather large doily. An enormous chandelier dangled above the table, all of its candles unlit, making Glenn's torch still the only source of light. One of the chairs positioned on one of the smaller table sides was cushioned and had a golden color to it. Glenn felt that it had to be Ozzie's chair, since all the others were small and made out of a simple wood. Once Glenn stopped observing the table and the features carved into its wooden legs, he noticed that he had three doors to choose from this time.

"One of them probably leads to the kitchens," Glenn thought. "So I should continue with one of the other two."

Before he could choose a door to take, he suddenly heard someone on the other side of the door opposite him fidgeting with the knob. Horrified, he put his torch out and dived underneath the table, submerged in complete darkness.

"What's taking so long?" came an annoyed voice from behind the door.

"The key's being stubborn," said another.

The door flew open and three mystics stepped in, one of them holding a lantern. The first one, the lantern holder, was a hench, the second an imp, and the third was a mystic quite unlike any other Glenn had seen so far, but he recognized it nonetheless, as he had met it before.

"Flea," he muttered.

When compared to the rest of the mystic race, Flea was the definition of bizarre. She (or he) bore the appearance of a young, female human, and wore a rather odd assortment of clothing, including a white cape, a white vest, orange tights, black-
and-yellow boots, and a short, red skirt. A lamp of some type hung on Flea's belt, and his (or her) red hair was braided and tied back in a pony tail.

The hench moved forward, lifting the lantern above his head.

"This is the dining room, of course," he grunted. "Nope, nobody seems to be here either."

"Well, we need to keep looking," said Flea, "and see if we can find someone who can tell us what this is all abou-OUCH!"

Underneath the table, Glenn could see Flea hopping on one foot.

"Gah! Stubbed my toe on that damn chair! Oh this is ridiculous! Why hasn't anyone relit the castle lights already? Illumadorei!"

Flea shouted a word of power, and all of the candles in the room ignited at once, as though they had been burning for several hours. Glenn squinted a little as his eyes adjusted to the new lighting in the room.

"That's better," said Flea with some satisfaction in its voice. The hench shrugged and put out the lantern, placing it on the table.

"I just want to know why they went out in the first place," said the imp. "Do you think it's possible that the castle HAS been invaded?"

"It's possible," said the hench. "But there haven't been any signs of a struggle so far. Mind you, nobody we've met on the way here has seen a human army marching up to the front doors, so if the castle has been invaded, it's probably by a small group, I'd have to say. But why would Guardia send only a few soldiers to retaliate for the onslaught going on at the bridge right now?"

"Indeed," said Flea. "Well we should press on, anyway. Perhaps we should visit the bottom floor. If there ARE intruders, it's possible one of them may have ended up in the dungeons. The castle has its ways of leading uninvited guests there."

Glenn watched from his hiding place as the three mystics headed for the door he had entered through.

"Wait," said the hench and he came to a halt. "What's that on the floor over there?"

Glenn then realized that the hench was referring to the torch he had left on the ground a few feet from the table. After putting it out, Glenn dropped the torch in his haste and forgot to take it with him under the table.

The hench walked over to the torch and bent to pick it up. As he did so, he suddenly turned his head and, through a gap in between a couple of chairs, his eyes fell onto Glenn, hiding under the dining table.

"What the...?"

The Masamune was then thrusted into his face as Glenn came bursting out from underneath the table, and the mystic fell backward, twitching on the floor.

Flea and the imp stepped back in shock, then a look of delight formed on Flea's face.

"Glenn?" he/she said. "Well THIS is an unexpected surprise. I never would've thought you'd have the nerve to cross us again after what we did to your precious Cy—"

"Shut up!" Glenn snarled, wrenching the blade out of the hench's ruined face and pointing it at Flea.

"Still miss your playmate, do you? Oh, poor baby!" Flea teased, an insane smile spreading across her/his face. "No matter, you'll be seeing him shortly."

The imp retreated sideways as Flea drifted towards the human, a ball of fire forming in his/her hand.

"I always wanted to be the one who'd kill you," Flea whispered.

Flea threw the fireball directly at Glenn's face, but with quick reflexes, Glenn brought the Masamune up in front of him. The ball of fire was deflected by the sword and it rebounded upon its caster. Flea ducked just in time, but the aroma of burnt hair could be smelt as the fireball singed the top of his/her head.

"My hair!" Flea squeaked, conjuring a mirror in its hand and looking at the reflection, then his/her face turned a shade of magenta.

"Why you ungrateful brat!" he/she shrieked, throwing the mirror onto the ground, where it cracked. "I'm going to wring your bloody neck!"

Flea lunged recklessly at him, blind with rage, but Glenn dodged the sorcerer's flailing hands and rammed his buckler into her/his face, knocking the magician silly. He grabbed Flea by the neck and raised the Masamune, but before Glenn could land a finishing blow, the imp grabbed him around the ankles and all three of them came crashing to the floor.

Glenn conked the imp right on the head with the pommel of his sword and shook it off his legs before getting up. Flea was on the floor, still dizzy from the blow Glenn had dealt. Knowing he had to act quickly, Glenn raised the Masamune again and was about to thrust it into Flea's neck when the sorcerer suddenly shouted an incantation.

"Mortencante!"

Glenn was thrown across the room by an invisible force and collided with one of the doors.

CRACK!

The door fell off its hinges and Glenn continued to soar into the next room before landing on the hard stone floor.

His back aching horribly, Glenn picked himself off the ground again, Masamune still clenched firmly in his hand, and looked around.

He had entered a small library with a single long bookcase that took up one entire side of the room. Flea came in through the broken door, looking angrier than ever before.

"Enjoying your stay?" he/she growled, raising a hand and muttering the same incantation, which sent Glenn slamming against the wall behind him. "I hope you are."

Hunched up against the wall, Glenn got up from the floor, giving Flea a look of pure dislike, then darted to the wall on his left the moment he realized what Flea was about to do.

"Mortencante!"

He heard the wall he had just moved away from creak ominously where the magician's spell hit it, then when he looked back at Flea, something caught his attention.

The long bookcase was positioned on the wall opposite him, and Flea, who had now moved further into the room, was glaring at Glenn with the shelf right behind him/her.

A sudden idea struck Glenn, and he tightened his hold over the Masamune.

"Well, it worked with the fireball," he thought. "But can I really expect Flea to cast the same spell a fourth time?"

His question was answered when Flea raised a hand and an invisible force erupted from within it. Glenn raised his sword the moment he knew what was coming and felt the spell rebound like last time, the Masamune left vibrating from the impact.

Flea didn't have a chance to react. The deflected spell sent the sorcerer crashing into the enormous bookcase. Several books toppled out of their places, and Flea got up from the ground, feeling his/her back.

"Son of a...." Flea began, giving the swordsman a look that clearly wished him an agonizing death.

But with a final wobble, the huge bookcase toppled forward onto Flea with a loud crash.

This was exactly what Glenn had been hoping for.

"Ouch," Glenn thought, approaching the wreckage. "I can't believe Flea didn't see that coming, but then again, Ozzie didn't seem to go for intelligence when recruiting his officers."

He didn't see any further movement from beneath the fallen bookcase, and was just considering rummaging through the ruined bookcase to see if whether or not Flea had been killed by the impact (and if the sorcerer had just simply been knocked out, he'd be sure to finish the job), when he heard one of the doors back in the dining room open, followed by several voices.

"What happened HERE?"

"A struggle, perhaps?"

"Is that hench dead?!"

"The imp seems to be okay, just knocked out."

"Outta the way! Let me see."

Glenn had no trouble recognizing the last voice, even though it had been ten years since he last heard it. For it belonged to the very same mystic who gave Glenn his scar.

Not wanting Slash to see him through the knocked-down door, especially when he had reinforcements with him, Glenn silently ran towards one of the other library doors and closed it behind him, leaving it open by just a crack so that he could still hear what was being said.

"What is all this? What happened here? Answer me!"

"H...he...he...."

"Who's he?"

"G, Glenn."

From what Glenn could guess, it seemed Slash had revived the unconscious imp and was telling it to explain what had happened.

"Glenn? Are you telling me he's in the castle?"

"Yes...."

"Well, go on! What did he do?"

"A-attacked us...killed the hench over there...fought...superior Flea."

"And?"

"They...must...gone off...somewhere...."

Slash let out a grunt of frustration and addressed the mystics who had arrived with him.

"Listen, the castle must be searched. We'll split up and search the other rooms. If you find Glenn, don't try and take him without the rest of us, that is, assuming he has the Masamune with him. If you find any of the castle guards, be sure to alert them of the intrusion."

"Of course, but sir, could Glenn have gone through that door over there? Looks like it was thrown off its hinges."

"What? Where...?

Glenn heard a gasp, followed by footsteps.

"Yes, he was here alright. Knocked down the bookshelves, I see...er...hold on a second."

Rummaging sounds reached Glenn's ears.

"It's Flea!" shouted Slash.

The others could be heard entering the room now.

"How is the lieutenant, is he okay?" asked one of the mystics.

"He?" said another. "I always thought Flea was a she."

"Well, HE claims to be a guy, doesn't he?"

"I thought that was because she was confused, at least that's how she always seemed to me."

"Look, you guys, this is not the time or place to get into this," interjected a third. "Master Slash, is Flea hurt?"

"By the looks of it, just badly pummeled, probably from having the bookcase slammed on top of the poor fool's head," said Slash, then he added, sounding amused. "Though it seems something also got Flea's hair. Either that, or he's been trying out new hairstyles. If so, I like this one."

"Shut up," Flea groaned suddenly. "Where is he? Where's Glenn? When I get my hands on him, I'll...."

"We were hoping you could tell us where the insect had gone," said Slash, suddenly serious.

"How could you expect ME to know where he's gone when I've been underneath these blasted books the whole time?" Flea asked sternly. "So, I'd take it you haven't run across him yet?"

"No."

"Probably ran off the moment he did this to me...er...wait, how long have I been out?"

"I don't know, the others and I just got here recently."

"Peh, you're no help...or at least not yet," said Flea irritably. "Would you mind giving me a hand here?"

"Kleaver, you take Flea to go and have those injuries checked," ordered Slash. "Meanwhile, I'll..."

"I'm not going anywhere!" shouted Flea. "Not until my hands have found that damn human's neck!"

"Have it your way," said Slash. "But personally, if I had hair, I wouldn't want to go around with it looking like THAT."

"Will you lay off my hair, already?!" Flea asked, now starting to sound quite angry. "It's not my fault it's like this. That blasted Glenn repelled one of my spells and it—"

"Although I'm sure it's a fascinating story," interrupted Slash. "We have more pressing matters to deal with first, like Glenn himself for instance. Now come, everyone! Kleaver, you take those four and search the rooms beyond that door, Flea, you go with those three and check that door over there, the rest of you, follow me!"

Glenn could now hear approaching footsteps. Quietly as he could, he turned away from the door and began to run down the corridor he had entered. Not wanting to be found, especially since the entire castle was soon going to be alerted to the invasion, he silently ran through several halls and passed countless corridors, all of them apparently empty. Indeed, he did not have any other encounters for several minutes, that is, until he walked right into an armory filled with soldiers.

"Wha...?"

"A human!"

Glenn ran back through the door and shut it behind him the moment he realized he had made a big mistake, but knew they would be coming for him if he didn't act quickly. Two seconds after shutting the door, Glenn snatched the keys he had taken and thrust one of them into the lock, praying that it would fit as he heard the mystics running at the door, ready to throw it open. His prayer answered, Glenn heard the door click shut the moment the mystics on the other side launched their bodies against it with a loud thud, but the door did not give in.

"It's locked!" one of them shouted, fumbling with the knob.

"Break it open!" shouted another.

Then Glenn heard what was unmistakably the sound of wood splintering and knew what that must mean.

He backed away from the door by a few feet, unsure of what to do. Then a chunk of the door was knocked out to leave a rather large hole and Glenn could see a goblin on the other side, hitting the door with a big war hammer. Glenn pulled out his bow, put an arrow in place, and fired it through the hole. The arrow got the goblin in the chest and it let out a screech of pain, then toppled out of sight as three more moved into view to replace it. They snarled at Glenn, brandishing their weapons, and Glenn responded by removing the Masamune from its sheath, striding forward, and plunging the blade through the hole in the door and into the neck of one of the three. The blade glowed for a moment and Glenn pulled it out with an almighty lurch. The wounded mystic fell to the ground as the other two began to yell. "The Masamune! It's the Masamune!"

The sounds of weapons tearing at the door died out almost instantly.

"Stay in there if you want to live!" Glenn said in a thunderous voice as he sheathed his sword again. Then he thought. "I think I can assure myself that they won't try anything now. All mystics despise and fear the Masamune, so they probably won't want to oppose me even if they do have superior numbers."

And without another word, Glenn turned on his heel and took one of the other doors.

"But Slash and Flea are another story. They're certainly not as cowardly as the rest of them, so I'd better find Ozzie fast and put a stop to this once and for all."

Glenn passed through another hallway and was about to walk through a second door when it opened on the other side and an armored something ran right into him.

"Ack! Stay back or I'll cut your throat!" Glenn and the soldier both shouted, brandishing their swords.

Then they lowered their weapons simultaneously.

"Master Glenn?"

"Jonas?"

"Your alive!?" They both cried together.

"Oh thank the heavens," said Jonas, a grin spreading across his face. "I had believed all hope to be lost when we were separated like that. If you had died, Glenn, it would have meant the end. What happened to you?"

"Never mind about that," Glenn said hurriedly. "We can discuss our personal experiences later. Soon, the whole castle is going to be aware of our presence."

"Good point," remarked Jonas. "Let us make haste and locate Ozzie, the foul pig."

And they both set off through a third door in the room.

"By the way," Jonas began. "Do you know where Ian is?"

"Wasn't he with you?"

"No. We were separated after falling through that trap door."

"Well, hopefully, he is okay at the moment," said Glenn. "And hopefully, he'll be able to find us. But we should focus mainly on tracking Ozzie, since I doubt Ian would want us to jeopardize the mission by taking any valuable time to find him first."

"Agreed."

They had entered what appeared to be a room used for discussing battle tactics, what with battle plans strewn all around a large table, when they heard approaching footsteps from behind a door opposite them and a group of five entered, led by a blue-skinned swordsman.

"Slash!" said Glenn as he and Jonas brandished their swords.

Unlike his cohort, Flea, Slash was completely and utterly bald. A sword hung at his side, and he wore clothing of violet and white, with bright yellow boots and golden armbands around his arms. He had the look of a true swordsman, and one could tell just by glancing at him that he was not the kind of person most would want to mess with. Upon laying eyes on Glenn, he drew his sword from its scabbard and the other four, who bore the appearance of bipedal crows, followed suit.

"Ah, Glenn, it has been too long," said Slash, his eyes narrowing as his mouth curled into a smile. "Still have that scar, I see. I'm grateful. It's a definite improvement to your hideous looks."

"Yes, thank you so much," Glenn replied in a voice heavy with sarcasm. "I've been meaning to return the favor."

"You don't say?" said Slash, then he turned his eyes to the bird-like mystics who had arrived with him. "Listen, I think it's time you bunch got some exercise. You deal with Glenn, I want to see how much he has improved over the past ten years."

The mystics looked at each other, then glared at the Masamune with fearful eyes, and whimpered in protest.

"You heard what I said, now do it," Slash said in a menacing tone.

The two in front clicked their beaks, then, as though wanting to get it over with quickly, launched themselves across the room towards Glenn and Jonas, swords raised.

"Die!" They tried to shout, but the words were hardly out of their mouths when the humans thrust their swords into the faces of their challengers and silenced them for good.

The other two screeched with rage and ran at them. Jonas and Glenn deflected their strikes and sidestepped in opposite directions while keeping their shields in front of them. Glenn attempted to strike at his opponent whenever the opportunity arose, but even without a shield of its own, the mystic proved to be an effective blocker with just its scimitar. Working out a strategy, Glenn rammed his buckler into the mystic's face, temporarily stunning it, then rolled over on the ground with astonishing speed and agility till he was behind it and kicked it to the ground. Then, with a downward thrust, he plunged the Masamune into the creature's gut, finishing it, before turning around to see Jonas thrust his sword into the throat of his opponent and slamming it against the wall, where it slumped, gasping, to the floor.

"Well done, Jo—" Glenn began, but just then, he felt excruciating pain in his left arm and gasped with pain and surprise. He had nearly forgotten about Slash.

"Impressive," remarked Slash, extracting his saber from Glenn's left arm as the Masamune fell to the ground. "But they were new recruits anyway. So no great loss on my part."

Slash kicked him to the ground, very much like how Glenn did with his last opponent, and Glenn's bow unstrung and fell away. Then he grabbed Glenn by the hair and brought his saber up to the human's neck, as though intending to slit his throat.

"And now to do what I've been wanting to do since that fateful day ten years ago," he whispered.

Jonas, who had been momentarily shocked, shouted "No!" and charged at Slash. Slash released Glenn and effortlessly repelled Jonas's attack, then turned his attention to him instead. With a swift upper swing of the blade, Slash cut the arm Jonas was using to hold his shield. Jonas cried out in pain and dropped the shield, relying now on just his sword. Slash continued to push Jonas back until he was cornered, then knocked his sword out of his grip. Grinning, Slash raised his own saber.

"Isn't it a shame how Glenn must always watch a friend die?" Slash asked, casting a quick look over his shoulder to where Glenn lay, deprived of both his sword and bow; trying to get back up.

As Slash shifted his focus back onto Jonas, Glenn took advantage of the distraction to pull out the dagger he had concealed in his boot. Then, aiming with his right hand, he threw it at Slash, getting him in the back.

"Augh!" Slash cried as he whirled around, just in time to see Glenn raise his buckler and slam it into Slash's face, just as he had done so many times before in the past. Jonas then picked up his sword and drew a long cut upon Slash's back before throwing him to the ground, where he rolled over underneath the table and remained still.

"Is he dead?" Jonas asked hopefully.

"No," said Glenn as he went to retrieve his bow and the Masamune. "Just unconscious, I think. His head hit the floor pretty hard when you threw him down like that."

"Well, in that case, we'd better finish the jo—"

But at that precise moment, one of the doors banged open and a large group of castle soldiers came in, then stopped as they set eyes upon scene in front of them.

"The intruders!" One shouted.

"And they killed master Slash!" Another yelled in fury, aiming his crossbow at Glenn and firing a bolt, which Glenn quickly deflected with his buckler.

"RUN!" Jonas yelled, seizing Glenn by the arm and running through another door as more crossbow bolts came pelting after them.

"This way!" said Jonas, and the two ran through a corridor before stopping at another door. Glenn wrenched it open and they both ran inside, then Glenn snatched the keys at his side and locked the door behind them.

"Master Glenn! It's Ian!" said Jonas from behind.

"What?" said Glenn, and he turned around to take in their new surroundings.

They had entered what looked to be a magician's work station. Possibly Flea's. A circle of power was inscribed into the stone floor, while a desk sat at one end of the room, where scrolls written in languages Glenn could not understand laid sprawled on its surface. A shelf filled with thick novels and notebooks rested against another wall, and it was near this wall that Ian could be seen fending off two henches at once. The three fighters were so engaged in their conflict, that they did not seem to notice their was an intrusion.

"Come on!" said Glenn, and they ran towards the battling human and mystics. They were about five feet away when Ian finally took notice of them.

"Glenn?!" Ian managed to say before having to block another oncoming attack. The two henches turned around stupidly just as Jonas took a swing at one of them with his sword. Ian grasped his chance and thrust his blade into the back of the second while it was caught off guard by the sudden attack on its comrade. Soon, both were left on the floor, motionless, and the three soldiers of Guardia were finally reunited.

"You couldn't have come at a better time," said Ian, readjusting his battered helmet, and they noticed he had a black eye. "I would not have been able to hold them off forever. What happened to you two?" he asked suddenly, pointing at their wounds.

Before either of them could answer, something heavy collided with the locked door, like someone trying to knock it down.

"Can't talk about that right now!" Glenn said hastily. "We're being followed by Slash. Come on! We have to get out of here!"

The three ran for the second door, but before they had come within ten feet of it, it burst open, and Flea entered, flanked by a dozen soldiers.

"Going somewhere?" Flea asked nastily. The top of his/her head was still badly singed, and the sorcerer was now covered with several bad bruises as well.

Just then, the locked door was knocked off its hinges and Slash stood in the doorway, still badly injured from the fight and obviously furious.

Glenn looked around, hoping to find some alternate method of escape, and saw a spiral staircase leading upwards. He indicated it to his companions and they all rushed upstairs, slamming the door shut and locking it after them.

"Quick!" shouted one goblin as he ran to the door. "We must hurry, before they—"

"Relax, Kleaver," said Slash, who was now smiling again. "They won't be going anywhere anytime soon. What our 'guests' don't seem to have realized is that they have just gone up one of the castle towers. They'll have to come down eventually, or we could just patiently go up and fetch them before they starve themselves. I'm sure Ozzie would want them alive so he could do whatever nefarious things he'd have in mind for the idiot, Glenn. What say you, Flea?"

He turned as he addressed his fellow lieutenant, and was startled to see Flea looking so white in the face.

"What's wrong with you?" he asked.

"Don't you know what's up in that tower?" the magician asked incredulously. "That place is my storage room, where I keep all of my most powerful potions!"

"So what?"

"SO WHAT?! Don't you understand? Most of my life's work is up there! Those humans don't know what those potions can DO! We need to get them NOW! Before they can do any more harm! I can't lose anything I have up there! You lot, knock that door down! Quickly!"

The soldiers who had followed Slash into the room jumped, then rushed to the door and began the ram it.

"Dead end!" said Ian in disbelief once they reached the top of the tower. They were in a relatively small, circular room, but the walls had been completely taken over by shelves and shelves of differently shaped flasks, each containing a colored liquid of some sort. A few of the potions were smoking, but most had been corked.

"And by the sound of it, those mules are trying to force the door open," said Jonas as he looked back down the staircase. "Master Glenn, do you think you'll be able to fend those villains off with your bow whilst Ian and I try to find a way out of this tower?"

"I doubt it," Glenn said sadly as he looked at his injured left arm. "The bow requires both hands, and I don't think my good arm will be of any use now."

"What then?" asked Jonas, and he turned to Ian for help.

Ian was examining one of the potions, a light pink one kept in a thick crystal vial to be precise.

"Ian?" Jonas asked.

But Ian wasn't paying attention. He looked from the small potion, to the stairs at the other end of the room. Then a reckless daring seized him and he grabbed the little potion.

"What are you...?" Jonas began, but Ian ran back to the other side of the room, potion in hand, and threw it down the spiral staircase.

"No! No! No! No! Don't push the door, PULL it!" Flea was shouting at the soldiers attempting to open the way to the tower. "Oh, never mind! Back off!"

The guards stepped aside just as told and Flea pointed at the door.

"Unveileardo!"

The door exploded in a shower of splinters.

"We can replace the door later," said Flea. "Now hurry and get them!"

The guards nodded and, stepping carefully over the chunks of wood that were once the door, headed for the stairs. But then the one in front, an imp, stopped.

"Do you hear something?" it asked. "Sounds like the clinking of glass."

And sure enough, only a few seconds later, a tiny pink potion came tumbling down to the bottom of the stairs and landed right in front of the imp's feet.

"What's that?" asked a hench as the imp stooped to pick up the vial. The pink liquid was now bubbling furiously, as though the fall down the steps had irritated the compound.

"Oooh pretty," said the imp, and it placed its stubby hand on the cork.

"No! DON'T!" Flea screamed, but it was too late. The imp uncorked the vial.

Exactly what happened after that, none of them was completely sure. All they knew was that there had been a bright flash of light, a thunderous BOOM that probably shook the entire castle, and when the light faded, Slash, Flea, and all of the others were lying on their backs, covered in suit along with the rest of the room, with a loud ringing in their ears.

Shaking, they all got back onto their feet.

"Oh god, look at me!" Flea cried shrilly as he/she tried to wipe the suit off. "Ooooh when I get my hands on those humans, I'll...WELL WHAT ARE YOU ALL WAITING FOR?!" the magician shrieked suddenly at all the others, who had been watching him/her. "Come on! Before they blow up the entire castle!"

And with Flea in the lead, they charged up the stairs.

"What was THAT?" asked Jonas, referring to the boom they had heard only a few seconds ago.

"Must've been the potion," said Ian, who had now snatched up three more vials, one green, one red, and one gray. "I say we finish off whatever's left of them."

"No, Ian," said Glenn, who was still a little shaken. "Put those back! We don't know what they'll do!"

"What have we got to lose, Glenn?" Ian asked. "They're going to kill us if we don't do something. This is a time when you have to take ris—OOPS!"

The red potion slipped from his grasp and smashed on the floor. After breaking, the potion immediately began to release fumes as red as the liquid itself. Soon, none of the three could see anything in front of him.

"We're nearly there!" shouted Flea as they continued to clamber up the steps. "Just a few...more...and...YES!"

Flea skipped the last step as he/she jumped onto the landing.

"The adventure ends here...you...lot?" Flea finished somewhat lamely as the scene in front of him/her registered in her/his brain.

The room was filled with what was now a very faint red smoke, with no sign of either Glenn, Ian, or Jonas.

Lost for words, Flea just stared in disbelief until Slash appeared at his/her side.

"What's this?!" Slash asked as the red smoke cleared up. "What happened? Flea, where are they?"

Flea's face suddenly switched from disbelief to complete shock again as the answer hit him/her hard on the head. The sorcerer let out a scream of fury.

"They must have used one of the vanishing potions!" Flea proclaimed as the other soldiers began to reach the top. "I've been working on certain types that can take a person to particular rooms inside the castle."

Slash's mouth fell open.

"So they're now in a different room? Any idea which one it could be?"

"Well I've had them color-coded," explained Flea as he/she picked up the broken remains of the vial Ian had dropped. "And if I remember correctly, the red one takes you to...to...."

Flea's face suddenly went pale again.

"Takes you to WHERE?" demanded Slash.

"...Ozzie's throne room!" Flea choked.

Slash looked at the magician in horror.

"The throne room?" he repeated, then he turned to the others.

"All of you, we must head for the throne room! His majesty's life is at stake!!"

"Where are we?" Jonas asked.

They were in an enormous, unlit hallway lined with several pillars used to hold up the high ceiling. The only light came from windows to the left and right of where they stood, and not much light was able to find its way in considering how it was night to begin with. Glenn, Jonas, and Ian, meanwhile, were standing on a long, violet carpet that led onward. Though what lay on the other end, they could not tell, due to the darkness.

"Shall we investigate?" suggested Ian as he put the remaining two vials inside his traveling pouch.

"Yes, we shall," said Glenn as he drew the Masamune. It was only until then that he realized his left arm was fully healed.

"Wait, our wounds are gone!" he stated, examining his arm with wide eyes.

"Why, yes, you're right," said Jonas as he examined the arm he used for holding his shield.

"Guess that potion came with some rather interesting side effects," Ian remarked slyly, rubbing his now healed eye. He then drew his sword and shield.

"Yes, well, don't be too proud of yourself," said Jonas as he pulled out his own sword (He had accidentally left his shield behind). "That potion MIGHT have destroyed us, after all."

"Yeah, but it didn't," Ian replied. "And that's all that's important."

"Come on," said Glenn, breaking up the argument. "Let's see what's ahead."

Silently, they moved through the darkness. Once or twice, Glenn thought he saw something move behind the shadow of a pillar, only to find that his eyes were simply playing tricks on him.

After a few minutes passed by, Glenn thought he could hear sounds near the end of the hall. He looked at the other two and nodded, then they walked off the carpet and into the shadows, where they continued forward.

The sounds grew louder. To Glenn, they sounded like gulping and slurping noises, like someone who was eating and had forgotten their table manners. They were almost there now.

Finally, the thing making all the noise came into view, and Glenn and the other two hid behind a set of pillars before peering around them.

There, at the end of the room, sitting on a large, cushioned throne, surrounded by plates of food, was a short, fat, green-skinned mystic wearing white robes, who was eating what looked to be an entire feast, all by itself. Glenn knew who it was, of course.

Ozzie.

Perhaps the king of the mystics could sense when someone was watching him, because he dropped the bone he was gnawing on and looked around.

"Who's there?" he barked. "I thought I said I wanted to be left alone while eating."

Grinning, Glenn emerged from the shadows, followed closely by Ian and Jonas.

"Hello, Ozzie," he said cheerfully. "It's been a while, hasn't it?"

For a moment, Ozzie seemed unable to speak.

"Ah Glenn," he said, and suddenly, he too started grinning. "I never thought I'd see you again. To what do I owe this unexpected pleasure?"

Glenn stopped grinning and looked suddenly serious.

"It's over, Ozzie," he growled. "I'm not going to stand for your attacks any longer. I've now—"

"If you're going to start some noble speech regarding how you'll try and stop me, save your breath," said Ozzie, vanishing the remaining food into thin air with one hand and gripping some type of lever Glenn could barely see with the other. "I already took a nap today. Oh, and another thing: It's not over till I say it is."

With that, he pulled the lever, and Glenn could feel the floor underneath him vanish once again as a trapdoor was sprung. But Glenn was ready this time, and quickly grabbed the ledge before he could fall through and hoisted himself out.

"You're not very original, are you?" he remarked as he picked up the Masamune again. "Can't you rely on anything other than traps or guards?"

"Shaddup!" said Ozzie as he pressed a button on top of the lever.

CLANG!

Jonas quickly leapt to one side as a large sickle, coming somewhere from the ceiling, landed right on the spot where he stood only a few seconds ago.

"You can't avoid the inevitable forever, you know!" Ozzie shouted, but by now, he was starting to look a little scared.

"There isn't any Flea or Slash to help you out this time," Glenn remarked.

"Bah, I don't know how you got past them, but it doesn't matter," said Ozzie. "I don't need their help." and he suddenly vanished from sight.

Alarmed, Jonas and Ian tightened their grasp over their swords.

"Careful," Glenn warned them as he looked around. "He's still here somewhere."

Glenn then felt something whiz passed his ear and turned to find a dagger lodged into the wall. He looked the other way and saw Ozzie leaning against a pillar. He ran at him with a yell and thrust the Masamune into his face.

But then he just melted into nothingness.

"An illusion," Glenn muttered to the others, who had come to see what had happened.

There was a flash of light and the next thing Glenn knew, his cape was on fire. He made to put it out by stomping on it, but the flame just spread to the rest of the cape. Thinking quickly, he pulled off his cape entirely and smothered it on the floor. There was a shout and Glenn looked up to see Ozzie lifting Ian off the ground, his stubby green hands clasped around the soldier's neck. Jonas was swiping at Ozzie with his sword, trying to get at him, but Ozzie was now too high to reach with a sword. Glenn dropped both his cape and the Masamune and pulled his bow out again. He fitted an arrow into place and fired it at Ozzie, but Ozzie conjured a protective field of magic which deflected the arrow. Knowing that time was running out for Ian, Glenn improvised by grabbing the Masamune and throwing it clumsily at Ozzie instead. It worked. The sword, being the anti-magical artifact that it was, penetrated the shield and left a deep cut in Ozzie's arm. Ozzie yelped in pain and dropped Ian. But this meant Ian fell twenty feet onto the solid ground. His armor clanged horribly against the floor and he let out a groan of pain. Ozzie vanished again as Jonas rushed to his colleague's aid and helped him up.

"Are you alright?" Glenn asked as he reached them.

"I'm not sure," Ian gasped, clutching his chest. "Though I think I felt a rib break."

"Don't worry, we'll see to that soon enough," Glenn assured him as he gazed around, trying to locate the mystic king.

"Cowards!" said Ozzie from in front of his throne. "Strike me down while I focus my attention on a single one of you, eh? I can't believe you'd have the nerve to do this, Glenn, fight me three to one."

Ozzie raised his fat hands and became enveloped in a dome of light. When the light vanished, it seemed Ozzie was now encased in a shield made entirely out of crystal.

Glenn was silent for a moment, then replied. "Well that's kind of like the pot calling the kettle black, wouldn't you say? After all, you came after me and Cyrus with Flea and Slash at your side. And since I'm sure you would want to fight me with both of them at your heel if you could—"

"Be quiet!" Ozzie shouted from inside of the crystal case. "I already said I don't need them. Behold, for what you see now is my greatest magical achievement! A shield that is completely and utterly impenetrable! Nothing, not even the Masamune, can get through it!"

Jonas and Ian both gave Glenn a look that was plainly asking how Ozzie could think that a defensive maneuver would be the only thing required to beat them. Glenn ignored their looks and raised the Masamune.

"Okay then, Ozzie, let's see if your right about that," he said as he approached the crystal dome.

With an powerful swing, Glenn brought the sword down upon the surface of the crystal. There was a third flash of light and Glenn went flying backwards as the crystal shield melted away. There was now a large crack in the blade of the Masamune, much larger than the others, but Glenn took no notice as he picked himself off the ground.

Ozzie now stood shieldless, a look of surprise on his face.

"The Masamune is stronger than I imagined," he said, but looked no less determined. "Oh well, there's still more where that came from. You will never defeat me!"

Glenn entered a fighting stance and was about to make a retort when he heard a sound from somewhere in the shadows. He looked around, and from behind one pillar, a cat emerged.

How that cat had gotten there and why it was there, Glenn had not the faintest clue. He and the others just watched in silence as the cat approached the throne. There, it pressed a small button installed in the throne itself with its paw, then just walked right back into the shadows with another meow.

"No!" Ozzie shouted, looking horrified. "Not THAT button!"

The floor beneath Ozzie disappeared as a second trapdoor was activated, and he fell right through it. His scream could be heard throughout the entire fall as he fell through what must have been eight different floors before hitting the bottom one with a sick, crunching thud.

The three humans stood rooted to the floor, staring at the spot where Ozzie had been standing only seconds before. Finally, after a minute passed, Ian spoke up.

"Um...well...er...I guess...mission accomplished."

Before either Glenn or Jonas could respond, the doors to the throne room flung open and light poured into the semi-darkness. They turned around to see Flea and Slash coming towards them with a horde of mystics at their side.

"There they are!" Flea shrieked. "Kill them!"

"Uh oh," said Jonas as the three of them backed away slightly. "Any plans on how to escape this one?"

Ian reached into his traveling pouch and pulled out the two vials he had brought with him, both of which were still miraculously unbroken after his twenty foot fall. He looked from one to the other, as though choosing, then, with a grin on his face, took the vial holding the green potion and lobbed it, like a grenade, across the room towards Flea and Slash.

The vial smashed on the ground, and the moment it came into contact with the carpet, the liquid burst into flame. Bright green flames caught into the desecrated carpet and, miraculously, traveled across the stone floor and spread to the curtains and everything else.

"What's this!?" shouted Slash, looking terrified. "Flea, what was that potion?!"

"Liquid fire!" Flea shouted, looking equally frightened. "Another of my creations!"

"Well, you're a magician, aren't you?! Conjure up some water and put it out! Hurry!"

"I can't!" Flea squeaked, who now looked as though he/she wanted to get away desperately. "That's everlasting fire! It burns everything in its path and can't be extinguished until it reaches the end of its life!"

"I BEG YOUR PARDON?!"

"RETREAT!"

Meanwhile, on the other side of the room, Glenn, Jonas, and Ian were trying to escape to flames as well.

"Now what do we do?" Jonas asked, giving Ian an angry look.

"Not to worry, Jonas," said Ian. "I have the answer right here." he gave the gray potion a little shake. "Or a least I hope I do."

He uncorked the vial and poured the gray potion onto the ground at their feet. Gray clouds of smoke emerged from the liquid and the trio soon became engulfed in them.

For a moment, they could see nothing except gray, then the smoke cleared away and they found themselves standing in the grass in front of the mouth of a cave. The potion had taken them back to the human mainland, right where the secret passage to the castle was located. They looked towards Ozzie's castle and judging by the many flickers of green light, the fire was spreading rapidly. In only a matter of minutes, it seemed as though the entire castle was on fire.

For a moment, none of them spoke, then Ian said. "Yes, it worked! We did it!"

Despite his shock, Glenn smiled.

"Yes, it's finally over with," he said. "I'm sure the mystics stationed at the bridge will want to withdraw once they've seen this."

"But Ian," Jonas began. "How did you know which potion was going to do what?"

"I didn't," replied Ian. "Just did some lucky guesswork. However, I'm pretty sure the mystics will take this as a sign that they're NOT destined to succeed the human race as dominant force."

"Most likely," said Glenn, then he looked up into the sky and added. "Well, Cyrus, our job is finally finished. Thank you...for everything."

Glenn then looked down at the Masamune, which was still firmly clenched in his fist, and received a shock quite unrelated to what they had gone through during those last few minutes back at the castle.

"The...the Masamune!" he stammered, bending down. "It split in two!"

Its crack had spread to the rest of the blade and a large portion broke off and fell to the ground while they were speaking, and Glenn, who had been so happy with their victory, had taken no notice of it until that precise moment.

He picked up the piece that had fallen to the ground and held both parts up for Jonas and Ian to see. They were as stunned as Glenn.

"Oh dear," Jonas whispered.

And for the rest of the time they stood there, not another word escaped any of their lips.

The image of Glenn and his friends standing in the field faded as the orb's insides returned to the form of a silvery mist.

"It...broke?" Rhea said finally.

"It was probably bound to happen," said Cronus. "The blade was thousands of years old by that time, and Melchior was never around to renew it."

"Well, at least Glenn and his companions were able to stop Ozzie before it broke," remarked Rhea.

"Yes, but if we hope to use it as a tool for the struggle that is yet to come, we'll have to find a way to restore it beforehand," said Cronus. "And as for Glenn, I feel that he may be useful as well."

"Thus, we have found our next fighter," Rhea said happily. "But I'm curious, do you think his assault on the castle was enough to convince the mystics to never attack again?"

"We can find out," said Cronus, and he addressed the Orb of Truth again. "Take us somewhere into the future...how about sometime after four centuries?"

The orb's interior changed colors several times, then cleared up to show a slightly different scene.

Chapter 9: A Perfect Trio

The world four hundred years into the future hadn't changed nearly as much as it had during the intervals between the Stone Age, Ice Age, and Medieval era, but there were still some changes worth noting: the total number of major land pieces had shrunk from seven to five. One of the smaller, uninhabited ones was gone completely, and two, the ones that had been home to the mystics back during the middle ages, had come together to form one large land mass.

The castle and fort were gone, but the last remaining building of Zeal was still there, and a new village had been constructed as well, inhabited by humanity's former enemies. The design of the buildings was similar to that of the human settlements, except the rooftops were orange and purple colors. A town center had been erected in the middle of the village, and it was there that a large group of mystics was paying respects to a statue of some sort. A closer view showed Cronus that the statue was of the defeated king, Ozzie. Evidently, the mystics had not forgotten their downfall four hundred years ago, and were not going to be forgiving the human race for it anytime soon.

Prying his eyes away from the village, Cronus observed the rest of the world to see what else had changed. The Manoria Abbey and the human civilization of Dorino were gone too. The cathedral had probably been removed since it had been used by the mystics at one point, Cronus recalled, but it surprised him to find that a dessert had appeared where Dorino once stood. But then he recalled how the town had been on fire, green flames, and the term "everlasting fire" came to mind, and the titan's puzzlement was silenced. The other three human towns, Truce, Porre, and Choras, were still there, however. They were undamaged, but a few of their buildings had been repositioned, and the rooftops were now covered with slates of sapphire blue and emerald green. Another thing different about the towns was that Truce and Porre now had docks, where ferries and fishing ships were kept.

Somewhere south of Truce, on a tiny island connected to the mainland by a bridge, was a single house standing by itself. Cronus wondered for a moment why the house was isolated from the rest of Truce, but then went back to scanning the rest of the Northwestern continent.

Guardia castle was still there and, next to the structure from Zeal, appeared to be the most unchanged. The only things that separated it from its medieval counterpart was its stone walls, which were more finely polished, and its rooftops, which had been changed from red slate to blue, much like the human towns. To the east of Guardia castle and to the north of Truce, Cronus saw that a town square had been built for the use of Truce's citizens. A celebration appeared to be taking place there, for brightly colored balloons were rising into the sky from the square, merchant tents were placed in several locations, and the square was bustling with activity.

"Take us inside that square," Cronus told the orb, and it zoomed in on the action there.

It looked more like a carnival than anything else. Traveling carts carried toys and candy, brightly colored flags whipped in the blowing winds; in the main section, a race appeared to be taking place, the track surrounding a fountain located in the center, and to the right was a particularly large tent with an odd skull looming over the entrance. Cronus then looked to the entrance of the square itself, and saw a banner hanging above it with bright, red letters spelling out: WELCOME TO THE MILLENNIAL FAIR! 400 years of peace opening up to the new millennium.

"Oh, so it's celebrating the anniversary of the war's end," said Rhea. "I thought the mystics were looking rather sour in this era."

"Yes," said Cronus. "But also for the new millennium? I wonder what that means."

Cronus then looked to the other part of the main section, and saw a line of people standing in front of what looked to be an elevated ringing bell. In front of the line, holding a satisfyingly large mallet, was a young human male somewhere in his late teens. His bright red hair was spiky and went out in all directions, held up by a long white bandana tied around his head. A yellow piece of material was secured around his neck like a short scarf, and after that came a blue, sleeveless, X-shaped tunic covering his torso and coming down above his knees. A leather belt was fastened around his tunic with a wooden bokuto secured underneath it. He wore a couple of red wristbands around his wrists, and the coverall surcoat that came under everything else could be seen where his white breeches ended and stopped at his leather boots. Overall, his clothes were rather baggy, but seemed to fit his appearance.

As Cronus peered into the human's tough face, into his turquoise eyes, he saw (or rather felt) something deep inside of him, something powerful, an inner strength, and a sleeping magical force, something that could rival that of the Enlightened Ones of ages past.

The human seemed to give off an aura of his own that was awake and strong, but this aura wasn't magical or magic-related, it was different, something much greater.

Even though he had been watching the young human for only a few seconds before seeing and feeling all of this, Cronus knew at once that this mortal was very different from his fellows.

"Rhea," Cronus said quietly. "That boy..."

"I know," said Rhea. "I can feel it too."

"Go on, Crono, send that bell into orbit!" one of the boys shouted.

"Watch me!" said the red-haired teen. He raised his mallet and brought it down hard upon the target in front of his feet. A metal bar rose into the air and hit the bell with a satisfying gong.

"Nice," said the owner of the bell as Crono handed the mallet over to the next person. "Very good. Okay, that's one silver point. Use it wisely."

"Only one?" Crono said in disbelief, but the man had turned to watch the next person and didn't hear him.

"Oh well, there are other games I can try," Crono thought and he left to watch the races.

"They call him Crono," Rhea said with interest.

Cronus was silent for a moment.

"Crono..."

"I'll bet you five silver points that the Steel Runner wins again," said a man standing next to Crono as they watched the runners line up.

"Okay," said Crono. "I'll bet you five points that the Green Ambler wins."

As the racers took off, Crono suddenly remembered.

"Oh wait," he thought. "I only have four points so far."

A few minutes later, the man was dropping five silver tokens into Crono's outstretched palm.

"Thanks. Nice doing business with you," he said brightly as the man left, scowling.

"Wow, talk about luck," Crono muttered to himself as he pocketed the silver points. "Well, I think I've seen enough of this part of the fair. Let's see what the other quadrants have to offer."

Crossing the race track along the way, Crono headed for the stairs that would take him to the higher levels in the square. As he passed the fountain, he caught the words spoken by a couple of young women gossiping nearby.

"—hard to imagine that Leene's Bell is now four hundred years old, it's so beautiful. Makes me wonder how it looked when it was new and everything."

"I know what you mean, Kaly, but the bell has been silent for several years now. Whenever someone tries to ring it, they don't get any sound to speak of."

"Yes, yes. I even remember hearing how the castle chancellor was thinking of having the bell replaced, but the king said no to that immediately, saying how the bell was one of Guardia's greatest treasures."

"Indeed, well I guess it's just hard to let some things go when you've had them for so long. But mind you, there's an old rumor saying that those who will lead interesting lives are the only ones who can hear Leene's Bell."

"Yes, but you never seem to encounter anyone who has...although I could've sworn I heard a ringing sound somewhere when I first met my husband, Wa—"

"Bah, typical gossip," Crono thought, and he continued up the steps that would take him to the middle of the square.

There, in the center of the square's middle quadrant, was the very bell that the women had been talking about. Leene's Bell had been given to the queen of four hundred years ago by her husband as a gift. It was planted in the square after its construction and had remained there ever since, acting as a symbol of the peace following the war's end. It really was a wonder to look at, despite its age and the fact that it never rang. Crono was still admiring its ancient grandeur when something hard collided with him.

"Hey!"

Crono fell to the ground, the wind knocked out of him and stars dancing in front of his eyes. While attempting to regain his focus, Crono saw the person who had run into him sit up.

"Ouch. That hurt," said the person, and judging by the voice, it was a girl.

The person stood up and walked towards Crono just as his eyesight cleared up. She knelt down and looked into his face.

"I'm sorry," she said. "Are you okay?"

She was a very lovely looking girl with her shining, golden-colored hair fastened into a ponytail. Her top left the shoulders uncovered and came down to a large belt with a fancy chain fastened around her waist. She wore three golden bracelets, two on her right arm, one around the upper part and one below the wrist, and the third on her left forearm. She wore harem pants that went with the light green color of her top and on her feet were brown leather sandals. A crossbow, complete with a quiver of arrows, hung on her back.

A silence fell between them as they looked into one another's eyes, transfixed. The silence was then broken by the sudden ringing of a bell. Leene's Bell. It was the most wonderful sound, and it sounded more like the chiming of several bells at once rather than a single, four-hundred-year-old bell. Both Crono and the girl broke eye contact with each other and looked towards the bell, expecting to see someone nearby who had rung it, but found no one. The area they were in was empty except for themselves and a couple of merchants, neither of whom were within reach of the bell.

Then, the girl looked at her neck and gasped.

"Oh no! My pendant!" she said, and quickly stood up again, looking around.

"I was holding it...It must have fallen somewhere!"

Crono jumped to his feet and began to help her with her search.

"Don't worry, it can't have gone far," he said reassuringly. "Are you okay?"

"Yes, yes...I'm fine," she said anxiously. "Oh, don't tell me I lost it!"

After a few seconds, Crono's eye caught a glint of metal on the ground and looked around. There, lying a few feet from the bell, was a pendant.

"Cronus!" Rhea said suddenly.

"What?" said Cronus, alarmed.

"That pendant."

"What about it?"

Rhea looked around at him and said in a whisper. "Isn't that the same pendant Schala owned back during the era of magic?"

Cronus looked back at the pendant in the image of the orb just as Crono bent down to pick it up. There was no mistaking it.

"By golly, you're right!" he said in shock. "But...but why does that girl have it?"

"I really don't know," said Rhea, now looking at the girl. "But there's something familiar about her too."

"Really?" asked Cronus. "What?"

"Her eyes," said Rhea after a pause, "and her whole face for that matter, if I didn't know any better, I'd say she was Leene's twin."

Cronus looked back at the girl and could now see the resemblance as well. The girl's face, which reminded him strongly of the queen of years and years ago. Then a thought occurred to him.

"Do you think it's possible," Cronus began quietly, "that she could be a descendant of Leene?"

"Anything's possible," said Rhea. "Personally, I wouldn't be too surprised if she were."

"Is this it?" Crono asked as he held the pendant up for the girl to see, although he was sure it was the right one.

"Oh, thank goodness! My pendant! It has a lot of sentimental value!" said the girl as she took it from Crono and secured it around her neck. Once she had finished, she looked back at Crono and hesitated for a moment.

"You...live in this town, don't you?" she asked.

"Y...yes," Crono said nervously.

"Ah okay," said the girl. "Forgive me, but I feel a little out of place here. Would you mind if I walked around with you for awhile?"

Excitement suddenly rushing through him, Crono said. "Uh...no, not at all! I mean...I wouldn't mind."

The girl smiled broadly.

"You're a true gentleman! Oh, by the way...my name is, er...um, Marle! And you're?"

Crono smiled as well and replied. "I'm Crono!"

"Crono? What a nice name! Pleased to meet you."

"Same here," he said, then, looking at her crossbow, he asked. "What's that you have?"

"Oh this?" she asked, indicating her crossbow. "Just something I carry around with me. I thought I'd bring it along just in case I were to encounter any...difficulties. I mean, this IS the biggest event of the year, so..." Marle's words just trailed off.

"That's...understandable," said Crono. Even though the war between human and mystic had ended four centuries ago, some people could still be seen carrying weapons for fear of a possible ambush, especially when passing through Guardia Forest, where certain beasts still lived; beasts that would attack a human if they felt hungry or threatened. "I have a bokuto that I tend to carry around. I've always had a thing for swordsmanship, I attend the fencing academy at the castle, and I've been saving up for a metal one for quite some time now. I hope to get one the moment the opportunity arises."

"That's nice," said Marle. "So where do you want to go until then?"

"Well, I was on my way to a display by one of my friends. Shall we go together?"

"Okay. Lead on!"

Crono and Marle headed for the northern section of the square, but were stopped by a couple of men standing at the entrance.

"They're still setting up," said one of the men. "But they should be done shortly. Come back later."

"Oh," said Crono, taken aback. "Alright."

"I wonder why it's being delayed," said Marle as they set off again.

"My only guess is that Lucca and her dad must have something really big for them to still be setting up. Lucca is my friend's name." Crono added when Marle gave him a questioning look. "Come on, let's check out the east wing. I think I can hear something going on over there."

They proceeded into the eastern section, where they then passed a long wooden table with several soda cans sitting in two lines. To the side was a large collection of even more sodas, and above that was a sign that read "Soda Guzzling Contest!"

"Let's try that out!" said Crono, feeling this sudden urge to impress.

There wasn't much to the rules: Drink all eight of the cans on the table in under one minute and you'd earn five silver points. The task was simple, it was actually doing it that was going to be the tricky part.

"Gonna try your luck, kid?" asked the tenant watching over the stand.

"Please don't call me that," Crono whispered through clenched teeth (Marle giggled), "and yes, I am."

"Okay...ready? Go!"

For Crono, the minute trailed by agonizingly, but he managed to gulp down all eight cans with just two seconds left on the counter.

"Impressive," said the tenant as Crono set the last empty can down. "That has to be a new record. The last guy who tried this out finished with only one and a half seconds remaining. Oh well, never mind that. Here you are then, five silver points, just as promised. Be sure to use them for the Tent of Horrors, that's where the real fun is!"

"Thank yoooouuuu!" Crono said through a particularly loud belch.

Marle giggled again.

"Quite the competitive one, aren't you, Crono?"

"Heh, yeah, whatever," Crono muttered as he massaged his stomach. "Come on, let's see where that music is coming from."

And with that, they continued towards the strange music around a corner to the right.

They entered a small, square section hosting the most bizarre kind of performance they had seen yet. At the end of the quadrant was a long platform where numerous people dressed in animal skins were dancing to the prehistoric rhythm created by multiple wooden bongos and drums, beaten with long bones held by odd looking men. In the center of the section were a couple of long tables, holding an equally odd assortment of uncooked foods in large wooden bowls. A few people were already here, listening to the simple, yet unusually enchanting, music.

"Wow, how extraordinary," Marle commented.

"I wonder if they really played this kind of music back then," said Crono as they watched the dancers. "I mean, I thought it was called prehistoric for a reason."

"I'm not too sure."

Crono was silent for a moment, then asked. "Do you think you could dance to this?"

"I don't see why not," replied Marle. "Do you think they'll allow us to join in?"

"Let's ask."

They approached the stage where the dancers and music players were stationed. One of the women stopped dancing and looked down at them.

"Would it be alright if we...er...joined you?"

The woman nodded, and held out a hand to help them onto the stage...

After that, the two of them returned to the rest of the fair's attractions, participating in several games. A little later on, after Crono had won a small, beautifully crafted wooden goblet for Marle which he kept for her in his pouch, they stumbled across the entrance to a small arena situated in the farthest portion of the western quadrant, where several people, armed with weapons like staves and hammers, were waiting to challenge something on the other end of the arena. As Crono and Marle approached, bits and pieces of what the people were saying to each other reached their ears.

"—Lucca, that's right. That's the one—"

"—wish they'd hurry. I'm getting sick of fighting Gato—"

"Gato?" said Marle, perplexed. "Who's that?"

"A robot," Crono answered. "One of Lucca's creations. I'll bet she brought it to the fair for people to fight, that's why these people are here."

"What does it do?"

"Gato's a kind of battle trainer, a android, and is one of Lucca's earlier inventions."

"How interesting."

"Well, how about we try him out while were here?"

"Really? Do you think we can beat him?"

"Have we lost at any of the fair's games yet? I feel we can win this one."

"Okay! Let's do it then!" Marle smiled widely, and Crono felt his heart lift even more.

Crono unsheathed his bokuto, Marle her crossbow, and they waited with the others. A sign was posted on a nearby wall that read: To win, hit all three exposed targets while avoiding attacks yourself. You are allowed to fight with just your fists, though it is inadvisable to do so. Up to three people may fight Gato at once, but no more than that.

"Up to three?" Crono muttered with interest. "Gato must really be something if he can handle three people at once. Do you feel we can still take him?"

"Absolutely!" said Marle. "After all, you're the one who pointed out that we have yet to lose at any of these games."

"Yeah, of course."

After a fifteen minute wait, their turn came. Another of the fair's tenants was waiting nearby, holding a long scroll of paper in one hand and a pen in the other.

"Name?" he asked.

"Crono."

"Marle."

"Okay," the tenant put his pen in his pocket. "You're free to battle Gato as much as you want. To win, you must—"

"—hit the targets," Crono finished. "Yes, we know."

"Good, now, a soldier is always watching the robot's behavior, and we have paramedics standing by should anything go wrong. Good luck."

"Uh...thanks."

Crono and Marle entered the fighting area, where the robot, standing tall, was waiting for them in the middle of the arena. Gato was large, bulky, and powerfully built. Though when one took in its obscure appearance, its oddly shaped head, arms, legs, and body, it looked rather humorous. To complete its comical look, there was a round door right in the middle of its large, metal-plated belly.

After a silent pause, the robot started to sing a simple sort of tune:

"They call me Gato,

I have metal joints.

Beat me up

And earn fifteen silver points."

A target suddenly appeared on Gato's side, and the small door opened up to reveal a second one. Crono couldn't see the third target anywhere, and before he could decide where it might be, the large robot came at him and Marle. Gato swung its heavy arm at Crono, but Crono parried the blow with his bokuto and hit the front target with his fist. The target vanished into the robot's belly and the round door slammed shut. Crono caught Marle's eye and she nodded, swerving to the left and aimed her crossbow, but Gato knocked the bolt away with his arm before it could hit the target. The door on the robot's stomach opened again, but there was no sign of a target this time. Instead, Gato turned to face Crono and a spring-loaded boxing glove came pelting out of the round door and got Crono right in the midriff before he could react. Crono collapsed onto one knee, completely winded.

"Crono!" Marle squealed as she finished reloading her crossbow. "Are you—?"

But Gato suddenly rounded on Marle and the boxing glove came flying at her face. She quickly dodged it as Crono got back to his feet, gasping for breath, and, foreseeing his chance, Crono lunged forward while Gato was distracted and hit the target on Gato's side with his sword. The target vanished into Gato's body and the third, and final, one appeared on its back, but before Crono could hit it, Gato turned to face him and released its boxing glove again. Crono was ready this time, however, and leapt aside just as he heard the sound of wood hitting metal. Peering around Gato's immense body, he saw Marle holding her crossbow in front of her, a look of satisfaction on her face. Apparently, once Gato had turned away from Marle to face Crono, he had exposed the third target to her instead, which she promptly fired at.

Defeated, the giant robot returned to the center of the fighting arena and sang a new ditty:

"I lost, you won.

Here's fifteen points,

Now wasn't that fun?"

The round door on its stomach opened up again, and out sprang the boxing glove. This time, though, it wasn't clenched into a fist; its palm was open, and in it were fifteen silver tokens.

The tenant was clearly impressed as they arrived back at the entrance. He said. "Very well done, escaped with nothing but a shortage of breath (Crono rolled his eyes as the tenant chuckled), you may be the best fighters I've seen so far."

"Gee...thanks."

"We make a good team, don't we, Crono?" Marle asked, smiling and patting him on the back.

"Yes, very," Crono said, then he open the pouch they were using to hold all their tokens and began to count them. "Let's see, there was first the strength tester, then the soda contest, all those other games, the races, and Gato. So...we have a total of one hundred and thirty one silver points!"

"Wow," said Marle. "What should we do with them all?"

"Well," Crono paused for a moment. "We haven't been to the 'Tent of Horrors' yet, have we? Shall we give it a try?"

"Sure!"

Five minutes later, they were entering the tent with the colossal skull looming over its entrance. Once inside, they were somewhat surprised to find themselves standing in what looked to be a dungeon. Two cauldrons stood on either side of a portcullis at the very end of the room. Blazing flames were emitting from within the cauldrons, illuminating most of the dungeon-like room.

Crono stepped in cautiously with Marle at his side, waiting for something to happen. Then a...something within the shadows of a far corner materialized before them, but Crono couldn't make it out at first. It was just beyond his range of sight, but he could still sense that there was something hidden in those shadows.

Then the figure moved out into the light given off by the cauldrons and into the open. The figure comprised of a head and pair of hands, all floating in midair. The thing's face was pale and a white line was painted across it and over the nose and eyes, like a clown of some sort...or a mime.

"Hmm, must be some kind of illusion," Crono muttered to Marle.

"You think so?" Marle whispered back, and they took a step further. That was when the thing suddenly let out a mad cackle that echoed off of the walls and made the two onlookers jump back a few feet. Then the thing spoke out.

"Welcome to Norstein Bekkler's lab. I am Norstein Bekkler, a man of age and background unrevealed to your minds. The spine-tingling show is about to start!"

The eyes of the face then focused on Crono.

"We have attractions for ten, forty, and eighty silver points! How many are you willing to pay?"

"Well, we have one hundred and thirty one, so give us all of them!" Crono responded triumphantly.

"All three games, each worth a different prize," said the figure after a short pause. "Very well! We'll begin from the top!"

The games were not quite what they had expected, but enjoyed them nonetheless.

The first one involved three men coming out of the portcullis dressed as monsters, a fourth assistant tying a rope around a rather frightened Marle and hoisting her above the left cauldron of fire, and Crono being instructed by Bekkler to defeat the "monsters" as they approached him while hitting a blue light to prevent Marle from being lowered into the flames. The game was nerve-racking and exhausting for Crono, but he managed to force the monsters back into the portcullis while ensuring that nothing happened to Marle.

"Excellent!" cried Bekkler as the assistant untied Marle. "Congratulations! All right then, here's your prize. Another cat to keep your first one company."

"Er," Crono wasn't sure what to say. How did Bekkler know he already owned a cat?

The second game was even more unusual. Crono was shocked into silence when a figure indistinguishable from himself emerged from within the portcullis. He and Marle wondered what Bekkler had planned until he was then told to mimic what the duplicate did. The double did all sorts of things, from back flips and cartwheels, to tap dances and animal imitations, and Crono had to follow along while Marle watched, trying to fight back her laughter. After several minutes had passed, the double finally stopped and retreated back into the portal.

"Well done," said Bekkler. "Now as for your prize, we'll send a few months worth of cat food to your house along with the cat."

"But how do you—?" Crono began.

"And now!" Bekkler boomed. "It's time for the guessing game!"

For the third game, the portcullis opened once more and three identical men filed out, each wearing the same type of soldier's uniform. The men stated their names: Vicks, Piette, and Wedge, and began running around in circles, shuffling themselves, until reforming a horizontal line. Crono and Marle were then told to find the soldier Vicks and, after some quick discussion, they chose the soldier closest to the right. The soldier stepped forward.

"I'm Wedge."

"Oh, blast it," Crono muttered. "Well, we did our best."

The soldier named Wedge then suddenly presented them with a small, fuzzy, white doll with stubby appendages.

"It's a Poyozo doll," said Bekkler.

"Huh?" said Crono. "But...but why are you giving it to us? We didn't win the game."

"Consider it a gift for being such a good sport," said the illusion that was Bekkler. The three uniformed assistants gathered the prizes and left through the tent entrance, saying that they would deliver them to Crono's house. How they knew where he lived, Crono chose not to ask as he and Marle then turned to leave.

"Well, thank you for visiting Norstein Bekkler's lab. This is Bekkler bidding you adieu," and with that, the figure comprised of a head and hands vanished back into the shadows.

"That was rather interesting," said Marle once they were back outside. "Judging by the name, I was expecting we'd have to plunge into the tents depths while people dressed up as monsters would spring out in front of us and go boo."

"Yeah, I know what you mean," said Crono. "Not remotely frightening, that place."

"Not unless you count being dangled over a flame—" Marle remarked.

"Or seeing a perfect replica of yourself," Crono continued. "Yeah, I guess."

Crono then suddenly remembered.

"Oh wait," he said. "I still haven't gotten a sword to replace my bokuto." he patted his wooden training sword. "Mind if we look for a merchant who specializes at weaponry?"

"Sure."

They had been searching for over a half an hour with very little luck when a man standing at the top of the steps shouted. "Hey, everyone! Come check out Lucca's new invention! She's at the north end of the square!"

"Oh? Their done?" Crono said, startled. "Well, I guess we should check it out now. Not sure if I want to see Lucca in a temper if I arrive late, I DID promise her I would come and see her new project in action, after all."

"Alright, if you say so," said Marle. "We can look for a weapon merchant later, okay?"

"Yes, perhaps that would be best. Let's go!"

They climbed the steps leading to the higher sections of the square, past Leene's Bell, pausing for a moment when a very persistent Marle wanted to buy some candy from a nearby merchant, and finally reached the northern section where Lucca, her father, and their display were stationed.

"Step right up, any of you who have the time and the courage! Our 'Super Dimension Warp' is the invention of the century!" Taban, Lucca's father, roared to the crowd as Crono and Marle pushed their way to the front. After entering, one could see a pair of large platforms, each with a dome-shaped contraption supported above it, and each with a panel of controls set to the side. Taban was standing in between the pods, addressing the crowd.

"To use it, jump up here..." Taban walked to the left pod, where Lucca was situated, making a few last-minute check ups on the machine. "...and you'll teleport here! It's the masterwork of my beautiful daughter, Lucca."

Lucca smiled to the crowd and waved. She wore large glasses, a brown workman's helmet, tunic, boots, leather belt, and a double-headed hammer strapped to her waist. Any person would have recognized her for what she was: an inventor.

Once Crono and Marle reached the front of the crowd, Taban looked in their direction and addressed Crono. "Give it a try, kid?...Oh, it's you, Crono!"

"Crono! Where have you been?" Lucca said, jumping off the left pod and walking towards him. "No one wants to try the telepod!" she gestured to the crowd of people before them, who were still tightly clumped together, whispering to one another while eyeing Lucca's invention suspiciously, almost fearfully. "How about you?" she asked suddenly, sounding hopeful.

"Oh," said Crono, slightly surprised. "Um...okay, sure."

Marle eyed the telepod curiously. "It looks like fun. I'll watch while you try it out!"

Lucca appeared not to have noticed her as she showed Crono to the left pod.

"Just hop onto it," she said excitedly. "Dad and I'll take care of the rest."

"Are you sure it's really safe to use?" Crono asked as he stepped onto the platform, his legs suddenly feeling like lead.

"Of course!" Taban reassured him. "We wouldn't be using it on you if we didn't already know it was safe."

Crono seriously doubted this remark. He had been their human guinea pig for several of their past experiments, most of which had been rather disastrous. Nonetheless, he remained where he was on the platform as Lucca and Taban shifted their focus to the right and left control panels.

Taban grabbed a crank and began to turn it very fast. As he turned it, the machine started to hum and slowly grew in volume.

Horrible thoughts began to flood Crono's head as he listened to the machine's humming. What if the telepod failed somewhere during the process, and only parts of his body were transported to the second pod while an arm, a leg, and an eyeball were left at the first?

"Don't think about that," Crono thought to himself as his stomach clenched uncomfortably. "Otherwise you'll end up leaving your stomach behind."

"All systems on!" shouted Taban as he abandoned the crank and began to flip a few switches.

"Begin energy transfer!" Lucca called on her side of the display, punching in a few numbers in the process. Finally, she pulled a lever and the two of them retreated from the pods to watch with the crowd.

Crono closed his eyes, his face screwed up, praying. Though his eyes were shut, Crono could tell that he was being surrounded by a bright blue light as it shone through his eyelids. Then all at once, he lost the feeling in his entire body. Crono couldn't see anything, and he was sure he couldn't have opened his eyelids anyway. Then he felt a indescribable rushing movement, and the feeling in his body slowly started to return. The light faded, and Crono finally opened his eyes when he heard gasps and then applause.

"Oh wow! That was GREAT!" several people in the audience shouted.

Crono had reappeared in the right pod, and his entire body appeared to had survived the short trip intact.

Taban was just as shocked as the crowd.

"It...WORKED?! I can't believe it! Uh, er, a thrilling display of science at its best, ladies and gentlemen!"

Crono felt around his body just to be sure that everything was where it was supposed to be. Then, grinning widely, he jumped off the platform and approached Lucca.

"Lucca, that was spectacular! It really worked!"

"Care to give it another go?" she asked, eyes shining with excitement behind her glasses.

Crono jumped onto the left platform again, and reappeared at the right one just like the first time. The crowd was ecstatic.

"I guess even Lucca's inventions have to work every now and then." one person in the audience said as they all started to line up, with Marle in front.

Crono ran over to her.

"Marle, I don't know what to say! The experience defies description, but I can tell you that it's incredible!"

Without hesitation, Marle stepped forward to take her turn.

"What a kick! I want to try it too!" she said gleefully.

This brought Marle to Lucca's attention for the first time. She looked at Marle, then at Crono, and quickly figured it out.

"Hey, Crono," she said teasingly. "How did you pick up a cutie like her?"

"Oh, hello," said Marle, looking at her. "I'm Marle. Crono and I met a while ago and he brought me here to see your invention."

"Oh?" said Lucca, stroking her chin with interest. "Well, okay. The pod awaits!"

Taban turned to the crowd and said in a booming voice. "Behold, ladies and gentlemen, as this vision of loveliness..." he gestured to Marle. "...steps aboard the machine!"

Marle stepped onto the pod before addressing Crono. "Don't go away! I'll be right back!"

"You're sure about this?" Taban added suddenly, concerned, as though he was unsure if whether the machine would be willing to cooperate a third time. "There's still time to change your mind."

"No way! Throw the switch!"

Taban shrugged and positioned himself near the left control console while Lucca returned to the right one.

"Okay, everyone, let's give her a great big hand when she reappears!" Taban called to the crowd as he grabbed the crank again.

"I think that will do," said Cronus, and the image inside the orb of Crono, Marle, Lucca, Taban, and the rest of the people at the fair dissolved into silvery smoke.

For a moment, neither of the titans spoke, then Rhea turned to Cronus and asked "Your thoughts?"

"A girl with a hand at inventing, a boy with sword skills, and a second girl with the pendant of a princess from a forgotten time," Cronus muttered. "How curious...curious...."

"That's not all, though," Rhea pointed out. "The boy, Crono, do you remember what we felt?"

"Yes," Cronus muttered. "There's something...a power within him. Something that reminded me of what we saw inside of the Prince of Zeal, Janus, but not the same thing...it wasn't magic-related. Of course, I could sense a strong aura of magic around him and the two girls, but there was still something else...an force which reminded me strongly of...love?"

Another silence followed these words. Love...a force as wonderful as it is dangerous.

"Well, we'll have to remember those three. There's definitely something about them worth considering," said Cronus.

"Okay," said Rhea. "But what do we do now?"

"Now, I want to find out when Lavos will next emerge from the ground," Cronus said, returning his focus to the orb. "Show me that time and place!"

The orb blurred, then the titans witnessed an event they knew they would never forget.

Chapter 10: The Common Nightmare

"Not a problem, is there?" asked one man, looking around as he entered the room. He was inside what looked to be an observatory, various monitors were displayed on the walls, showing multiple numbers and graphs giving details of the planet's weather outside. There were only two other people in here, both stationed at the largest monitor, which was displaying an overview of the entire world.

Evidently, this was taking place several hundreds of years into the future, for the kingdom of Guardia had evolved a great deal by now. The towns of Truce, Porre, Choras, and Medina (the mystic civilization) were as vast as ever, and the hearts of the civilizations were covered by immense glass domes (their purpose a mystery to the watching titans). The skies were clear and cloudless, the seas blue, and the land green. It looked to be a perfect summer day...

"Everything's in order, director," said the man at the console as he eyed the monitor. "Other than that earthquake we had earlier, nothing's—"

But he suddenly went quiet, and there was no mystery as to why.

While they watched the screen, the sky went quickly black, almost as if the sun had been dimmed down like a lightbulb. Next, the world outside, and the entire room for that matter, began to shake uncontrollably.

"Wh-wh-what the heck is going on?!" shouted the director as he clutched onto the console for support. A few of the other monitors went blank and there was a crashing sound as several tools fell out of a nearby cabinet. "Our reports said nothing of a second possible earthquake! Did you...?"

His voice trailed off as he returned his horrified gaze to the monitor. A large crack had formed in the ground south of Truce, and was growing wider, and wider. Soon, it was large enough to swallow a village, and then something enormous rose from within its depths, something last seen when kingdoms were known to float in the sky.

A large, spike-covered shell with a valve-like mouth in the very front, the strange creature erupted above the planet's surface, firing beams of light into the sky, which then came crashing back down to the ground, eliminating anything they touched. In less than a minute, the grassy fields were on fire and the nearby metropolis that was Truce had been raised.

"Direct attack on Truce!" cried the operator at the console, turning white.

"Calm down! How does it look down there?" shouted the supervisor.

But it didn't stop once Truce was in ruins. More and more of the beams shot out from beneath the creature's shell and rose into the heavens before covering the entire world's surface in flames.

"Porre...Choras...Medina...!" whimpered the operator. "Everything's been destroyed!!"

The director watched on in silence, his horror having been eclipsed by a sudden thought.

"Why does that thing seem familiar?" His thoughts were interrupted when there was a rumble and the entire building shook.

"Director! We're under attack!"

Looking to the door behind him, the director shouted to the other two. "Take cover in the Shelter Dome!"

The operator and supervisor both quickly nodded, then rushed for the door while the ceiling above creaked. The director stayed rooted to the spot, however, watching the creature on the now fading monitor. It matched the description of something he had read about in a book of old legends. But was it really what he thought it to be?

"Director!" called the operator, who had paused at the door to see what was keeping his boss. "Sir, you must come with us!"

But the director didn't move.

"We're out of time!" the director yelled, his eyes still fixed on the screen. "Get moving!!"

The operator seemed taken aback by his boss's refusal to come, but quickly hid it.

"Y-yes sir!"

He knew he wouldn't have time to argue with the director if he didn't want to come, and so bolted out the door after his fellow.

The director continued to watch the thing even as the lamps lighting the room began to falter. He knew what that creature had to be. He could think of no other explanation. He just found it hard to imagine that it really was more than just an old, nearly forgotten legend.

"...Lavos..."

The image on the screen flickered and died just as the lights went out. The last thing the director heard was the crumbling of the ceiling above before it caved in upon him.

It had been, essentially, the end of the world...

"That's enough," whispered a stunned Cronus and the orb's interior returned to its silvery smoke form.

"So," muttered Rhea. "That's when it all ends..."

They were exceptionally quite this time, lost in their own thoughts. After a few minutes passed, Rhea spoke up again.

"So," she began once more. "That makes a warrior woman from the near beginning, three gurus, a prince and princess from an enchanted kingdom; a knight who can use a special weapon from said kingdom, and three competent young mortals living in a time of absolute peace. Now the question is how to bring them all together to realize what must be done—"

"A good summarization of what we've found and what has yet to be done," said Cronus, "but before we get to work on all of that, I just want to visit the world as it is after Lavos's rise, and then we'll spring into action."

"But why is that? I doubt we'll find any more fighters after that time. What is there left to look for in the post-Lavos era?"

"I do not expect to find further potential help any more than you do, Rhea, but we mustn't forget something: Ayla, Schala, Janus, and the gurus may have an idea of what Lavos can do, but Crono, Marle, Lucca, and Glenn know, I am prepared to expect, next to nothing about the threat to their world. I think it might be a bad idea to rely on the gurus or any of the others for that matter to tell them about the parasite since we still don't know how they'll all meet up. So I feel it be better to give them some sort of connection to the future in order to find out what they're up against. I just want to see how much of the world is still intact after Lavos lays waste to it. If there is still some life left, then I will try and lead Crono and the others to that part of the future under the hope that they will be able to discover what became of it. Once that is taken care of, the meat of the operation can then commence."

Rhea thought over this for a moment, then spoke. "Yes, perhaps that would be best."

"Alright then."

Cronus addressed the orb.

"Take us sometime in the future, it doesn't matter when."

The orb's misty interior cleared up, showing a rather depressing sight.

Chapter 11: Shattered Dreams

The sky was now filled with debris, while the seas were dark, dank, and filthy with pollution. The lands themselves had shifted again. The largest of them held several scattered domes, a structure that might have been some kind of factory, and a few ruins that had once stood proudly before Lavos's rise. There were also four islands not too far off. One held what looked to be another factory, its purpose in the world long gone, and a second possessed a couple of domes. There was also a snow mountain at the second island, and inhabiting the mountain were creatures that made Cronus feel a sudden chill.

Nelcro, members of the race thought to be extinct with the exception of Lavos itself, were sleeping on the towering mound of earth. But these were smaller than Lavos, and their spike-covered shells were a pale green color, not the blackish red that was Lavos's, and Cronus felt it was safe to assume that these were its offspring. This in turn meant that his first assumptions were true: Lavos had invaded the planet under the hope that it would be able to convert its energies for personal use, such as to improve its own DNA and feed its future children. But now that Cronus thought about it, where was Lavos? For only its spawn inhabited the snow mountain, and a quick search of the rest of the world was enough to tell him that the creature had apparently vanished.

Lavos wasn't the only thing missing. Indeed, with the exception of the spawn, the world appeared to be completely free of any life. The lands were barren and dead-
looking, with neither plant nor animal life. Though when Cronus examined the ruins, he saw some rather bizarre creatures living there that looked utterly unnatural. Were they animals that had been mutated by the after affects of the apocalypse? Cronus was prepared to believe so. But no members of the dominant races, human or mystic, could be seen anywhere. It seemed to the titans that, unfortunately, they had been unable to overcome this particular catastrophe.

Or had they? Cronus suddenly eyed the largest of the domes on the main collection of land.

"Take us inside of there."

Cronus and Rhea were given an inside view of the structure and, to their immense relief, they could now see that a group of humans were living there. Though they could have been in better condition than they were then. The residents of the dome were covered in rags and very thin-looking. A few of them had hair so filthy that its true color was indeterminable. Most were curled up on the floor, sleeping, but there were a few still awake, their faces glum and their eyes dark, either muttering to themselves or looking at an opening in the floor, as though expecting something to pop out. One was chewing on what looked to be a small, rotting piece of meat, and it was easy to tell that a few of his teeth were missing. But only one of them looked truly awake. An elderly man, quite likely the oldest in the group, and he was watching the entry to the basement with wide, worried-looking eyes. Then, after a minute or two passed, someone climbed out of the basement entrance, another rag-covered man, and he moved with a slight limp. The moment he saw him, the old man let out a hoarse cry and those in the room still sleeping jerked awake, looking up. They then crowded around the newcomer as he approached the elder.

"Well?" asked the old man, his voice strong despite his condition. "Did you find him?"

The younger man looked around for a moment, until he caught the eyes of a woman watching nearby with her child. He beckoned the mother to come closer.

"Hannah," the woman whispered to her daughter. "You stay here." and she walked to the two men.

The three of them moved to the farther end of the circle of watching people, then the woman addressed the man who had come from the basement.

"Where is my husband?" she whispered, anxiously looking over her shoulder to make sure her child wasn't within earshot.

The man let out a sigh and said. "I'm afraid to say I expect the worst. I went down to find out what became of him like you asked me too, but I couldn't find him anywhere."

"He was going to try and retrieve food from the supply room," said the old man. "Did you look there at all?"

"Well, Doan," said the other man. "I tried, but I couldn't get beyond the defense systems. Those blasted droids nearly took my leg in the process." he pointed to his limp. "But it seems impossible to reach the emergency supplies, and if your husband was able to reach them," he said to the woman, "I don't how he did it. I tried calling his name in the room outside, but I got no response and had to run when those robots used their guns on me. I don't think he made it."

The woman turned away, her face in her hands. The old man called Doan looked crestfallen.

"He didn't...? And the supplies really are inaccessible?"

"I'm afraid so," said the younger man. "We're going to have to find another source of food to use. We can't risk sending anyone else down there."

The people listening nearby fell about muttering to one another, most of them worried-looking. The young girl came up to her mother.

"So where's daddy?" she asked. "He's really taking his time."

"Oh, he'll be back soon," the woman muttered, tears trickling down her dirty face. "It's just taking longer than he thought."

"Take us back," said Cronus, and the orb returned to showing them the atlas outside the dome.

"There are still a few left," Rhea said in wonderment. "Remarkable, and how many years after Lavos's attack is this supposed to be, anyway?"

Apparently accepting this as a question directed to it, the orb twisted its smoke-like interior until the mist formed a number.

301

"Three centuries," said Cronus. "Impressive, but I wonder, did the mystics survive this long as well?" he addressed the orb. "Take us to them."

But the orb did nothing this time, and they were forced to accept this as a sign that the race of magic had not survived the fury of the apocalypse. But then, Rhea pointed at the orb.

"Wait, what's that down there?" she said. "Those don't look human, do they?"

Cronus scanned the atlas for a moment and saw what Rhea was pointing at. There were two of them, located at the eastern tip of the mainland near the factory, and from what Cronus could make out, they were neither human nor mystic...nor mutant for that matter. So were they...?

"Take us to that point over there," Cronus commanded, pointing to where the things were standing.

The orb obeyed, and the titans could now make out what the creatures were. Except they weren't creatures at all.

They were robots.

Both of them were built very much like Gato, Lucca's creation from the past. Androids, bulky in terms of their structure and covered in bluish gray plates, protecting their interior from harm, Cronus suspected. And on their left arms were what had to be guns, for at that moment, one of them raised theirs and fired at a sort of octopus-type creature that was advancing towards them. The creature fell at once. Dead.

"We will not be bothered by such feckless scum," the droid spoke with a synthetic voice as it lowered its weapon and turned again to its comrade. "You were saying?"

"R-67Y says he has located a group of humans settled at the Trann Dome," beeped the other. "If so, an attack party should be made ready at once."

"Negative, R-64Y," said the first. "Atropos XR claims we are to postpone all and any assaults until all of the R Series is reunited. We should not forget what happened to R-65Y during the purging of the Keeper's Dome eleven months ago. The humans may have been weakening over the years following Lavos's rise, but they can still be dangerous when desperate, and we can't afford to lose any more of our number. Therefore, we only attack when together...but where is R-67Y?"

"He has gone off to find Atropos and the others, R-69Y, to tell them of his discovery. He found me working at the factory and sent me to tell you of the humans at Trann Dome while he'd look for the other R Series droids. But I'm still not sure if I understand why we shouldn't just foray into the Trann Dome the moment they return. With the exceptions of R-65Y, R66-Y, and R-61Y, none of the R Series is missing or gone."

"Atropos insists that we locate R66-Y nonetheless, or Prometheus as she and Mother Brain prefer to address him by. He was the one meant to study the humans and their behavior, so it is likely he would work best at analyzing the humans' tactics during an invasion. Mother Brain seems to believe Atropos has the right idea. She says we must suffer as few casualties as possible during the scourging of humanity. We will all be needed for the future Mother Brain has planned."

The robot called R-64Y was silent at this for a moment. Then said. "Understood. If Mother Brain thinks it best. And where are Atropos and the others, so to speak?"

"At Lab 32. R-62Y discovered a few non-R Series robots performing strange activities over there, and so left with Atropos and the rest of the series, with the exception of us and R-67Y, under the hope that they might discover something that could lead us to Prometheus's whereabouts."

"And what were you doing, R-69Y, prior to my arrival?"

"I was dealing with a few of the mutants here that have been troubling us back at the factory. But I am pretty much done now."

"That's good," said R-64Y. "So, we will storm Trann Dome only until after Prometheus has been located?"

"Affirmative. Therefore, until then, I want you to watch Trann Dome for any particular signs, but do not allow the humans to discover your presence. If they show any intentions of leaving the dome, you are to report to us at once. Understood?"

"Understood."

"Very well then, R-64Y. You should leave for the factory now, as I suspect Atropos will soon be back with the others and we'll need to discuss tactics with them. I will join you once I finish up here. If Atropos has not managed to find anything regarding Prometheus, you will then leave for Trann Dome to keep an eye on the humans."

R-64Y bowed and headed towards the factory.

Rhea and Cronus were momentarily silent when this dialogue ended. Rhea finally broke it.

"What was all that about? And who is the Mother Brain?"

"I can't say," began Cronus, "but what bothers me is their mention of the name Prometheus."

"Yes, it is strange," said Rhea. "A being of artificial intelligence, sharing the name of our fellow titan."

"Do you think it is coincidental?"

"I'm not sure."

Cronus gazed into the Orb of Truth, lost in his own thoughts. Then he was seized by his own curiosity.

"Take us to the one named Prometheus."

The orb shifted away from the scene with the two droids and took the titans inside one of the domes. This one, like so many of the others, was badly wrecked and in poor condition. Though it seemed unusually small, and, unlike the last dome the titans had visited, it was empty and free of any living things. There was only one thing in here worth noting.

A broken down, rubble covered robot that was sitting in the middle of the large room. Its design was similar to that of the two so-called R Series androids that Cronus and Rhea had seen only moments ago, except those two were functional, and this one's plated surface was a golden-bronze color, not blue gray like the others. This, Cronus thought, had to be Prometheus.

The titans observed this droid for a very long time, until Cronus said. "Well, I feel we've seen enough here."

He waved his hand, and the vision disappeared. The orb's interior returned to its smoke-like state.

"At least we know now that humanity won't die out for a while," he said. "That's good, as it ensures Crono and the others a tie to the aftermath of Lavos's final attack."

"Yes, it was good to have thought of this," said Rhea. "But what bothers me about what we've just seen is how the human race's creations appear to have turned against it. Did something happen to the droids following the world's end? You don't suppose Lavos...infected them in some way, forcing them to think the humans were ineffectual and possibly dangerous?"

"We can only guess," Cronus replied with a shrug. "We may never know. But I say we put it out of our minds for the moment. Our main concern, after all, is the bringer of planetary death, Lavos."

"Alright. What must be done?"

"Well," Cronus began. "I've given some thought to it, and I feel the first thing to do would be to return to the moment in time when the Ocean Palace is meant to collapse, after Lavos's first rise and see if a few alterations can be made. Do not forget that Schala, Janus, and the gurus are supposed to die at that precise moment. That must be prevented, if they are to help out with the plans."

"Okay, let's get to it."

"Well, actually Rhea..." Cronus said before pausing. "I think I would prefer it if you left the rest of this to me. You should go now, and take your rest with Prometheus and the rest of our brethren."

"What? But why?"

"Our master intended me to do this on my own from the beginning, as part of my punishment for allowing Lavos escape its home world and put the rest of the mortal realm in jeopardy. I know the master would not be pleased if it was discovered that you have helped me some already, and I don't want to put you in a bad situation. You've done a great deal for me, Rhea, and I'm thankful. If it weren't for you, I wouldn't have considered worm holes or time travel. But all the same, Lavos was my creation, so I can't help but feel personally responsible for it. Therefore, I just think I should take full responsibility from this point onward."

Rhea looked as though she was about to argue, but then changed her mind and said. "Alright, I understand."

She got up to leave and headed towards the exit. But before she touched the door, she turned around and said. "But before I go, promise me that you won't fail. Otherwise, the master will never let you rest with me and the others."

Cronus stood up as well, walked over to Rhea, and took her hand.

"I promise."

"And when you do finish, will you tell me what happened?"

"I will."

Rhea squeezed his hand tight, then turned around and opened the door.

"Good luck," she said, before closing it behind her.

"Thanks," Cronus muttered, though he doubted if whether she heard him.

Walking back to the middle of the room, Cronus returned to his seat and gazed into the Orb of Truth.

"And now, to the kingdom of Zeal," he said. "Take me back to the exact moment when Lavos arose at the Ocean Palace."

The orb's insides swirled, and Cronus began to hear familiar voices as an equally familiar scene materialized within the orb.

Part 3: A New Timeline

Chapter 12: Three Wise Men and a Child

"Hmm..! A dimensional warp!"

"This power is beyond human control!"

"No...! We'll be dragged into the warp!"

"SCHALA!!"

"No Janus!! Stay away!"

"B, but...!?"

A parasite, a queen, a princess, three wise men, a prince, and his cat, all situated on a shimmering blue surface. They were back at that scene, the resurfacing of Lavos.

"Perfect," said Cronus. "Now as for the time portals themselves, I'm going to need a source of power, a large one, from the other side in order to open them."

At these words, he suddenly thought of Lavos, and an epiphany struck him.

"Ah, of course...Lavos. Well then..."

He placed his fingers around the orb and began concentrating as hard as he could on one thing: Guru Melchior.

"Come on," he said. "This must work!"

Gazing up at the horrific beast, Melchior suddenly felt the ground beneath his feet vanish. He looked down, and saw a large, black, swirling hole forming underneath him.

"It, it's a...!!" Melchior stammered in surprise and fear, but before he could finish, he fell through the portal and was gone. The gate then quickly sealed itself up.

"It worked!!" Cronus shouted with glee. "It really worked! This is spectacular!"

But quickly restraining his joy he said. "Alright, Melchior is now away from Lavos, but it's not over yet. Now, Gaspar, it's your turn."

Grasping the orb even more tightly now, Cronus began to focus his attention solely on the Guru of Time.

Gaspar stared at the spot where Melchior had been moments ago, temporarily lost for words. What was that phenomenon that had swallowed him up? Gaspar felt rather than thought that it had nothing to do with Lavos, but there was something strangely familiar about it too.

In fact, the rift within the portal matched the nature of this one resultant that had appeared in one of Gaspar's failed experiments, back in the time when he and the other gurus had started to test their theories on time travel. So did that mean...?

"A timegate?!" he said in wonderment, before he looked down and saw a second portal forming beneath him. Before he could act, the portal had swallowed him up just as the first one had done with Melchior and disappeared.

"Now for Belthasar," said Cronus.

"Wh-what's going on here?" Belthasar thought after Gaspar had vanished. "First Melchior, then Gaspar, so does that mean...?"

And sure enough, a third gate opened up beneath him as well.

"No!!"

Belthasar attempted to grab hold of the ledge, but his fingers slipped and he too vanished into absolute darkness before the gate closed up.

"The gurus!" Schala shouted, completely alarmed now. "What's happening?!"

"There, the gurus are safe," said Cronus, then he looked to the young prince. "I'm sorry for doing this, Janus, but hopefully, by the time you're an adult, you'll be ready for what must be done and everything will be the way it should."

"S, Schalaaa!!"

The Princess of Zeal whirled around. White-faced and frightened-looking, her brother flailed helplessly as a fourth portal slowly started pulling him in. In less than two seconds, Janus vanished into the gate like the gurus before him and the hole sealed itself, leaving no trace of Schala's only sibling.

"Janus!!!" she screamed, rushing to the spot where the mysterious phenomenon had swallowed the prince before she tripped on her own robes and fell to her knees. "NO!!"

Her mother, the queen, who had remained silent the entire time, finally spoke up.

"Is Lavos singling me out as the one who will rule the world with it?" she said wonderingly, gazing up at the colossal parasite.

"Don't worry, Schala, you'll be with your brother shortly," said Cronus, and he focused his power on the spot where she lay, preparing to open a fifth gate.

But then, without warning, the Orb of Truth turned a brilliant white. Dazzled slightly by the sudden illumination, Cronus took his hands off the orb and the light vanished. Looking at the orb again, Cronus saw that the scene at the Ocean Palace had gone, and the orb's interior had returned to its mist-like form.

"What is this? Why couldn't I open the gate?" Cronus asked aloud, a little shaken.

Then, as though reliving something from a past life, he recalled his conversation with Rhea before his search for the ones to fight Lavos, and what was said regarding the delicate fabric of space and time.

"Oh, of course," he said. "The time gates upset the fabric of reality whenever they take form."

He looked at the orb. "You were just trying to stop me from overdoing it, weren't you?"

The Orb of Truth did nothing.

"Well, I guess that means I can create no more than four portals per era, otherwise everything will fall apart."

Cronus sighed and said. "Schala, I'm sorry I wasn't able to get you out of that situation as well, but I promise you I'll look after your brother."

Cronus directed his attention to the orb again.

"And speaking of Janus, it's time to decide where in time I should put him and the gurus."

Cronus touched the orb with one hand and said. "How about we start with Melchior?"

The Guru of Life didn't know how long he had been falling through darkness, but the next thing he knew, his face had come into contact with some sort of hardwood. The wooden barrier, whatever it was, gave in and Melchior collapsed onto a solid surface. Taking a moment to regain the feeling in his legs, the guru staggered to his feet and blinked several times as his eyes tried to adjust to the sudden light. It was then that he realized his sunglasses had fallen off, and bent down to retrieve them from the ground.

"Just who in the name of Ozzie are you?!" came a shocked voice from somewhere and Melchior jumped. Hastily putting his glasses back on, Melchior twirled around and saw a couple of small creatures gazing up at him. He recognized them as imps, similar to the ones that populated Mount Woe.

"Huh? W-who are you? And where am I?" Melchior asked in astonishment as he looked around, taking in the rest of his surroundings. Now that his eyes had grown used to the lighting, he could see that he was inside some kind of house.

"We asked you first, human!" snapped one of the imps. "Who are you and what were you doing in our closet?"

"Closet?"

Melchior looked to the place in the house where the portal had spat him out, and saw a wooden closet positioned against the wall with its doors wide open. He then suddenly understood. Evidently, the strange gateway had opened up in there, expelling him into the wooden furniture. And the wooden surface that he, Melchior, had collided with had been its doors, which in turn flung open and he fell out.

"Well? What were you doing there?" the imp repeated impatiently.

Melchior didn't know how to explain his plight. To him, meeting a couple of mystics living in a kind of domestic home was almost as peculiar as the portal that had engulfed him. Eventually, he decided to try what he felt would be the best approach.

"Um, never mind about that," Melchior said. "It's...er...unimportant. But I can give you my name. I am Melchior, Guru of Life for the kingdom of Zeal. Speaking of which, I need to get back there. Do you uh...gentlemen happen to know the way? There's some business there that I need to take care of."

The imps looked at him as though he was utterly out of his mind.

"Guru of Life? Zeal?" one of them repeated. "What ARE you talking about? With the exception of Guardia, there are no kingdoms to speak of."

The second imp nudged the other and whispered into his ear. "If you ask me, I think that human's gone all funny in the head. Check out those clothes he's wearing! I've never seen attire like that before. And then there's still the whole thing about him messing around in our closet. Do you think he's dangerous?"

While the imp was whispering all of this, Melchior thought. "Guardia? I've never heard of a Guardia before. Just how far from home AM I?"

Melchior then thought he'd try a different question. "Have either of you ever heard of a small village that goes by the name Algetty?"

Both shook their heads, looking, if possible, even more puzzled at this.

"Uh huh," Melchior sighed, stroking his chin. "Well, alright then. This Guardia you speak of, is this it, where we are?"

"Here? Oh no, the human kingdom of Guardia is located on the other main islands."

"Then where is here?"

"This is Medina, home to us mystics," said the first imp. "It was founded by our ancestors nearly four hundred years ago, after our people suffered defeat at the hands of Guardia during the great war that took place at the time. Most mystics still hold a grudge against humans even to this day, so you'd want to be careful with a few of the locals. Though me and my roommate here tend to remain neutral with the whole thing."

"War?" Melchior thought, even more perplexed now.

Somehow, the Guru of Life could tell that this was going to be the beginning of a very, very long day.

"There we go," said Cronus. "Personally, I am inclined to think it may be best to place the gurus in periods separate from one another. They are talented and work well together, but I intend to use them more for guiding purposes rather than as fighters, and if placed at different locations, it might make it easier for Crono and the others to fall back on someone for information when at a loss of what to do then it would be if I placed the three together at one spot."

The illusion of Melchior and the imps vanished, and Cronus placed his hand on the orb again.

"Now, where should I put Guru Belthasar?"

"AAAAARRRRGH!!"

With a shriek, the Guru of Reason came flying out of the portal and felt his face connect with a floor of iron. White stars danced in front of his eyes as he picked his face up off the ground and got to his feet, trembling slightly. Wiping his watering eyes dry, Belthasar looked around and saw that he had entered some sort of dome. It was completely barren and filthy looking, with no one else in sight, and a sort of mist hung in the air which made Belthasar cough whenever he inhaled.

Behind him, the gate quickly shut, and a disturbing silence fell.

"Wh-where...am I?"

"The Post-Apocalypse may not be the healthiest choice of a time period," Cronus said to himself. "But there, Belthasar will have free reign to whatever advanced technologies remain, which should help further his studies and projects greatly. I just hope the conditions there won't be too harsh for a man his age."

For a third time, Cronus focused his attention on the orb and said. "Now, what to do with Gaspar?"

The Guru of Time wanted to know where and when the time gate was taking him, but he kept his eyes shut during the trip regardless. It felt as though he had been falling through the portal for ages when it all finally stopped. Gathering the courage to look, Gaspar open his eyes.

Nothing.

Startled, he looked all around him, but there was nothing here, wherever here was, but impenetrable darkness. He looked down at his feet, expecting to find a floor underneath him, but there didn't seem to be anything there either. It was as though his body was just hanging in midair on its own accord.

"Nothing here..." he said wondrously to himself, then thought. "Well, this IS peculiar. I would have expected to wind up in a post-Zealot era or even before that. Either the gate has somehow frozen or..."

It then suddenly dawned on him.

"This must be...the end of time."

Cronus suppressed a feeling of triumph.

"It was all hypothetical," he muttered. "But apparently, one can exist in the death point of the universe. This is good, as my senses tell me that the fabric of reality is weakest at this point, which should mean that all of the time gates can lead back here."

Cronus straightened up a bit and said. "Very well, I think I know how I can use this to my advantage. At some point, during their travels, Crono and the others will end up where Gaspar is right now. The end of time can link up the different eras, giving the group full reign to any of the places in time they've visited. Gaspar, who's understanding of the time streams is perhaps more extensive than any other's, can act as guide for them there."

Cronus watched the guru floating alone in the endless space of nonexistence, then thought for a moment.

"Though if Gaspar is actually going to live there, I suppose it would help if I gave him a living quarters of some sort, a base of operations at the end of time, rather then let him drift aloft in the darkness like that," he said. "Thankfully, due to time's weakened state at this ending point of its life, I can retain a larger portion of my power when manipulating things here. Just enough, perhaps, to give Gaspar a place to stay...and maybe even some company, now that I think about it."

The illusion of Gaspar and the end of time vanished, and the orbs interior turned a silver pale.

"I'll give these things to Gaspar another time," said Cronus. "But now, I need to decide what to do with Janus."

The titan thought for a moment. The case with the young prince was one that required him to harness his magical prowess. For it was then that he would be most useful. But for that, he would need another to guide him, someone who already specialized at the mysterious and wonderful art of sorcery. At first, Cronus had considered using Schala for this, by sending her and Janus together to a place and time where they'd be safe and she could help her brother delve further into uncovering his extraordinary talents. But Cronus knew now that he could not bring Schala along because the balance between time and space would not permit it.

And besides, he somehow felt that no approach Schala would have taken could work to awaken Janus's power anyway. Though obviously, this was just his imagination at work, but Cronus felt he would have to rely on a teacher with a slightly different style, someone who might be a bit more strict with the prince.

But the question was, where could Cronus find such a person? He already knew the gurus weren't likely to get anywhere, they were Janus's former tutors and, thus, already had their chance. And after the fall of Zeal, there would be practically no humans in any time period who could still wield magic, which in turn left even fewer choices.

But then it struck him. Who ever said the teacher HAD to be human? There WAS another group he could turn to. A group which also specialized at spell craft, led by someone who would beat the magic out of Janus if it proved necessary (though Cronus hoped it wouldn't come to that).

But could he really trust them? He already knew they had a huge grudge against humanity. If they discovered Janus's huge magical potential, would they keep him alive? Would they kill him before they could find out about it? Obviously, it was a large gamble for Cronus, and if the results proved negative, there would be no recovery, which in turn would be catastrophic.

Cronus took a moment to search for an alternative. There was none.

"I must be mad," he whispered. "Putting his life at risk like this. But desperate times call for desperate measures."

Janus closed his eyes in terror. For a moment, he thought the dark hole had swallowed him and that he was dying. But then, very abruptly, the falling sensation stopped and Janus's feet landed on something hard. He landed on the new ground so quickly and so suddenly that he nearly stumbled, but managed to catch himself before falling over.

The darkness had vanished too, and light came pouring into his eyes, making the prince bring his hands up to shield them from the brightness. Once his eyes adjusted to the lighting, he looked around and gasped.

He had entered a small, barren field, part of some kind of canyon as he could tell. But where was this? There weren't any such land layouts back in his kingdom, so was he on the earthbound grounds? But then how was that possible? The entire planet as he knew it was covered in snow, and this place was completely ice-free.

Before he could decide where he could have possibly arrived at, he suddenly registered that there were shouts coming from not so far away.

"Human!"

"Where?!"

"There! Get him!"

Janus looked around and saw the first speaker.

His first impression was that the thing looked rather like a grotesque, green blob of fat stuffed inside white robes. Fat that made rippling movements every time the thing moved, which left Janus feeling both nauseous and even more scared.

"Ozzie," Cronus muttered, eyeing the green monstrosity displayed inside the Orb of Truth. "Funny though, this is him as he was thirty years prior to when Glenn hunted him down and defeated him, yet he doesn't appear to be any different now then he will be in that time."

Janus then found himself surrounded by several blue monsters, and he had no trouble recognizing them. Imps, of the mystic family, similar to the ones that populated Mount Woe. So then the big green thing was probably a mystic as well.

"But what are they doing here?!" Janus asked himself, trying to keep all of the imps within his sight, and before he could act, they jumped him.

"Unhand me, you—!" Janus snarled, his fists flailing at the ones he could reach. But then one of the creatures cracked a particularly large rock on top of the prince's head and he knew no more...

...when Janus finally awoke, it was to find himself chained to a stone wall and gagged. He couldn't make a sound and had no idea where he was. Though the room he was in looked to be a dungeon. It was circular in shape and completely empty, containing no torches that could help illuminate his surroundings. The only light was coming from the barred window of the dungeon's only exit.

Voices could be heard on the other side, and Janus strained his ears, the better to catch what was being said.

"—really don't understand what you're point's supposed to be, Ozzie." said a deep, commanding voice.

"Don't you?" came the voice of the green abomination. "I'm telling you, there's something unusual about that boy. He's very...clean for a human, you know? Furthermore, he wears a kind of clothing that I've never seen any other human wear before. Bright purple robes, and his hair is a deep blue color, about as blue as your own skin, Slash."

"Well, okay, so you say his appearance doesn't come off as normal, for a human anyway, but how does that make him something worth keeping alive? I mean, what could he give us exactly? Personally, I would have just marked him off as the Guardia family's new...oh I dunno...apprentice jester—"

"Jester?!?" Janus thought angrily, turning a shade of red. "ME!?"

"—and killed him on the spot."

"Well of course you would," said Ozzie in a venomous voice. "I never saw you as anything more than a homicidal halfwit who leaps before he looks! Is there any wonder why our kingdom is in such poor shape? Because we had people like you in full control of things!"

"Wow," thought Janus. "Talk about nerve. He must really be big if he can talk to another like that."

"Though, thankfully, I came to the throne and was able to do away with most of those hooligans. But all the same, if we are to prevail against our enemies, we must always be watchful and observing, otherwise we could end up destroying something we consider to be a nuisance when it is actually a powerful tool!"

"And you believe this human to be such a 'tool,' when the only things that have motivated you to bring him back here are his hair and clothing?" said the one named Slash, sounding amused for once.

"Well, not exactly," said Ozzie, sounding a little uncomfortable. "I don't know about you, Slash, but when I came near that human child, I thought I could sense a kind of force...emitting from within his body, something I find myself unfamiliar with. I sent an emissary to alert Flea to our...guest's presence in the castle and see if the magician could give us some hint as to what this thing I am sensing is precisely."

"Flea? What, do you believe this force to be of magical nature?"

"If it is, it's a magic I have never felt before, which is rather odd, considering how we are the people of sorcery."

"But there haven't been any magic-wielding humans for more than twelve thousand years!" proclaimed Slash. "Lord Ozzie, just where did you find this human anyway?"

"Well see, that's another thing. Appeared right out of thin air, without any explanation. And how often do human children learn how to do that, I ask you?"

"Out of thin air?"

It seemed as though Slash had no response to this, and silence fell, if only for a moment.

"I assure you though," continued Ozzie. "I do not enjoy having a human in our quarters any more than you do, Slash, and should he prove invaluable to us, he will, of course, be killed."

"Killed?" Janus thought to himself, turning slightly cold.

"Lord Ozzie," came a third voice.

"Ah, Flea," remarked Ozzie. "You're here, good."

The light spilling into Janus's room through the door window was eclipsed by a figure's head as it stared into the dungeon where the prince was kept.

"This is it?" asked the one called Flea.

"Yes."

The door swung open, and the outline of a woman stood in the entrance, illuminated by the light outside. As the thing stepped away from the sudden brightness and approached the prince of Zeal, Janus could start to make it out more.

The feminine-looking mystic wore a white cape, white vest, orange tights, and red skirt, with her red hair braided and tied into a ponytail. Flea's eyes were currently narrowed, gazing at the peculiar human with great interest. Behind the acclaimed magician, was Ozzie, and a blue-skinned mystic with a sword dangling off his belt. That one had to be Slash, as Janus reasoned.

Flea walked to Janus's side, a mock smile playing across its face.

"Hello little one," the magician said sweetly, pulling the gag out of Janus's mouth. "May I have your name?"

Janus didn't really appreciate being spoken to as though he was only three, and was bursting with insults he wanted to throw at them (particularly "Lord" Ozzie), but managed to resist all such temptations and settled with just replying. "They call me Janus. Prince Janus."

"Prince?" repeated Flea, but then Ozzie cut in.

"Now, now, human," he said. "Let's be realistic. If Guardia had a prince, I'd already know by now. Now, tell us what your true rank is."

"I'm not lying!" Janus said indignantly. "I am Prince Janus of the eternal realm of Zeal. And if you don't release me at once, you filthy blob, you will know my kingdom's wrath!"

At these words, Flea looked rather startled. Ozzie, meanwhile, looked both stunned and angry. No one in living memory had ever called him a filthy blob to his face and lived to tell the tale. Slash, who had been silent the whole time, looked suddenly convinced of something.

"Alright," he said maliciously, drawing his sword. "That settles it then. You can only find that kind of insanity in a castle's fool. Shall I kill him now?"

Slash grinned widely as he approached the young prince, sword poised to strike. But then suddenly, Flea stretched out an arm, blocking Slash's path.

"Woah, hold on a second," said the magician. "Who died and made you king, Slash?"

Slash looked at his colleague, startled, and lowered his weapon slightly. Flea was still eyeing Janus with great interest as it approached Ozzie.

"Sire, could I perhaps speak with you and Slash privately?" he/she whispered into the other's ear.

"What?" said Ozzie, a little surprised, before he recovered himself. "Oh, alright, if you want it. But first..."

Ozzie stepped towards Janus, his features contorted, and struck him across the face.

"That," he snarled. "Was for trash-talking me. Watch your tongue, boy, or I'll hang you upside down by the ankle for three days before I consider killing you."

And with that, the three of them left the dungeon, Ozzie slamming the door behind him with a loud thud. Janus now had a sudden suspicion that his title was going to be of little use to him here. Wherever Zeal was, it wasn't close by.

"Oh Schala," he thought miserably. "Where are you? And where am I?!"

"Okay, what is it?" Ozzie asked as soon as they were back upstairs in the dining room. There was no one else here except for an imp that was collecting the dirty dishes from that night's dinner. Flea waited until he had left before answering Ozzie.

"The name of that kingdom he spoke of," said Flea. "Zeal, it rings a bell, doesn't it?"

"It does?"

Flea rolled her/his eyes. "Zeal, it's been said that that was the name of an old empire from ages past, ruled by humans and the nu, and home to the only magic-
using humans the world has ever known. Little is known about it, though, as several records vanished along with the kingdom when it fell to some unknown power..."

Flea trailed off at this point, apparently deep in thought. Ozzie and Slash both watched him/her, waiting.

Then Flea snapped awake. "Master Ozzie, do I have your permission to work with this child?"

Ozzie blinked stupidly. "Work with...? Why?"

"I want to see if he has any...useful talents."

Slash let out a snort of laughter.

"Talents? Am I given to understand that you BELIEVE the boy's claims? This Zeal place, you said, was countless centauries ago!"

"Yes, but I find it peculiar already that the child would just pop out of thin air, as I have been told," said Flea. "And that hair, you can't find a human who's hair is naturally blue like that. And that power I felt—"

"You sensed it too?" Ozzie cut in. "So did I, and you believe it too be of magical nature?"

"I am almost certain of it," muttered Flea. "And that's why I'd like to investigate his character a little more."

The magician paused again, then added. "They also say that the royal family of Zeal could master multiple branches of magic, and if this is so, then this Janus could be a valuable asset to us."

Slash shot a glance at Ozzie, then said. "Well, if you want to experiment with the human, Flea, go right ahead, but I still can't believe that a magical prince from the past could somehow find his way here."

"I wouldn't expect you to," replied Flea, "but I need Ozzie's permission for this, not yours."

Ozzie hesitated.

"Very well," he said. "You can do whatever you want with him, but remember this, Flea: If it turns out that the boy does not have any special magical ability, I will be the one to kill the brat."

"As you wish," said Flea with a sly smile.

"And if he does have a talent of some sort," continued Ozzie, "be sure to make it clear to him that he is to follow our every command if he wants to live. After all, how could we use him if we are unable to count him as an ally?"

"Not at all, sir."

"Good. Now go and release him, I want you to begin your work at once."

"Of course."

Flea turned around and left for the stairs to the dungeons. Once the magician had left, Ozzie narrowed his eyes as he thought hard.

"I wonder, could it be that the heavens have sent this boy to aid us in our campaign against humanity?"

Slash let out a loud, false cough at these words.

"End," said Cronus, and the orb went blank. "So, Ozzie is only going to keep Janus alive if they can find a way to unlock his power and if Janus is willing to cooperate with them assuming they do. Well, will it work out?"

Cronus paused for a second, then spoke again. "Show me Ozzie and his minions as they will be in twenty years time."

Chapter 13: Metamorphosis

The orb's insides swirled, and Cronus was given a view inside of a sort of chamber. In the chamber were a couple of henches, Ozzie (looking the same as always), and a younger person who appeared to be in his late twenties. At first, Cronus wasn't able to recognize the figure, but gave a start when the cold, hard realization hit him.

He looked almost completely different now, but the blue hair was unmistakable.

"Very good, Magus," said a delighted Ozzie, gazing upon the several smoking targets in front of them. "You've come such a long way, and to think I doubted your abilities at the beginning. I trust you remember those times?"

He was talking to the blue-haired one, who's gloved hands were pointing at the now burning practice dummies, his own fingers smoking slightly from the after affects of his spell.

The sorcerer wore tough leather boots, dark purple pants, a thick leather vest, and a flowing, blood-red cape, giving him a rather intimidating appearance.

"That...that can't be Janus?" said a stunned Cronus, but he knew it had to be him. Because hanging on the person's belt was a very familiar object. The amulet that Schala had given to her younger brother as a token of their bond. The amulet created by the gurus alongside with Schala's special pendant. Cronus knew no one other than the original owner would wear it.

Though Janus, unlike Ozzie, had changed a great deal over twenty years. He was taller and much older-looking, and his arms were muscular. But that wasn't all there was: his very skin had gone a colorless white, as though it had not seen the light of day for several years; his hair was almost at waist length now, his eyes (perhaps some side effect from his spell casting) were no longer an emerald-green, but a ruby-red, and to cap it all off, his ears weren't short and round like they were during his youth, but long and pointy, like those of an elf.

"What...happened to him?" Cronus said to himself. "And," he added, "Did Ozzie just call him 'Magus?'"

"Yes, I remember 'those times,' as you put them," said the former prince of Zeal, lowering his hands and giving Ozzie a forced smile, even as he glared at the mystic with dislike.

"Yes, well, then again, how could we forget?" Ozzie asked with a slight chuckle. "That fateful day when the gods brought you to us, and soon, together, we will rewrite history—!"

"Right, the GODS. Whatever..." Magus thought to himself, rolling his eyes.

"—when Guardia is overthrown," Ozzie continued. "It will be a new dawn for the mystic race."

The two henches snickered in delight at these words, but fell silent at the look Ozzie gave them.

"Oh, and there's something else," Ozzie added all of a sudden, frowning as he entered deep thought. Finally, he said, "We need to discuss our strategies."

"He had to give himself THAT much time to think just for such a simple question?" Magus thought, biting back an urge to laugh. "Remind me again how this oaf became a mystic lord."

Magus gave a light cough and asked, "Well, what do the others have planned?"

"Eh? Oh, well our cultural attache at the Zenan mainland, Yakra, told me about this one thing he had in mind," explained Ozzie. "And I tell you, it's great! He and his minions are thinking of getting close to the royal family by impersonating the castle chancellor and a few of the nuns at the Manoria Abbey. Once that's accomplished, they'll abduct Queen Leene during one of her visits to the cathedral and—" Ozzie giggled evilly. "—kill her!"

Magus raised an eyebrow. "Is that it?"

"Yes," snorted Ozzie. "It's a good idea for them to go for the queen, don't you think? You know how much the humans love and admire her. Killing her would deal a great blow to the kingdom's moral, in addition to showing the humans how serious we really are!"

"And have they thought of a place to hide and carry out this...assassination?"

"Not yet, although I did suggest maybe fixing up an undetectable hideout somewhere in the cathedral, since that is where the kidnaping will supposedly take place."

"I...see," Magus said slowly. "And while that is taking place, what will we be doing?"

"Ah, well by THAT time, the war will have begun a long time ago," said Ozzie. "What Slash and I have planned so far is for the main armies to take out Zenan Bridge, which is Truce's main link to the south. Without it, Guardia castle's supply lines will be well cut off, possibly giving us a chance to seize it."

"Hmm, you don't say?"

"However, there's still a good chance Dorino and Porre could retaliate, which magnitudes the problem slightly," Ozzie continued. "But then that's where YOU come in!"

"Er...sorry?" said Magus, slightly taken aback.

"Slash and Flea are going to stay here as part of the national guard, meanwhile, Yakra will be carrying out the kidnap and I'll be leading the attack on Zenan Bridge. Once the enemy's response comes, you will have to play your part, Magus, and show those wretches what we have been showing you for the past twenty years!" exclaimed Ozzie. "So, what have you been planning for the past few years?"

Magus stared at him.

"Okay, so first we have Yakra, who plans out a kidnaping before deciding on a base of operations," Magus thought to himself, "and then we have Ozzie and Slash, who come up with half a plan and then expect ME to come in and finish it. Wow, these mystics add new meaning to the old saying: 'People don't plan to fail; they fail to plan.'"

Magus then grinned inwardly to himself and thought. "But no matter. I have something that will likely exceed Ozzie's expectations. Something I've been planning out since the first day I arrived here."

"Well?" Ozzie asked impatiently.

Magus hesitated for a moment.

"Oh, I think you'll be intrigued by what I have in mind, Ozzie. It could be the very key to defeating Guardia!"

Ozzie was astonished by these words.

"Seriously?" he whispered.

"Yes," said Magus, "I intend to use an ancient magic to bring forth a force more terrifying than Guardia could ever imagine."

"W-what is it?"

"Ah, now Ozzie, you don't want me to spoil it for you right now."

"I don't?"

"No, you don't," confirmed Magus, "but I shall tell you and the others when the time is right, and I WILL say this," he added. "The force I speak of...has the potential of crushing all of Guardia."

Ozzie didn't seem to have anything to say to this, so settled with just staring stupidly at the wizard.

"However," said Magus, "my work is going to require a spell more complex then any we have ever attempted to use before. A spell that could even be disastrous to get wrong. This being the case, we won't be able to start the war right now. We will postpone it until I am sure we'll be able to pull this off."

Ozzie, slightly surprised by this announcement, just said. "Oh...um alright, if you say so."

"Good."

"BUT," said Ozzie in a determined voice, "you will tell me the moment you are sure of your plan."

"Of course, Ozzie," Magus muttered, then after a moment's pause, looked out the window and added. "I see it's getting late. Shall we call it a night?"

"What? Oh, I suppose, yes."

They left the chamber, the two henches bidding them goodnight, and headed down an empty corridor.

"Though while it may have the POTENTIAL of crushing all of Guardia," Magus thought to himself, "that's not, of course, why I intend to summon it."

Magus's eyes flashed, then he continued. "Just you wait, Lavos, I'm coming for you. I know you're still alive, even after all this time, and I haven't forgiven you for what you've done."

"You're going to pay for what you did to me and my family!"

"Master Ozzie! Lord Magus!"

Magus thoughts were suddenly interrupted as an imp came waddling towards them from behind.

"What is it?" snapped Ozzie, spinning around to glare at the tiny creature. "We were heading for our chambers. This had better be good!"

"Yes, sir Ozzie, I apologize," squeaked the imp, bowing deeply, "but I bring alarming news straight from the mouth of the Frog King!"

Magus blinked.

"Frog King?" he asked Ozzie.

"Another one of our agents stationed at Zenan," explained Ozzie. "He is ruler of the amphibian clan."

"Huh, I've never heard you mention him before," Magus muttered, more to himself than to Ozzie.

"Well, tell us, what does he have to say?" Ozzie ordered the imp.

"Just escaped from a terrible confrontation, sir," said the imp. "Dreadful, it was, according to him. A confrontation with Guardia's champion, sir Cyrus, and his most trusted companion, Glenn!"

"Cyrus?" repeated Ozzie, startled. "What was it about? Was he personally hunting down the Frog King?"

"No, worse than a simple hunt, sir," pipped up the imp. "He was coming for one of His Majesty's treasures, a very important one at that!"

"What was it?" demanded Ozzie.

"The Hero's Medal!"

There was a pause.

"Wait a minute," began Magus, "the Hero's Medal...didn't you tell me that...isn't that the artifact that—?"

"—empowers the legendary sword, the Masamune!" finished Ozzie. "Yes, it is. The blade which, according to legend, is crafted to repel and work against magic."

"Sir Cyrus hopes that the medal will help enable him to acquire the said sword," continued the imp. "He and Glenn now travel to the Denadoro Mountains, where it is said to be hidden."

"And what does he want with it?" asked Magus, although he was sure he knew what was coming.

"He intends to use it," said the imp. "On us...on you, Lord Magus, to retaliate against our raids on Choras and Dorino."

The imp the looked to Ozzie, who glanced at Magus, waiting for his proposal.

"No," Magus snarled, striding forward. "I will not allow this. I have waited...too long."

"Shall we take action, then?" Ozzie asked. "You, me, Flea, and Slash?"

"If you and I go, Ozzie, there won't be need for anyone else," Magus stated. "Let Slash and Flea stay here, if they're a part of our guard. We'll go and intercept them, before they can get away with the blade."

Magus looked towards a nearby window. He walked over to it and threw it open.

"I've spent twenty years preparing," Magus growled. "Twenty long years, and I am not going to let a couple of hoodlums ruin everything for me now!"

"So...I guess we're not going to be sleeping tonight after all," said Ozzie, grinning.

"That's alright," said Magus. "When it comes to things like this, I don't need sleep."

He placed one foot outside the window and threw back his blood-red cape.

"And now, Ozzie, let us go...and pay them our respects."

With that, Magus jumped out of the four story window, gliding off into the night. After a moment's struggle, Ozzie pushed his big bulk out the window as well and followed the magician.

Meanwhile, in another part of the world, a couple of knights from the Guardia kingdom were climbing up a tall mountain via some rope ladders that served as part of the dangerous trail. The one in the lead was clad in bluish black armor and carried a heavy broadsword on his back. His face was strong and determined-
looking, even though it was partially hidden by his large helmet, and a sense of shrewdness seemed to emanate from his being.

The knight finally reached the top of the last ladder and looked around. To either side of him were the cliff's edges, while on the left was a small mountain river. Up ahead, the knight could see the entrance to a cave.

The entrance itself wasn't big, just large enough for a man to walk through, but the cave itself looked fairly deep, as the end of it could not be seen at all. The knight smiled in triumph and called to his colleague.

"Glenn! We've found it at last!"

The second one pulled himself onto the cliff and straightened up. Indeed, it was Glenn, although this younger version of himself was free of any saber scar and he was lightly armed. A small sword hung at his belt.

"So this is the resting place of the Masamune," Glenn whispered, staring into the cave. "Do you think there may be anything guarding it, Cyrus?"

"I feel there may be something in there that's meant to get in our way," said the champion of Guardia. "I recall hearing that any potential wielder must pass a certain test before they can use it. We'll see now if whether or not that is true."

Unsheathing his sword, Cyrus led the way into the cave. Glenn pulled out his own weapon and quickly followed.

The inside of the cave was about as vast as the castle throne room. The rock walls were dark and dank, covered in a bright green moss that helped to illuminate the area. The only source of light came from an opening in the cave's ceiling. A long beam of light came spilling into the darkness, onto a gleaming, handsome, two-
handed sword driven into the cave floor.

The Masamune.

Cyrus and Glenn hesitated. The sword looked to be unguarded, but experience had taught them both never to underestimate appearances. Blades still drawn, the two knights took a few steps toward the Masamune.

Almost immediately, a small boy jumped into their field of view, making the two soldiers jump back a few steps, poised to attack.

"I'm the wind! Whoosh!" shouted the child, running around the cave.

When what they were seeing registered with their brains, Cyrus and Glenn lowered their swords and stared at one another in union, apparently lost for words.

The young boy continued to run around, apparently not taking in the fact that a couple of warriors were standing right before him, swords in hand. After a moments pause, Glenn sheathed his sword and stepped towards the child.

"Um, pardon me, little boy?" he said.

But the boy didn't speak or even look at Glenn. He completely ignored him.

"Whoosh!" he shouted again, running about with his arms up it the air.

"Uh, pardon me," repeated Glenn, "but...isn't it unsafe for you to be out this late, my lad?"

Again, the boy didn't so much as acknowledge Glenn's presence. Glenn looked to Cyrus, who just shrugged his plated shoulders.

"Never mind him," said the knight champion. "We'll take him back down to Dorino with us and see if we can find out whose son he is, but first...."

Cyrus sheathed his own sword and walked forward, passed Glenn and the running kid, to the Masamune. He stretched out his gauntlet covered hand, his eyes shining with determination.

"Stop!"

The boy quickly and suddenly leapt in front of Cyrus, obscuring his path.

"Are you here for the Masamune?" asked the child.

Cyrus, still a little startled by the boy's sudden actions, answered. "Y-yes, I am, and if you could please—"

"Thought so," the kid said with a small sigh. "Wait a second, okay?"

The boy turned towards the sword and called. "Oh big broooother...where are you Masa?!"

A few seconds passed, then another boy, completely identical to the first, stepped forward from behind the sword as though he had been hiding there the whole time, though neither Cyrus nor Glenn could see how this was so.

"What is it, Mune?" asked the one called Masa, but then he caught sight of Cyrus and quickly figured it out on his own.

"Not again!?" he asked incredulously, looking at his brother, he then gave a sigh as well and addressed Cyrus. "So! You want to get a name for yourself by grabbing the Masamune? What a buffoon!"

"Humans are so...silly!" said the one called Mune. "It's how you USE the sword that's important...not who owns it!"

Masa nodded in agreement. "You can't even understand something as simple as that. That's why you're human."

Despite the peculiarity of the situation, Cyrus indignantly retorted. "We did not come all this way just for glo—!"

"What should we do?" Mune asked his brother, cutting Cyrus off.

"The usual," said the other. "Test them. You can entertain us for awhile." he said to Cyrus and Glenn.

"All right!" said Mune, cracking his small knuckles. "Here we go!!! Whoosh!"

The two children leapt into the air and there was a bright flash of light. Cyrus jumped back again, drawing his sword, and Glenn quickly joined his side.

When the light faded, standing right where the two identical boys had been were a couple of identical-looking creatures with pointed ears, plain white robes, and light brown skin. Masa and Mune, the spiritual beings that lived within the legendary blade.

"I'd take it THIS is the test you were told about," commented Glenn, sword poised, as one of the twins charged at him...

"Denadoro Mountains, dead ahead!" Ozzie declared from behind as they continued to glide through the night sky and over the mainland.

"Uh, yes, I can see that already!" Magus shouted over the roar of the wind whipping across his and Ozzie's faces. "Which is the one that houses the Masamune?"

"Not sure," called Ozzie. "Though I'd probably start with the tallest one!"

"Peh, you're no help," Magus grunted, doubting that Ozzie could hear him.

Apparently unscathed by Glenn's multiple strikes, Mune addressed his brother, who had suddenly stopped fighting as well.

"Hey, they're pretty tough," he said.

"Yeah, nobody's ever made it this far before," said Masa, giving the two knights an approving nod. "But," he added, "this time it's for real!"

Glenn, who had numerous cuts on both arms, tightened the hold over his sword.

"What?" he whispered to Cyrus, who had had his helmet battered slightly by Masa, but was otherwise unharmed.

"Guess that was just the warm up," Cyrus muttered with a slight grin. The challenge was now beginning to excite him a little.

"All right," said Mune, stretching his arms. "This is it..."

"Yeah. We mean business!" said Masa, and he shifted his weight onto one leg, directing his focus to the other twin. Mune followed suit, facing Masa in turn.

"With Masa's bravery," began Masa, "and..."

"...Mune's knowledge!" finished Mune.

"Two become one!!" they shouted in union.

The twins lurched towards one another, and upon impact, there was a second flash of blinding light. Glenn and Cyrus squinted slightly, and then the light abated. Glenn gasped.

Standing before them was a colossal being unlike anything they had ever seen previously. It was a tall, wide, muscular beast with small feet (in proportion to the rest of the thing) and a face that was reminiscent of that of a toad's complete with a wide mouth. Protruding from either side of its head were a couple of short, stubby horns which curved downward.

"Ready?" Cyrus asked Glenn, entering a fighting stance.

"Ready."

The creature advanced with a battle cry...

"Wait, did you hear something?"

Ozzie and Magus were now scanning the Denadoro mountains. Both stopped in midair and the mystic general replied.

"I don't know, Magus," he said. "I don't have your ears."

"I thought I heard what sounded to be shouts," said Magus, pricking up his pointy ears. "Like as though some struggle was occurring."

"Where do think it came from?"

"Shh! I can hear it again. It's coming from...down over there!"

The sorcerer pointed to a particularly large mountain. Upon closer observation, they could see a small hole in its wall.

"A cave," grunted Ozzie, smacking his forehead. "Do you think that's where...?"

The sudden smile Magus gave him was enough to answer his question. Ozzie grinned as well.

"So, I guess we made it just in time...they haven't left yet, have they?"

"Bingo," said Magus. "Let's set up a little surprise for them, shall we?"

Sniggering, Ozzie followed Magus to the cave entrance.

Glenn slumped to the ground, exhausted, as the guardian of the Masamune dissolved into light again. When the light faltered, Masa and Mune were standing before the knights once more.

"They beat us, big brother..." Mune said wonderingly.

Masa hopped up and down a few times.

"That was fun!" he said.

Mune looked from Glenn to Cyrus. Cyrus hadn't worn himself out quite like his friend had, though he now sported a black eye as well as a small cut across his cheek. But neither of these injuries seemed to bother him in the least.

"Looks like we finally found our owner," said Mune, indicating Cyrus. "Funny, I was beginning to think this day would never come."

Masa nodded and then said to Cyrus. "Just remember, the Masamune reflects your souls dearest ambitions. Only your own determination can bring out the full potential of the sword."

He and the other twin walked over to the sword driven into the cave floor.

"I just hope the sword itself hasn't worn out too much," said Masa, before he stepped behind the blade once again and vanished. Mune followed after him.

"What did they mean by that?" asked Glenn, confused.

But his question needed no answering. The light coming from the sword faded a little after the brothers vanished from sight, and the two knights could see that the Masamune did not look remotely handsome now. The sword's blade was cracked in a few spots, and the guard was dented and worn out slightly. Judging by what they heard from the legends, this was not what they were expecting to find.

"This is the Masamune in its true form?" Glenn asked, looking at it with disappointment etched across his face. Cyrus shook his head.

"Looks aren't everything," he muttered. "If you know what you need, then you go, and you find it, and you take it."

He approached the blade again and grabbed it by the hilt.

"Things are only what you need them for, what's important is who needs them more."

He wrenched it out of the ground with little resistence on the sword's part.

"And we need to pay Lord Magus a little visit," he finished, glaring into the Masamune's reflection.

"Do we leave for his castle at once?" asked Glenn.

"Yes," said Cyrus. "The sooner we do this the better. Let's go."

Cyrus headed for the cave's exit, Glenn trailing behind.

"I had been hoping we'd might be able to see the queen one last time before setting out for the sorcerer," Glenn thought, a little disappointed, "but I guess Cyrus is right, the sooner the better, otherwise we'll be running the risk of spies finding out about all this."

Despite his nervousness, Glenn grinned. So far, so good.

So long.

Cyrus and Glenn had just barely left the cave entrance when something, white-hot and enormous, hit the latter right from behind.

"Aaah!" shrieked Glenn as he fell down, riddled with pain. He looked around and saw, with a fleeting stab of horror, two figures standing before the knights, right in front of the cave from which they had just exited. One was tall and slim, the other squat. Both were shrouded in the darkness of the night.

"We've been ambushed!" Glenn thought urgently, fumbling for his sword. Cyrus rushed to his side, shielding him from their attackers.

"Beware, Glenn!!" Cyrus whispered, Masamune in hand.

Whatever happened next happened so quickly that Glenn could hardly make it out. There was a flash of light, a piercing metal sound that made the hairs on Glenn's neck stand on end, and the knight watched with a mixture of disbelief and shock as the hilt of the Masamune...

...sailed over the cliff's edge and out of sight.

Glenn crawled to the edge and looked down. It couldn't be true...there was just no way it could...not after all they'd done to obtain it.

"Cyrus!" he said. "The sword...the Masamune!"

Cyrus ignored his colleague's words, more concerned about the threat in front of them. Drawing his other sword, Cyrus charged at the taller figure, and the figure too advanced, armed with a scythe, and as he entered the moon light, Glenn could now make out who it was, even though he already knew the being's identity.

Blood-red eyes, thick leather gloves and boots, a red cape, and fangs exposed by his grin, the lord of the mystics was even more terrible looking when viewed up close. He and Guardia's champion fought furiously as scythe met sword, and Cyrus even managed to push the battle into the cave momentarily, where sparks lit up as the weapons continued to bite at one another. But then scythe caught sword by its guard and wrenched it out of its owner's grasp. His opponent now weapon-less, the magician chanted a spell that blasted the knight out of the cave, where he collapsed onto the grass in a heap.

Magus emerged from within the cave as well, smirking in triumph. Ozzie, who had been watching the entire time just like Glenn had, then entered the light and cackled. "Gyah ha ha! Is that the best you can do!?"

Cyrus clambered back to his feet, his eyes bright and angry. "You haven't beaten me yet!" he exclaimed.

Ozzie smiled, showing pointed teeth, and licked his lips.

"You fool," he whispered. "You cannot undo what's been done. The Masamune is no more!"

Glenn cringed as the pain in his back seemed to double for no clear reason. He knew Ozzie spoke the truth, the Masamune was now beyond repair, but he just couldn't except what had happened. It was gone before they could even use it, gone before it could have been used. A legend several centuries old, and several of the ambitious who died to acclaim it, for the blade to finally be picked up only to shatter minutes after its retrieval. How could it have all come down to this?

The wind intensified, and with the combined pain, coldness, and hopelessness, Glenn sputtered. "C, Cyrus...I'm a g, goner."

Cyrus looked from Glenn, to the fragment of the Masamune that remained on the mountain, to Ozzie, and then to Magus. Apparently reaching a decision, he pulled a thin, carefully concealed short sword out from behind his cape, then approached his comrade and whispered. "Glenn, escape while I keep them at bay."

Glenn looked at his old friend in surprise. Leave him to die? With no one's company except for the two beasts standing in front of them?

"B, but...!"

"If you stay, they'll get us both. Go on, Glenn!"

"You'd better worry more about yourself, Cyrus!" Magus spat, whipping his cape around so his body was concealed.

"Come on, Glenn! Go!!"

But Glenn did not get up. He did not run. His legs felt like they were rooted to the spot. He could only watch as Cyrus, with an adrenaline-pumped scream, raised his sword and charged recklessly at the blue-haired wizard.

"Why didn't you stay at home where you belonged?" Magus thought, pulling back his cape to reveal a magically-charged fist. Avoiding the sword's swipe, he buried his clenched hand into Cyrus's chest the moment there was an opening. There came the smell of burning flesh, another explosion of light, and Cyrus crumpled. He was thrown backwards, gasping with agony.

"C, Cyrus!"

Glenn rushed to his side and kneeled before the weakening knight.

Cyrus was lying face down in the ground.

"R—run...Glenn," he choked in a weak voice. "The Queen. Take care...of...Leene..."

His voice died out and he became silent.

"C, Cyrus!?" Glenn croaked, grabbing the champion's now limp hand. "Cyruuus!!"

Glenn felt a hollowness inside him, as thought a fragment of his very soul had departed with Cyrus. The Masamune was one thing, but this...compared to this, that cursed sword was nothing more than a strip of metal to Glenn.

Cyrus...his mentor...his protector...his friend...

Glenn's thoughts returned to the present situation when a voice spoke up.

"Hmph! What's the matter?" Magus growled, advancing a few steps. "Aren't you going to try your luck?"

Glenn leapt to his feet as though he had received an electric shock. One hand resting upon the hilt of his sword, Glenn growled hatefully at the wizard. Yet he remained where he stood, unsure of what to do.

"Cyrus told you to run, you prat!" a voice in some corner of his brain snapped. "You saw what happened. He gave his life to give YOU time! If he couldn't oppose them, you can't either. Obey his dying wish before time forbids it!"

"Gyah, ha ha...cat got your tongue kid?" Ozzie chuckled, advancing as well.

Glenn knew he had to run, but it felt as though his legs had frozen again. Then, Ozzie seemed to consider Glenn for a moment.

"Peh, these humans are all pathetic," he whispered. "How they've been able to last this long is beyond me..."

"I suspect that those things beyond your comprehension, Ozzie, would be enough to fill the entire ocean," Magus thought, smirking to himself.

"...they're not even pleasant to look at."

Ozzie's eyes seemed to light up as though he had a sudden epiphany.

"You know, Magus," he said nastily. "Killing off this runt as well would seem awfully unoriginal. Instead of granting him death, suppose we...gave him a new way to look at life instead?"

"Pardon?"

Magus's gaze met Ozzie's for a moment, and a connection seemed to form between them as he suddenly understood.

"Ah," he said. "Of course."

"How about it, Magus?" Ozzie cackled, looking back at Glenn. "Can't you give him a more fitting form?"

"All right, why not?" said Magus, gazing pitifully at the warrior. "There's always time for a little fun."

Throwing back his cape, Magus pointed at Glenn with his forefinger.

Glenn's entire body seized up. Despite the clear night sky, a bolt of lightning came soaring down from the heavens and struck the knight, paralyzing him.

"A...augh!!"

His being began to shimmer as if gold. Doubling up as though he was going to be violently sick, Glenn's body edged towards the end of the cliff.

"Aaaaack!"

Glenn felt himself tumble over the cliff's edge. His world went black...

When Glenn finally woke the next morning, he was lying in front of a lake at the base of the same mountain which he and Cyrus had climbed to collect the Masamune, and where they had then been attacked. He didn't know how he survived the fall, nor did he care. The Masamune was gone, Magus was still in one peace, and he, Glenn, was now more alone then ever before.

But at that precise moment, he became distracted by a glint of light, somewhere from within the lake. It took a moment for him to identify the source.

"The...medal," he muttered weakly. "...The Hero's...Medal."

And so it was. The emblem meant to identify he who would wield the Masamune. Glenn regained the feeling in his legs and stood up.

"Did it fall off of Cyrus when the wizard struck him down?" Glenn thought to himself as he approached the lake's shore. As he walked, Glenn couldn't help but feel as though there was something...different...about the pace at which he walked.

Once he reached the edge of the lake, Glenn knelt down and stretched across the surface of the water so as to scoop up the artifact...

...and looking back at him from within the lake's reflection...was a large, green, armor-clad, humanoid frog.

Glenn stared, then yelled and leapt backwards, falling onto his back. He picked himself up again and gasped. He had (somehow) leapt fifteen feet away from the lake's shore. This would have left anyone stunned, especially Glenn. He had never been good at jumping in the past. In fact, he had barely been able to jump farther than four feet at the very best. He looked down at his legs and saw they had shrunk in size, which surprised him even more. His legs had grown stronger...while also growing shorter?

"Am I dreaming?" he asked aloud, clapping a hand to his head, only to discover that the hair on his scalp had vanished. What more, his eyes felt larger and were oddly positioned, and his very skin felt rubbery and...smooth?

He pulled his hand away from his head and looked at both arms. They, like his legs, were smaller and thinner-looking. They were also colored differently. Green on the top half and pearl white on the bottom, with a brown line separating the two halves.

The exact same colors as the arms of the frog-thing he had seen in the lake's reflection.

"Does...does that mean...?" Glenn thought, crawling towards the lake and looking back at its surface.

Sure enough, the frog creature was still there, staring back at Glenn with enormous, yellow eyes. Glenn raised both hands. The frog followed, raised its thin arms in perfect union with Glenn. Glenn then took one hand and used it to pull the glove off of the other. So did the creature in the reflection, revealing a green, slimy-
looking hand. With all of the will power he could muster, Glenn took his eyes off the frog and looked at his own gloveless hand.

What he saw, was an equally green, slimy-looking hand.

"Aaaaaarrrrgh!!"

Chapter 14: The Adventure Begins

"Enough!" said Cronus, and the orb's vision melted into colorless smoke again.

The titan thought for a second, then spoke. "I was not expecting this. Sure, the Masamune was going to break anyway, but a rift existing between Glenn and Janus of that degree could definitely cause problems if I hope to use them against Lavos."

"Well, things could've gone worse," came the more reasonable part of his being. "At least neither of them are dead, and while Glenn's curse came unexpectedly, it may have come with certain benefits as well. I admit, I was surprised by how far Glenn could leap with his new figure. I don't believe any mortal in existence could have pulled that off.

I suppose the one thing really worth worrying about is how to get the Masamune restored...Melchior is perhaps the only one who understands the blade enough to even begin to fix it...but how to get it to him? I wonder..."

He shook his head.

"Well, I'll figure it out along the way. Now...let's see...Janus is safe...the gurus are safe...Ayla, Glenn, and the android, Prometheus, are fine at the moment...so then that just leaves Crono, Marle, and Lucca to set everything in motion."

Cronus now brought himself up to his full height and said. "Alright then...show me Guardia as it will be in four hundred years time! Take me to the fair, just as the girl...Lucca's exhibition begins!"

The Orb of Truth blurred, and as a familiar scene began to materialize within it, Cronus could already hear them.

"Behold, ladies and gentlemen, as this vision of loveliness steps aboard the machine!"

"Don't go away! I'll be right back!"

"You're sure about this? There's still time to change your mind."

"No way! Throw the switch!"

It was the new millennium, the fair, and the teleporters all over again, and the young girl who called herself Marle was about to try out the gadget.

"Right," said Cronus. "Now as for how I will go about all this, I'm thinking maybe I'll have the trio meet Glenn before exposing them to the future. Before they can see what is going to happen, they must first get used to the concept of time travel, and I also want them to know that there are others who can help them in the fight against the enemy of all life."

He raised his arms and placed his fingers around the orb.

"And as for the gate's power source," he muttered, eyeing Marle's pendant. "Schala's old treasure has likely lost some f its glow, but I think it, along with the energy given off by the teleporter, will work nicely."

Cronus closed his eyes and began to concentrate on just the pendant.

"Okay, everyone, let's give her a great big hand when she reappears!" Taban called to the crowd as he grabbed the crank again and began to turn it really fast. The machine started to hum again.

"All systems on!" Taban shouted.

"Begin energy transfer!" called Lucca, fumbling with the controls on her side.

Crono and the rest of the crowd watched with bated breath. Any moment now...

The humming continued to grow in volume as Lucca punched numbers into the system's computers. The very pods vibrated with power.

As Crono continued to watch, a sudden feeling of foreboding erupted within him. He wasn't sure why, but he felt as though something horribly wrong was about to occur.

How very right he was.

As the gadget continued to hum, Marle looked down to see that her pendant was shimmering. Startled, she took it off as it started to glow even brighter.

"What's happening?" she said aloud. "My pendant...it's..."

Taban looked up. Marle's body was now shifting in and out of focus, unlike how the machine had teleported Crono.

"Eh? What's going on?" he said, taking his focus off of the control panel entirely.

Lucca stopped as well.

"Huh?"

The console suddenly grew very hot, and static began to dance around the controls. Panicking, Lucca fiddled around with the controls while shouting to her father. "Shut it off! Shut it off!"

One bolt of electricity struck her hand, and she jumped away, lost for words.

Horrified, Marle was abruptly lifted a few feet into the air by some unseen force. She shrieked and dropped the pendant, which fell onto the platform and continued to glow, as a sight unlike anything Crono had ever witnessed before unfolded.

A strange blue dot grew into formation between the two pods, and Marle's body broke into small particles of light which then floated towards the blue anomaly as it opened up to form a dark abyss, pulsing with energy. The glowing pinpoints of light that were Marle shot into the gate where she rematerialized. Before anyone could act, before Crono could do more than shout out to her in alarm, the mysterious portal shrunk into nothingness and Marle had disappeared.

Taban rushed to his daughter.

"Lucca! Where is she?!"

"I don't know..." she choked, eyes wide.

Directing his attention to stunned crowd, Taban shouted. "Okay, show's over, folks! Let's head along now!"

The crowd fell apart and left the exhibition, but Crono remained glued to the spot, speechless.

"What's going on, Lucca?" her father repeated with a note of extreme panic in his voice. "WHERE IS SHE?"

Lucca frowned, then looked away, shifting her glasses. "The way she disappeared...it couldn't have been the Telepod! The warp field seemed to be affected by her pendant..."

Crono found his voice. "The pendant? The pendant?! She's gone because of a pendant!? That doesn't make any sense at all! Lucca, you designed this thing, find a way to get her out of wherever she is! Now!"

At this, Lucca turned on him. "Me? Crono, you brought her here, so why don't you go get her back?!"

"That's enough!" Taban cut in. "Arguing isn't going to help. What are we going to do now?"

"Sorry, dad," Lucca muttered. "Yet, she's so familiar," she added, eyes narrowed in thought. "I know I've seen her somewhere!"

She looked at the space between the pods where the portal had been momentarily. "But I feel the only thing to do is try and find out more about the nature of whatever it was that took her."

"But how do we know we have time to pour over books or however we're going to try and learn more? Marle's life may be in danger for all we know!" said Crono.

"We can't do anything reckless," said Lucca. "That's science. We need to plan this out carefully."

"But we don't even know where we're going to start!" Crono said in exasperated tones. "For all we know, it could take months, years even! And by that time, Marle may be gone forever!"

Taban had nothing to contradict this.

"Well, he's right about one thing. We really don't know where to begin, and if we try meddling with either the Telepod or the pendant, we may be pulled in as well."

Crono stepped onto the left pod and picked up the pendant.

"Then that's exactly what we'll do. Fire it up!"

"Crono..." Lucca said warningly, but fell silent at the look he gave her.

Taban was temporarily speechless, then said impressively. "You're actually going to do it?! What a fine lad!"

Lucca looked from Crono to her father. Apparently reaching a conclusion, she moved to the control console.

"Listen!" she said. "I don't know where this machine is going to send you, but we haven't any other choice."

"Won't they both be lost?" asked Taban, moving to his own controls.

"This is our only hope!" Lucca confessed. "That pendant seems to be the key, so hang on to it Crono, and brace yourself!"

Crono nodded. Regardless of whether or not it seemed reckless, instinct was telling him that this was what had to be done. The two inventors directed their attention to the controls and repeated the process.

"Power to full!" called Lucca, and the Telepod started up again.

"Roger!"

The platforms began to glow.

"More! Give me more power!"

"Roger!"

The pendant started to shimmer again.

"There! We did it!" Lucca shouted as the electric occurrence started up. Lucca and Taban backed away as Crono, like Marle before him, dematerialized into particles of light and reemerged inside the newly formed gate.

"I'll follow you after I know what went wrong," Lucca called out to him. "Good luck, Crono!"

Again, the gate vanished, taking Crono along with it, on a journey he was never...ever going to forget.

Cronus took his hands off the orb, a feeling of triumph within him.

"And thus, it begins!" he whispered.