It was insane. That’s all he remembered. Chaos was everywhere.
No one had seen him sneak in. He was supposed to have stayed in the palace, in his room. No one ever told him what was happening. No one told him of the death of his father. No one had told him of the construction of the Mammon Machine. No one had told him of Melchior, the Guru of Life being exiled to the chained floating prison of Mount Woe. He never even been told of the Blackbirds completion or even of the Ocean Palace, which he now hide deep inside.
No one told him because, he knew, the less he knew the better. What he didn’t know couldn’t hurt him. Just sit in the palace, soak up the luxury, and feed his cat. Just be a good little prince. That’s all they wanted.
Except Schala.
Schala was the only one who told him anything. His beloved sister. She meant more to him than anything. She was so kind to him; she’d always helped him through the hard times. He could always go to her. Even with the Guru’s wisdom to look to, he would always seek Schala out for guidance. She was the only one who understood him.
And now, hiding in the doorway to the grand Hall of Mammon, he saw her, helpless. His mother stood to one side of her, blue hair and bright dress flowing like a flag in the wind, and her eyes wide with uncontrollable laughter. Standing before them, weapons poised and aimed, where the strange intruders who he’d seen at Kajar several weeks earlier. The one with the red hair, the girl with the ponytail, and the girl with the glasses. The cat he held, Aladoph, meowed loudly. The prince quickly put a hand over the cats mouth, not that it mattered. No one could hear a cat in this mess.
Suddenly, a blinding light ripped across the vast room. The prince’s eyes shut by reflex. The last thing he saw was Schala’s silouette against the wall of intense brightness. When he opened them back up, and the reality fuzzed back in, he was so shocked he dropped Aladoph, who plopped softly down onto the floor. They were gone. Schala, their mother, and the three intruders. Where had they gone? All that was left was a handful of bewildered noblemen, looking about, and the Mammon Machine behind them, glowing like a erupting volcano, a burning red sword buried deep into it’s heart.
“It’s happening!”
The prince turned at the voice. Coming up behind him were the Three Gurus themselves. I thought they got exiled, he thought.
“The Masamune... it’s really true!” Melchior pulled his glasses away from his aged eyes, trying to get a better focus. Another ancient man, Gasper, swated him in his clunky leg with his cane. Melchior grinched and bent an arm to his throbing knee.
“Who cares about that?” the Guru of Time asked his colleague. “Our greatest fear has been realized! The creature has been summoned!” He put a hand to his brow and whipped away the sweat. “Not even a Chrono Trigger could stop that-”
“Schala’s in there.”
Belthasar, the Guru of Knowledge, was the first to react. He seemed to notice his prince for the first time and bent down to him, his face unbelieving in terror. “The princess... the princess is in where?”
“Where ever Mother just took them.” the prince answered, his deadpan face never breaking.
“They?” Gaspar placed his hand on the prince’s shoulder. “What do mean, your Highness? Who else?”
The child pointed ahead of him, as if he could see the image plainly as the shacking hall around them. “Them. The one with the sword and red hair, the lady with blonde hair, and...”
“Them!” Melchior jumped up as if given a revelation, and the others took notice and listened for more. “They’re the ones who rescued me from Mount Woe, remember, I told you about them?”
“Ahh, yes, they somehow knew you...” Gaspar rubbed his chin. “And the princess was quit close to them as well, wasn’t she?”
“Indeed!” Belthasar barked impatiently. “Now where are they?” he almost ordered his young leige.
“I-” the prince paused apruptly and looked past the old man, squinting puzzled. The trio had appeared to be back in the room, but no, it was less clear than that. “They’re...” he began slowly, “they’re in some kind of glowing place, and it’s surface...” he paused “is swirling like a whirlpool.” Gaspar and Melchior exchanged glances.
“What else?” Belthasar bent down, grabbed the boy by his shoulders and gave him a slight shack. “What else?”
“Mother’s there... and Schala... she looks okay.” Melchior wondered if he meant Queen Zeal or the princess, but the child went on. “And something else... something else is...”
His voice drowned away as the Mammon Machine exploded in light. Noise blew deafeningly from it as the entire Ocean Palace began to quack. Aladoph the cat screeched and darted away. The noblemen clasped to the floor, the Gurus fell over each other, but the prince was locked in place, his expression changed for the first time. His eyes were wide with fear.
The nightmare. That was the only word he could think to describe it. Materializing amidst the other five, it began to take shape, and seemed to fill up reality itself. Black as night, twisted as chaos, scary as Hell. This gruesome, screaming nightmare, giant black spikes stabbing out of every inch of its round body. A man sized pulsating head, with three frothing mandibles opening and closing to revile it’s maw, was framed within the thousands of spikes, large as oaks wickedly snapped in half. They moved rhythmically up and down with every breath. The thing was alive. And it was staring right into the prince.
The prince wanted to scream in terror. Everything around him faded to black as its unseen eyes bore into him. He felt his soul being probed, it was searching, examining him from the inside out. Surprisingly, the prince felt no sense of pain. Instead, the sensation felt almost familiar. He did his best to return the creatures gaze. It was as if... it knew him. And-
Just then, a blast of swirling needles ruptured from it’s many spikes. They danced in the air for a moment before slamming down upon the three strangers. Without a fight, they flopped to the ground, bloodied heaps of flesh. Had they apposed the creature? What were they thinking? They didn’t have a chance.
Just then, a figure wavered into reality and walked between the bodies, straight to the nightmare. It was Prophet, the one who he saw with Schala when he exiled those trouble makers form Zeal in the first place. Without breaking his confident stride, the gloomy prophet threw off the cloak that had hidden him. Underneath was what looked to be death itself. He was pale, his hair so black it seemed to shimmer purple. From his back he drew an awesome weapon; a scythe long, curved and deadly. He wheeled it around, and with a deathless monotone voice, faced the monster.
“Lavos...”
Lavos?
“I’ve waited a lifetime for this...” He faced the thing with its incredible power and intense light without even blinking. “You’ve taken everything from me...my family...my home...I’ve cheated death and traveled through time...”, the prince couldn’t believe what he was hearing, “just to destroy you.”
The prince looked to Schala, then his mother. Schala knelt on the ground, her own grief crippling her. The queen only laughed, and shrieked at the Prophet. “Ha! A fake prophet?! How utterly intriguing!...”
The prophet paid her no mind as he came upon the beast... this “Lavos”. He took a breath and thrust his hands to heaven, calling in all his power. A swirl of pitch-black energy began to swirl and wave at his hands. The young prince let out a gasp. The prophet was canalling all his power, calling on a forbidden spell, a force the gurus had warned him of... the uncontrollable magic of Shadow.
The prince wanted to hide his eyes, but he couldn’t look away. Without a word, the prophet unleashed his attack, swirling a long red rod into the creatures head. Schala opened her mouth to scream but nothing came out. All that could be heard was the deadly black force as it engulfed the throbbing head of Lavos, casting dark red light into the air. The prophet opened his eyes... but only to see the beast looking back at him. The spell had failed. “What?” The prophet looked around franticly, as if it had to be a mistake, there’s no way the monster could have survived that, it had to have done something!
And it had. It had made Lavos very angry.
The Queen flung her cape and smiled at the false prophet. “ Who do you think you are?!?”
The prophet swayed, trying to stay standing. “ Nothing can compare to the power of the Great Lavos!” The prophet looked at the queen. It was the first time the prince seen any emotion on his face. He looked weary, defeated, beaten. He turned slowly toward Schala. She sensed it and met his gaze.
“Schala...” he breathed, and collapsed to the floor. She watched him. Tears formed in her beautiful eyes, her blue hair flying across her face.
“What’s this?” The prince wondered. Did she care for this prophet? Was he going to take her away? No, the prince thought, he wouldn’t have it. No one could come between him and Schala. His eyes caught some movement ahead.
With a groan, one of the intruders forced himself to his knees. He was the red haired one...
“What?” the queen shrieked, “you’re going to face the almighty Lavos-”
He struggled to his feet and limped toward the invincible creature.
...the one he’d had the vision of...
“With that battered body of yours?“ the queen finished.
The boy, coughing blood, weakly drew himself to the beast head.
...the one he had seen die...
He gathered his strength, and drew his katana up.
....the prince shivered. The Black Wind was howling.
One of the two women began to awaken. She had a quiver on her back, half covered by silky blonde hair. Her eyes fluttered open. “Crono...?”
The red haired boy almost buckled at the force of his own spell. With his last once of strength he let out a long scream. The Lavos creature flinched. The boy shock and glowed with power.
“Crono, NO!!!” the blonde girl screamed. By now the other was awake, and gasped at the scene. The glow of the spell reflected off her glasses.
“Crono, DON'T!”
Schala only found strength to look and weep. The queen seemed to be enjoying it.
All at once, the nightmare retaliated. With an unearthly hissing, its three-prong maw opened. From deep in the beast a rumbling like the grinding of metal against metal came. It started at the monsters core and now headed for its mouth, gaining power. As the boy unleashed his final attack, a super nova of intensity ripped through him. His scream was cut off, and in an instant, he was no more. In a flash, the Lavos stood alone again.
“Crono?” the first girl scrambled to her feet. “Crono...Crono!” No answer. Tears streamed from her eyes. She couldn’t hold it back. “CRONO!!! NOOOOOOOOO!!!” The second girl rushed over to her and caught her as she collapsed into broken sobs.
Before anyone could think, a roar admitted from the monstrosity. Its face grew suddenly aware, and like a parasite it rose its many claws and dug them deep into the floor. Smock and a smell of intense sulfur filled the air. The Lavos grew tense, its small head pulsating and the giant spikes on its back glowing red-hot. It was preparing for its next attack.
The prince fell off his feet. The entire Ocean Palace was shaking, and now broken cement chunks of ceiling began to pound down deathly close to him. The gurus finally got up and began to run for cover. Then the prince relieved it. This wasn’t an attack on the intruders or the prophet... this was an attack on Zeal itself.
“Schala!” the prince called, and ran into the open. She saw him.
“Brother, stay back!” Just then the queen shoved past her own daughter, and ran for Lavos her regal silk dress and cape flying.
“No Lavos!” She screamed eyes wide. “Don’t do this! Please don’t I beg you!” A fallen rock almost tripped her, but she kept coming. “The Kingdom of Zeal needs you!” She leapt up onto the creature’s head and clung onto his steaming husk. “I need you...” she whispered.
The two women sat holding each other, almost unaware of their impending doom. The one looked up, golden hair sticking to her wet face. A deep hate grew in her as she stared into the red aura of the faceless nightmare. She lost all conscious thought as she spat out at the beast. “Give him back! You took Crono! You took Crono!!! Give Crono back to me!!! You monster, give him back...” her voice cracked and the other brunette held her again. She raised her finger behind her glasses and whipped away her own tear.
“Brother!” Schala screamed. The prince couldn’t find his footing on the quaking earth. “Go back!”
“NO! I’ll help you Schala!” He took a teetering step and was pealted by a loose stone. He clasped to the floor, and the Prophet awoke just in time to see it. He wanted to call out, but he felt so weak, so drained. He looked around. It was happening again, just as he’d remembered. No, please, not again. Not Lavos.
The broken weak princess of Zeal turned to them. “I sorry.” was all she could say. “I’m so sorry.” She lifted her pendant, the same one the blonde-headed girl wore. “I’ll use the last of my pendants power and try to send you all somewhere safe.” She lifted her head one last time and looked at the blonde women, then the brunette, and finally the prophet. “But please... don’t hate Mother.”
“She knows“, the prophet thought. “She knows... she knows who I am....” He wanted to call out to her but before he could, Schala’s pendant shimmered. She raised it above her head, and in a moment sent the three survivors someplace safe. Somewhere away from Lavos. A small blue swirling portal, a rip in time sucked the three up and vanished in a flash. After that, all hell broke loose.
It all happened so fast. Lavos screamed with insane power and tore the very fabric of the universe apart. Many portals suddenly appeared everywhere. Different eras flash in and out of space, as it seemed all time had been sucked into a tornado. And Schala and Lavos were in the center of it.
The gurus rushed to aid the princess, but it was too late. They were sent screaming into unknown times periods as the portals sucked in all that was around them. There wasn’t a thing the princess could do to save them. Then she saw her brother. He was struggling to reach her. “Schala!” he called. “Please help me, I’m scared!” He was now air born.
“Janus!” Schala shrieked.
He was being hurled through the air in the giant vacuum. He came soaring past his sister. He clasped her soft outstretched hand for only an instant before he was mercilessly pulled away.
“JANUS!”
She agonizingly watched as the only friend she had in the world was torn from her and immersed into a deep dark void. She soul lost all strength. How much more? All that was left in the room was she and the demon before her.
“No more, God. Please..”
Even as she spoke, an enormous warp portal erupted from the core of Lavos. It overtook both Schala and Lavos, engulfing them both into the darkness beyond time. Moments before it closed forever, the beast unleashed its ultimate attack. Fiery spinning missiles shot through the Ocean Palace and hit their mark; the flying Kingdom of Zeal. In an instant, the nation was eradicated. Its glorious works of art, grand towers, and innocent people fell out of the heavens and crumpled into the sea. A titanic tidal wave was ensued, which rose and flooded the planet. The entire world was changed in one short day.
Beyond the void of time, the lost princess existed with the monsters Lavos. As reality was farther lost, she and the beast began to become one. Feeding off her hidden hatred and rage, it began to grow, the alien life form was trying to assimilate itself with the princess of Zeal. It pulled into it’s mouth, and through it green inner corridors of gloom. Why, Schala thought, why would such a being want with me? She found herself being drawn, hovering to the creatures very core... was that a humaniod figure? Did it seek to become one with the beautiful Schala?
She felt her body wane, memories begin to fade, and her own mind start to silence. But before she lost all free will, before Lavos overtook her, she heard a faint cry. A distant far off cry, somewhere in time. The cry of a young child, maybe Janus age... a cry for help. The young child's pleading cries touched Princess Schala’s heart. And she decided she must help this child... at all cost. It was then that past and future began to intersect.
And it was then a small fragment, a small seed of the spawned Time Devourer of Schala and Lavos union broke free. There had been three pieces to the unholy trinity of the Devourer of Time. One was kept onto the core, to give it power, the other, chosen by Lavos, to go into the world and fulfill his master plan. That one seed broke free, and drifted into time.
And the Chrono Splicing began.
The beginning is half of the whole.
-Plato