Demon Gate Chapter 3
Past Encounters
By Icy Brian
11,999 BC
A fire was lit in the center of the cave, with Nanaki, Beowulf, and Mog huddled around it. No one had said a word since the fire was lit. They only stared at the flames and made glances at one another, trying to determine what to assess about one another. After a few minutes had passed, footsteps began to reverberate through the cave. The three turned their heads to see Locke walking towards them, carrying a large, dead creature over his shoulder. He flung it down on the ground next to the fire.
"Dinner's served." Locke announced. After he looked at the creature for a moment, he added, "whatever it is."
"Are you sure it's edible?" Beowulf asked. "I don't believe I've ever seen anything quite like it." The creature had an elongated body with smooth, green skin. Its eyes were partially bulging out of their sockets, a result of the knife which had been stabbed through the back of its head. Two small horns protruded from its forehead, forming points that looked neither sharp nor dull. Nanaki budged it with his front paw a couple of times before taking a sniff. He raised an eyebrow and sniffed again. "Well?"
"Close enough." Nanaki shrugged. Since no rope was at hand, Locke plunged a sharp stick through the animal's side and lifted it onto the two forked branches which stood on either side of the fire. The silence returned as they sat down to wait for the meat to cook. Finally, Beowulf spoke.
"Look, I'm still lost over this. We all disappeared through some kind of vortex and wound up here, in a cold, desolate land none of us have ever seen before. Some piece of the puzzle is missing. Why us? Why here? What is it that we don't know?"
"Apparently quite a bit." Nanaki answered. "But there's something about this place that sets my fur on end."
"I feel it too." Mog told them. "Kupo!" His wings fluttered a bit, circulating some of the cold air in the cave. His face had a nervous look on it.
"Beats the hell outta me." Locke said as he pulled the animal out of the fire, dropping it onto the ground. He stabbed a dagger into its chest and looked up at the others. "What I do know is that we need to get out of this cave and find some kind of civilization."
"And then?" Beowulf asked. Locke shrugged.
"I don't know. I guess we'll find out when we get there."
* * *
End of Time
Gaspar looked up as he heard the now familiar roar of the Epoch as it approached the End of Time. His eyes routinely moved to the docking bay, and he did a double-take as he saw that the Airship was still parked there. "Brace yourselves!" He shouted to the others. Caught off guard, they were tossed around as the Epoch swerved away from the Airship and skidded along the side of the small, floating island. The Epoch's engines died down and the dome slid back to reveal Lucca at the controls, her hand pressed against a small trickle of blood coming from her forehead.
"What the hell was that?" She shouted as she jumped out of the Epoch and over the fence onto the cobble-stone floor. "What was-" Her voice caught as she noticed the new faces in front of her. "Who are they?"
"Lucca, this is Ravel, Jenah, and Setzer." Crono told her. "They're pretty much in the same position as us right now." Hearing the last name, Celes jumped out of the Epoch.
"Setzer!" She exclaimed, running up to him and throwing her arms around his shoulders in an embrace. Letting go, she gave him a playful shove. "What was that you said about nothing possibly going wrong?"
"Okay, so I was mistaken." He laughed. "Everyone's allowed to be wrong once in their lifetime."
"I take it that you two know each other then." Gaspar observed. "Good, good." Clive and Meliadoul had now stepped onto the island. "And you are?"
"Clive," the man responded, and, with a nod to the woman, added, "and Meliadoul. No formal acquaintance, mind you."
"I assume you know the situation?" Ravel asked. Clive nodded.
"Lucca filled us in on what's been happening here, and we filled her in on happenings elsewhere. Things are understood, for the most part."
"So, Gaspar, what now? We just sit and wait?" Marle asked. Gaspar shook his head and closed his eyes.
"What's he-" Meliadoul began, before Lucca put a finger to her lips, indicating for her to be quiet. After almost a minute, Gaspar's eyes opened.
"The Middle Ages. I sense numerous disturbances there." He pointed to the Epoch. "You must go at once." Without a word of question, they started moving towards it. "No, not all of you." Gaspar shook his head. "Some of you need to stay here in case something else goes awry. You five," he said, pointing at Ravel, Clive, Setzer, Celes, and Lucca. "Deal with it."
* * *
601 AD
Omek and Dalton dropped out of the gate and landed on their feet on the ground below. As he looked around, Omek's grin slowly faded away into a look of shock. His head snapped around, and anger began to fill his face. He plunged his hand into the earth and pulled out a fistful of dirt. After smelling it, he angrily flung it back down.
"Damn!" He bellowed, cursing at the heavens. "Something went wrong. We're still in Guardia!"
"What could have gone wrong?" Dalton asked warily, not wanting to anger Omek any further.
"Nothing that I know of. Unless..." Omek paused for a moment, but then shook his head. "No, that couldn't be it."
"What?" Dalton inquired. Omek shot him an irritated look.
"Nothing for you to concern yourself with." Dalton almost interjected, but thought better of it.
"Why don't we just cast the spell again?" He asked instead. "We still have the staffs." Omek glared at him and shook his head.
"Fool. If it didn't work the first time, what would make you think it would work if we tried again? Now, we-" Omek stopped, sensing something in the air. No sooner had he done so when the Epoch appeared above them with a loud clap. Omek watched as it soared over the land until it was out of view, and the faint traces of a smile crossed his lips.
* * *
"Where to now?" Ravel asked as the Epoch set down in a barren field.
"We should probably split up." Lucca responded. "Let's get this over with."
"I'm going this way." Clive said, pointing to a nearby town. "I've got a strange feeling about it."
"I'll go with you." Ravel told him.
"Fine. We'll go check around Zenan Bridge, then." Lucca announced. Ravel and Clive watched as she set out with Setzer and Cleo.
"Now," Ravel began, turning back to Clive, "what's so special about this town?"
"I'm not sure." Clive shrugged. "Just instinct, I suppose."
"Ah, instinct." Ravel commented. "The path to victory... or destruction." Clive nodded, and the two began walking to the town. On the outskirts, a man was painting the side of a building. Approaching him, Ravel inquired about the town's name.
"Why, this is Choras, of course." The man replied.
"Choras, eh?" Ravel muttered. "Never heard of it." The man just shrugged his shoulders and went back to painting. As the two walked closer to a building with a sign that read 'Pub' over it, the doors swung open and a man wearing red and black stepped out. Clive froze in his tracks. "What? What is it?" Ravel asked.
"Kovac..." Clive uttered the name with distaste. "A part of why I am here..." Clive started to reach for his rocket, but Ravel grabbed his arm to hold him back.
"Haste only leads to an early demise." He warned. Glancing towards Kovac, he made a short motion with his hand. "Let's follow him. See what he's up to." Reluctantly, Clive released the tension in his arm and nodded.
* * *
A surge of energy from the end of the bridge slammed into Setzer's chest, sending him tumbling backwards about seven feet. Having no form of cover on the bridge, the others quickly dropped to the ground. Lucca rolled over to where Setzer lay.
"Hey, you alright?" She asked. Setzer nodded.
"I'm fine. Just got caught off guard." He looked ahead, but could see no one through the dense fog. "Who's attacking us?"
"I've got a pretty good idea..." Lucca muttered.
"Well, it's not going to do us much good just lying here." Setzer reached into the pocket of his coat and pulled out one of his razor-tipped cards. He rubbed his fingers along its flat sides as he exchanged glances with Lucca and Celes. Nodding his head three times and silently mouthing the words with his lips, the three leapt up on the third count and charged down the bridge. Lucca shot continuous rounds of flame from her gun into the fog ahead. Celes held her sword drawn and at the ready for the first aggressor she were to come upon, while Setzer's eyes looked deep into the fog for some sign of motion.
In one quick, sudden movement, Omek ran forward out of the fog and slammed his right fist into Lucca's face. He then hooked his left arm behind the arm in which Lucca held her gun and snapped it backwards. Lucca cried out in pain as she felt the bone in her arm break in two. As Lucca fell to the wooden planks of the bridge with blood trickling from her arm, Omek kicked her in the side of her head, knocking her out. Celes charged towards Omek and swung her sword down at him, but it was met by the clash of metal as Dalton's blade intervened. Celes stepped back and swung at Dalton, who parried her blow and lunged forward, missing Celes as she quickly moved out of the way. Celes swung her sabre at level to Dalton's throat, while the former Zealian soldier ducked under and made an attempt to slice his sword through Celes' shins. The woman jumped over Dalton's head and immediately brought her sword down to meet another of his attacks.
A few feet away, Omek watched with interest before one of Setzer's cards came flying through the air and impaled itself into his chest. He let out a roar and yanked the razor-sharp card out of his chest as dark red blood began to flow from the wound. Omek threw the card to the ground and fired a small jolt of electricity in the direction from which it had come.
"So, is it blood you want to see?" The wizard bellowed. "Then come forth so I can rip out your heart and drink your blood by the cupful!" Never one to back down from a challenge, Setzer stepped out of the fog towards Omek, upon whose face was a smile of sadistic pleasure. "I don't know who the hell you are, but you just made the worst, and last, mistake of your life."
"I certainly hope you can back up that mouth of yours." Setzer quipped confidently.
"Oh, but I can." Omek laughed as he drew back his fist.
* * *
Outside of Choras, Kovac heard the sounds of the fight on Zenan Bridge. Curiosity took hold of him as he quickened his pace towards it. Not far behind him, Ravel and Clive exchanged glances as they hurried after the nobleman. Upon reaching the end of the bridge, Kovac drew his sword and moved forward. As he neared the end, he could see the battlers clearly through the fog, not far away. He watched uninvolved for a few moments as the two who were dueling began to relocate their fight more to his direction. The female, seeing Kovac, instinctively struck out at him. Kovac brought up his sword to meet hers and laughed.
"This wasn't my fight, but if you so insist, farbeit for me to deprive you of a worthy adversary." Kovac shot as he swung his blade at Celes, who blocked it with hers and then stopped another attack from Dalton. The pirate-esque warrior glanced at Kovac as they both brought their swords down in attack against Celes, who was able to block both blows with one swift movement of her blade.
"Who the hell are you?" Dalton shouted.
"Who cares? It would seem that we have the same goal, for the moment." Kovac replied, taking another shot at Celes, who could barely bring up her sword to meet it in time. Sweat began to seep from her forehead as she began to realize the futility of her efforts. A smile crossed Dalton's lips.
"Yes." He said simply as he swung his sword towards Celes' back, forcing her to swivel her position in order to block it. Kovac seized the opportunity and plunged his sabre into Celes' side. She screamed in pain as she dropped her sword and clutched her hand to the wound. Dalton's smile widened as he licked his lips in bloodlust. Celes desperately tried to back away, but only found herself against the bridge's edge. Dalton raised his sword above his head. "And now to put an end to this."
Before Dalton's blade could reach Celes, a blast of energy flew through the air and smashed into his stomach, knocking him off his feet. Kovac spun around to see Clive and Ravel coming their way.
"Clive! How-" He stopped himself mid-sentence and put his sword back in its sheathe. "No matter. Come on! Let's see what you've got!" Kovac charged at Clive, tackling him and knocking him to the ground. He attempted to headbutt Clive, who snapped his neck to the side so that Kovac smashed his face into the wooden planks of the bridge. Clive followed up with a well-placed punch to Kovac's jaw, sending him rolling to the side. A few feet away, Dalton stood back up, a discontented look on his face.
"So, you would dare to interfere in my business?" He growled at Ravel. "Then don't just stand there. Put that sword to use!"
"I'd be more than happy to." Ravel said with a smile, drawing his sword. Dalton ran at him with his blade ready to strike as Omek stepped out of the fog with a smile on his face. As he saw Ravel, the smile contorted into a look of anger and dread. He shook his head to reassure his vision, and became fearful as reality set in.
"Ravel! How did you find me here?!" Omek thundered. "Dalton! Come, at once!" With a bit of hesitation, Dalton broke from the battle and, grabbing Kovac by the collar, returned to Omek's side. Omek raised his hand and uttered a set of strange words as a gate opened, and the three disappeared into it. Seeing them leave, Ravel helped Celes to her feet as Clive walked over to where Lucca sat on the bridge, having regained consciousness. As Clive checked on her, Lucca gave Ravel a strange look.
"How do you know Omek?" She asked him. Ravel looked over at her as he walked towards Setzer's battered, unconscious body.
"What?"
"Omek. How did he know who you were?" Lucca asked again. Ravel just looked at her and shrugged his shoulders a bit.
"I don't know."
"You don't know?!" Lucca exclaimed, jumping off the ground. She clutched her right arm as she stared daggers into Ravel's eyes. "What do you mean you don't know? He sure seemed to know you pretty damn well." Ravel looked at her again, more seriously this time.
"I've never seen that man before in my life."