The War Over Time
By Indon
A pleasant prologue
March second, 1001 AD
Crono and Lucca were inside Lucca's house. Lucca said, " Well, if you want to, why don't you?"
Crono thought about it. "I don't know, it's just when I see her, well, you know, I just freeze up."
Lucca sighed. " Well, you have a lot of time to get over your little 'Fight or Flight' syndrome with Marle", Lucca, as usual, was referring to something nobody else had any idea about. Lucca chuckled, "It's just because you don't know what to do. Don’t worry. You have the rest of your life, after all."
"Yes. You know, I think I just might do it right now." Crono took a deep breath and left.
You and Marle will have a good life, Lucca thought as he left. She smiled. She would probably be a bridesmaid. She just hoped she could stay awake through such a long ceremony. Lucca turned back to her invention.
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Marle was in Guardia forest, watching the colorful sunset, with no company but her own thoughts. She heard Crono before she saw him. Right before he got within arm's reach, she rose, turned, and tackled Crono in one smooth movement. They rolled in the grass, kissing deeply in their embrace. To Marle's suprise, however, Crono pulled back. He sat down across from her, legs crossed. He took her hands in his, took an audible breath, and simply said, "Marle, I have something... I need to tell you."
Marle's eyes opened wide. "You spoke!" she exclaimed. He had a strong baritone voice, pleasant on her ear. She liked it. "I've never heard you speak before!"
Crono stammered out "um, Well, it's just that there was never anything important enough to...
“That's not what I meant!" "I mean not as if you aren't important, or the world, or...,um...well, I just…", Crono lowered his head. "I'm not very good at it. Talking, that is."
This brought a giggle from Marle. "I got that impression. Don't worry, you're really good at it considering how often you talk."
Crono smiled shyly. " Well, I just wanted to ask you um, ah... That is, um, could we...
Marle said, "You want to marry me, don't you."
Crono sighed and nodded, relieved. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a plain gold ring. “Sorry I couldn't get anything better, my allowance is only 200 gp a month, and there aren't really any job openings for a warrior, or an adventurer, or a hero."
"Don't worry dear, since were getting married, you're going to be dragged to my room every other day to take statecraft lessons from the chancellor and Pierre."
"I'm going to what?"
Marle smiled, almost evilly. "I'll finally have some company!"
"What!"
"Oh, you really forgot? I'm the princess of Guardia, and when we get married..."
Crono's jaw fell about a foot and two inches. "Me....King?"
"You'll be a good king. And besides, being married to you means we can go to my room for more reasons than simply learning to rule. Every king needs an heir." Marle's smile changed completely in meaning.
"And to think, I could have asked when I first bought the ring," Crono said.
"When was that?"
"Three weeks ago."
Ch.1 Reflections
12,000 BC (Circa)
Janus, once of the land of Zeal, sat in his forest and scanned the land with his mind. He was searching for his sister, Schala.
Offhand, he had noticed that over the past few months his powers were growing incredibly fast on their own, much faster than when he was the leader of the Mystics, and he used dark sacrifice to strengthen them. To think, all it took was meditation and concentration, He berated himself mentally, I had started a war and had all those people and mystics sent to their deaths, when I could have been much more prepared for fighting Lavos simply by living in the forest like a hermit.
Janus chuckled. The thought of himself fasting in the forest didn’t fit him. The forest was Melchior's happiness. Janus corrected himself, though, because Melchior fit the image little more than he did. Melchior would never wish to stop eating, after all. In contrast to the Guru of life, Balthasar fit the 'holy man' archetype, as he would do anything if he thought he could gain knowledge out of the experience, even starve in the middle of the wilderness. He sighed inwardly. Maybe he could see the gurus again one day, even that annoying Gaspar. But not until he was sure Schala was... dead.
Besides, that war which he started advanced human technology noticeably, allowing a person like the scientist and inventor, Lucca, to exist, as well as that robot, Prometheus. So, as usual, there is a balance between the halves.
At this time, Janus was pulled out of his magical focus by his cat, Alfador. A few yards away lied a whole deer. Janus smiled. He liked cats. They were cool, calm, intelligent, loyal, strong, and graceful, all at once. Plus, Alfador was highly intelligent, even on feline standards, due to the psychic rapport between them. And he was stronger than those puny cats of the future. He had already grown to four feet easily, including tail. And bringing down bigger prey all the time. This was the first time he had brought a deer, and while it was not that large, it and the other animals Alfador hunted were enough to keep them both adequately fed.
Alfador sensed Janus' mental praise, and in reply, sent a feeling of satisfaction, and hunger.
"Ah, Alfador. Strongest of your kind, you still remain a spoiled feline. I'll cook it for you." In fact, he was the last of his kind; the only cats left were fully domesticated. Like Janus, Alfador found himself alone, surrounded by copies, that while strived to the original, never quite matched.
He summoned the fire power, and cooked the tender meat of the deer, using his magic to heat the meal evenly, and just the way he and his cat liked it: rare.
Ch.2 The hard life
65,000,000 BC (Again, Circa)
Kino was getting to be a very good hunter.
Ayla thought to herself, assessing her mates' hunting abilities. He was fast and smart, but not as strong as Ayla. Their child, when one lives (sadly, their first child died in birth), will have the best of both. She remembered the celebration at her village at her and Kino's union. She was half a year pregnant then. Crono, Lucca, and Marle had all come by with the old man at the lamppost. They hadn't come back.
The pair were at the hunting grounds, getting food for storage. The village never needed to keep food before, but the food was not enough all year around now.
Kino shattered her thoughts, "Ayla, you smell smoke?"
Actually, Ayla did. Where was it coming from?
They realized the source at the same time, and Ayla yelled, "Village burning!"
Together the two ran to the village, forgetting the hunt altogether.
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Once at Ioka village, Kino viewed the devastation in a state of shock. However, Ayla's expression could have melted a glacier, such was the anger in her eyes. The burnt huts were too charred, too strongly burned by the fire, to be an accident. She screamed, "Who do this!!!"
Ayla stepped back in shock as a figure stepped out from a burning hut. It was the Rawboot!
Kino strung his longbow and nocked an arrow. The rawboot said in a metallic voice, “Ah, Ayla. How good to see you, and kill you, again."
Ayla was confused. “You burn village? Why? And why you say kill Ayla again? Me not dead!”
"Yet."
Kino was scared out of his wits. He whispered to Ayla, "You say rawboot good!"
"My name is Prometheus, not Rawboot." Before Ayla could answer Kino, the rawboot screeched: "Prepare to die!" and attacked.
Ayla first flew at Prometheus, foot extended. It caught her foot, however, and threw her at Kino, who was releasing arrow after arrow, each bouncing harmlessly off the rawboot's steel body. Ayla struck Kino, rendering both unconscious.
Prometheus made a sound remarkably close to human delight as it struck the pair's prone bodies with a massive shock, and left.
Ch.3 Utopia?
1/1/2301 (AD) 1:12 AM
The future was magnificent. The moment Robo fell out of that gate, life had been wonderful. He never knew reading could be so enjoyable. The people were learned and peaceful in this time, truly a golden age for man. Oh, and there were so many robots there! Man had just begun the quest for artificial intelligence, and the robots were getting close to man in intellect. Thus, the people were not suprised to see a robot, although many were impressed by his remarkable similarity to 'True sentience' (Robo still found this part funny), and asked him who his creator was. He answered ‘Lucca’- it was a common enough name at the time. A few people remembered Lucca of Guardia as an obscure figure in the history books, a great inventor. But the vast majority had never read history books. It was the future that mattered to these people.
Robo had taken a job as head librarian for the Medina Archives. While there were only a small amount of residents in Medina (both Human and Mystic), the town was renowned for it's scholars, and the university of Medina, containing the largest single compilation of knowledge in history: the archives. Robo was happy.
One day, after an especially hard and long day of work, he was going home, where Atropos would be waiting. However, before he could even make it halfway, a dark red timegate opened before him, in his way. A shape stepped out, a silhouette against the red light of the gate. Once the gate disappeared, the figure was visible.
A tall, muscular man with spiky red hair stood before him, brandishing a katana. Robo knew without a doubt that it was Crono, but it didn't seem like the Crono he knew. This Crono was at least a decade older, and had a gleam in his eyes which wasn't there before. Unfortunately, Robo was not the suspicious type, he thought that perhaps the time flow went differently in the past (relative to him). So, he greeted Crono with a wave. "Hello! How have you been?". Robo noticed something wrong, however. Crono seemed unduly nervous and tense. Then, Robo's sensors picked up an electrostatic charge around Crono, as if he was preparing for a battle. Robo ran a scan of the surrounding area, but there was nothing that could possibly pose a threat. Conclusion: Crono was about to attack him!
Crono struck at Robo at that moment, but even with only a second’s notice, Robo dived away from the lightning, rolled, and came up firing his (newly-installed, industrial-strength, diamond-cutting) laser. Of three shots, Crono parried one, dodged one, and got struck in the right shoulder. The person (Robo was doubting his identity by now) cursed and fled into an open timegate, (which opened behind him at a bit too convenient a time for it to be coincidental) all before Robo could begin to get an explanation. Robo started running home. He had to check on Atropos, and take a long vacation from his job. He had things to do now, and answers to obtain.
Ch.4 A glimmer of life
12,000 BC
Janus opened his eyes, finally. He was done with his meditation, for he knew. Schala was not on this earth. She was gone. He had mentally traversed the land, sea, and air for his dear sister, even going through the ruins of the Black Omen personally, with his physical body, which was very difficult, considering it's status at the bottom of the ocean, and the fact that he wasn't too fond of water.
Lately, Janus could sense his mental health failing, as his hope withered and died. He hadn't killed in a long while, since he was the Magus, but he found that hunting with his cat seemed to help his psychic stability, as if slaughtering animals like some feral creature justified his existence. He knew that he would need to do something different, and soon, or his sanity would slip away. But he had no reason to continue. He hoped that, when the insanity overtook him, he would still have the strength to end his own life.
Abruptly, a timegate opened behind him, and Janus pulled himself out of his dark reverie. He turned to face... himself?
Truly, this is an almost exact replica of myself, Janus thought. However, this Janus wore all black, instead of the clothing Janus wore, which reminded him (however vaguely) of Zeal. In addition, while Janus had tanned a little, as the ice age began to fade and the sun warmed, this near-exact copy was as pale as when he lived in the future. And finally, Janus eyes were dark blue, having changed them back to their original color easily (a four-hour long enchantment during the third new moon after the summer solstice.) and the inferior's eyes were blood-red, the way he had to change them to fit in with the Mystics.
Janus' twin viewed the original with disgust. "You look like I did as a child." Well, this was untrue, Janus in his deep purple cloak looked little like in his childhood, with his royal robes. "Plus, I see you have lost your scythe." This was true. Janus had thought that he would never need it again. The only blade he had on him was a hunting knife, shaped with his magic.
"What shall I call you, who are so near me in appearance?" The original said.
"I am The Magus, not that it matters to you. You will soon be dead." The clone, Magus, pulled out a scythe and attacked.
Janus narrowly avoided the scythe and rapidly conjured up a fireball. He held it ready in his left hand, and drew his knife in his right.
"Do you think that a puny fire can harm me?" Magus taunted. Nevertheless, he kept his distance.
The battle seemed to be a stalemate, with Janus not willing to attack with the fireball, in the case that Magus dodged and attacked before he could form another spell, and Magus not willing to attack with his scythe, in the case that he couldn’t dodge the fireball. If either tried to cast a spell, then they would be exposed to physical attack from the opponent.
After a while, an idea struck Janus, and he began calling more fire energy into his left, and began drawing water with his right.
Magus never fully attacked Janus, even though they both sensed that Magus was the stronger of the two. Instead, Janus' enemy probed for weaknesses in Janus' defense. Janus continued drawing power, Fire in his right hand, water in his left.
"Ha! you aren't so tough!" said Magus after a while, apparently done sizing up his opponent. Then Magus pressed the attack. But it was too late.
Janus dropped the knife, and clasped his hands together. He willed the power flows in his hands to merge with his own magic, and channeled all his shadow power into the spell. He simply put his hands forth and spread them out to his sides. He spoke a word of power, a single invocation, and said, "My magic is not 'tough'. It is death. Dark Eternal!" and with that, the raw power of the spell flew at Magus. The unprepared mage attempted to create a magic wall, but the spell was too strong and shattered the beginnings of the spell. The whirling void of the spell struck Magus, and he flew across the clearing and fell roughly to the ground. Before Janus could reach him for questioning, however, a timegate swallowed him. Janus cursed, then spied the scythe aways from him. He smiled and began forming his own timegate, then retrieved his opponent’s scythe, which was quite a distance from where Magus landed. It was all metal, light and strong. Well made, he thought. Alfador was watching the battle and now sent a feeling of curiosity.
"Yes, you are coming. And I do not understand this either, so don't try extracting the answers from me." Alfador acknowledged as if he understood. Perhaps he did, Janus thought. He was getting more intelligent, and most speech is far simpler when broken down to thoughts. With this thought drawing Janus' attention, he entered the now complete timegate. Alfador unhurriedly followed.
Coincidentally, he completely forgot about his troubles.
Ch.5 A brighter Knight
Autumn 600 AD
"Cyrus? Thou art living? You must think me a fool. Surely this must be some trick."
Frog, or Glenn if you knew him well, stood before a man who looked remarkably… no, exactly like Cyrus. Just a few moments ago, Glenn was resting in his abode in the woods. Then this… Doppelganger… walked in. The apparation had looked startled, as if he wasn't expecting to see him there.
"Glenn? Glenn, is that you? What hast happened?" Cyrus(?) asked.
"Ah, I see your abilities to mimic do not extend to personal memory. Twas' my first battle against the Magus, that he did this to me."
"Magus! Doth that dark mage yet live? I needs avenge my defeat at the hands of that fiend, to restore the honor of Guardia!"
"Well, at least thou 'remembered'- thou had lost to the Magus, and had died as a result!
"And as for the Magus, I had vanquished him long since."
"I? Deceased? Ay, as I live and breathe, I know this to be truth, that I am dead, killed by the Magus' hand and powers. Yet, I live, and not know how!"
Hmmm… Perhaps this is Cyrus. After all, most demons would not stand around looking disoriented, Glenn thought. "What is thy last memory before thy demise, Cyrus?"
"Well, the Masamune shattered, and I made a final strike, and..." Cyrus shuddered. "My last memory is of a fire, and a request. Hast thou kept Leene safe?"
Glenn was sure now, this was Cyrus. "Yes," he said, not going into details. "Oh, and this, I believe, is yours." He took the hero metal from around his head and held it forth.
"Nay, my friend. I am your inferior in skill and courage, and have been so since long before we fought Magus. You deserve it more than I, if your humility will but accept this."
"Thank you, Cyrus."
After a moment of silence, Glenn said, "dost thou know the circumstances of thy revival?"
"No. Well, perhaps. A woman named Elise did come to me, after I awoke near Mt. Denadoro. She told me to seek you, here. Hast thou heard the name before?"
"Nay, I have not. But enough talk. We have enough time to talk whilst heading to Truce Canyon."
"Why Truce?"
"We shall ask some friends, if we can reach them."
.