The Beginning Of The End Chapter 4
Chaos, Just Plain Chaos
By John Donahue
Like a wave the warriors of Chaos poured out of the re-opened gate. "Take the City, but leave them alive!" yelled Deathlance. They quickly emerged into the town central, where people were still mourning the passing of Crono, Marle, and Lucca. They were taken completely by surprise. Hundreds were taken prisoner in an instant. Yet Tristan, with his customary ruthlessness, had suspected this from the start. What better time For the Chaosbearers to reek havoc than after the Hero of Time had gone missing? Without a word, he, and his newly revived Order of Knights, fell on them, fighting to free the prisoners.
They were grossly outmatched, but it did buy the nobles some time to attempt to get organized to fight. Swords were drawn. Metal smashed against metal. Armor was pierced. People fell; others took their place. Slowly, inch by bloody inch, the Human pushed the invaders back. Tristan called out to his troops to keep fighting. Then he himself sheathed his blade and began to chant. A black dot of nothingness opened in the middle of the Chaos ranks, growing larger, and larger, swallowing up helpless people as it enlarged. Finally it was done. The threat of Chaos was gone...for now. All of them-yea, even Baruda Deathlance-had been drawn into the swirling nothingness. But alas, gone also was Tristan Darkslayer, gone to a place that no one, not even his knights, new of.
***
"Well, I think I can help you with this," said Edgar, overlooking he remnants of Epoch. "Just tell me how bad the damage is, and I'll get my best engineers on it."
"Hmm," said Lucca, looking over the damaged craft, "Well, structural damage is bad, the hull is beached in many places, we'll need a lot of titanium to fix it. Also," she glanced into the cockpit, "New wiring, a new glass windshield, and perhaps the most expensive of all, new leather upholstery." Edgar and Sabin groaned at that last.
"Lucca, what about the-you know," Marle asked
"It looks okay, Marle," replied Lucca.
"What does?" Edgar asked.
"Well, it's kinda hard to explain."
Edgar glanced at Sabin. He shrugged. "Well, I guess it's time to start."
Over the next few days, Epoch was the center of attention for much of the castle. Under the direction of Lucca, things were going fairly well. Marle and Crono, on the other hand, were given the grand tour of the castle, courtesy of Edgar. He and Sabin also explained to them the history of this place, the recent end of havoc, and about all their friends.
Just as Epoch's repairs drew to a close, a strange flying machine was seen over the castle. It touched down, and a man dressed in a long black trench coat, sporting white hair, ran into the castle.
"Edgar!" he shouted, "Come here, quick! There's a big problem!"
"What is it, Setzer?" asked Edgar as he ran out to meet him.
"There's a large army of red-armored warriors, coming this way. On a palanquin, they were carrying a man, who could cast a spear farther than anyone I've ever seen. Tied to the back of the palanquin was a man in armor of deep black, deeper than anything I ever saw before. They were chanting 'Chaos, Chaos, Chaos has come, and will not be denied. South Figaro has fallen, and they're heading this way!"
"Oh, no," murmured Marle into her husband's ear, "Deathlance and the Chaosbearers."
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