Specter of the Past Chapter 7
By KrossRodes
As Crono, Marle, Lucca, and Magus emerged from Magic Cave they looked up at the now vacant castle.
"Why do you think Toma came here?" Marle asked as she looked up at the castle.
"I don't know, but whatever it is, I don't like it," Magus said.
They all walked up to the front doors and Magus opened them. Then, they stepped into the main hall and walked up the steps to the door into the inner part of the castle.
Magus looked around and said, "I haven't been in here for a while." It was almost as if he missed the morbid place, but with Magus, who knows?
They all walked along the passages that led to Magus's inner chamber. Each turn of a corridor led to a darker one and, eventually, Magus lit a torch so they could see their way through.
When they reached the doors to Magus's inner chamber, they heard a noise coming from inside.
"What is that?" Marle asked.
"I'm not sure," responded Lucca. "It sounds like static or something."
"Well," Crono said, "there's only one way to find out." He took a step forward and pushed open the door.
Inside, they followed the fire pathway to the circle of fire, and, in the center, there was a green gate. It was giving off a bright green light while it was making the static noise they heard before.
"I wonder where it leads," Marle said.
"I think if we follow it we'll find Toma," Lucca said.
"Do we want to follow it?" Crono asked. "It could be very dangerous."
"Well," Magus said, "if we want any of our questions answered we're going to have to explore it."
"Let's go then," Marle said. "We've never turned down an adventure before and we won't do it now!"
Lucca held out the Gate Key and the gate stretched open. They took their turns entering and soon they were flying through time to the other end of the gate.
They soon reached the doorway that led to the other side of the gate, but instead of its normal bright white color it was glowing green. They took turns stepping through and they soon had all passed through the doorway.
They all took a long look at the world on the other side of the gate. There wasn't anything strange about it. The sun shone down from the blue sky littered with clouds. The green grass swayed in the gentle breeze along with the bushes, trees, and other plants. Birds flew through the air as a squirrel ran up a tree. There was a small town off in the distance.
"So," Marle asked, "where do you think we are?"
"It kind of looks like our time period," Crono responded.
"Why don't we go check out that town over there?" Lucca said as she pointed to the some town about a half of a mile away. "We may be able to find more information about this time period and Toma."
They agreed and all began walking towards the town. The more they walked through the new land the more they began to like it. It seemed very peaceful and it looked to beautiful to ever have any wars. The town ahead of them was even beautiful. It was very clean and all the buildings were white. Soon they were close enough to see the people in the town. They were all dressed in either white or purple or a combination of both. They all had smiles on their faces as they talked with one another and headed from one building to the next. Crono and his company eventually entered the town.
"Boy, this place looks really peaceful," Marle said as she walked with the others through the town.
"Maybe we should find someone to help us and tell us where we are," Magus said.
"But wouldn't that sound weird?" Lucca asked. "Just walking up to someone and asking, 'where are we?'"
"I know, but it couldn't hurt. We need as much information as possible," Crono said.
They kept walking through the town looking for the right person to ask. They wanted to find the right person for fear of there being some kind of panic if everyone in town found out that they came from a different time period. Soon, they came to a well and found a very young and beautiful woman drawing water from it. Crono decided to talk to her.
"Excuse me," Crono said, tapping the young woman on the shoulder. She turned around and faced him and he said, "This may sound weird, but what year is it?"
The woman stared at him blankly for a brief moment and then said, "Oh, you must be the time-travelers that Toma was telling me about."
"Toma? Is he here?" Marle asked with a little confusion and surprise in her voice.
"Come with me," the woman said to them. "You can come home with me and I'll tell you more."
Everyone agreed and followed her to her house. She lived only a few houses down from the well. When they entered the house they found Toma sitting at a table with a young man and very old woman.
"Crono," Toma said, "you finally came!"
"Yeah..." Crono said as his voice trailed off. He was examining the house. There was nothing strange about it. To the left of the table was a stove, icebox, and counter, and to the right were stairs probably leading to upstairs bedrooms.
"I suppose introductions are in order," said the woman as she walked over to the table. "My name is Akria, this is my brother, Nova, and this is my dear old mother, Gaia."
They all shook hand with each other as Crono introduced himself and his group, "My name is Crono, this is Lucca, this is Marle, and this is Magus."
"I know this may seem a little forward since we just met, but could you tell us what year it is and what's going on?" Lucca asked Akria, then she added, "I'm sure Toma has already told you our story."
"Indeed he has," Gaia said. "Come, sit at the table and I will tell you the story of our world."
They all sat at the table and Akria poured them all a cup of tea. Everyone was silent as Gaia began her story.
"Akria, Nova, and I all used to live in the Kingdom of Zeal. Back when Lavos corrupted our old Queen, we didn't know what was going on. We Enlightened Ones lived our lives peacefully in Zeal thinking of nothing but our happy lives.
"When the island began to fall, we finally realized what evil had been controlling the Queen and our magic. It was Schala who saved us before the island completely crumbled. She created this dimension and sent us here. Away from the evil so we could live our lives peacefully.
"Only some of us can still use magic, myself and my children included. We all use magic of the element Earth. It was with that magic which we could construct this place to how beautiful it is now.
"We call this world Neo Zeal, because it is a recreation of the beauty we used to live in. This town is called Serenity, it's neighboring city is called Peace, and the capitol of this world is Harmony.
"We have no wars, no quarrels, and no fights, just peace."
There was a short pause before Marle asked, "Who is your Queen?"
"We are led by Queen Schala," Nova said.
Magus immediately sat straight up and shouted, "Schala is alive?!"
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