Marle sat next to the unconscious form of Crono, and there on the other side of him lie Lucca, unconscious by the look of her. And then the man, with his palm towards them, the cloaked figure said, "Goodbye, Crimson Destroyer!" Then Crimson colored energy gathered around his hand, forming a ball that grew to three times the size of his fist. "Fire." He said. Marle closed her eyes as the ball of magic fired off his hand, heading straight for them.
A couple moments later, after feeling nothing, Marle opened her eyes to see no magic attack. And the woman stood, mouth agape. "How'd they do that? That was Shadow magic!" she exclaimed.
"Natashi?" a voice said from the darkness.
"Who's there? Show yourself, or I'll blast you out!" she replied. Then a dark figure stepped from the shadows, gleaming scythe in hand.
"Ahh Janus, I might have known."
"HHmmph," Magus snorted. "You know very well I gave up that name long ago Natashi."
"Yes, as a matter of fact I did. Darkness suits you well old friend." She said with a wicked grin.
"You weren't my friend, or Schala's. You just wanted our secrets, our power."
"Right again, but your sister never figured it out did she? Oh well, too bad you won't be able to tell her."
"Wrong again!" Crono said, now standing. Next to him were Marle and Lucca, and…Frog.
Magus smiled wickedly, "You aren't the only one that can be deceptive." He said. "I gave up the emotion to those foolish memories long ago. But apparently you didn't know that…"
Natashi frowned. "Why you little, I'll tear you apart!" she screamed. Then the cloaked figure threw back his hood, revealing that he was a man, with black hair and many scars across his face.
"No Natashi, not now." He ordered.
"What!? But Nemesis…" she replied.
"No, we weren't prepared for this turn of events. I'm afraid I don't have the power to hold up another barrier to protect from Magus' shadow magic, and even if I did, that accursed sword could cut through it." He said pointing to the MasaMune.
"Very well, Nemesis." She replied bowing her head.
"Return to the Dream Realm." He ordered her. Then he turned to face Magus and the others.
"Don't think you've won anything, because our power is yet to be complete. So think of this…as a test, a test to see how much we have gained, and have yet to gain because of the master. So goodbye, for now." When he finished he vanished, and then the room went black.
"Jueanga!" Magus yelled, then every torch in the room lit, making it as clear
as day to see.
"Frog, why don't you and Marle heal our family and then we can be on our way." Crono said. Frog nodded and motioned for Marle to follow him. As they healed their family members, Crono turned to Magus and asked, "Magus I thought you went to your time to find Schala?"
"Yes, I did. And I had a lead too until I had to come save you."
"But how did you get here?" Magus reached into his cloak and pulled out a small item…the gatekey.
"I see, but how did you know we were in danger?"
"I didn't…" he replied. "I saw the gates were open so I thought I should look into it. And when Frog came to me and said that the Queen had been kidnapped and that he was told to meet someone here, I decided to accompany him here. This is after all, my castle."
"I see." Crono said with a smirk.
"All done Crono!" Marle said cheerfully.
"Good, let's take them home, I don't think they will be in any danger now. Anyway I think we have a bigger problem on our hands."
"Yes, the one called Nemesis mentioned a 'master'." Frog said. "If he's as powerful as those two, we…everything could be in peril."
"For once we agree," Magus said. "Seeing Natashi again can only mean one thing, trouble."
"Maybe Gaspar could be of some help?" Marle asked. Magus brought his hand to his chin and thought for a moment.
"Perhaps," he said.
"Well, it's worth a try." Crono said. "Magus, why don't you and I go through the gate and go to the End of Time and the others can meet us there after taking are family and friends home using the Epoch?"
"Alright then. Let's go." Magus ordered. Crono smiled and waved goodbye to family and friends as he and Magus made their way to the gate.
The End of Time
Exiting the gate, Crono found himself in the gloomy surroundings of The End of Time. "Crono?" he heard Gaspar say.
"Yeah Gaspar it's us." He replied as he walked down the steps. When he reached the bottom, with Magus behind him, he reached down and opened the wooden gate.
"But…how?"
"The gates have opened again. We think it has something to do with these people that abducted our family and then attacked us. Their names were Nemesis and Natashi. And they said something about a…Dream Realm? That right Magus?"
"Yes, that's correct." Magus replied.
"Well, we came to see if you know anything about them." Crono said. Just then, Frog, Marle, and Lucca came from the stairs leading to the Epoch's 'parking space.' "Right on time." Crono said with a smile.
"I don't know much about this, but I can tell you something. We'll need the others for this so, why don't you two go to 65,000,000 BC." Gaspar said pointing to Frog and Marle. "And Lucca you can go get Robo."
"All right! A ride in the gates!" Marle proclaimed gleefully.
"Before you go, have a chat with Spekkio. He can tell you what you something about the inhabitants of the Dream Realm and their magic." The three teens sprinted across the room on the last remains of time towards the door with 'The God of War' inside.
"Hiya gang. Old Gaspar tells me you need some info. Okay this is how it goes.
These Dream monsters are some of the most dreaded things ever 'dreamt up'.
Until now we all thought that they were fairy tales, but apparently we were
wrong. They have legendary magic, which ranges from the next level of your
basic elements to dark magics like necromancy.
I'd hate to see what would happen to the world if that magic broke loose, so I'll give you a hint. Crono, go with Magus and continue his search for Schala. She may know the way to raise magic levels." After a brief pause Spekkio said, "Well, that's all the I know right know so off you go!"
The group made their way out of Spekkio's room and gathered outside the door. "Okay here's what we'll have to do," Crono said "Frog and Marle will take the gatekey and use the gates to travel to 65,000,000 BC and back, and Magus and I will drop Lucca off in 2300 AD, and then I'll have to make two trips back."
"That won't be necessary," Gaspar announced. "I can open the gates for long enough for you to travel through them, so you and Magus take the Epoch and Lucca can ride the gates too." Then looking at Lucca he said, "You'll have to contact me when you're ready to come back though. Just yell, I'm ready to come back! and I'll open the gate you are at. Now off you go." The group nodded and separated, heading their separate ways towards adventure.