A Square Deal Chapter 10
Exeunt
By Medina
Recap: Edgar, Terra and Cyan are home now. Clyde, Relm, Strago, Roland, Interceptor and Birdie are nearing some powerful force on their way to find Sam. And Locke and Celes continue their readings at the End of Time.
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Clyde woke up. His leg had recovered nicely, and he felt refreshed. He got up before everyone else, like he always had before. A bit hungry, he found that the strips of dragon meat they had salted and smoked the night before were done drying. He picked one up and began to munch on it. Pretty soon, the others began to wake up and wander over to where the food was.
"We should get going right after we get done eating. I want to find this place as soon as possible. Is Birdie ready?" Clyde said.
"I'm ready any time," Birdie said anxiously. This power was nagging at him sorely. Well enough, they finished fast, and were able to get on their way quickly. They traveled on further towards the center of the forest. As they got closer, Birdie continued to become more and more agitated. Soon the vegetation became thick and tangled, as if to keep people away from whatever was to be found in the middle.
"These tanglers are unbearable. As soon as you chop through, you find another," Strago complained. Birdie as well was getting trapped in the vines and shrubbery. He could not take one more second of that place.
"Get out of my way!!" Birdie called out.
"Look out!" Roland said, moving Relm. Birdie looked as if he were about to burst, and then he let out a shriek, like "Tweet TWIELEWWW!" From that shriek came a spiral of fire, that burned out a length of brush for about as far as they could see.
"Birdie, you have fire?" Relm asked.
"I didn't know I had it in me until now. Hurry up, climb onto my back," Birdie said. They all hopped on without another word. Birdie took off running like a lightning bolt. In a short while, they came across a grove of trees that were incredibly tall and wide. Birdie found that they were too dense to run through, so he slowed to a walk.
"I sense a magic in these trees. Is this the sacred grove?" Strago asked Birdie.
"No, old one, it is not. They radiate magic because they grow close to the sacred grove," he stopped to sniff some branches. "These would be good to collect. They may become useful." Relm jumped down and collected a bundle of the magic boughs, and climbed back on. They continued on once again, until Interceptor, who was also riding, smelled something. He began to whine and bark.
"What is it, Interceptor? Do you smell something?" Clyde asked the dog. Interceptor jumped down, and began to follow a scent. "Follow him, Birdie." Interceptor led them to a clump of trees.
"There is something in there. I sense it's mind," Birdie said. He screamed at it, in dragon tongue, to come out. But it sounded like a large screech, and it scared whatever it was even more.
"No, Birdie, use your telepathy that I gave to you." Relm said.
"Oh, I often forget which form of communication I am using. It probably thought that I was a monster. O, whatever sort of creature you are, please come out. We mean you no harm," Birdie said to the thing. It slowly popped it's head out from behind the trees. It was Sam.
"Oh my god, am I glad to see you guys! I thought it was another one of those terrible dragons. Wait? No, don't take me with you.... I'm a disgrace," Sam said, going back behind the tree.
"Sam, you're no disgrace. You were just trying to protect your income," Roland said.
"It's more than that. We've become good friends over the years, Sir Roland, and I don't know where I'd go if I lost you and the Missus. I thought that Shadow was going to kill you," Sam said sadly. "I had no idea that he was your son..."
"I know that Sam. Now come out. I forgive you for any wrong you have done," Roland said. Sam slowly came out from behind the trees.
"Come on Sam. We're going to find the grove that you spoke of," Clyde said, gesturing him to get up onto Birdie. Sam spied Clyde's shredded pant leg, and the bandage around it.
"What happened to you?" he asked, pointing. Clyde looked down at his leg.
"Oh, that. Just a fight with one of those dragon things. It was just a scratch," he said casually. Truly, it was nothing compared to when he had been wounded by the undead Behemoth. That was bad; he had been out of commission for a few days.
"Yeah, but a scratch from one of those things could rip you apart. How did you manage to escape?" he asked in amazement.
"We killed it. Actually there were two, but Birdie here killed the second one," Clyde patted Birdie on the shoulder.
"It tasted good!" said Birdie, with a happy chirp.
"Whatever. I guess you guys should find the sacred grove, after coming all this way. Let's go," Sam said, cautiously climbing onto Birdie.
The rest of the way through the woods was rather peaceful. The magic that was in the trees seemed to keep any evil monsters away. Then the forest stopped. There was a large green field, with a canopy of clouds over it. There was a stream of incredibly crystal-clear water springing from somewhere in the middle; they couldn't tell because there was mist all over. They decided to proceed into the gloomy clearing. The trees on the outskirts of the forest were all weeping willows. There was something more morose about this grove other than just its appearance. It was almost like there was a presence of a being that was mourning, and it had such magic that it's own emotions effected the rest of the land around it. When they reached the center, there before them was a great tree. Actually, it looked like it had been many trees at one time, but were so old that they had grown together to form one tree. There was one, specifically, in the middle, and it was bigger than the rest of them.
"Was this the grove?" Clyde asked. Birdie looked up at it with wonder.
"The Tree of Mana," Birdie said.
"What is the Tree of Mana?" Relm said.
They all got off of Birdie, and looked at the tree in wonder. Birdie called out his screech again, and it triggered something within the tree. It glowed for a moment, and then, a cloaked figure appeared before them.
"Who are you?" Clyde asked. The figure remained motionless.
"Are you the Tree? The Mana person?" Birdie asked it.
"Yes, creature of Mana, that I am. I was the last to assume the identity of the Tree," it said in a female voice, as solemn as the valley.
"What does she mean?" Relm asked Birdie.
"When the Tree grows, it needs a human female to help it. Then, when it is strong enough, it can either live on its own, without the woman, or keep her with it until it dies," Birdie said.
"How do you know this? And what is this Mana Tree?" Roland asked.
"I'm not sure. I think it is instinct. I'm a Mana Dragon, you know," Birdie walked up to the figure and cooed. The figure extended a feminine hand and petted Birdie's great head.
"To answer your question, Roland Arrowny, the Mana Tree is the embodiment of the focal point of Mana. Mana is the force in the universe that was made by the Creator. Mana is the source of magic, and it is what keeps the forces of nature together, the forces of good and evil, the whole cosmos," the cloaked woman said.
"Wow. You mean these trees are that important? What happens if the tree is chopped down?" Relm asked.
"Mana will be out of alignment for a period of time. Then, it picks another woman to be the host to the seedling Tree, and they grow, and Mana is realigned. It has happened before," answered the tree lady.
"How would you kill such a Tree?" Strago asked, intrigued.
"When evil takes over the world, Mana is weakened. Then, if that power chooses, it can touch the Tree, and will receive the power of Mana in themselves, and the tree thus dies. But then again, they can also kill the Tree without actually receiving the tree's power, with a great physical force, and throw Mana greatly out of alignment, and send the world spiraling into anarchy and chaos," the woman said. "And that is another reason I need you here. It is rather serendipitous that you have come this early."
"What do you mean?" Clyde said.
"You would have ended up here sooner or later. The Tree has willed it. Birdie would have eventually brought you here. But the sooner the better. There is an evil lurking in this world, one that dates back to before history. You must defend your world, and defend Mana," she said imperatively.
"Or what? Why should we?" Sam said, disappointed a bit.
"Or the world will be plunged into a dark age like never before. Now go now, time is wasting," she said. Before anyone could protest, the Tree glowed, and a portal opened. They were sucked in. The woman remained.
"Be strong, warriors. I must attend to other business," she said silently.
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Sabin was a bit worried about his brother, Cyan and Terra. It had been over a week now, and they still had not come back. This sort of mood had already hit the Chancellor two days after their absence, and Sabin had told him to trust that Edgar and Cyan were responsible, and would come back when they needed to, but now, Sabin himself was concerned. He had been king for that time, and to his good fortune, nothing went awry during that time. He hated politics, dealing with fools and such, which was one of the reasons that he had not taken the throne. He could handle it, he was sure of that, but not as well as his brother did.
What would life be like without his beloved brother? He had lived without him for ten years, but now it seemed like he had never been absent, and could never think of leaving again. He reflected on his memories of their times together.
He knew that Edgar was smarter than he was, but Edgar was exceptionally smart. When they were young, Edgar had excelled in academies as well as arts while they were in school. Sabin, was ok academically, it wasn't like he was always a 3.5 student, but he had normal intelligence. They were both into sports, which kept them together, and music. Both he and Edgar were talented pianists. Sabin reflected on the old days when their parents would put on recitals, he and Edgar would do duets on two pianos. But, even music was one place where Edgar had outshined him.
Their mother had wanted them to take vocal lessons when they were 15, (Because both of their voices had changed by then.) and had found them a tutor. Sabin discovered that he had a satisfactory voice, nothing special. But then Edgar found that he could reach double octaves, and had a clear, strong voice. (He could also do a convincing falsetto.) Once again Edgar took the spotlight.
But for some reason, rather than being jealous of his brother's achievements, he was happy to be away from the spotlight, and proud for Edgar, or Eddie-boy as he called him in their teens. That was the reason why Sabin acted a bit dumber than he really was, or someone might start paying him some attention. In that way, he and Edgar made the perfect pair of brothers; one is happy to be in the spotlight, the other is happier without it.
He sighed.
"I wish that they'd get back soon. What would life be like for me without the knowledge that Edgar's there to take care of certain things that I can't? I've never been without a brother," he said, while standing in Edgar's empty room.
Suddenly, he felt an overwhelming surge of energy pass through the room, and behind him, like a tear in the very fabric of reality opened. Sabin examined the whirling gate that had opened. He stood in front of it, then he head something inside the gate.
"Why you!! Agh! Look out!!!"
But before Sabin could move, Terra appeared from out of the gate, and landed heavily on Sabin.
"Ouch. Oh, I'm sorry for falling on you, but your brother pushed me," and right after she said that, Edgar and Cyan appeared, and jumped over them. Terra got off of Sabin, and ran to Edgar's arms.
"Hey, you guys are back! I was getting worried about you..." he paused when he got a good look at Edgar. "Your hair looks different," he said, squinting.
Edgar had put his golden tresses back, which he could still do, into a short ponytail. "Um, yeah, someone decided to cut it for me while I was asleep," he said, looking down at a guilty Terra.
"Take out the clip," Sabin said. Edgar fiddled with the clip, and his hair flowed out into a bouncy, shoulder-lenght cascade that stuck out a few tendrils at his forehead.
"Looking good, bro. Well, aren't you a sight for sore eyes," he said to Terra, taking her hand and kissing it.
She smiled.
"It's good to be back, Sabin. I missed this old cold castle. You know, for the couple days that you guys waited to come and get me, I spent the equivalent of one month there? Time in that place doesn't make much sense," she said.
"That whole place is rather strange..." Cyan commented.
Sabin approached his brother. "You really proved yourself. I mean, you got Terra back from the almost-dead! That's something," Sabin said with a big smile. He gave him a friendly nudge in the stomach and Edgar wrenched back in pain.
"What's wrong? I didn't hit you that hard."
"No, I got clawed by a monster. Oh, and here," Edgar pulled out a claw from his pack. "I think that this is one of yours," he handed the claw to him, which still had some blood on it.
"Who fought a monster with this? It doesn't look like monster blood," Sabin asked, looking at the unclean parts.
"That's because it's my blood," Edgar said, his voice still raspy with pain. Terra was getting ready to use cure again.
"Yours? Uhh, what happened?" Sabin asked, sorely confused again.
"I'll enlighten thou upon what happened whilst we were out venturing," Cyan said. He proceeded to explain what had happened.
They headed down to eat dinner, for it was getting well into the evening. They filled in the Chancellor on what had happened, who scolded Edgar for putting himself in so much danger. They chatted over the meal. Sabin asked Edgar if he could go back to the place that he had come from. Edgar surmised that if they wanted to go back and return to the time from whence they had previously been, he'd have to fool around with the key more than just moving the dial and pressing the button. After another while, Cyan came up with the question of that they had gotten into the portal at a different spot in the underground place, yet arrived in a strategic spot in Castle Figaro.
"I'm not really sure," he said after a bit of thought. "But I think it might be that there are focal points. There are certain places that might have a certain charge that draws the portal opening. The Key might hone in to a certain place, depending on the wavelength that you use in that time."
Cyan nodded his head in consent, understanding nothing that Edgar said.
"I'm going to put some new modifications that I thought up just this evening, that will probably give it more freedom on choosing Eras and places to go," he announced, then took to his study. Terra went to write a letter to the kids in Mobilz, and Cyan continued to chat with the Chancellor.
That evening, while Sabin was doing his late-night jog, he noted that he thought that he had seen something strange running through the halls.
"It looked like some sort of lizard, but it moved before I could get a good look at it." he said to Edgar. The both of them set off to look for the thing, which Sabin had thought went towards the master bedroom. On their little search, Terra joined in, as well as Cyan. There, in the bedroom, a reptilian creature sat upon the bed. It quickly leapt up when it spied Edgar, and snatched the Time Key from his hand.
"What the %^$# is that thing doing?" Edgar shouted as he tried to grab the key back from the creature, with no luck.
"No you don't!" it said, pulling it way. It moved the dial one more time, and then dropped it. Edgar picked it up, and examined it.
"What did it do to it?" Terra asked.
"Hah!! Rantacore calls me he does!" the thing hissed, holding in its paw another device. It punched it, and it set off a portal for itself, and jumped in. Before Edgar could fix the Key, the very same portal that the thing had left in, triggered the Key. It was a supercharged, unstable portal and it moved around the room swiftly.
"Rantacore? Look out--!" Edgar said, being the first to be consumed. He was gone.
"It's coming!" Sabin said, trying to get away.
"Flee, Lady Terra-!" it came by and swooped up Sabin and Cyan ant the same time.
"Uh oh," was all Terra said. It picked her up swiftly. Then, satisfied, the portal closed.
The chancellor had heard the commotion from the room, and was going to see what the matter had been. He entered the room, and to his surprise there was no one at all.
"Edgar? Terra? Sabin, Cyan! I saw you all come up here! Where on earth can they have gone?" he said perplexed.
Where? Rather when.
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"So what happened to the Remians after all of that?" Celes asked Gaspar. Gaspar took his hat off briefly.
"After the Eternals were gone, the civilization of the Remians continued. The Glaives that survived ended up being integrated into the Remian society, because there was no longer such a distinction between a person who was good or who was evil. Within a few generations they had all but forgotten about the Eternals. No one could truly distinguish the Eternal's line for many generations," Gaspar said, knowing the facts well. He brushed a touch of dust from his brown bowler.
"So where do we skip to with that? Do we get around to our time soon?" Locke asked.
"No, we are not even close. During that time the Remians, who possessed the greater magic skill, felt a pull towards one of the two moons."
"We had two moons? Where'd one go?" Locke asked.
"I'll get around to it in time. Anyway, they built a great mechanical/magic ship, and took a special group of Remians up to the moon. That group included the only descendants of the Figaro line; the brothers KluYa and FuSoYa. When the group got to the moon, they searched for the power which was found in crystals that scattered about on the moon. The Remians collected them up and built a structure to house them and focus the power more efficiently. There, the Remians became known as the Lunar Remians, for they lived on the moon.
As there were crystals on the moon, there were also crystals on the earth. These were all formed after the covenant with the Eternals; the Core no longer was the focal point of Mana. They continued different elemental and mystical forces within them, and were soon found by the Remians, who enshrined them in their towns. The earthly crystals were used to communicate with the Lunar Remans, and exchange power. In addition to these earthy crystals, they had a third set that were nestled in the underground, guarded by the Summoned Monsters and the mysterious Dwarf people who had their own civilization unbeknownst to the Remians and Glaives.
For years they used these crystals to commune with Mana, and their power was growing, getting ready to change form. For these crystals were a prelude to the perfect conductor of Mana -- the Tree of Mana. The Remians knew of this, and were awaiting the change eagerly. But, there was one Lunar who was a descendent of a Glaive, and he still lived by the old Glaivian ways. He wanted all of the power for himself, and almost took it. That man was Zemus. He aspired high enough to have great magical powers, and a subversive telepathic power. He was taking over the Lunarian's minds, and the Remians below were next.
But before he won, KluYa and FuSoYa used their Eternal powers, and put Zemus to sleep before he could cause any more damage. The sleep also effected all of the Lunarians as well, for almost all of them were under the influence of Zemus' mind, and so followed him to sleep. The sleep was timeless, and they slept agelessly as the generations passed on the planet below. KluYa and FuSoYa slept also; they wanted to make sure that the Lunars sleep was for good."
"So how did the Figaros get back?" Celes asked. "It would seem that they would be stuck there for a while."
"And they were," Gaspar said. "They slept for many, many years until KluYa was awakened by a disturbing force. When he looked into it he found that by putting Zemus to sleep, it gave the evil man rest of the body, but his mind continued to exercise it's evil power. Dismayed by his own failure, he sat and thought for a while, and remembered the old Eternal Blessing. (ch.8) He was not sure if the blessing was true, but he knew that he was a direct descendant of Figaro, the Eternal. So he went back down to the Planet, hoping to find a way to defeat the evil Power of Zemus.
The world had changed greatly during the time that he had been asleep. He looked for Remia, and found that it was no longer called Remia, but Mysidia. There were very few people with the distinguishable power of the Remains left; most were normal people, descended from the stalk of people who had remained neutral from the powers of the Remians and the Glaives. The descendants of Eblana had established a country as well, which they named Eblan. Of all of the countries and cities that he visited, only Mysidia knew of the Remians, Glaives and the Lunars.
They were a mystical people, who held one of the earthly crystals in their city. KluYa entrusted to them his Lunar transport vehicle, which, ironically, had been built in the same city many many years before. In return for it's safekeeping, he gave the people of Mysidia directions on how to build a magical transport road between Mysidia and Baron, its corresponding city, called the Serpent Road.
KluYa remained in Mysidia as he tried to think of a way to defeat the evil that was threatening the planet. He stayed for years, and ended up marrying a Mysidian woman, named Cassi, and they had two sons. The older was named Golbez, and the younger was named Cecil.
Sadly, though, Zemus was already gaining evil influence. Zemus was aware of KluYa's moves, and he was also well-informed about the legend of the Eternal Blessing. He knew that he had to dispose of the threat and hopefully his children as well. So, one day, while KluYa and his young family were out for the day at Mt. Ordeals, which was a chocobo's ride away from Mysidia, Zemus sent a group of his first minions who he had endowed with special powers after them. KluYa had incredible powers, but he was no match for four elementally-charged super-humans. So, he held them off as he sent Cassi, Cecil and Golbez away. But, young Golbez ran back, and his mother was unable to stop him. When Cassi returned with help from Mysidia, they found KluYa dead, and no sign of Golbez.
The Mysidians built a tomb for KluYa at the top of Mt. Ordeals. Strangely, after they sealed the tomb, the mountain began to emit incredible amounts of magical energy, which also attracted powerful monsters, so the mountain was almost impervious to any adventurer of the time. Cassi and Cecil moved to Baron, and she never told Cecil about his father, for she was afraid that he might take on KluYa's terrible job, and end up getting himself killed too.
Golbez was raised by the same evil people who killed his father and was trained as a Black Knight. Since Golbez was older than his brother, he remembered a bit about his father and family.
Seventeen years passed, and Zemus' influence had grown even more.
Golbez was under direct control from Zemus, partly because he had the incredible powers of the Eternals, and also because it was easier to control a true Remian/Lunarian mind than a normal, earthbound mind. Golbez came into Baron that same year. He murdered the king, and put one of his henchmen, Kainazzo, in his place, though no one could tell that the king had ever changed. Baron had a fleet of airships, called the Red Wings, and the best army in the world. With those, Golbez set out to collect all of the crystals of the earth for himself, and his evil master.
Cecil, however, grew up a kind, happy person. His mother was always there for him as he grew. But when Cecil was 18, she became ill and died, which happened to be the same year that Golbez came into power. Cecil enrolled into the Red Wing army, and trained as a Black Knight, as recommended by the king. By the age of 20, his high valor achieved him the rank of captain. After a few months, The red wings were taken off of their normal patrol and were sent out to start taking the crystals of the earth," Gaspar paused again, and went to look through some papers.
"What is he doing?" Locke asked Celes.
"I dunno. He always stops like that. This is neat! There are so many interesting things in our history. This is only from one aspect, too -- I can imagine now why there are so many books," Celes said happily.
"I think we should look for a way out of here. I mean, I don't want to be stuck in a little place like this for an eternity."
"I agree. But maybe, if we keep Gaspar going through his own memory, he might be able to think of another way out," Celes suggested. Gaspar came strolling back over. He was carrying a portfolio of pictures.
"Here." He said, handing the portfolio to them. "These are pictures of the people I'll be speaking of next," he cleared his throat. "Where were we?"
"Cecil collecting crystals of earth," Locke said.
"Oh, yes. Cecil was sent out on a job to retrieve the crystal from Mysidia. It was a brutal attack, and Cecil found himself feeling very bad about it. Cecil was not an evil man; he was just following orders. So he decided to question those orders.
He went to see the king, along with his friend, Kain the Dragoon and when he asked the King about it, the King became furious. He stripped Cecil and Kain from their posts, and sent them on a little mission to the Village of Mist, where the Callers lived. He sent them with a trick package that was to burn the town down.
When they arrived at the town, the package went off, burning the town down. As they tried to escape, Kain and Cecil were caught in the middle of a caller-made avalanche. Cecil and Kain were separated, but Cecil saved a little caller girl with green hair."
"Green hair? But I thought the Eblans had their own kingdom?" Locke asked.
"I think the Dark Eternal's blessing often predestined who her descendant would marry. If you look at the the caller girl, who's name was Rydia, she looks like Eblana and Terra. There are others like this in other Eras too, namely Schala. I'm not really sure how it works -- Magic is rather strange.
Cecil continued on, deciding to fight against Baron now. He stopped in a desert town, where he found his girlfriend, Rosa, sick with fever. He went off to search for the cure, which was in the land of Damcyan. He and Rydia went through a dangerous waterway, and found a new comrade in an old sage, named Tellah. They traveled together to Damcyan, just as it was being attacked by the Red Wings. They went in to find that most of the people were dead, and to Tellah's horror, his daughter was one of the dead, so he took off with a vengeful rage. Edward, the prince of Damcyan joined them, and with his help they retrieved the sandruby.
Cecil saved Rosa from her fever with the sandruby, and continued on with her. They trekked on through Mt. Hobs, where they were joined by the karate master Yang. Yang was from the Kingdom of Fabul, where they were attacked by the Red wings. During the battle, Kain, who was under the influence of Zemus, took Rosa and the crystal. Fabul provided them with a boat to get to Baron with, to save Rosa and challenge the king. On the way there, the boat was intercepted by Leviathan, King of the sea. Rydia was swallowed by Leviathan, Yang jumped in in an attempt to save her, and Edward fell off of the boat.
Cecil awoke on a beach, and wandered into a city, which he found to be Mysidia. He did not receive a warm welcome. Cecil wanted desperately to redeem himself, and find his friends, but the leader of Mysidia told him that they only way he would accomplish that was by giving up his dark sword. Cecil desired to do so, and the only way that he could become pure was to become a Paladin by scaling Mt. Ordeals. He sent with Cecil two young sorcerers, Palom and Porom. On Mt. Ordeals, them met up with Tellah again, who was searching for the ultimate spell, Meteor. They fought against one of Golbez's four fiends of the elements, Milon of the Earth at the top, and defeated him.
Cecil finally made it to the top, and entered into a strange structure at the top. Inside was a wall of mirrors, and his reflection challenged him to a duel. Cecil had to be able to take the attacks of his old self without fighting back to cleanse his spirit, but he was determines, and he weathered through it. Cecil was victorious. The light of the Paladin came down, and touched him, turning him into the holy knight, and giving him the full power of the Eternal. As it left, it called him son."
"It was KluYa's spirit, wasn't it?" Locke said.
"Indeed. KluYa knew his son's destiny, and brought him away from the dark sword. From then on, Cecil and his companions used the Serpent Road to get to Baron. There they found Yang, and he joined up again. They fought and defeated the fake king, who was Golbez's fiend of water, Kainazzo. They lost Palom and Porom, because of a cursed room that trapped them, and was going to shrink in on them. The twins turned each other to stone to keep the room open, but were stuck as stone because they had done it by their own will. The airship mechanic, Cid joined them at this point, and provided them with an airship. They had a confrontation with the Red Wings, which was led by Kain.
It seemed that Golbez had gained control over Kain's mind, but it was really Zemus. Kain told them that they would give Rosa back if they got a crystal from another kingdom. Cecil had no choice, so they went to retrieve the crystal. They went to the kingdom Toroia, where they found Edward. He was recovering from his wounds from the boat ride, so he couldn't come with them. Cecil and crew went to a cave where a monster had the crystal. They had to leave their metal weapons behind, because it was a magnetic cave. They beat the monster with the help of Edward's harp, and got the crystal.
They took the crystal to the tower of Zot. There, Golbez, Kain and his henchwoman of the air, Valvalis were waiting for them. Tellah attacked Golbez with the ultimate spell, called Meteo, which cost Tellah his own life. It was in vain; Golbez was only wounded, and he took the crystal and ran. Kain rejoined them, embarrassed about his weak mindedness, but Cecil forgave him. He helped them defeat Valvalis with his dragoon jump attack, and they rescued Rosa, and left the tower.
They had some more adventures underground, and they were rejoined by Rydia who had spent time in the Land of the Summoned Monsters. She had grown up about fifteen years, because time flowed different down there. They went through the tower of Bab-il, which had been built by the Remians. They were betrayed by Kain again, and they lost Cid and Yang.
They had an adventure to Eblan. The people had evacuated the castle, and were living in the caves because of the Red Wings. They were joined by the prince of Eblan, whose name was Edge. He was the only Dark Eternal descendant left, because the fiend of fire, Rubicant, had turned Edge's parents into monsters. With Edge's help, they killed Rubicant.
Eventually, Golbez had all of the crystals, and he went to the moon. Cecil and friends went to Mysidia to get KluYa's ship. They used it to go to the moon. There, they were joined by FuSoYa. He went down with them because they needed to destroy the giant of Bab-il. The Giant was a robot built by the Remians in case there was any further uprising from the Glaives. It was so big that it was unbeatable from outside, so Cecil and the group had to go in and kill the CPU. They defeated the CPU, and Golbez was there. FuSoYa recognized his family emanations in Golbez, and broke Zemus' spell on him.
FuSoYa told Cecil that Cecil was Golbez's brother hastily, and then he and Golbez went off to challenge Zemus. Cecil was so shocked, that he almost stayed behind in the falling robot. After that, they were rejoined again by Kain -- again. He promised to not turncoat again, but he was wearing down his friends' trust. Edge did not like him one, bit, but Rosa and Cecil were ever forgiving to their old companion, and he went with them.
So, Cecil, Rosa, Rydia, Edge and Kain were on their way to the moon to fight Zemus as well. They went through on the great, dangerous, Lunar Path to get to the center, where the Lunarians slept, and Zemus was waiting. Apparently, he was now awake, and was planning to take over the world.
They toiled their way through the road, where they finally got to the middle. FuSoYa and Golbez were already there, and they challenged Zemus first. But Zemus could not be defeated by Golbez. They almost destroyed him, but he became stronger yet; his evil spirit turned him into a grotesque monster, and he called himself Zeromus. He practically wasted all present, but Cecil found the strength to stand up to him. Down below, on the earth, all of their friends were pulling for them in the wishing tower of Mysidia. Their faith gave Cecil, Rosa, Rydia, Edge, and Kain the strength to defeat Zeromus.
After a rigorous battle, they crushed Zeromus. His evil spirit was doused, and his influence upon the world undone," Gaspar finished there with a sigh.
"So this was the first major cataclysm in our world?" Locke asked.
"Yes. It was the first time the descendent of the Eternals came to resemble their ancestors," Gaspar answered, looking at a couple sketches.
"What happened after? Did the Lunarians wake up?" Celes asked inquisitively.
"No, they did not. Golbez and FuSoYa went to sleep with the Lunarians, and the moon went off into space, which is why we only have one moon now. They remained asleep because they knew that they wouldn't not be welcome back all at once, and they were extremely out of touch with the world. But, one by one, they trickled back to the planet, via the last remnants of the crystals. There may be some still asleep today, but most of them found their way back to the planet.
Cecil Married Rosa, and was crowned King of Baron, thus beginning the first Figaro line in royalty. Edge married Rydia a few years later, and they continued on in Eblan. Yang became King of Fabul, Cid went on making airships, Kain left to regain his honor, Palom and Porom had been restored and became great Mysidian mages, and Edward went on as king of Damcyan, eventually got over the loss of his Anna, and married another woman. That's pretty much Cecil's story, at least from what I know. I wasn't around yet, so I had to bend time to get an accurate account of it all. I'm not too sure what happened after, until the next Era--" Gaspar was about to mention something else, when a pillar of light appeared and began flashing. He ran to it to see what was the matter. Locke and Celes followed him.
"What's wrong?" Locke asked. Gaspar was communing with the light.
"The time stream is being used like a highway. There are many people going through at once, and it's making it unstable here at the End of Time. Let me go get something before it becomes too unstable around here," Gaspar took to his desk, and picked out a golden egg from inside.
"You're packing a lunch?" Locke asked him.
"No, this is the time egg, or Chrono Trigger. It wields the potential of time inside it."
"You mean you could have used that thingy to let us out of here?" Celes said, ready to choke the old man.
"No, it is just potential. You could use it and it would have no effect on anything because there was no need for something improbable in the time stream. But if we get sucked in to a portal we may need it," he told them as he tucked the egg into his pouch.
"Hmph. We'll never get outta here," Celes said with her arms crossed. And, ironically, at that moment, a light pillar, on the fritz, came through the room.
"Agh!" Locke cried, attempting to run, but it sucked him up first. One was chasing Celes, but caught her too.
"I knew it," Gaspar said, as he waited for it to come and get him too.
.