Chrono Trigger: Timeless Angels Part 3

Arrival of the Enemy

By Mefathiel

AD 605, on the island northwest of Choras Continent:

Ozzie sat within the circle of blue flamed candles, his arms stretched out in front of him. His eyes were closed, the fort silent. All that could be heard were the faint whispers of the candles as they burned lower and lower. The warlock Mystic gathered his thoughts and opened his mouth.

"Now is the chosen time, that for which the magic energies in this Earth, past, present, future, shall be under my command. I summon thee now."

The candles roared, their blue flames leaping into the air. "Now is the chosen time, that for which the powers of shadow and light, past, present, future, shall be under my command. I summon thee now."

Ozzie’s body started glowing, but the aura he exuded was that of black light. "Now is the chosen time, that for which all life on this Earth, past, present, future, shall be under my command. I beckon to thee, heed my call."

The candles roared again, then died out. The aura faded, and Ozzie was left in the dark. "Fire!" he called out.

The torches on the walls lit up around him, returning the light to the room. Ozzie stood up and looked around. "What went wrong?" the Mystic asked. "Why was I not able to resurrect Sir Magus?"

A ball of magic appeared in front of Ozzie, and he looked into it, holding the energy between his clawed hands. The ball lit up, showing an image of the sun. Ozzie growled. "No, the solar flares are disrupting the balance of magic energy on this Earth. I won’t be able to try again successfully until they die down."

Ozzie sat in his throne and placed his chins on his hand. "This is not good. I must revive Sir Magus now! If those brats find out I’m back, they’ll come and stop me before I can do anything!"

.

The spiked Pyrosian form shot past the moon and started glowing brightly as atmospheric friction started hitting it. Magmas emitted a magic shield to protect itself from burning up. It wouldn’t be long before it reached the surface, but there was a catch. Magmas could not burrow into the Earth, not if it was already infested by a parasite.

Thus, it’s agenda had changed. All it needs to do to survive is fuse itself with one of the life-forms here.

.

Ozzie looked up, sensing a disturbance in the magic energies around him. "Something here is not right," he said aloud.

The green Mystic leapt from his seat and teleported outside his fortress to see what approached. Ozzie looked up into the sky and saw a large red light growing larger and larger in the night sky. "Uh oh," Ozzie muttered when he realized it was headed straight for his island.

With all his might, Ozzie erected a magic barrier around his island to protect himself and his home.

.

The large fireball descended through the air with incredible speed.

Ozzie screamed as the roar from the red object filled the air. He threw himself to the ground and covered himself with his arms.

There was a huge explosion as Magmas connected with the magic barrier and was deflected off of it. The Pyrosian was stunned from the shock and fell into the ocean, letting off a mile-wide column of steam into the air.

Ozzie lost consciousness from the blast of the impact, and the barrier dissolved into the nothingness from which it came.

.

AD 2300, before the excursion on Death Peak:

A red Gate opened up in the Keeper’s Dome, surprising the old man working there. He looked up from his life’s work to see an old friend of his. An old man wearing a brown bowler and suit to match stepped out.

"My, it’s been a while," said the former, standing up and allowing the blue outfit he was wearing to be shown.

"Yes it has," said Gaspar.

"What brings you here?"

Gaspar looked down. "My friend Belthasar, the time has come."

"Eh?" Belthasar asked. "What time would that be?"

The Magi of Time looked up at the Magi of Wisdom. "It is the time for the Three Magi to be reunited and the Seal to be broken. Come, we must retrieve Melchior and return to the Shrine."

Belthasar nodded and followed Gaspar through the Gate, which closed behind him.

.

AD 1001, Medina Continent:

The young Mystic smiled as Melchior handed him a small bottle of berry juice. The Magi patted him on the head and smiled as widely as the child did. Suddenly, a wind picked up, and the child ran away in horror. Melchior turned and saw electricity arcing through the air.

"What horrors could these be?" he asked.

A red Gate opened up, and out stepped Magi Gaspar and Magi Belthasar. They held out their hands, beckoning for the third Magi. "Guru of Life, the time has come," Gaspar said.

"We need to return to the Land of Magic," Belthasar said.

Melchior stepped forward toward his fellow Magi. "So the Seal must now be broken. Let us hope this won’t be in vain," he said solemnly.

The Gate closed as soon as the third Magi stepped inside.

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AD 605, the island northwest of Choras Continent:

Ozzie shook his head and pushed himself to his feet. The sun was blazing brightly in the sky above him, and he blinked several times. "What the he—"

He was stopped in mid-sentence when he saw the thing standing before him. It looked like a man, but it obviously wasn’t. It’s body had gray spikes jutting out all over, and its head looked like a large porcupine. The face was hideous, looking like…well, Ozzie couldn’t find words to describe it. There were no eyes to be seen, nor was there a nose; thus, the face was a group of three big, brown lumps. They pulled apart, showing the pinkish inside of the mouth.

"Are you the being that erected the barrier?" it asked.

Ozzie looked around, eventually pointing to himself. "You talking to me?"

The ugly porcupine-headed thing nodded. "Yes. Are you the being who erected the barrier?"

Ozzie nodded reluctantly.

He realized his mistake soon afterwards.

Bolts of fire and molten rock shot through the air, being exuded from the thing’s head. Ozzie screamed and started running away, but soon found he couldn’t. So he turned and faced the porcupine-thing. He summoned all the magic energy he could muster and threw it at the beast. The fireball dissipated when it hit the being’s barrier. Ozzie tried again repeatedly; futile attempts.

"You are not brave," the thing said, "but you are powerful. You will make a great ally, despite your cowardice. I am Magmas of Pyros."

Ozzie was at a loss for words. "I am, uh…Ozzie the Great!"

"It is nice to meet you, Ozzie," Magmas said, extending a hand.

Ozzie took the hand and shook it. "But why are you so ugly?" asked the warlock.

"In order to survive, I needed to fuse my body with that of one of your planet’s inhabitants. I am here to simply destroy this planet after leeching out all its energy."

"Destroy the planet, huh? Well, have I got a proposition for you, Magmas…"

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65 Million BC, Ioka Village:

Ayla laid down on the grass mat, and Kino tended to her. Crono and Marle stood at the doorway, watching. "What’s wrong with her, Kino?" Marle asked.

"Ayla sick," Kino said. "Bad sick, not see before."

Marle looked at her companion. "You don’t think she could’ve gotten it from Zephon or Tata, do you?"

Crono shrugged. "I don’t know," he said. "Maybe. She’s never been exposed to either of those time periods, and might’ve gotten something from one of them. Anyway, I’m sure Kino will take good care of her. We need to go find this other person in 400 BC."

Marle nodded and smiled weakly. "Yeah, I’m sure she’ll be just fine. After all, if she doesn’t get out of this, I wouldn’t be here now, would I?"

"That’s the spirit. Hey Kino, Marle and I are leaving now, but we promise we’ll be back," Crono said.

Kino nodded and waved a farewell to the teenagers.

.

AD 800, Porre Continent:

The Epoch burst into the new era with a boom, and the two riding the Time Bike looked at their surroundings.

Then they started screaming.

In a futile, last-minute, "I wanna survive!" attempt, Glenn pulled up on the controls. But it was to no avail as the vehicle fell through the air, zooming past the cliffs of Mount Denadoro. Glenn started screaming even louder as the bike neared the ground. The wind whistled through his long, green-tinted hair. Robo showed no signs of worry whatsoever.

With his long, metal arms, Robo took a strong grasp of the Epoch and tipped its front end up. Glenn screamed, as this startled him greatly. Two panels on the robot’s back opened up, and fire burst from them. Glenn closed his eyes in fear, praying that his soul may be saved when he died.

Suddenly, there was a soft thud, and Glenn’s hair was once again influenced by gravity. He opened his eyes and looked around, seeing that he was at the foot of the mountains.

"How be it we hath landed safely?" he asked.

"My posterior has been equipped with jet pack boosters to be used in case of an emergency such as this," the robot replied.

Glenn stepped up off of the Epoch and dusted off his armor and cape. "Well, methinks in the case of our survival, we must now seek the next warrior we quest for."

Robo’s green optical sensors lit up and swiveled around his head. "Scan of the area complete. We need to head to the west."

"Dorino Village?"

"Incorrect. The place we seek is the forest to the south of Dorino—"

"The Cursed Wood?" Glenn asked.

"Incorrect again. The place has been infested with magic since AD 600, and was renamed Veda Forest. I also believe that is has become the location of an elf kingdom, and that is where the name comes from."

"Elves?"

"Correct. In all, there are five elf kingdoms: one on Porre Continent, two on Guardia Continent, one on Medina Continent, and one on Choras Continent."

Glenn straddled the Epoch Time Bike and they took off across the continent.

.

Late in the day, Glenn and Robo arrived at the edge of Veda Forest. At close inspection, the growth seemed to provide no visible entrance to the wood. Glenn unsheathed the Masamune and readied it. As he swung the blade, he noticed how strongly it glowed. "This forest truly contain’th much magic," he commented to himself.

The trees fell to the mighty blade, creating a dainty little doorway into the woods before them. Glenn ducked slightly and walked into the forest, whereas Robo simply retracted his legs slightly and wheeled in. "Do not let your guard down," Robo warned. "Human-Elf relations have never been good throughout history, particularly around the turn of the millennia."

"I shall be wary of every movement in this wood," Glenn said quietly.

There was a rustling in a tree ahead, and Glenn spread his arms wide. "Water!" he shouted.

A stream of bubbles appeared and engulfed the tree. A Gnasher fell from the branches, stunned. It shook its head and slithered away moments later. " ‘Tis only a Gnasher," Glenn said disappointedly.

"Scans show that no elves are present at the moment," Robo reported.

"I shalt meet one soon, though," Glenn said.

Robo and Glenn continued through the forest. Glenn finally broke the silence. "Doth thou think our next companion shall be an elf?"

"The only person containing the appropriate amount of energy to help us resides in this wood," Robo replied. "Thus, it makes perfect sense that our next companion will be of the elf species."

As they trekked through the forest toward the Elf Kingdom Veda, the two time travelers were unaware of the spectre watching them from above, invisible to even Robo’s sensors…

.

400 BC, an early Choras Continent:

The Gate opened up, and Crono and Marle stepped out. "Where are we?" Crono asked, looking around.

"As if I know," Marle said. "We’re near an ocean, but I don’t know what continent we’re on, or if we’re even on a continent…"

"Well, where there’s a coast, there’s bound to be a port town of some sort," Crono said. "Let’s get walking."

They walked for hours before actually reaching a town on the coast. Crono approached the nearest person and tapped him on the shoulder. "Excuse me, but we’re traveling; could you tell me where we are?"

The person turned and fell backwards. Crono looked down and saw the massive number of swells, boils, and openings in the person’s skin. "What is it?" he asked.

Another person came up and dragged the now dead man away. Crono and Marle watched as the body was piled up on a stack of numerous others. "What’s going on?" Marle asked, not expecting an answer.

The two time travelers walked into the nearest inn and questioned the innkeeper. They eventually found out they were on Choras Continent. As they got to their room, Marle snapped her fingers.

"Now I remember! This time is when one of the worst plagues swept across the Earth started! It’s the time of the Black Death."

"Oh, that’s just great," Crono muttered. "So we’re exploring a time where we can get infested with a plague?"

"That’s right," Marle said smiling, then frowned as the realization hit her.

Crono hesitated for a moment before saying anything. "You remember when we took Ayla back to Ioka Village…? Well, I could’ve sworn I saw one of those swellings on her arm…"

Marle gasped in shock. "You don’t think…?"

"She could have this Black Death."

"But she must survive, because I’m still here."

"Not necessarily. The time change could be taking a while to occur. But until she recovers from the Black Death, we’re down one fighter. That will leave us with ten when we find the other three warriors." Crono yawned. "I could use some sleep."

Marle drew the shades. "Well, we can resume this search in the morning. For now, let’s get some sleep."

Crono suddenly became flustered, though he tried as hard as he could to cover it up. "But there’s only one bed," he said, his voice cracking unconsciously.

"That shouldn’t be a problem," Marle said, laying down next to him on the bed.

Crono was flustered even more. The fact that she didn’t care caused him to turn bright red and sweat all over. He had no idea what to do, so he just sat there. Marle sat up and put her arms around him. "Crono, c’mon," she beckoned to him. "You said you wanted to sleep."

She pulled him down and laid on top of Crono. "Marle, what are you doing?" he asked in a whisper, as if afraid someone might hear.

"Well someone’s got to be on top for this to work," she whispered back, giving him a kiss.

Dammit, Crono thought. She’s totally wrapped up in her emotions or something. There’s no way she can actually want anything to happen. That’s not like her, especially since she’s going against everything she’s said to me so far about that…

He grabbed Marle’s arms and lifted her up, sliding out from under her body. She flopped back down on the bed and looked at him, happy but somewhat disappointed. "Is something wrong?" she asked.

"No," Crono lied, grabbing a pillow and blanket off of the bed. "Nothing at all is wrong." He dropped the pillow on the floor and wrapped himself in the blanket, flopping down on the floor. "Good night, Marle," he said.

"But what about…?"

"Maybe some other time." Like when we’re married…

The rest of the night passed uneventfully.

.

The next morning, Crono and Marle ventured out into Choras. There were bodies spread out across the streets in town, laying side-by-side. A wave of light passed over the bodies, and they rose from their positions, completely healed up. Crono and Marle were astounded.

They walked up to the nearest person to find out what was going on. Crono tapped the shoulder of the blue-haired woman. "Excuse me Ms., but could you just tell me what happened?"

The woman turned, and Crono and Marle both gasped.

"Schala?!" they asked in shocked unison.

.

"Why are you here?" --Gendo Ikari, Neon Genesis Evangelion eps. 19

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