The Aftermath Of Mount Woe Chapter 50
The Black Omen
By Nanaki
12,000 B.C.
"Okay people!" Magus called back. "Can anyone think of any reason why we can't tackle the Omen now? You've certainly taken your sweet time up to this point."
"There is nary a thing left Magus, but to kill Lavos." Glenn said quietly.
"For once Glenn, I'm in complete agreement. How 'bout you kid?" He called back to Crono. Crono didn't say anything, he just shook his head. He was still finding it hard to believe that he was alive. One second, he had been about to be blown apart while trapped in the middle of Lavos' energy vortex, and the next, he was sitting in the snow, leaning against a tree, with Marle weeping on his shoulder. He was snapped out of his thoughts as the canopy whooshed open, and they jumped out onto the side of the Omen. A group of laser guards in front of the main gate fired at them, but Magus quickly destroyed them by summoning a Dark Mist. Magus led the charge inside, and was surprised to find Zeal standing just inside the gate. He whipped out his scythe.
"Fools!" Zeal laughed scornfully. "Haven't you learned your lesson?! We are immortal! We shall live forever with Lavos, who devours this planet even as he sleeps. Draining this planet's power, Lavos will rule the world in a mere 14,000 years. The Black Omen is a path which leads to Lavos. It is a shrine which provides us with limitless power. As long as the mighty one reigns, your dreams are hopeless!" Suddenly, a black portal of the kind Dalton had used to summon Golems appeared behind her, but what popped out was a life form severely mutated by Lavos' energy. "You should sacrifice yourself to the mighty Lavos! HAAhahahaha!" With that, she teleported away.
'Well, that's a new twist on the evil laugh.' Magus thought as he buried his scythe in the mutant's skull. The mutant fought hard and fierce, spraying them with poison and sleeping gas, but Glenn and Crono beat the crap out of it while Magus sat back and blasted it with his strongest spells. It was dead in just a few minutes.
"That wasn't too bad." Crono smiled as he sheathed his sword.
"Kid, I'm sure that was just the warm up." Magus grimaced at him. And indeed it was. The huge palace was filled with mutants, mystics, and some really weird creatures that had probably rode in on the meteor with Lavos. After what seemed like ages, Magus saw that they were close to the top of the Omen. He was about to go charging up another flight of stairs, when a high pitched growl stopped him. A small version of a rather infamous creature shuffled into view. "A Lavos spawn!!" He roared. All three of them went fairly ballistic on the creature, but they were careful enough to remember not to attack the shell. Finally, when the critter looked just about spent, Magus charged up and rammed his scythe all the way through the front pod, severing it from the body.
"If only the big guy was that simple." Crono lamented.
"If the big guy was that simple, I'd be extremely disappointed." Magus shook a finger at him. They stepped cautiously into the next chamber, and were all surprised to see images of Crono and Marle floating in pillars of light. Two more pillars contained Lucca and Robo, and another two behind that contained Glenn and Ayla. "Looks like I'm the wild card." Magus grinned. But his grin faded fast as he approached what looked to be the blasted remains of the Mammon Machine. Zeal teleported into the air slightly above, then floated gently down until she was perched on it, as if it was her new throne.
"Behold, my pretties! Destiny, in its most brutal form." She said as way of a greeting. "All the dreams that might have been. All the happiness, and sorrow, you might have experienced. Gone forever!!! For you there will be no tomorrow! The Dark Omen transcends time and space, waiting for Lavos to awaken! Destiny has led you here. And here you shall rest forever, unless you can defeat me, and smash the Omen!" Magus accepted the challenge. He drew his scythe, and Crono and Glenn surrounded her and drew the Rainbow and Masamune, respectively. "Come, dear friends. Perhaps I can persuade Lavos to share his dreams with you! Did I say dreams? I meant his eternal nightmare!" An odd rainbow colored light radiated out from Zeal, and everyone dropped to their knees. But Glenn quickly raised up his arms, and a giant frog fell from seemingly out of nowhere, smashing Zeal into the floor. Crono used Confuse, and Magus blasted her with Dark Matter. She flew back into the remains of the machine, breathing heavily.
"Argh! My powers don't seem to work here!" Then she got an idea. "Wait! I'll simply toss you into the Mammon Machine! You'll be one with the Omen, Lavos... and me!"
The three were suddenly warped into a weird zone, facing a new, silver colored Mammon Machine. It made no move as they began to bust it up, until Magus struck a critical valve, and it suddenly released all the energy it had stored. That hurt pretty bad, but not enough to stop them. Except for occasional Point Flares, the Mammon Machine offered no further resistance as the three dismantled it and scattered the pieces to the four winds.
Then they were out of the zone, and Magus realized they were standing on top of the Black Omen. Blue lights began shooting out of the structure, eventually forming a diamond with Zeal standing inside. "You cretins..." She cursed. "I plan to live with Lavos, and control the universe forever. You will not get in my way!"
Magus clenched his fist, and bowed his head. "Idiots... Nothing can live forever." Then he glared upwards, and pointed at Zeal. "Zeal... A pitiful woman, duped by Lavos! I, myself, will bring an end to all of this!" He drew his scythe once more, but more slowly this time.
Zeal obviously wasn't intimidated. "Prophet! You are doomed. I haven't forgotten what you did at the Ocean Palace. You will now forfeit your life." Lavos' energy surrounded her, and she became nothing but a large floating mask, and two gloved hands.
"Is she flipping us off?" Crono wondered out loud.
"It sure looks that way kid. C'mon, let's wipe the smirk of her face!" The three proceeded to strut their best stuff, but apparently, Zeal was a little tougher in this form. She counterattacked with Skygate, MP Buster, and Hallation. Then, a purple beam of light shot out of each hand, knocking Crono and Glenn to the ground, where they didn't move.
Magus looked at them, then up at her. "You know who I really am, don't you?"
"Of course, Janus." The mask smiled.
"Can you come down here and talk to me for a minute?"
"Whatever you plan to say, it won't do any good. But you are my son, so I suppose I could grant you a final boon."
"Oh, you're so incredibly generous." He grimaced as the human form of Zeal appeared in front of him.
"I try. Now, what do you want?" She demanded.
"Why do you want to be immortal? Why is this so important to you?"
"I came close to dying once, when there should have been no danger. I don't ever want to feel that way again."
"Death isn't necessarily an end." His eyes narrowed. "I learned that much from Schala."
"My poor little girl..." Zeal whispered.
"What?" Magus could hardly believe his ears. Could her bastard son possibly have as much sway with her as her beautiful daughter? To be safe, he decided to pretend he hadn't heard that. "Besides, Vigo saved you from dying. And he would again, if he were here." Zeal remained silent, and Magus came to a sudden realization. 'That's the key isn't it...?' "Are you sure this is what you want, mother?" She remained expressionless. "Think a minute. If you become immortal, you will never see Vigo again!!"
She managed to hold it a split second longer, then her face contorted, and she burst into tears. "NOOOO!!!"
"You want to see him again, you have to go. And I know the human inside you does."
She looked up at him through tear filled eyes. "Janus, you have to kill me, before Lavos takes control again. I told Schala to do that once before, but she waited too long. I want to see my husband..."
Magus hesitated, then raised his scythe again. "I wish it hadn't come down to this. But I'm too used to killing to refuse you." He lowered the point at her heart.
"I'm sorry for everything that's happened to you Janus. I know you're not Vigo's son, but that never would have mattered to me. I wanted to be your mother Janus, but Lavos could never allow it. I'm so sorry."
Magus looked at her, for once without hate in his eyes. "I'm sorry too." Then, he drove the point deep into her chest, tearing the wall of her heart.
"Aaugghhhh!!!" The side of her controlled by Lavos instantly took over again. "What has happened? Eyaaaaggggghhhh!!!" Lavos' energy consumed her, and the mask and gloves reappeared. Magus quickly drew out two revives, threw them at Crono and Glenn, then smashed a Megalixer on the ground. To Crono and Glenn, it seemed that nothing had happened, but Magus could clearly feel that her attacks were nowhere near as strong. Finally, Crono cut loose with Confuse, and on the final stroke, the mask shattered. The human form of Zeal reappeared, holding her hand over the wound, trying to repair it. Magus was a little apprehensive, but then he saw that the severity of the wound would make the healing process take a long time. Lavos would be dead before it was finished.
"How dare you insects come after ME!" She screamed at them. "Oh almighty Lavos, lend me your power!" Vibrations began to shake the Omen. "Mwa, ha, ha... At last, Lavos awakens! Compared with him, you are like germs. But I... I shall obtain immortality!" With those final words, Zeal slowly faded away.
'Oh, you're really going to pay for this Lavos. If Vigo were here, he would beat the holy crap out of you. But since he's not, I'm going to fill in!' As the Omen crumbled beneath him, Magus plunged head first into his final task:
The battle to kill Lavos!
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"Death solves all problems. No man, no problem." - Joseph Stalin
Nanaki: Robo suggested this quote, and as you can obviously tell, it won. A lot of people suggested Kefka and Terra's conversation at the end of Final Fantasy III, or some of Magus' sayings, but most of us have heard those more than once. This one is good, unique, and it fits. Good idea Robo!
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