Search For Schala Part Seven
A New Omen
By Taran
Magus stared blankly at his mother. He reached for his scythe. He thought that he had killed her on the Black Omen but she obviously escaped. He would kill her now so she could not cause any more trouble. Thinking back to what the Nu had said he concluded that perhaps the entity had guided him here to find Zeal. Putting away his scythe he carried his mother to Aeris Dome.
Looking around Magus saw that a lot had changed since he had last been here. There were many tents and little wooden boothes. People were dancing and having fun. What was the matter with them? They were just attacked by Lavos and they were dancing? He went up to someone to ask what was going on. The man told him that this was the first day of the "Millennium Fair.”
The fair, that’s what Crono was celebrating in his present time. Magus entered the dome and tried to find one of the medical droids. He finally did and it took him to the hospital even though Magus knew where it was. A doctor took Zeal to a bed where more medical droids started to nurse her back to health.
Magus observed what the droids were doing. They were hooking up monitors and monitoring her condition. The hospital looked empty now that all the people injured during the earthquake were gone. After an hour or two Zeal finally came to. She looked very different since the last time he had seen her. She seemed peaceful.
Zeal wasted no time and immediately started asking questions. “Where am I? What happened to Lavos? Am I free?”
One of the droids did it’s best to offer her some answers, “You are in the medical facilities of the Aeris Dome. Lavos... Lavos... That is not in my programming, but you are “free” from your injuries.”
“What the... what are you?” Zeal asked.
“I am a medical droid. Serial number N-47-V.”
“I’m, sure you are.” Looking around she soon spotted Magus. “Prophet!? Did you bring me here?”
Magus got up and walked towards her. He told the droids to leave them alone so they left. “I’m not a prophet. I’m your son, Janus.”
"Impossible! Lavos killed my son. Oh, poor Janus. If you are Janus, how would I know?” Magus responded by brushing his hair back and revealing his ears. “That doesn’t mean you’re Janus. You could be someone else from my kingdom.
“Mother! Everyone else from your kingdom is dead! It’s now 13,999 years after your reign.”
“If it is you, can you tell me what happened?”
Magus nodded and escorted her to the time gate while he told her how he had found her in the escape pod and just brought her to the dome. Before they knew it they were at the End of Time. Magus told her what had happened to him, about Ozzie and the Mystics, and how he had come back to the kingdom and met Crono who had killed Lavos.
“Thank you Janus.”
“Thank you, for what? I thought you would be in a furious rage after I killed Lavos.”
“No. I didn’t want to join Lavos. I had to save my kingdom. Your father died and the Sun Stone ran out of energy. He still hadn’t found another source of energy so I had to. I found some ancient writing in a cave. It told about an extremely powerful being that had come to Gaurdia. As soon as I activated the Mammon Machine Lavos controlled me with his power. I witnessed every horrible thing I did but I had no way to stop. Lavos made me raise it from the center of the earth so it could destroy my kingdom. After that it rose the ocean palace. It continually drained it’s power in order to make his second rise in 1,999 AD. When you destroyed Lavos, you severed his control over me. I quickly got in an escape pod but was pulled through some porthole. I then crashed down to where you found me.”
“So you expect me to believe that Lavos made you do what you did? Not very likely but, maybe it’s true. I did notice that you had changed one day... OK, I guess maybe it wasn’t your fault. So, now what?”
“You’ve got to find my daughter of coarse!”
“I know that, but I don’t know if I can yet.”
“Why not!?”
“Well, the Nu said that I have to learn to love someone. I assume I now love you but... “
“But what?”
“Well, I don’t. I mean, how could I? Even if all those horrible things you did weren't actually your fault, I still don’t even know you.”
“I see, well maybe if we spend a little more time together...” she was cut off.
“No! I just can’t do it. I’m going to take you home.”
The two went towards a porthole without speaking. Magus didn’t know what to say to this poor women and Zeal was trying too hard to hold back her tears to say anything. They were soon at the shore of the island in 12,000 BC where Magus had left his raft. The two of them got on and Magus set sail.
“A lot has changed since I’ve been here.” observed Zeal as she managed to speak again. Without getting a response, she continued. “The sea used to be lifeless, except for fish and things. Those two creatures over there are definitely new.” Magus looked at the creatures she was describing. There were two dolphins off the starboard side of their raft. One seemed to be chasing the other but it kept getting away. “It’s still snowing though.”
Silence again overcame the raft, this time it was broken by Magus. “Mother... I’m, sorry for what I said back there. I was angry. I wasn’t thinking.”
“It’s OK. It’s mostly my fault... I expected to much. How could you love a stranger any ways?”
“You’re not a stranger! You’re my mother.”
The journey continued and few words were spoken. Magus was thinking hard. How could he love her? He wanted to, but how could he? He guessed that the only reason he was helping her at all was so that he could get to Schala. Schala, that was it! She was the key to reaching his mother. “Mother, tell me about Schala.”
“About Schala? Janus, you know Schala.”
“No. Not as much as you did any ways, before Lavos.”
“Well then, I remember how eager she was with her magic. Sometimes too eager. She would run around the halls casting spells all over the place. But eventually every night she would get exhausted and come to me. I would have to use some magic of my own to calm her down. Every time I helped her she would say “Thank you mommy, I love you.” and then would give me a kiss on the cheek.” A tear rolled down Zeal's face as she remembered all the times she had spent with her children and realized that she would never get to live those moments again. Trying to hide her sadness she started complaining about the cold. “It was much warmer above the clouds.” She rubbed her shoulders trying to keep warm.
Magus too felt a shiver down his back. It had been a while since he had been outside for so long without a coat. Snapping out of the trance his mother had tried to put him in he saw the tears in her eyes. Seeing that finally convinced Magus that she did care after all. She didn’t want to bring forth Lavos or to banish the Gurus. She didn’t want to send Janus through the porthole or separate him from Schala.
Magus fell onto the floor of the raft a second before he realized that they had come to the shore. “I’ll escort you to your new house now.” Zeal nodded and followed him. They went into the palace and Magus found the Nu that was in charge now that Schala and Dalton had departed. He asked it for a room and after some bargaining was able to get some quarters just outside the throne room. Magus took Zeal there and showed her inside.
“I’ll come back with Schala.” Zeal nodded. “Until then just ask the servants to attend to your needs.” Zeal came over from where she stood and touched Magus on the shoulder. He felt a great surge of energy. “What was that?” he asked.
“Remember in the Ocean Palace when you confronted Lavos, and it drained your energy?” Magus nodded. “When I was part of it I was able to get some of it back and now I’m giving it to you. It will protect you.”
“Mother.”
“Yes?”
“Thank you, mom. I love you.” Magus kissed her on the cheek and turned around. He had said the words, but did he mean them? Magus argued with himself as he walked back to the raft. He knew that he didn’t hate his mother anymore but did his feelings go beyond the neutral. Had he gone far enough to love her? Sadly Magus was not quite sure. Thinking back to those tears she had cried again made him hope and even think that he did.
Back at the north cape Magus felt warm. A ray of light had pierced through the clouds and it had stopped snowing. The storm had died, the long winter was over. Just as the Black Omen had been a symbol of Lavos’ terror, the coming of the sun was an omen announcing that Lavos’ reign was over.
The end of part seven, A New Omen.
Concluded in part eight, Death Peak
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