Chrono Trigger: The Time Strikers Part XI
Fall of the Dark God
By Christopher Anthony Blair
The HAWK came out of the time stream and flew over the ground. Everyone looked at the ground. Truce Village was gone, yet it was 1002. Something had happened while they had been gone.
" Crono." Nadia searched for the castle, with no luck. " What happened?" Janus said. Max looked around, thinking, when he realized, he knew who did this. " Oh god. I should have killed him when I had the chance." Janus looked at Max. " Who?" Max kept steering the vessel while talking to his ancestor. " His name's Kefka. Kefka Malatar. He's from Altara. He's a, power hungry maniac. He can almost be considered a god, with his power. He tried to suck the life energy from Altara about two years ago. He, killed about two hundred Espers in his short rule. Fortunetely, it only lasted a year, but it was a year of eternal hell for the Altarans. In the end, it took one person. One woman who was born of Esper and human. Terra Branford. She defeated Kefka, and lead her companians to escape after his tower began to crumble. Kefka some how managed to survive, but was buried under the rubble from the tower. I saw him in Ozzie's palace after Ozzie died. He said something about, this only being the beginning. I wonder if this is what he meant." Janus looked at the sky.
" Where would Kefka be?" Max looked back at him. " My guess would be 601. Shall we?" Lucca nodded. " Yes. Let's." The HAWK sped off, and vanished.
" Oh, what a day. Let's see. Ah, erase Guardia, recontruct Medinia to my likings. Ah, where does the fun end. Hmhm. Glad Illumnia boy isn't around. I never did quite catch his name. Oh well."
The HAWK came out over the old fortress and circled around a bit. " That would be it. Kefka's got to be in there." Max brought the ship down to a landing. The hatch opened and Janus climbed out.
" He's here. I can sense him." He ran inside without waiting for the others.
" Oh, Salar. Get me the Garthem. I want to speak with him. Ah, what a day." Kefka kicked his feet up on Ozzie's old desk, knocking something down. " Huh, what's this? ' Secrets of the Reptites.' What are reptites? Hmmmm." He opened the book and read a passage. ' 10/9/585 The reptites are an ancient, and almost extinct race. Very few of their kind still exist. We speculate that the majority of their race race was wiped out by a meteor that hit about sixty-five million years ago. As we have found several partial skeletons, we have some what constructed an idea of what they look like. They are human in build, bipedials, but had enlarged skulls. They appear to have been very intelligent, especially the one we call, at the suggestion of Dr. Marsk, " Azala". This one apears to have been extremely intelligent, and it is a mystery why they died out. The one we call, " Tyranno", is the largest specimen to date.'
Kefka marvaled at what he saw. " If I could bring this, Azala back to life, I can rule this world a lot quicker." He turned his attention back to the book. ' 1/5/586 We have done everything we could to preserve the Tyranno, but it has sucumbed to age and deteriation. The skeleton has become worthless, and can not be saved. Azala, on the other hand, seems to be only months old. The bones are astoundingly strong. We have shipped it to Guardia Castle, where it can be kept in safety.' Kefka smiled. " I think I should pay my respects to Azala." He cast up a tempest and a pile of bones appeared. " Let's see if I've still got that old touch." Kefka stood up and summoned a flury of energy. It struck the bones, lifting them into a standing postition. Lightning hit the bones, flesh appearing over them. Cloth wrapped around the skin, covering it once more. " Nnnoo.. Nnnooooooooo.... NnnooooooOOOOO!!!!! What, where am I?" The creature said. It looked at Kefka with wide eyes. " An ape brought me back?!! I don't believe this!!" Kefka glared at the creature. " Correction. A god, brought you back to life. I am Kefka, soon to be ruler off this planet, and god from the planet Altara. I'm no terran ape, reptite. I am, as Earthlings would say, an alien. No ape could have the power to bring beings back to life. Only I could do such a thing. Now, are you, or are you not, the reptite leader, Azala?" The creature nodded. " I am. So the apes rule the Earth now? Nalat was right about that. But humans and reptites can not live in peace. No offense." Kefka smiled. " How can I be offended by such a remark, when I'm not human. Azala, I reserected you so you could help conquer the humans. What do you say?" Azala thought about this. ' If he brought me back, what's to stop him from sending me back to death?' Azala came to a decision. " I say, you got a deal."
Janus ran into the fortress, killed the guards, and knocked down the statues of Ozzie's gods. They were gods of a extinct era, an era that was dead long before he himself had been forced to worship them. He tore down paintings of Ozzie and his generals, Flea and Slash. Janus came to one of him, of when he was known by another name. He saw the long, light blue hair that hung behind him. He grabbed his hair, and cut it with his scythe. A long, bundled, heap of light blue hair fell to the ground. Janus looked in a mirror. His hair was now shoulder length, and it began to darken. " For you Glenn." He turned around and slashed the painting. He knew, that one day, he would have to face the person who truly stood in that portrait. He turned to the stairs, and continued his crazed hunt. He passed another mirror, and saw that his skin had darkened from a pale whitish to a light tan. ' And so the taint in me is truly dead.' He thought. He heard a laugh that sounded awful lizard-like. " Oh no. Azala." He sped towards the maniacal sound, not once touching the ground.
Kekfa and Azala were laughing in a drunken stupier. " And so, he tells me, ' Well get a freak'in sledectamy!!' And I say ' Alright, but you're getting the surgery, and the bill!!'" Azala was bursting with laughter. " Oh, that's rich!!! You're brilliant!! I have to admit, for an ex-human, you're absolutely brilliant!! HA HA!! Whoa!! Ah ha ha!!!" Kefka nodded. " But that's not the end of it. Next day, he comes up to me and says, ' You know you cost me four hundred thousand gold pieces?!!' So I tell him, ' I'm not the one needed the brain surgery to figure it out!!!'" They both broke out in laughter.
" Oh, more rines?" Azala nodded. " Please. Oh boy. I tell you, human apes can be such a pain in the neck." Kekfa belched. " Oh no. They can be such a pain in the a...." " In the what?" Kefka and Azala looked towards the doorway. " Who the hell are you?!" Kefka said, barely controling his laughter. Janus stared at Kekfa. " Your worst nightmare, False God." He pulled the scythe off his back, kicked a desk and snarled at the dark being. " Ozzie forced me to worshiped your power for so long. Now it's payback time." He swung the Nightmare at Kefka's head, missing and hit the bookshelf. Azala started to run out the door when he saw a blade stick out of him. " This is for Glenn." Azala slumped to the ground, lifeless. Kefka grabbed a sword and slashed at the warrior prince. " You'll not destroy me." Janus growled at him. " You're right. I'll obliterate you." The two crossed weapons, sword on titanium handle. Sparks flew off the metal. Kefka blocked Janus's slash and thrusted at him. Janus parie'd the blade and down slashed Kefka's hand. Kefka screamed in pain. " Now, you will be gone." Janus stuck Nightmare in the holder on his back and summoned a swirl of energy around him. It turned dark grey and tightened into a ball. " BLACK HOLE!!!!!" The energy ball shot towards Kefka, and exploded into a giant sphere, sucking him in. " NNNOOOOO!!!! You... Can't.... Destroy..... MMMEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!" He was pulled in, and the sphere slammed shut. Janus let out a deep breath. He had banished Kefka, forever.
Max ran through the carnage that Janus had left in his wake. He noticed the paintings that lay on the ground. Max picked up one that had been torn. He lifted the fray piece and gasped. ' Oh god. No. No, this can't be. Oh god, please no. Please no.' He dropped the painting and collapsed. He now knew, that he had become like the one person he had always depised. He, was the decendent, of Magus, Ruler of the Mystics.
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To be Continued........
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