The Rise Of Evil Chapter 1

By Citadel

It was a warm, sunny afternoon in Truce village. Seagulls flew overhead and danced with the clouds. There was the smell of salt water in the air. An absolutly perfect day. too bad nothing perfect ever lasts.

In a poorer area of town a boy named Crono slept his morning away. At almost ten he was still sound asleep. NO surprise, however, he normaly slept until one or later.

On the lower level of that same house a mother paced aroundt the kitchen with stress mounding. In her nevousness she cleaned, and dusted, and fed the two cats five times. The lady one was pregnant. Crono's mom was a very worried lady at that moment. She had a lot of things happen to her in the past week.

First, her son is missing for three days, stopping in only to show her some new, and very odd friends he's made. Later they stop by to get a clone that materialized in his room.

Second, when Crono finally comes home he is declared a national hero and receives a one million dollar deposit in their local bank from the king. She has no problem with that.

But the thing that really troubled her wasd those gates that she saw. The gates in which all of Crono's friends went home. Those scared her a lot more than some Lavos ever could. He'd told her all of his advertures, but the thing that scared and intrigued her the most were those gates. The fair wasn't the first tome she'd seen one of those gates before either.

She'd seen the gates one time before, ten years ago, and it had taken away her beloved husband, Crono's father. That, more than anything, sent the most emotions running through her. Now she had to do something that she had been dreading for years: Tell Crono the truth behind his father's disappearace. Up unitl now she'd told Crono that he'd gone fishing one day but never came back. Swallowed bya storm, she guessed. but now she finally had to come clear, because she understood what really had happened to him. He could still be alive. Ten years was long enough, she had to see her husband one last time before she died. She needed Crono to see what a lovely man his father was. The latter was the thing that made her yearn for him the most. He hadn't seen his father sice he was six. He barely gotten to know him. That saddened her, Crono lost so much by him not being there.

She went upstairs to wake Crono, it was almost ten-thirty, he didn't need to sleep today away. maybe he'd know how to find Roland, his father.If he didn't, who else would. Other than Marle or Lucca?

"Crono," she called, "Crono! It's time to get up honey." He stirred in his sleep. she knew he could hear her. "Get up sleepy head, you need to eat some breakfast."

"Food?" He mumbled. "Food? I'll wake for some food," Crono said without even opening his eyes. Crono's mom went back downstairs and prepared some eggs. She always knew just how to get him out of the sack in the morning.

A few minutes later she saw him stagger down the stairs with a cat dancing around his feet. He still hadn't opened his eyes. She didn't know how on Earth he could maneuver through the house in the morning without opening his eyes for at least an hour. Nearly everyday. Some things you'll just never learn, she guessed.

He yawned and gave her his usual greeting, "What's cooking?"

"Just some eggs. Sit down, I'll bring them to you."

"Alright."

"What do you want to drink?"

"Some OJ would be great. Ever since we got that big, fat check we've been able to buy the good stuff, not just the same old milk everyday."

"It's nice, isn't it?" She concurred.

"Sure is." Crono opened his eyes as the glass and plate were set before him. He chowed down on the eggs and made small talk with his mom about the coming day.

After a while she couldn't hold it in anymore and had to tell him about what had been bothering her the past few days.

"Crono, I have something important to tell you." He looked up form his plate. Eggs nearly finished, OJ down tho the last few drops.

"Sure, what is it."

"You went traveling through time, right?"

"Yeah, really fun. I'll have to show you one day." Then he remembered the Epoch being destroyed in Lavos's shell. "I mean, I wish you could've seen it."

"You traveled through gates, those blue things."

"Yeah, I already told you this. What about it."

"I've seen those gates before." Crono froze in midbite. He stared at her slightly perplexed. "I've seen those gates once before. About ten years ago. You remember what happened ten years ago, right?" Crono thought that over, he could barely remember much anything prior to Lavos. He wondered what she was talking about, he was only six. How could he remember anything back then. Then it hit him, but it was a long shot. Could she be talking about Dad?

"Do you mean Dad? Ten years ago when he was lost at sea?"

"Yes and no. Crono, I've lied to you." His eyes went wide, then were filled with hurt. "I've lied about your father for ten long years. It's finally time I told you." He made a move to talk, but she waved it donw with her hand. "Don't, please let me explain. I told you the sea story mostly because I didn't understand what I saw, and I knew you wouldn't beleive me when I told you how he was lost.

"We were hiking Denadoro on a day much like this. You were staying with Lucca and her family for a week while we were gone. Roland and I had a great time while we were there and made it all the way to the top, just as we had planned. We weren't even behind our schedule we'd planned. It had been the most perfect trip you could ever ask for.

"We came to the summit and found an unmarked cave. We walked inside and found an altar beneath an air hole. The wind was terrible in that cave; the whole time I was in it I had a queer feeling. Roland walked to the altar while I looked at the walls. While he was up there he looked at the sky through the opening and mentioned something about it being very odd that there was so much wind in the cave. It was physically imposible. Just as he finished those words a blue portal blew open and sucked him in. I never saw him again."

Crono couldn't even move. He was beyond stunned at this new twist in his life. Everything he'd ever known was now changed. He wasn't mad at his mom, but somehow understood how she couldn't tell him. He would have thought she was crazy as a loon if she'd said that. Up until three days ago that is. It amazed him how long she had kept that secret from him. Never once telling, or giving a hint that she might be lying.

"He was sent through a time warp?" He asked.

"Yes, I know that now. I'll never forget it." She sniffled and fought back the tears that were sure to come. "I saw the fair's portal and I knew that they were the same. You don't forget something that amazing."

Crono realized his jaw was gaping, he closed it and began collecting his thoughts.

"Crono, listen to me. Find him. Only you can do it son. I love him second only to you. Please, go to Denadoro and see if there is any possible way you can bring him back. But, be careful. No telling what you may find up there. So take Lucca and Marle too. You three are the only ones who stand a chance at finding him. No one else on the face of the planet is capable of doing it. You three are the only ones who can bring him back."

Crono jumped up from his chair sending it back into the stove. "I will find Dad, and I will bring him back. You have my word. I'll find Dad, I will finally be able to see him again."

Before he left he hugged his mom and ran to Lucca's house. After explaining the situation there they went to the castle to get Marle. She told the king that she was needed again and she wouldn't be home for dinner. The three were off.

***

Janus flew through the chilly air. his eyebrows were fosted from the bitter cold and the droplets from the clouds. His lips were numb. He knew he'd been out in the cold for too long, but he needed to find her. He knew she was still alive. His quest for Schala wouldn't be stopped by anything short of death. The way he was pushing his body, it might just come to that.

He crossed the waters for the hundreth time, still unable to find any small island, sand bar, or sign of life. The only place he'd found was a small cottage resting in the middle of the sea. It was warm, but empty. Obviously the man in it was out hunting or something. He'd waited there until the owner returned. He had a dead deer slung over his shoulders. The arrow still jutting out from the ribs. The man had greeted him in a kind manner, but Magus had no time for that. He had a beard red hair, similar to that of Crono's. That surprised him, but he realized that he must be an ancestor of the young boy.

The man invited him in, Janus found his place quite cozy, even more so with the old man in the room. Something about the old man made him feel--different. Like old Janus, his mind would tell him. But he dismissed it and began asking about Schala. Again, nobody knew. As he left the place the old feeling of hatred returned, almost saying, "Hey! What's goin' on? Miss us you sociopathical nut? Yeah, you'll never get rid of us, wizard!" Janus began hating that place, because when the feeling returned he'd felt even worse than before.

That was a few days ago. Right after he'd arrived back in twelve thousand. Now he was crossing the northwestern areas of the globe and was aproaching the Sun Keep. Down on the side of the mountain was a small fleck in the snow. If Janus had been any higher he might not have noticed it. He began a quick descent to check it out.

As he came closer he could've sworn that those were royal robes of Zeal. And still, the closer he got the more that they began to look like Zeal's robes. And by the time he was a hundred feet away he knew, even in the thivk snow, that he was looking at the other survivor of Zeal. Schala.

***

Robo had been in twenty-three hundred AD for only three days and he knew that something else had gone terribly wrong. The future still wasn't changed. the sky was still black as night, but was streaked with blood red lines that quivered in the atmosphere. the moon was blood, and the ground was cratered. Almost as if Lavos had been here, or something worse. Much worse. It seemed as if somehow they'd destroyed the future by killing Lavos.

To the far East, near the old factory, Robo had seen a huge red hole in the ground with demons crawling out of it. Evil beings of death that fed on the living swarmed about it. They didn't notice him because he was synthetic. Not living. But human bones were scattered to the four corners, some still with flesh hanging off them. Robo sensed massive amounts of spiritual energy flowing off the hole. It was more powerful than even the Black Omen. It was undoutedly a Hell Mouth. A gate straight to Hell that poured out demons of death. A horrible armageddon.

To the south a huge portal hovered over the old dome that held Belthazar. A gateway to a place far worse than anything Robo's advanced mind wanted to think of.

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