The Rise Of Evil Chapter 3
By Citadel
Crono saw the end of the blue portal just ahead, the usual fading of the time bubble started and he was back in reality. The others were with him too, Lucca, Marle, and Belthasar. There was no light. Belthasar started glowing a bright blue that illuminated the place for him. He noticed familiar mists flowing around him. He breathed stale air. He looked left and right and saw a vast stretch of blackness. Up ahead was an iron gate and fence. It surrounded a small square of bricks that held two buckets and a lamp post. It was the End of Time. But where there should've light from the lamp all Crono saw was a pink Nu and a hurt man.
"What happened?" Crono asked.
"Are you all right?" Belthasar added.
"Yes, I'm fine," Gaspar answered. "We were ambushed. Hideous beasts attacked the End of Time. I didn't even see them coming. They must've come from outside of time. I had no idea... I never knew how out of practice I really was. I'll have to work on that. The destroyed my lovely lamp post and all my lovely bricks are now scratched. I am fine, just some minor cuts and bruises. Just a little bit of internal bleeding. But I'm okay. spekkio's been healing me."
"Who? Who attacked you? Did they leave a name?" Lucca asked.
"Why yes, not only their name, but they taught me their secret handshake, left their address, PO box and the whole spiel."
"No need to be sarcastic," she retorted.
"But I do have a good guess."
"Then why didn't you tell me that instead of making me look stupid?"
"No fun." He replied. Lucca stomped her foot in a huff and folded her arms in annoyance. "Anyway, I think it was Cameron, looking for me."
"He found you?" Belthasar exclaimed.
"Yes, he found me. I first thought this place was a curse, but being here has allowed me to live without worry of attack for so long. But now -- now he has found a way to the End of Time. Than means that he can go anywhere."
"But who is this guy!" Marle yelled.
"Lemme explain," Gaspar offered. "Cameron Delecroix is an old thing that came out of Lavos back in the hay day of Zeal.
"When we found Lavos and his power we also saw something. An alien parasite that seeped out of the shell of Lavos. It was blacker than tar, and bubbled like lava. It slimed up to us and rose up. It somehow looked at us and began to form its shape. Now that I look back on it I realize that he must've been trying to figure out what shape to form."
"It can change shapes?" Crono asked.
"Very well, but that isn't the half of it. It took in skin color and began to look more and more like a human. We were all perplexed. It told us of how evil Lavos truly was and how we should stay away from it. It told us that it had been captive for millennia, trying to find someone who would help him free. He said by opening the cave in the ground we awakened it and it escaped.
"He lived in Zeal and taught us several new things about magic. All the while it gained power and higher political positions. As it began to gain trust it still told us how evil Lavos was. He wasn't too far off was he?" Everybody shook their heads. "Well, Lavos eventually broke out of the spell Cameron had him in. Lavos had been purposefully taken out of the picture in order to avoid any complications.
"After a while Lavos got ahold of the queen and told her the truth. Cameron was really an evil alien that was trying to open a portal to another plane of existence that would unleash horrible forces into out universe." Everybody stared at him after finishing the last sentence. "He had duped us all. We knew he was an alien but he had helped us so much.
"The queen didn't stand for this very long. She ordered that all the Nu and all the wizards band together to destroy him. This was done within a day, and he wasn't aware of it.
"One day she invited him to a 'ceremony' where all the wizards would honor him for all his hard work. They ployed him, just as he was stepping onto the stage they bombarded him with the strongest magics they had. It still wasn't enough. Even with the help of the Nu the wizards couldn't kill him. With simple fire spells he'd kill five of us at a time. His version of flare would shatter even the greatest of fire shields. He'd make the ground swallow us whole, the elements were even against us. The scariest part was he'd actually become the planet. He'd seep into the ground and he'd make the planet destroy us with the elements.
"The only way we were able to beat him that day was with the help of one very special Nu. Purflet, the purple one. The only Purple Nu to ever exist was Purflet. He was legendary. There were prophecies that spoke of him, how his powers would be unparalleled. Purflet ordered the rest of us to cease fire. He appeared to us in his human form as soon as we did. Purflet created a vortex into the World of the Damned. It drew Cameron in, but Purflet as well. We never heard from him again."
"And now he's back?" Marle asked.
"And is still trying to open the portal to the other plane of existence."
"What is this place?" Lucca asked.
"This place is called the Palace of Eternity. Nobody really knows the specifics behind it, but it supposedly holds the original demon. The Daemon Trainer. A force so strong it could kill almost anything with a thought. Or so I've heard. Most likely the rumors have been exaggerated, but still... It has to be very strong in order for the rumors to get that outrageous."
"Who is this thing?" she asked.
"I don't know. It is just a legend. But even still it isn't over. The thing still has more powers. While we were fighting it would use our fears and our knowledge against us."
"How so?" Lucca asked.
"It can read our minds. It would use that to find our worst fear and shape its body into that form. If our fear was more complicated than that it would just become some hideous beast and attack. Either way it would try its best to scare you before it killed you."
"What do you mean by more complicated?"
"Why Lucca, you should understand that the best! A simple fear would be one of spiders. So he'd become a huge fifty foot black widow. A complicated fear would be something like being able to pay the bills on time. Or in your case Lucca, your mother's legs. I know how much that now scares you, if anything were to happen to those legs it'd probably kill you." She sudden;y understood. She now knew how powerful this thing is.
"Why didn't it kill you?" Belthasar asked.
"It wasn't here. Just a few of it stronger lackeys. Spekkio over here whomped them with a few Luminaires and there was no problem."
"No sweat," Spekkio added. He laughed and gave Gaspar one final cure. Gaspar stood and dusted himself off.
"Now, we have a huge problem here. There is a powerful demon who wants world to open a gate to some place," Crono began, "but why? Why would he want to?"
"Whoever opens the portal to the Palace of Eternity will be given infinite powers. Unlimited life and strength that would go to the ends of forever. Nothing would stop him," Gaspar answered.
"Nice incentive," Crono answered. "But what can we do about it? How can we even find this guy?"
"I have been looking into this," Gaspar started, "I have been scanning the times, as I normally do, and I have found a place where we can find him."
"Where?" Marle asked.
"In twenty-three hundred AD. There is a portal right to the world of the Damned, just a few days before the portal to the Palace of Eternia is completely opened."
"How 'bout we go there and close the door?" Marle proposed.
"Can't," Gaspar answered, "it can only be closed by killing the opener."
"Wouldn't that trap us inside?" Marle asked.
"Shouldn't, you'll have time to leave. But not much, you'll have to hurry, the portal will only be open for so long."
"Then let's go kill him right now," Crono interjected.
"I wouldn't recommend that," Belthasar suggested, "you see he was too powerful for an army of wizards. What hope do the three of you have? I suggest finding the rest of your comrades and maybe you'd have a fighting chance. If you don't the world is doomed."
"But what about my father?" Crono asked suddenly remembering him. It shocked Crono that he would even forget about his dad at all, but the mind can do some funny things.
"That little personal journey of yours will need to be placed on hold, this is much more important than some simple quest to find a lost loved one." Belthasar explained. Crono's face flashed red and he stomped his foot in frustration.
"I suggest finding that Robotic friend of your, Robo. He might be in grave danger, being in the time when the portal's about to open. By the way, there is something else I noticed in the vision I saw of the future. A Hell Mouth exists. I don't know why it was there, just be careful."
"What's a Hall Mouth?" Marle asked, not liking the sound of it.
"A direct door to Hell. Weaker demons will pour out of it. The types of demons that feed on human flesh" The three grimaced. "Don't go near it, no matter what." He emphasized the last three words.
"Let's go!" Lucca declared. Belthasar pointed toward the place where the old gates used to be and a new blue pillar of light appeared.
"That's a new trick I learned in death," he announced. And the three stepped into the light and were teleported to a new world.
***
Janus stared at a woman who he had kill with his bare hands. His own mother. She sneered at him the same way she had right before she died. Schala backed up. She was almost running backwards to get away from her own mother. Janus was too surprised to move for a moment. He regained his senses and flew back to his sister, protecting her.
"I killed you, you no longer exist!" Janus yelled.
"I live, and I have come to destroy the horrible offspring of mine that rejects Lavos!"
"Lavos is dead! I killed him too! He was destroyed by my scythe!"
Schala interjected, "Mother! Lavos is dead! Don't you see? He wasn't immortal! You were wrong about him!"
"No! He only fools you stupid children!" A sudden gust of wind sent both of them hurtling out of the cave into the cold.
Janus was up first and threw a purple sphere of magic at his mother. She held her hand up and it stopped in midair. She then shot it back at Janus, striking him square in the chest. The resulting concussion knocked him off his feet and into the air. His chest was covered in minor burns and his shirt was completely roasted. He hit the ground and slid in the snow for another five feet.
Schala raised her hands and shot two bursts of purple energy at her mother. Zeal, with uncanny swiftness, avoided the two beams, and was suddenly at her daughter's side. Zeal lifted Schala into the air with telepathy and hit her with a strong lightning bolt.
Zeal spun on her heels and shot three fire balls at the rising Janus. He dodged one, blocked the others with ice walls. Janus flew in and tackled his mom to the ground. Lightning surged forth from his hands and fried Zeal. He rolled of her and flew to Schala's side.
"Are you al--" he was cut off in midsentence by a sudden flare of pain in his ribs and being thrown from his feet. He looked up and saw Schala create a barrier around herself as meteors pounded her. She released the shield and let loose a flurry of icicles. They all melted before reaching Zeal. Schala put her hands in prayer formation and an orange ball surrounded by blue lightning began to glow and grow in front of her. When it reached correct size she released it. In order to throw Zeal's timing it circled around Schala once slowly and zoomed like a bat out of Hell at Zeal connecting with her right before she had time to put up a shield. The ball exploded and knocked her over. All the snow melted around her and the ground scorched under the intense heat. A huge semicircle erupted and obscured the view of her for a moment.
Schala rushed back to Janus's side to see if he was fine or not. He seemed to have minor burns from a fireball that hit his side. She cured him and placed a barrier around them while the spell did its work.
Just as the spell began to die down a huge humanoid thing emerged from the flames. Standing more than twenty feet tall it was very imposing.
"My God, Lavos lives!" Janus cried. He was on his feet instantly and prepared himself for battle yet again. the Lavos core looked over the both of them. It raised its left hand and huge bolt of lightning hit the shield around the both of them. The fourth one shattered the shield and the fifth hit between them and sent them both flying in different directions.
Janus was on his feet first and prepared his strongest attack. With a simple flick of the wrist, and a point at the target, Dark Matter filled the air around Lavos. A black triangle filled with endless space twisted and morphed reality and debilitated Lavos.
Schala cast a Luminaire just as Dark Matter finished. Lavos, however, wouldn't stick around for this one. Simultaneously the two of them were thrown to their back by an unseen force. Lavos raised his left hand and a stream of pebbles pounded Schala. Parts of her flesh were torn off in the raid, her clothes torn, and one pebble entered her eye. She screamed in agony as her body was battered.
"NOOOOO!" Janus roared. He flew in with unseen speed. As he drew closer his body was consumed in flames and he charged Lavos as a human fireball. As he collided his shoulder shattered, Lavos was just too strong for such a foolhardy attack. Janus felt himself picked up and tossed aside like some ragdoll. He looked up just in time to see a huge crystal fly at him. He rolled to his side and placed a magical barrier up.
Schala tried to stand, but her weakened body collapsed under her weight. She could barely hold her head up.
Janus gathered his powers and prepared another attack, but they faded just as soon as he saw Lavos prepare his next attack. Lavos was gathering his powers and was about to release his most powerful physical attack. That move gave Janus nightmares. He watched as Lavos pulled up his left hand and point at Janus, but then shifted to the right and pointed at Schala.
"Stop! Don't do it! SCHALA MOVE! MOVE NOW!" Suddenly a burst of gray filled the air, it began to take on shape and create a huge granite rock. The slab hovered in air for a moment and then slammed down on Schala. Crushing every bone in her body, flattening her out like a pancake. Janus saw red. Literally, everything in the world took on a red tint, his fear, pain, and all other emotions except for hate exited his body. He felt no other feeling except to kill Lavos. Kill.
Lavos raised his left hand again and another lightning bolt came down. It destroyed the small shield that Janus had. Janus flew forth at Lavos as fast as he could, throwing all shadow magics that he could along the way. they were all deflected by a green shield. Suddenly Janus halted in midair, a Dark Bomb still in his hand. It exploded in his face, burning him. The spell was so strong that he couldn't even move to scream. his face was covered in blood, the only thing recognizable were the hate filled eyes.
A non-human coarse and deep voice uttered one word, "Die." Janus was thrown to the ground. The breath was knocked out of him. He was flipped over and was now looking at the sky. Huge fireballs materialized and started raining down from the sky. The first one exploded to his left, making a small hole in the ground. The next one hit his shield, and so did the next. The fourth one shattered his green shield. Janus knew the pain was sure to come again. A fire ball hit his right shin and exploded, destroying his leg. The next hit his right shoulder, blowing it off, and fragments burying themselves in his face. The last one hit him square in the chest, just as he was about to place another shield up. It was slowed down, but the explosion burnt his flesh away. His guts spilled out, scorched by the heat of the fire. Janus's energy gave up and he passed out.
Lavos's form wavered and he began to shrink. His retched beast appearance turned black and he sank to the ground. He started building himself back up and was only 5'9. He had brown hair and blue eyes. He sensed no thought coming from Janus. A black portal appeared and he sank into it.
.