When Crono, Marle, Lucca and Robo came out of the gate, everything was gray around them.
They fell a few meters down, and landed on a strange place.
It was like a floating island with a gray void around.
A stair led down from it and connected to a bigger ‘room’ with a door.
On the ‘island’ was three pillars of light, who looked quite mysterious.
”Where are we?” Robo said.
No one answered. They looked around.
Crono walked down to the door, and opened it.
In the new room behind the door, was a streetlight in the middle. On the north side, was a door, but Crono couldn’t see anything behind it.
All four walked down. In the center of the new room, just beside the streetlight, was a man standing. He was wearing all brown clothes, and had a brown hat.
He leaned against the streetlight.
”Ah, more guests...!” He said.
All four walked to him and lined up in front of him.
”What do you mean "guest"? And, WHERE are we?” Lucca asked.
”Why, this is the "End of Time" of course! All lost travelers end up here!”
Crono looked supriced at him.
”Now, where are you from?” He continued.
”We're from Guardia Kingdom, circa 1000 AD” Crono said.
”I come from 2300 AD...” Robo continued.
”When 4 or more beings step into a time warp, the Conservation of Time theorem states they will turn up at the space-time coordinates of least resistance. Here.” the old man explained.
”Disturbances in the space-time continua, have increased recently.
Far too many folks are just popping in here...
I fear something is having powerful effect on the very fabric of time...”
Lucca looked up.
”Which means one of us has to remain here.”
”Stay HERE? ALONE?” Marle said.
The old man looked around.
”It is pretty bleak here...
But not to worry. All time periods connect here...
You can visit your friends whenever you wish!
But you can never travel in groups greater than 3...”
Robo looked at the others.
”So, one of us must stay... For now.”
The old man nodded.
”Who’ll it be, Crono?” Lucca asked.
Crono thought for a moment.
”I guess it will be... Robo.”
Robo nodded and walked into a corner and sat down.
”Please come for me whenever you need me.”
”How do we get back to our time?” Marle asked.
”You see those lovely pillars of light?” The old man answered.
”Those hook you up to different eras.
Once you've been through a gate, you can always use it to come back here.
But beware the gate which leads from that bucket...”
He pointed at a bucket behind him.
”Let’s go!” Crono said, and walked up to the gate room.
”Hey... Don't be in such a rush! Before you go, take a peek inside the room behind me!” the old man shouted.
Crono turned around. He had almost forgotten that door.
”And why don’t you leave the gate key here, and I’ll make some improvements on it.”
Crono nodded and left the gate key. Then he walked to the door.
He opened it, and saw that it was actually something behind it.

It was a squared room with a sheep-looking creature in the middle.
”What’re you looking at?” it said.
Crono, Lucca and Marle walked forward to it.
”I'm Spekkio. The Master of War! I've seen all kinds of battles from here.
How do I look to you guys?”
Crono watched him.
”Not very strong...”
”I see. Let's put it this way. If you're strong, I look strong. If you're weak, I look weak.”
Marle giggled.
”That explains it!”
”You are strong of will! That's why the Old One let you through.
Long before you were born....
... There was a kingdom where magic flourished. Everyone there could use it!
But in time, people began to abuse their powers. It got so bad that no one was allowed to use magic except wizards.
But you have it...determination, I mean!
Magic needs power of the heart. It needs inner strength.
Magic is divided into 4 types:
Lightning, Fire, Water & Shadow.”
Spekkio looked at Crono.
”You, the punk hairdo! You're "Lightning".”
”Who me?” Crono said. Spekkio nodded.
Then he turned to Marle.
”The one with the ponytail is "Water".”
And finally he turned to Lucca.
”And you with goofy glasses is "Fire".”
”Not just magic, but  EVERYTHING  is based on the balance of those 4 powers.
Think "MAGIC", and, starting from the door, walk clockwise along the walls of my room 3 times.”
Crono, Marle and Lucca did like Spekkio said, and tried to keep the thought ”This is ridicules”
away from their heads.
”Very good!” Spekkio said.
Then he held out his arms.
”Ipso facto, meeny moe, MAGICO”
First, Crono started to shimmer.
Then Marle was surrounded by a blue glow.
Finally, big flames appeared around Lucca.
”So, fortified with magic! Wanna try it out?”
Crono looked at the others.
”Sure... how?”
Spekkio smiled.
”Beat me!”
”I don’t think so!” Lucca said.
”Did I tell you that I just don’t look weak...”
Lucca nodded.
”Okay. But be kind!”
Spekkio laughed.
Crono could feel the magic flow around him.
It was everywhere.
He gathered as much energy he could, and send it up.
The energy became a lightning bolt, who stroke down on Spekkio.
He was thrown down on the floor, but got fast up.
Marle could also feel the magic.
She gathered all possible energy and summoned her magic powers.
Blue ice crystals circled around her, and finally, they gathered in front of her, and she threw it away on Spekkio. When the blue ice crystal ball hit Spekkio, it flashed with a blue light.
The light was too strong to see, so they had to close their eyes.
When Crono and Lucca opened their eyes again, Spekkio was trapped inside a big ice-cube.
The ice slowly faded away.
In the same moment, Lucca gathered her powered.
A fire coil flied around her, and then ‘jumped’ over on Spekkio.
Big flames appeared around him.
Spekkio got fast up again.
”My turn!” he said.
He waved a few times with his hands and blue energy appeared around him.
The energy transformed into a big bubble, which flied against Crono.
Crono picked up his sword, and tried to break the bubble, but the sword went right through.
When Crono was in the middle of the bubble, it imploded.
Crono was forced to the ground.
Marle let another ice attack of, and Lucca fried Spekkio again.
”Grrrr... You win... That was most embarrassing! Don’t make a habit of this.
Here, this is for you.”
He pick up five bottles from nowhere, and gave them to Crono.
”I AM the master of war! Whew! Sometimes I scare myself!
You guys are too much! Bring newcomers to me, and I’ll teach them magic!”
Crono picked up one of the bottles. ”What’s this? A tonic?”
Spekkio shook his head.
”Node. It’s an ether. I haven’t told you about it?”
They all shook their heads.
”Oh...” Spekkio said. ”Well, you see... When you use too much magic power, you drain yourself of it. To regain it, drink ether or rest in a few hours.” Crono nodded. ”I see.”
”You wanna know a few more tricks?” Spekkio asked.
”Sure.” Marle said.
”When you get enough experience, you might wanna try to use more powerful versions of your magic. Just try to understand who magic works, and then make some own research.”
”Cool!” Lucca said.
”And...” Spekkio continued. ”Your magic is combinable. You know what that means?”
Lucca smiled.
”We can combinate it?”
”Bingo! But you have to find out how for yourselves.”
”Gee... Thanks!” Crono said and they walked back to the main room.
”You guys are too much!” Spekkio shouted after them.

Once they came back to the main room, the old man called for them.
”Hey!”
Crono, Marle and Lucca walked to him.
”Well, well, well...
People who lived long ago enjoyed ALL such powers.
Now, I know you're itching to go ripping back and forth through time,
but first you need to return to your era. And you must hurry.
The longer you remain here, the harder it will be to change that which must be changed...
Stop by whenever you're in the area!”
”We will!” Lucca promised.
”And here’s your gate key. I’ve improved it a bit. You can now ”create” a gate who leads here.
But you must be near a real gate, or in a place with much magic. But remember that only one can enter it, and one must leave from here. That means that you can only exchange members with it.”
”Thanks.” Crono said, took the gate key, and then walked to the ‘gate room’.
”What a mystic guy!” Marle said as they walked up to the room with the pillars.
”Now which one?” Crono said. He was referring to the three pillars.
Lucca looked into one of them.
”This one leads to ‘mystic mountain’ 65.000.000 BC”
Crono and Marle looked at her.
”How do you know?”
”Don’t know... I just knew it when I looked into this pillar.”
Marle looked into the middle pillar, from which they came.
”You’re right! This one leads to Proto Dome, 2300 AD”
Crono looked into the remaining one.
”And this to... Wait a moment! Medina 1000 AD!”
Marle looked at him. ”Medina? Isn’t that...”
”...the mystics island?” Lucca continued.
”Right.”
”Well...” Crono said. ”That’s the only one leading to our time...We gotta take it.”
Marle looked at him.
”But how are we gonna get home? I mean... These guys hate humans. Especially after we won the war against them, 400 years ago.”
”Do we have any choice?” Lucca asked.
”No.” Marle said.
Crono stepped into it, and looked up.
His body lifted from ground and flew straight up.
Marle did the same.
Lucca took a final look back, before she entered the pillar.

”Who’s in there?” Robo asked.
”Oh... It’s just Spekkio. He is the master of war. He taught them to use magic.”
”I see...” Robo said.

Crono had never seen an imp that surprised, as when he, Marle and Lucca landed right in their kitchen.
The gate had opened inside a closet.
”Hey!” one of the imps screamed. ”Did you people just came out of that closet? Get outta here!”
”Who do you think you are?” the female imp said. ”Coming out of our closet like that. Scram!”
Crono nodded. ”Sure.”
Just as they were going to walk out, the male imp called for them.
”Wait a sec!”
Crono turned around.
”Huh?”
”Medina village was founded by the ancestors of the mystics, who lost a war against the humans.
Most mystics hold grudge against humans... be careful! And... there’s a odd man living a bit outside this village. You might enjoy a chat with him.”
”Thanks!” Marle said. ”Hey... Wait a moment! Why are you so nice? Mystics are not supposed to get along with humans.”
The female imp smiled.
”We fought a war 400 years ago. My motto is ”forgive and forget”, but not many seem to agree with me.”
Crono nodded. ”Too bad not all think like you.”
They said good-bye and left. Medina was quite empty on this day, but it was a little bit late.
The clock was probably over 9.
”Let’s find someplace to rest.” Marle suggested. ”Do they have any inn here?”
Crono nodded. ”Yeah, Medina inn, but I don’t think they accept humans.”
”Well, I don’t wanna look for that guy in the middle of the night...” Lucca said and watched for an inn sign.
”Well, then... Let’s go and see how nice they are...” Crono said.
Marle and Lucca nodded.
They went over to the other side of the town, and found the Medina inn there.
Once they entered, the hench who owned the place, looked very unfriendly.
”We have nothing for humans!”
”Look.” Marle said. ”We just need some place to rest. And we’re rich...”
The hench shook his head.
Marle shoved him 300 GP.
”OK...” the hench said.
Two gargyles, who were there and ate, protested, but the hench agreed.
Crono, Lucca and Marle went over to the beds, once Marle had paid.
”These are too small!” Lucca exclaimed.
”That can be adjusted!” the hench said, very friendly.
He walked to the beds and pulled in one of the edges.
The bed enlarged.
”That’s perfect! Thanks!” Lucca said.
The hench helped the others, and then they all fell asleep.

Carefully, the hench walked forward to the humans beds.
He looked after any clothes, or bags. Anything with money.
Damn! The humans slept with their cloths on.
Carefully, the hench removed the sheets from the boy.
Then the hench noticed that the boy was holding in a sword.
He looked at the boys head. His eyes were opened.
”Whatever you’re looking for, it’s certainly not down there.”
The hench backed off.
”Schearas! Fthylith!”
The two imps came running.
One of them jump up on the bed where Lucca were suppose to be in.
It stabbed down it’s dagger into the bed.
But Lucca wasn’t there.
From a corner, a fire came out of nowhere and flied through the room.
The fire hit one of the imps, and it rolled on the floor panicly to stop burn.
Marle loaded up her water powers and released an ice crystal.
It trapped the other imp, and slowly faded out.
The hench looked panicly around.
”H...hey! You know magic! Human with magic power is suppose to banish a long time ago.”
Crono smiled.
”Well WE still exist.”
”Look, you can’t sleep here. Get out.”
Marle took back the money they paid, and they went to a forest north of Medina to seek cover.
”How far do we have to go?” Marle asked.
”Far enough.” Crono answered.
They continued to walk further into the forest.
Finally, Crono stopped.
”This place is good.”
It was a small open field they had found.
”Marle, you try to find anything eatable in your or Lucca’s bag. Lucca, you scout the nearest area for any mystics.”
”What about you?” Lucca asked.
”I’m gonna find something to make a fire with.”
They all splitted up.
Marle searched first through her own bag, but she couldn’t find anything there.
The she search in Lucca’s and she had a few eatable things.
Marle sat down and waited for the rest to finish.
Crono was the first to come. He had his hands full of sticks and branches.
He put them down on the ground and fixed them up.
Last was Lucca.
”You can never guess what I found!”
”Money? A new gun? Tonics? Ethers?” Crono tried.
”No. There’s an old ruin in the forest, a few kilometers from here. Magic is strong in that area, ‘cause I could use the gate key.”
Crono nodded. ”We’ll check that out later.”
Lucca nodded.
”Now, Lucca... Can you please make some fire?”
Lucca nodded again.
Marle and Crono backed off as Lucca summoned her magic and let a fire tail go off.
The sticks begun to burn immediately.
They laid down close to the fire, and slowly closed their eyes.
Could they save this world from that monster, known as Lavos?
”Can we do it?” Crono said.
”I know we can.” Marle answered. ”If we hold on together. And don’t lose the track.
We’ve come so far. I know that our dream of saving the future will never die.”
Crono nodded.
”You’re right.”
 

Crono could see a weak image of himself standing beside Frog and a black cape man.
They were facing a women with a shiny dress. She was laughing. In the same moment, she disappeared, and a big monster took her place. ”‘Tis a nasty one.” Frog said. ”Very smart.”
”Let’s confuse him a bit.” Crono could hear himself say.
Just a moment later, Crono saw how he jumped forward and circled around the monster with incredible speed, and in the same time, he was cutting with his sword. They image disappeared,
and instead, he heard a voice. ”Wake up!”

”What’s that noise?” Marle exclaimed, when she woke up.
No answer.
She got up and walked over to Crono.
”Hey! Crono. Wake up!”
”Let’s... Confuse...”
”What?” Marle said and rolled him over.
That made him wake up.
”Huh?”
”Are you okay?” Marle asked.
”Yeah.”
I the same time, Lucca woke up.
”Morning!”
”Morning.” Crono replied, still a little bit tired.
”What time is it?”
Lucca looked at he watch.
”9 o’clock”
Crono picked up his package.
”What’s that noise?” he asked.
”I don’t know.” Marle said. ”I woke up to it too.”
”Let’s go and find out.” Suggested Lucca.
They all nodded and picked up the rest of the stuff.
”First, ” Marle started. ”We’re out of food. We need some quick. In worst case, Medina store.”
Crono nodded. They walked out from the forest and down to the town.
It was at the center of the town, were all things happened.
A lot of mystics were singing and screaming, but Marle, Crono and Lucca were too far away to hear. Once they got closer, they could hear something about Magus.
”I wonder what that weird chanting is about.” Marle said when they got closer.
The walked to the center of Medina and saw that there was a big statue of Magus there.
Around the statue, a lots of Imps, henches, galgyles and other mystics were walking around.
There was someone who lead a speech. It was something like this:
”400 years have passed since Magus commanded the Mystics, and waged war against the humans.
As soon as Magus’s creation, the mighty Lavos, awakens from his long sleep, the human race is DOOMED!”
”I’ve heard enough!” Lucca said. ”Let’s go find that odd man.”
They traveled west from the town, against a mountain.
Just south of it, there was a little house.
Crono didn’t count the time, but they were walking a while.
When Crono, Lucca and Marle was outside of it, they could see the Porre continent.
If they only could get there...
They entered the house.
”Oh, hello again!” Melchior said.
Crono looked at the man.
”Melchior?!? Are you that odd man?”
Melchior laughed.
”Just because I live here doesn’t mean I’m odd. Whatever the imps say.”
They walked in talked a little bit with Melchior. He was proud to show them his sword collection.
”You know...” Crono said. ”That sword you sold to me... It has been very useful.”
Melchior nodded.
”Well... I told you.”
Crono nodded.
”But...” Melchior said and took down one sword from the wall. ”If you like the last one, you will love this!”
Crono looked at it. The blade was all red.
”Huh?!? Red?”
”It’s a red katana. A mighty weapon. It’s your for 4500 GP.”
”Hey...” Crono said. ”I can’t buy things from your collection...”
”Oh... I can make me a new one easily.”
Crono looked at Lucca and Marle.
”Well...” Marle said. ”We have the money. Do you think it’s worth it, Lucca?”
Lucca nodded.
”OK.” Crono said and handed over the money.
He took the sword and left the old one.
”Now...” Lucca said. ”How do we get to our continent? And how did you get to the fair?”
Melchior ignored the last question.
”To get home... There is only one way. Since there is no boats on the route Truce-Medina, you must go through a cave.”
”A cave?”
”Yes. You find it in the mountain north of here. I think it’s unpopulated. The mystics used it in the war 400 years ago.”
Crono looked at Lucca and Marle. Then back on Melchior.
”Does it lead UNDER the water?”
”No, no, no... You’ll see.”
Crono nodded.
”Surprise, huh?”
”Let’s go!” Marle said and turned around.
They followed her out, heading for the cave.

.

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