Chrono Continuum
Chapter 88:
Shared Destination
1999 A.D.
Janus' eyes were closed. He was sleeping, but not peacefully. His eyebrows
were tight with fear, or anger, or pain, and he was jerking back and forth,
making it very hard for Marle to successfully heal his broken arm. Christina
stared down at the two of them solemnly for a moment, just to make sure that
her father was going to be all right, then turned and left the cave. She
came out into the open air and took a deep breath. It was good to be above
ground again. Christina was beginning to think she might be claustrophobic,
and didn't intend to reenter that cave or any other as long as it wasn't
strictly necessary. Besides, now that it was somewhat cheery outside, and it
was no longer raining, she preferred to stay out.
She looked around for a moment, feeling the warm rays of the sun on her
skin, and walked over to join the others, who were discussing their present
situation in serious tones. At the moment, Wethreem and Robo, being the only
conscious Travelers who could fly, were reporting on their reconnaissance
mission. As she joined them, Glenn handed her a small vial, presumably a
restorative Potion bought before they'd come to this time period. He looked
rather upset, she noticed, presumably because of Frog's imprisonment, or the
loss of the sword's power. Probably both. Masa and Mune were standing close
to him silently. She drank, and listened.
"There's a ball of blue energy down in the crater made by the
explosion,"
Wethreem stated bluntly. "It's like nothing I've ever seen, but Robo says
it's a lot like the energy put out by Lavos, so I think it's pretty safe to
assume that it's where the Lavoid spawn are."
"Of course," interjected Melchior. "Otherwise it would be too
easy, wouldn't
it?"
"We decided it would be safer to come back and get the rest or you,"
Robo
continued. "We're much stronger together, and we really don't know how
powerful these Lavoids are. We've fought spawn before, but we don't know how
many there are, or their relative power levels. The sphere is big enough to
contain several hundred spawn... or one full grown Lavoid. And my sensors
can't penetrate it."
"So... How shalt we get in," Glenn asked. "To have survived an
explosion
such as what we witnessed... Suggests frightful power. And we know naught
about it, or what lies inside it."
"True," agreed Gaspar, "but we'll just have to deal with it when
we get to
it. I'm much more worried about something else."
"The fact that the Time Stream hasn't changed, even though Parsa's
dead,"
Lucca asked, her harsh voice catching everyone off-guard. By the time Marle
had tried to heal Lucca, her vocal chords had been permanently damaged, but
she was ready to fight nonetheless, and her mind was no less sharp. "The
Kingdom should have vanished when she died, but it's still there. Which
suggests either that Janus was misinformed as to the nature of the Time
Bubble, or that there's another source of power sustaining it."
"Perhaps the spawn," her alternate suggested.
"Whatever the case," Gedd said, "we still need to destroy those
spawn. If we
need to destroy the Kingdom ourselves later on, then that's another mission.
Right now we need to concentrate on what we're doing."
"If we hurry," Wethreem told them, "we can make it there in about
an
hour-and-a-half."
Christina cursed quietly. "Adom said that the spawn would wake up in about
four hours. That was a little more than two hours ago. We've got a serious
time limit here."
Gaspar nodded, absorbing the news soberly. "Thanks. I'm sure we're all very
reassured by that. We're just waiting for Marle and Janus to join us-"
"Janus won't be joining us," Marle announced from the mouth of the
cave,
startling everyone. She looked tired, but determined. There had been a lot
of healing to do, and she was obviously drained. "He used up so much power
to escape that he'd just about comatose. I'm almost surprised he's not dead,
but he's apparently just as stubborn as the Magus."
"That settles it," Lucca, Christina's mother, announced. "I'm
staying with
him. He's my husband. Besides, I don't have any magic. I'd probably just get
in your way." She looked around to see if anyone disagreed with her. None
of
them tried to talk her out of it (they'd tried often enough to win arguments
with their own Lucca, and knew the futility of it) but Christina knew that
they were losing two of their most powerful members, one magical, and one
physical. Nevertheless, neither she nor anyone else said anything as she
walked past Marle, into the cave.
Once she was gone, Marle continued, "I'm ready when you all are. Who knows,
maybe we'll find out what's happened to... everyone." She tried to smile,
but it didn't come off quite right, looking more like a grimace.
Gaspar nodded grimly, and everyone looked toward him. In the absence of
Crono, Rakin, Magus, Corea, and Thanatos, Gaspar was the closest thing they
had to a leader. "All right," he announced. "Let's get
moving."
Same Time Period
Valiod smiled. They'd done all of the work for him, not only breaking into
the Red Omen, but destroying it, and revealing the hiding place of his
children in the process. He was walking now, moving steadily closer. He
could have flown, but he'd seen no point in wasting valuable energy on
something as simple as travel. Besides, there was no need to rush. The Voice
had told him that the Red Omen would be destroyed, and so it was. The Voice
had told him that Parsa would die, and he had felt her agony come to an
abrupt end in the explosion. So when the Voice warned him that it would be
wise to call for backup, he agreed, and did so. Now, as he walked along,
four figures followed closely behind him. Wordless, mindless, they'd give
their lives for him. And that was what they were here to do.
Valiod wasn't really frightened of the Travelers, but it never hurt to be
prepared, and when the Voice was there to tell him what would happen
anywhere from hours to days ahead of time, it was easy to out-think and
out-plan any enemy. Still, it bothered him somewhat how resourceful they
were. Even now he could sense them starting off on the long walk to his
destination. He was, of course, a good fifteen minutes ahead of them, and
they couldn't sense him, so they had very little hope of reaching his
children before he did. Of course, if they did, it probably wouldn't do them
any good, but Valiod prepared to be there to make sure they didn't figure
out some way to harm his precious children. After all, they had proven
remarkably powerful, no to mention clever, and he was better off safe than
sorry.
"The time is close," he announced. The four figures behind him didn't
respond, but then he hadn't expected them to. He was talking to the Voice.
There was a pause, and then the response. Indeed it is.
"You still haven't told me anything about what happens when we get there
yet."
Are you worried?
"I'm curious, that's all," Valiod replied, indignant. "What do I
have to
fear from a dozen or so humans?"
What indeed?
"Stop being mysterious and tell me, damn you," Valiod yelled, getting
angry.
But there was no response this time. "Voice?" Again, nothing. Valiod's
eyes
narrowed. "Damn it, tell me! That's an order!" Once again, no
response. This
time Valiod shook his head. "Fine. I don't need you, Voice. I don't need
anyone." Valiod walked on, head held high, angry and unafraid. And if he
suddenly started walking a little faster, his four servants didn't notice.
They didn't notice anything, except that the enemy was close.
Same Time Period
The cloaked figure stirred. His prey was close, so close! Its latest form
was falling apart, but that didn't matter. It could survive for a day
without a body, and it would take far less than a day. Then its mission
would be over. Then it could rest. The thought of the 'other' bothered it
somewhat, but it couldn't be deterred so easily. The other would not be able
to interfere.
It also considered the demon. The demon had left the planet soon after the
explosion, off to cause death and destruction on some other planet. It
shrugged. This was the only planet that mattered. And its prey. Rakin.
"There are no short cuts to any place worth going."
-Anonymous
.