Chrono
Trigger: The Planeswalkers
Chapter
38- In the Beginning of Time
By Mox Jet
Topik had escorted Jack and Sarah to their quarters.
It was amazing that they had what had to be at least a thirty-room
mansion all to their selves. The
house was truly large, comprising of way more bedrooms and bathrooms than two
people could ever need. Yet, they
didn’t intend to spend much time in the house.
They had much more important things to do.
The grounds that Topik showed them for training was a short teleportation
from the house. Set with an
overlook of some unnamed body of water, the fighting area was quite well
preserved. Then again, everything here was probably just an illusion.
Or maybe the entities here just created anything that they wanted.
After all, Topik said that they could look like whatever they chose.
Why not be able to live wherever the wished?
Since they had not brought much, there was very little unpacking to do.
The closet of the Master Bedroom was filled with clothes, both training
and casual, that were perfectly sized to each of them.
The Master Bath had towels and robes with the initials JCM and SIM
printed on them.
“Sarah Inverse McKlane…” Sarah had said when she saw here initials.
“I guess that’s what it stands for.”
She smiled in the thought of being already married to Jack.
It was interesting that maybe the initials were like that because
that’s how she had always pictured it.
“And Jack Christopher McKlane,” Jack said.
“How did they know my middle name, anyway…”
The kitchen was nearly fully automated, and fully stocked.
It included a computer that had been preprogrammed to prepare all of
their favorite meals. Each chair
was specially fitted for each of them.
There was a library, which Topik had told them served a dual purpose.
In addition for a ‘charming addition to an already extravagant
house,’ as Topik had put it, it also served as a knowledge base for just about
every magical theory in existence. He
had said that some books were direct copies from the library of Aristrand
Clarist, but the reference was lost on the two of them.
In addition to magical studies, there were books on the study of temporal
distortion, inter-planer travel and just about anything else that could possible
be desired by the young ones.
Everything, from the seats in the hot tub to the toothbrushes, was
designed to match the two of them perfectly, taking the form of the object that
they had most preferred in the real world.
The house had been made for them, as creepy as it sounded.
This was their home for the time that they would spend here.
Topik had requested to meet
them in the mansion’s east wing lounge to begin to answer their questions and
prepare for their training. The
lounge was a semi-large room with dark mahogany wall treatment and a few long,
black leather couches around an elaborate coffee table.
Topik was already waiting there when the two teens arrived.
Lying across the couch, he certainly looked like he had made himself
comfortable.
“Relaxed?” Jack asked, as he and Sarah walked into the room in a
fresh change of clothes, namely sets of black nylon warm-ups.
“Very,” Topik said jokingly as he rose from the couch.
“Please,” he said, indicating the couch.
“Have a seat.” The two
travelers sat as directed and waited for further instruction.
“We’re here to learn, Topik,” Jack said.
“We’re ready for whatever sort of training you have planned.”
“Yes,” Topik said. “Train
you will. We want to instruct each of you to better the particular
skills that make you, well…you. Sarah,
you’ll be working mainly with Fenreir, here,” Topik indicated the empty
space beside him just as another figure appeared before them. He was slightly taller than Topik, a well built man with
blonde hair.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Epitorum of Elosia,” Fenreir said.
“Please…” Sarah said somewhat wearisome.
“Don’t call me that. Call
me Sarah. And, while we’re here, an full explanation of this Epitorum
thing and what it entails would be appreciated.”
“Very well, Sarah,” Fenreir said, happy to not waste time and get
right to the point. He decided to open his explanation with an example.
“Have you ever had instances where you thought you were seeing the
future, Sarah? And then, these
events eventually happened just as, or at least close to, as you had seen them
in visionary instances such as dreams.”
“…Yes,” Sarah said hesitantly.
“Well, one of the abilities that was born into your genetic code was
the ability to see down the Timestream. Basically,
the Timestream is like a web of occurrences.
It spreads out in all directions as more and more choices in history are
made. These decisions cause the
Timestream to expand and wind upon itself.
Basically, it is the fabric of history and it is the fabric of the
future. When dealing with fourth
dimensional travel, you have to accept the fact that multiple things in
different time frames are all happening simultaneously.
It’s just a matter of seeing things in a four dimensional world.”
“I think I understand,” Sarah said.
“So, basically, in my dreams, I’m seeing things on this Time stream
that haven’t happened yet,” Sarah summed up.
“That’s not that confusing.”
“Also, have you been experiencing headaches or possibly cramps right
before something important happens?”
“Yes, actually,” Sarah said. “I
was having headaches…well, before Lavos attacked both in 1999 AD and in 12,000
BC. I don’t think I ever made the
connection, though.”
“That is your ability beginning to manifest itself.
At the moment, you can only see into the forth dimension when you are
unconscious; when your mind is at it’s calmest.
What we’re going to teach you is to use your ability to see into the
Time stream at will.”
“And to use it to your advantage,” Topik interjected.
“We’re going to teach you how to fight with it, mixing it with your
ability with the sword. Fundamentally,
it’s a style that uses prescience to see briefly into the future and know what
the enemy’s next plan is. Once
you perfect it, you’ll be nearly invincible in hand to hand combat.
I promise you that you will be amazed at how potent it is.”
“And your other seemingly innate ability,” Fenreir said.
“Is based on the way that your mind processes information.
This is not something that you have to learn, so much as you have to
hone. All of that ability is
already there, but, basically, your mind has advanced to the point where you
process information faster and more effectively than a normal human.
Almost like a computer, in fact. Jack,
you may have noticed an increase in her analytical nature recently.”
Jack nodded.
“Yeah, I thought something was wrong with the way she was acting.
Is that okay that she can do this?”
“When the time comes for battle, Sarah, you will be an extremely potent
general and tactician. Don’t
worry if this all sounds like a lot now, though.
We’re going to go slowly and take all the time we need.”
Sarah didn’t answer for a moment.
“Why a general?” Sarah asked. “I
don’t recall the need to wage war on anyone.
We’re going against Lavoids. They’re
just single organisms.” Topik
sighed.
“You already know a good deal about the origin of the Lavoids.
You already know they came from the planet earth, designed as a
biological weapon. But perhaps you
should know just how far the species is spread.”
“They have entire armies,” Fenreir said.
“The Lavoid here was probably just a scout or someone who had
discharged from a main force either by will or for other means.
We actually have reason to believe that Lavos was one of the first
Lavoids ever made. The planet,
Elosia, was designed as a test by the human creators to see if a Lavoid could
recreate human society. It was like
a test to see if it’s abilities in gene pool manipulation were working.”
“Naturally, since you two came out of the planet, it was a success,”
Topik continued. “But consider the fact that Lavoid do not always go by
themselves into the reaches of space, such as Lavos apparently did.
Also, they do not exist separate from each other, as well as Lavos
seemingly did. In fact they live in
communities, most often. They exist in places called hive worlds, living and
operating while out of their shells. Each
of their shells are like their space ships, you must realize. The shell which
they use is something basically existing as bio armor and a means of travel.
You have seen the actual form of Lavos, Jack. They are about man sized.
When the times comes to go out and do the bidding of the Queen, they
climb in their ships and travel the stars.”
“And then there are the hive fleets, as well,” Fenreir said.
“Giant, living ships of biological Lavoid matter, traveling the stars
by use of the Warp, or Chaos as you know it.
They house the thousands of Farilii and other such foot soldiers and
elite warriors. The ships then go
and make landing on planets where they need to take over.”
“But why?” Jack asked. “Wouldn’t
there be a lot of them to feed on just one planet?”
“Yes…” Fenreir said. “In
studying their organization, there is normally one actual Lavoid for each ship,
or set of ships. He acts mostly as
the commander. The rest of the
creatures are basically servants. They
do whatever the commander Lavoid says. They
are extremely militant, mostly due to their chaotic nature.
The normal procedure involves landing on the world.
If there is resistance, the armies of Farilii take care of it.
After that, the Lavoid will imbed himself in the surface and absorb the
planet’s energy and the genes of the creature on that planet.”
“And then when they’re done…” Sarah said.
“Bam,” Topik finished. “The
planet is of no use, so they waste it. As
I have told Jack, for some unexplainable reason, their young seem to only grow
in conditions of nuclear winter. Perhaps
it is the unexplainable <I>nature</I> of evil that makes it so. But regardless, millions of lives are lost and the world
becomes another Hive World, initially inhabited by the Lavoid and his offspring.
Eventually, everything there reproduces and becomes stronger until it is
time to seek out another world. Additionally,
they normally go for planets with a large population and variety of life.
This provides the most fetching catch in terms of DNA.”
“And so you shall know that there will be war, Jack,” Topik said.
“There will be much war. But,
they will die. You will know how to
kill them. You will have the
weapons to kill them and the men who know how to use the weapons.”
“What about worlds like this, where there was only one Lavoid?” Sarah
asked. “Are there such?”
“Maybe if the Queen of the sector doesn’t deem the world ‘worth’
sending a full force. This is more in the cases where the planet is very primitive
before the Lavoid gets there. It is
like a gamble on the Lavoid’s part, hoping that the planet will eventually
bare strong combinations of DNA. Remember,
time means nothing to this species. For
all definitions of the word, they are immortal. The one on Elosia was the first recorded Lavoid death of a
Class C in millions of years.”
“And naturally, with no one to thin out their numbers, they have spread
quite far,” Jack mused.
“Quite true,” Topik said. “Far
and thick. We estimate yearly casualties from the species to average
somewhere in the area of 170,000,000,000 within the galaxy.”
Everyone was silent.
“So we will have battles. And
we will need generals, as our organization grows,” Jack said.
“Sarah…I guess you’re a godsend in that regard, too.”
.
“Why do I…have these abilities?” she finally asked.
“Is there something wrong with me?”
“You, as odd as this may sound,” Topik said, “are the result of
countless years of a breeding program that was used by the Lavoid to create you.
He ingeniously blended the bloodlines of specific families, picking out
the proper genetic code to achieve the combination that gave you these powers.
Namely, they were the powers that the Lavoid wanted to absorb into his
own DNA for his children, once your genes were combined with Jack’s.”
“Jack, as you know, is the other end of the puzzle,” Fenreir said.
“The Planeswalker. The One
of Lavoid Born. He is the one human
who had been born of the artificial fertilization of a human egg by the powers
of a Lavoid. Jack, you have
inherited the capability to utilize the energy source known as Chaos.
You have already begun to manifest this energy, if you recall the events
during the Fall of Zeal.”
“I remember,” Jack said with a nod.
“That’s not something you forget.”
“Basically, you two are Elosia’s Chosen,” Topik said.
“Or, the ones chosen by Elosia’s Lavoid, Lavos.
If you didn’t believe in destiny up until this point, you may wish to
reconsider your beliefs.”
“But didn’t you just say that each choice we make determines our path
down the timeline?” Sarah asked. “Would
that imply that the future is a result of free will?”
“Yes, to a degree,” Topik said.
Fenreir clarified for them.
“Jack and you have made all of your own choices in life.
Your feelings for each other are not something that was forced.
That worked out well for Lavos. Basically,
all he can do is put the Planeswalker and the Epitorum together and hope that
they procreate. Jack, when Lavos
awoke in 12,000 BC, you were asleep in the palace, safe in your room.
Did you ever wonder why he reached out and sent you in particular to the
year 1984, of all times?”
“I guess he was removing me from the destruction and sending me…”
he paused. “So I could meet
Sarah…”
“In addition,” Topik added.
“Lavos had had some minimal control over Jack.
Basically, he had not chosen for him, but he has lead Jack down certain
paths of the time stream. Any time
when you felt you were being pulled somewhere, Jack, like how you felt on the
island of the Northern Palace, it was the Lavoid using his proximity to you in
order to guide your actions.”
Everyone was silent for a few moments until Jack
spoke.
“So now that we’re together, basically it’s
time to wreck some serious havoc on the race that has been manipulating us.”
“It’s very rare for a Planeswalker to become
free,” Topik said. “As I
explained to you, it is impossible for a Planeswalker to engage in final combat
with his parent Lavoid. At that
range, the control that Lavoid can extend over the Planeswalker turns him into
really nothing more than a puppet. For
a Planeswalker to become free, there have to be other individuals on the same
planet that are capable of killing the parent Lavoid for him.
Elosia is a rather odd occurrence in that there were about twelve humans
that all had enough strength to kill the Class C that was inhabiting this
planet. Some of them could do it on
their own and others would have required working together, but none the less,
there were many potential Lavoid Killers on your planet.”
Jack held out his hand and counted the people that could have been the
potentials. “The boy, Crono, the girls Marle and Lucca.
The Robot and the Frog and the Cave Woman.
Janus, or Magus. Tristan, Aragorn and Rayith.
Sarah…”
“That’s only eleven,” Sarah said.
“…And who else?” Jack asked.
“Your sister,” Topik said. “Schala.
She had an incredible amount of power before she was condemned to her
state of living with the Nooze. Her
powers have been reduced to a fraction of what they once were, though.”
“Have been?” Jack said. “You
mean she’s…”
“Oh, alive and well, as much as ‘alive’ means in her condition,”
Topik said.
“That’s great!” Jack said, happy that his sister wasn’t gone.
“Where is she, though?”
“She also took it upon herself to seek out other Lavoids and kill them.
She’s been traveling through space since the day Lavos was killed,
looking for another one. She’s in
a state of hibernation, at the moment.”
“Oh…” Jack said, somewhat discouraged.
“Wait a minute,” Sarah said, thinking back to what was said before.
“If Lavos wanted the DNA from…well, mine and Jack’s child, then why
would he attack the world in 1999. In
the normal flow of time, Jack and I weren’t even together when he attacked.
Why would he kill us before then?”
“Ironically, we think he gave up on you two,” Topik said.
“He just considered that fact that you had known each other for most of
your lives and had been at child bearing age for about four to five years but
nothing had happened between you. You
have to understand something. To a
Lavoid, time doesn’t really matter that much at all.
As far as he was concerned, it would have probably been easier to start
over. He had all the time he
needed, so it wasn’t as if he was in a rush or anything.”
Jack forced laughter.
“Well, we’ll show him who he should have given up on, eh?” Jack
asked rhetorically. “He’ll pay for not killing me with the blood of his
species…”
“Easy, Jack,” Sarah said, putting a hand on his shoulder to calm him
down. “Just relax.”
Jack breathed deeply, closed his eyes, and nodded.
“Topik,” Jack said.
“Yes?”
“To kill a Lavoid, you need a magical energy at least matching that of
their own, correct?”
“For the most part, yes,” Topik said.
“Most Lavoid-based creatures are like that.
Either their regeneration abilities or their magical resistance is too
strong.”
“Okay,” Jack said. “How
would one go about creating a new type of magic?
Not just one new spell, but what if one wanted to create an entire
<I>category</I> of spell? A
new school of magic.”
“Chaos, correct?” Topik asked. Jack
nodded. “Well, we’ll have to begin with the basics,” he said.
“While you actually <I>know</I> quite a bit, you’re not
sure <I>why</I> you know it or how it <I>actually</I>
works. Once we teach you about
sources of magical energy and you learn more about how to access the Chaos
energy source, then I will go about the construction of a spell with you.
You realize, of course, that you will be just about the only one able to
perform these spells. You, and
others like you, that is. It would
be a school of magic solely usable by something that can access Chaos
energy…and I don’t think we’ll be teaching the Lavoids said spells.”
“Excellent,” Jack said. “We
should get on that right away.”
“Whatever you wish,” Topik said. “We are merely here to teach, and you are here to learn. What we learn shall be a mix of both what we want to teach and what you wish to learn. Whenever you are ready, we can begin to unlock the mysteries of the universe for you.”
“And how will we learn as such?”
“Ah, yes,” Topik said. “We
have our methods. It’s not quite
what you’re used to, though. It’s
something call Tactical Indoctrination.”
“And what exactly is it?” Sarah asked.
“It’s hypnotherapy, functionally,” Fenreir said.
“All of the information is condensed into radio-type waves.
Then we just sort of beam it into your head.”
“Is it harmful?”
“Hardly,” Fenreir said. “It’s
just quick.”
“So it’s like instantly downloading information?” Sarah asked.
“Well, it’s not instantaneous,” Topik said.
“But it’s pretty damned fast. We
normally measure the information to a standard, but basically you can learn
about 40 styles of combat in roughly five minutes.”
“That is fast…” Jack said. “Seeing
how I took years to learn what little I know as it is.”
“Quite,” Topik said. “You’ll
meet the tactical indoctrination room later today, if all goes well.”
“Excellent,” Jack said. “Then
we’ll be learning much more than I anticipated, but that is most definitely a
good thing and there is no doubt about that.”
.
“Beings that are born of dreams must return to them...The power of Lavos can make hopes and dreams come true...” - Enlightened Woman at Zeal Palace
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