Categories > Games > Chrono Trigger > Sins of Our Fathers
Part 1, Chapter 3
0 reviewsShortly after returning from destroying Lavos, Magus finds himself trapped in 600 AD, and miserably bored. That is, until a mysterious monster escapes from the Void, a prison created in the age of ...
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Sins of Our Fathers
Part 1, Chapter 3
"It's about time." Magus said as he joined Frog and Ozzie.
"You're welcome." Ozzie replied dryly.
"Methinks we should do well to be on our way." Frog said. "Unless of course you wish thy friends to catch up." he finished, pointing back towards Porre.
"Let's go." Magus replied as he watched the mob pour over the last of the flame wall and out of the town towards them. Ozzie seemed a bit nervous himself as he left before Magus had even turned around. Magus rolled his eyes and looked at Frog. "Does he know where we're going?" he asked.
Frog shrugged. "Thy guess is as good as mine."
Magus sighed. "Should we follow him then?"
"Tis for the best." Frog said as he hopped away.
Magus shook his head as his two green companions left, wondering what had gotten into Ozzie and he would ever learn to understand that blasted Frog.
The journey as a quiet one as the three companions headed north towards Dorino. The sun rose shortly after they left Porre, which lay now in a state of ruin. Not that anyone would notice being as of last night they were mindless living zombies, but eventually someone would find the chaos, and Magus was more than happy that it wouldn't be him.
"So Magus, may I ask thee what ye did to anger all of Porre so?" Frog asked as they approached a lone small house in the middle of the desert.
"I didn't do anything." Magus snarled in reply, "It was that thing that's after me, I'm sure of it."
"And how dost thou explain this? Ozzie hath told me thy monster is horrendous to look upon." Frog said as they came to a halt. Out in the distance there was the sound of heavy working machinery and in the distance Magus could see the gold robot from the future hard at work.
"It doesn't exactly look as it did when Ozzie last saw it." Magus explained. "You see..." The explanation was cut short by Ozzie's raspy voice.
"Magus! It that..."
"Yes."
"And he's been here...
"Since before we came to your fort."
"But..." Ozzie trailed off in confusion, still pointing at the working robot.
"It's a long story. Anyway, as I was trying to say, the monster has a new body."
"Pray tell what happened." the Frog knight replied.
Magus went cold all over. He didn't want to think about it, but decided that if he wanted help from the knight he'd have to tell him everything now.
"I destroyed the old one," he said. Ozzie's jaw dropped, but Frog showed nothing...well maybe an extra blind of those giant eyes of his, but for all Magus knew that could be from a lack of pond water. "And long story short he then turned into a mist creature which proceeded to take Flea's body..." he turned around as he trailed off, but he could already feel Ozzie's questions burning through him.
"Take Flea's body!" the fat Mystic screamed, "How in the hell did you manage that?"
"It had us separated. I was fighting the thing and it wasn't looking good, so I summoned the Black One..."
"Good Lord you are insane!" Ozzie shrieked hysterically. Frog's face turned to pure curiosity, though Magus had no idea how he saw that in the usually expressionless amphibian face.
"The Black One is an ancient entity made entirely of shadow energy." he explained. "In most cases when it is summoned it possess the user and while sometimes it can be controlled, often times it turns on the user and destroys him."
"And in the rare case that it does decide to not rebel it takes hours of uninterrupted meditation to purge the body of it. Which is highly recommended, otherwise it can posses you much like the other thing after us." Ozzie said. The Mystic then proceeded to grab Magus' head so that he could look at the mage's eyes.
"Get off me slime ball." Magus growled as he pushed the Mystic aside. "I purged myself almost a day ago."
"Hmph. Well it wouldn't have surprised me if you hadn't; it's plain foolishness to summon the thing in the first place."
"Since when did you start caring about my well being Ozzie?" Magus asked dryly.
"Ever since you living became life or death for me."
Magus opened his mouth for another remark, but Frog interrupted. "Excuse me gentlemen, but I believe that thou are both missing the point."
Ozzie rolled his eyes and laughed while Magus grinned back at him. "Just when it was getting good." Ozzie said, still laughing hysterically in the process. Magus, still grinning, turned to Frog.
"You've got no sense of humor do you?" he said.
"Mine belief is that I am a product of humor, no?" Frog replied.
The grin was washed from Magus' face as Ozzie struggled to suppress his giggles. Magus gave Ozzie a sour look and began walking towards the house again. As he walked by Frog he swore he could see a grin on the knight's face. Oh he would get it for that one...
"Let's go." he growled, his good mood spoiled. He felt like destroying something, but that would have to wait until later.
A few minutes later the three were at the front door of the house. Magus went to knock on the door, but Frog stopped him.
"Methinks she would not understand if the great Magus and his crony were to come knocking at her door ." Frog was right, besides that he was too tired to apply his disguise spell, and the knight continued to play at the game; he was using that boy swordsman's humor now. Magus would never cease to be amazed by the frog.
It wasn't that he disrespected the frog, no, even without that sword he posed a serious threat to Magus, and besides that he had proven to be a very good ally when it was useful. It was just that...well...he didn't very much like the frog. If it was his to do over again he wouldn't have made the knight into a frog...maybe an imp...no, in all seriousness he likely wouldn't do it again, for there lived a little pity deep within' Magus' soul, but he still didn't like him. Frog or human he was still naive at times, and that naivety could end up getting them killed this time around.
Magus nodded to Frog and bucked up, motioning for Ozzie to do the same. He did, and Frog turned back to the door satisfied. He then lifted his right arm and knocked soundly three times. A voice from inside the house said something that even Magus' acute hearing couldn't catch, but a few moments later the door opened. A small blond woman stood in the doorway, and it took her a moment to find her visitor.
"Sir Frog, I'm so sorry." she said.
"Tis' not thy fault lass." He replied, "I come with what may seem an odd request of thee."
"Anything Sir Knight I..." she trailed off as she saw Magus and Ozzie come around the corner bickering about something. They must have left when he turned his back to knock on the door.
"Tis' a very odd thing, but these two have allied themselves with Guardia for a time to fight a common enemy." Fiona still seemed to be in shock, and Magus began to wonder if maybe they should just be on their way.
"Tis' only a few hours rest and little water we'll be needing." he said.
"Well I suppose if it's only a few hours..." she stammered.
"You shan't notice us." he assured. Magus wasn't a mind reader, well, a very good one anyway, but he could tell by the look on this Fiona's face that she highly doubted it.
The three travelers spent most of the rest of the day sleeping, but Magus slept the longest - until around the middle of the night, due to the strain of his last two days.
When he finally did wake, the three drank some more water, ate the little Fiona could provide, and much to their host's elation decided to go on to Choras.
"I thank thee for thy hospitality." Frog said as gave the woman a deep bow.
"It is the least I can do for you Sir Knight." she replied after a moment of thought, returning his bow with a curtsy. After the formalities were finished, Frog prepared to join Magus and Ozzie who now waited a little way down the road, and Fiona returned inside her house. As he approached his fellow travelers, Frog could hear Ozzie talking to Magus about some thing or other. He rolled his eyes; the Mystic had been talking ever since he woke. Magus looked about ready to kill the Mystic on the spot, but Ozzie seemed oblivious to Magus' obvious annoyance, that or this was just another of their peculiar games.
When Frog stopped next to them, Ozzie turned to him while saying, "Let's see what Frog says." Magus shrugged carelessly and began to walk away from the group and towards Choras. Frog quickly followed, but was unable to avoid the Mystic's question. "Does that thing ever stop?" Ozzie asked.
Frog shrugged and walked away, fully knowing the answer, which was no, but he did not want to speak to the Mystic anymore. Frog sped up his pace so that soon he had caught up to Magus, leaving Ozzie to talk to himself.
"Is thy friend always so talkative?" Frog asked. Magus glanced at the Frog and then turned his eyes back towards Chorus.
"Keep a close eye on him. He's acting very strange...too strange. He had an encounter with the monster before I get drug into this; he said it managed to steal part of him, but I'm beginning to think it got a little more than he suspects."
Frog nodded in understanding. "Dost thou have a plan to vanquish this enemy?" he asked.
Magus stared at the night sky. "I do, but I am not sure if it will work. "Frog looked at the mage, who saw the knight staring at him and sighed inwardly. "My thoughts are that if Schala's pendant is in the possession of the Guardian House then there could be other more important things there; like some sort of book or journal."
"Surely by now the books have crumbled to dust." Frog replied.
Magus shook his head. "Not these books. The books that will be useful to us would be preserved with magic."
"How dost thou know of these books?"
"When I first came here I found one of the books in Ozzie's library, and Mystics aren't particularly fond of books; it probably was loot from an old Mystic raid." Frog nodded in understanding but didn't say anything else.
"And how do you plan on getting into the castle?" Ozzie asked as he came even with the other travelers.
Frog nodded in agreement and looked to Magus. Magus' eyebrow rose a bit as he saw that the two were serious.
"That's part of the reason you're here." he said pointing to Frog. They traveled in relative silence the rest of the way to Chorus. It was about midmorning when they arrived, and Magus decided it would be best to find the Inn and rest until sundown.
Chorus was a bigger town than Porre, and that's what Magus was counting on. That and the Human-Mystic treaty that was signed after Magus was sucked into the time warp and sent back to Zeal and Ozzie suffered a series of crippling defeats and the hands of the King and his Knights of the Square Table, which Magus still taunted Ozzie about to this day. Of course all the humans said that they had defeated the great Magus, all the humans said that they had defeated the great Magus, who was still considered an outlaw, but in truth he had disappeared mysteriously.
They wouldn't have liked the outcome had he stayed and been truly interested in the war. In fact, he had them on the ropes before he left, but Ozzie had allowed himself to be beaten by the boy swordsman and his other friends from the future when they were inexperienced with their magical abilities.
None of that really mattered now. A life gone behind him now. What now mattered was getting in and out of the city without trouble. Even if the frog was the most heralded knight since Cyrus he wouldn't be able to stop anyone from arresting Magus, or stopping those who didn't truly believe in the treaty.
As they approached the town, Magus cast the disguise spell upon himself. That would keep the villagers out of his hair...he hoped.
"What did thou just do?" Frog asked.
"Cast a spell so that the villagers will see me differently. There is still a bounty on my head you know."
The three got into Chorus and it was just as Magus thought it would be- busy. The circular town was about twice the size of Porre, and served as a hub for all those who traveled between Guardia and Porre, not to mention the various travelers that set off to find fame and fortune around the world. This of course meant a large population and large crowds which Magus hoped to use to get him and his two green companions in and out of the city unnoticed.
"This could, on the other hand, prove to be a deadly mistake." he thought. "If that thing was to do here what it did in Porre, they could end up in a bad situation, or dead." Magus shook the though off, he'd have to take his chances.
The travelers were now on the wrong side of a giant crowd that seemed to be flowing in the direction that they were coming from. Magus in the lead, the group pushed into the crowd. To make any further progress, Magus had to practically throw the people out of the way. After a few curses, broken bones, and cries of fear, the crowd seemed to get the idea and slowly parted for Magus and his companions.
"Is it in thy plan to have everyone in Choras staring Magus?" Frog asked as they exited the crowd and could once again stand side by side.
"I don't like the attention any more than you Knight," Magus said, "But by the time we would have got through that mess without my drastic measures that monster would have caught and eaten us." Magus waited for a response but got nothing. Just when he was about to say something else, Frog smoothly interrupted.
"May I propose that we do not stay here long? If what thee says about this monster controlling the people of Porre, it may not be very wise to let it catch us here."
"My thoughts exactly." Magus replied, "We're going to get a room, rest for a few hours and then leave as soon as the sun rises."
Frog nodded in satisfaction. "Dost thou know of a place to stay?" he asked.
"No, we'll have to find somewhere that's not full. I didn't exactly have time to book a room for this little adventure."
It took another hour and five different spots that offered housing to find one that had an open room. It was a small house on the northern part of town which sat on a very large plot of land.
"Well, you see, it's not exactly a room per se." the old man said as he led Magus, Frog, ad Ozzie through his house and out the back door. "But all I charge is five gold, so it's the best value you'll find." As the group came out of the house behind the man they found that the lot behind the house was covered in large tents.
"You'll have to find one that's empty and take one of the cots since there's three of ya. Don't 'spect that there'll be many more like yerselves comin' in tonight."
Magus muttered his thanks and paid the man while Frog and Ozzie went to look for a tent and an extra cot. When Magus was done, he found himself lost in the maze of tents with no way of knowing which one Frog and Ozzie had picked.
After an extensive search, Magus was sure that his two traveling companions had done this on purpose. Cursing, he tramped his way to the last row of tents and began throwing open tent flaps as he went. More than one person complained about this, and a woman whom Magus had accidentally walked in on while she was undressed screamed, but at this point he was too angry to very much care.
By the time he found their tent, half the camp was in uproar. Magus had changed his disguise a bit when he saw that the crowd he was leaving in his wake was much less than happy with him.
"Leave it to you two to find the tent on the opposite side of camp." he hissed as he entered the tent and plopped himself on the cot which was now his.
"Tis for the best." Frog said as he unlatched his belt and set it and the MasaMune down beside his cot. "Should the beast find us now and do to these people what he did to the villagers in Porre then we will be left with a much easier escape."
Magus hadn't thought of that. Of course that's what he had brought the Frog along for, well that and that sword he carried around. That settled, Magus decided just to sleep as he was; armored. He kicked off his boots and closed his eyes, letting the ongoing commotion in the camp help him slowly drift to sleep.
Magus woke with a start as someone gave him a rough shake. "Magus." a voice hissed.
"What?" he groaned as he opened his eyes. As the tent came into relatively good focus, Magus could see that it was still dark, perhaps just past midnight. Looking around he finally found the person that woke him standing at the tent flap.
"What is it?" he said as he jumped from his cot and quickly pulled his boots on.
"Thy companion hath gone."
"Ozzie? But where..."
"I know not. But he was not himself when he left."
"He's part of it then." Magus said pityingly.
Frog nodded. "That was what I presumed when Masa and Mune woke me."
"You mean that thing can talk?"
"Of course we can you lamebrain." the sword chimed.
"What did you think we stopped existing since we inhabited the sword?" another voice said, also coming from the sword.
"You really were always a little slow Janus." the first voices conceded mockingly.
"And you two always were just like that old man." Magus replied dryly. "Now are we going to leave or just stand here while Ozzie tells that thing our plans?"
"You're just mad because big brother got you good." the sword laughed.
Frog rolled his eyes, "That is enough you two, Magus is right, we must go if we hope to reach the castle before..." Frog trailed off as his jaw dropped.
"What?" Magus said as he brushed the tent flap up higher so that he could see out.
What he saw was amazingly horrifying. In the distance was a legion of small bouncing fireballs- torches. And holding those torches was what Magus knew to be an army of villagers controlled by his pursuer.
"It must be every last man and woman." Frog said breathlessly.
"We better go." Magus said. Frog nodded and the two took off towards Guardia in the hopes that the army of pursuers would stay far behind.
Magus and Frog ran for the rest of the night and for a good portion of the day. When they had to stop, Magus could no longer see the army lingering behind them, but had a feeling that they wouldn't be much longer. On the other hand he and Frog were now within site of the castle. He decided that for now he would keep the disguise, but once he was in and the army reached the castle along with the monster, that he would have relatively little need for it because it was very likely that by the time he found what he needed they would have to fight their way back out of the castle.
When he caught his breath, Magus looked to his right at Frog who nodded and began running again. With one last look behind, Magus wiped the sweat from his brow and took off towards the castle.
*
Its plan had not worked. Again. Kazar was beginning to become quite infuriated with Its prey, but using the tactical expertise provided by the first big one that it had consumed from this era, who was now in oblivion while his power and memories and knowledge became a part of Kazar, It had been able to form a new plan.
On another note, the one whose body It had taken seemed to be pleased with the agony that the first had been in before being fully consumed, but Kazar could feel that now she was afraid to meet her own fate.
She was soon to have company as well. It thought. The fat one It had almost got in the forest was now being drawn to It because of the portion It had consumed before the fat one had escaped. It would run no longer, and as Kazar's power and slaves grew, Janus Zeal quickly ran out of places to run.
Its newest plan was flawless. Using all the creatures from this era It would tire Janus Zeal with the sheer numbers and then It would take the pleasure of consuming the him.
*
So far so good. Magus and Frog had reached and entered the castle with no trouble at all. The problem was, that they had been forced to entertain the King and Queen for the past hour.
"I need to get into their library." Magus hissed as he knelt next to Frog. Frog nodded helpless to do anything but sit and nod while the King idly talked. The whole time Magus noticed that the Queen, Leene, was staring intently at him.
He swallowed nervously, wondering if his sister's pendant which hung around the Queen's neck was allowing her to see him. If so, why didn't she expose him? Did she really trust the Frog that much?
Finally Magus could stand it no more. "Excuse me Majesty, but it is imperative that Sir Frog and I get to the library so that we may cure the malady in Porre. "It was a weak cover story, but it was all he and the Frog had been able to come up with in the short time they had been given to come up with an answer."
"Oh, of course," the King said. "How stupid of me to keep you. We will have to talk again once you help the sick at Porre Sir Frog." Frog bowed low so that his head was only a few inches from the ground.
"Yes your Majesty." he said as he stood. Magus stood as well and they turned to leave. As he exited the room Magus , out of the corner of his eye, saw Leene lean over and say something to the King, stand up and start to follow them.
"Will your Queen trust you if she knows that I am truly Magus." he whispered as they walked towards the staircase that led to the library.
Frog looked at Magus curiously as they began climbing the stairs. "I..." The knight was interrupted by a melodic voice coming from behind them.
"Glenn!" the voice called. Magus groaned inwardly - it was the Queen. He turned around as the Frog knight walked down a few stairs, positioning himself between Magus and any that would be coming up the stairs. Magus was surprised to see that was just the Queen and not the royal guard. She stood in front of them for a moment staring at Magus and then nodded, apparently trying to gather her courage.
"I don't know why no one else sees you as you really are." she said as she pointed to Magus.
"Milady, I must ask you to tell no one," Frog said.
"But...alright. I trust you, but I wish I knew what you are really doing."
"Curing an ailment...though one of a different nature than that of what we hath said previously." Frog said assuringly. Leene nodded, satisfied with the answer. She then turned to leave, but Magus called out to her;
"It's the pendant," he said. "That's why you can see me."
Leene stopped, wrapped her fingers around the pendant and closed her eyes. As she did so a blue shimmering light shone from the pendant for a moment. She then let the pendant fall against her skin and proceeded down the stairs.
"What did it react to I wonder?" Frog said as they started towards the library again.
Magus shrugged in reply, though he knew the truth. While Leene was holding Schala's....her...pendant, he had been clutching his.
Part 1, Chapter 3
"It's about time." Magus said as he joined Frog and Ozzie.
"You're welcome." Ozzie replied dryly.
"Methinks we should do well to be on our way." Frog said. "Unless of course you wish thy friends to catch up." he finished, pointing back towards Porre.
"Let's go." Magus replied as he watched the mob pour over the last of the flame wall and out of the town towards them. Ozzie seemed a bit nervous himself as he left before Magus had even turned around. Magus rolled his eyes and looked at Frog. "Does he know where we're going?" he asked.
Frog shrugged. "Thy guess is as good as mine."
Magus sighed. "Should we follow him then?"
"Tis for the best." Frog said as he hopped away.
Magus shook his head as his two green companions left, wondering what had gotten into Ozzie and he would ever learn to understand that blasted Frog.
The journey as a quiet one as the three companions headed north towards Dorino. The sun rose shortly after they left Porre, which lay now in a state of ruin. Not that anyone would notice being as of last night they were mindless living zombies, but eventually someone would find the chaos, and Magus was more than happy that it wouldn't be him.
"So Magus, may I ask thee what ye did to anger all of Porre so?" Frog asked as they approached a lone small house in the middle of the desert.
"I didn't do anything." Magus snarled in reply, "It was that thing that's after me, I'm sure of it."
"And how dost thou explain this? Ozzie hath told me thy monster is horrendous to look upon." Frog said as they came to a halt. Out in the distance there was the sound of heavy working machinery and in the distance Magus could see the gold robot from the future hard at work.
"It doesn't exactly look as it did when Ozzie last saw it." Magus explained. "You see..." The explanation was cut short by Ozzie's raspy voice.
"Magus! It that..."
"Yes."
"And he's been here...
"Since before we came to your fort."
"But..." Ozzie trailed off in confusion, still pointing at the working robot.
"It's a long story. Anyway, as I was trying to say, the monster has a new body."
"Pray tell what happened." the Frog knight replied.
Magus went cold all over. He didn't want to think about it, but decided that if he wanted help from the knight he'd have to tell him everything now.
"I destroyed the old one," he said. Ozzie's jaw dropped, but Frog showed nothing...well maybe an extra blind of those giant eyes of his, but for all Magus knew that could be from a lack of pond water. "And long story short he then turned into a mist creature which proceeded to take Flea's body..." he turned around as he trailed off, but he could already feel Ozzie's questions burning through him.
"Take Flea's body!" the fat Mystic screamed, "How in the hell did you manage that?"
"It had us separated. I was fighting the thing and it wasn't looking good, so I summoned the Black One..."
"Good Lord you are insane!" Ozzie shrieked hysterically. Frog's face turned to pure curiosity, though Magus had no idea how he saw that in the usually expressionless amphibian face.
"The Black One is an ancient entity made entirely of shadow energy." he explained. "In most cases when it is summoned it possess the user and while sometimes it can be controlled, often times it turns on the user and destroys him."
"And in the rare case that it does decide to not rebel it takes hours of uninterrupted meditation to purge the body of it. Which is highly recommended, otherwise it can posses you much like the other thing after us." Ozzie said. The Mystic then proceeded to grab Magus' head so that he could look at the mage's eyes.
"Get off me slime ball." Magus growled as he pushed the Mystic aside. "I purged myself almost a day ago."
"Hmph. Well it wouldn't have surprised me if you hadn't; it's plain foolishness to summon the thing in the first place."
"Since when did you start caring about my well being Ozzie?" Magus asked dryly.
"Ever since you living became life or death for me."
Magus opened his mouth for another remark, but Frog interrupted. "Excuse me gentlemen, but I believe that thou are both missing the point."
Ozzie rolled his eyes and laughed while Magus grinned back at him. "Just when it was getting good." Ozzie said, still laughing hysterically in the process. Magus, still grinning, turned to Frog.
"You've got no sense of humor do you?" he said.
"Mine belief is that I am a product of humor, no?" Frog replied.
The grin was washed from Magus' face as Ozzie struggled to suppress his giggles. Magus gave Ozzie a sour look and began walking towards the house again. As he walked by Frog he swore he could see a grin on the knight's face. Oh he would get it for that one...
"Let's go." he growled, his good mood spoiled. He felt like destroying something, but that would have to wait until later.
A few minutes later the three were at the front door of the house. Magus went to knock on the door, but Frog stopped him.
"Methinks she would not understand if the great Magus and his crony were to come knocking at her door ." Frog was right, besides that he was too tired to apply his disguise spell, and the knight continued to play at the game; he was using that boy swordsman's humor now. Magus would never cease to be amazed by the frog.
It wasn't that he disrespected the frog, no, even without that sword he posed a serious threat to Magus, and besides that he had proven to be a very good ally when it was useful. It was just that...well...he didn't very much like the frog. If it was his to do over again he wouldn't have made the knight into a frog...maybe an imp...no, in all seriousness he likely wouldn't do it again, for there lived a little pity deep within' Magus' soul, but he still didn't like him. Frog or human he was still naive at times, and that naivety could end up getting them killed this time around.
Magus nodded to Frog and bucked up, motioning for Ozzie to do the same. He did, and Frog turned back to the door satisfied. He then lifted his right arm and knocked soundly three times. A voice from inside the house said something that even Magus' acute hearing couldn't catch, but a few moments later the door opened. A small blond woman stood in the doorway, and it took her a moment to find her visitor.
"Sir Frog, I'm so sorry." she said.
"Tis' not thy fault lass." He replied, "I come with what may seem an odd request of thee."
"Anything Sir Knight I..." she trailed off as she saw Magus and Ozzie come around the corner bickering about something. They must have left when he turned his back to knock on the door.
"Tis' a very odd thing, but these two have allied themselves with Guardia for a time to fight a common enemy." Fiona still seemed to be in shock, and Magus began to wonder if maybe they should just be on their way.
"Tis' only a few hours rest and little water we'll be needing." he said.
"Well I suppose if it's only a few hours..." she stammered.
"You shan't notice us." he assured. Magus wasn't a mind reader, well, a very good one anyway, but he could tell by the look on this Fiona's face that she highly doubted it.
The three travelers spent most of the rest of the day sleeping, but Magus slept the longest - until around the middle of the night, due to the strain of his last two days.
When he finally did wake, the three drank some more water, ate the little Fiona could provide, and much to their host's elation decided to go on to Choras.
"I thank thee for thy hospitality." Frog said as gave the woman a deep bow.
"It is the least I can do for you Sir Knight." she replied after a moment of thought, returning his bow with a curtsy. After the formalities were finished, Frog prepared to join Magus and Ozzie who now waited a little way down the road, and Fiona returned inside her house. As he approached his fellow travelers, Frog could hear Ozzie talking to Magus about some thing or other. He rolled his eyes; the Mystic had been talking ever since he woke. Magus looked about ready to kill the Mystic on the spot, but Ozzie seemed oblivious to Magus' obvious annoyance, that or this was just another of their peculiar games.
When Frog stopped next to them, Ozzie turned to him while saying, "Let's see what Frog says." Magus shrugged carelessly and began to walk away from the group and towards Choras. Frog quickly followed, but was unable to avoid the Mystic's question. "Does that thing ever stop?" Ozzie asked.
Frog shrugged and walked away, fully knowing the answer, which was no, but he did not want to speak to the Mystic anymore. Frog sped up his pace so that soon he had caught up to Magus, leaving Ozzie to talk to himself.
"Is thy friend always so talkative?" Frog asked. Magus glanced at the Frog and then turned his eyes back towards Chorus.
"Keep a close eye on him. He's acting very strange...too strange. He had an encounter with the monster before I get drug into this; he said it managed to steal part of him, but I'm beginning to think it got a little more than he suspects."
Frog nodded in understanding. "Dost thou have a plan to vanquish this enemy?" he asked.
Magus stared at the night sky. "I do, but I am not sure if it will work. "Frog looked at the mage, who saw the knight staring at him and sighed inwardly. "My thoughts are that if Schala's pendant is in the possession of the Guardian House then there could be other more important things there; like some sort of book or journal."
"Surely by now the books have crumbled to dust." Frog replied.
Magus shook his head. "Not these books. The books that will be useful to us would be preserved with magic."
"How dost thou know of these books?"
"When I first came here I found one of the books in Ozzie's library, and Mystics aren't particularly fond of books; it probably was loot from an old Mystic raid." Frog nodded in understanding but didn't say anything else.
"And how do you plan on getting into the castle?" Ozzie asked as he came even with the other travelers.
Frog nodded in agreement and looked to Magus. Magus' eyebrow rose a bit as he saw that the two were serious.
"That's part of the reason you're here." he said pointing to Frog. They traveled in relative silence the rest of the way to Chorus. It was about midmorning when they arrived, and Magus decided it would be best to find the Inn and rest until sundown.
Chorus was a bigger town than Porre, and that's what Magus was counting on. That and the Human-Mystic treaty that was signed after Magus was sucked into the time warp and sent back to Zeal and Ozzie suffered a series of crippling defeats and the hands of the King and his Knights of the Square Table, which Magus still taunted Ozzie about to this day. Of course all the humans said that they had defeated the great Magus, all the humans said that they had defeated the great Magus, who was still considered an outlaw, but in truth he had disappeared mysteriously.
They wouldn't have liked the outcome had he stayed and been truly interested in the war. In fact, he had them on the ropes before he left, but Ozzie had allowed himself to be beaten by the boy swordsman and his other friends from the future when they were inexperienced with their magical abilities.
None of that really mattered now. A life gone behind him now. What now mattered was getting in and out of the city without trouble. Even if the frog was the most heralded knight since Cyrus he wouldn't be able to stop anyone from arresting Magus, or stopping those who didn't truly believe in the treaty.
As they approached the town, Magus cast the disguise spell upon himself. That would keep the villagers out of his hair...he hoped.
"What did thou just do?" Frog asked.
"Cast a spell so that the villagers will see me differently. There is still a bounty on my head you know."
The three got into Chorus and it was just as Magus thought it would be- busy. The circular town was about twice the size of Porre, and served as a hub for all those who traveled between Guardia and Porre, not to mention the various travelers that set off to find fame and fortune around the world. This of course meant a large population and large crowds which Magus hoped to use to get him and his two green companions in and out of the city unnoticed.
"This could, on the other hand, prove to be a deadly mistake." he thought. "If that thing was to do here what it did in Porre, they could end up in a bad situation, or dead." Magus shook the though off, he'd have to take his chances.
The travelers were now on the wrong side of a giant crowd that seemed to be flowing in the direction that they were coming from. Magus in the lead, the group pushed into the crowd. To make any further progress, Magus had to practically throw the people out of the way. After a few curses, broken bones, and cries of fear, the crowd seemed to get the idea and slowly parted for Magus and his companions.
"Is it in thy plan to have everyone in Choras staring Magus?" Frog asked as they exited the crowd and could once again stand side by side.
"I don't like the attention any more than you Knight," Magus said, "But by the time we would have got through that mess without my drastic measures that monster would have caught and eaten us." Magus waited for a response but got nothing. Just when he was about to say something else, Frog smoothly interrupted.
"May I propose that we do not stay here long? If what thee says about this monster controlling the people of Porre, it may not be very wise to let it catch us here."
"My thoughts exactly." Magus replied, "We're going to get a room, rest for a few hours and then leave as soon as the sun rises."
Frog nodded in satisfaction. "Dost thou know of a place to stay?" he asked.
"No, we'll have to find somewhere that's not full. I didn't exactly have time to book a room for this little adventure."
It took another hour and five different spots that offered housing to find one that had an open room. It was a small house on the northern part of town which sat on a very large plot of land.
"Well, you see, it's not exactly a room per se." the old man said as he led Magus, Frog, ad Ozzie through his house and out the back door. "But all I charge is five gold, so it's the best value you'll find." As the group came out of the house behind the man they found that the lot behind the house was covered in large tents.
"You'll have to find one that's empty and take one of the cots since there's three of ya. Don't 'spect that there'll be many more like yerselves comin' in tonight."
Magus muttered his thanks and paid the man while Frog and Ozzie went to look for a tent and an extra cot. When Magus was done, he found himself lost in the maze of tents with no way of knowing which one Frog and Ozzie had picked.
After an extensive search, Magus was sure that his two traveling companions had done this on purpose. Cursing, he tramped his way to the last row of tents and began throwing open tent flaps as he went. More than one person complained about this, and a woman whom Magus had accidentally walked in on while she was undressed screamed, but at this point he was too angry to very much care.
By the time he found their tent, half the camp was in uproar. Magus had changed his disguise a bit when he saw that the crowd he was leaving in his wake was much less than happy with him.
"Leave it to you two to find the tent on the opposite side of camp." he hissed as he entered the tent and plopped himself on the cot which was now his.
"Tis for the best." Frog said as he unlatched his belt and set it and the MasaMune down beside his cot. "Should the beast find us now and do to these people what he did to the villagers in Porre then we will be left with a much easier escape."
Magus hadn't thought of that. Of course that's what he had brought the Frog along for, well that and that sword he carried around. That settled, Magus decided just to sleep as he was; armored. He kicked off his boots and closed his eyes, letting the ongoing commotion in the camp help him slowly drift to sleep.
Magus woke with a start as someone gave him a rough shake. "Magus." a voice hissed.
"What?" he groaned as he opened his eyes. As the tent came into relatively good focus, Magus could see that it was still dark, perhaps just past midnight. Looking around he finally found the person that woke him standing at the tent flap.
"What is it?" he said as he jumped from his cot and quickly pulled his boots on.
"Thy companion hath gone."
"Ozzie? But where..."
"I know not. But he was not himself when he left."
"He's part of it then." Magus said pityingly.
Frog nodded. "That was what I presumed when Masa and Mune woke me."
"You mean that thing can talk?"
"Of course we can you lamebrain." the sword chimed.
"What did you think we stopped existing since we inhabited the sword?" another voice said, also coming from the sword.
"You really were always a little slow Janus." the first voices conceded mockingly.
"And you two always were just like that old man." Magus replied dryly. "Now are we going to leave or just stand here while Ozzie tells that thing our plans?"
"You're just mad because big brother got you good." the sword laughed.
Frog rolled his eyes, "That is enough you two, Magus is right, we must go if we hope to reach the castle before..." Frog trailed off as his jaw dropped.
"What?" Magus said as he brushed the tent flap up higher so that he could see out.
What he saw was amazingly horrifying. In the distance was a legion of small bouncing fireballs- torches. And holding those torches was what Magus knew to be an army of villagers controlled by his pursuer.
"It must be every last man and woman." Frog said breathlessly.
"We better go." Magus said. Frog nodded and the two took off towards Guardia in the hopes that the army of pursuers would stay far behind.
Magus and Frog ran for the rest of the night and for a good portion of the day. When they had to stop, Magus could no longer see the army lingering behind them, but had a feeling that they wouldn't be much longer. On the other hand he and Frog were now within site of the castle. He decided that for now he would keep the disguise, but once he was in and the army reached the castle along with the monster, that he would have relatively little need for it because it was very likely that by the time he found what he needed they would have to fight their way back out of the castle.
When he caught his breath, Magus looked to his right at Frog who nodded and began running again. With one last look behind, Magus wiped the sweat from his brow and took off towards the castle.
*
Its plan had not worked. Again. Kazar was beginning to become quite infuriated with Its prey, but using the tactical expertise provided by the first big one that it had consumed from this era, who was now in oblivion while his power and memories and knowledge became a part of Kazar, It had been able to form a new plan.
On another note, the one whose body It had taken seemed to be pleased with the agony that the first had been in before being fully consumed, but Kazar could feel that now she was afraid to meet her own fate.
She was soon to have company as well. It thought. The fat one It had almost got in the forest was now being drawn to It because of the portion It had consumed before the fat one had escaped. It would run no longer, and as Kazar's power and slaves grew, Janus Zeal quickly ran out of places to run.
Its newest plan was flawless. Using all the creatures from this era It would tire Janus Zeal with the sheer numbers and then It would take the pleasure of consuming the him.
*
So far so good. Magus and Frog had reached and entered the castle with no trouble at all. The problem was, that they had been forced to entertain the King and Queen for the past hour.
"I need to get into their library." Magus hissed as he knelt next to Frog. Frog nodded helpless to do anything but sit and nod while the King idly talked. The whole time Magus noticed that the Queen, Leene, was staring intently at him.
He swallowed nervously, wondering if his sister's pendant which hung around the Queen's neck was allowing her to see him. If so, why didn't she expose him? Did she really trust the Frog that much?
Finally Magus could stand it no more. "Excuse me Majesty, but it is imperative that Sir Frog and I get to the library so that we may cure the malady in Porre. "It was a weak cover story, but it was all he and the Frog had been able to come up with in the short time they had been given to come up with an answer."
"Oh, of course," the King said. "How stupid of me to keep you. We will have to talk again once you help the sick at Porre Sir Frog." Frog bowed low so that his head was only a few inches from the ground.
"Yes your Majesty." he said as he stood. Magus stood as well and they turned to leave. As he exited the room Magus , out of the corner of his eye, saw Leene lean over and say something to the King, stand up and start to follow them.
"Will your Queen trust you if she knows that I am truly Magus." he whispered as they walked towards the staircase that led to the library.
Frog looked at Magus curiously as they began climbing the stairs. "I..." The knight was interrupted by a melodic voice coming from behind them.
"Glenn!" the voice called. Magus groaned inwardly - it was the Queen. He turned around as the Frog knight walked down a few stairs, positioning himself between Magus and any that would be coming up the stairs. Magus was surprised to see that was just the Queen and not the royal guard. She stood in front of them for a moment staring at Magus and then nodded, apparently trying to gather her courage.
"I don't know why no one else sees you as you really are." she said as she pointed to Magus.
"Milady, I must ask you to tell no one," Frog said.
"But...alright. I trust you, but I wish I knew what you are really doing."
"Curing an ailment...though one of a different nature than that of what we hath said previously." Frog said assuringly. Leene nodded, satisfied with the answer. She then turned to leave, but Magus called out to her;
"It's the pendant," he said. "That's why you can see me."
Leene stopped, wrapped her fingers around the pendant and closed her eyes. As she did so a blue shimmering light shone from the pendant for a moment. She then let the pendant fall against her skin and proceeded down the stairs.
"What did it react to I wonder?" Frog said as they started towards the library again.
Magus shrugged in reply, though he knew the truth. While Leene was holding Schala's....her...pendant, he had been clutching his.
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