The woman, whose identity remained unknown, stood behind a tree, spying on the people (as well as two robots) who were sitting in a circle around the campfire in Fiona's Forest. Even though the spying woman had helped them before, she felt nervous about revealing her identity. She had told Crono, Marle and Lucca before, "I cannot tell you who I am or tell you of my identity for reasons you will know later." Now she was wondering if she should not reveal her identity after all. The thought left her mind quickly, though. She had went there to do something, and she would do it, no matter what the consequences. Also, there were two of special interest around the fire that she wanted to see. She thought, now is the time.
The seven who helped in the fight against Lavos, as well as Kino, Baby Karla (who was being held by Ayla), Schala, Alfador, Cyrus, Crono's mother, and Atropos were sitting around the campfire. The ones who had not known each other were introduced. At first, Cyrus felt uneasy about being near Magus, but after hearing Magus' full story, they shook hands in understanding. The "Lavos destroyers" took turns in telling what happened to them after the Lavos destruction.
After the stories were told, Robo observed, "I notice that all of our stories involve a woman helping us out. I bet she is the same person in all our stories."
"Yes," Lucca said, "But the million GP question is, who is she?"
A telepathic message without any voice (like the other telepathic messages) called, "I believe I can answer that question."
The shadow that was familiar to most of them as the mysterious woman appeared. She was standing in an empty spot on the circle on which they were all sitting.
The woman's telepathically chanted, "Let the complete truth finally be revealed."
Schala's pendant shone...
The Masamune which Cyrus held reflected light...
A sparkle appeared in Karla's eye...
A piece of Atropos' metal glimmered...
Light shone on Crono's mother's finger that her Lost Magic emits from...
These five lights joined together to form a pentagon of light around the fire. Then, the inside of the pentagon filled with light. A burst of light emitted from the pentagon, which radiated the place momentarily. When the light and light pentagon were gone, the shadow covering the woman was no more. Her identity was now revealed to them.
"Thou art-" started Glenn.
"Glenn!" Cyrus interrupted, "look at yourself! You are no longer a frog!"
Glenn looked at himself, including his long, flowing green hair, "It's a miracle!"
Lucca commented on Glenn's true form, "WOW! Yowzas! What a HUNK!!"
The woman said in her own, identifiable voice, "I called upon the truth, so it brought upon him his form that is the truth."
Kino said, "That woman protect Karla and save villagers!"
Then it was Schala who called, "Mother!"
"Queen Zeal..." Lucca breathed.
"Yes, it is me," Zeal spoke.
"I thought it might be you," Magus said, "you seemed a lot like Schala when I first felt your presence."
"Janus, Schala, I've been thinking about you two the most since my death. I have wronged you all as well, which I feel I will never be able to repay, no matter how many lives I bring back or people I protect."
Schala commented, "But you were under Lavos' control! It's not your fault for what happened."
Zeal responded, "I know, but I still feel responsible. After all, I did choose to use Lavos energy. I want to explain so much, but I don't know where to start."
"It is wiseith to startith at the beginning," Glenn said.
"Very well," Zeal stated, "soon after I acquired Lavos energy and got the Black Omen, making me a more powerful and influential leader, I was given certain powers."
Robo asked, "Could these 'powers' be the ones like Mother had? The power to look into all time strings?"
"Yes, as well as a more subtly known telepathic power. Mother had the telepathic power, as well as the time string power, but cared not to use it. Ancient Yakra also had the Powers and cared not to use the telepathic part. He used the Powers to view his descendants fates."
She continued, "The Powers are acquired when a being that is both powerful and has a huge influence over time brings themselves to the one you refer to as the Entity and requests them."
"Wait! Time out!" Lucca said, "You mean there actually is an Entity?"
"Yes," Zeal moved to another spot on the circle. "The Entity is like a god that watches over us. It is not known if the Entity is either male, female, or even genderless. The Entity promotes good, but it is forced to live under a certain standard of rules to be able to exist. For example, it is not allowed to force humans to do anything.
"The Entity saw that Lavos would result in the end of the world, so it sent down three Gurus to try to stop me peacefully. Of the three, Gaspar had the ability to make Gates. When he was sent to The End of Time by a Gate created by Lavos, he was asked by the Entity to create Gates in hopes that someone should activate one and find out about Lavos. Lucca's telepod didn't make the Gate, it just activated a Gate that couldn't be seen. Gate making and managing takes up a lot of energy, though, and since Gaspar has used up all his powers, Gates now cease to exist.
"Anyway, I'm going astray of my original topic. I was given the Powers after I, being a powerful and influential being, met and requested the Powers from the Entity. Another rule that the Entity is forced to live under is to give the Powers to all whom are powerful and influential enough and whom request them, even if the being's intentions are evil.
"The Powers are not foolproof, though. Fortunately, there was a small shard of me that remained unoccupied by Lavos' cancerous power. That small part done little, but helped you grandly. It was able to trick the part of me occupied by Lavos by occasionally bypassing the Powers, and making me think that what it 'said' was really what would happen, which of course, wasn't true. The most important times this happened was once, when it tricked me into thinking Crono was born later than he really was. Because of that, I sent the smart Lavos Spawn out to kill his father too late. That Lavos Spawn, known to you as the fake Kenneth, may have seemed to imply that Lavos was his master, but it was I, who was. He always liked to word phrases so that he was telling the truth, but would still leave out vital details. The second time I was tricked was when I thought Crono would commit suicide.
"After you 'killed' me, I was brought upon the Entity for Judgment. There is no rule that binds the Entity to do, or not to do, anything to the person being judged. I felt truly sorry for what I done, so the Entity gave me capabilities to allow me to help whom I have wronged before I was judged. The power of the capabilities were limited though, perhaps because of a rule, or simply as a test by the Entity. I was vastly drained from most of the power of the capabilities after the revivals in Ayla's time and of Cyrus. Therefore, during my last stop in 2300 A.D., I was able to help Robo very little, so he had to depend on you three, Crono, Marle, and Lucca. If you had known who I really was at the time, you may have sought to rid of me.
"Now, do you have any questions?"
Robo was the first to ask a question, "So you are not the Entity then? I thought to myself that it could have been your soul. Am I also wrong in believing that the Entity is one who wanted to change 'unpleasant' memories?"
"I do not know of the Entity's identity, if it truly does have one, so I cannot answer that question. But no, I am not the Entity."
Robo was obviously prepared for his second question, "I notice a conflict between stories. Mother said that she did not know the origin of her Powers, but she would have to know if she asked for them. Was she telling the truth?"
"Yes, she was telling the truth to the extent of her knowledge. Her Powers came from a different Entity than the present one. They were simply granted to her; she did not ask for them. So during her time of being, she never knew anything about an Entity. That Entity probably knew that her artificial mind could comprehend the idea of one anyway."
There was a pause while they thought up some questions. Then Marle asked, "About the smart Lavos Spawn, how come it could talk, and morph?"
The woman answered, "You mean 'how come THEY could morph?' The clones were also smarter Lavos Spawns. In the Black Omen they were manipulated, using the power of the Omen, to gain the abilities to morph and talk. Remember the Lavos Spawn in the Black Omen? The one you fought? It was stronger than the normal Lavos Spawns, but did not complete the process of becoming smarter. Also remember seeing the copies of you six before you fought me in the Omen? They later became disfigured from the destruction of the Omen and would fight you later in the End of Time. Magus 2 wasn't complete finished, so it was not put up for view in the Omen. Its incompleteness also made it more prone to attacks, like my son's Black Hole."
Magus asked, "How come you accepted me as a Prophet if you had the ability to view time strings?"
"Like I said, I only realized the Powers in the Black Omen. Only when I bound with the Black Omen and Lavos did I have the power and influence to be granted the Powers."
Lucca then spoke, "Sorry for changing the subject, but do you know what happened to Crono at the End of Time? About his knowledge of the plot involving the cats and stuff? Was it YOU who, well, told him?"
"I can truthfully say that I did not tell him. Crono is starting to realize the Powers, which also explains his telepathy at the End of Time. He is special. Unlike most beings with the Powers, he did not ask the Entity for them. Instead, the current Entity, not the one that gave the Powers to Mother, saw that Crono was a powerful and influential being, and thus could handle the Powers, so it granted them to Crono. Over time, he will realize the full extent of his Powers, and be able to use them by his own will."
Robo asked his third question, "And, why didn't Lavos have the Powers? Mother told me he did not have it, even as a powerful and influential being. Why is this?"
"The Powers can only be granted to ones of the Planet. As you know, Lavos came from a different planet. However, I do not know which planet he came from. Wherever it was, he was probably not wanted."
Once again she spoke, "I must go now, to receive final Judgment. Glenn, enjoy your new form. Janus, Schala, remember, I love you, no matter what evils I done to you. I can only hope that the Entity, and most importantly you all, can forget my evils. Goodbye..."
"Mother!" cried Schala, but it was too late. Now that Zeal's powers were completely used up, she would receive final Judgment. They all wished that her fate would be a good one.
Zeal stood in a starry setting. She was standing in space, seemingly on an invisible platform. In front of her was on outline of a human, three times as big as she. The outline would change shape every once in awhile, but always appeared in the shape of a human.
"I am ready for Judgment," Zeal said.
"Very well. Your thirst for power led you to get energy from Lavos. This led you to greed for even more power. The want to keep the power over your people also lead to the Lost Magicians Massacre. Your actions almost led to the end of the world. That is why you should be punished."
"I see-"
"- But - you DID do these actions under Lavos' influence, and not fully your own. You DID bring up two children nicely before Lavos. You DID feel remorse for your actions, and you DID all you could to help the seven Lavos fighters. That is why I decide that your soul is good. Your soul may 'live' happily with your husband's soul, forever."
A voice spoke, still coming from the Entity, "I've been waiting for you."
The inside of the Entity's outline glowed, and then the Entity shrank to human size. It stopped glowing to reveal a man's body. Zeal recognized this body, and spirit, as her deceased husband. He had a tan skin tone with blue eyes, black hair, and a normal build.
Her husband said, "When I - left - you and the children for good, I was brought here and chosen as the one who presides over Earth by the stars, the planets, and the universe. The seven know me as the Entity. Even in the form of the Entity, I still loved you dearly. They were right, for I did have unpleasant memories, which was leaving you three. I wished I had known you better before I permanently left. I kept close attention to you, especially. When you discovered Lavos energy, I thought that the perfect way to help you would be to send people, with the help of Gaspar, the Gatemaker, to remove Lavos from your mind. Judgment was just meant to remove any remaining Lavos energy from you."
Stunned, she said, "Kajar... thank you."
"You named that city after me when I died. And it was so close to your palace. I feel honored, Hazel."
"Nobody has called me by my first name in so long. It feels nice to hear it from you."
Kajar spoke, "Now that you are here, I shall retire from this Entity position, and be with you."
He took hold of her hands and they both transformed into tiny glimmers. They shot up into the sky, together, where their souls remained, together.
Even then, Hazel Zeal reflected on her past. She saw the good times and bad. She knew her name and identity, but still she wondered:
Who was she... ?
And so ends our story. Now that I have told how Kajar and Hazel received true Life, and how the seven lived happily ever after, I may start my new job. Thank you for enjoying their stories.
-- Melchior: Guru of Life and new Entity