Chrono Trigger - Kingdom of Zeal

The Ice Age

                The place where Tyranno’s Lair used to be is now a giant crater. Lavos erased every sign of the magnificent building that once stood here, and with it all the reptites who built it. I was wrong about them being the ancestors to the fiends. The reptites were genius dinosaurs who died when a meteor crashed into the planet. Maybe some of the ones who were living underground survived and fiends might descend from those. Crono decides to survey the crash site and see the damage Lavos has caused.

At least they have elevators

                Lavos has already buried itself deep into the ground and lies dormant. Wiping out a sentient race must be tiring. A gate has appeared here. What have we got to lose? Let’s go see what is on the other end of this portal. Crono walks out on the other end and into a cave. Once the party exits the cave, we see everything is covered in snow. Our friends make the trek towards the only man-made structure on the continent. Maybe there is a village there and we can get our bearing by talking to someone. Ayla is also with us. She has decided to stick by with her friends. Now that Kino can be trusted to hold down the fort back home, Ayla is more comfortable leaving the tribe under his command.

                Azala was right about the whole world turning cold in the aftermath of the meteor crash. Not much has survived the cooling climate. It does not look like this area is exactly teeming with life. The structure we saw earlier is not a village either. It is some sort of a sky lift, and there is not a soul around to explain it to our party. Crono decides to take the lift and see if he can find a person on the other end.

                The structure beams everyone to an island in the sky. This is the most gorgeous place I have seen in this game yet. And for some reason I cannot remember it at all. I don’t recall it from my previous plays. It is not like I have never been here because I have beaten the game. Which I cannot do without passing through here. I also remember some of the events that will take place while I am in this kingdom. But the place itself seems completely new to me.

                I wonder how Ayla feels when she sees this place. Even though it is still in the past for the rest of the party, this is Ayla’s future. In abstract, everyone knows they will die one day. To see the reality of it in person must be a whole another experience. There is no sign of her tribe. In fact, this world is so different from the one she comes from, it must look alien to her. How does one come to terms with the reality that they and their way of life is so transient, it will fade away from the face of the world once they are gone? It must be especially traumatic after having just witnessed a whole species being wiped out of existence in an instant. If this bothers her, Ayla certainly does not show it.

Magic Kingdom of Zeal

                The whole team goes into the first village they see. This is a society more advanced than most we have seen until now. It may even be more advanced than the one Crono, Marle and Lucca come from. “This is the Magic Kingdom of Zeal, where dreams can be made reality.” Which is probably why everyone here is asleep or about to fall asleep. Zeal is ruled by a Queen (how many of those are in this game?) After the King died, she encouraged technological advancement through research in magic. As a result, the magic users prospered and built a great society in the sky, away from the ravages of the climate on the ground. Until recently, she used to be a benevolent ruler. Ever since the arrival of a shady prophet, the Queen has devolved into a paranoid and cruel ruler.

Prince Valium would have loved this place.

                While the party is exploring this place, they come to meet a child who tells them one of them will die soon. Considering we can bring multiple different party members and only one of the three will be ever present, it is not hard to figure out who he is talking about. Everyone is shook. Lucca tries to disregard the doom prophecy by saying it is unscientific, but everyone is thinking about it. I wonder who this child is. Have we met him before? Are we going to meet him again? Only time will tell.

                There is a skyport right next door. Crono goes there to check on the flying ship currently parked on the dock. Every Final Fantasy and FF adjacent RPG gives the party a flying ship to travel around in (usually late in the game). Hopefully we will be getting this one, but now is not the time. For now, it is under the captaincy of Queen’s knight, Dalton. This man is as much of an obnoxious prick as his name suggests. Even his sprite smirks at me. Although we all thoroughly hate this man, there is nothing we can do to him at this moment. Might as well move on and find our way to the palace.

                Crono makes his way through the caves to reach the top of the mountain where the Queen resides. This is a magnificent palace, likes of which our friends have never seen before. As we enter, the party witnesses the bustle of a busy city. There is magical research being conducted here. Unlike the first sleepy village we saw, this place is alive with activity. One of the magicians is working on creating capsules that grant permanent status boosts. He keeps losing the ones he makes because someone keeps taking them. Crono stays quiet about using the ones he has been finding all over time and space. Magic is the way of life for the denizens of Zeal. These people live in the skies, having long since abandoned the ground. They no longer need the energy from the sun. Now they use Lavos as their energy source. We have talked of this game being about fossil fuels and their harmful effects on the climate. If we needed more evidence to that effect, this kingdom is it.

12-20-2020

I know a place where we could charge this too.