The cliff was unremarkable, really

All characters, events, places, etc., mentioned belong to Square Enix, and are used in the Compilation Of Final Fantasy VII, specifically Final Fantasy VII (1997) and Crisis Core (2007).

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The cliff was unremarkable, really. It was an ordinary spire of rock jutting up from the windblown earth, and it looked exactly like the hundreds exactly like it that were spread over the dusty landscape for miles.

It rose and stood high above the barren desert floor, towering over boulders that had fallen from its face and skittered down its steep slope over the many years that it had stood there.

It had watched over the sprawling metropolis, Midgar, ever since the city's very conception. The ever-growing cluster of cold concrete buildings, the looming walls built to keep the elements and monsters out and its citizens in, and the massive steel monolith had always been guarded from the blistering dust storms and hot desert winds by the numerous cliffs surrounding it.

This unremarkable cliff was a crossroads for two friends. It was where they parted ways for one final time, as one staggered away towards revenge, and the other rose to face his final challenge.

After his struggles were over, he found an old and dear friend, a mentor, a man that was so like a second father to him. A man that had taught him honor, and how to protect his honor no matter what.

This man, his mentor, had been the one to take him home, helped him start on his final journey.

This ordinary cliff was where a precious inheritance was accepted, if only a little unwillingly, by one who didn't know the full extent of what it had once meant. This inheritance had been passed down from teacher to student, and now it was being given to best friend by best friend. It was not entirely material. The sword represented something that was so much more.

There was one thing, however, that this particular cliff was that the hundreds surrounding it were not.

It was where a man fulfilled his greatest dream.

It was where he became a hero.