-Disclaimer- Bow before the disclaimer, the one thing that commands me…


A/N: 'Ello again. Sorry about the 11:00 update (for me, at least); I forgot it was Sunday, hehe. Now… First off, yeah, the thing where they were meeting is where Aeris/Aerith summons Holy modernly. And yeah, this is millions of years ago.

I don't remember the actual length, but I think it was something like ten million years ago. The Cetra civilization was at its peak long before I came back and, you know, wiped them out and everything. Because they're basically the caretakers of the Planet, they didn't have to evolve as much as you humans on your world did.

A/N: Yeah. And, on that note… I didn't put this in the first chapter because the author's note got too long, but I'd like opinions. Are you all alright with (mild) torture scenes, or should I just put them in sort of vague descriptions, i.e. fast-forward to where the characters barely remember it? There aren't very many, but still. Only two of the characters really ever get hurt too badly, and since there are really only two main characters at the moment, you can probably tell who it's gonna be, eh? I don't include one of them, because Jenova doesn't know about -cough cough- remember -cough cough- it. Anyways... Opinions, people! Alright, to the story!


A Different Kind of Excalibur

We didn't waste any time, and departed immediately. Cantus led me away from the city; quite far away, actually. Finally, we arrived at a lake not far from the glass forest. Apparently, as Cantus told me, the glass forest was actually called Vitrum Sylva. Not that it mattered much, but it was at least good to know.

I looked around. "…Why are we here, exactly?"

"Well, if you're going to survive, you're going to need a weapon. Normally, I would say that violence isn't the answer, but in this case…"

"It most definitely is. It's either fight or die, right?"

"…Right."

"Right. But… how is a lake going to help us, exactly?"

"Well, that's easy. The lake is enchanted. It'll give you whatever you want, as long as you truly need it. In this case, weapons are definitely something you'll need. We don't know how much time you have before you'll need to defend yourself, so you'll need to learn how to use both weapons and magic as quickly as you can."

I nodded. "Okay then… How does this work?"

"Just reach into the water. Whatever you need should be there."

I nodded, though I was still slightly tentative to reach into a magical lake. What if it was ruled by Cthulhu?! Okay, so I didn't think that exactly, but something similar. Reluctantly, I knelt down, reaching underneath the surface of the lake. It was dark on top, so I couldn't see what was down there. The water was lukewarm, but then again, I know now that temperature doesn't affect me too much, so that may have been why. Then, though, my hands brushed against something, and I grabbed it. Surprised, I pulled two weapons out of the water. They were both katanas with black hilts and black sheaths. A bit basic, but I didn't care.

I smiled slightly. "Uh… thank you, magical lake…" I said, tying the swords to my back using a belt-like thing that they had come with. They were surprisingly comfortable; I could barely even tell they were there.

Cantus paused. "Can you wield two weapons at once?"

"I guess we'll find out."

"Which reminds me… are you left-handed or right-handed? I never even thought about that, but it may be important."

"Uhhh… I don't know…"

He sighed. "Well, we should probably find out." He started walking again.

"Wait… are we going all the way back to the city?!"

He glanced back at me. "Yes, and?"

I shook my head. "No way. Isn't there a way to, like, teleport or something?"

"Not unless you can teleport."

"Well, let's try."

I grabbed his wrist and went into the same kind of mental state that I had gone into in Korsanth. This time, though, I envisioned Korsanth instead of the area around me, wanting to go there. I forced any thought I had into the spell, and it actually somehow worked, as the next thing I knew, we were standing right in front of the large shell building thingy.

"Ha! I'm awesome!"

Cantus just stared at me. "Dear goddess… And you just did that as a last minute thought?!"

"Yeah, and?"

"It takes powerful mages years to learn what you just figured out in seconds!"

I shrugged. "I told you I was special, didn't I?"

"Huh… I wouldn't say special; I'd just say that you're quite powerful…"

"Aw, come on," I said, poking him once. "You just don't want to admit that I'm cooler than you thought I would be."

He rolled his eyes. "Not at all. Anyways, come on. I want to test something out…"

He led me back into the large shell and back into the city. This time, though, we entered one of the turret/building things. The door was closed, but it wasn't locked, so Cantus opened it and led me inside, closing the door behind us. Immediately, I saw that it was a large library. There must have been some sort of magic at work here, because this place was definitely much larger than it looked on the outside. Cantus nodded. "Ever since the beginning, Cetra have loved writing. Both history and works of fiction. This is a collection of everything we've come across. I love it here…"

I nodded, looking around. "I can see why… But, if I may ask, why are we here?"

He sighed, walking over to a table nearby. He pulled out a piece of paper and a pencil. He put the paper on the desk and handed the pencil to me. "Here. Try writing anything. See which hand you prefer, so that you'll know which one is better to fight with."

I shrugged. "Alright…" I took the pencil in my left hand and sat down at the table, just drawing a simple infinity sign. I then did the exact same with my right hand, glancing back at Cantus. "Alright, you may have a problem here. Neither of my hands are better than the other. So there you go."

"You're… ambidextrous? Strange… Ah, well, that's obviously why you have two swords instead of one. Now, one last thing before I'll let you use those…"

"Yes?"

He looked around, making sure that nobody else was there. "Alright, Ayanumi. Teleport us to Vitrum Sylva."

"You got it!" I grabbed his hand and teleported both of us to the glass forest. We were right next to where I had first woken up, so I was pretty familiar with the area. I quickly let go of Cantus' hand, looking around. "So… why are we here?" I asked, reverting back to my original form and clothes – minus the cloak, of course, since there was really no need for it. Luckily, my swords stayed.

Cantus nodded, grabbing both of my swords before I could stop him.

"Hey!"

"Heh, sorry. Like I said earlier, I'd rather you not hurt yourself. Though it would probably teach you a much-needed lesson, it probably wouldn't be very good if you managed to survive through most of the fight with whoever is trying to kill you, only to accidentally maim yourself so that they can finish you off…"

"Yeah, that probably wouldn't be very good…"

"Exactly. So…" He put both of my swords on the ground, holding his hands over them. They glowed softly after a moment, and he pulled his hands back. "There. Now they're enchanted, so they can never be used to harm you."

"Well, thank you very much. What if everything goes wrong, though, and I end up wanting to commit suicide to escape a fate much worse than death, but because of this I can't kill myself? Huh? Huh?" Yes, I actually said that. My life's been full of ominous foreshadowing; probably because of Guen's 'Cycles of Infinity' or whatever. For those of you that haven't read DR, just ignore this little comment…

He rolled his eyes, handing me my weapons again. "When would that ever happen?"

"Well, I'm just saying…"

"That won't happen, Ayanumi. Don't worry. Now… shall I teach you how to use those weapons?"

"I doubt you need to. How about you attack me and I try not to kill you?"

He smiled very slightly. Did he ever want to show any emotion besides contempt…? "Alright, whatever you say…"

Without warning, he pulled his staff out and attacked me. I was barely able to block in time. He struck me again, not wasting a second. This time, I was thrown backwards. I landed harshly on the ground, and Cantus made no move to help me in any way.

I shook my head, standing up. "Hey! No fair!"

Though his expression was calm, I could see in his eyes that he was trying his hardest not to laugh. "To be perfectly honest, whoever wants you dead won't play fair. I'm just, uh, preparing you."

"Oh, uh huh. Right. Sure."

"And maybe I wanted to teach you a lesson, but, you know, probably not."

"Oh, it's so on, now."

"You think you can take me?"

I shrugged. "I was holding back."

"Oh, I'm sure you were." He was just asking for it, now. Fine. If he wanted a fight, then I'd give him one.

I rushed him with my swords, but he blocked me easily. He smiled slightly at me, holding me back. "Ayanumi, I've had hundreds of years to train. You're just starting out. It doesn't matter what you are; you can't win."

"Ah, we'll see about that!"

I struck him again and again, but he was quite fast. So, I'd just have to be faster. If I didn't win today, I'd definitely win the next time we fought; that was for sure.

We didn't waste a single bit of space in our little skirmish. The entire field became our battleground. After a while, Cantus decided to test me even more. He would duck underneath my strikes and snatch a piece of glass from the ground, throwing it at me with a deadly accuracy. I either dodged or blocked every one, and then continued trying to strike Cantus down.

After what was actually probably an hour or two, I finally seemed to tire out Cantus. I myself was getting tired as well, honestly, but I didn't care. I was determined to win.

Finally, Cantus let me push him back against a tree. I crossed my swords against his neck, just to make sure that he didn't move.

I nodded. "I win."

"Mmmm… not necessarily."

"Uh… But…"

"I let you win, Jenova. You should realize that." I barely even realized that he had called me by my real name, since I was too focused on the present moment.

"It doesn't really matter, does it?"

"You need to learn that winning and losing aren't always as black and white as they may seem. That someone may seem to give in, but in actuality…"

"But, unless I'm wrong, you don't seem to be able to fight back anymore."

He grinned wickedly at me, which surprised me greatly. Then, before I even knew what was going on, he used his staff to twist my swords out of my hands, causing me to drop them. He then flipped me around so that we were in the spots opposite of where we had just been. He pressed his arm across my chest and put his staff against my neck, pushing me against the tree and rendering me incapable of movement.

"You're wrong," he whispered in my ear before he pulled back, letting me catch my breath. I glared at him, picking up my swords. He shook his head, but I could see him smiling slightly. Why, that smug little… "No more fighting for now. You need to get some rest, before we continue with your training."

"I've had plenty of time to rest, thank you very much! I was comatose for who knows how long!"

He shook his head. "Being comatose is different than resting." DR readers, you may recall that I quoted that to Cloud in Nibelheim… "And if you're going to try testing out your magic, you'll want all the energy you can get. We need to discover all of what you can do as quickly as possible, so that you have the best chance of surviving."

"Oh… Alright, fine… I need to figure out a way to get energy without needing to sleep…"

Cantus glanced at me. "You'd better not. Pulling energy from others is dark magic."

"Oh… Any other dark magics I should look out for?"

"Yes, quite a lot. There are a few main ones, though. Any magic that can only be used to hurt others should be avoided. Also… mind-control. And anything close to it. Stay away from magic like that. That shouldn't be an issue, though, because the ability to control others would be innate. I've never seen anyone have it, before. I know there are people with such an ability, but nobody from this world. And every single one of them ended up evil." He gave me a dark look. "If you ever find that you have this ability, tell me immediately. Alright?"

I nodded, slightly stunned. "Oh, alright. I think I'd know by now, though…"

"Yeah, I hope you're right. To have an Ayanumi become corrupt would be terrible, with your amount of power. If that ever happens…" He shook his head unhappily.

"What? Would you have to kill me, if I could control others?"

He sighed, looking away. "Yes. Yes, I would. And if I couldn't, I'd have to have a more powerful Guardian take you out. It's the rules. Being able to control others is an ability that can only lead to destruction. Perhaps, if you had such an ability, I could help you try to get rid of it before the gods found out. But that would only work if you only ever used it a maximum of perhaps once. So, that's why, if you do find that you have this ability, you have to tell me the second you find out. Alright?!"

"Okay, okay, I will. Sheesh! I'd probably know by now, though, so I doubt there's anything to worry about."

"I sure hope you're right…"

I sighed. "Anyways… I guess I'll just get some sleep here, then. The forest will probably protect me."

He nodded. "Yeah, it should. So, luckily for me, you won't need me to be here for now. You'll be just fine on your own, right?"

I smirked. "Of course I will. I don't need your help."

"Good. I'll head back to Korsanth, then. Teleport back there in the morning, which…" He looked around. It was still dark out, but it probably wouldn't be for much longer. "Which shouldn't be too long from now. At least I'll be rid of you for a few hours…"

I rolled my eyes. "Uh-huh. But I'll make sure to annoy you just as much tomorrow."

"You know, maybe you being able to control others wouldn't be such a bad thing. At least then I could finally get rid of you for good."

I shrugged. "Yeah, maybe so. We'll see, I guess. I'll see you later, Cantus…"

He smirked. "Good night, Ayanumi." With that, he walked off.

I sighed, walking into the platform in the center of the clearing. Since only one of the walls had fallen down, it was still a fairly safe, enclosed area. Which was good, since I was kind of on my own for a few hours and probably wouldn't be able to defend myself. Maybe the forest was enchanted or something, so it would be able to warn me if I was in danger.

Still, just in case, I looked around cautiously. I looked at the one wall that had fallen down. Maybe, if someone thought all of the walls were up, I wouldn't be in as much danger. And hey, Cantus had said that I needed to learn how to use magic, right?

I paused, thinking for a second. Then, I looked at the one place where there wasn't a wall and focused. Again, it took me a few tries. In fact, I almost blew up the other walls. But, I calmed myself just like I had done in Korsanth. Almost instantly, an illusion of the wall appeared, making it seem as though all of the walls were up. There was the issue of the glass on the ground, but that wouldn't matter too much.

I grinned. I. Am. So. Cool!

I finally realized that I actually was tired, so I lied down on the ground, closing my eyes. Tomorrow, I knew, I would figure out exactly what I could and could not do; even if that meant figuring out that I was marked for death.