Chapter 3: The Truth...What are they Hiding?

When the light cleared, I was back in front of the sacred steps. I didn't know what to feel, my lifelong dream was coming true, and I was going to put my life on the line to do it.

And yet...something was wrong. It was something that Elder Prime said that made me wonder... "We want you to find them first, to prevent anyone else from using the power of the Gigas for their own purposes." Anyone else? Did they have a use for the Moon Crystals? What could they possibly need the Gigas for? I didn't know what it was exactly, but that one little sentence gave me a feeling that they were holding something back from me. I knew they must have had their reasons, but I had it set in my head that nothing would keep me from finding the truth...but how?

My mind flashed back to the vent in the chamber. Surely it led to a point outside it. If I could make my way back and find that point, I could crawl through and find the truth!

Remembering my promise, I ventured back to Fina's room to tell her what had happened with the Elders.

As I walked down the narrow hallway colored in silver, my mind was racing with what the Elders could be hiding. How could they keep anything from me when they were asking me to put my life at risk. Still confused, I made my way to Fina's door and knocked.

"Fina, it's Ramirez, I'm back from my meeting with the Elders." The door was open within 2 seconds of my knocking.

"Ramirez!" she said excitedly, "Come in, tell me what happened!"

"Wow..." I said as a smile came across my face, "you seem more exited about this than I do."

"Of course, you actually know what happened. I'm the one still wondering." She grabbed my arm and began to pull me towards her bed.

"Now stay right there," she said turning towards the door, "I'm going to get a drink of water. You better not leave before I come back!"

"Don't worry" I replied with a slight laugh, "I won't." She left and closed the door behind her.

I began to look around and take in my surroundings. The white walls, a set of drawers where she kept her clothes, the mirror on top of that, the table with a stuffed doll and a vase with a single flower sitting on top, and the bed I was sitting on, with the silver colored base and white sheets and pillows.

After a short time, she finally returned.

"I'm back" She walked through the door with a half empty glass of water in her hand and sat down at the table.

"Alright, now tell me everything, don't leave out anything." Seeing how truly excited she was for me, I explained to her what the Elders wanted me to do, without going into detail about the Gigas, as opposed to what she had said. I didn't think she needed to know everything.

"It looks like my dream is finally coming true, Fina. I'm finally going to get to see the world!" She looked at me through her mirror in amazement. I hadn't thought about how my leaving would affect her.

"Wow... I don't know what to say... I'm happy for you of course but..." A look of sadness came across her face, she looked away trying to hide it from me. "I'll miss you."

"Fina..." I went to her side to try and comfort her, "It's going to be ok. I promise I'll see you again, nothing will stop me."

She stroked her hand through my hair. "Look in the mirror, this is how I'll always remember you, until I see you again." I looked in the mirror and began to examine the long white haired figure standing there. The thin, yet muscular person clothed in white with gold stripes along the neck collar and waist.

My leaving had made me start examining everything, even little details I had never noticed before, like cracks in the roof and the echo footsteps had as I was walking. This is what I'd be leaving behind, left with the hope that I'd return one day.

"Don't ever forget me, okay Ramirez?" I drifted back into reality to see Fina still standing by my side, just short of letting out a tear. I gave out a smile of reassurance.

"Of course I'll never forget you. I'll think about you every day. But right now I need to get some rest, I have a big day ahead of me."

"I understand," she said and nodded "you can't be exhausted for something like this now can you?"

"I probably won't be able to get much sleep anyway, but I'll do the best I can." Fina and I both laughed and I went to the door.

"I'll see you tomorrow morning, Fina." With that, I closed the door behind me. I set out on a fast pace towards my own room. I had a big night ahead of me as well.

That night, I lay in my bed with my eyes open for what seemed like hours. When I felt the time was right, I got out of bed, and began to head back to the sacred steps.

"Rami..rez?" My heart stopped for a moment, if I was caught, I may never have gotten a chance to see the world. When I was finally able to move again, I turned around to see who it was. I breathed a sigh of relief.

"Oh, Fina, it's just you. What are you doing up?"

"I heard footsteps," she said rubbing her eyes "so I decided to see who it was. Where are you going?"

"I have something I need to take care of, please, go back to bed, and don't tell anyone about this." I had known Fina long enough to trust her with this, so, with that, I continued my path to the steps.

When I finally reached them, there was no hesitation in my mind. I began to move up swiftly and quietly. After I finished climbing, I immediately began moving through the maze. It wasn't as smooth as when I had gone through it earlier, but I managed to get to the end.

At the end of the maze, I instantly began looking for another vent. I saw it above and to the right of the door. I used the carvings sculpted into the side of the building to climb to it, and opened it as quietly as I could.

The vent was barely big enough for me to fit through, and I had much trouble trying to maneuver myself through the turns. Not to mention I could barely see what was in front of me. I began to ask myself 'What have I gotten myself into?' but I knew I had to find out no matter what.

After a while of crawling, I began to see a light coming from one direction. Seeing no other choices, I decided to head for it. As I got closer to it, I began to hear voices, voices that sounded like those of the Elders. I slowed down my movement in fear of being heard, but I kept a steady pace towards the light.

I continued crawling until I reached the source of the light. When I looked down, I knew immediately where I was. I was back in the Chamber of Elders, looking down from the vent I had saw earlier. The Elders seemed to be discussing something.

"Do you honestly believe it was right to deceive the boy like this?"

"We must do whatever it takes to achieve our goal. If that means a bit of deception, so be it. If it means reviving Zelos and calling down the Rains of Destruction once again, so be it. Those people down there...poisoning the rich soil with their lies. For the good of the world, they must be eliminated. The boy is too pure of heart to understand why we are doing this."

"But he has never questioned us before, what makes you think he would now?"

"I won't take that chance. He's the best warrior we have, if he was to refuse then the world would be in more trouble than if we were to take its fate into our hands."

I had heard enough. I was right, they were keeping something from me. So my purpose wasn't just to prevent the Gigas from falling into the wrong hands...rather make sure they were in the right hands. I never imagined that Zelos had the power to destroy the entire world.

I didn't know what to think, but I trusted the Elders' judgment. With that, I started to slowly work my way back out. I found a space to turn around, and I began to retrace my steps, first out of the chamber, out of the maze, and back to my quarters seemingly without getting caught. I wasn't sure if my actions had gone unnoticed, I knew Fina had spotted me, but there was nothing I could do now. Tomorrow I would set out for the world below. Exhausted, I closed my eyes and almost immediately fell asleep.

Next: Chapter 4: My Journey Begins, Steps Towards Destiny