Chapter 4 Why
The Weapons came to the only door that was not locked; they opened the door slowly to see a laboratory in front of them. They had at last arrived where they were created, and the evidence was all before them. They spread out; inspecting the equipment around the lab. They were all dead silent; they walked around, finding the tubes they remembered in the deepest part of their memories. Large and strange equipment was all around them; each machines purpose was alien to them.
Siarnaq inspected the equipment in complete disgust of this abomination. He examined a space between the machines, finding a small notebook hidden in the space. Siarnaq removed it, slowly hiding it away so he could examine it later.
The doors behind the Weapons swung open; a grey haired woman entered the room. Her body was covered in grey clothe armor. The Weapons all stared at her; she looked at all eight of the creatures that had led them to this point. A gentle smile was across her face and she looked so happy but not in a menacing way. "Hello my Weapons, my name is Jenova. I would like to thank you all for coming here, to aid me in my goals."
Siarnaq and Brett were in complete shock; this was surely not Jenova that was their creator. She had no aura what so ever and was beautiful, unlike the monster they theorized to see before them. Atlas and Terra looked at her extremely worried; she had no aura, was it even possible she could completely mask it. Could she be this powerful; her appearance had only caused a thousand new questions.
With a wave of her hand all of the equipment melted away into the ground. "It means so much to me that you are all here today. I know I have done terrible things to get you here; but you must understand why. I have owed you for an explanation for a while, but it is difficult to do anywhere since my enemies are everywhere. When you exist beyond the end of time you tend to make a few enemies."
"Jenova; what are you trying to pull here. We had to travel across this world, why? Why would the real you appear before us now?" Siarnaq questioned Jenova with a very serious expression and tone.
"I want you all to understand what I'm doing here. I hate the gods; they took everything away from me. You see I went through the timeline once; the gods killed the civilization that considered me a god. We had no interest in war till another of the three races attacked. We were punished for surpassing the gods, and even I was forced into hiding from the plague that swept the galaxy. My race was destroyed and wiped mercilessly from the galaxy. I hid away; my power keeping me alive forever; that is till the gods own creation grew a mind of its own. It gained a new mind from the creatures that were underestimated."
Jenova paused for a brief instant, waving her hand as a large circle appeared on the floor. "The universe fell into chaos because of the gods. Only when everything had perished the gods finally began to fight back. That Chaos will not begin for some time now; but it is so powerful that the gods could not stop their own creation. If I ever revealed myself then I to would have died myself. So I hid and watched as the gods let everything fall into Chaos."
"So if you know all of this how; did you get here? Time travel would require a massive power and you do not scream of that power." Theus questioned the woman, just as the circle finished forming the symbol below them. "Near the end the gods were forced to bring forth the ultimate item; the only thing that can break the rules of existence. They formed the philosopher stone from eight key elements. I took careful note of how it was made; it is pretty easy to make if you know how. Before they could activate it I used all my power to travel back to the peak of my civilization. There I fused with my previous self; merging back into the time stream with all the knowledge still intact."
"So you had all the power and knowledge from the future you, but know you were in a position to change the future. Does that mean that the Weapons are…" Theus tried to finish his next question when Jenova interrupted.
"Theus, you are very smart. I had what I needed to change the timeline forever, but I needed all of your aid. I enlisted four more Alterrans, two of the Magi, and last was a single member of the Cetra. They were all members I though I could trust. We worked tirelessly on the final Weapon project here. We ran so many simulations and did so many tests, but it was worth everything we had sacrificed. I was going to change the future, but then I was betrayed."
"You were betrayed by Arniath right. He gave all of us a mind and a soul. He was the one who separated us to stop you." Brett exclaimed and Jenova shook her head. "He was worried what I was about to unleash by playing with gods power. He delayed my plans putting me in this position. You see all of you are not truly Weapons; you are a combination of the three races that originally existed. You were cloned off of a man named Brett; he was part of the Magi civilization even though he was something unique."
"Wait! What do you mean we are not the Weapons?" Aeolus questioned. "Simple you are not Weapons; you never were supposed to be Weapons. You were the first step in a line that would create the last Weapon I would ever need to kill the gods. This is all about killing the gods. You are part of a new race; a combination of all three races with powers and evolution capabilities beyond imagination. Inside each of you is an entire planet's Lifestream; you are all immortals that shall never age; and eventually you would have gained a soul. Of course you are not invincible; but I gave you powers to ensure your survival."
"We are not Weapons, then why do I remember killing an entire planet of innocents?" Brett asked. "That was implanted by that worthless Cetra; all a ruse to destroy my plan. He never could accept that the gods would lead us all to obliteration; his conscience told him to betray me. I'm sure he had his reasons but they do not matter; the Cetra became my enemy that day."
"Is that why there is a clone of you sitting in a building on another world; one that tried to kill the Cetra of that world?" Jenova nodded before continuing; "yes I do hate them for that simple fact. No, none of you are Weapons, but you are my legacy to all time. Each of you is a key piece to forming the ultimate tool of creation. You all are part of the Philosopher Stone; an item that can breaks the rules of all creation. This is why I need all of your help; then you can go live however you want. And you shall spread a new race across the galaxy. You shall create the final Weapon; the Weapon that shall defeat Zeus; the king of the gods."
It was a lot for anyone to take in; most of this new race was completely surprised. Jenova was the first to brake the dead silence; "so you all know the truth now. My true goal is to destroy the gods, and finally let mortals control their future. You all can proceed to you symbol on the ground; by the way I'm eternally grateful to all of you, for your aid. Now please to your symbols."
None of the former Weapons were crazy about this idea; but hey all knew what was at stake. They all proceeded to their spot, finding their symbol beneath them. Only Siarnaq did not move; "Why Jenova? you cannot play god! This is far too dangerous for you to be choosing the path for everyone."
"No it is not; I have the knowledge and shall prevail. Please go to your spot, I do not want to go back to that world and kill that young blond girl." Siarnaq backed down, quickly understanding the threat that was implied.
Siarnaq took his place; the ground shot up, encasing each of the eight in a cocoon of earth. Each cocoon glowed its respective elements color. Slowly the cocoons rose up off the ground; light connected each one together. The cocoons each turned into a different colored gem; the Weapons inside frozen and helpless. Their true power was no at the will of Jenova.
"Now, Philosopher's Stone come forth and do my bidding! Create for me the Perfect Weapon to change the future!" The stones reacted, energy shot from each stone; in the center the beams met. The beams touched sending massive force destroying the mountain and the shield.
Jenova opened her eyes to see a female creature with long white hair standing in the center of the gems. Jenova was so incredibly happy with the sight before her eyes; this was it. The gems descended to the ground; releasing the Weapons trapped inside. Jenova walked over and waved her hand at Metal; the former Weapon disappeared into the wind.
"I'm sorry but I needed to destroy the stone. With a single link done the stone will never be used against me again. The rest of you are free to leave; but first let me introduce the Weapon of Infinity. This Weapon will destroy the gods and forever change the reality we live in."
All of the Weapons slowly struggled upwards to look at Jenova; the shear horror of her power over the Weapon of Metal was terrifying. "How the hell could you do that to him! The Weapon of metal was your creation too!" Brett questioned with rage apparent in his voice; Jenova looked at Brett with great interest. "You are truly something special, Brett. You now have the quickest evolution; you could become a bigger threat then Infinity. But regardless you all shall never be called that ugly word again. Your race will be known as the Exia."
Jenova was completely enthralled with the Weapon; she walked forward slowly disappearing into a portal that formed beneath them. Everyone could not believe what they had done. Their knowledge of what they were was completely wrong.
They stood there speechless; Terra was gone with a single wave from their Creator. No one knew what to do or how to make something like this right. "I don't know if what we did was right, but we are still alive at least. We should probably go home." Brett stated to the group; wanting to return to Blair after this failure. It was his only consolation; and little was consolidating the other Exia.
The others all nodded; it was far too dangerous to stay where they were. The planet had been fragmented by the force of the Weapons creation. All the pieces of the planet were held together by remaining atmosphere and electrical energy. Atlas stopped behind the rest of the group; "This is wrong; we have to do something."
Just when the others stopped to turn around and look at Atlas; they heard a sinister laugh come from the distance. "What can you do?" questioned a voice from no where. Atlas felt a hand break his armor; every turned to see the frightening sight.
Atlas was thrown to the others feat after mere seconds of being impaled. Brett went down to check Atlas, only to find his comrade was completely dead. Brett looked up questioning the cloaked man. "What did you do to him?" The man looked down at him; "My original name was Brett once. When I lost my identity to all of you I gave that name up; and now you bear witness to the original. My name is Váli, named after the god of revenge. I took his Lifestream and left only an empty shell. He is gone forever, and soon the rest of you shall join him. The Weapons die here; I will no longer live with my sin!"