They rode all through the night, with Red running right in their exhaust fumes. High on adrenaline and terror, they tore across the desert to where the roads ended, gunning the bikes over dirt and oil-chip.
A massive canyon land came upon them, serrated with crevasses and deep wounds in the world. They parked their bikes at the edge of a plateau and dismounted to take in the view.
Aerith gazed with a haunting reverence out at the land of dead rivers.
"This is it."
"This is what?" Cloud asked.
"The last place my family was alive…My tribe was hunted relentlessly by Shinra. Those who were captured died in captivity, or wouldn't stand to be taken alive. The night my family fled, they got my father in the canyons."
"…Were you close?"
"Yes. His name was Desch."
"And you remember all this?"
"I remember everything, even the moment I was born."
She shot him an elusive glance, and walked to the edge of the cliff. A plume of smoke from a small fire rose from the canyon below them. A camp. They started down the angled side with sturdy feet.
When they got to the dried river bed, a squat man approached them from an impromptu teepee. He went straight up to Cloud speaking in a language that no one else could comprehend.
"Uh I understand Native but I can't speak it," Cloud informed the man, who was dressed in rustic dungarees.
"You bear the aura of a tribesman. Where are you from?"
"We're all from Midgar."
"Yes I can tell you're from the city by your outlandish clothes, but where is your home? What is the place of your birth?"
"…I'm from Gongaga, a reservation in the south sticks."
"Ah, I know it well. Reactor-town. Very poor. Very sad."
His eyes were pulled from Cloud to Aerith, and he brushed past him to take her hands.
"My dear, the Ancient Tongue escapes me, for I am but a Soulless One. From the heart of the world, and the spirit of the lowly bearclaw clan, welcome home."
He bid them rest in his hide teepee while he got a fire going. They sat around eating strips of dried meat he gave them from his stores.
"What is this place, old man?" asked Cloud, and the man waved his hands in an arc to accentuate the paintings he'd made on the inside of his hut.
"This canyon is a streamline to the cosmos. Many visions abound on these sacred grounds. Once the ancestral homeland to the Ancient Race, its people are now silent memories in the rocks."
"Who were these people exactly, these Ancient Ones?"
"A race of mages and summoners. They bound themselves to divine spirits of the world: Earth golems, water dragons, fire serpents, creatures of mist and power. But above all, they were keepers of the Crystals, and children of the one true Goddess: Ifah."
A raven that perched on a post beam cawed and flew off with dashing wing beats against the wind.
"…In the beginning, the earth was void. When the Goddess Ifah came to this world, flowers bloomed for the first time. She made the sun shine revenant light, painted plants and animals for her delight, but most importantly, she bore children in her likeness.
"The Crystals were awoken by her play, but when they saw the beauty that she rained upon the land, they decided it was good. They bid Ifah's children remain in their world and be prosperous, on the condition that they would always serve their wishes. They bestowed upon the Ancient tribes magic attributes, to commune with the Crystals and carry out their tasks. But all was not happy forever…
"A daemon followed Ifah to this world and murdered her, slaughtering her children without mercy. Fearing the purge of this unholy deity, many Ancient tribes forsook their magic, released their summons, and dislodged their souls from connection to the Crystals. In this way, the daemon could not see them, and passed over them. These people became the human race that you and I abound today. Once Ifah was killed and her tribes scattered, the daemon disappeared.
"But it is spoken in tales and songs that Ifah will return when the marigolds cry, to take a human lover. The child that is born from their union will be named Orphan and bring about Ragnarok—the battle at the end of times. If the battle is lost, the world will end, but if the battle is won, she will lead her people to the Promise Land."
"The Promise Land?"
"A world where the land and people are in harmony again with the Crystals."
"That's why Shinra wants Cetra, because they can commune with the Crystals…"
Cloud's eyes shifted to Aerith, who sat across from him as the fire danced in her delicate eyes. She met his gaze and spoke in her soft monotone.
"The Fal'Cie create Mako, and now that they sleep, the Cetra can harvest it naturally and effortlessly."
"Why do they sleep now?"
But her eyes shifted back to the lulling flames, away from Cloud's smoldering gaze that burned to know more. The old man stepped in.
"…No one knows. Perhaps awaiting Ifah's return. I'm curious about you, boy. The People of the Phoenix on Gongaga Reservation are all dark-haired folk. Your father was not of the tribe?"
"I don't know. I have no father. Why are you so interested in me all of the sudden, old man?"
"Because you bear something of great importance. A heavy burden rests upon your soul like a mountain that climbs you. Slip, and it will bury you underneath living rock. The Lifestream calls to you."
Cloud clutched his branded forearm, where the gold lattice glowed in a snaking tribal tendril against his skin.
"Can you tell me what this means?" he showed his anima brand to the man, who peered closely.
"The sigil of the living arabesque. A Crystal has tasked you with a quest on its behalf. Yet, your eyes see backward, your hands touch inward, your legs walk crooked, and your mouth speaks silent. If you do not complete your task, the Crystal will kill you in anger."
"How do I figure out what my task is? It didn't tell me and I don't know how much time I have."
"That is because it did not need to inform you. It is something you already know, locked deep inside the dark confines of your mind. We will journey to the Spirit World to see what we can unlock. Your companions must leave you. You have to walk the long, dark road up the mountain. You have to walk it all by yourself. No one else can walk it for you."
The man instructed Cloud's companions to wait outside by his Chocobo's pen. As they all rose to leave, Cloud noticed Aerith remain seated across from him.
"You're staying?"
"You will need an arbiter, or you'll go insane."
"…encouraging thought."
The old man burned tufts of incense, steeping the inside of the teepee in grey somnolence. He brewed a pot of special tea whilst ululating in a lulling song. A pipe filled with peyote was passed to Cloud, followed by a mug of scalding leaves which he was made to drink in one shot.
Aerith held the edge of her palm to her breast, eyes shaded under the cowl of her mage's cloak. A line of light emanated from her composed figure onto the ground, twisting into a gleaming transmutation circle that blocked out the rest of the world in empty black null.
Cloud's eyes became heavy as the world fell away. His body seemed half in one place and half in another, the ground appeared on two planes jutting into the fourth dimension. The old man drummed a slow, deep tempo that caroused Cloud into a deep trance, but even as the world disappeared, Aerith remained before him.
The sensation of being underwater filled him, and he realized that he was experiencing the same anomaly he had at Aerith's house. The ground slid away, pulling Aerith's transfixed form dangerous inches from his. He gasped.
"Why did you suddenly get so close?" he spoke with a muffled echo. Aerith's hair entangled him like ivy vines.
"You mind wants me close to you."
"…I'm so confused."
"Go with it. Don't fight it. You have to go where your mind wants to go."
His hands groped for her. They found her lithe hips and pulled her onto his lap. His erection was metal. A gasp from her like a gust brought their lips so close they communicated in pheromones.
"There's a reason," Aerith whispered. "What is it?"
She leapt from his lap, dashing off like a sprite. He darted up after her into…
Darkness. He was on a playground. A chain-link swing creaked in a subtle to and fro. Sand gave out underneath his boots as he walked out onto a dirt road. The world rushed by in blurred lines, and the image of a mansion swept upon him. Heart-rate rising, adrenaline ratcheting through Cloud's veins in a sick de ja vu.
Aerith leapt in front of him.
"What happened here, Cloud? Tell me. I need to know…" Her eyes pleaded with him, bleeding a demand into the universe. "Please."
Her whisper rocked the confines of his mind, and the world yanked him away for protection. Extreme paranoia, his brows furrowed in maddening terror. A second whisper, not quite male or female, swept across his psyche in sharp snake-tongued warnings.
Treachery.
Someone has trespassed.
The arbiter is biased.
The arbiter has an agenda.
Kill the arbiter.
Kill her.
Kill.
Her.
He dropped to his knees, clutching his skull like it would explode. Pounding behind his temples drove him to disassociate fully, his heartbeat bashing in his ears. There was no getting out of this one—
Yo!
The Voice. Cloud knew this voice so well it jolted him from his breakdown. A younger man's voice.
You gotta chill. What do you want a brain-bleed?
"Angeal?" Cloud called out to the Voice in the dark, who never answered back. A few steps forward, like he'd be able to call the entity to him, brought him into deeper, darker void. "…Angeal, is that you?"
An hierophant of evil stepped from the shadows. Sephiroth strode toward Cloud.
Cloud leapt back in abysmal terror as a silver daikatana sought him. He stumbled back to the ground in choking sobs, crawling, clawing, pulling himself away in a paralyzed state of shock.
Someone ran up in the background. Cloud lurched to see the blonde boy from the brothel.
"Hey!" he called to Cloud with an angry furrow. "You can't beat him here. You have to go home."
A raised daikatana, phenomenal dread. The sword fell, and Cloud woke up.
The darkness rushed away to reveal the face of Aerith leaning over him, shaking him with wild fear in her eyes. His hands shot out to grab her shoulders, still gasping as she trembled. When he finally came to, she was crying.
"I got scared. I broke the trance," she whimpered.
He was drenched in sweat, cold adrenaline leaving his body like receding rivers. He sat up, and she fell into him. For whatever reason, he didn't question, wrapping arms around her and comforting himself in the process.
The old man put his drum away.
"Did you find out anything crucial on your spirit walk?" he asked Cloud.
"I have to go home. I have to go home…Gongaga. The reactor. Jenova's Wrist lies there."
"You may yet learn something. The reservation is south into the sunset for one raven's flight. May the spirits protect you on your journey."
He nodded a thank you, and both he and Aerith stood up.
They went out to the Chocobo pen where the rest of the party waited. The old man motioned Aerith toward the regal gold-feathered falcon-mount that pecked at the ground inside.
"My dear, your coming is an omen of great things to pass. I am honored to be at the crossroads to meet you. Take this steed as a token of my gratitude."
Aerith said nothing. She didn't need to speak to show gratitude. The Chocobo strutted over to her automatically and let her hop on his back without protest. Cloud started back to the motorcycles.
"Let's mount up. Gongaga is a day's ride south. Hope we've got enough gas."
But Tifa pulled him around by the arm.
"Cloud, we can't go to Gongaga."
"Why?"
"…"
"Look, when you're ready to quit being cryptic, come talk to me. I'm not a mind reader and I'm pretty stressed right now."
He brushed her off and hiked for the bikes.
.
[Received Gyshal Greens]