Chapter 2-Visions of Past and Future
Zell ran down the dormatory hallway with the book to his chest. He came to his dorm and opened the door. He went in and shut the door behind him. Lying the book down on the bed, he picked up the phone and dialed Squall's number. He listened to it ring several times and finally hung up. (Shoulda known he wouldn't be there.....Where else could he be?)
(The quad.....!!!)
He locked his door and sped down the hallway once more, this time without the book. He had thought it safer to leave it where no one could see it, than taking it out into the open.
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Squall watched Irvine as he climbed up the ladder holding the banner that Selphie, Rinoa, and Quistis had made. Quistis stood at the base of the ladder, holding it steady while he pinned the banner to the wall. She shook the ladder slightly. Irvine let the banner drop and clung to the ladder frantically with both arms.
"I will murder you, Quistis, if you make me fall from here!!!!!" he screamed. Squall grinned and chuckled to himself.
He looked to the doorway of the quad to see Zell running full speed toward him. He flew down the steps like they weren't even there and came to a stop in front of Squall.
He panted, trying to catch his breath. Squall took him by his shoulders.
"Are you okay....? What's going on?" he asked. Zell looked up at him.
"You gotta come see what I found in the library. It's....it's....God, just come on," he said urgently, pointing back the way he came. Squall let go of his shoulders and sighed.
"What did you find?" he asked. With Zell, he knew it could be anything. He got excited and panicked about the most trivial of things.
"I cain't tell you out here, man. Just trust me, alright? This is big."
"What's going on?" Rinoa called to them from next to the ladder. She stood up and walked over to where Squall stood with Zell.
"Zell says he found something in the library that I need to go look at. You can't tell me what it is now?" he said, averting his attention back to Zell. Zell put his hand on his forehead.
"No!" he said and lowered his voice. "Alright, look. I found a book that was hidden in one of the shelves."
"A book? Hidden in the shelves?" Squall said skeptically. "And you conveniently just ran across it, looking for something to read, right?"
Zell nearly doubled over in excitement. "*Yes*!!! And that's not all I found, either. I can't tell you where I found it in the library. You wouldn't believe me." He looked at their faces. "Something tells me you don't believe me now. And you won't believe me until you come to my room and look at the book for yourself. I swear, Squall, I ain't playin'!!"
(I haven't ever seen him this worked up over anything before,) Squall thought. "Alright, I'll come and take a look."
"*Thank* you. I'll tell you about what else I found when we get there."
"What else did you find? Another book?" Rinoa asked him.
"No, the other thing I found is in the library."
"Well, why didn't you take it out?" Squall asked.
"It was too big to take out!! Just come on, Squall. Come to my room."
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"You definitely found something, Zell," Squall said, holding up the book. He opened it carefully. "This is very, very old. And in High Centauran? Where did you get this?"
Zell stepped closer to him. "There's a secret room underneath the library, man. The entrance is underneath a loose tile in the very back of the room in the corner. I climbed down there and there's gotta be hundreds of books in High Centauran down there!!!! I tripped in one of the aisles and there was a loose board in the bottom of one of the shelves. I opened it up and this book was inside."
Squall traced his fingers over the cover of the book, stopping at a tearshaped indention in the leatherwork.
"Show me the room, Zell," Squall said, shutting the book.
"I'll show you, but we gotta be careful. I don't know if anybody else knows about this," Zell said, opening his closet door. He squatted down and pulled out a large flashlight out of a box in the back of the closet. "We'll need this. There's no electricity down there. I had to use candles." Zell plucked a backpack from a hook on the inside of his closet door. He inserted the flashlight and the book, then flung it over his shoulder after zipping it up.
"Let's get to it, then, Zell. I wanna see this."
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Zell descended once more into the darkness. When he reached the bottom, he took out the flashlight and turned it on. "This sure beats candles," he said, shining it around the room. Squall stepped off the ladder and looked around.
"You *did* find something," he said. He stepped away from the ladder and followed Zell down one of the aisles. He knelt down at the end of the aisle and pointed to the bottom shelf.
"That's where I found the book," Zell said. He picked up the board that he had left out and fitted it back into its place. "This is how it was. I came down the aisle and tripped over God-knows-what, cause I sure don't. I mean, I looked back to see what I tripped over and there wasn't nothin' there for me to trip on. Weird."
"Let me see that book again," Squall told him. Zell stood up and opened the pack, taking out the book. He held it out in front of him, handing it to Squall. He took it and Zell shined the light on the cover.
"See? I know a few words in the title, but not the important ones. 'Dek Selta rin dek Chaillu ost Diurnas'. I know 'dek' is 'the' and 'ost' is 'of'. I don't know what the others are," Zell said, shrugging. "I was hoping you knew more than me."
"I do. 'Selta' means 'book'. 'Rin' is 'to'. So the title is...."
"The Book to the 'Chaillu' of 'Diurnas'. 'Chaillu' and 'diurnas'.....Whaddaya think they could mean, Squall?" Zell asked, cocking his head to the side. Squall looked at him.
"I don't know, Zell. I don't know. But, this book...it was hidden for a reason. I've got a bad feeling...."
"Me, too," Zell admitted. "Oh! One more thing. Here, hold the flashlight." He handed Squall the flashlight and Squall handed him the book. "Take a look at this. It's a drawing that I found when I was flipping through the book. It's got words underneath it. I don't know what they say." Zell turned the pages delicately, finally stopping near the middle of the book. He held the image under the light and Squall looked down at it.
"'Dest alinon millen stragenichas, un strageniches sast ti del'," he read aloud. "'Dest' is 'for'."
"I know that one. 'Un' is 'one' and 'ti' is 'be'. You know anything else?" Zell asked him.
"I know that I don't like this picture. Or this book. The Book to the 'Chaillu' of 'Diurnas'. I don't know what that means, but I don't like it," Squall stated. He didn't like anything about the room he was in. Not a thing.
"Maybe Quistis would know some more....?" Zell pondered. Squall looked up from the picture.
"Maybe. I don't know. But we're going to have to transfer the information in this book to something else. This book is *very* old. We don't need the pages crumbling away," Squall said.
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On the other side of the world, in Galbadia Garden....
Students were lifted into the air and hurled into the walls as they desperately tried to call each of their Guardian Forces without success. One stood alone in the middle of the main hall, a man in a black robe. He had long blonde hair, almost white and a ring around his right ring finger. He could not have been older than twenty years, although his nearly white hair betrayed his facial features.
The ring he beared was a silver ring with a crescent moon rising up from the side of it. In the middle, was an oval, royal blue colored stone.
Cold black lightning shot forth from him, flowing through the bodies of the students who resisted him. Behind him was a small band of students who had allied themselves with him, choosing to take their chances at his side than in his path.
"Get out!!" he yelled to the students he had pinned to the wall. He let them drop to the floor. The ones that didn't convulse in the floor in pain got up and staggered for the door. One struggled to stand and continued to try and call magic forth to protect himself and his companions. "Down!" He pointed at the boy, sending this time, white hot lightning through the boy's body, leaving him to writhe on the tile floor.
"I warned you all. I gave you fair warning, all of you. Fools, why didn't you listen to me?" he asked. One of the boys behind him stepped up.
"They were ignorant, Master Danda. They did not see you for what you were," he said, and bowed, backing away with his arms outstretched.
"Yes, you speak truth, Michael. Are they all gone? I want everyone who is not loyal to me, out of this place. Do you understand?"
"Yes, Master Danda," they all replied in union. They watched him intently, waiting for him to speak again.
"Now!"
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"You think you can help, Quistis?" Zell asked her, having explained their predicament. They were all in Squall's room then, Selphie, Rinoa, and Irvine sitting down on the small couch that came with his larger room. Zell stood next to Squall, holding the book out in front of him, the tear-shaped indention facing Quistis.
"I don't know. 'Chaillu' means 'end'. I don't know what 'diurnas' could mean," Quistis replied, her hand playing with the handle of the whip she kept on her belt. "'Diurnas'.....There's something about that word."
Irvine's eyes suddenly lit up.
"Hey, doesn't nocturnal mean 'active at night'?" Irvine asked. "So....what's the opposite of that?"
"Active during the daytime," Rinoa answered. "The word for that is...."
"Diurnal!!" Selphie shouted. "You think that could be related to 'diurnas'?"
"Now, we're getting somewhere," Quistis said. "I knew that I'd heard that before. 'Diurnas' means 'days'."
"So, the title of the book it 'The Book to the End of....Days'...? 'The Book to the End of Days'?" Zell said aloud. "What could that mean?"
"It's a riddle, I suppose. Or it could mean just what it says: a book to the end of the world. Or to the last day, meaning the world will be engulfed in darkness for the rest of time," Squall said, his hand on his chin thoughtfully. "I don't know. But, what I'm concerned about is this," he said, taking the book from Zell and opening it to the page with the picture.
He held it out for all of them to see. "See, you guys?" Zell said, pointing at the words underneath. "I know a few words in the phrase underneath, but only three. 'Dest', 'un', and 'ti'. 'For', 'one', and 'be'."
"'Dest alinon millen stragenichas, un strageniches sast ti del.' 'Sast' is 'shall'," Rinoa said.
"This is some old stuff," Irvine said. "I can't believe you guys know any of it. The Centra civilization existed-what?-four millenia ago?"
"What did you say?" Quistis said.
"I said the Centra civilization existed four millenia ago."
"Look. This word," she said, placing her finger over 'millen'. "A millenium occurs every 1,000 years, right?" Quistis asked them. They all nodded.
"This could have something to do with 'thousand'. It's just a hunch, but I'm pretty sure that's what it is. 'Thousand'."
"So, 'for alinon thousand stragenichas, one strageniches shall be del'. 'Alinon' could be anything'," Zell said.
"Or 'every'," Selphie said. "I mean, it makes sense, don't you think? 'For every thousand stragenichas, one strageniches shall be del'? That sounds like it might be it. I don't know about 'stragenichas', though. Or 'del'. *Those* could be anything."
"Let's take the book to Headmaster Cid and Edea. If anybody'll know anything, it'll be them," Zell said, looking at Squall. He shrugged his shoulders. "Just an idea."
"It's a good idea," Squall admitted. "We can go now, if everybody's ready."
They all nodded.
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Inside the Ragnarok....
Zell sat in the bunk, copying down the contents of the book onto a sheet of paper. The others were up in the cockpit, talking about the book while he copied.
He had copied the piece under the picture first, and then began working his way toward the back of the book. He turned the page forward one and read another paragraph. His fingers played with his necklace once again, running his fingers over the dark red stone encased in the silver.
'Hist dek un girt dek Quillion ost sil dranon rin sinan, a war begins in the garden of good and evil. The time will come when hope is lost and faith a distant memory. The Lion will fall, as will the Angel, for no one may oppose the one who holds the Stone.'
Zell's eyes widened. (I....I *read* that...understood it...this isn't possible,) he thought. He noticed his hand was warm. He looked down at the necklace. It glowed bright red beneath his fingers. He stared at it in his hand.
"What is this...?" he said and turned back to the book. He read again, to himself, the same passage.
'When the one with the stone of blue ascends to power, a war....'
The words faded away and he no longer saw the book before his eyes. He saw Galbadia Garden. He was pulled into the scene, as if he was there. But, he wasn't. He knew he wasn't in Galbadia. He was in the bunks of the Ragnarok, reading the Book.
He was swept forward, and he saw a man in the center of Galbadia Garden's main hall. He seemed so young, yet his hair showed different. He wore a black robe with the hood pulled back, his hands by his sides. He noticed a silver ring on one of his hands that had a deep blue stone set in it. His face was neutral as he lifted his hands and Zell no longer saw just the man. He saw bodies being lifted from the ground and pressed into the walls. He saw black lightning shoot through the bodies of his fellow Garden students. He felt its cold and it made him shiver. He knew, in his mind, that this had already happened.
His mind swept forward again, and this time he saw Squall and his friends on the ground, not moving. They were spread out Selphie was sprawled on the floor, nunchaku still in her hands, rasping in each breath. Her orange outfit was torn up the side, blood and bruises covering her legs.
Irvine lay at her feet, his shotgun lying inches from his hand, his fingers stretching for it without success. His face winced in anguish as he realized he could not reach it, that it was too far and he too weak to move further forward.
Rinoa sat on the floor close to where Squall lay, staring at the man that had did this to them. She could only look at him; that was all she had strength to do.
Quistis lay on her stomach on the cold tile, her mouth open slightly. She breathed lightly, her eyes open in tiny slits.
Zell did not see his own body.
(Where am *I*...?)
The man pointed at Squall and lifted him from the floor where he lay, an invisible force holding him by the neck. Rinoa screamed as her lover was lifted into the air. His shirt was no longer pure white, but black as well. The collar of Squall's jacket was speckled red, the sleeves torn, blood dripping from his fingers. His face was ashen, blood running from his lips as he was brought closer to the one in black.
Zell saw the man tell him something, but could not hear. Squall's eyes lit up with rage and he screamed something. The man lifted Squall higher into the air, threw him against the wall and Squall fell once again, to the floor, next to Rinoa. She crawled to him and collapsed at his side. He opened his arms weakly, allowing her inside, and they embraced.
Zell's vision swept up above the man and the motionless bodies of his friends and he was carried away, the room he had been in being pulled from him into a black void. A wail of horror escaped his throat as he was brought back to the Ragnarok. He threw the book to the floor and backed away on the bed, tears running down his cheeks. He knew what he had seen. He had seen a vision of something that which had yet to happen.
He strained his neck back, the back of his head pressed against the wall. "No, no, no, no, no....." he whispered through gritted teeth. He had seen people die, he had killed before. But never someone he knew, in both cases. It was different to see his friends about to die, with him nowhere in sight.
He looked up as the door to his bunk slid open, revealing Squall and Rinoa in the doorway. Squall looked at Zell and then down at the floor where the Book lie open on the floor. Rinoa went to the bed and sat down next to Zell. She touched his shoulder, as Squall picked up the Book and lied it on the table.
"Zell, you're crying....," Rinoa said, trying to hide her surprise. "We heard you scream, what happened...?"
Zell looked onto the table past Squall. "I don't like that Book," he said, shaking his head slightly. "I don't like that Book." Squall picked it up and opened it.
"What did you read? Show me what you read," he said, handing the Book to Zell. He took the Book and flipped to the page after the picture. He pointed at the passage.
"That. I read that and understood what it said. I don't know how, I don't know why, but I read it, understood it," he said, slightly panicked.
"What do you mean you understood it?" Squall asked. "You mean you read it and translated it?"
"No, I read it and I understood it immediately," he said.
"What does it say?" Squall asked him.
"It says 'When the one with the Stone of blue ascends to power, a war begins within the garden of good and evil. The time will come when all hope is lost and faith is a distant memory. The...Lion will fall, as will the Angel, for none may oppose the one with the Stone.'" Zell swallowed. "The Lion is you, Squall. And Rinoa's the Angel."
Squall's eyes widened. "H'how do you know that.....? Zell, how do you know that.....?"
".......I saw it. I saw all of you, when I read it. I didn't see myself, just all of you and a man in a black robe in Galbadia Garden's main hall. He had a silver ring with a blue stone in it with a crescent moon on the side," Zell said.
"Zell, you saw us die...?" Rinoa asked quietly.
"No. That's where it ended. I didn't see any of you die," Zell answered her. "But, that was enough. It just looked hopeless, the whole thing. But that's what the passage says. 'The time will come when all hope is lost and faith is a distant memory.' That's what I saw, Squall. I don't know when it's supposed to happen or even *if* it's gonna happen, but it scared the crap outta me. I think my necklace is what helped me see it. It started to glow when I was reading."
Squall looked down at the red stone encased in silver that hung around his neck on a burlap strap. "Your necklace? How could that stone make you understand High Centauran?"
"I don't know, but it started to glow when I was reading and it was warm," Zell said truthfully.
"Can you make it glow again if you start reading again?" Rinoa asked him.
"I don't know. I don't know if I want to. I don't wanna see anything like that again, you guys. That scared me out of my wits," he said, wiping his cheeks dry. "See? It even got me crying. Can't have that again."
"We better go and see Edea and Headmaster Cid before he reads anything again, Squall, don't you think? I mean, what if he reads something and something happens? I don't want to do anything else with that Book until we see Edea," Rinoa pleaded with him. He wiped his face.
"You're right, Rinoa," Squall said. "We'd better go and see what Edea has to say. She'll probably know more about this Book than anyone, seeing as her house is the only one on the Centra continent that anyone knows about." He looked at Zell. "Are you okay.....?"
"I'm okay....that...vision....just shook me up, is all," Zell answered. He scooted himself off the bed and stood up. He put his hands on the side of his face and smoothed his hair back. He exhaled. "Yeah, I'm okay...."
"Let's get back up to the cockpit," Squall said, walking past him. "We're almost there."