-IV-
The blood-red eye of the firmament smoldered, fixedly watching the earthen walls and sprawling cliff-haven of Cosmo Canyon like. The campfire in the center of the town had long ago consumed itself, and it lay void of the activity that usual surrounded it. The streets and pathways were empty and silent, the usual populace that occupied them during the day lost in the troubled, nightmarish sleep that had plagued them for weeks on end.
Tifa Lockheart jolted into consciousness, catapulted from her disturbing reams into the safety of Bugenhagen's quiet guest room. She breathed first not at all, and then in quick, short, welcomed stints of air. Her heart hammered violently in her chest, a prisoner banging desperately for freedom within the confines of her ribcage. Sweat slid down her temples onto her cheeks and off her shaking chin, dripping onto the maroon sheets. She wiped the trails they left behind from her face and sat hunched over in the bed, head hanging low as she tried to clear her mind of the images her haunted sleep had delivered.
It took several minutes for her to calm herself down. She swung her legs out of the bed and leaned over her knees, putting her hands on her head in an attempt to stop the vertigo that spun her brain in circles. When finally she was stable, she stood up and walked over to the window opposite her bed, dressed only in a black cotton nightshirt. The faint red glow of the morning sun streamed through the glass pane and gave her face a rosy tint as she stared out at the ancient, dusty barriers and barren cliffs of the canyon, surveying its odd beauty and venerable age, comparing its exuding naturalness and security with the dark, sullen streets of Midgar with its mechanical artificiality and uncertain streets, hurried people and dangerous alleys.
As she stood there at the window, the canyon walls obstructing her view of the outside world, she remembered what lay in the distance. She knew what caused the people in Cosmo Canyon to have nightmares every night. She had seen with her own eyes the source of intuitive fear that Bugenhagen and Nanaki and the others in the canyon felt. Something itched at the back of their minds, a worry pulling their thoughts away from normality and luring them into uncertainty and apprehension. She knew what it was.
Tearing her eyes away from the window, Tifa quickly dressed herself in her white top and black shorts, and tied her hair back, and set out from her room to board the Tiny Bronco, newly repaired and painted by Cid Highwind for her frequent visits to her old friends. Her farewells to Bugenhagen and Nanaki would have to wait till another time. She had greatly enjoyed her time at the canyon, but she could not afford to stay away from Midgar for more than a few days. It was odd; she had always wanted to be needed by someone, and she had got her wish: the whole city of Midgar now looked to her for relief from the new danger that arose. After they had shunned her for destroying most of the city, they now begged her to be their saviorâ€"and Tifa gladly obliged.
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As she set out from Cosmo Canyon, the morning mists of the shoreline ocean rose up and blanketed the plane in a cloak of gray obscurity. When she was well across the ocean that separated Midgar and the canyon, the bane of the New World came into view: A monstrous tree, rising out of the vast, barren fields of blue, erupting into the sky like a huge spear. Surrounded it was by a mist of its own, a mist conjured by the coming and going of souls that filtered their ways through the crevices of the tree that led to some mysterious place from which no one being ever returned.
The Tiny Bronco cruised past the tree and into the high-towered landing strip atop the Avalanche Tower in Midgar.
The blood-red eye of the firmament smoldered, fixedly watching the earthen walls and sprawling cliff-haven of Cosmo Canyon like. The campfire in the center of the town had long ago consumed itself, and it lay void of the activity that usual surrounded it. The streets and pathways were empty and silent, the usual populace that occupied them during the day lost in the troubled, nightmarish sleep that had plagued them for weeks on end.
Tifa Lockheart jolted into consciousness, catapulted from her disturbing reams into the safety of Bugenhagen's quiet guest room. She breathed first not at all, and then in quick, short, welcomed stints of air. Her heart hammered violently in her chest, a prisoner banging desperately for freedom within the confines of her ribcage. Sweat slid down her temples onto her cheeks and off her shaking chin, dripping onto the maroon sheets. She wiped the trails they left behind from her face and sat hunched over in the bed, head hanging low as she tried to clear her mind of the images her haunted sleep had delivered.
It took several minutes for her to calm herself down. She swung her legs out of the bed and leaned over her knees, putting her hands on her head in an attempt to stop the vertigo that spun her brain in circles. When finally she was stable, she stood up and walked over to the window opposite her bed, dressed only in a black cotton nightshirt. The faint red glow of the morning sun streamed through the glass pane and gave her face a rosy tint as she stared out at the ancient, dusty barriers and barren cliffs of the canyon, surveying its odd beauty and venerable age, comparing its exuding naturalness and security with the dark, sullen streets of Midgar with its mechanical artificiality and uncertain streets, hurried people and dangerous alleys.
As she stood there at the window, the canyon walls obstructing her view of the outside world, she remembered what lay in the distance. She knew what caused the people in Cosmo Canyon to have nightmares every night. She had seen with her own eyes the source of intuitive fear that Bugenhagen and Nanaki and the others in the canyon felt. Something itched at the back of their minds, a worry pulling their thoughts away from normality and luring them into uncertainty and apprehension. She knew what it was.
Tearing her eyes away from the window, Tifa quickly dressed herself in her white top and black shorts, and tied her hair back, and set out from her room to board the Tiny Bronco, newly repaired and painted by Cid Highwind for her frequent visits to her old friends. Her farewells to Bugenhagen and Nanaki would have to wait till another time. She had greatly enjoyed her time at the canyon, but she could not afford to stay away from Midgar for more than a few days. It was odd; she had always wanted to be needed by someone, and she had got her wish: the whole city of Midgar now looked to her for relief from the new danger that arose. After they had shunned her for destroying most of the city, they now begged her to be their saviorâ€"and Tifa gladly obliged.
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As she set out from Cosmo Canyon, the morning mists of the shoreline ocean rose up and blanketed the plane in a cloak of gray obscurity. When she was well across the ocean that separated Midgar and the canyon, the bane of the New World came into view: A monstrous tree, rising out of the vast, barren fields of blue, erupting into the sky like a huge spear. Surrounded it was by a mist of its own, a mist conjured by the coming and going of souls that filtered their ways through the crevices of the tree that led to some mysterious place from which no one being ever returned.
The Tiny Bronco cruised past the tree and into the high-towered landing strip atop the Avalanche Tower in Midgar.