Dark Days
The city was quiet as Zorry of Bone Village picked her way across the ruins, she had been warned off the Forgotten City since she was very small, but it was Midsummer's Eve and the Sleeping Forest awoke, and besides, what could be here? Certainly not the ghost of the flower girl who'd died here all those hundreds of years ago. Still, she made sure the small axe she had brought was securely fastened to her belt. Though she was only twelve she was two years ahead of her class in school and regardless that Bone Village didn't train fighters, a travelling Materia master had taught her materia usage, martial arts and axe-fighting skills.
Zorry headed towards the large, plant-like structure at the end of the central path, after the footpath she was on split into three. She felt it; she was headed towards the centre of the City. Presently, Zorry came across a massive shell-like building, like the ones she had glimpsed down the other two paths, except this one had a sparkling blue pool to the right of it, well, too big for a pool, about the size of a quarter of a football pitch, within it held the clearest glittering water Zorry had ever seen, though you couldn't quite see to the bottom of it.
Zorry found herself advancing towards the structure, building, whatever you could call it, and moved inside. She walked around the inside of the shell, following the curve and found herself looking upon a perfectly round pool, in it was a fish and some green seaweed, as well as some of that crystal clear water in the pond outside. As she watched the fishes placid eyes, for no reason apart from she felt it was necessary, the sun set outside, as it embraced the horizon the crystals at the entrance and dotted around the shell began to glow a bright greeny-blue and the water receded and the fish slowly disappeared, revealing a smooth diamond staircase, down which Zorry began to descend, she had only enough consciousness to check her weapon one more time.
Down, down, down she went, following the spiral of the staircase. She reached the ledge across more of that clear water from the Altar; she felt an extremely strong Holy presence all around her, though in the centre of the altar she could see, from the other side of the water that surrounded it, a stain, a blemish on the otherwise perfect marble. It was blood, 'Flower girl's blood.' Zorry thought with a shiver, 'Over 500 years and it's still there.' She saw something glint, at the edge of the Altar, just above the waterline. She stepped gingerly across the water on the step-stones and crossed, avoiding the bloodstain, to the edge and leant over, there was something in a small crevice, tunnelled into the rock, not quite out of sight. She wedged her hand into the gap and eased it out. It was materia, black, and shiny. Obviously hidden here because someone didn't want others to have it. She gazed into it, and realized, though it shone brightly, it cast no reflections in it, and there was something about it, something that didn't quite feel right, a dark presence. She shoved it in her pocket and hopped back to the other side of the water. She felt a chill wind, that wasn't right, she was underground, looking over her shoulder she found that where she had been a man now stood, dressed in black, Japanese style, he had long silver hair which he wore loose and a thin, lean face on which he wore an evil smile, but the most striking thing about him were his eyes, they glowed a bright blue-green, what is it called again? Mako Green, she'd seen that colour somewhere before, the LifeStream, she'd seen it in pictures of the lifestream, well a very close match, but that wasn't it. Her mind flashed back to her history class, to those pictures of, oh what were they called? SOLDIER. But he didn't look like SOLDIER in the way he composed himself, she racked her mind, he was the one wasn't he? The one born to that scientist injected with Jenova, she couldn't recall his name for as she watched, he noticed her and drew a long sword, at least five foot, CRAP! The Masamune, she'd forgotten. Zorry took up her axe, aimed and threw, it knocked his blade giving her just enough time to speed out of there as fast as she could. When she stopped to look back, she found that he wasn't following her, he was moving slowly, grinning, almost in a dream state, walking through the city as though recalling a sweet memory, relishing it all over again. She ran again, through the Sleeping forest and back to the village, back to her home.
The city was quiet as Zorry of Bone Village picked her way across the ruins, she had been warned off the Forgotten City since she was very small, but it was Midsummer's Eve and the Sleeping Forest awoke, and besides, what could be here? Certainly not the ghost of the flower girl who'd died here all those hundreds of years ago. Still, she made sure the small axe she had brought was securely fastened to her belt. Though she was only twelve she was two years ahead of her class in school and regardless that Bone Village didn't train fighters, a travelling Materia master had taught her materia usage, martial arts and axe-fighting skills.
Zorry headed towards the large, plant-like structure at the end of the central path, after the footpath she was on split into three. She felt it; she was headed towards the centre of the City. Presently, Zorry came across a massive shell-like building, like the ones she had glimpsed down the other two paths, except this one had a sparkling blue pool to the right of it, well, too big for a pool, about the size of a quarter of a football pitch, within it held the clearest glittering water Zorry had ever seen, though you couldn't quite see to the bottom of it.
Zorry found herself advancing towards the structure, building, whatever you could call it, and moved inside. She walked around the inside of the shell, following the curve and found herself looking upon a perfectly round pool, in it was a fish and some green seaweed, as well as some of that crystal clear water in the pond outside. As she watched the fishes placid eyes, for no reason apart from she felt it was necessary, the sun set outside, as it embraced the horizon the crystals at the entrance and dotted around the shell began to glow a bright greeny-blue and the water receded and the fish slowly disappeared, revealing a smooth diamond staircase, down which Zorry began to descend, she had only enough consciousness to check her weapon one more time.
Down, down, down she went, following the spiral of the staircase. She reached the ledge across more of that clear water from the Altar; she felt an extremely strong Holy presence all around her, though in the centre of the altar she could see, from the other side of the water that surrounded it, a stain, a blemish on the otherwise perfect marble. It was blood, 'Flower girl's blood.' Zorry thought with a shiver, 'Over 500 years and it's still there.' She saw something glint, at the edge of the Altar, just above the waterline. She stepped gingerly across the water on the step-stones and crossed, avoiding the bloodstain, to the edge and leant over, there was something in a small crevice, tunnelled into the rock, not quite out of sight. She wedged her hand into the gap and eased it out. It was materia, black, and shiny. Obviously hidden here because someone didn't want others to have it. She gazed into it, and realized, though it shone brightly, it cast no reflections in it, and there was something about it, something that didn't quite feel right, a dark presence. She shoved it in her pocket and hopped back to the other side of the water. She felt a chill wind, that wasn't right, she was underground, looking over her shoulder she found that where she had been a man now stood, dressed in black, Japanese style, he had long silver hair which he wore loose and a thin, lean face on which he wore an evil smile, but the most striking thing about him were his eyes, they glowed a bright blue-green, what is it called again? Mako Green, she'd seen that colour somewhere before, the LifeStream, she'd seen it in pictures of the lifestream, well a very close match, but that wasn't it. Her mind flashed back to her history class, to those pictures of, oh what were they called? SOLDIER. But he didn't look like SOLDIER in the way he composed himself, she racked her mind, he was the one wasn't he? The one born to that scientist injected with Jenova, she couldn't recall his name for as she watched, he noticed her and drew a long sword, at least five foot, CRAP! The Masamune, she'd forgotten. Zorry took up her axe, aimed and threw, it knocked his blade giving her just enough time to speed out of there as fast as she could. When she stopped to look back, she found that he wasn't following her, he was moving slowly, grinning, almost in a dream state, walking through the city as though recalling a sweet memory, relishing it all over again. She ran again, through the Sleeping forest and back to the village, back to her home.