Chapter 3
Zex awakened. When he did, he realized Iris was already up and dressed. He looked at the clock. Seven.
"How long have you been up?" Zex asked, very tired.
"Since Six, you're the one who needed to be told to get up in the morning," Iris responded happily.
Zex was about to make a comeback on that, but decided not to. He had a lot of thoughts the night before, and in his dreams. It was time to put them to rest, for they had a long journey ahead of them.
"By the way.that guy I met last night.Vincent. He asked me about a man in a black cape. His name was."
"Sephiroth." Zex responded before she could even finish.
"So.. you've heard of him.obviously you've met them?"
"No. I just know a lot about Sephiroth. He was a General of the Shinra Army. A mere boy killed him, yet he was the strongest soldier who ever lived. Cloud Strife killed him. I'm sure he was in that party. A man with spiked hair and a large sword on his back. He was in his early 20's. Right?"
"Yes.but if Sephiroth is dead." Iris was interrupted by Zex laughing coldly. "He survived, supposedly. It probably took a hell of a lot of strength to survive that mako poisoning." Zex looked over towards the mountainous area.
"Mako?"
"Energy created from the planet. Shinra takes it and uses it for power. Cloud and his party are here to stop it. Not that we care. Our goal is of a much higher authority."
"What is that?" Iris asked questionably.
"You should know. We are here to find the Defender of this Dimensional Shard. I sense we will be traveling north. We're climbing that mountain.. we're going to need some good energy for this climb..." Zex said, looking around.
"Can't we just fly there?" Iris asked, she was wondering what was wrong with that.
"For one thing, my wings would freeze. And for another, I don't want to make a scene." Zex motioned for Iris to follow, and they walked down the wooden steps.
"I'm checking out. Thank you for the nights stay." Zex said coldly, and walked to the door. Iris followed quickly. They both exited, and walked north in the snow.
"Iris. We're going down that slope to the mountain." He said it so coldly; he was very focused on his next move.
"What about our gear?" Iris asked, wondering if he had forgotten about it.
"Forget the gear, I've got a new plan."
Iris nodded and followed. The walking seemed endless to Iris, but for Zex he remained to his thoughts. They slowly trudged through the endless snow, finally arriving to the north end of town. The trees swayed in all directions at their arrival.
An old man stood to bar their path. "I'm sorry. I can't let you go past here without a snowboard and a map," the old man stated. He held his arms in front of the slope.
"I'm sorry, but we're fine. Please move."
"I'm just trying to help. You'll get lost down there, and you won't make it without a snowboard! At least the other group listened..." the old man said, obviously annoyed.
"What other group?" Iris asked quickly.
"A strange group of people...their leader was-"
Zex interrupted the old man. "Cloud. Spiked hair and a sharp sword. I know who they are. Now, if you'll please move." Zex responded coldly.
"Alright...I have no choice. I was just trying to help. You'll probably force me to move, so what's the point. I can't stop you," he responded and moved.
Zex and Iris both walked past the man, and he looked to Iris. "Hold my hand."
"I thought we weren't going to fly?" she asked, still unsure of what he was doing.
"We're not," he responded simply. She obeyed and held his hand. They both took a huge leap across the slope, and they moved quickly through the air. It was as if they were flying, but not really flying. They were diving through the air, moving to the ground quickly.
"The soft snow will break our fall," he said to reassure her of his plan. The journey through the air seemed as endless as their walk through the snow. Zex, he was so perfect she thought, he flew through the air in a perfect straight position, and there she was, afraid and confused. She sighed, and straightened her body, the speed noticeable. Soon they would hit the snow. But while they were in the air, she marveled at the snowflakes falling from the air, and the huge red sun that stood in the air. When she looked back down, they crashed into the snow.
"Alright. We're almost to the bottom. Our jump made it most of the way," Zex told Iris; reassuring her for the third time he knew what he was doing. They once again slowly walked through the snow that rose to their knees.
"We'd better get a move on before we lose track of our person. Lets speed it up, Iris!" Zex yelled across the loud blowing winds between them. She nodded back, and started to a running pace.
"We're almost to the bottom!" They ran quickly through the snow, hard as it was running through the tall snow. They both raced against the wind, freezing.
"Damn, it's so cold!" Iris yelled. "Yea, I know. But we have to ignore it for now. We have no time!" She nodded back and continued to run.
Even though Zex said they landed close to the bottom, but she started to doubt that. It seemed like such a long way, but perhaps it was just the fact that she could only think of the cold.
Neither could wait to get done with this frozen world.
The snow, it was so white and beautiful, so different from what Iris was used to...she marvelled at it. But she had to stop losing focus, it was time to catch up with Zex, he was far ahead of her.
She started racing as fast she could, "Zex, wait up!" She ran with a lightning fury. Almost there, he was almost close to her again. And then...she passed right by him.
"Wait up Iris..." He sounded like he meant it. She jumped back, startled, and ran back to him.
"What is it?
"Your eyes aren't too great, are they? Take a look at this." He picked up a large, black sword from the ground. He flipped it, and threw it back into the snow. It seemed almost as though the snow was bleeding white with how hard he threw it.
"A black sword...is...not good. You don't see many black swords....not in this shape... They are only used by Legendary Death Knights. And if a sword is here, that must mean one is either dead or...-"
"Waiting for you," said a smirking figure, black, completely showing opposition to the white snow.
"A trap, Legendary Death Knight? I thought you liked making scenes. Heh," responded Zex, he was smiling a very evil smile, likewise to the smirk the knight returned.
"Soul Magus has asked me to stop you from reaching your destination, and kill you if I can. If I can? Hah. Let me show you the defenders the power of a LEGEND!" He slid across the snow to the black sword, and pointed it with perfect accuracy at Zex.
"Soul Magus? Well, he has an interesting opposition against me. Perhaps he would like to meet death? And I'm sure even by killing me, he'd get a chance to meet him before I truly die." He lightly responded with a flash of light, revealing his white sword, completely opposite of the black blade.
"An ordinary sword? I think it might break before you get a chance to use it." He laughed coldly and put another smirk on his face.
"On the contrary, I'm only warming up." In another flash, the sword turned to flames, the snow around him gone, revealing the bare ground with no grass to keep it beautiful any longer.
"Ah...The...Blazing Sword? Well, lets see how it does against me, the Legendary Nightsaber, and MY sword," he smirked for one last time, and charged at Zex, both having full confidence in their abilities.
Nightsaber thrust his blade at Zex, who jumped back, giving him retribution by thrusting right back as he landed.
Nightsaber parried the attack, and slashed at him furiously. Zex kept dodging his attacks, and Nightsaber kept parrying his.
Zex suddenly appeared behind Nightsaber, slashing him across the face when he turned around.
He was floating with ease, smirking, "Well, legendary Nightsaber, it seems your too slow to beat me." He did not take this pleasantly, and the battle took to the air.
They were going back and forth, slashing furiously at one another. The battle was going no where, as they both were immune to eachothers techniques.
Zex was slashing with elegant grace, his movements perfect. While Nightsaber was the better swordsman, Zex had the advantage of movement. He was gaining a slow advantage, slowly exploiting Nightsabers weakness'.
He finally got another good slash at him across the face, and they started slashing back and forth again. "This is going no where! It's time to finish you off." Nightsaber thrusted into Zex, who easily dodged it. He then thrust from above with incredible speed. Zex dodged it again, but while dodging, got thrusted from below. He was bleeding in the stomach.
"A triple thrust? Interesting tech...nique....Well...take this as a better example." Zex said it so coldly and heartlessly, and started to spin into a tornado, as if he had 10 fiery swords. The spinning fire let out small flames, fire absorbing into it.
"Your possessed...." Nightsaber watched, stunned.
At the peak of his power, the whirlwinding swords moved with fury towards Nightsaber. He was unable to dodge any of it, he tried to run, but was slowly drawn to the flames. Zex grew so close, Nightsaber was sucked into his vortex.
Nightsaber was spinning as well, not in fury, but pain. He was in a tornado of flames, destroying and bashing his body into every way possible.
Seconds later, the Blazing Sword was on the ground, and Zex had his hands in the air. He stood there, coldly, smashing Nightsaber into the cold snow. He fell within a second, the impact huge.
"Good job Zex Marius...unfortunately...I have to go now." And in a flash, he was absorbed into the snow.
Zex slowly descended to the ground, his deep wound still burning.
"Are you alright? We need to stop to bandage you up....You're too hurt to walk in this weather. Isn't there anywhere around here to help..."
"I'm fine. We have no time for this. Let's go."
"No...." She said it unbelievingly.
"What is it?" The deep bleeding wound showed blood red.
"I'll be damned if a minor injury stops me. Now, lets go."
Iris shook her head, "No, we're not...we're going to find a place to rest."
Zex sighed, shaking his head.
Iris sighed as well, "We can't go back to the town, so, I guess we can only go your way. But when we find a place to rest, we will!"
Zex nodded, he very well knew there was nothing near this mountain.
Zex trudged slowly through the snow, it was nearly reaching both of their knees. The wound was slowing him down, but there was nothing they could do about it.
They could only move forth, there was no way back, only the path that lay before them could they take. This path will lead them to what the legend calls, 'The Golden Light'. This path is only a path for legends, and leads to a land much greater than the Promised Land, or so legend says.
Zex believed this legend more than anything. "That light will reach my grasp...If I just try a little harder..." He breathed slowly, trying to ease the coughing.
"Come...on...Iris, we can't stop yet..."
She sighed, running up to his side. "Damnit, I'm not going to let you die." She put her arm around his shoulder, helping him walk.
"I...don't need anyones help. It was a minor injury in battle..." He replied without question in his voice, and no matter what he said, Iris would not believe him. She was going to help him all the way, nothing would stop them. Soon the mountain would be at their feet, and they would prepare to climb it. But could he in his position...?
"We'll have to try our best." She nodded back empathetically.
Slowly moving through the snow, the mountain entered their view range. There it was.
"Aren't you a sight for sore-eyes..." Zex held his hand in front of him, and dropped to the ground, coughing.
"We...made it, Iris. We're almost there. The defender is here. I can sense him. He's in that crater, over that mountain. Iris! This mountain...it contains alot of magic...So...we must be careful...We've made it so far. Nothing can stop us..." He sounded as if he really cared. Here we were, frozen like icicles, and he thought of the mountain.
Zex crawled towards the mountain, but he wasn't going to make it.
"Stop it, Zex... You are going to kill yourself...But where can we go!? Your not going anywhere. Fool! You can't make it." Iris was yelling at him, but he didn't seem to care. It was pointless. There was no where to go.
"Zex, I'll....Zex? No..." He was no longer moving towards the mountain.
"Zex...No...Your alive. Your just unconcious. Or something...No, you can't die. Not now. I don't even know you yet." After she checked him, he was still breathing. In a few hours he'd be dead just like her...
Iris was crying, she'd never thought of him so much. This adventure, she wanted to go, her life was boring, nothing ever happened. Then he came, a boy, with a mission. Shy, too. And now he just lay there, not saying a word about his stupid mission.
"No....no....he is alive....where can I take him? I can't do this alone." Iris walked over to him, and sat down beside him.
"You'll be ok, I know you will. We'll make it." She picked him up, her eyes still red. She only took a few steps, and the tears started falling again.
"How could I let you fight alone. It's all my fault. If only I were a strong warrior like you...but no...I'm just another weak and helpless girl. Why did you have to come Nightsaber....I'll kill you! I swear it!" Iris screamed into the air, the cold no longer bothered her. The storm would not dare take her on, its rage would be drowned out by hers.
Iris couldn't see anything, the water blurred her eyes. She didn't know where she was going anymore, she was just walking towards the mountain. Iris was in no condition to climb it, but...She was doing this for him...her fallen angel...She carried him with the strength of the strongest person on the planet.
They say when one feels extreme emotions, one becomes a million times stronger, "And it seems to work...Zex...you'll be ok...I really mean it...don't worry about me. I'll do fine." She kept nodding, keeping herself alive. Her vision was far beyond distorted, starting to lose focus, blackening.
"At least...I'll know I tried harder than anyone could have...I tried to make his dream come true...But I was weak, and he was strong...I...uhh.."
Iris fell down, unable to continue, her vision was gone, and now they would die together. She strained to whisper one last thing to Zex, "I love you... Forever Zex. I'll die with you...Goodbye...World....It's just kind...of...funny...I never thought we'd....die this way...Not even against evil...I was just a failure...Goodbye..." She fell for real this time, and did not open her eyes again.
Zex awakened. When he did, he realized Iris was already up and dressed. He looked at the clock. Seven.
"How long have you been up?" Zex asked, very tired.
"Since Six, you're the one who needed to be told to get up in the morning," Iris responded happily.
Zex was about to make a comeback on that, but decided not to. He had a lot of thoughts the night before, and in his dreams. It was time to put them to rest, for they had a long journey ahead of them.
"By the way.that guy I met last night.Vincent. He asked me about a man in a black cape. His name was."
"Sephiroth." Zex responded before she could even finish.
"So.. you've heard of him.obviously you've met them?"
"No. I just know a lot about Sephiroth. He was a General of the Shinra Army. A mere boy killed him, yet he was the strongest soldier who ever lived. Cloud Strife killed him. I'm sure he was in that party. A man with spiked hair and a large sword on his back. He was in his early 20's. Right?"
"Yes.but if Sephiroth is dead." Iris was interrupted by Zex laughing coldly. "He survived, supposedly. It probably took a hell of a lot of strength to survive that mako poisoning." Zex looked over towards the mountainous area.
"Mako?"
"Energy created from the planet. Shinra takes it and uses it for power. Cloud and his party are here to stop it. Not that we care. Our goal is of a much higher authority."
"What is that?" Iris asked questionably.
"You should know. We are here to find the Defender of this Dimensional Shard. I sense we will be traveling north. We're climbing that mountain.. we're going to need some good energy for this climb..." Zex said, looking around.
"Can't we just fly there?" Iris asked, she was wondering what was wrong with that.
"For one thing, my wings would freeze. And for another, I don't want to make a scene." Zex motioned for Iris to follow, and they walked down the wooden steps.
"I'm checking out. Thank you for the nights stay." Zex said coldly, and walked to the door. Iris followed quickly. They both exited, and walked north in the snow.
"Iris. We're going down that slope to the mountain." He said it so coldly; he was very focused on his next move.
"What about our gear?" Iris asked, wondering if he had forgotten about it.
"Forget the gear, I've got a new plan."
Iris nodded and followed. The walking seemed endless to Iris, but for Zex he remained to his thoughts. They slowly trudged through the endless snow, finally arriving to the north end of town. The trees swayed in all directions at their arrival.
An old man stood to bar their path. "I'm sorry. I can't let you go past here without a snowboard and a map," the old man stated. He held his arms in front of the slope.
"I'm sorry, but we're fine. Please move."
"I'm just trying to help. You'll get lost down there, and you won't make it without a snowboard! At least the other group listened..." the old man said, obviously annoyed.
"What other group?" Iris asked quickly.
"A strange group of people...their leader was-"
Zex interrupted the old man. "Cloud. Spiked hair and a sharp sword. I know who they are. Now, if you'll please move." Zex responded coldly.
"Alright...I have no choice. I was just trying to help. You'll probably force me to move, so what's the point. I can't stop you," he responded and moved.
Zex and Iris both walked past the man, and he looked to Iris. "Hold my hand."
"I thought we weren't going to fly?" she asked, still unsure of what he was doing.
"We're not," he responded simply. She obeyed and held his hand. They both took a huge leap across the slope, and they moved quickly through the air. It was as if they were flying, but not really flying. They were diving through the air, moving to the ground quickly.
"The soft snow will break our fall," he said to reassure her of his plan. The journey through the air seemed as endless as their walk through the snow. Zex, he was so perfect she thought, he flew through the air in a perfect straight position, and there she was, afraid and confused. She sighed, and straightened her body, the speed noticeable. Soon they would hit the snow. But while they were in the air, she marveled at the snowflakes falling from the air, and the huge red sun that stood in the air. When she looked back down, they crashed into the snow.
"Alright. We're almost to the bottom. Our jump made it most of the way," Zex told Iris; reassuring her for the third time he knew what he was doing. They once again slowly walked through the snow that rose to their knees.
"We'd better get a move on before we lose track of our person. Lets speed it up, Iris!" Zex yelled across the loud blowing winds between them. She nodded back, and started to a running pace.
"We're almost to the bottom!" They ran quickly through the snow, hard as it was running through the tall snow. They both raced against the wind, freezing.
"Damn, it's so cold!" Iris yelled. "Yea, I know. But we have to ignore it for now. We have no time!" She nodded back and continued to run.
Even though Zex said they landed close to the bottom, but she started to doubt that. It seemed like such a long way, but perhaps it was just the fact that she could only think of the cold.
Neither could wait to get done with this frozen world.
The snow, it was so white and beautiful, so different from what Iris was used to...she marvelled at it. But she had to stop losing focus, it was time to catch up with Zex, he was far ahead of her.
She started racing as fast she could, "Zex, wait up!" She ran with a lightning fury. Almost there, he was almost close to her again. And then...she passed right by him.
"Wait up Iris..." He sounded like he meant it. She jumped back, startled, and ran back to him.
"What is it?
"Your eyes aren't too great, are they? Take a look at this." He picked up a large, black sword from the ground. He flipped it, and threw it back into the snow. It seemed almost as though the snow was bleeding white with how hard he threw it.
"A black sword...is...not good. You don't see many black swords....not in this shape... They are only used by Legendary Death Knights. And if a sword is here, that must mean one is either dead or...-"
"Waiting for you," said a smirking figure, black, completely showing opposition to the white snow.
"A trap, Legendary Death Knight? I thought you liked making scenes. Heh," responded Zex, he was smiling a very evil smile, likewise to the smirk the knight returned.
"Soul Magus has asked me to stop you from reaching your destination, and kill you if I can. If I can? Hah. Let me show you the defenders the power of a LEGEND!" He slid across the snow to the black sword, and pointed it with perfect accuracy at Zex.
"Soul Magus? Well, he has an interesting opposition against me. Perhaps he would like to meet death? And I'm sure even by killing me, he'd get a chance to meet him before I truly die." He lightly responded with a flash of light, revealing his white sword, completely opposite of the black blade.
"An ordinary sword? I think it might break before you get a chance to use it." He laughed coldly and put another smirk on his face.
"On the contrary, I'm only warming up." In another flash, the sword turned to flames, the snow around him gone, revealing the bare ground with no grass to keep it beautiful any longer.
"Ah...The...Blazing Sword? Well, lets see how it does against me, the Legendary Nightsaber, and MY sword," he smirked for one last time, and charged at Zex, both having full confidence in their abilities.
Nightsaber thrust his blade at Zex, who jumped back, giving him retribution by thrusting right back as he landed.
Nightsaber parried the attack, and slashed at him furiously. Zex kept dodging his attacks, and Nightsaber kept parrying his.
Zex suddenly appeared behind Nightsaber, slashing him across the face when he turned around.
He was floating with ease, smirking, "Well, legendary Nightsaber, it seems your too slow to beat me." He did not take this pleasantly, and the battle took to the air.
They were going back and forth, slashing furiously at one another. The battle was going no where, as they both were immune to eachothers techniques.
Zex was slashing with elegant grace, his movements perfect. While Nightsaber was the better swordsman, Zex had the advantage of movement. He was gaining a slow advantage, slowly exploiting Nightsabers weakness'.
He finally got another good slash at him across the face, and they started slashing back and forth again. "This is going no where! It's time to finish you off." Nightsaber thrusted into Zex, who easily dodged it. He then thrust from above with incredible speed. Zex dodged it again, but while dodging, got thrusted from below. He was bleeding in the stomach.
"A triple thrust? Interesting tech...nique....Well...take this as a better example." Zex said it so coldly and heartlessly, and started to spin into a tornado, as if he had 10 fiery swords. The spinning fire let out small flames, fire absorbing into it.
"Your possessed...." Nightsaber watched, stunned.
At the peak of his power, the whirlwinding swords moved with fury towards Nightsaber. He was unable to dodge any of it, he tried to run, but was slowly drawn to the flames. Zex grew so close, Nightsaber was sucked into his vortex.
Nightsaber was spinning as well, not in fury, but pain. He was in a tornado of flames, destroying and bashing his body into every way possible.
Seconds later, the Blazing Sword was on the ground, and Zex had his hands in the air. He stood there, coldly, smashing Nightsaber into the cold snow. He fell within a second, the impact huge.
"Good job Zex Marius...unfortunately...I have to go now." And in a flash, he was absorbed into the snow.
Zex slowly descended to the ground, his deep wound still burning.
"Are you alright? We need to stop to bandage you up....You're too hurt to walk in this weather. Isn't there anywhere around here to help..."
"I'm fine. We have no time for this. Let's go."
"No...." She said it unbelievingly.
"What is it?" The deep bleeding wound showed blood red.
"I'll be damned if a minor injury stops me. Now, lets go."
Iris shook her head, "No, we're not...we're going to find a place to rest."
Zex sighed, shaking his head.
Iris sighed as well, "We can't go back to the town, so, I guess we can only go your way. But when we find a place to rest, we will!"
Zex nodded, he very well knew there was nothing near this mountain.
Zex trudged slowly through the snow, it was nearly reaching both of their knees. The wound was slowing him down, but there was nothing they could do about it.
They could only move forth, there was no way back, only the path that lay before them could they take. This path will lead them to what the legend calls, 'The Golden Light'. This path is only a path for legends, and leads to a land much greater than the Promised Land, or so legend says.
Zex believed this legend more than anything. "That light will reach my grasp...If I just try a little harder..." He breathed slowly, trying to ease the coughing.
"Come...on...Iris, we can't stop yet..."
She sighed, running up to his side. "Damnit, I'm not going to let you die." She put her arm around his shoulder, helping him walk.
"I...don't need anyones help. It was a minor injury in battle..." He replied without question in his voice, and no matter what he said, Iris would not believe him. She was going to help him all the way, nothing would stop them. Soon the mountain would be at their feet, and they would prepare to climb it. But could he in his position...?
"We'll have to try our best." She nodded back empathetically.
Slowly moving through the snow, the mountain entered their view range. There it was.
"Aren't you a sight for sore-eyes..." Zex held his hand in front of him, and dropped to the ground, coughing.
"We...made it, Iris. We're almost there. The defender is here. I can sense him. He's in that crater, over that mountain. Iris! This mountain...it contains alot of magic...So...we must be careful...We've made it so far. Nothing can stop us..." He sounded as if he really cared. Here we were, frozen like icicles, and he thought of the mountain.
Zex crawled towards the mountain, but he wasn't going to make it.
"Stop it, Zex... You are going to kill yourself...But where can we go!? Your not going anywhere. Fool! You can't make it." Iris was yelling at him, but he didn't seem to care. It was pointless. There was no where to go.
"Zex, I'll....Zex? No..." He was no longer moving towards the mountain.
"Zex...No...Your alive. Your just unconcious. Or something...No, you can't die. Not now. I don't even know you yet." After she checked him, he was still breathing. In a few hours he'd be dead just like her...
Iris was crying, she'd never thought of him so much. This adventure, she wanted to go, her life was boring, nothing ever happened. Then he came, a boy, with a mission. Shy, too. And now he just lay there, not saying a word about his stupid mission.
"No....no....he is alive....where can I take him? I can't do this alone." Iris walked over to him, and sat down beside him.
"You'll be ok, I know you will. We'll make it." She picked him up, her eyes still red. She only took a few steps, and the tears started falling again.
"How could I let you fight alone. It's all my fault. If only I were a strong warrior like you...but no...I'm just another weak and helpless girl. Why did you have to come Nightsaber....I'll kill you! I swear it!" Iris screamed into the air, the cold no longer bothered her. The storm would not dare take her on, its rage would be drowned out by hers.
Iris couldn't see anything, the water blurred her eyes. She didn't know where she was going anymore, she was just walking towards the mountain. Iris was in no condition to climb it, but...She was doing this for him...her fallen angel...She carried him with the strength of the strongest person on the planet.
They say when one feels extreme emotions, one becomes a million times stronger, "And it seems to work...Zex...you'll be ok...I really mean it...don't worry about me. I'll do fine." She kept nodding, keeping herself alive. Her vision was far beyond distorted, starting to lose focus, blackening.
"At least...I'll know I tried harder than anyone could have...I tried to make his dream come true...But I was weak, and he was strong...I...uhh.."
Iris fell down, unable to continue, her vision was gone, and now they would die together. She strained to whisper one last thing to Zex, "I love you... Forever Zex. I'll die with you...Goodbye...World....It's just kind...of...funny...I never thought we'd....die this way...Not even against evil...I was just a failure...Goodbye..." She fell for real this time, and did not open her eyes again.