Aeris stood there in the tunnel, the light obscuring her features and leaving nothing much more than a silhouette. She just stood there not moving and as I drew closer I could hear her crying. When I got close enough to see her unobstructed by the light I saw that her eyes were red and that she had obviously been crying for some time. "Why didn't you tell me?" she asked in a hurt voice.
"Tell you what?" I replied.
"That the beast was still alive in you," she said.
"You mean the thing that called itself JENOVA?" I asked startled. I saw from her body language that I was correct. "I didn't know that the thing was even in me," I said as I tried to defend myself.
"You never felt another presence in you? You never heard voices?" she questioned me as I saw something that looked almost like anger flash in her eyes.
"Well ya but…" I stuttered but was cut short.
"And you never once though to ask me about it?" she asked.
"You were never around long enough for me to ask," I replied.
She shook her head as I saw more tears run down her cheeks, "don't you remember what I told you in the slums? I can see that you haven't." She looked very sad and I wanted more than anything to comfort her.
"What did you tell me?" I asked.
"I told you that I'd always be watching you…and its true, I've never once left your side even when you couldn't see me. All you had to do was talk to me and I would have heard you. You kept this secret to yourself and had to fight JENOVA by yourself without my help…do you know, do have any conception how close to dying you came today…how powerful the creature really is? I could have helped; in fact I would have helped because you're the key, what my friends will do will stop Sephiroth and JENOVA if they are successful but you…you are to complete another and just as important task for me and you can't die!…you just can't…" Her voice drifted off until she just stood there staring at me and I began to talk. I told her of everything that I had seen and what had happened to me. About my illness when she saved me from the brink of death…everything.
"I'm sorry that I didn't tell you Aeris but I didn't remember and I didn't want to bother you…I thought that I could deal with things on my own," I tried to apologize as best I could.
She was very serious but then allowed a little grin as she wiped off the tears. "Thank you Zack," she said still smiling, "its ok…I'm just happy that you're alright, the information you have given me will be of great importance…and I'm glad you trusted me enough to share it with me. I think I know what has happened to you , but first I must check on some things. When I return I should be able to tell you just why you were so sick and what's been causing it. Until then I need you to be wary, you banished JENOVA for now, but until I learn why it is able to enter your mind so easily I can't be sure it won't return." I nodded my agreement and then remembered my other question.
"Where should we go from here?" I asked.
"There is a forest off to the east of where your plane is. It is called the Ancient Forest because well, because it's ancient," she giggled. "Sorry, but in that forest there is a hidden grove that your new companion, Seto, knows about. In that grove is the entrance to a secret Cetra Temple. Within that temple is an item of great value that I wish for you to take, but do not forget about the guardian, you will need to defeat him before you will be allowed to leave the temple. I am sure that you are strong enough to defeat him; as long as you and your friends fight together nothing will be able to stop you. Now this meeting has drained much of energy…I will attempt to contact you once…once again af…after you succeed…..good luck!" With this her body seemed to be consumed as the light behind began to grow in size and intensity. It filled my vision with its brilliance. I had to close my eyes and when I opened them I found myself sitting in the gunners seat with Seto and Lance. I tried to talk but only moaned.
"Just lay still Zack," Lance said with genuine concern in his eyes. He was leaning over the edge into the cockpit while Seto remained in the storage space. "You really had it bad…whatever it was," Lance continued. "You were shaking and yelling like a madman. Sorry but I had to strap you down before you damaged the controls or hurt yourself." It was then that I noticed that my hands, legs, and chest had all been tied down.
"I'm fine now so could you cut me loose?" I asked.
Lance looked at Seto, who nodded, and took out his bowie knife, slide it beneath the ropes and cut them in two. In no time I was free and lying exhausted in my seat. "Excuse me Zack," said Seto, "but perhaps you could tell us just what happened to you anyway."
It took a moment as I tried to find the right words, "before I met either of you I was very sick, so sick in fact that I nearly died. I was cured by a girl named Aeris, but the sickness recently returned. It was all I could do to keep from getting sucked back into it."
"Aeris," mused Seto, "the name somehow sounds familiar…perhaps that was the girl with my son and that man…o well. Just who is this Aeris anyway?" I then spent the next hour or so explaining everything that had happened to me from my awakening in the slums to that very moment. I also told them about my meeting with Aeris and about our next mission. While I talked Lance fidgeted with his hands but I could tell he was interested, Seto on the other hand stayed perfectly still. When I was finished Seto shook his head.
"If that girl is a Cetra as you say she told you then she is very special indeed…she may well be the last of her kind."
"What do you mean?" I asked, "Just what is a Cetra anyway?"
Seto's eyes closed and his brow furrowed as if he was trying to remember something very important, "the Cetra civilization was old when my grandfather was just a cub, that would be over 2500 years ago. They were humans for the most part, no one knew whether they were natives of this planet or if they had come from the stars. To tell you the truth I don't think that even they knew the truth. The Cetra could speak with the planet, they could hear the life-stream and could understand the language of the land. They built up a great civilization and ruled the planet with kindness and compassion for thousands of years before the calamity from the sky fell to the planet. The calamity was an alien life form that approached the Cetra as a friend before releasing a deadly virus into their midst. The virus spread rapidly and quickly destroyed the northern most tribes before spreading south. The ancestors of the normal humans were somehow able to escape the virus although no one really knows how, but the Cetra…sometimes called the Ancients were not so lucky. The calamity reeked havoc across the land before it was finally captured and contained by the handful of surviving Ancients. They survived by hiding or through a simple lucky immunity to the virus. They were unable to destroy it in their weakened states however and were forced to settle with sealing it and burying it beneath the sacred Northern Forest. Many years have passed but I sense evil in the wind. I think that it is very possible this evil creature has escaped once again…but I believe we will find this out soon enough. I want to tell you that the story I just related is very ancient and one of my tribes best kept secrets…not even my own son knew of it as he was still deemed too young at the time. I hope that I do not need to remind you of its secrecy and I hope you will respect it."
Both Lance I nodded gravely, Lance was unusually solemn. "I think you may be right," he said, "while I was working for Shinra I remember hearing something about a JENOVA project being moved from Midgar to a town called Nibelheim. I was the head of the transport team and was given an unusual amount of access so I looked into it. Apparently some creature was discovered in some sort of…what was the name he used for it?" Lance scratched his head, "O ya, he called it a 'geological stratum'…anyway it was discovered beneath the Sleeping forest, the northernmost forest in the world."
Set shook his head again, "I can only imagine what sort of revenge the creature…now named JENOVA will attempt to extract from the planet that trapped it."
"You talked about a 'he' Lance," I asked, "who is 'he' anyway?"
"That would be Professor Gast," he replied, "he was Shinra's head scientist and sort of a friend. I heard he died a while ago and that his apprentice, a man named Hojo took his place."
We sat there in silence for some time processing what we had just learned until I clapped my hands, "well lets get going people, we can't just sit around forever." Lance nodded and jumped into the pilots seat, the cockpits closing behind him. "You know where we're going?" I asked over the comm link. "No worries Zack, we'll be at your Ancient Forest in no time." The engines roared to life and I could see Seto close his eyes again.
"You think we'll make it all the way through takeoff this time?" I asked as sort of a joke. He only opened one of his eyes and gave me look that said the humor wasn't appreciated. I could see the valley fall beneath us as we rose up into the air. I could hear the chink and whir of machinery as the jets righted themselves and we began to fly foreward. The red canyons and valleys raced beneath us at an astonishing speed so that I could not make out much of anything. Lance must have really stepped on the gas because the landscape was flying by too fast for me to see, so I turned my attention elsewhere and once again noticed the huge meteor in the sky above us, its red glare saturating the atmosphere. "Seto," I asked, "what is that meteor doing up in the sky anyway…do you think it'll fall on us."
He looked at me again and looked up at the sky, "another tale my tribe kept secret was one about the ultimate destructive force known as Meteor. If evil is walking the land again I would not be surprised if this thing is the same meteor spoken of…and if it is then we may well be doomed already."
I sat back to think about this until I heard snoring from off to my side. I turned to see that Seto had fallen soundly asleep and I decided to follow suit. Just as my eyes were closing Lance's voice came over the comm link, "there she blows. You better check this out Zack…I think we've found your forest." I looked out the window as Lance switched to hover mode. Below us on a large and high plateau was what looked like a small jungle. It reminded me of pictures I'd seen of cloud forests and even from the air one could see that it was obviously very lush and very old. I roused Seto and pointed out the window.
"Ah," he said, "so this is the forest the girl spoke of. The jungle is sacred to my tribe and it is where a male cub comes of age. We have a different name for it though and that is why I did not know what you meant by Ancient Forest. The grove Aeris spoke of is no doubt the very grove where all our ceremonies take place, I can take you there in no time."
"This is it," I replied to Lance, "Seto has confirmed it."
"Good," he said and suddenly the plane began to move down towards the jungle and I wondered just what we would encounter within.
"Tell you what?" I replied.
"That the beast was still alive in you," she said.
"You mean the thing that called itself JENOVA?" I asked startled. I saw from her body language that I was correct. "I didn't know that the thing was even in me," I said as I tried to defend myself.
"You never felt another presence in you? You never heard voices?" she questioned me as I saw something that looked almost like anger flash in her eyes.
"Well ya but…" I stuttered but was cut short.
"And you never once though to ask me about it?" she asked.
"You were never around long enough for me to ask," I replied.
She shook her head as I saw more tears run down her cheeks, "don't you remember what I told you in the slums? I can see that you haven't." She looked very sad and I wanted more than anything to comfort her.
"What did you tell me?" I asked.
"I told you that I'd always be watching you…and its true, I've never once left your side even when you couldn't see me. All you had to do was talk to me and I would have heard you. You kept this secret to yourself and had to fight JENOVA by yourself without my help…do you know, do have any conception how close to dying you came today…how powerful the creature really is? I could have helped; in fact I would have helped because you're the key, what my friends will do will stop Sephiroth and JENOVA if they are successful but you…you are to complete another and just as important task for me and you can't die!…you just can't…" Her voice drifted off until she just stood there staring at me and I began to talk. I told her of everything that I had seen and what had happened to me. About my illness when she saved me from the brink of death…everything.
"I'm sorry that I didn't tell you Aeris but I didn't remember and I didn't want to bother you…I thought that I could deal with things on my own," I tried to apologize as best I could.
She was very serious but then allowed a little grin as she wiped off the tears. "Thank you Zack," she said still smiling, "its ok…I'm just happy that you're alright, the information you have given me will be of great importance…and I'm glad you trusted me enough to share it with me. I think I know what has happened to you , but first I must check on some things. When I return I should be able to tell you just why you were so sick and what's been causing it. Until then I need you to be wary, you banished JENOVA for now, but until I learn why it is able to enter your mind so easily I can't be sure it won't return." I nodded my agreement and then remembered my other question.
"Where should we go from here?" I asked.
"There is a forest off to the east of where your plane is. It is called the Ancient Forest because well, because it's ancient," she giggled. "Sorry, but in that forest there is a hidden grove that your new companion, Seto, knows about. In that grove is the entrance to a secret Cetra Temple. Within that temple is an item of great value that I wish for you to take, but do not forget about the guardian, you will need to defeat him before you will be allowed to leave the temple. I am sure that you are strong enough to defeat him; as long as you and your friends fight together nothing will be able to stop you. Now this meeting has drained much of energy…I will attempt to contact you once…once again af…after you succeed…..good luck!" With this her body seemed to be consumed as the light behind began to grow in size and intensity. It filled my vision with its brilliance. I had to close my eyes and when I opened them I found myself sitting in the gunners seat with Seto and Lance. I tried to talk but only moaned.
"Just lay still Zack," Lance said with genuine concern in his eyes. He was leaning over the edge into the cockpit while Seto remained in the storage space. "You really had it bad…whatever it was," Lance continued. "You were shaking and yelling like a madman. Sorry but I had to strap you down before you damaged the controls or hurt yourself." It was then that I noticed that my hands, legs, and chest had all been tied down.
"I'm fine now so could you cut me loose?" I asked.
Lance looked at Seto, who nodded, and took out his bowie knife, slide it beneath the ropes and cut them in two. In no time I was free and lying exhausted in my seat. "Excuse me Zack," said Seto, "but perhaps you could tell us just what happened to you anyway."
It took a moment as I tried to find the right words, "before I met either of you I was very sick, so sick in fact that I nearly died. I was cured by a girl named Aeris, but the sickness recently returned. It was all I could do to keep from getting sucked back into it."
"Aeris," mused Seto, "the name somehow sounds familiar…perhaps that was the girl with my son and that man…o well. Just who is this Aeris anyway?" I then spent the next hour or so explaining everything that had happened to me from my awakening in the slums to that very moment. I also told them about my meeting with Aeris and about our next mission. While I talked Lance fidgeted with his hands but I could tell he was interested, Seto on the other hand stayed perfectly still. When I was finished Seto shook his head.
"If that girl is a Cetra as you say she told you then she is very special indeed…she may well be the last of her kind."
"What do you mean?" I asked, "Just what is a Cetra anyway?"
Seto's eyes closed and his brow furrowed as if he was trying to remember something very important, "the Cetra civilization was old when my grandfather was just a cub, that would be over 2500 years ago. They were humans for the most part, no one knew whether they were natives of this planet or if they had come from the stars. To tell you the truth I don't think that even they knew the truth. The Cetra could speak with the planet, they could hear the life-stream and could understand the language of the land. They built up a great civilization and ruled the planet with kindness and compassion for thousands of years before the calamity from the sky fell to the planet. The calamity was an alien life form that approached the Cetra as a friend before releasing a deadly virus into their midst. The virus spread rapidly and quickly destroyed the northern most tribes before spreading south. The ancestors of the normal humans were somehow able to escape the virus although no one really knows how, but the Cetra…sometimes called the Ancients were not so lucky. The calamity reeked havoc across the land before it was finally captured and contained by the handful of surviving Ancients. They survived by hiding or through a simple lucky immunity to the virus. They were unable to destroy it in their weakened states however and were forced to settle with sealing it and burying it beneath the sacred Northern Forest. Many years have passed but I sense evil in the wind. I think that it is very possible this evil creature has escaped once again…but I believe we will find this out soon enough. I want to tell you that the story I just related is very ancient and one of my tribes best kept secrets…not even my own son knew of it as he was still deemed too young at the time. I hope that I do not need to remind you of its secrecy and I hope you will respect it."
Both Lance I nodded gravely, Lance was unusually solemn. "I think you may be right," he said, "while I was working for Shinra I remember hearing something about a JENOVA project being moved from Midgar to a town called Nibelheim. I was the head of the transport team and was given an unusual amount of access so I looked into it. Apparently some creature was discovered in some sort of…what was the name he used for it?" Lance scratched his head, "O ya, he called it a 'geological stratum'…anyway it was discovered beneath the Sleeping forest, the northernmost forest in the world."
Set shook his head again, "I can only imagine what sort of revenge the creature…now named JENOVA will attempt to extract from the planet that trapped it."
"You talked about a 'he' Lance," I asked, "who is 'he' anyway?"
"That would be Professor Gast," he replied, "he was Shinra's head scientist and sort of a friend. I heard he died a while ago and that his apprentice, a man named Hojo took his place."
We sat there in silence for some time processing what we had just learned until I clapped my hands, "well lets get going people, we can't just sit around forever." Lance nodded and jumped into the pilots seat, the cockpits closing behind him. "You know where we're going?" I asked over the comm link. "No worries Zack, we'll be at your Ancient Forest in no time." The engines roared to life and I could see Seto close his eyes again.
"You think we'll make it all the way through takeoff this time?" I asked as sort of a joke. He only opened one of his eyes and gave me look that said the humor wasn't appreciated. I could see the valley fall beneath us as we rose up into the air. I could hear the chink and whir of machinery as the jets righted themselves and we began to fly foreward. The red canyons and valleys raced beneath us at an astonishing speed so that I could not make out much of anything. Lance must have really stepped on the gas because the landscape was flying by too fast for me to see, so I turned my attention elsewhere and once again noticed the huge meteor in the sky above us, its red glare saturating the atmosphere. "Seto," I asked, "what is that meteor doing up in the sky anyway…do you think it'll fall on us."
He looked at me again and looked up at the sky, "another tale my tribe kept secret was one about the ultimate destructive force known as Meteor. If evil is walking the land again I would not be surprised if this thing is the same meteor spoken of…and if it is then we may well be doomed already."
I sat back to think about this until I heard snoring from off to my side. I turned to see that Seto had fallen soundly asleep and I decided to follow suit. Just as my eyes were closing Lance's voice came over the comm link, "there she blows. You better check this out Zack…I think we've found your forest." I looked out the window as Lance switched to hover mode. Below us on a large and high plateau was what looked like a small jungle. It reminded me of pictures I'd seen of cloud forests and even from the air one could see that it was obviously very lush and very old. I roused Seto and pointed out the window.
"Ah," he said, "so this is the forest the girl spoke of. The jungle is sacred to my tribe and it is where a male cub comes of age. We have a different name for it though and that is why I did not know what you meant by Ancient Forest. The grove Aeris spoke of is no doubt the very grove where all our ceremonies take place, I can take you there in no time."
"This is it," I replied to Lance, "Seto has confirmed it."
"Good," he said and suddenly the plane began to move down towards the jungle and I wondered just what we would encounter within.