The great creature rushed towards me with a screeching howl of madness. It's great battle-ax slicing through the air before it. I could not face this terror in a direct charge and so I leapt away at the last second, feeling the brush of sharp steel on my back. I hit the ground hard but rolled with the fall and was on my feet in seconds. Before the Guardian could strike again I cast Haste on myself and charged the monster head on. It raised up its ax to defend itself but I never got close enough to strike. Instead of attacking with my sword I raised my hand and caste a Flare directly at the creature. Another scream rent the air as the flames consumed the beast. In an almost fatal mistake I stood still to view my handiwork, but as I watched, the Guardian attacked from the inferno, it's capes replaced by veils of smoke. It had barely been harmed at all by the attack; in fact it's anger only seemed to make it stronger. It's ax cut through the air and rent a path of heated wind in front of my face. Attack after attack sliced past me, most missing by only centimeters, others missing by much less. My left arm and chest were now quite bloody and I could feel my tired legs begin to go numb. I caste every magic I had but with little affect. The Guardian continued its relentless onslaught as if it were as fresh as when the battle began. I was running low on life and magic power, the world around me was beginning to spin. I used Cure3 again and again until I had no more power to caste magic. I just kept on running, running was my only chance of escape, and around the crystal chamber we danced. But there was nothing I could do to save myself; I knew it and I think the Guardian knew it as well. My friends were behind me, maybe still fighting, maybe dead, and here I was all alone beneath a 10,000-year-old temple getting killed by a floating piece of armor.
Everything was humming and it seemed that the patterns and writings on the walls were glowing with a soft green tint. I raised up my head and faced my executioner. I wiped the sweat and grime from my face with a shirt sleeve and rose to my feet. The Guardian was observing me carefully, as if curious about what this fly might try to do now. With a cry of pain, rage, and frustration I leapt into the air and with a last burst of strength I brought down Reaper's edge onto the Guardian. The sword struck the haft of the ax, which was being used to block my blow. With a great crash my blade was shattered and pieces of metal flew through the air, sending off a thousand sparkles of light. But the last blow of my faithful sword was not in vain because the broken blade continued on its course past the ax and struck deep and true. It caught near the top of the breastplate and sunk in deep before being pulled through the armor all the way down the monster's chest. It was screaming in pain and struck out at me, tossing my battered body away. I lay on the floor, almost dead, but I could still see the long gash I had left across the Guardian's chest. I smiled with the knowledge I had hurt it badly before it killed me. It approached slowly, out of apprehension or to savor the moment I do not know, but it was angry and that was that mattered. It raised up its great ax and prepared to bring it down with all its force, but before it could do so I heard a howl from behind me. A red flash flew over me and struck the Guardian on the chest. The monster reeled and almost dropped its ax as Seto landed lightly on the ground and prepared to attack once again. A machine gun was firing in the background but I did not seem to notice. The markings on the wall were glowing again and a voice seemed to speak directly within my head.
"Zack...take up the blade of the Ancients...the Planet Edge is yours Zack...forged for you..."
I rose on wobbly legs and stumbled past the fierce battle raging between my friends and the Guardian. I approached the pedestal with the sword on it and with weak but steady hands, gripped the handle. Instantly I felt a strange power flow through me and I suddenly had the strength to lift the weapon. I felt that I could do anything, take on anyone...I was drunk on the ancient magic that had protected this blade through the ages. Then another power to grow in me, and this one I could recognize. The Guardian had filled my Limit Break...a thing that I am sure it had not wanted to do. I unleashed my Limit Break and prepared to deliver my blow. Flower petals spun about me and my sword and the blade began to glow a deep rose red. The Guardian could sense the power growing behind it and turned to meet this new opponent. It cocked its head in bewilderment; it couldn't understand how this fly was still alive. With a battle cry I charged the Guardian and struck with the full force of my attack. I spun around and around and around, the flower petals dancing around me and my prey, preventing any escape. Blow after blow fell true against the armor plating, each leaving its own raged rift in the metal. Finally my final attack was reached and with a gasp of exhaustion I swung my blade one last time. The edge lashed through the air and through the chain-mail surrounding the Guardian's neck. With a screech of tearing metal the helmet fell from its armored shoulders, falling with a crash to the floor below. The armor followed suite by depositing itself on the ground next to its head with a great crash of metal. I fell back onto my back and gasped for breath. My body could barely move and it hurt my chest to breath.
"Quick Seto," called out Lance, his voice growing fainter by the minute. "Help me set up this tent...Zack needs to rest or else he'll..." I blacked out. My eyes started to open again, by now I was used to the fuzzy, hazy vision that came after unconsciousness.
"Lance," someone said, "come over here...I think he's waking up." A shuffling around me grew louder. I looked up and made out the faces of my two friends, Lance and Seto.
"Uhhh..." I groaned, "What happened to me?"
"You were unconscious Zack," said Seto. "You had quite a fight there."
I sat up and looked around, we were still in the crystal chamber, the Guardian's broken body lay several yards away.
"My sword!" I yelled out remembering the sword, "where's my sword!"
"Easy Zack, easy," Lance said trying to calm me down, "here it is." He reached over next to me a lifted up the ancient blade. "Ow!" he yelped, dropping the sword, "I forgot about that...the sword won't let us pick it up without burning our hands. I don't know how you ever managed to use it..."
I picked up the sword without the slightest hesitation and without any discomfort. "I think it was made for me..." I replied.
"How's that?" asked Lance, "that thing has to be at least 7,000 years old!"
Seto, who had been quiet until then now spoke up, "the Cetra knew about many things...I wouldn't put this past them...and besides, speaking against the Ancients in their most ancient and holy temple is probably not the best idea."
I got to my feet and looked around, still clutching the sword. "So..." asked Lance, "what's the sword called?"
I looked absently at him and then back to the sword, "it's called the Planet Edge."
"Hmmm..." Seto inspected the intricately detailed blade more closely. "And was this that awakened that attack of yours that destroyed the Guardian?"
"No," I replied, "I used the attack before...in a dream. Its my level 4 Limit Break...I think I'll call it Tempest Rose."
The two nodded...obviously finding the name fitting.
"We should be leaving," Seto said more to himself than anyone else.
Lance took a step back, "but that place back there is still crawling with monsters. How do you expect us to get out of here...especially in our weakened states?"
Seto just looked at him and gave him that twisted smile, "I don't expect you to at all...come with me." We had nothing else to do but follow Seto back into the maze, which was even more difficult to get through this time because we were going through the opposite way. Finally we entered the room where I had found the little blue monster. I told Seto and Lance the story but neither of them had seen anything closely resembling the little blue creature. Seto, however, noticed a strange odor near the corner where I had found it...'a smell of age' he called it. We continued on into the room with the golden sundial, and this is where we stopped.
"Remember the chalice on the surface that I turned to open the doorway?" asked Seto. Lance and I replied that we did.
"But what does this have to do with anything?" asked Lance.
Seto turned his head, "everything...now just watch." He approached the pedestal confidently. "This sundial reminded me of the Offering Chalice in the sacred grove, and I bet this one turns just like the one above." Saying this he placed his paw on the sundial and twisted it. Amazingly it actually worked. He turned around and again several times in different directions and at different degrees. Finally he stopped, but the room remained silent and still.
"Hmmm..." Seto mused, "The combination must be different down here. I need to think."
So Lance and I sat down and left Seto to stare at the pedestal and sundial.
After waiting about half-an-hour I got up to stretch but before I could sit down again Seto leapt to his feet. "I've got it!" he roared, "Oh, its so simple I should have seen it right away!"
Lance and I came running over as fast as we could.
"What's the combination?" I asked excitedly.
"You see the patterns on the side of the pedestal?" asked Seto.
Lance and I replied that we did.
"Those patterns are the exact opposite of the ones on the pedestal above ground. So I think that if I put in the code, but in reverse it should work!" Seto was so happy with his discovery that he didn't even wait for us to respond before he began putting in the code. He finished and the three of us stepped back to see what would happen. Suddenly the two doors on either side of us closed with a slam as great stonewalls slide into place over them.
"O no..." started Lance, but he was cut short as the room started the shake. Then, and more slowly, the wall in front of us began to sink into the floor. The rumbling continued and the ground shook so terribly that I was forced to a knee to keep from falling over. Finally the tremors were over and we stood in front a gigantic doorway to a tunnel that led off into the darkness. We know had no other place to go and so we followed this tunnel, a small fire spell our only light. The colors and swirls of the rock on the walls seemed to be moving with their own hidden live and I recognized it to be the material that had formed the second gate.
"Aheremeth..." said Seto absentmindedly.
"What?" I asked, "What did you say?"
"I was saying," replied Seto, "that the walls here are made of pure Aheremeth...the most expensive and coveted building material on the planet. A vein like this would be worth billions...no, trillions."
"Wow," said Lance as his eyes gleamed like those of a kid in a toy store. "Trillions you say...wow."
"But if it was ever mined the Cetra Temple would be destroyed," I said.
"That is true," replied Seto, "...some things are better left unfound."
This was the end to conversation and we spent the rest of our time walking up the steadily inclining tunnel. After what must have been hours we came to yet another door, this one looking like the pure unpolished rock.
"Lets try pushing it," I said.
"You expect us to open a stone door that size by pushing it?" asked Lance.
"Well we can try," I replied. The three of us stepped up to the rock door and began to push with all our might. At first nothing happened and all that broke the silence was our grunts of exertion. Then, finally, very slowly the rock began to move. With one last heave we sent it swinging out of the way to let the bright rays of sun into the tunnel.
We stumbled out into a world steeped in twilight. Looking back we watched as the great boulder that had been in front of the exit swung back into place...completely concealing the tunnel.
"How the heck did we move that?" asked Lance.
"It must have been balanced very precisely," replied Seto, "in any case we're out."
"But just where did we get out to?" I asked.
We looked around but we appeared to be on some sort of mountain slope with the huge ocean off to the front of us.
"Over there," said Lance at last, "do you see that little town over there? That looks like Costa del Sol, the place I told you about Zack. The Shinra have almost certainly stopped the search for the two of us so we can spend the night there."
"But what about the Formula?" I asked, "its still in the Ancient Forest."
"O yah," replied Lance, "almost forgot." He pulled out a small black box with a simple red button on the top of it. "This," he said, "will turn on the Formula, the plane will then home in on the signal put out by this box. So we'll just turn this on," he pressed the button, "leave it here," he set it on the ground, "and in the morning the Formula should be sitting here waiting for us. Now lets get going...I want to be able to enjoy the beach before nightfall." With this he took off down the mountain side in the direction of Costa del Sol.