Meanwhile, outside of Midgar, the sun cut the morning fog, vanishing it from sight. Within just a few miles, lush, green grass began to spring up and the air was a sweet scent.
The plains outside of Midgar stretched as far as the eye could see. White clouds hung lazily in the sky, hardly stirred by the soft breeze that blew in from the valley to the east.
It felt good to be out of Midgar after so long, Cloud thought. He had almost forgotten what a real sky looked like after seeing the dirty, polluted skies of the dark city for so long.
Tifa inhaled deeply and smiled as the fresh scent filled her lungs. Looking around, she could see the very tops of Midgar's huge towers as mere dots on the edge of the plains, set against a stretch of snow-capped mountains behind them.
The mountain range rose high into the almost-clear blue sky, a testament to nature that proved nothing man could build would ever match the sheer majesty and awe-inspiring structures of the Planet.
Aeris felt more alive than she had in years. Colour had returned to her normally pale but beautiful face, and her beautiful emerald green eyes were sparkling in the sunlight. Not once did Cloud look back and not see a wide smile on her flawless face.
"(Is the Planet talking to her? I'm glad she could finally get out of Midgar and see the world as it really is. The last of the Ancients…shouldn't be kept up in a city like Midgar. Full of Mako Reactors and nightmares beyond belief. It even took me a while to get used to it)," thought Cloud.
Sighing heavily, Cloud hefted his backpack up higher onto his shoulders and kept walking. The sun burned warmly overhead, casting short shadows on the soft green grass beneath Cloud's feet.
"(It's certainly a good day to be out)," thought Cloud, still gazing around as they walked on.
Soon, the city of Midgar vanished behind them, and the smoke of chimney fires arose on the horizon, and then they saw a small village not too far ahead.
"That must be Kalm. I bet Barret and Red XIII are probably already waiting for us. We shouldn't keep them waiting for too long," said Tifa.
Cloud, Tifa and Aeris then reached Kalm in a matter of minutes and looked around the small village. Kalm was tiny. Composed only of around fifteen to twenty small houses, as well as some shops, and a tiny Mako Reactor set in the middle.
Beyond the last house, more mountains jutted up out of the ground, they would make up the northern wall of the Kalm Valley outside of town.
Few people were out on the wet streets, but the air was clean. Cloud didn't think he'd ever get used to a healthy environment, no matter how much more appealing it was.
Midgar felt too much like home, and that spooked him.
"So, this is the place? We've reached Kalm," said Aeris.
"Everyone's waiting at the inn, just over there. Let's go, Cloud," said Tifa.
Tifa and Aeris walked into the inn, and Cloud followed them into a private room upstairs in the inn. Barret and Red XIII were both already there.
"Cloud, you're late," said Red XIII.
"Hey, man, you're late! Where the hell have you been, anyways!? We've been waiting for over an hour! Sure took you long enough!" yelled Barret, impatiently.
"Sorry to keep you all waiting," said Cloud, making sure that they were all alone and out of everyone else's earshot.
"So I guess everyone's here now…" said Aeris, looking around at each of them in turn, then stared intently at Cloud. So did the others.
"So let's hear ya story. You know, the one about Sephiroth and the crises facing the Planet. Let's hear it all," said Barret, impatiently.
"Alright then, you should all get comfortable, it's a rather long story. NO interruptions. I used to want to be just like Sephiroth, so I joined SOLDIER. Sephiroth was my role model back then. I looked up to him, but then again, I guess just about everyone did. He was always precise, calm, fearless and unbelievably good at fighting and all kinds of combat. After working with Sephiroth on several missions and a few battles, we became friends," said Cloud.
"You call that a friend?" asked Barret, bewildered, raising an eyebrow.
Cloud glared sharply at him. Remembering not to interrupt, Barret quickly quietened down.
"Yeah, well, not exactly a friend, then. He was around ten to fifteen years older than me and he hardly ever talked about himself at all. So I guess you could call him a war buddy. We trusted each other though. Until one day…" said Cloud.
"One day?" asked Aeris, curiously.
Cloud nodded and continued.
"After the war, it was SOLDIER'S duty to put down any resistance against the Shinra. It was a tragic job. That was five years ago, and I was sixteen…" said Cloud, his mind relieving that scene as he told it to the others.
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It all started in the Shinra headquarters, in the meeting room, five years ago. Cloud was ordered to come, so he took his seat before the head of the table.
Rufus, Reeve, Palmer, Scarlet and Heidegger were already sitting in the room, waiting for President Shinra to arrive. Reeve was sat to Rufus's left, while Palmer, was sat to Cloud's right.
Palmer was simply giggling and rocking back and forth in his chair. Cloud edged his chair away form Palmer, slightly disgusted.
To Reeve's left was Scarlet, who was busy filing her nails. Heidegger sat to Palmer's right and was making it his business to ignore the silly man.
Over on Scarlet's left was Hojo. He sat in silence, his eyes always on the double doors that were the entrances and exits of the room, as if wanting to get out of the room quickly, and get back to his experiments.
A few minutes passed before President Shinra stepped into the room, flanked by Tseng and Rude. President Shinra walked towards the front of the table through the side that Rufus sat at, while Tseng and Rude were sitting across from each other, Rude to Hojo's left, Tseng sitting with an empty seat to his left.
President Shinra watched the two Turks sit before taking his seat, and he eyed his executives, workers and his son (Rufus), before speaking.
"We'll just wait a few more minutes for Sephiroth to arrive," said President Shinra, calmly.
"No need to, I'm already here," said a low-pitched, rather cold voice.
As if on cue, the great Sephiroth himself, the general of SOLDIER, came into the room. Sephiroth wore a black cape, and he had long, silver hair that flowed down his back, and he had glowing green eyes. He wore silver shoulder pads and he carried a long, heavy, very sharp and powerful sword called the Masumane that only he was strong enough to use and master.
He seemed to be about thirty years old and he was tall; taller than Cloud. He looked around coldly at the Shinra executives, and at Cloud, who was somewhat surprised to see Sephiroth come, although he had been even more surprised that he himself, a mere first-class SOLDIER, had been ordered to come to a meeting with the main executives of Shinra.
"Welcome Sephiroth. Take a seat next to Tseng if you will," said President Shinra.
Sephiroth simply shrugged and sat in the vacant seat between Heidegger and Tseng. President Shinra started to speak, which would begin the meeting.
"Well, now that everyone is here. I'd like to get this meeting started," said President Shinra, calmly, and he begun.
"The residents of a town to the west of the Planet have been complaining about the local Mako Reactor there. It seems that monsters have been appearing ever since the Reactor started malfunctioning, and no one's been able to get close to the Reactor without getting killed," explained President Shinra.
"And that's why you want SOLDIER to get involved," said Sephiroth, coldly, his voice deep and icy, and his tone low.
"Yes, indeed. We are going to send you, Sephiroth, along with some Shinra soldiers to this town to check out the Reactor and sort out its problem," explained President Shinra.
"Fine," said Sephiroth, flatly, as though he didn't care.
"I am sending one other person with you. Cloud, I'm sending you off with Sephiroth on this mission," said President Shinra.
"What!?" gasped Cloud, speechless.
"I want you, like other members of SOLDIER, to have some hands-on experience with these kind of things," replied President Shinra, coldly. Cloud nodded, and fell silent.
President Shinra turned to face Rufus.
"Rufus, you will be sent off to our office in Junon for about five years," said President Shinra.
"What!? No way! I refuse to do it!" shouted Rufus, angrily.
"You'll do as you're told or else," replied President Shinra, sharply, and coldly.
Rufus reluctantly nodded, although he looked simply furious, and then he walked out of the room, and slammed the door so hard behind him, it was knocked it right off its hinges.
"This meeting is over. Dismissed," said President Shinra, and he and everyone else in the room walked out. Cloud left the building and patiently waited for Sephiroth, so they could go on their mission.
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A few days later, Cloud, Sephiroth and two Shinra soldiers were in a carriage on a very rainy day, travelling across the fields. Another Shinra soldier was driving the carriage and they were on their way to a town.
Sephiroth, of course, was in charge of the group, as he always was.
"Look at the rain. It sure is raining hard. Hey, how are you feeling?" asked Cloud, turning to face one of the Shinra soldiers who looked very pale and white.
"I'm alright. Don't worry about me, I'll be fine," said the Shinra Soldier, although he certainly didn't look it, his face going rather white and pale, with a shade of green. Cloud noticed blond hair poking out from the edges of the soldier's helmet.
"I wouldn't know. I've never had motion sickness before. So I don't really know what it feels like," said Cloud.
"Hey, settle down. Just take it easy," said Sephiroth.
"They gave me some new Materia. I just can't wait to use it. I'm anxious to try it out," said Cloud, pacing around the carriage excitedly.
"You're just like a little kid. Grow up, you're a member of SOLDIER now," ordered Sephiroth, sharply.
Cloud stopped pacing and he turned to face Sephiroth, who grimaced as the blond haired Shinra Soldier with motion sickness suddenly went very white indeed and rushed to a corner in the carriage, his back to them as he threw up there.
Chuckling weakly after seeing this display, Cloud decided to break the awkward silence and Sephiroth's clear irritation as the blond haired Shinra Soldier sank weakly to the floor.
"Are you going to brief us about this mission again? I didn't get the full details back at the Headquarters. Seems like we've travelled a very long distance from the base in Midgar. The lack of windows hasn't helped either, not been able to try and guess where we are headed," said Cloud.
"Alright then, I'm only going to explain this just ONCE, so listen up or you're not going to hear anything. This isn't a typical, ordinary mission. It will be far more different than usual," said Sephiroth.
"Good! That's great!" exclaimed Cloud, excitedly.
Sephiroth raised an eyebrow, not quite expecting that response from him.
"Why do you say that?" asked Sephiroth, curiously.
"I joined SOLDIER so I could be just like you, but by the time I made first class, the war was already over. My hopes of becoming a big hero like you ended with the war. That's why I always sign up whenever there's a big mission. Kind of like a way to prove myself. Say, how do you feel about being such a big hero anyway, mister Sephiroth?" asked Cloud, curiously.
Sephiroth looked as though he honestly couldn't care LESS at all about it.
"I thought you wanted a briefing about this mission?" said Sephiroth, sharply.
"Okay, then," replied Cloud, shrugging, deciding to drop the subject, noticing Sephiroth's irritation.
"Our mission is simply to investigate an old Mako Reactor in an area surrounded by mountains. There have been reports of it malfunctioning and producing brutal creatures. First, we will kill and dispose of all these creatures and then we will locate the problem and neutralise it," explained Sephiroth.
"Brutal creatures? Where?" asked Cloud, curiously.
"At the Mako Reactor near Nibelheim, in the mountains," replied Sephiroth, shortly.
Cloud's eyes widened in surprise and shock, and he also noticed the blond haired Shinra Soldier sit up sharply to stare at Sephiroth as well, though Cloud did not understand why he reacted like this, and instead pondered more on Nibelheim.
"Nibelheim…That's where I'm from. I was born there, it's my hometown," said Cloud.
Sephiroth suddenly stared intently at him with an unusual curiosity that he had never even remotely shown before. It took Cloud rather aback.
"Hmmm…hometown. Is that so? Then you will have an opportunity to meet with your family and friends again," said Sephiroth, thoughtfully.
"What do you think about these monster reports we're supposed to be investigating? You think there's anything suspicious to it?" asked Cloud, curiously.
"I wouldn't be surprised if there was. If the Mount Nibel Reactor really is malfunctioning, leaking raw Mako energy into the environment, then it could easily result in rapid, unnatural animal and plant mutations. The amount of Mako exposure necessary to cause such severe mutation is far greater than the minuscule amount to which we were exposed to. Also, the Mako we were given was specially treated and purified. So don't worry. We may both be more resilient than normal, and may both have been exposed to Mako more than most, but you and I are both fully human," explained Sephiroth, confidently.
Suddenly something gigantic crashed right into the side of carriage, making the whole carriage shake. Cloud stumbled and fell over with a cry of surprise.
The Shinra soldiers all looked scared, expect for the blond-haired Shinra Soldier, but he looked nervous all the same and still a bit ill. Sephiroth, on the other hand, did not stumble in the least and was perfectly calm and emotionless.
"Sir! A huge creature is attacking this carriage!" yelled a Shinra soldier, terrified.
"That would be our monster, I presume…if I'm not mistaken, and I rarely am. It finally decides to make its appearance. Now it will not make any other ever again…" said Sephiroth, coolly, not even the slightest bit nervous or afraid.
"(How the heck can Sephiroth be so calm right now?)," thought Cloud, bewildered.
Soon, he found out exactly why.
Sephiroth and Cloud quickly got out the carriage, ran outside and they found an extremely massive, deadly looking, green dragon that was twice the size of a house, in width, in length, and in height.
Cloud gasped in fear at the mere sight of it, but Sephiroth was still as calm as ever. It attacked them, as Sephiroth and Cloud both grasped their swords tightly.
In a flash, with startling and seemingly inhuman speed, Sephiroth suddenly attacked the dragon with his Masumane sword, slashing a very deep and large wound on the dragon's side, severely weakening it, and leaving a massive wound on its side, and it was bleeding very badly from its wound.
Its dark blood splattered onto the ground.
The dragon shrieked in agony, and used its Flame-thrower attack on Sephiroth. The dragon breathed hot, intense flames on Sephiroth, and the flames completely engulfed Sephiroth. Cloud gasped in horror.
But when the flames stopped, Sephiroth was still standing in exactly the same spot, completely unharmed, and didn't even have a burn or a scratch on him. Cloud's eyes widened in disbelief and amazement.
To Sephiroth, it was as though the dragon had never used its flame-thrower at all.
As it had made no difference whatsoever.
Cloud then charged tried to attack the dragon with his sword but despite its huge, mortal wound, the dragon was far too fast for Cloud, and it flew past him and dodged his attack with ease, and prepared to strike back at him.
Sephiroth, however, was by far many times faster, stronger, and more powerful than the dragon (or anything else for that matter) was.
Sephiroth attacked the dragon in a flash, in the blink of an eye, and killed the dragon instantly with just one simple blow from his sword, which was enough to slash the dragon into pieces. Cloud stared in amazement and disbelief, his mouth hanging open in astonishment, not believing what he had just seen. Sephiroth had killed the massive and extremely deadly dragon in only two simple attacks, and had not come anywhere close to breaking a sweat.
He had also survived an extremely hot flamethrower without even getting a burn or a scratch on him.
Cloud's mind flashed back to the present time at the inn in the town of Kalm.
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"Sephiroth's strength is unreal, and way beyond normal. He is far stronger, faster, greater and more powerful in reality than any story or rumour that you might have ever heard about him," said Cloud.
There was a deep silence, with everyone staring at Cloud in astonishment and disbelief.
After a while, Barret broke the silence.
"You mean to tell us that you and Sephiroth fought together? Why would you work with him?" asked Barret.
"The truth was that I simply wanted to be a great warrior, just like him. He was strong, and fought valiantly for all those who needed help. But soon after we got to Nibelheim…that ended up changing. Tragically," said Cloud.
"So, where do you come in?" asked Aeris, curiously.
"Me? At that point, I was just completely mesmerised by the way that Sephiroth could fight. It was just…so flawless, so powerful. I just watched him fight. I never had to interfere at all, Sephiroth never needed any help whatsoever. And then, in about a few hours, we reached Nibelheim," said Cloud.
His mind flashed back to that scene as he told it to them.