They soon got some sleep, and then at sunrise, they all met up at the entrance of the mansion, which was near the road leading up to the Nibelheim Mountains, which were known mainly as Mount Nibel.
"Once the guide gets here, we're heading out at once," informed Sephiroth.
Tifa's father, a man with black hair and dark eyes that resembled his daughter's, walked up to Sephiroth.
"Listen to me, Sephiroth. Those mountains are dangerous; please don't let Tifa get hurt. If anything goes wrong, if anything happens to my daughter…" said Tifa's father, anxiously.
"Don't worry, do not be concerned for her safety. I won't let her get hurt. She will be travelling with a well-prepared group. Trust me," said Sephiroth, confidently.
Just then, Tifa had arrived and ran up to them, wearing a cowboy hat. She was fifteen years old at that time.
"I'll be alright, Dad. I have two men from SOLDIER with me," said Tifa, reassuringly.
Tifa turned to face Sephiroth.
"Hi, I'm Tifa. Nice to meet you," said Tifa, smiling.
"Tifa? You're the guide?" asked Cloud, surprised.
Tifa's eyes widened in delight when she spotted Cloud and smiled happily at him.
"That's right. I just happen to be the best guide in town," said Tifa. Cloud shook his head firmly.
"It's way too dangerous. I can't involve you in something like this," said Cloud, concerned.
"Then there will be no problem if you just protect her, now will there? Let's go, we are already wasting valuable time," said Sephiroth.
A little boy suddenly ran up to them, a camera in his hand.
"Mr Sephiroth…could you please let me take one picture for a memento? Tifa, can you ask him too?" asked the boy, pointing to Cloud. Cloud shrugged as he, Tifa and Sephiroth stood in front of the mansion.
"Make it quick" muttered Sephiroth, sharply, getting rather impatient.
"Cheese!" said the boy, and there was a flash of light from the camera as he took their picture.
"Great, thank you! I'll each give you a copy when it's developed," said the boy, and he ran off, smiling happily.
After that, Cloud, Sephiroth, Tifa, and two Shinra soldiers (one of them was the same blond-haired Shinra soldier with motion sickness) set out on their journey to the Mount Nibel Mako Reactor, leaving Nibelheim and travelling along Mount Nibel, the huge mountains of Nibelheim.
Withered. Whenever Cloud looked up at the mountains that was all he could describe them as. The pointed peaks of the Nibel Mountains looked completely dried up.
The only clouds that hung around the mountains now were thick ones that were tinged a foul green by the foul Mako Reactor that sat on top of the highest peak.
Could that be why the mountains looked so dead? The Reactor might as well have grabbed the once-beautiful mountain range with a fist and squeezed the Mako out of them. Massive and imposing, yet dried-up and withered.
That was how Cloud saw the mountains.
Almost by instinct alone, the local, vicious beasts that roamed the mountains now avoided and feared Sephiroth like the dreaded plague, all completely terrified of him.
Maybe it was because of the cold fire in his bright green eyes, or because they could sense the plain feeling of immense power, death and destruction that hung around the dark warrior like a cloud.
Whatever it was, Cloud and the others were not bothered at all by the monsters of Mt. Nibel, as the creatures seemed to run away in terror whenever they had even a glimpse of Sephiroth.
Halfway through the pass and spanning the gap between mountain peaks was an old rope bridge that swayed dangerously in the sharp breeze that blew up from the valley far below.
Several of the rotted wooden planks were missing from the middle of the bridge.
"Will this bridge hold us?" asked Sephiroth, doubtfully, but calmly. Tifa nodded.
"Oh yes, don't worry. I'll go on ahead, and you guys just follow me," said Tifa.
They walked along the bridge, and they had just got to the middle of the bridge, when suddenly it started to break.
"The bridge can't take all of us! We're too heavy! Quick, someone go back!" shouted Sephiroth, but it was too late.
The bridge suddenly collapsed and snapped in two. Sephiroth, Cloud, Tifa and the two Shinra soldiers fell all the way to the ground and hit the ground hard.
Sephiroth, Cloud, Tifa and the blond-haired Shinra soldier all got up, and they all seemed to be alright, as they had no injuries and were not in pain.
Luckily, they had managed to fall only ten feet below the bridge, and land on the ground above the valley, just before the cliff edge over the valley. If they had fallen a little more to the right, they would have fallen right into the valley, which was apparently what happened to the other Shinra soldier.
"That was quite the unexpected diversion," said Cloud.
Sephiroth snorted.
"Yes, Cloud, it was. But it shall not affect our mission in the slightest. Anyway, everyone seems to be alright. Can we get back to where we were?" asked Sephiroth.
"Yes, but it will be difficult. These caves are infested with monsters, just like an ant farm. Oh, and Sephiroth? There seems to be one person missing," said Tifa, noticing that the other Shinra soldier was not with them, and that only one Shinra soldier was with them.
Cloud recognized the remaining Shinra soldier as the blond haired Shinra soldier who had motion sickness on the way to Nibelheim. The blond-haired Shinra soldier looked around for the other soldier, but could not see him in sight.
"This may sound cold, but we've got no time to search for him, so we must continue on the path. We'll all travel together from here on," ordered Sephiroth.
Cloud turned to face Tifa.
"Are you alright?" asked Cloud, concerned.
"Yes, I'm fine, thanks Cloud," said Tifa, smiling.
"I guess we'll have to take the long way. We all have to stick together from now on," said Sephiroth.
"I'm not sure that we'll be capable of doing that easily," said Tifa, uncertainly. Sephiroth glared at her, coldly.
"Which is exactly why SOLDIER have been called here. Now continue telling us why this will be so difficult," said Sephiroth, his voice icy.
"It won't be easy to get in through the cave, and the threat of monsters is still heavy in this part of the mountains," explained Tifa.
Sephiroth looked completely unconcerned about this, and Tifa realized her naivety towards his great powers, but Sephiroth nodded all the same.
"Alright, your concerns are noted. We had best stay close together from this point on in. Soldier; make sure that you have your gun ready and waiting. Keep the guide close to you. Cloud, you and I shall bring up the rear," ordered Sephiroth.
Cloud nodded in agreement, and the blond-haired Shinra soldier saluted.
Cloud, Sephiroth, Tifa and the blond-haired Shinra soldier all walked along the path of the mountains, and they soon entered a cave. Tifa led Sephiroth and the others back into the mountains though a series of caves that were brilliantly coloured with splashes of greens, pinks, blues, and purples.
Each flash of colour seemed to throb from inside the rock rather than on top of it, lighting up the cave with strobes of rainbow pulses.
"What's this?" asked Cloud, staring around the cave in awe, his eyes wide.
The blond-haired Shinra soldier was staring around the cave with the same sort of expression of wonder as well.
"This is a mysteriously coloured cave," explained Tifa, though she was equally amazed.
Sephiroth was also interested and fascinated by what they saw in the cave.
"It must be the Mako energy affecting the cave. This mountain is especially abundant in it, and it contains quite a lot of it indeed. That's why the Mako Reactor was built here, beside these mountains," explained Sephiroth.
They continued on through the caves. To their surprise (except Sephiroth's), the group found little resistance from monsters, and Sephiroth, alone, swiftly and effortlessly killed any creatures that were found.
They walked to the other end of the cave and they went outside it. Past the bright cave was a small, open area full of flattened shrubs and dry, cracked twigs.
Cloud's boots crunched on the bones of several long-since-dead birds that had no doubt once lived in the trees that filled this small valley long ago.
Sitting in the middle of the open area on a short stone was a large, shimmering blue chunk of rock that sparkled and glistened in the shafts of sunlight that fell from above. It was a mysterious fountain with a bright green glow around it.
"And what's this?" asked Cloud, curiously, staring at the fountain in astonishment and awe.
"It's a Mako fountain, a true miracle of nature. It's Mako, only in it's infant form," explained Sephiroth.
Tifa stared at it in wonder, her eyes wide.
"It's so beautiful. But…if the Mako Reactor continues to suck up all the energy, then this fountain will dry up too," said Tifa, sadly. Sephiroth nodded.
"The Reactor will drain all the Mako from it and it will vanish," replied Sephiroth.
They all walked over to the Mako fountain, all of them staring at it in wonder.
"This is made from abundant Mako energy, from the Reactor above, the main component in the manufacture of Materia. When you condense Mako energy, Materia is produced. It's extremely rare to see Materia in its natural state," explained Sephiroth.
"You mean that in a couple of years this will turn into Materia?" asked Tifa.
Sephiroth nodded. Tifa stood, admiring the sheer beauty of the Mako fountain, while Cloud turned to face Sephiroth.
"I'm just curious, but why is it that when you use Materia, you can use Magic too?" asked Cloud.
Sephiroth raised an eyebrow and frowned slightly.
"You're in SOLDIER, and you don't even know THAT? The knowledge and wisdom of the Ancients is held in the Materia. Anyone with this knowledge can freely use the power of the land and the Planet. That knowledge interacts between ourselves and the Planet, calling up Magic. The more knowledge and understanding of the Ancients you have, the greater your potential for Magic will be," explained Sephiroth.
"Magic…a mysterious power," said Cloud, thoughtfully.
At these words, however, Sephiroth suddenly laughed out loud, loudly and scornfully, making Cloud, Tifa and the blond-haired Shinra soldier all flinch, and look at Sephiroth in startled surprise.
"Did I just say something funny?" asked Cloud, confused and puzzled. Sephiroth stopped laughing.
"A man once told me NEVER to use such an unscientific term such as mysterious power! It shouldn't even be called Magic! I still remember how angry he was about the whole subject," said Sephiroth, thoughtfully.
"So…just who was that?" asked Cloud, curiously. Sephiroth snorted, his eyes flashing with anger for a moment.
"Hojo, the main head scientist of the Shinra Science Department. A weak, unstable man who is trying in vain to make his place among the great scientists of this Planet, a man with far too many mental problems of his own. He was an inexperienced, second-rate lab assistant assigned to take over the work of a legendary scientist. Hojo was and always will be just a walking mass of complexes and paradoxes," explained Sephiroth, and everyone there could easily tell that he intensely disliked Hojo.
"A Mako fountain…so this is where the knowledge of the Ancients is…" said Tifa, thoughtfully, staring the Mako fountain in wonder.
They all soon continued, and walked along the path of the mountains, and they soon arrived at the Mount Nibel Mako Reactor. They walked towards the stairs leading to the entrance of the Reactor.
However, just as they were about to jump onto the steps of the Reactor, they heard a shrill roar from behind them. Spinning around, they were greeted by the sight of a giant bird-like creature bearing down upon them.
Cloud dived to his left and quickly dragged Tifa clear from danger with the other, and the blond-haired Shinra soldier quickly leaped out of the way by himself, his gun in both hands.
Sephiroth, however, leapt right at the large creature and slashed out with his Masumane sword. The left limb of the bird was sliced off instantly, and severed in one clean motion, and it clattered loudly against the ground.
The bird reared in anger and flew down towards Sephiroth, who, in a flash, dived at its rear and leapt onto the tail feathers before the bird or anyone could even realise what had just happened.
Dragging his sword with him, Sephiroth waited for the ground to near before jumping clear while slashing his blade straight across the bird's throat.
The lifeless bird fell upon the ground, dead, in a pool of dark blood. Nowhere near close to even breaking a sweat, Sephiroth wiped his blade clean and sheathed it, before summoning the group together.