Chapter 24
Sifan Leonhart and Avatar Fenis walked out of the elevator in to the Airship dock at the golden saucer. As soon as the dance was over, Avatar had caught up with Sifan outside the ballroom. They wanted to tell each other about their happenings but they decided to save it till they got back to their room at the Costa de sol inn. Sifan was about to proceed to the Costa de sol bound airship when Avatar caught Sifan by the arm, "Hey...Check that out..."
Relafen Almasy was talking to Phillona Strife leaning his arm over her shoulder against the airship's metallic exterior. And the way he was ordering the airship crew between his conversations with Phillona, and the way the crew saluted him very time they saw him, it became evident that Relafen was in charge of the airship. Avatar sighed, "You know, that airship is Relafen's own?"
"What?" Sifan said, surprised, "You mean t-that airship is his as in 'Relafen's Airship'..."
"Yup..." Avatar said, "Trex told me after he saw me slug it out at the battle square for this baby."
He took the dark katana blade's metal sword holder and kissed it, "Only problem is...it seems to be stuck inside the holder...oh well...I'll bet a little oil can do wonders..."
Sifan sighed, but then his attention was even more focused on Relafen who was pretending to be growing elegant by the minute, in front of Phillona.
Avatar seemed to have noticed too, "Hey, maybe it was just me but have you ever seen Mr. Graceful there talk to any girls back in balamb?"
"Nope." Sifan replied, "Oh well, he's happier now and he's doing what he likes, I guess..."
"Oh...how did your dance go...?" Avatar asked Sifan as the Elevator behind them slid open and Trex hurried out of it, "Well, actually, give me a second-by-second detail of it once we get back to our room..."
Trex then tapped on Avatar's shoulder and got his attention, "Hi Avatar...."
Sifan cleared his throat, "The money please..."
Trex sighed, "Phillona's gonna kill me if she found out I am spending money from the Mideel treasury but hey...a deal is a deal..."
"Mideel TREASURY?" Avatar cried, "Sifan! You can't-"
"It's none of you business Avatar." Sifan said coolly, every word sounding as if it had been uttered by Squall Leonhart, "You have nothing to do with this the moment you left me for the dance..."
Avatar sighed. Sifan was never a determined type but when he WAS determined, he knew he had a better chance of carrying a ruby dragon on his back than at changing Sifan's mind.
Trex handed over the money to Sifan and then started to speak shaking his head in Relafen's direction, "See that Shin-Ra commander there?"
"Yeah..." Sifan said, watching Relafen swell with pride when Phillona faked a giggle at his joke, "What about him...?"
"Well, his name is Relafen, Phillona told me that he had offered her a ride back home in his airship during a short dance with her..." Trex said, "Well, of course, Phillona is the last person on earth to trust a Shin-Ra personnel but the fact is, getting back to Mideel tonight by airship is really an advantage considering we'll get there only by noon tomorrow if we take a ship by sea at Costa de sol tomorrow morning."
"You can't trust Relafen..." Sifan said calmly, "believe us, you just can't. Don't be surprised if a whole bunch of Shin-Ra soldiers ambush you inside or if his pilot takes you somewhere else."
"Hey, course we know that..." Trex replied, "When have we EVER trusted a Shin-Ra scum? But the problem is, you see, the informant told Phillona that they are planning an attack tonight and he had also heard Rupert telling Relafen to take the night off, meaning Relafen is no where in the plan to attack Mideel tonight."
Sifan cringed a little when he saw Phillona look at him over Relafen's shoulder.
"So...." Trex continued, "we HAVE to get back if we want to stop Shin-Ra tonight and Relafen's our last chance...and since the informant says Rupert had left Relafen out of the Mideel plan and he has nothing to do with it...Phillona's willing to take his offer..."
It was evident to Sifan that Phillona was talking to Relafen about his offer to give them a ride back to Mideel. He smiled to himself.
[And Relafen's thinking she likes him...]
"Wait..." Avatar's eyes lit up, "That means...I'll come too...and help you guys with any attack on Mideel and then tomorrow morning, I can go to -Er- someplace that I've been wanting to go to..."
Sifan knew Avatar was referring to the Fenis guardian, "Fine..." he said, knowing how badly his friend wanted to go there, "I'll meet you in Aquadia hotel tomorrow evening..."
Avatar nodded, "Take care of yourself...see ya around..."
He and Trex both rushed away towards Relafen who was leading Phillona up to the airship. When Relafen saw Avatar, he scowled a little but straightened up when Phillona said something. Then, the four of them disappeared into the airship. In a few seconds, its engine whirred into life and it lifted off the ground, its propellers making a wind-hacking noise. Before he knew it, it sped away in the air, leaving Sifan to just stare at the starless sky.
"Hey..." came a voice from behind him. He turned around and saw a beautiful woman stand in front of him. The Shin-Ra emblem on the shoulder plate of her attire glowed in the lights of the golden saucer. A little far away, the megaphone from the airship bound to Costa de sol announced that it would leave in 10 minutes.
"Yeah?" Sifan asked, looking at the red-haired girl, who was examining him for sometime. He also noticed that she had a metallic silver claw at the end of her arm.
"Hmm...." She smiled, "The guy who won the battle square 'blade warrior' contest a few minutes ago.... your friend?"
Sifan nodded, "Yeah...what about him..."
"He was good." She replied, "Very good..."
"I know..." Sifan replied calmly, "Is that what you wanted to tell me?"
"Well...I thought that I could meet him and ask him where he learnt to fight like that...Never seen a guy so...handsome either..." she said smiling, "The name's General Keiara..."
Sifan took a step back, "Shin-Ra, huh?"
"Sigh..." Keiara heaved a long breath, "don't look at me like that..."
"Well..." Sifan said, "When another General like you and -ahem- a commander from Shin-Ra kidnap a scientist under my nose...you expect me to look at you with respect?"
"I am not like Rupert..." She replied, "And I don't have commanders as my lapdogs either..."
"Well...don't get your hopes up as far as my handsome friend is concerned..." Sifan said as he walked away from her, "He doesn't take Shin-Ra women..."
*************************
In the middle of the night, a Shin-Ra airship slowly settled down on the rocky ground near the northern crater. The door slide open and a rope ladder dropped down through which a man descended. Professor Lorenz set his foot on the ground, his teeth clattering from the chilly winds that blew across the air in the northern continent. As he stood hugging himself with his scrawny arms for warmth, General Keiara descended down the ropes and stood near Lorenz. And then a couple of Shin-Ra soldiers followed soon
As one of the soldiers loaded his gun, General Keiara started to speak, "Let me see that order from the president, Lorenz."
Lorenz took out a folded paper from his coat pocket and handed it to Keiara, "What makes you think I'd fake one, General?"
She read it intently for a while and threw it back to Lorenz, "It's just that how come you didn't bring your regular crony, Rupert with you...?"
Lorenz replied in a composed manner, "Your abilities are required for this venture, General Keiara. Rupert is busy with some plan to take Mideel."
"Hmm...talking of Mideel..." Keiara sighed, "This is the hundredth time, isn't it?"
"Yes, he had failed a number of times, I guess..." Lorenz said.
Keiara sighed, "Rupert was always just a big tub of lard anyway...underestimating almost everything and anything..."
"I hate to interrupt your Rupert thrashing speech Keiara but there's a job to be done..." Lorenz said as they began to walk towards the mouth of the crater, "Please lead the way..."
Keiara gestured to her soldiers to follow her and they slowly descended down the spiral rocky path leading down to the bottom of the immensely huge lifestream lake.
"So..." Keiara said, "How come you got permission to be here from the northern continent government anyway?"
Lorenz followed the three people in front of them slowly, hoping no monsters attack them, "Well...I told the government head in this continent that we wanted to just take a lifestream sample for discovering it's...er...healing properties..."
He didn't mention that he had said the same thing to the Shin-Ra president as well.
"Healing, huh?" Keiara said sarcastically, "and that lovely, its-all-for-the-welfare-of-the-people attitude got you the permission, huh?"
"Yes..." Lorenz replied, "Or else we would have been missiled to death by now..."
"I know that, Lorenz..." Keiara replied, "Well...What are you planning to do with the lifestream we are gonna take anyway...?"
"None of your business, Keiara." Lorenz said coldly, "You've been ordered by the president to protect me while I collect the lifestream. And you shall stick to that objective alone..."
Lorenz and Keiara were the last persons inside Shin-Ra who had gotten along with each other. And both of them knew that perfectly.
"It wouldn't take long to let an iron giant slaughter you..." Keiara said quietly as they reached the halfway point of their spiral path, "...and report to HQ saying things got out of control..."
Lorenz was about to reply when a deafening hiss sounded from behind a towering rock. And then a dragon slowly walked outside it, keen to make an early breakfast of the visitors.
"Get your worthless butt behind us, Lorenz..." Keiara shouted as the dragon advanced towards them with a menacing look, "don't try anything stupid..."
Lorenz muttered to himself and did as he was told.
Keiara threw her cloak away and stood in front of the dragon, her soldiers on either side. The dragon seemed to be an impatient one. It charged at one soldier and pummeled him hard with its small but sharp horns. He hit the rocky wall behind him and fell down, unconscious and blood oozing from where the horns had punctured his skin. The other soldier hit the dragon with a barrage of bullets but it's thick hide made it impossible for the bullets to pierce through it. It then turned around and whacked the soldier who had fired at it with its long and scaly tail. He went sprawling across the pathway and fell down into the lifestream lake, screaming. Keiara rushed at the dragon and then raised her metallic claw and buried it inside the dragon's neck and dragged it down its long windpipe as hard as she could, and then retreated, blood dripping from her claws.
"Let's see you breathe fire now...Dragon boy..." she said and then took a step back and cast a protect spell on herself. As far as spells went, Keiara's speed was unmatched; she had the agility to cast a chain of powerful spells in a minute's time if she wished. She took a step forward and then rendered the dragon almost unconscious with an ultima spell. But unconsciousness was not what she wanted...what she wanted of course, was death.
She then raised her hand and summoned...using the materia she took from the boiled body of the Wutai resistance group members she had encountered the previous night. Leviathan appeared soon, looking down at the large dragon, which was bleeding profusely from its neck. He let out an ear-shattering holler and soon, hot steaming water burst out of cracks on the wall and shot out at the dragon. It roared painfully as the heat from the water scalded its hide. And then a segment of the rocky wall broke and a large jet of hissing water pushed the dragon out of the path and it fell to its doom. Leviathan disappeared as soon as he saw the dragon had died before he had even started his tidal wave attack.
Keiara sighed when she saw that the only soldier who was left had already bled to death. A very terrified Lorenz scampered out from the shadows.
"Are all you scientists such cowards?" Keiara asked as they proceeded to the bottom of the northern crater.
"Our science is what..." Lorenz pointed to the claw on her hand, "...keeps you alive, Keiara..."
Keiara stopped moving. She turned around to Lorenz and saw him straight in the eye, "Alive...Lorenz? I am alive like every other human, aint I LORENZ?"
Lorenz looked a little scared, "I-I am sorry...Keiara...calm down...too much adrenaline...c-can...t-trigger...your...o-other s-side..."
Keiara let out an angry heave of breath and closed her eyes for while. After a few seconds, she opened them and then continued to walk to the lifestream lake at the bottom of the crater, Lorenz tagging along in her wake.
As soon as they arrived upon the lifestream lake, Lorenz ran to its edge and searched all across the lake, his eyes moving wildly and then he let out a laugh that sounded more like an explosion. He had looked all over the lake and had then found it trickling along the edge of the lake near his own two feet. The red lifestream didn't glow as brightly as the other green lifestreams. Neither did it behave like them. It slowly moved along the edge of the lake, in a mysterious way. Lorenz then pulled out a cylindrical canister from his pocket, which had a small keypad at its side. He dipped the canister in to the lifestream and then typed in the wavelength of the color red on the keypad. And then, the canister whirred and clicked for sometime and soon enough, the red lifestream inched it's way into the canister, rising to it's top, slowly.
"Whoever invented this spectra-separator is a GENIUS, eh Keiara?" Lorenz blurted out excitedly as he felt the canister grow heavy from the red lifestream.
Keiara yawned, "Hurry up Lorenz..."
Satisfied that he had stored away the entire red lifestream in the lake in to his canister, he followed Keiara up the path they had come down. He mumbled excitedly to Keiara as they continued to walk away from the lake, "I bet you're probably wondering how it all fitted into a single canister, Keiara...."
"I am not..." she replied but Lorenz persisted, "You see...Lifestream is actually a kind of a long thread in a liquid form...it cant be broken and scattered here and there...it flows in it's entirety. Against popular beliefs that lifestream is a never-ending stream of lives, the truth is each ended life is a lifestream...flowing with other lifestreams...the one I have here...for example...is the lifestream of..."
He stopped suddenly making Keiara looked at him strangely.
He cleared his throat and continued, "They are so thin and united in their manner of flow that they can't be separated, but this one is a diff-"
An iron giant came stomping out of a shadowy, dark corner and stared at the two of them with his tiny red eyes. He raised his humungous sword and let out a battle holler. His angry footstep towards them made Lorenz flinch and take a few steps back. Keiara calmly summoned another guardian force from the materia she had recently won from the chocobo races at the golden saucer.
The iron giant stomped his way towards them in order to get a clear view of his puny opponents, but he was baffled to see them missing. But instead of two tiny humans in front of him, on a six-legged horse sat the undead warrior, Odin, with his Zantetsuken blade wielded in his hand.
**************************
Sifan Leonhart and Avatar Fenis walked out of the elevator in to the Airship dock at the golden saucer. As soon as the dance was over, Avatar had caught up with Sifan outside the ballroom. They wanted to tell each other about their happenings but they decided to save it till they got back to their room at the Costa de sol inn. Sifan was about to proceed to the Costa de sol bound airship when Avatar caught Sifan by the arm, "Hey...Check that out..."
Relafen Almasy was talking to Phillona Strife leaning his arm over her shoulder against the airship's metallic exterior. And the way he was ordering the airship crew between his conversations with Phillona, and the way the crew saluted him very time they saw him, it became evident that Relafen was in charge of the airship. Avatar sighed, "You know, that airship is Relafen's own?"
"What?" Sifan said, surprised, "You mean t-that airship is his as in 'Relafen's Airship'..."
"Yup..." Avatar said, "Trex told me after he saw me slug it out at the battle square for this baby."
He took the dark katana blade's metal sword holder and kissed it, "Only problem is...it seems to be stuck inside the holder...oh well...I'll bet a little oil can do wonders..."
Sifan sighed, but then his attention was even more focused on Relafen who was pretending to be growing elegant by the minute, in front of Phillona.
Avatar seemed to have noticed too, "Hey, maybe it was just me but have you ever seen Mr. Graceful there talk to any girls back in balamb?"
"Nope." Sifan replied, "Oh well, he's happier now and he's doing what he likes, I guess..."
"Oh...how did your dance go...?" Avatar asked Sifan as the Elevator behind them slid open and Trex hurried out of it, "Well, actually, give me a second-by-second detail of it once we get back to our room..."
Trex then tapped on Avatar's shoulder and got his attention, "Hi Avatar...."
Sifan cleared his throat, "The money please..."
Trex sighed, "Phillona's gonna kill me if she found out I am spending money from the Mideel treasury but hey...a deal is a deal..."
"Mideel TREASURY?" Avatar cried, "Sifan! You can't-"
"It's none of you business Avatar." Sifan said coolly, every word sounding as if it had been uttered by Squall Leonhart, "You have nothing to do with this the moment you left me for the dance..."
Avatar sighed. Sifan was never a determined type but when he WAS determined, he knew he had a better chance of carrying a ruby dragon on his back than at changing Sifan's mind.
Trex handed over the money to Sifan and then started to speak shaking his head in Relafen's direction, "See that Shin-Ra commander there?"
"Yeah..." Sifan said, watching Relafen swell with pride when Phillona faked a giggle at his joke, "What about him...?"
"Well, his name is Relafen, Phillona told me that he had offered her a ride back home in his airship during a short dance with her..." Trex said, "Well, of course, Phillona is the last person on earth to trust a Shin-Ra personnel but the fact is, getting back to Mideel tonight by airship is really an advantage considering we'll get there only by noon tomorrow if we take a ship by sea at Costa de sol tomorrow morning."
"You can't trust Relafen..." Sifan said calmly, "believe us, you just can't. Don't be surprised if a whole bunch of Shin-Ra soldiers ambush you inside or if his pilot takes you somewhere else."
"Hey, course we know that..." Trex replied, "When have we EVER trusted a Shin-Ra scum? But the problem is, you see, the informant told Phillona that they are planning an attack tonight and he had also heard Rupert telling Relafen to take the night off, meaning Relafen is no where in the plan to attack Mideel tonight."
Sifan cringed a little when he saw Phillona look at him over Relafen's shoulder.
"So...." Trex continued, "we HAVE to get back if we want to stop Shin-Ra tonight and Relafen's our last chance...and since the informant says Rupert had left Relafen out of the Mideel plan and he has nothing to do with it...Phillona's willing to take his offer..."
It was evident to Sifan that Phillona was talking to Relafen about his offer to give them a ride back to Mideel. He smiled to himself.
[And Relafen's thinking she likes him...]
"Wait..." Avatar's eyes lit up, "That means...I'll come too...and help you guys with any attack on Mideel and then tomorrow morning, I can go to -Er- someplace that I've been wanting to go to..."
Sifan knew Avatar was referring to the Fenis guardian, "Fine..." he said, knowing how badly his friend wanted to go there, "I'll meet you in Aquadia hotel tomorrow evening..."
Avatar nodded, "Take care of yourself...see ya around..."
He and Trex both rushed away towards Relafen who was leading Phillona up to the airship. When Relafen saw Avatar, he scowled a little but straightened up when Phillona said something. Then, the four of them disappeared into the airship. In a few seconds, its engine whirred into life and it lifted off the ground, its propellers making a wind-hacking noise. Before he knew it, it sped away in the air, leaving Sifan to just stare at the starless sky.
"Hey..." came a voice from behind him. He turned around and saw a beautiful woman stand in front of him. The Shin-Ra emblem on the shoulder plate of her attire glowed in the lights of the golden saucer. A little far away, the megaphone from the airship bound to Costa de sol announced that it would leave in 10 minutes.
"Yeah?" Sifan asked, looking at the red-haired girl, who was examining him for sometime. He also noticed that she had a metallic silver claw at the end of her arm.
"Hmm...." She smiled, "The guy who won the battle square 'blade warrior' contest a few minutes ago.... your friend?"
Sifan nodded, "Yeah...what about him..."
"He was good." She replied, "Very good..."
"I know..." Sifan replied calmly, "Is that what you wanted to tell me?"
"Well...I thought that I could meet him and ask him where he learnt to fight like that...Never seen a guy so...handsome either..." she said smiling, "The name's General Keiara..."
Sifan took a step back, "Shin-Ra, huh?"
"Sigh..." Keiara heaved a long breath, "don't look at me like that..."
"Well..." Sifan said, "When another General like you and -ahem- a commander from Shin-Ra kidnap a scientist under my nose...you expect me to look at you with respect?"
"I am not like Rupert..." She replied, "And I don't have commanders as my lapdogs either..."
"Well...don't get your hopes up as far as my handsome friend is concerned..." Sifan said as he walked away from her, "He doesn't take Shin-Ra women..."
*************************
In the middle of the night, a Shin-Ra airship slowly settled down on the rocky ground near the northern crater. The door slide open and a rope ladder dropped down through which a man descended. Professor Lorenz set his foot on the ground, his teeth clattering from the chilly winds that blew across the air in the northern continent. As he stood hugging himself with his scrawny arms for warmth, General Keiara descended down the ropes and stood near Lorenz. And then a couple of Shin-Ra soldiers followed soon
As one of the soldiers loaded his gun, General Keiara started to speak, "Let me see that order from the president, Lorenz."
Lorenz took out a folded paper from his coat pocket and handed it to Keiara, "What makes you think I'd fake one, General?"
She read it intently for a while and threw it back to Lorenz, "It's just that how come you didn't bring your regular crony, Rupert with you...?"
Lorenz replied in a composed manner, "Your abilities are required for this venture, General Keiara. Rupert is busy with some plan to take Mideel."
"Hmm...talking of Mideel..." Keiara sighed, "This is the hundredth time, isn't it?"
"Yes, he had failed a number of times, I guess..." Lorenz said.
Keiara sighed, "Rupert was always just a big tub of lard anyway...underestimating almost everything and anything..."
"I hate to interrupt your Rupert thrashing speech Keiara but there's a job to be done..." Lorenz said as they began to walk towards the mouth of the crater, "Please lead the way..."
Keiara gestured to her soldiers to follow her and they slowly descended down the spiral rocky path leading down to the bottom of the immensely huge lifestream lake.
"So..." Keiara said, "How come you got permission to be here from the northern continent government anyway?"
Lorenz followed the three people in front of them slowly, hoping no monsters attack them, "Well...I told the government head in this continent that we wanted to just take a lifestream sample for discovering it's...er...healing properties..."
He didn't mention that he had said the same thing to the Shin-Ra president as well.
"Healing, huh?" Keiara said sarcastically, "and that lovely, its-all-for-the-welfare-of-the-people attitude got you the permission, huh?"
"Yes..." Lorenz replied, "Or else we would have been missiled to death by now..."
"I know that, Lorenz..." Keiara replied, "Well...What are you planning to do with the lifestream we are gonna take anyway...?"
"None of your business, Keiara." Lorenz said coldly, "You've been ordered by the president to protect me while I collect the lifestream. And you shall stick to that objective alone..."
Lorenz and Keiara were the last persons inside Shin-Ra who had gotten along with each other. And both of them knew that perfectly.
"It wouldn't take long to let an iron giant slaughter you..." Keiara said quietly as they reached the halfway point of their spiral path, "...and report to HQ saying things got out of control..."
Lorenz was about to reply when a deafening hiss sounded from behind a towering rock. And then a dragon slowly walked outside it, keen to make an early breakfast of the visitors.
"Get your worthless butt behind us, Lorenz..." Keiara shouted as the dragon advanced towards them with a menacing look, "don't try anything stupid..."
Lorenz muttered to himself and did as he was told.
Keiara threw her cloak away and stood in front of the dragon, her soldiers on either side. The dragon seemed to be an impatient one. It charged at one soldier and pummeled him hard with its small but sharp horns. He hit the rocky wall behind him and fell down, unconscious and blood oozing from where the horns had punctured his skin. The other soldier hit the dragon with a barrage of bullets but it's thick hide made it impossible for the bullets to pierce through it. It then turned around and whacked the soldier who had fired at it with its long and scaly tail. He went sprawling across the pathway and fell down into the lifestream lake, screaming. Keiara rushed at the dragon and then raised her metallic claw and buried it inside the dragon's neck and dragged it down its long windpipe as hard as she could, and then retreated, blood dripping from her claws.
"Let's see you breathe fire now...Dragon boy..." she said and then took a step back and cast a protect spell on herself. As far as spells went, Keiara's speed was unmatched; she had the agility to cast a chain of powerful spells in a minute's time if she wished. She took a step forward and then rendered the dragon almost unconscious with an ultima spell. But unconsciousness was not what she wanted...what she wanted of course, was death.
She then raised her hand and summoned...using the materia she took from the boiled body of the Wutai resistance group members she had encountered the previous night. Leviathan appeared soon, looking down at the large dragon, which was bleeding profusely from its neck. He let out an ear-shattering holler and soon, hot steaming water burst out of cracks on the wall and shot out at the dragon. It roared painfully as the heat from the water scalded its hide. And then a segment of the rocky wall broke and a large jet of hissing water pushed the dragon out of the path and it fell to its doom. Leviathan disappeared as soon as he saw the dragon had died before he had even started his tidal wave attack.
Keiara sighed when she saw that the only soldier who was left had already bled to death. A very terrified Lorenz scampered out from the shadows.
"Are all you scientists such cowards?" Keiara asked as they proceeded to the bottom of the northern crater.
"Our science is what..." Lorenz pointed to the claw on her hand, "...keeps you alive, Keiara..."
Keiara stopped moving. She turned around to Lorenz and saw him straight in the eye, "Alive...Lorenz? I am alive like every other human, aint I LORENZ?"
Lorenz looked a little scared, "I-I am sorry...Keiara...calm down...too much adrenaline...c-can...t-trigger...your...o-other s-side..."
Keiara let out an angry heave of breath and closed her eyes for while. After a few seconds, she opened them and then continued to walk to the lifestream lake at the bottom of the crater, Lorenz tagging along in her wake.
As soon as they arrived upon the lifestream lake, Lorenz ran to its edge and searched all across the lake, his eyes moving wildly and then he let out a laugh that sounded more like an explosion. He had looked all over the lake and had then found it trickling along the edge of the lake near his own two feet. The red lifestream didn't glow as brightly as the other green lifestreams. Neither did it behave like them. It slowly moved along the edge of the lake, in a mysterious way. Lorenz then pulled out a cylindrical canister from his pocket, which had a small keypad at its side. He dipped the canister in to the lifestream and then typed in the wavelength of the color red on the keypad. And then, the canister whirred and clicked for sometime and soon enough, the red lifestream inched it's way into the canister, rising to it's top, slowly.
"Whoever invented this spectra-separator is a GENIUS, eh Keiara?" Lorenz blurted out excitedly as he felt the canister grow heavy from the red lifestream.
Keiara yawned, "Hurry up Lorenz..."
Satisfied that he had stored away the entire red lifestream in the lake in to his canister, he followed Keiara up the path they had come down. He mumbled excitedly to Keiara as they continued to walk away from the lake, "I bet you're probably wondering how it all fitted into a single canister, Keiara...."
"I am not..." she replied but Lorenz persisted, "You see...Lifestream is actually a kind of a long thread in a liquid form...it cant be broken and scattered here and there...it flows in it's entirety. Against popular beliefs that lifestream is a never-ending stream of lives, the truth is each ended life is a lifestream...flowing with other lifestreams...the one I have here...for example...is the lifestream of..."
He stopped suddenly making Keiara looked at him strangely.
He cleared his throat and continued, "They are so thin and united in their manner of flow that they can't be separated, but this one is a diff-"
An iron giant came stomping out of a shadowy, dark corner and stared at the two of them with his tiny red eyes. He raised his humungous sword and let out a battle holler. His angry footstep towards them made Lorenz flinch and take a few steps back. Keiara calmly summoned another guardian force from the materia she had recently won from the chocobo races at the golden saucer.
The iron giant stomped his way towards them in order to get a clear view of his puny opponents, but he was baffled to see them missing. But instead of two tiny humans in front of him, on a six-legged horse sat the undead warrior, Odin, with his Zantetsuken blade wielded in his hand.
**************************