The black metal pierced the horizon, the cold metal stretched up towards the gloomy sky. As it reached the top of its ascent it curled into cruel spikes. The gate surrounded the area, trapping the stillness, almost mimicking what this place represented.
Sadness. Emptiness. Death.
She paused at the entrance, inhaling a deep breath. Her mind was clouded with thought as she stepped through the field of memories. It looked just like it had done the night before. It had always looked the same; time never seemed to move within these gates. Her fingers clenched around the flowers that she had brought. The petals had bloomed, revealing the beauty inside them. They would stay like that for a few days, then like everything else, they would shrivel and die. They belonged here.
A nervousness grew in her stomach as she built up the courage to step into the place she had been avoiding for the last few years. She slowly took her first step back into the area within the gates. So many times before she had been stood outside the gates. She had looked beyond the black metal gates but not dared step across that invisible barrier which was stopping her going inside. She never dared before. That was until now.
Last night somehow she had been here. She had been stood inside the cemetery, when she was supposed to be playing the piano. Although now it only seemed like a dream. If only in her dreams, she had stepped across the barrier and made her way inside. So now she was here today, not in her dreams, but in person. She took another few steps along the cobbled path until she knew she was definitely inside. She stopped in her tracks and looked behind her. She saw the outside world beyond the gate. A small victory had been made.
Once again she started walking, scanning her eyes across the many graves that surrounded her until Rinoa's gaze fell to the stone that rested in front of her. She bent down leaning close to the grave, her eyes stung but she held her tears back. She wouldn't want her to cry. Her delicate fingers stroked along the top of the stone, brushing along a thin layer of moss that had begun to grow. She lowered her hand to the engravings of the grave, her fingers tracing the words that had been imprinted.
Loving Mother and Wife
You will be missed
A cold wind blew in her direction. She slowly placed the flowers down by the grave. They would sit and symbolise that people still remembered her. Then they would rot, just like everything else within these gates. She ran her trembling hand over the grass that covered her mother. Guilt suddenly filled her senses. She had only ever been here once before. She should have come more often, to be with her mother. She bowed her head down as the tears escaped and ran freely down her face. Broke free from the dams she had built over the years.
Slowly she lowered herself down to the patch of grass. Closing her eyes tightly to try and stop the tears, she imagined her mother holding her. Telling her everything was okay and there was no need to cry. "I'm sorry" the words left her mouth muffled from crying. "I'm so sorry" she whispered.
"Rinoa…?" a male voice came from behind her.
Immediately she knew who it was. It took her back to reality. She quickly lifted herself from the grass and stood on her feet feeling weak. Wiping her eyes she looked down at her mothers grave one last time, although she could feel his eyes on her, like burning holes in her back. She turned to face the man who was supposed to be her father.
He stood not sure what to do or say. He had never seen his daughter act as upset as this before. She stood there staring at him with emptiness in her eyes. He hadn't been there for her a lot of the time, he knew that. If he could, he would go back and get to know his daughter, but it was too late now. He didn't know what she was thinking, how she felt when she stormed out of her performance last night. He just didn't know anything anymore. "Rinoa…" he let out slowly, still unsure at what to say. He stared at the ground to try and make things easier for himself. "I guess I should apologise for last night. It was a bad idea and it was my fault"
There was no answer, just the cold breeze that blew past his face. She had already walked away. "Sorry" he said softly, knowing that the words would not reach his daughters ears.
The city was busy as usual. Many cars and people flooded through the city. It was afternoon. Making his way through the busy crowd, he finally stopped outside an old looking building. He slowly opened the door and stepped inside to see rows of bookshelves. The silence inside was completely opposite compared to outside the building. People sat sparsely around the large room, each one deep in their own thoughts.
The young man walked through the library and walked to a bookshelf looking for the right type of books. He picked up various kinds of books, each one to do with Hyne and sat alone one a table. The same way he did everyday, although a part of him knew already that he wouldn't find anything of any use.
Over the years he had grown to become dependant on religion, it was the only thing he had faith in. He had no family left, they had seen to that. So this is what he would do for the rest of his life. Search through books, hoping one day to find more answers.
He opened a book and began reading through the text. Most of the books he had read said the same things. Why did he still read them? He wanted to make sure that there was nothing he was missing. He read through the first three pages, and then somewhere along the fourth page he seemed to have got lost in his thoughts. He found himself thinking back to the night before.
It was when he had been walking back to his apartment that he had seen the advertisement stuck against a wall. The Galbadia Hotel was holding a remembrance celebration for the deceased singer, Julia Heartilly. General Caraway's daughter was said to be performing there. Really, it wasn't his thing, but as he saw the picture of the generals daughter. He seemed to get drawn into her eyes. Somehow he felt he had seen them somewhere before. He wasn't going to go, but as he was walking home he found himself stood outside the hotel.
He had made the excuse to go in for a drink; it wasn't as though he had anything better to do anyway. So he went in. He sat on his own and watched the start of the performance. He had watched as all the many people in the room quietened down straight away as she walked to the piano and they all listened to her play contentedly. He hadn't really been interested anyway, most of the time he had concentrated on his drinking rather than her. He had got up to leave before her performance had even finished.
As he was walking away he couldn't help noticing the music stop suddenly. A few moments later he heard people murmuring to themselves. Just as he was about to turn around and see what was happening he felt someone run into him. That had been when he had seen her close up for the first time. He watched as her face went from shock then she seemed to stare at him for a short time, before running off once again. He couldn't help wondering why she had stared at him like that. If she was so desperate to run away, why stop for a moment to look at him?
His thoughts were distracted when he realised that someone was staring at him. He turned his head to meet a blonde spiky haired man. The blonde man smiled slightly, whilst looking down at the books he had with him. "Hey there" he said in a cheery tone sitting down next to the quiet man. "I couldn't help noticing you reading books on Hyne"
"Yeah…" the man stated looking back down at his book to read hoping the blonde man would leave him alone.
"You know, if there's something specific you want I could help you," he said picking up and flicking through some pages of a book. "Anything specific you want to know. Prayer, myths, transport…" the man said with a little laugh at his own joke.
The man looked up from where he had been trying to read his book suddenly thinking that maybe this man could be useful after all. "Got any books on myths?" he said slowly deep in thought.
The blonde man nodded his head with a smile "The name's Zell by the way" he said walking to a near by bookshelf. He watched as Zell picked up a few books in his hand, and then returned back a few moments later placing the books down onto the table. "Dating the librarian here has its privileges," he said with another smile on his face.
He picked up one of the books and flipped through the pages, secretly scolding himself. He had always looked at religion, why had he never thought to look at myths for the answers? He placed the pile of books he had earlier picked back in their rightful places then picked up the books on myths to take out.
"Thanks" he said slowly as he began to walk out the door.
Zell followed after the mysterious man he had seen at the library so often. "Hey wait," he called after him "I didn't get your name"
The brown haired man turned around slowly to face Zell "Name's Squall" he said before turning to walk away. Maybe tonight he could find some answers on what had plagued his mind since he was a child.
Myth has it that Hyne had five followers when he created the world. He granted each one of them with a special power for helping and being the first to believe in him. The first follower was called Ifrit. Hyne granted Ifrit the power of fire. The second follower was a young lady named Shiva. Hyne granted her the power of ice. The third follower, Quetzacotl was given lightning. Leviathan was given water and finally Pandemonia was granted with the power of wind.
The five followers, now with these new powers agreed to Hyne that they would take responsibility of being in charge of the elements they had been granted.
Authors note: Once again, sorry its taken so long to update! Its just been really difficult to figure everything out with the rest of the story. Things may not really be making sense at the moment but just bear with us, it will make sense later on. I hope… Please leave a review!