Tall white cumulous clouds were bathed in a buttery sunlight that slid in strong beams across each billowy pearl surface as they raced by the red exterior of the Celsius. Cerulean flames spilled from the rear and melted into the clear blue sky. Baralai, with his deep earthly skin and heavenly white hair, stood beneath the arch where the metallic interior met the glass cockpit. His mind was boring straight through the scene sprawling before him and burying itself deep in thought. Arms crossed and knees locked he waited anxiously. The sound of metal sliding against metal grounded his wandering ruminations and he turned, his eyes filled with a hopeful, expectant gleam.

Yuna and Paine stepped into the bridge and the door quickly slid shut behind them. Yuna, concluding her conversation with Paine, called out for Brother and started towards him, inquiring for the reason the Gullwings had been summoned. Paine, however, stayed on the stairwell and leaned against her locked elbows. She didn't notice Baralai approach, and was startled slightly when he addressed her.

"Good morning," he gushed inside, trying to hide his eagerness. "How was your night?"

"It was... interrupted," Paine replied dryly.

"What do you mea-?"

The door gliding away once more revealing Gippal cut off Baralai in mid sentence. Gippal had a way of illuminating a room with his presence, as though everything gravitated towards him somehow. Baralai ached ambivalently with a mix of jealousy and anger towards himself for having such disgruntled feelings for a friend. It was this conflict that kept him awake at night.

Gippal eyed Paine's back, taking in her semi-clad skin. The contours of her spine sloped smoothly with her curved figure and dripped down to form delicate but powerful, sculpted legs. Gippal smiled.

"Good morning all! Where are we today?"

"It seems we're nearing the ruins of an unnamed, unmapped and uncharted lost city," Shinra blurted out helpfully, mist forming at the mouth of his mask.

"Then how did we find out about it?" Yuna asked the world at large.

"Easy. I did an advanced surveillance of all of Spira via comsphere, mapping the topography. There are many islands this far south that have yet to be discovered. Most of them were left alone due to either religious superstition or lack of transportation to these regions. Also, the feuds on Spira have taken everyone's attention away from further exploration. Over the years, all knowledge of these untrodden landscapes have been lost." Shinra basked smugly in the uncertain look that pinballed from face to face as the others tried to make sense of his superior knowledge.

"So why are we going there?" A new voice piped up. Unnoticed, Rikku had entered the room. She hopped excitedly from foot to foot. "Is there treasure? Or Spheres?" Her voice curled into an enthusiastic squeal.

"To be honest," Buddy took center stage now "we don't really know. Gippal seems to have heard that there were precious machina created by some superior race or something. Baralai says that he and Nooj discovered some highly important information about Spira's past," Baralai nodded on behalf of the absent Nooj and himself. "And well… we've also heard that it's a gold-mine just waiting to be tapped into."

"So it could be anything," Rikku giggled in childish wonderment.

"Ve whill triumph, no matter what!" Brother launched into a premature victory dance.

"That's all you people think we're going to find?" Shinra asked, dumfounded. "You think some booty, old machina and history books is why I've taken it upon myself to research these lost islands? You're sadly mistaken."

"Then what, Shinra," Yuna asked patiently.

"Fools! You don't know anything about the spheres?" Shinra sighed. "I suppose it would be too much to ask that you all did your homework on this particular mission, huh? Well, anyways, supposedly a race long since extinct could harness the true power of the spheres, a power that we can only imagine. Our ancestors called the race the 'Memphilatus.' That is the only piece of information that has survived: the name of these beings and that they may have existed. Everything else is merely speculation or old wives' tales. It was I who tracked down the ruins' location to be examined by our team."

"How do you know that the ruins belonged to the Mem-… Memfi… those guys," Rikku stuttered with her pronunciation.

A long, thick silence hung in the air.

"… I'm just a kid," Shinra drew this ultimatum and turned back to his station.

"What… what day is it?" A voice that had henceforth remained unheard finally spoke up. Paine had an unusually worried expression on her face. Gippal seemed to absorb this anxiety and suddenly appeared empathetic towards her, which confused Baralai. Was there something he didn't know?

"It's the 17th of the Autmunal Season," Shinra, back still turned on the others, piped up with the date. "The second moon of this month, I believe."

A wave of nausea seemed to crash against the shore that was Paine's face. She momentarily looked ill, but steadied herself when she became aware of her friend's worried expressions.

"I was just curious," she said unconvincingly. "Call me when we land. I'll be in my roo-"

"We're heeeeyer!" Brother yelled. Everyone turned and watched the clouds disintegrate to reveal a heavily forested landscape.