It was the morning in Nibelheim. Zack cursed himself for sleeping in as he rushed out the door of the inn. He headed up the steps at the north of the town, to the right of the ShinRa mansion. Sephiroth, Cloud and the other MP were there waiting for him, a villager with a camera in his hand stood in front of the ShinRa mansion's gate watching them, while another stood across from him.
"...Late again." muttered a helmeted Cloud.
"Once the guide gets here, we're heading out." Sephiroth announced as Zack reached the group. The nearby villager stepped forward, he was a forty-something man with brown hair and casual clothes.
"Listen to me, Sephiroth. In case something happens..." As he started, a fifteen year old girl started running towards the steps.
"...Trust me." Sephiroth told the man. The young woman ran up the steps and stopped. She had long dark brown hair going down to her shoulder blades, she wore a short sleeveless brown leather jacket over a plain white vest and a brown skirt with darker brown boots. The girl wore a dark brown cowboy hat over her head. Despite having a voluptuous figure, she had good strong arm muscles.
"I'll be alright, Dad!" She told the man. "I have two men from SOLDIER with me." She turned to the group. "I'm Tifa. Nice to meet you!" Cloud jolted at this.
"Tifa!" He exclaimed quietly. Cloud couldn't help but stare, even though it had only been two years since he last saw her, he couldn't believe how much she had grown up or how beautiful she had become.
"You're the guide?" Asked Zack.
"That's right." Responded Tifa. "I just happen to be the number one guide in this town."
"It's too dangerous!" Cloud muttered.
Sephiroth happened to hear this. He turned around and walked over to Cloud, before turning and facing the others.
"Then there's no problem if you protect her." He told Cloud softly. "Let's go." He ordered the crew. The silver haired SOLDIER turned and began walking toward the mountain path when the villager at the ShinRa mansion gate ran forward.
"Ummm..." Sephiroth turned to face him. "Mr. Sephiroth! Please let me take one picture for a memento!" The man turned to Tifa and motioned to Zack. "Tifa, can you ask him for me too...?" Tifa looked at Zack. He shrugged and gave the cameraman a 'why not?' look. Tifa ran over to stand by Zack. Sephiroth walked over to stand by Tifa. Zack folded his arms and smiled. Tifa, in the middle held her hat up to show her face and big red-brown eyes. Sephiroth just stood how he always did.
"Cheeeeese!" The camera flashed brightly. "Great, thank you!" The cameraman began to walk away and said. "I'll give each of you a copy once I get it developed!"
The group headed on to Mt. Nibel.
The air in the mountains was cold, chilling to the bone, no different than Cloud remembered it. The grey mountains were all dark and jagged. The entire area seemed composed of different spikes. The area was menacing, the peaks were surrounded by thick mist and the land below could not be seen through it. The menacing eyes of unknown creatures through cracks and caves watched the five people walk across the rocky paths. The group were heading to an old Mako Reactor the ShinRa had built on the mountain.
Sephiroth took point, followed closely by Tifa, who had Zack behind her. The two MPs were bringing up the rear. They reached a long rope bridge going up from one peak to a higher one. The wooden planks across it were well worn and the entire bridge was swaying in the wind. Tifa began making her way across it. She turned to face Zack.
"It gets harder from here! Follow me!" She ran across to join Sephiroth who was nearing the end of the bridge. Zack sped after them. As Cloud began running across the entire bridge started to wobble and the sound of the ropes coming loose could be heard.
"Uh…The bridge!" Tifa shouted. The left rope snapped, putting the bridge on a big angle. Sephiroth gripped the unbroken rope with both hands and tried to keep his balance. Zack, grabbed on with one hand and got down on one knee. He grabbed Tifa by the wrist as she slipped and stopped her from falling. The two ropes holding the foot planks then ripped in half. The SOLDIER members managed to hang on to the rope as the part of the rope bridge they were on swung them into the mountain side.
Zack found himself lying down on a cliff edge, lower down the mountain. The young Tifa was beside him. He got up as Sephiroth came around the corner of the cliff with Cloud just behind him. Tifa climbed to her feet.
"Everyone seems to be all right." Sephiroth observed. "Can we get back to where we were?" He asked Tifa.
"These caves are intertwined, just like an ant farm..." She told him. "Oh, and Sephiroth...There seems to be one person missing..."
"It may sound cold, but we've got no time to search for him. We can't go back now, so we must go on. We'll travel together from here."
They pressed on, Sephiroth at the front, following Tifa's directions while Cloud and Zack followed behind her. The four climbed the mountain path up to a small cave entrance.
A strange noise was heard, a high pitched screech. The three men drew their weapons. Two bird-like creatures with webbed wings looking something like stingrays flew around the mountain and toward the group. One swooped at Tifa ready to attack with its beak. Cloud jumped in front of her in a protective manner. Before the monster could strike him, it found the long, curved blade of the Masamune through its sides. Sephiroth had simply thrust his sword to his left and impaled the flying beast. He diagonally swung his sword twice, once to flick the skewered carcass from his blade and the other to flick the blood from it.
The other creature swooped at Zack, who swiftly sidestepped the attack and chopped the fiend in half with a large vertical slice. Sephiroth and Zack sheathed their blades and nodded at each other to signal victory. They entered the cave.
The insides of the cave were green and populated by long and twisted stalagmites and stalactites.
"What's this?" Zack asked.
"A mysteriously coloured cave..." Tifa said as she looked around.
"It must be the Mako energy." Sephiroth told them. "This mountain is especially abundant in it. That's why the Mako Reactor was built here."
They carried on walking through the cavern. A green insect-like creature crept out from a crack in the wall behind the four. It had red eyes, four legs and crawled across the wall ready to pounce. As it advanced on the group, more and more of the creatures began pouring out of every crevice in the area. Zack turned around and saw the sea of green across the walls, creeping up on his companions.
"Monsters!" He shouted, while taking the Buster Sword from his back.
Sephiroth turned around and pushed through Cloud and Tifa, to stand by Zack's side, drawing his Masamune.
"Kyuvilduns..." Tifa muttered.
The closest of the creatures pounced at Zack with its spiny legs pointed at him. He jumped into the air, pulling his mighty sword behind his back, as he brought the blade over his head, its edge met the monster and cleaved it in two. He landed with his sword forward cutting another opponent dead. It was a move he called 'Braver'. As soon as he had executed the manoeuvre, he leapt back to Sephiroth's side. A line of the Kyuvildun monsters leapt up at the SOLDIER members, but Sephiroth cut them all to ribbons with a large horizontal slash of his lengthy blade. The tide of monsters began racing towards the four. Cloud stood firmly in front of Tifa, gripping the trigger of his assault rifle, ready to protect her. Sephiroth held his sword in one hand and a green orb slotted inside began to glow intensely.
"Cover your eyes!" Zack shouted to Cloud and Tifa, putting his arm in front of his face. Tifa and Cloud did the same.
Sephiroth stuck his right hand out and pointed his palm at the army of Kyuvilduns. Suddenly, plumes of concentrated blue lightning struck the crowds of monsters, the rock floor was being ripped apart by this powerful energy disintegrating the black cloaked man's opposition. Finally, an ark of the lightning emerged from Sephiroth's hand to kill anything left. He didn't blink as he watched the near blinding light obliterate his enemies, the dancing blue energy reflecting in his bright green eyes. After the attack, all that was left behind was huge chunks taken out of the floor and smoke. Not even the ash of the creatures had survived the onslaught. Cloud and Tifa looked on at what Sephiroth had done, they couldn't help but be mesmerised by the silver haired man's power.
"Let's move on." said the SOLDIER. Zack nodded. The group continued on, following a gleaming light from another part of the cave.
They found themselves in a very strange area. Although inside a cavern, the area was filled with light brown roots spreading across the ground and trees, with the occasional green leaf. In the centre was a shimmering stream of emerald coloured light. It poured down from the cavern ceiling to the top of a bizarre naturally formed fountain made of rock in a pool of green liquid.
They stopped to marvel at this sight.
"...And what's this?" asked Zack. Sephiroth turned his head to his partner.
"A Mako fountain. It's a miracle of nature."
"It's so beautiful..." remarked Tifa. She walked over across the roots to take a closer look. She turned to face the men. "If the Mako Reactor continues to suck up the energy, this fountain will dry up too..." Sephiroth walked over to join her. He looked at the end of the green light; there was some kind of shiny crystal forming where the green light met the rock formation.
"Materia." Sephiroth informed them. "When you condense Mako energy, materia is produced. It's very rare to be able to see materia in its natural state." Zack stepped over to look at the radiant formation.
"By the way...Why is it that when you use materia you can also use magic too?" He asked. Sephiroth quickly turned to him.
"You were in SOLDIER and didn't even know that?" He remarked. "...The knowledge and wisdom of the Ancients is held in the materia." He made a motion with his hand. "Anyone with this knowledge can freely use the powers of the Land and the Planet. That knowledge interacts between ourselves and the planet calling up magic...Or so they say."
"Magic...A mysterious power..." Zack commented.
"Ha, ha, ha!" Sephiroth laughed, bouncing his shoulders. Zack turned to him.
"Did I say somethin' funny?" Sephiroth shook his head.
"A man once told me never to use an unscientific term such as mysterious power! It shouldn't even be called 'magic'! I still remember how angry he was."
"Who was that?" Zack asked, somewhat irritated.
"Hojo of ShinRa, Inc. ...An inexperienced man assigned to take over the work of a great scientist. He was a walking mass of complexes." Tifa having been examining the liquid around the rock looked up.
"A Mako fountain...So this is where the knowledge of the Ancients is."