Chapter Five: Deep Water

Aeris continued to shake her head in disbelief. No She thought. She's lying. My mother was never given the gift of the heavens. It's all a damn lie. I…I'm not the pure child. I can't be. Why is she lying to me? Rayne paused, waiting for an outburst. She got one. Aeris, eyes now dark and lips tight glared at Rayne with a burning stare that burrowed into her soul. "You are a liar." She said simply.

"Aeris, I understand that you are upset but you have no choice but to believe me. Your parents-"

"STOP LYING."

"I am not a liar, Aeris. Now please listen. Your parents didn't want to let you go in the long run. They fell in love with their baby girl-"

"So what, I was only born to rid of that damn Jhaku and all that evil crap? So that was my purpose for living? To save you and your sorry ass?" Aeris clenched her fists harder with every word until her nails dug into her palm, cutting the flesh and gently streaming cherry blood.

"If you continue to speak to me in such an ignorant manner I will-"

"You'll what? LIE TO ME MORE?" Rayne inhaled and held it. In a swift flash, her eyes shot red as she cast the spell 'immobiz'. It hit Aeris who was now frozen. She could still see and hear but was unable to move or make sound. Rayne relaxed her arm and closed her eyes. "If you continue to disrespect me, I will do much worse than this. As I had said before. I don't care if you hate me, but you better not disrespect me. Now as I was…" Aeris tried with much effort to move but was paralyzed. How dare she…She has no right. That bitch.

"As I may continue, yes at first your purpose was to kill Jhaku, destroy him, rid Djose of evil. We explained to your mother that in having you she wasn't supposed to become attached. She told us it was for the safety and better of mankind, that she would not become attached. However the fateful day you were born, she took one look into your eyes and her heart melted. Along with your fathers. She claimed she could not let her child die such a wretched death. When we tried to take you from her, and I apologize, she and your father fled from the tower, never to be seen again from any of us here. We searched for her but ran out of time. With them gone, we had no choice but to do our best in weakening Jhaku.

"Your mother eventually revealed who she was and did the deed that had to be done. Djose was safe for another twenty years. But now the time comes where you, Aeris, must save humanity. It's you who will save I, Mystie, common townsfolk and everything that inhabits this planet. Our fate lies in your hands." If she was able to, Aeris would have been crying. Rayne extended an arm, touching Aeris' shoulder. "And another thing. Its best you keep this between you, Striker and myself. Cloud, Mystie and any other person need not know at the moment. Not so early on at least. Not until you can except your own fate without being persuaded otherwise." A shock ran through Aeris' body, and she was able to move once more.

"Don't touch me!" She screamed. Tears began to stream down her face, now puffy cheeks becoming stained. "What are you saying? That my mother yielded the Light from the Heavens?" Rayne nodded. Aeris turned but before leaving in rage and confusion and screamed, "You LIAR!"

She kicked her legs hard against the floor, sprinting down the spiral stairs. Tears making her sight blurry, she nearly tripped twice. I've got to get out of here. They ALL lied to me! She kept trying to reassure herself that what Rayne had said about her fate and her parents were all lies, but was unable to convince herself fully. Down one of the halls, she bumped into Cloud who had just taken a relaxing bath and was now ready to go get something to eat. He took one look at her and asked, "What happened?" She shoved him forwards crying out,

"Its not like you really care." She ran down the stairs and out the front entry. Cloud shrugged it off. His stomach growled with hunger drowning out his nagging thoughts. He continued his journey to the kitchen, wondering what had happened to Aeris.

She sprinted out the door, overwhelmed. The fresh air felt cool against her face, wind stinging her eyes. She had no idea where her feet would take her. Her running became a jog before settling into a patterned walk. She was opposite of where she had come, heading to unknown territory. Thoughts mixed with confusion spun through her mind. She walked and walked until she reached a clearing of water. She stumbled onto the beach, sitting in the warm sand, fingering with the coarse grains. Her mind was boggled with thoughts and screams. She figured she would eventually blow up. Out of aggravation, she threw up her hands before slapping her knees. Following this action she slammed her head into her arms, closing herself off from the world.

Why me? Why all this? How in the damn hell can I, out of all people, be 'the one'? How in the world can I save Djose if I can't even cook carrots without burning them to ash? How do they expect me to rid the world of evil, when I don't want to die? She sobbed into her arms. She was more confused than any other emotion. Aeris decided to pray to the Fayth. She wasn't very religious, but she didn't know what else to do in a time like this.

Oh, Fayth, I pray you, help me. Tell me what is going on. Tell me this is all a lie. Or better yet, a dream. This is only a dream. There is no such evil as Jhaku. There is no such thing as the cycle…

Her praying turned into pointless dreaming. Aeris began to bang her head against her arm in a repeated fashion. She stopped when a gentle voice asked, "Are you ok, miss?" She looked up, seeing a tall figure loom over her. He was dressed in all red, and a touch of black. He had longer black hair that was pulled into a low ponytail, by the nape oh his neck, which was very short and curled inwards. His stray bangs were being pushed against the breeze. He had a piercing in one of his ears, like Cloud did, she noticed.

"Excuse me, are you ok?" His eyebrows came together in concern for her.

"Er, I don't really know anymore…Who are you again?" She wiped a stray tear from her cheek. That same confused expression on her face.

"My apologizes, miss. I am Kayin. And you might be?"

"…Aeris."

"Do you mind?" He pointed to the beach, indicating he would like to sit by her. Aeris shook her head. He took a seat in the soft grain. "Aeris…pretty…Your name I mean! N-not that you aren't. Er, hmmm." They sat there silent, Kayin a bit embarrassed. Aeris smoothed out her shorts before saying, "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"Have you ever been handed with a major decision in your life, that you and only you could decide? Perhaps one that decided the fate of many people? A life and death decision I suppose."

"Hmmm. I don't think so. The biggest decision I think I've ever had to make was helping my aunt pick out curtains…Why, what's going on?"

"Well…Oh, here I am asking a stranger, a person I barely even know stupid questions! I'm sorry." She lowered her head.

"Sometimes it's easier to talk to a complete stranger than your best friend." She looked at him, he smiled.

"Never mind." Aeris stood, grabbing a handful of smooth stones and sniffed. He remained on the ground and asked her, "Where are you headed?"

"Oh, well actually, I just came from the Tower." She threw one of the stones at the water, creating a skip of about two bounces.

"What a small world! I was just headed there myself. Going to help in the fight against Jhaku." Aeris cringed, thinking of the demoness. "And you. Is that what you were doing?"

"I-well…" Seeing that it seemed like a touchy subject for Aeris, he grinned, "Don't worry about telling me. I can be a bit nosy at times." Kayin stood himself.

"Here, let me show you how its done." He gripped a stone in his palm, bent his hand backwards, and let the rock fly. It skipped across the waters surface five times. He then took Aeris' hand and motioned it, showing her how to get at least three skips. She tried, but she used too much force. The stone hit the ground with a thud. Again she tried, and created four different sections of ripples. Kayin grinned at her happiness. "That was pretty good." He flicked out another stone. "My father and I used to do this all the time."

"Used to?"

"He passed away, awhile ago."

"Oh…I'm sorry."

"It's ok…I think that if you could, just saving one persons life compared to your own, would be worth it.

"Excuse me?"

"Your question. Would you rather save yourself, or a whole race of people, for example. Let's say it was the ones you loved. Lets say you chose your own life over every person you cared about. Now, would life be worth living then? Would you want to live, if there was no one to enjoy life with?"

Aeris stared at him, understanding her situation for the first time. "No…I guess not. I would rather give my life to save someone I deeply cared about, than living it alone." Her ending sentence was faded.

"Now with that being said, would you still do it even if nobody knew that you were giving your life? Would it still be worth it?"

Aeris looked at Kayin, wondering why his words made so much sense. Then it hit her. "Of coarse. Thinking only of yourself, gets you nowhere in life. I mean, how could someone be so selfish as to-" she stopped than realized, that she had been selfish. When Rayne told her, her fate, Aeris had freaked out and thought only of herself. She hadn't actually thought of what she would be doing for everyone else. She hadn't thought that she would be ending the pain for the people of Djose. Ending the cycle, even. In a moment, she burst into tears. This was rare for someone like her, someone like Aeris. Kayin raised both eyebrows, rushing to her side.

"What is it? What's the matter? Is it something I said? Oh, I am sorry Aeris if I had said something to upset you." She fell upon her knees, leaning her own head into her lap. He kneeled beside her, patting her back trying to comfort her. "I am truly sorry."

She sniffled. "Oh, no. You did nothing but make me realize the truth. You have helped me, Kayin, and for that I thank you." He smiled and pulled out a handkerchief from his coat's pocket, and handed it to her. She took it and wiped her face of the tears. Even though that the tears were gone, her face was still blotchy from the many times she had cried.

He helped her to stand, grabbing her arm, lifting her body up. "Are you to return to the Tower now?"

"Yeah, I think I should. They might become worried."

"If you don't mind, I would like to go with you."

"No."

"Oh." he said sheepishly.

"Oh, I mean that I don't mind."

He laughed. The two walked off the beach, the warm sun still high in the sky. Seagulls floated over the horizon, the sparkling sea of Ramairlo shimmering life to the underwater creatures. The skyline gave hope to Aeris, and with that hope and acceptance, gives all the people of Djose hope as well.

The duo reached the tower, with a worried look from Mystie who was however, more than happy to see the return of Aeris and her guest. Cloud glowered at Kayin, without bothering to hide this new found hate of the guy, he had never before once met. Rayne entered the main hall, greeting Kayin and only glancing once at Aeris, not bothering to even breath in the girl's direction. Cecilia made an appearance, smiling warmly in Kayin's direction, and once again giving Aeris that cold stare.

Rayne gave Cecilia orders, to find each guest their own separate room. The young girl nodded in annoyance, and led Kayin and Aeris up a set of stairs. Cloud followed, wanting to have a private word with Aeris.

Cecilia sighed, nodding towards a door down the second floor corridor and mumbled, "Here is where you sleep, Aeris. You will find a bed, a wardrobe for your clothing, and a few chairs and empty shelves."

"Where are the bathrooms?" Cecilia was already further down the hall, willingly leading Kayin to his room and so ignored Aeris' question.

Aeris nearly had the door shut behind her upon entrance of her room, when she noticed Cloud standing in the doorway.

"Oh. What do you want Cloud?" she asked.

"Oh….Nothing…." Aeris crinkled her eyebrows in wonderment but nodded just the same. She shut the door as he walked away, before marveling at the room. As was every other room in the tower, a magnificent shade of colors and a touch of classic elegance. The room she would soon be accustomed to call her own, was draped in deep shades of red. The double bed was made of mahogany wood and burgundy drapes aligned along the carved canopy. There was a single story window that wore droopy maroon curtains, creating a relaxed feeling. Two scarlet sofas, surrounded a table, also of mahogany. Opposite the wall of the vintage bed, stood a wardrobe, a little too extravagant for Aeris herself but beautiful just the same.

She inhaled, taking in the beauty, before settling on one of the plush sofas. She carefully set her bow against the sofa, and placed the arrows delicately on the table.

"I think I could get used to this." she laughed to herself.

That night, a total of three more people had arrived. A scholar by the name of Victor Beulove, Karlmal Barrows, and Vincent Snevam who was a retired Kooluk Knight. Mystie greeted them all cheerfully, along with Rayne who thanked them for arrival. They than handed them all over to Cecilia who gave them all rooms. They all thanked her, except for Vincent who nodded then locked himself in his room.

Striker was deeply bothered. He had hoped more people would have arrived in that time period. He continued to pace the floor of the top of the tower, rubbing his temple in a fashioned motion. He contemplated the thought of sending another message to the people, explaining the importance for them to come.

He shook his head, not wanting to seem needy or desperate. But you are desperate. A voice in the deepest most part of his mind cooed. He nodded to himself answering, "I know." He continued pacing when a sudden flash of light startled him, knocking the older man to the floor. And what he saw and felt made him cry out in pain and in fright.

Mystie halted in mid skip, when she heard a yelp of agony. Her eyes widened, realizing it came from the top of the tower. She sprinted up the winding staircase, panting from the energy drained. She reached the door to the room of the Amulet, tapping it rather hard with her knuckle.

"Hello? Are you ok, whoever's in there?" No response, frightened her. She held her breath and slowly opened the door. She gasped in terror finding Striker lying on the ground, robes sprawled across his body. She ran to him and kneeled. Mystie repeatedly said his name over and over, shaking the upper part of his body. Her breathing quickened. He wasn't dead was he?

"Rayne!" She screamed. "Rayne! Striker is…He's….HELP!" She brought a quivering hand to her lips, feeling her own breath heat her fingers. Rayne entered the room both swiftly and gracefully. The demoness eyed his body than softly said to Mystie, "Heal him."

The fragile faerie placed her hand on his clammy forehead, all color from her iris' fading. She began chanting in elfish. A pale blue glow emerged from her hand, spreading across his forehead, glowing brighter with every repeated chant. She suddenly stopped and the glow slowly subsided. Her eyes returned to their original color. She collapsed beside him, all energy drained. Rayne called for Leah, who took them to the medical ward.

Karlmal Barrows wandered the halls of the tower until he stumbled upon the study, which contained a giddy Victor and quite a number of shades of blue, that made his stomach sick. He poked his head through a curtain that hung a few steps inside the room, in front of the door. Karlmal found this curtain to be useless. "Mind if I joins ye?"

Victor jumped, glasses falling from the bridge of his nose. He set the book he was skimming aside and pushed his glasses back in place. "Not at all." Victor smiled, than picked his book up again. Karlmal made himself comfortable in a plush seat across from the scholar. He then closed his eyes and asked airily, "So why have ye decides to comes to the tower?"

The little man fiddled with the books pages, not even glancing towards the merchant. "Research." He replied simply.

"Research?" Karlmal questioned.

"I am here researching the history on the cycle itself. Perhaps I will come across Jhaku's weak spot, or so to say."

Karlmal snorted.

"I think we already have that ones figured out. It's the one who can yields the Light of the Heavens. Everyone knows that!" Victor glared daggers at him, shoving his nose further into the book.

"Well, maybe so, but I mean to end all this once and for all." He stated matter-of-factly.

"Perhaps ye done understands the word cycle itself. It means never ending, book boy. Looks it up." He snickered. Victor blushed intensely.

"I know what it means. I'm just trying to-ooh! I don't have to explain this to you, you hick! Why don't you go learn some proper English! Or is that too hards fer ye?" He stated mockingly. Karlmal sat up threatening the scholar.

"What did ye calls me?" Victor bit his lip but looked him straight in the eye.

"A hick! A no good dirty rotten hick!" Karlmal stood walking over to Victor, raising a clenched fist. Victor held up his book, cowering behind it. Karlmal drew back his hand, ready to strike, when a stern voice echoed, "Stop."

The two turned to find Rayne in the doorway, only her eyes showing emotion, which were blazing with fury. Karlmal dropped his fist, Victor quivered. She walked towards them, grey eyes flickering. "We need not start a war within this tower. We are here, differences aside, to help relive Djose of Jhaku. Not make more enemy's than needed."

"Mistress Rayne, I am terribly sorry." Karlmal griped. He placed the hand that was threatening the life of the scholar at his side. His nerves made his fingers tug at the loose threads on his shirt, twirling them in and out of the material.

"M-me too." whimpered Victor, terrified of the demoness, reading too many books on what powers they possessed, and understanding that she could kill him in a flash. His hands began shaking uncontrollably, and eventually dropped the book he was reading. It plopped on the floor, hitting the spine.

Convinced they were sincere about their apology, she turned and left the room, not breathing another word. Karlmal let out a sigh of relief, than scowled at Victor who had reached for the fallen book hesitantly.

"Ye gots lucky this times." Karlmal yanked out the loose thread he had been tugging at, and let it fall to the floor. Without warning, he flipped the burnt sienna book out of Victor's grasp, it falling to the floor once again. Quickly, Karlmal turned on his heel, and briskly fled the room. Victor childishly stuck his tongue out at Karlmal's back, retrieving the book once more. He slumped back in the chair, pushing his glasses back in place. "Damn hick." he mumbled. Flipping to the page he was on, Victor stuck his nose in the worn pages and relaxed himself in knowledge.

Word had spread around the tower like a virus about the misfortune of Mystie and Striker. The newer people weren't as fazed as those who lived there for a longer time. Cecilia stuck her head in the door of the ward every five minutes, hoping either of them would be awake. They did take her in after all.

Aeris wrapped a towel around her wet body, stepping from the tub. She had finally found the bathroom, after getting lost down a few corridors. She wrung out the excess water from her curls into the tub, then flung her hair over her shoulder. She exhaled a sigh of relaxation.

Aeris sat herself on the edge of the tub, reflecting to herself about all the events that had happened within the last two days. Among this thinking she had glanced at the floor showing her the dirty clothes she had worn for days. She realized that she had no clean clothes, cursing under her breath. She slowly picked up the dirt smothered clothes and carefully opened and stuck her head out of the door.

Cloud remained enclosed in his room, grumbling to the air. Striker could not have been injured so easily, without great force. Mystie on the other hand was another story. His mind was deeply fixated on the strange attack, at least that's what he thought it was. How anyone could get into the tower like that was another mystery, a heavy spell was placed on the castle, making teleportation useless. Striker was a man of power. Cloud shook his head in disbelief, kicking his legs up onto the table.

The tower was called to dinner, a quantity of gloomy faces poured into the dining hall, being beckoned by their stomachs. The extremely undersized group took their places, eyeing the feast laid out before them. Karlmal bashfully licked his chapped lips shouting, "When do we eat?" There was no response, except for a glare that came crosswise from the table. It belonged to Victor who in a childlike way, scrunched up his face in disgust. Karlmal glowered at him casually, rolling his grimy fingernails on the table top. Victor, out of a great fear, looked away.

Aeris sat next to both Kayin and Cid, both wrapped up chattering about the mysterious events. Cid was let in by Rayne after being shot off by Cloud. The hall was silenced by a raising of two arms, owned by the one and only Rayne. The hall was instantly silenced, the only sound was a slight clatter of silverware. She lowered her hands and softly stated, "As you can see, this is where you will enjoy your meals. Please fill your stomachs to the fullest, for tomorrow will be a tiring day, I assure you." Rayne turned to leave but was unhappily stopped by a chalky voice.

"Where be Mystie and that Striker lad?" questioned Karlmal.

Rayne sighed, annoyed. "They will not, sadly, be joining us for tonight's dinner."

"Why not?" Karlmal coughed.

"That is not business that your nose should be getting into. Enjoy your meals without any further questions please." She took another step foreword when a higher voice than the first, interrupted her departure from the room.

"Why, you won't be joining us for dinner?" Victor squeaked, squeezing a napkin in his clammy palm.

"I have other rather more important business to attend too." With that being said, she sauntered out of the dining room. Violetta smiled from the doorway. "I hope you enjoy, and please dig in!" She strolled merrily out of the room, while a shy Cecilia stumbled in. Her eyes darted around, glancing from person to person. The deep brown eyes finally fell upon Cloud, triggering a wide spread grin. Unaware of her skipping to the seat next to him, she sat down and began chatting away.

A clang of silverware and dishes bounced of the walls, as the tired group inelegantly dished their own plates up with mountains of a delicious cuisine. All words were stifled by the process of chewing. Eventually, the eerie silence was broken with a question that was on everyone's mind.

"So how do they plan on defeating Jhaku this time? We have no idea on who holds the power of the Light. That was are only hope. And if we don't have that, then what do we have?" The husky voice belonged to that of the retired Kooluk Knight, Vincent Snevam. He forked around a pea on his plate, waiting for some response. Aeris cringed in her chair, knowing the answer to that.

"Well I think," started Victor matter-of-factly, "That we will have to create a weapon of some sort. Something to demolish Jhaku once and for all. The yielder of the Light never did anything for us except for cause more hurt and pain to Djose. No one ever thought about how to actually kill this beast! So it best if we build something, something strong, destructive-"

"Nobody wants to hear ye senseless ramblings!!" shouted Karlmal, banging the handle of his fork against the table.

"At least I have an idea!" snapped Victor. "Like you would even know what an idea is, I bet you never even had a single thought in your life! Let alone a smart one…"

"Was that's an insult on me behalf?!" he bellowed furiously. Kayin smiled and cut them both off before any silverware had a chance to fly.

"We have hope is what we have. I don't know what they are planning, but we are all here for a reason. It's either we let the people of Djose suffer, or take care of him now."

"So we seal him away for the thousandth time and let our children and their children continue this endless battle?" questioned Cid.

"All I mean is that we let him destroy Djose and lose the ones we love, or at least get rid of Jhaku for twenty years. Its your choice." Cid took a bite of the contents on his plate, not pushing the matter. Kayin turned towards Aeris and grinned, "They are an odd bunch of people, don't you think?" She delicately smiled, and nodded. Her mind was somewhere else, not on the people arguing about their fate. All she wanted to do was go see how Mystie was doing, than go to bed. And sleep forever if possible. To sleep until this whole thing was over, until all the bad was gone. Until her parents were alive again, holding their daughter in there arms. Not to be dead, but to be breathing.

Aeris knew that this would never again happen, she would never get to experience their smiles or hear her fathers heavy laugh. They were lifeless, and this fate was permanent. Sad enough, many other people would soon be joining her parents, and they would all be sleeping forever. Aeris only wishing that she could do the same.