Emerald Princess of Vernea
Chapter Twenty-Five"Words… feelings… So many of them here."
Aeris stared around the inside of the Temple. Her green eyes were open wide, looking around at the Temple's interior and absorbing every single minute detail of her surroundings. Her mind was alert and active, processing everything as it came into her vision. She saw every rock that lined the walls, every stone that lay silently across the path, every clump of weeds that protruded from gaps in the wall. She didn't just want to see what was around her. She wanted to feel it all, too.
Deep within her veins her Ancients blood was bubbling and boiling away, pulsing with an energy Aeris had never experienced before in twenty-two years of life. Everything she thought she knew about the Ancients was nothing more than a mere fragment compared to the vast knowledge that floated around THIS Temple. That knowledge blew past her face like a cool wind—teasing her, taunting her, urging her to follow. Aeris's fingers twitched in excitement. How she longed to find that knowledge! Barely aware of the presence of the others behind her, she ran to the edge of the path.
The path upon which she stood was an odd one, in that it seemed to randomly start in mid-air. The path joined with another short path further down, and was supported by a single stone pillar. It was one of many similar paths, which wound and turned endlessly through tunnels and under sets of stairs to create one very large, very vast maze. To look at it made the mind dizzy, and it wasn't long before the others, standing disorderly at the start of the path, were lost in a state in of confusion.
"Damn--!" Barret cursed loudly, aware of the fact that his loud voice boomed through the quiet walls of the Temple. His loud voice echoed back to him and compelled him to whisper, further proving the vastness of the Temple. "So this is the Temple of the Ancients! Oh man, you gotta be kiddin'! This is makin' me dizzy!"
Cid was not faring any better. Already in a foul mood after the long trek, the shock of being sucked into the ground and then waking to stand in this impressive but daunting Temple did nothing to repress his violent tongue. "Shit! Shit! Shit!" he cussed. "What the hell's with this place?"
Standing to one side, Cloud was inclined to agree with him. The sheer size of the Temple's interior was overwhelming. It was so unreal. From outside the Temple had seemed quite large, but that was nothing compared to where they were standing now. His head buzzed slightly, giving him the impression that they were somehow underneath the ground, deep in the bowels of the Temple…
Flashes of the moments outside the Temple burned in his mind. The ground of the Temple had turned to jelly beneath him, trying to pull him under its surface. The ground closed in above his head. He could not breathe. He could not see. He had been filled with an upsurge of terror he could not control. Then warm hands seemed to caress his soul, calming him. When he awoke, he had found himself with the others in this place.
He glanced around at the others. To his left Yuffie and Cait were both staring, wide-eyed, at the many paths surrounding them. The familiar glint in Yuffie's eyes revealed what she was thinking, and Cloud betted it had something to do with materia. Cloud could not hide the angry snarl in his throat when he looked at Cait, still unwilling to trust the robotic cat.
Near them stood Red XIII and Tifa. Red XIII was sniffing the air, his yellow eyes glazed over in remembrance of his beloved Cosmo Canyon. Yes… the Temple did hold a scent similar to the mountain village. Tifa, standing beside him, had a worried look on her face. Although she was not an Ancient by birth, she got the feeling that there were many things going on around her that she couldn't see. She wondered if the spirits living in the Temple would welcome them. Did they know their intent?
Vincent stood alone at the start of the path, looking round in careful thought. He looked down over the edge of the path, and then looked up to the ceiling above. It was solid. Nodding to confirm his suspicions, he turned back to face Cloud, his face grave. "No exits…" he said. "We can't turn back."
Cloud groaned and tugged on his hair. He had been afraid of that. No exits meant that they could not escape the Temple if they were in trouble. If someone got hurt, they could not go back and get help. They were on their own.
"…Cloud!" Cloud turned his gaze forward. Aeris was still standing alone at the opposite end of the path, her face filled with anxious and excitement mixed together. "I know it's going to be tough, but… Don't give up! We can do it!"
Cloud walked towards her. Looking into her beautifully clear eyes, Cloud felt inclined to believe her. They had, after all, been granted access to the Temple. The Temple itself had allowed them to enter. But that didn't mean that they could just go around and do whatever they wanted. The Temple would watch them: watch every step they take, every move they make, waiting for them to make just one false move.
Cloud let his gaze slowly sweep the maze around him. There were so many long, winding paths and rising stairs, all of them leading in different directions. Looking at them for too long made him feel dizzy, but he forced himself to look. He had no doubt that there were hidden traps and dangers lying at every corner, waiting to crush them where they stood if they did even one thing wrong. It was unnerving. It almost felt like they were being watched…
Suddenly he stopped, and his eyes narrowed. His gaze fixed on a small path of stone ahead, standing lower than the path they were on. Standing in the middle of that clearing was a short and lonely figure, silent and still. Despite being so close the figure seemed to blur in Cloud's vision, making it hard for him to see it clearly. Cloud motioned for Aeris to come forward, his right hand inching towards the handle of his sword. Aeris came and stood beside him, and looked out at the figure below.
Like Cloud, she also could not see the person clearly, but she could make out enough from its shimmering form to discern that it was definitely a human form and not a monster. Through its wavering, rippling image she could see that it was dressed in long blue robes that flowed around its ankles, and that it had a thick, long white beard that almost touched the ground. A large brown hat sat lopsidedly on its head, blocking its face from her sight. But she didn't need to see its face to know that it was not a threat. There was no air of malice surrounding it.
"Wait a second," said Aeris quickly, putting her hand on Cloud's arm to stop him from drawing his sword. Seeing his hand relax she stepped right up to the edge of the path and, leaning over as far as she could without tumbling straight over, she waved to the person below. "Hello!" she called, her voice loud and cheerful, making the others jump. "Say, hello! Up here!"
At the sound of her voice, the person in the brown hat jumped, looked around in bewilderment, before finally looking up at her. When he saw her standing there, smiling her cheerful smile and waving to him vigorously, he jumped, ran around frantically for a second or two, and then began to run away from them at top speed.
"Hey, wait!"
Whether he heard or not didn't matter. The man was running fast, almost tripping over his robes in his hurry to get away from them. He half-ran, half-fell through a dark, open doorway at the end of the platform, only to appear seconds later through another doorway just around the corner from it. The man looked around wildly for a moment before he jumped onto the ledge and onto another platform below. Without looking to see if anyone was following him, he continued to run.
He was being followed. Aeris was running as fast as she could across the stone-paved ground. In her hands she held the long folds of her dress to keep from tripping over them, her necessity for speed being most important. Her boots thudded loudly on the stones, kicking up dirt and dust in her wake, but she didn't care. Somehow she just knew that she had to catch this man—to stop him from running away from her. Behind her the others followed, trying to catch up.
The blue-robed man continued to run. His brown hat bounced wildly up and down on top of his head, slipping a little with each bounding step, yet never enough to fall. He ran straight into a tall, rising wall at the end of the path.
Over the years, ivy had taken over this wall. Deep cracks in the stone structure were barely visible beneath the thick covering of the thick, green stalks. But instead of breaking apart the stones held, perhaps held firmer by the ivy that gripped it. The thick vines pierced the grey stones and crept up the wall, creating a strong ladder that would hold even Barret's massive form.
Knowing this, the blue-robed man threw himself against the wall. He dug shimmering fingers into the leaves, which did not rustle at his touch, the sharp leaves never seeming to prick the fabric of his robes. He climbed swiftly up the wall, perhaps too swiftly. When he reached the top he looked down, saw Aeris running towards the wall. He waited a moment, before he began to run again.
"Please, wait!"
Aeris reached the wall. Like the man she leapt up and grabbed onto the wall of vines. A sharp cry escaped her lips as the sharpness of the leaves dug into her skin. She almost fell. Tears stung the back of her eyes.
Remembering her mission she pushed the pain aside and began to scramble up the wall. She ignored the leaves that scratched at her arms, leaving short but visible trails of red down her bare skin. She ignored the sound of Cloud's voice, and Tifa's, calling for her to slow down.
Finally, she reached the top. She pulled herself up onto the ledge, relieved to finally be out of reach of the stinging ivy leaves. Looking down at her arms she saw that they were scratched and torn. Some of the wounds were so deep that they bled, thin trails of warmth down her arms. Her dress was torn and frayed at the edges.
Suddenly aware of eyes watching her, Aeris looked to her right. The blue-robed man was standing not too far away, halfway up a set of stairs. He cocked his head inquisitively, before turning and beginning to jog up the stairs again. Aeris, sighing heavily, pulled herself to her feet and began to follow him.
At the top of the stairs was another ivy-covered wall. Much to Aeris's relief the leaves on this patch of ivy were much softer than before and did not scrape her skin. She looked up to see the man was already at the top of the wall, looking down at her. How did he get up so fast? He watched her climb for a moment and then, as though sure that she would get up safely, he turned and walked through an open doorway.
When Aeris reached the top of the wall she was just about ready to give up. Her arms and legs burned from the running and climbing, and her lungs ached with each breath she took. But she could not rest just yet. She forced herself to stand, to steady herself on her feet, and walked bravely into the room.
The blue-robed man was there, waiting for her patiently beside the far wall. Aeris staggered into the room, which was filled with a faintly stagnant air. There were no treasures in the room—nothing different to make it unique. But it was strangely comforting. The man stared at her silently, his slightly transparent face gazing at her, his almost empty eyes probing her.
"Nyum… nyum…" the man mumbled incoherently, as though the words were not familiar to him.
It was as she gazed at the man's transparent form that she finally realised who this man was—what he was. She breathed deeply and sighed in relief. She stood still in the shadows of the room, gasping for breath, unable to speak.
Less than a minute later the others arrived, collapsing onto the outside platform as they finished pulling themselves up the ivy wall. To judge from their gasping, agonised breaths, they were exhausted, too. One by one they entered the room, standing silently behind Aeris.
"Whew!" Aeris said when she could finally speak, although her voice was still faint and breathless. "We finally caught up to you. I'm sorry. You waited for me," she corrected quickly, seeing the man's puzzled face at the word 'caught'. Aeris nodded slowly and turned to face Cloud and the others, who were waiting behind her.
"Those are the spirit bodies of the Ancients," she explained, waving a hand at the spirit-like man behind her. "They've been away from their Planet for a long time to protect this Temple. Over the many years, they've lost the ability to talk. Actually, they didn't need words from the beginning because there was only one objective for those left in the Temple."
She turned back to face the blue-robed man still standing behind her. His white, bearded face was inquisitive and piercing, looking through Aeris with eyes that seemed to look into her very soul. Aeris did nothing to hinder him. It was the spirit of one Ancient communing with the spirit of another. She had nothing to fear.
Although he could not speak to her in words, Aeris knew that he was trying to tell her something. His eyes, which were probably once as blue as the sky, now as grey as the Temple, were anxious. They looked at her with a sense of urgency, even of fear. She tried hard, but she just couldn't make out the strange mixture of feelings and words stirring in her mind.
"Please, talk to me!" she said desperately, taking a step towards the spirit. She tried to listen, but the words were too garbled. "No good, I don't understand the rest. Are you afraid…? Is it because Sephiroth is in the Temple? Or something else?" Eventually she gave up, and the companions left the spirit to his wanderings.
They paused for a few minutes on the stone platform outside, and looked around at the vast maze before them. The maze was very large and very deep, with so many rising and falling staircases leading to doorways and dead-ends. Staircases ended abruptly in mid-air. Paths were blocked by a sudden wall that seemed to materialise out of nowhere. Sharp turns wound round and round. Aeris seemed to think that they should head down, and so they began their long trek around the Temple maze.
More than once they got lost wandering around the labyrinth of the Temple. Despite their best efforts to find their way through they somehow always ended up walking straight into a blank wall or reaching to bottom of a set of stairs that didn't lead anywhere except a long fall into the black depths below.
Cloud had been right on one thing. The Temple was filled with many dangers just waiting to leap out at them. Almost immediately after leaving the spirit's chamber they were attacked by the Temple monsters. The monsters just seemed to appear out of thin air and caught them off-guard. On more than one occasion they barely escaped with their lives.
The first problem they encountered had appeared when they were climbing down the ivy wall. A small green dragon, known as an Ancient Dragon, suddenly swooped down from above, surprising the companions. The dragon brushed past Cid as he stood on the path, waiting to climb down. The suddenness of the attack caused him to lose his balance and he started to tumble over the edge, until Vincent grabbed hold of Cid's spear and pulled him to safety.
The dragon itself was easily dealt with. Red XIII utilised the power of the summon materia equipped in an anklet around his front paw, using its power to banish the creature.
The resulting surge of power caused the platform to crack and swell, as though some great force was pushing up beneath it. The neatly lodged stones began to rise, swelling up. When it could take no more they split apart, cracking open with a resounding boom. The figure of Titan then rose from the gap.
Tall and muscular, far beating Barret in terms of strength and size, Titan was a sheer beast of a man (or summon!). His arm muscles were as thick as tree trunks and just as strong, as he proved with his next action. Seeing the dragon flying towards them, Titan leaned over and pulled a great big chunk of rock from the ground. With careful aim he threw the rock at the dragon.
It was a perfect hit. The chunk of rock smashed into the dragon head on before it had a chance to see and swerve. There was a sickening crunch as bones were crushed. The dragon fell from the skies. It landed on the ground far below—the rock on top of it, burying it for all eternity.
The second obstacle that slowed their progression was a very big problem. After finally finding a promising route downwards, Aeris had spotted another Temple spirit watching them from a platform below. Like the first it seemed to wait for them to get near, before running off and into a dark doorway further up. Seeing this as a sign to where they should go, Aeris urged the others to follow her.
When they entered the Temple it was very nearly the last thing that they ever did. Spurred on from hope that they were finally getting somewhere in this maze of corridors and stairs they picked up their pace. They were moving so fast that they did not see the danger approaching them until it rolled in front of their path, a dark rolling shadow.
"Another trap…" Cloud muttered angrily.
His gaze followed the giant circle of stone as it rolled down the corridor, disappearing in the shadows that blocked their view of the other end. Peering cautiously round the corner he saw another stone approaching. Quickly he withdrew his head; else it would have been struck by the stone. He didn't want to think of what would have happened if they had not stopped in time. They would have been squashed underneath a boulder of heavy, condensed rock, their splattered remains staining the ground. He shivered.
"Are you sure that spirit guy came in here?" Cloud asked despondently, turning to Aeris, who was standing behind him.
Aeris looked up the corridor. For a brief moment between the falling slabs, she could see the hazy outlined figure of blue waiting at the top of the corridor. "Yes," she said confidently. "We must go on." Seeing Cloud's disheartened gaze, she grasped his hand. "We can do it!" she assured him. She turned to the others. "I know we can! Just a little more. Please! Just a little bit more!"
Whether it was the look in her eyes or the words she spoke, somehow it worked. The others, who were exhausted from their long day of walking and fighting and running, climbed to their feet and stood beside her, ready to move on. Aeris beamed with pride. She knew they would not give up yet.
"But how are we going to get across this?" Tifa asked as another large stone slab came past and disappeared into the darkness. "There seems to be no way through."
Aeris frowned in thought. Tifa was right. The stone slabs would crush them before they could make it to the top, that was for certain. But Aeris knew that the spirits of the Temple would not guide her wrongly. There must be a way across!
She turned back to the path. She gazed at it closely, inspecting it thoroughly, trying to figure out some way of reaching the top. There was a small alcove, possibly another path, about halfway up the corridor. If they could somehow reach that without the stone slabs hitting them, then they might have a chance. Although each stone slab had a deep groove cut into its side, Aeris knew that there would be little chance of them being able to hide in it. Barret's big frame would never fit into that groove. Either that or he would get stuck and be carried off for all eternity. She giggled at the thought.
"What're you laughin' at a time like this?" Barret snapped angrily.
"N-nothing, nothing," Aeris said hurriedly, swallowing her laughter. When she was sure she could speak, she turned to the group. "Listen, I think I know how we can get across. There's another path halfway up. These stone slabs are wide, but not wide enough to fill the whole corridor. If we press ourselves against the wall and move along carefully, we should make it!"
She looked for their response. Cait and Barret didn't look too thrilled with the ideas. Their larger bodies meant it would be harder for them to press against the wall. Cait pawed at his Mog body lovingly. He didn't want that to get crushed into pieces. Barret looked to Cloud, expecting a defiant remark of refusal.
Instead, Cloud smiled. "All right," he said, and Aeris jumped for joy. "Let's do it."
"WHAT? CLOUD, YOU SPIKY-HEADED BAS—"
"But we'll need to be quick," Cloud added hurriedly, ignoring Barret's angry glare. "We can't afford to waste any time on this. Sephiroth, or the Shinra—" he said with a glare at Cait. "—are already ahead of us. Let's get this over with."
The others nodded and turned towards the path. The stone slabs moved at regular intervals, making it possible for them to time the best moments to run to the other side of the corridor. Once they stepped out into the path, it was all or nothing. Any hesitation meant that they would be crushed beneath the rocks.
Aeris went first, leading the way. Immediately after the first stone slab passed her ran out into the corridor. Yuffie ran with her, Cloud deciding it would be faster if they went two at a time. The two girls ran quickly to the other end of the path and threw themselves against the wall, just as the next stone slab rolled by.
That done, they began to slide along the wall. They took small and careful steps up the path, taking every care to keep them pressed firmly against the wall. Another stone slab passed them by. It was so close Yuffie felt she would only have to lean over and feel the rock scrape her skin. She swallowed hard, and her throat hurt.
Tifa and Red XIII ran out next, followed closely by Cid and Vincent. Returning the favour Cid reached out and grabbed hold of the long folds of Vincent's cloak, holding them close as the slabs threatened to trap them. Now only Cloud, Barret and Cait remained.
Barret was still reluctant to cross the path. "Ain't no way I'll fit!" he protested fiercely. "There has to be another way! I'll be damned if I'm gonna—"
He never got to finish his sentence. In mid-speech Cloud shoved Barret roughly out into the corridor and into the path of another rolling slab. Barret stared in fear for a second, before he quickly leapt to the other side of the wall, shaking his fist and cursing Cloud's name.
Cloud then turned to Cait. "Heh, don't worry," the cat assured him hurriedly. "I can get myself across, thank you." And so he did, running out into the corridor and hopping over to the other side before one of the slabs could strike him down. When he reached the other side he heard Barret's disappointed moan, and vaguely heard him say something about wishing the cat was crushed. Cloud smiled, and then he ran out into the corridor.
Aeris's plan seemed to be working. By the time Cloud reached the halfway point—another path as Aeris had said, with a strange shimmering pool at the far end—Aeris and Yuffie were already beginning the second ascent. Their bodies pressed against the wall, they moved as quickly as possible.
This time Barret and Cait needed no prompting to step out onto the path. By this point both of them had fallen silent. Barret was sullen, rubbing a painful scratch on his stomach where a rolling slab had rolled a little too close for comfort.
One by one they reached the top. Aeris reached it first, running out away from the wall and dashing to the open path at the other end before a new slab could appear from the magic walls. Yuffie darted straight after her, falling to the floor in her relief that it was finally over.
When Cloud reached the top, the slabs suddenly stopped rolling. Everyone turned to stare at the wall from which they had appeared, angry that the slabs had waited until that moment to finally stop. Barret in particular was extremely annoyed, and punched the wall with such ferocity that he made it crack.
Aeris, however, was not perturbed. Deep down she had expected that the slabs would stop once they reached the top. It was a trial, nothing more. "Phew---we did it!" she said cheerfully.
Cloud looked around at the others. "Everyone all right? That sure took a lot out of us."
One by one the others nodded. Half of them were on the floor, not from exhaustion, but from sheer relief that they had made it through the trial. The tension had been so much that many of them had stopped breathing as they went through it, and were now making up for it in vigorous gasps for breath.
Aeris looked at them all, smiling happily. Suddenly that smile disappeared as she felt a sudden, painful pang in the depths of her soul. Her Ancients' blood stirred as she heard faint spiritual cries coming from behind her. Slowly Aeris turned and saw the path halfway down the corridor, where they had stopped briefly before moving on. The cries were coming from there, urging her to come and see. Gripping her staff tightly, Aeris obeyed the spirit's words.
The others were just climbing to their feet again when they heard Aeris cry. Cloud looked up and saw her running towards him from the side-path. Her face was desperate and filled with fear.
"Oh no…" she was saying as she ran up to them. "Cloud, come quick! Hurry, this way!" She turned and ran back to the corridor, disappearing round the corner.
Cloud didn't wait to hear the others' approval. He, too, could sense the overwhelming danger growing inside the Temple. The deeper they descended, the greater the danger became. He could almost feel Sephiroth's presence close by… Looking behind he saw that the others sensed that same danger, forgetting their own fatigue and running alongside him.
They ran into the corridor. Cloud looked around for Aeris. The woman was standing at the far end of the path, behind the shimmering pool that Cloud had noticed briefly when they passed by. Aeris was looking down into the surface of the pool, listening and shaking her head fiercely.
The pool was wide and circular, cut deep into the rock. Its edges were rough and jagged and had an eerie hue to them, which Cloud didn't recognise at first. The pool itself shimmered with a variety of colours. Mainly a purplish-blue hue, it also varied between shades of green, silver, yellow, red and even gold. The water's surface bubbled gently, and clouds of steam rose from its surface. But the water was not hot. The steam was cool against the skin, like the cool touch of a mid-autumn breeze sighing with relief for the end of the summer.
A puff of steam rose from the surface, swamping Aeris in its thin, damp cloud. The water glittered strongly for a second before returning to its faint shimmer. Aeris shook her head again and looked up at Cloud.
"It's full of the knowledge of the Ancients," she said, trying to calm the anxious tremor in her voice. "No… not knowledge… consciousness… a living soul… It's trying to say something." She knelt down on the rock and peered into the water. "I'm sorry, I don't understand."
Cloud and the companions watched as Aeris shook her head again. She then proceeded to lie down flat on the rock, and stretched out her arm, placing her hand beneath the surface of the water. She flinched, for the water was indeed very warm, but not enough to burn her.
Now she could hear the words more clearly, although they were still so very faint. Whispering words rustled like leaves in her mind, fading in and out as though they were weak and trying desperately to get every bit of information out to her. Aeris closed her eyes and listened intently.
"What? What is it?" she asked of the pool. Words whispered in her ear. Slowly Aeris withdrew her hand, surprised to find it red from the heat. She stood up. "…Danger? An evil… consciousness? …Show? You're going to show me?"
As if in response to her question, the pool began to glow brightly. Aeris took a step back, shielding her eyes from the growing light. The others covered their eyes, too, as the light from the pool expanded and filled the entire corridor with a piercing white glow. Cloud felt his head buzz and the ground beneath him grow distant and far away. Somewhere behind he heard Barret shout something, but then everything was swallowed up by the light.
Emerald: Yes, I changed the ending of the chapter. I really disliked how I ended it. But then, when I was writing it on Wednesday I was rushing to finish it before my lecture, so it was abrupt. It's better now though.