Emerald Princess of Vernea
Chapter Twenty-SevenA cold chill descended on the chamber. The companions stiffened in fright, as if sensing the approach of a dark and evil presence. The temperature of the room dropped so dramatically that they shivered, their breath coming out in short puffs of white. The cold froze their bodies and they could barely move. Their hands could not even move to reach their weapons.
The only one able to move was Cloud. Ignoring the growing chill he ran forward into the chamber, his glowing blue eyes looking around wildly for some sign of Sephiroth. He did not draw his sword. Sephiroth was here somewhere. Although he couldn't see it, he could feel it in his heart. Cloud skidded to a stop in front of the wall of murals. There was a flash of white light. Cloud looked to his right.
Sephiroth was there. He faced Cloud, standing beside the wall of murals. His entire body glowed with a strange white aura, his image slightly distorted and multiplied, like a shadow trying to walk within the living body. He raised his gaze to look at Cloud. There was a knowing smile on his face, an evil look in his green eyes.
Cloud looked back, silent. Sephiroth watched him closely, looking deep into Cloud's face, as though searching for something. When he found it he smiled shrewdly, although it was a hidden smile, invisible to Cloud. Sephiroth spread his arms wide and began to levitate in the air, his feet hovering above the floor.
"So cold." Sephiroth's voice was soft but chilling. "I am always by your side." The swordsman gently waved his hand to the murals behind him. His long leather cloak creaked as he moved. "Come."
Another flash of white light burst through the chamber, forcing Cloud to shield his eyes. When the light faded, Sephiroth had gone. But Cloud knew that Sephiroth would not go far. Without looking back at the others he ran forward, following the direction that Sephiroth had pointed him. He headed deeper into the mural chamber.
Tifa was about to run forward after Cloud when a hand grabbed her arm. She stopped and turned back to face Aeris. The Ancient seemed somewhat apprehensive, her forehead creased in concern. Tifa didn't need to ask what it was. She could feel it, too. The entire chamber seemed on edge. The air was crackling with conflicting power, just the way the atmosphere does before a storm breaks out upon the land. This was what the mural room felt like right now. The air was electric; the hairs on her arms were standing on end. Glancing around, Tifa could see that the others felt the same. Red XIII was nervous, Yuffie jumping from foot to foot. Only Vincent's face was impassive, unreadable. Already silent and aloof, he seemed even more so now he had seen Sephiroth with his own eyes.
Seeing that Cloud was beginning to pull away from them, the companions hurriedly ran after him. They did not get very far when another flash of light lit up the chamber and Sephiroth reappeared, just like before. Once again the man stood by the murals, no longer looking at them but up at the wall.
"Splendid," said Sephiroth without looking at them. He steadily turned and began to walk slowly toward the group as they stood nearby. His long silver hair swayed gently from side to side as he moved, his boots making nearly no sound on the ground. "A treasure house of knowledge…"
Cloud almost spat in anger. "I don't understand what you're saying!"
Sephiroth focused his green eyes on Cloud. The expression in those eyes sent chills down everyone's spines. They were cold eyes. Laughing eyes. Then he laughed. A deep, mocking laughter that sent more than chills down the companions' spines—it made their hearts skip a beat and made them sweat in fear. Sephiroth continued to laugh as he rose up off the floor again and flew back to another part of the chamber.
The companions ran, this time together, to the place where Sephiroth had stopped to wait for them. He did not move far. When they reached him he was once more looking up at the murals—eyeing them over with intense curiosity and smiling with the knowledge they brought. The main mural—the central piece of all the artworks—loomed before him. Sephiroth glanced at the group and then motioned to the fresco.
"Look well."
Everybody turned to look at the painting. It was old and faded, but it was the clearest of all the paintings, as well as the largest. Painted on the ancient stone wall were people, many people, standing together with their heads turned to the sky, arms raised before them as though trying to ward off something terrible. Above them, in the 'sky' was a gigantic painting of a rock engulfed in flame. This rock was heading toward the people. This was what they were trying to prevent.
"At what?" Cloud asked, not understand what Sephiroth was trying to say. What was so important about an old wall painting?
Sephiroth seemed almost amused. "At what which adds to the knowledge of…" He turned away and spread his arms wide, lifting his head to the sky. "I am becoming one with the Planet." He laughed again, his laughter shuddering through him.
While he laughed his body began to rise up from the floor again. He flew backward, moving so fast that Cloud and his friends quickly lost sight of him. They looked quickly around the chamber. When they finally spotted him they began to run toward him, hurrying to catch up with him.
At the end of the chamber, Sephiroth sat silently in front of the altar. His head bobbed as though he were not fully awake. His sword sat silently across his legs. His hand lightly gripped the handle, not fully aware that he was holding it.
Resting on the altar behind him was a model of the Temple of the Ancients. It was made of many interlocking pieces of stone and seemed to radiate with power. The model flickered as the light from the fire torches around it cast fiery shadows upon it.
None of this Sephiroth noticed, so unaware was he of his surroundings. It was only when he heard the thud of approaching feet that he opened his eyes and lifted his head. Gazing through almost sleepy eyes, he saw Cloud and his friends approaching.
"…Mother… It's almost time… Soon… We will become one."
The companions approached. Worn out and weary from their long trek through the Temple, they were panting now. Except for Cloud. His eyes were still alight; glaring at Sephiroth with such anger that it seemed to come off him in waves. It was to Cloud that Sephiroth looked, before slowly climbing to his feet.
"How do you intend to become one with the Planet?" Aeris demanded.
Sephiroth stood upright. "It's simple," he said. Fully awake now, he tightened his grip on his sword and swiped it in front of him. His 'shadow' had returned, moving almost in time with him. "Once the Planet is hurt, it gathers Spirit Energy to heal the injury." He swiped his sword again, marking the point the injury. "The amount of energy gathered depends on the size of the injury."
The companions watched as Sephiroth then took his sword in both hands and thrust it deep into the rock beneath him. The sword cut easily through the rock, sinking a good two feet beneath its surface. But it was Sephiroth's face that scared them. The face was manic, smiling, as though he gained pleasure from the act of injury.
"…What would happen if there was an injury that threatened the very life of the Planet?" Sephiroth continued, not taking his eyes away from the point where his sword cut the rock. "Think how much energy would be gathered!"
Once more Sephiroth smiled. He pulled the sword from the rock. His eyes widened in desire, as though he could see the Spirit Energy forming in the small wound he had just created. As he continued, his body began to glow.
"Ha ha ha. And at the centre of that injury, will be me. All that boundless energy will be mine." Almost unconsciously Sephiroth swiped his sword in front of him. The tip narrowly missed Cloud, Aeris and Cid, who were closest to him. "By merging with the energy of the Planet, I will become a new life form, a new existence. Melding with the Planet… I will cease to exist as I am now… Only to be reborn as a 'God' to rule over every soul." By now his whole body was glowing an eerie pinkish-white colour.
It took a few moments for Sephiroth's words to sink in. "An injury powerful enough to destroy the Planet?" said Aeris. "Injure… the Planet?"
With his sword hand Sephiroth pointed to the mural they had just past—the one with people and the fire-rock in the sky. "Behold that mural," he said to them. "The Ultimate Destructive Magic… Meteor."
In an instant his plan became crystal clear. The companions uttered gasps of shock and horror. Barret gave a pain-filled cry and raised his gun, but Vincent quickly stopped him. It would do no good to shoot Sephiroth when they were all so close together. But Cloud voiced all their thoughts in just three simple words.
"That'll never happen!"
Sephiroth smiled. Then, without warning, he suddenly leaped forward. He was heading straight for Cloud. Cloud had no time to draw his sword. Not that he needed to, because Sephiroth's body suddenly became transparent and passed right through him, the sword flying harmlessly through his chest.
A sharp pain like a powerful electric shock exploded inside Cloud's head as Sephiroth passed, making his head spin and stars dance like fireworks in front of his eyes. He could hear Sephiroth's voice inside his head, yelling at him to 'Wake up!' Cloud could not speak or breathe. Panic engulfed him as he became swamped in an endless darkness, with Sephiroth's voice the only thing he could hear. All of this happened in just a second. After that instant the pain was gone and Cloud could see and breathe again, although the stars and dizziness remained. He spun around, the others invisible to him, trying to see where Sephiroth had gone.
"Where are you? Sephiroth!"
Another blast of electricity burst through his mind and Cloud spun around to face the others, although he wasn't looking at them. He ran forward, pushing past the group as though they weren't there. He headed back toward the murals.
Aeris also began to push her way through the group, calling for Cloud and trying to grab hold of him. She couldn't reach him and it seemed as though he couldn't hear her, either. "Wait, Cloud!" She broke through the group at last and ran forward, the others following behind her.
Seconds later they skidded to a stop—staring at the horrifying sight before them.
Cloud had come to a stop in front of the central mural—the mural they now knew depicted the terrifying power known as 'Meteor'. Cloud stood silently before it, looking at it, and yet not seeing it at all. He was trembling from head to foot, his body glowing with that seem eerie, ghostly glow that Sephiroth had. And, like Sephiroth, Cloud had a dark shadow of himself that moved with him, slightly out of time with the rest of his body. Cloud's face was pale, his blue eyes blank and empty as if in some faraway place. He looked like a ghost out of a nightmare!
"Cloud!" cried Aeris, horrified by what she was seeing. She tried to look away.
In response to her voice, Cloud snapped his head round to face her. Yuffie cried out. Cloud's eyes really were blank and empty—the pupils were nowhere to be seen. A small, dark smile touched his lips as he looked at them. If he even saw them at all. He glanced at them emptily for a moment before turning back to the mural.
"Cloud!" called Cait. "What's wrong with you?"
Cloud snapped his head round to look at them again. His face did not change. His eyes were still empty. The dark smile was still there. His shadow moved with him, slightly out of time and giving him a ghostly aura. One look from those cold, empty eyes made the others shiver. Something was not right. Cloud turned back to face the mural again. His shoulders started to shudder as he began to laugh.
"Ha ha ha…" Cloud's laugh sounded ghostly and eerie. The voice was his, and yet it was also not his own. Yuffie shivered down to her boots. "Black Materia. Ha ha ha… Call Meteor." He continued to laugh, his whole body shaking as he moved.
"Cloud! Get a hold of yourself!" Aeris shouted.
There was a flicker of recognition in Cloud's eyes as he glanced at her again. He stopped laughing and the dark smile vanished. He squeezed his eyes shut and clutched his head tightly, as though trying to stop himself from hearing something. Still the shadow moved with him. In Cloud's mind, the ringing noise became louder.
"Cloud…" his voice trembled as he spoke, "I'm… Cloud…" Cloud clutched hard at his head, digging his fingernails deep into the skin of his scalp until he drew blood, which trickled down his face. Then he let go and shook his head. "How should I?"
Cloud tried to move, but his body was held in place by some unknown force. The others watched in horror as Cloud began to perform various poses they had seen him do frequently during the time that they had travelled together. From tilting his head in confusion to the simple standing gesture that he made every now and then—all of these were repeated over and over. Behind him the others watched, frozen, each of them thinking that at last Cloud had completely lost his mind and gone mad. They watched until, at last, Cloud finished moving, and the shadowy version of himself disappeared inside his body again. The glow faded.
Cloud nodded. "…I remember! I remember my way!"
Now able to move, he turned to face the others. He saw them all looking at him strangely. No one would look him in the eye. Yuffie looked at the ground, Cid scratching his head, and Red XIII tried to look as though he was looking at something else. Tifa had turned away completely, unable to look anymore. Only Aeris looked at Cloud directly, her eyes filled with concern.
"…Cloud."
Cloud shrugged his shoulders dismissively. He then glanced over her shoulder at the others. Confused, he said, "Mm? What's wrong? Is something wrong?"
Aeris sighed sadly. As she had expected, Cloud had no memory of what had just happened. "…It's nothing," she lied, "so don't worry about it." She turned around to face the others, a stern look in her eyes. "Right, Cloud! It's nothing." The others shrugged, not wanting to say anything. Aeris stared at them for a moment longer before turning back to Cloud. "Sephiroth got away," she said.
"…Don't worry about it," said Cloud, oblivious of Aeris's cold, telling stare. "I understand what he was saying." Not seeing the astonished gazes of the others, Cloud turned back to the mural of Meteor. "So this must be Meteor, right?"
One by one everyone raised their heads and gazed up at the mural. It was most certainly the main focus of all the paintings—being both the largest and the clearest. All the other paintings were scratched and faded with age, while this one remained almost clear. A few scratches in the rock here and there told its age, but the image itself remained clear. The giant rock in the sky tumbled toward the people below. People who were understandably very afraid of its coming.
Tifa looked up at the mural in awe. "Is something going to fall from the sky?"
Cid curled his lip in disgust, unimpressed. "I don't know what the hell it is but it's falling from the sky?" He snorted derisively. "Hmph! It's not even an omen."
"This must be magic." Aeris walked toward the mural. She laid a hand upon the ancient stone, feeling its rough texture beneath her soft palm. "Just what Sephiroth was saying. The Ultimate Destructive Magic, Meteor." She let her hand fall and turned back to the group. "It finds small drifting Planets with its magic. And then collides with them. This Planet might get wiped out entirely…"
There was a long pause as Aeris's words sunk in. In everyone's thoughts the same image flowed. The image of a single Planet floating aimlessly, harmlessly, through space, unaware that it was about to be snatched off course. When it is, it cannot escape. It is pulled by an irresistible, alluring force away from the space it knows. Before it can realise what's happening that Planet finds itself on a collision course with another Planet. It cannot turn. It cannot run. It collides into that Planet.
Their Planet.
Whilst they were thinking about this, something began to happen to the chamber in which they stood. The ground began to faintly tremble beneath their feet. A dark red aura settled upon the chamber, blotting out the murals. The room also became tremendously hot, as though a fierce fire had suddenly been lit.
Cloud turned his head round and round, looking to the ceiling.
"Sephiroth?"
No sooner did he speak did he realise he was wrong. He turned to face the top corner of the mural room, where a large red dragon sat waiting atop a large gap in the ceiling, which hadn't been there before. Cloud quickly drew his sword from behind him. As he moved, he was aware of the voice laughing inside his head.
"Ha ha ha… It is not me."
Emerald: A slightly shorter chapter here. I think I'm starting to get back into writing now. I think that break has refuelled me for another batch of writing. Although writing will be slower now. I'm more of a fan artist now than a fan writer. But I'm not going to give up on this fic. I've spent two years of my life on this. It would be a waste if I gave up now. Besides, I promised I would finish it.