After the pathetic use of the Nibelheim Manor in 3rd Side, I decided to expand its use here.
And I have called on my Nobody, who remarkably is also myself, to do the disclaimer.
Rytex: "What?"
Do the stupid disclaimer.
Rytex: "Why?"
Stop asking questions. Because I said so.
Rytex: "OK fine. I, or rather, Other Me doesn't own Zelda."
Chapter 6: The Library
Sephiroth landed, setting Link down onto his feet. Midna had flown there on her own, carrying Zelda.
Midgar was a total ruin. Link saw the wreckage of a tower in the center of a destroyed plate that made up the top part of the city. It was held up by many broken support pillars and as a result, the plate had fallen to the ground on it's own weight plus the meteor's.
"Start searching around the tower. Call when you find something." said Sephiroth.
"How will we know if we find something?" asked Zelda.
"When you find his dead body, call." he said.
"How subtle." muttered Link.
Over the next three hours, they searched around Midgar, looking for Shinra's body.
At nearly 4:00 that afternoon, Link uncovered a partially crushed body in a white suit. A large boulder was on top of his torso, shoulders, and up.
"I found something!" he shouted as loud as he could.
In moments, Sephiroth flew over.
With a heave, he threw the boulder away.
It was Shinra. His body was broken. He had a small amount of blood that had leaked from his face.
Sephiroth instantly began searching his jacket.
"What, no burial? No mourning? Just like that?" asked Link.
"We have no time to mourn. All that we know is at an end."
He pulled out a golden key.
"Now we go to Nibelheim. This is the key to the manor there."
He grabbed Link's tunic and took off. They flew around, grabbing Midna and Zelda, then flew toward a town near a mountain.
"That is Nibelheim. It is named after the mountain it is situated on, Mount Nibel." said Sephiroth.
"What's so special about the manor?" asked Midna.
"The manor was owned by Shinra's father for a while, but he never used it. Then it was handed over to the Science Department. For the longest time, it was used as an archives facility and a lab. Then it became privately owned by Hojo, who began to use it for his own purposes."
They descended and landed in the town. It was left alone by the meteors entirely. There was a water tower made of wood that had small buckets and troughs leading to the houses.
They entered the manor. It was old. Dust lay everywhere, but a clear path was cut through and it led up the stairs.
"It leads to the basement. That is where the lab is. I have been down there twice, and then, I never got to examine the tomes inside."
They followed the path to an upstairs bedroom. There was a stone wall in the corner. Sephiroth pushed it open. It had a winding staircase that led underground.
They followed it to a long stone hallway. At the end was a metal door.
They entered it. There was a metal table in the center of the room. The walls were stone and various scientific instruments were sattered around the room's floor. Some were shattered. There was another hall, this one shorter, with two monstrous bookcases on each side. They had many books and tomes jam-packed onto their shelves.
"This may take a while. Try to look under what you know. I'll look in the histories of Gaia."
They grabbed books and began reading. Over the next few days, they established a routine. Wake, eat breakfast, begin searching, eat lunch, continue searching, eat dinner, go to sleep.
They spent a week searching. Then, one day, Link found it.
"Here it is. Magitech infusion was a process done on only two people in history: Kefka Palazzo and Celes Chere. They were both servants of the Gestahlian Empire, an empire that ruled from present-day Fondor to present-day Termina. Nearly a millenia before the Gestahlian Empire existed, there was a very long war. Three beings, called Goddess, Fiend, and Demon, added power to humans and went to war with each other. The war became known as the War of the Magi. At the end of the war, the deities realized the sorrow they had sown among the land and made a pact with the mutated humans, now called Espers. They turned themselves to stone and the Espers got their freedom. The Gestahlian Empire used these Espers as a source for power. They infused the two people with magic power at the age of eighteen. Kefka went insane with a craze for power as a result. Celes remained normal until her dying day."
"That's it! That's how he became who he is." said Zelda.
"But what is his ultimate goal?" asked Sephiroth.
"Obviously to destroy Shinryu and take the throne of the cosmos for himself." said Link.
"And to do that he'll need lots more power." continued Sephiroth.
"What are you thinking?"
"The statues. Their very selves gushed magical power. If they were thrown out of balance, untold chaos would reign."
"So we need to find these statues?" asked Zelda.
"According to one of our legends, a floating continent was where the Warring Triad, those statues, was hidden. But there is no floating continent. Unless it is underground right now." said Midna.
"Cryonia. There's a town called Thamasa there. A shrine to the Warring Triad was made inside one of their mountains." said Sephiroth.
"That's true. I remember seeing that shrine when I visited there on diplomatic business." said Zelda.
"So, Cryonia. The Island of Fantasy, as it's commonly called by outsiders." said Sephiroth.
"Let's go then."
"It's a long journey. The island is a month from Dukomlet by boat. Which we'll have to take. There is nothing between the harbor that ships to Cryonia leave from and the island itself.
They were burning precious time, but there was no other alternative.
R&R