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Final Fantasy VI: The Sands of Time

Book 1: The Beginning

Chapter 6 - Omens of the Past

Part 6.5 - Elemental Enigmas

Bismark trudged along his chosen path, looking all around him and trying in vain to capture everything he saw in his mind. If only he had more time to study it all! Life everywhere, and not surprisingly, a small stream had wound its way out of the growth shortly after he had left the central area, and was now happily bubbling along side the stone path he now walked. It was flowing in the same direction was headed. The perfect complement to the path of the water element.

He bent over and looked into the clear stream, seeing his rugged reflection in the water. His handsome, grizzled face stared back at him, and he couldn't help but scoop up a handful of water and drink it. It was the purest, most delicious water he had ever tasted, and it filled him with a strength he could feel flowing through his limbs. It felt like the very life of the forest was now pulsing inside him. Who needed provisions now? With this stream here, he felt he could walk for days along this path and not tire.

After a quarter of an hour of marching along the path, Bismark noticed the stream widening, and becoming faster and stronger as more streams joined it. Another few minutes and the stream was now a moderately sized river. By the time Bismark reached the end of his path, the stream had become a mighty torrent gushing past him with a ferocity he dared not fall into.

What met his eyes at the end of his path was a mighty series of waterfalls that circled a great crater-like chasm within the giant main crater of the island mount. the trees quickly stopped at the edge of the chasm, and Bismark could see a clear blue sky filling his view, with nothing but waterfalls on all sides flowing into the great pit. It seemed all the water on the island flowed into this spot, and he could see that the path now turned into a narrow natural bridge of land that led to a strange sight just ahead of him.

In the very middle of the great chasm, impossibly suspended by a small pedestal of rock was no temple as he had expected, but another statue. He peered down into the chasm against his better judgment, and was amazed at the depth of the abyss. Already being inside a massive crater, he figured he must be far below the mountain island's lofty rim, and this chasm plunged still deeper into the earth, where the waterfalls mixed with exposed pockets of magma and created a veil of steam that blanketed the lower region of the chasm like a thick fog.

This was more Alex's field of study, but Bismark guessed that he could power even the largest city with this much geothermal power. Narsille used such power, but nothing on this scale. Not yet, at least. As far as he understood it, Narsille only tapped into the vents that were near the surface. The city was still primarily a coal-powered city, but that would soon not be enough to meet the ever expanding population and technological advance. Perhaps if they could find a pocket of magma similar to this one deep enough under the city they could truly harness the power of earth, water and fire together. He would have to discuss this with Alex later.

For now, he focused his attention on the statue at the center of the commotion. As he carefully walked across the land bridge, he soon saw a familiar face looking back at him. It was his own Maiden, now carved immaculately into the stone surface instead his ship's prow. The likeness was uncanny, alright. Right down to the outstretched hands, intertwined with palms skyward. He had never seen a more beautiful statue of the Maiden, and stood spellbound for a few moments before stepping closer to further examine his discovery.

When he reached the statue, he could see more of the strange unknown language carved onto the base. He wished he could read it, but for now he would have to simply admire the ancient sculptor's handiwork. He went to put his hands on the smooth surface, but was shocked by some electric force before he could touch it.

Bismark now looked around him and noticed there were stray arcs of lightning all around the area the statue occupied. It seemed to be pulling electricity from the roiling mist below like a lightning rod and storing it, or perhaps dissipating it above. Bismark wasn't sure what the purpose of the statue was, but he sensed it was no idle piece of art. There were definitely strange things to be found on this island, and Bismark wondered what his friends had found at the end of their paths.

Meanwhile, Alex had started on his path of earth. When he had began his path, he was surrounded by forest as usual, but soon he found himself entering a cave and traveling the rest of the way underground in total darkness. He lit one of his portable torches and placed his hands on the cave walls to guide him straight, but quickly pulled away when he felt a deep rhythmic vibration from within the wall. His first though was that it was a heartbeat, but he chuckled to himself at such an idea and put his hand back on the cave wall. The beat seemed to comfort him, and he glided along the underground path, keeping one hand on the wall, a look of serenity on his face.

After a long while of climbing the steepening path, he noticed that the darkness was now fading, and a steady glow that seemed to match the beat within the walls appeared just ahead of him. He kept his hand on the wall, and slowly moved towards the source of the glow. Unless he had been much mistaken, he had been moving steadily upward since entering the cave, so what he saw now could not possibly be what he thought it was. Not at this altitude.

But Alex eyes and the searing heat could not be ignored. He had found himself inside a chamber filled with magma, but not deep underground. He knew he must be inside a mountain, and very high up, but here was a pool of magma like he might find a mile underground. How it could remain hot and liquid at this height was a mystery, and one he intended to solve.

Alex entered the chamber and looked around, putting his torch away in the bright red glow of the magma. The chamber was perfectly round like a large dome, and the magma seemed to flow up through cracks around the base of the room. Instead of cooling and turning into lava like it should without the deep heat and pressure of the earth, it remained liquid and oozed lazily around the center of the dome structure. In fact, it swirled around the center like a whirlpool of water, and seemed to disappear at the very center.

What Alex saw at the center of the swirling magma baffled him. It was a small island of rock, connected to where he was by a precarious bridge of land. Upon the island was a roughly hewn statue of a large man, rippling with muscles so real Alex could almost feel the mighty strength he must have had if he were alive. The man knelt down with his arms intertwined and stretched downward, his cupped hands almost dipping into the molten rock flowing at his feet. He looked as if he were attempting to drink the magma around him. A look of stern concentration was on the man's chiseled face, and Alex swore he could see beads of sweat on his brow.

As he approached the statue, Alex noticed a great amount of condensation in the room, but could not tell where it was coming from. There was no water here in this hellish oven, but a thin cloud of mist hung over the area where statue stood nonetheless. And it was actually a tiny bit cooler than the surrounding air, much to Alex's surprise.

But that surprise was nothing compared to the surprise he received when he attempted to put his hand on the statue's surface. He had assumed the statue would be almost scalding hot, but he jerked his hand back when a sharp chill shot through his arm and clean into his chest. The statue was freezing!

How was this possible? A frozen statue in a place such as this? The magma's presence he could almost explain away through geological trickery, but nothing could explain a frozen rock in the middle of a pool of seething magma. What was inside that statue that could put forth waves of coldness like this? And how long had it been like this? What possible source could be maintaining this magic trick?

Alex knew he was out of his ken here, and just smiled at another humbling mystery the island had placed before him. Surely there was some great purpose to this statue, but one he would never have the time to solve now.

Indie was also now making his way towards a similar site on his path of wind. Like the others, his path had started out in the forest, but the forest gradually began thinning as he headed towards his goal. He noticed a current of wind flowing past him as he moved onward, but paid it little mind as he happily followed the path and smiled at every new creature he spotted in the trees. He felt he could live here forever with the forest creatures and be perfectly content. Maybe he could, in fact. If all this life could survive here while the island rose and sank beneath the waves, why couldn't he? It would be paradise.

One particularly strange creature Indie kept spotting as he made his way through the shrinking forest was a small white shape that flitted in and out of his view. It was apparently as curious of him as he was of it, and every once in a while it would stop and Indie could here a sound like "kupo" bubble out from the branches above. He couldn't help but laugh at the such a strange sound in a place such as this, and attempted to coax the creature out into the open.

At first he tried to entice the creature out with some berries he found on a nearby plant, but it didn't seem interested in food. Next, he tried mimicking the funny sound it made, and a silly sight he felt shouting "Kupo" to no one in particular. But his idea seemed to work, and the creature cautiously replied "Kuu...?" from its hiding place in the foliage.

Indie repeated his sound with varying pitches and intonations, and the creature seemed amused at his attempts at communication, flitting right over him like a large, fat bird and dropping a nut on his head. Indie laughed too, and continued trying to figure this playful entity out.

He had a caught a good look at it when it flew over his head, and it was definitely not something Indie had seen before. It was apparently a clawed mammal of some kind, like a very large, round, white bat, or a flying mole. It had red wings and some kind of red antenna poking out of its large furry head. What caught Indie's eye the most, though was the startling look on the creature's face. It was a look of gleeful surprise, and something else. He would have to stop the creature from bouncing around to get a better look, but he could have sworn there was a spark of intelligence there.

Indie continued his unintelligible conversation with the creature, hoping for a return appearance. Eventually his efforts were rewarded, and the mystery beast slowly crawled out from the brush and walked up to him, as cautious as a wild dog sniffing a piece of strange meat. It was only a couple feet high, no bigger than a child, but the look in it's face was unmistakable to Indie. It was no dumb beast, however cute it appeared.

He knelt down and offered his hand to it, the only sign of peace Indie could think it might understand. It reached out its stubby paw and put it in his hand, the same look of surprise in its face. He couldn't tell what it was thinking from its inscrutable face, but the gesture was apparent enough. He attempted a few more kupos of his own and the creature happily gibbered back at him, but he still couldn't make any sense of it. It seemed friendly and harmless enough, and he thought if there was anything he would like to take back from this island, it was this happy little creature.

"Well now that we're acquainted, I'll have to call you something, won't I? How about...Kumiro? That sounds like something you might call yourself, right? Do you like Kumiro?"

The creature flew up and circled around him, gaily laughing in its strange high voice, and attempted to say the name Indie had given it over and over. It did a passable job, and Indie was impressed. Just how intelligent was this little fellow? Indie had instantly liked the creature, and couldn't bear to leave him behind, not after the breakthroughs he had experienced with it. He knew he would be introducing Captain Bismark to the newest member of his crew soon and smiled at his good fortune.

With the little creature called Kumiro in tow, Indie continued his trek through the forest, now definitely taking notice of the wind blowing past him. At first it was only a slight breeze, barely enough to rattle the leaves on the trees around him, but it increased rapidly the more the forest faded away around him. By the time he had left the forest behind him, the wind was a fierce gale he could barely stand up against, and his poor companion had to hide behind him to stay in place.

Without the trees to break the force of the wind, Indie found continuing almost impossible. He could see ahead of him a wide open valley rising up on either side of the path, and could hear the loud howl of wind as it buffeted against the valley walls. The valley was surprisingly desolate, with no animals and no trees, shrubs, or even grass inside it. The only presence here was the violent wind, channeled and concentrated inside the walls of rock.

It sounded almost mournful, and As Indie attempted to move forward, he felt the wind hit his face in a steadily rising and falling intensity, like the breath from some great beast. He half wondered if there wasn't indeed some monstrous being at the source of the wind, but he knew he must keep going and seek the truth. His companion didn't seem very afraid of where he was being taken, and Indie figured if Kumiro wasn't worried, he shouldn't be either.

Just as the wind was becoming too strong to endure, Indie could feel its direction changing. It began to swirl to his side, and then just as Indie passed what he guessed was the center of the valley, it was practically at his back, driving him forward. Indie imagined he must have passed some central vortex of pressure where the wind eddied and shifted, creating a sort of large, slow-moving whirlwind that encircled the entire valley.

Soon Indie could see the end of the valley, and couldn't help but rush forward towards it as the wind slammed into him from behind. His friend was now in front of him, already guessing his destination and hoping to get out of the wind. Indie was feeling very cold now, the wind biting into him with an unnaturally cold breath. He felt like he was standing in a blizzard now, except without any snow.

Indie stopped and peered forward, hoping to see something at the end of the valley where the cliff walls joined once again. He could make out a large stone statue of a winged man with lean sinewy arms and legs. Indie allowed the wind to carry him further along until he was a few yards away from the monolith. Now he could clearly make out the features of a well-built young man with great bird's wings, gripping a fearsome javelin. There was a wild look on the youth's face, like he was struggling with a mighty storm himself, and his javelin was poised to be thrown like a thunderbolt at anyone who approached him.

Indie admired the workmanship, but was not afraid of being struck by this life-like sky warrior. It was only a statue after all. He stepped closer to the statue, only to feel a tugging at his side. Kumiro was trying to pull him away from the statue, the look on his face somewhat less carefree than before, now that Indie had gotten used to its subtle variations.

"Oh? You don't like this statue, is that right? Don't worry, it can't hurt you. I just want to inspect it a little closer, that's all. You wait right here and don't fly away now, you hear?"

The little creature did as it was told, but it let out a small "puuu..." as it watched Indie walk up to the statue. He placed his hand on the statue to feel its make, and was astonished to feel heat pouring from it. In a moment it had almost burned his hand, and he quickly stepped back from the unusual object. He looked at it again, and slowly moved his hand over various parts of the statue without touching it. Yes, there was an immense amount of heat coming from this seemingly inert hunk of rock. What could be generating it? And shouldn't this bitingly cold wind chill whatever heat source was causing this phenomenon? Nothing could stay this hot in a place like this for long.

Indie was confused and a little unsettled, and took another step back from the statue. He did not know what it was doing here all alone in this valley of the wind, but he could tell it was time to go. Kumiro was growing increasingly anxious, and he did not like the look on the wild face of the stone youth. Its eyes seemed to have shifted right to his own, and Indie wanted as far away from that crazed stare as possible. This was no place for man or beast.

Indie turned and trudged back through the fierce wind, his furry friend right behind him, and quickly and quietly left the lone sentinel to his fiery thoughts, whatever they may be.

As the sun began to set on Phoenix Isle, all three men quietly emerged from their separate paths back at the central area, similar looks on all their faces. They had each experienced something profound, something they could not explain, and a quick glance at each other confirmed that they would each be telling similar tales while they waited for Silas, Jehad, and Levi.

There was much to be said, but no one seemed to be in a talking mood, each deep in their own thoughts. It was Alex who broke the silence, but not with the news they had expected.

"Why, Indie, is that a mogri you have with you? Wherever did you find one of those here?"

You...know what this is?" Indie said, shocked.

"Yes. It's an extremely rare animal that inhabits the mountains around Narsille. I'm not surprised you haven't heard of them, but to find one here, in a place like this? Amazing!"

Indie looked back at his little companion huddled protectively behind him and thought, yes he was an amazing little guy, and this was surely the beginning of a lifelong friendship.