Chapter 35 – Ancient Fate
A peaceful silence hung over the desert as the sun crested the towering dunes of sand, allowing its light to shine upon the desert floor. Quickly the temperature rose, thawing out Lenne's frigid joints. Along with the rest of the inhabitants of the excavation camp, she had to wake up extra early to prepare for a special arrival. Nhadala smelled gil in the air, and she made sure all her unearthed treasures would be ready to show off.
In the distance, a low murmuring of diesel engines hummed. Looking up into the sky, Lenne watched a small airship, affluently adorned with gilded trim, gliding through the air. Its navy and golden paint job contrasted the orange and pink gradient of the sky. Lenne recognized this ship as the property of Rin and his travel agency business.
Times after Sin had been lucrative for the savvy Al Bhed businessman. His new creation, Sphere Break, had become all the rage in Spira. Even in the excavation camp, the diggers played the game after their missions were complete.
Nhadala explained to her yesterday that because Rin raked in all kinds of gil from his creation, he sought to expand his game by searching for the rarest and most ancient coins he could find. This made him a frequent visitor to the digging camp in Bikanel. Often the excavation teams would come across the rare coins Rin sought, and sold them to him for a lucrative profit margin. Lenne quickly realized Nhadala depended on Rin to be a benefactor. With the Machine Faction's leader, Gippal, still missing, it had been challenging for her to acquire the necessary funding at times to continue to operate the camp.
Nhadala stopped next to Lenne, glancing up at the incoming airship in the sky. She let out a brief sigh and turned her head to look at Keppel and Nomma. Arguing over who should be lifting what boxes of treasure.
"Great, he's early," lamented Nhadala. "I need you to move those chests of coins to the loading bay."
Keppel chuckled. "You're callin' it a loading bay now? It's just a couple of wooden beams and planks we put together."
"Well, it's a loading bay now—so move it!"
Nhadala rolled her eyes and stomped away, leaving a snickering Keppel and Nomma behind her. The two men lifted one of the chests. The chest jingled from the many rare coins diggers had discovered during the previous weeks in the desert. Without her discovery, Nhadala worried she would not have had enough coins to turn a decent profit.
"It's kinda funny knowing that the new girl is doing better in the boss' eyes than you," joked Nomma, looking over his shoulder.
Keppel kicked at his friend with his foot. "Whatever man. You ain't gettin' rid of me for a long time."
"Yeah, uh-huh. Just keep thinking that until Nhadala throws you out in the middle of nowhere," retorted Nomma.
"Hey, that's no way to talk 'bout a friend."
"Truth hurts."
The two Al Bhed men laughed as they lugged the heavy chest away. With nothing for herself to carry, Lenne walked up behind Nhadala, looking for some direction. The humming grew louder.
"Can I help you out?" she asked Nhadala.
Nhadala adjusted her goggles. "Will you give me a hand getting stuff ready? That's Rin's ship coming in."
"Of course," she replied concisely.
Walking over to a tall stack of crates, Nhadala pointed to a long, rectangular chest on top. "We should be able to handle this one."
She bent down and grabbed one end of the chest. Lenne followed suit and grabbed hold of the other end. She grunted as the two women hoisted the chest off the ground. Even for its small size, it still had some considerable weight to it. The rattling of coins sloshing from one side of the chest to the other rang in Lenne's ears.
"What's in here?" she questioned while almost losing her balance.
"The coins you found yesterday."
Surprised by the heft, she thought she had discovered only a couple of coins. "Wow, I found this many?"
Nhadala shook her head with eager happiness. "Yeah! And not just this, but three more chests worth. You really saved us. Before you stumbled upon those coins, we barely had a chest's worth of them."
Underneath her mask, Lenne hinted at a smile. Glancing up at the sky, she located his airship preparing to land at the excavation camp. She scrambled to help Nhadala finish preparations. Swirling up the sand around the air it displaced, the airship touched down with a gentle thud. Lenne could tell Rin kept up with the condition of his ship, unlike Pilot. The ramp to the airship slowly protracted from the ship's hull until it reached the sandy ground. With a swish, the doors to the airship opened, and Rin sauntered out. He greeted everyone with an eager gesture before walking over to Nhadala.
"Hello, Nhadala. How are you doing this fine day?" he asked politely while adjusting his pale yellow jacket.
She cracked a smile. "Quite well, especially since you're here."
"I'm sure you are," he replied, grinning ear-to-ear. "And if you're that happy to see me, then I should be excited as well."
Nhadala nodded. "Right! We have four full chests worth of coins for you today."
"Quite impressive. I believe that's the most you've had for me in some time," he replied delightfully. "Good news gives me something to be cheerful about."
"Oh? Have you been having troubles as of late?"
He sighed, fidgeting with the binoculars on his head. "Not me personally. But the funeral for Lady Yuna was just a few weeks ago. It was an event wonderfully appropriate for such a dignified figure. That said, I'd like to never attend something like it again."
Nhadala's voice quieted. "So it was true then, that she died. How tragic. She was a good digger, not to mention a nice person."
Rin agreed, then tried to raise the mood again. "Her memory shouldn't be forgotten, but let us not have the past burden us. I thank you for your continued business."
"Of course! Oops, I almost forgot to introduce Lenne," she mumbled as she pranced over toward Lenne. "This haul is largely thanks to her."
Lenne folded her hands together and hesitantly bowed to Rin. He smiled and nodded his head. He eyed her up approvingly, although his expression changed to an inquisitive manner. He rubbed his chin for a moment, but never stopped smiling.
"Interesting, it seems you've been outsourcing your employees, Nhadala," he noted. "If I may ask Lenne, where is it you come from?"
She looked back at up him, pausing for a moment before answering. "I'm from Besaid, er, Bevelle. I come from Bevelle."
Half surprised to hear someone from Bevelle traipsing through the desert, he commented jokingly, "It's intriguing to hear that someone from Bevelle would come all that way out to this desert. I suppose you were never a member of the Yevon temple."
"Oh, I was, but that was a very long time ago."
He nodded a few times, ponderously examining the young woman. He shrugged before returning his attention to the business at hand. Nhadala opened up one of these chests to show off the merchandise inside to Rin. A marvelous array of delicate coins shimmered for his delight. His eyes opened wide at the voluminous golden pile of profitability displayed in front of him.
He smiled heartily at Nhadala. "I will certainly purchase these from you. I think these are some of the finest coins you've unearthed in Bikanel."
"Well, we aim to please when it comes to your patronage," she replied thankfully.
Keppel and Nomma assisted Lenne in carrying the four chests onto his airship. Amazed at all the impressive gadgets and technology residing on the airship, Lenne resisted the urge to touch any of it. Rin explained to her that he was testing out several new instruments while he was on his trip.
"Tell me Lenne," he began to converse. "How are you adjusting to life in Bikanel? The desert can be tough on your stamina."
"Yes, it's hard, but I'll see it through. I've tackled much worse."
He smiled. "I see. That's good to hear. It sounds like you have a strong spirit within you."
She laughed softly. "Oh, I don't know about that."
"Nonsense, you shouldn't doubt your own abilities. You know, that kind of contradiction reminds me of someone I used to know."
She looked at him in surprise. "I don't understand."
"As I was talking about before, the recent death of Lady Yuna has shaken Spira to its core. You remind me of her a little. She, like yourself, had the same strong will mixed with self-doubt that gave her a most unique character."
She looked down again. "How can you be strong if you are always plagued with doubt? She doesn't sound so great to me."
"Well, I guess you just needed to have met her in person," he expressed, patting her on the shoulder while the two walked back down the plank of his ship. "It's a shame you never will have that chance."
Nhadala approached the two. Rin glanced at her and shifted his train of thought. He removed a small object from the inner pocket of his jacket.
"Please take a look at this," he said while handing her a small device.
She examined it and hummed to herself. "These are some interesting readings. What do they mean?"
He explained with pleasure, "Since I'm not one to waste an opportunity, I've been testing my new machines on the go in my airship. This one in particular is supposed to be for keeping track of my many chocobos in the Mi'hen Highroad. It just so happens that it effectively picks up transmissions from under the ground. A happy accident I call it. These readings show an incredible, well, something beneath the desert floor near the Cactuar Nation."
She scratched her head. "A spectacular 'something?' Is that some kind of technical term I'm unaware of?"
"Well, I really can't say for sure. I thought it might be something you'd be curious about investigating," he replied.
"I'd be lying if I said I wasn't interested. Such odd fluctuations in energy, I wonder what could be hiding down there. Thanks for the readout."
Waving to the diggers seeing him off, Rin bowed and reentered his ship, ready to return to Mi'hen. Nhadala almost forgot to wave back as she was so absorbed by the data he gave to her. Firing up the engines, the airship soared off in majestic style. Lenne giggled slightly to herself, humored by his casual ways. Her attention darted to Keppel and Nomma chatting about the electronic gadgets they saw on his ship.
"He's got some pretty sweet stuff packed in that ship of his," commented Keppel.
Nomma rubbed some sand from his goggles. "Yeah, he does. Man, that guy must be loaded with gil."
"You bet he is. Did ya see how much he gave Nhadala for them chests of coins?"
"Speaking of which, I'm surprised to see she isn't counting up those riches. She so into those readings he gave her."
Keppel grumbled, "Yeah, and I bet before long we'll be swimming in the sand to find out what that's all about."
Nomma chuckled, although he also agreed. Meanwhile, Lenne slowly hauled the sack of gil which were Rin's payment. She grunted with each step. A particularly aggressive grunt snapped Nhadala out of her concentration, and she noticed Lenne struggling.
"Oh geez. I'm sorry, Lenne. I shouldn't be having you take that all by yourself," she apologized embarrassingly. "I wasn't paying attention."
She blew out a burst of breath as she dropped the weighty sack. "Whew! It's alright. You must see something truly fascinating with that."
"I guess I'm a sucker for the unknown. It's kind of why I'm out here in the middle of nowhere. I love discovery! Anyway, I'll go get some help for you."
She yelled over to the Nomma and Keppel, who were busy goofing off together. When Keppel spotted Lenne by the money bag, he quickly found motivation and jogged over to her. Gracelessly he picked up the sack and tried to throw it over his back in an attempt to impress her. The momentum toppled him over instead. He nearly faceplanted into the sand. Lenne reached out to catch him but was too late.
"Are you alright?" she asked.
Keppel groaned. "Yeah, nothing is broken. I think."
Nomma shook his head. "I can't imagine a bigger idiot than you."
Lenne blushed under her thick mask and helped him regain verticality. Nhadala, who had not gone too far away, smacked him on the back of the head.
"Hey, stop screwing around. I want to go check this out today!" she scolded, pointing fiercely at her mystery data.
"Man, you wanna go today?" he moped.
She nodded sternly. "Yeah, I do. Come on, the sun has barely peaked and the day is young. So get moving! Oh, Lenne, you're coming too."
Lenne put a hand up to her lips, taken aback by her sudden addition to such an important search for Nhadala. She'd hardly been acquainted with things and now she was going on a mysterious expedition. A rush of joy coursed through her at the thought of adventure. The two Al Bhed men, however, didn't share in her eagerness. They just looked at each other and rolled their eyes.
In tandem, they complained, "Figures . . ."
Soon the four ventured far into the endless expanse of sand dunes. Nhadala led from the front for this expedition. Keppel and Nomma would be the legs, just in case something bad happened, much to their chagrin. As she was Nhadala's good luck charm, Lenne felt anxious. Not knowing how to respond to such confidence in her ability, she just nodded and smiled. With the desert whipping by them in Pilot's rusty hovercraft, a tense feeling came over Lenne. Unlike every day previous, today the heat relented just a bit, but the cooler air did nothing to quell her discomfort.
Nhadala grinned while following the information provided by Rin. While she seemed stern most of the time to Lenne, it seemed she could get giddy like anyone else.
After riding for three hours, they reached the position where Rin had picked up the energy fluctuations. Nothing but rolling plains of sand existed anywhere in sight. Nhadala scratched her head, pondering where this energy could be emanating from. No structures or shafts protruded from the dunes, meaning there couldn't be any mines or installations abandoned in the area.
"There must be a cave buried somewhere beneath the sand. That's the only thing that makes sense," said Nhadala to herself out loud.
Pilot slowed the hovercraft, coming to an eventual stop atop a shallow valley between two huge sand dunes.
"Well everyone, let's get digging," she ordered as she handed Nomma a shovel.
"Right, thanks," he replied while surveying the endless scape of the desert.
Lenne grabbed her shovel without speaking and lodged it into the sand. The four excavators dug for hours, creating an impressive hole in the desert. The sun began to set, and the sky turned a beautiful gradient of orange, pink, and red.
"This sucks!" grumbled Keppel loudly. "There ain't a thing down here. Are you sure Rin gave you the right directions?"
Nhadala shook her head, with a look of confusion on her face. "I don't get it. Is this thing that far down? I know we're in the right place."
"We have been digging all day, and this hole is huge. I say if we haven't come across anything by now, there is nothing here," moaned Nomma.
"That's not necessarily true," blurted Lenne. "We should come back to find out. It takes a lot of perseverance to uncover the truth."
"You're right," agreed Nhadala. "We will resume this tomorrow. We'd better get going back."
Her three comrades climbed up out of the hole they created. Lenne took a moment to let her aching muscles rest. She felt relieved to hear that her time in the middle of nowhere neared completion. Though tamer in temperature than an average day in Bikanel, breathing in the heat after a day of hard work became nearly unbearable for her. Sweat poured down her back and face.
She wiped the condensation and grit on her mask away and pitched her shovel into the ground. The tip clanged against something solid just underneath the surface. Flicking the built-up moisture from her fingertips, she bent down to examine what caused the noise. Digging with her hands, she felt a bumpy, coarse object underneath a skim of sand.
"Hey, I think I've found something!" Lenne called over to Nhadala.
Immediately perking up, Nhadala rushed over to see. "What? What is it?"
"I don't know. There's something underneath the sand here," Lenne explained.
"Gotcha. Hey Nomma, Keppel—throw my shovel back down here! We found something!" Nhadala yelled up the deep hole.
Nomma slid her shovel down the hole's side. "What is it?"
Nhadala shrugged. "We're not sure yet. It's some kind of stonework."
The two girls dug profusely for many long minutes, uncovering what appeared to be the top of a hatchway. An iron door, brittle rust covering the surface, revealed its antiquity. Nhadala tugged with force on the corroded handle. It screeched as she lifted it open. She poked her head partly into the opening, peering into the darkness below. Then she slid her whole body down through the opening. She called Lenne to follow.
"What did you find?" called Keppel, his voice faint.
"We found a door! We'll come back up in a minute!" Lenne shouted while feeling around for her flashlight.
Bumbling around in her pouch, she eventually located her flashlight, jiggling it a few times before it lit up. Momentarily blinded by the sudden illumination, Lenne blinked rapidly until her surroundings came into focus. Stony walls surrounded her, each one worn and cranked from age. As her eyes followed the illumination from her flashlight, she noticed a handful of stray baskets and vases all covered in grime. Her light eventually landed on a solitary door on the opposite side of the room.
Nhadla pointed at it, turning on her own flashlight. "Well, do you want to go? If not, we can leave."
"No, let's go." Lenne felt strangely compelled to go forward.
Nhadala smiled at her and led the way into a passageway. A cool, damp air hung inside, with a thousand-year-old mustiness that itched at Lenne's nose. Unlike the sweltering desert above, no grains of sand blew in the air. It had probably been centuries since anyone last walked through the passages, Lenne thought. The passageway opened up to a much grander space.
Lenne noticed a few lone pyreflies fluttering around, casting tiny balls of rainbow-colored illumination around the chamber. Surprised to discover pyreflies in a buried place like this, she reached her hand out to poke one floating nearby her. Nhadala shined her light on another iron door covered by a thick spiderweb. As she and Lenne approached it, a glowing glyph materialized. Lenne jumped back, gasping at its sudden appearance. She quickly gathered her courage and stepped up closer to examine it.
"You know," Lenne said, wondering out loud. "It kind of looks like a symbol from a Bevelle temple."
Nhadala scratched her head. "I see what you mean. That doesn't make any sense though."
"Now the question is how to activate it," Lenne said, shrugging her shoulders.
Nhadala searched around looking for a switch or a handle but found neither. Then she backed up, hoping to find a sign or inscription written above the doorway. Lenne walked up to the glyph, attracted by its incandescent emerald light. Cautiously she reached toward it with her hand with unalterable compulsion. Barely she touched it with the tips of her fingers did the glyph fade and the door shuttered open. With a violent rush, she found herself sucked into the vacuum beyond it.
Furiously she fell down a twisting slide, swarms of pyreflies rocketing by her. She screamed and clamped her eyes shut. With a whoosh, she flew off the end of the slide and crashed hard to the ground, rolling a half-dozen times before coming to a stop. Her arms and legs littered with fresh bruises, she picked herself up and dusted herself off. A scrape on her left forearm stung when she touched it. Searching around to regain her bearings, clouds of pyreflies instead attracted her attention.
She turned around, and behind her was the slide from which she had just been spat out. A warped, violet light engulfed all but the end of the slide. In front of her loomed a completely different place altogether. Brushing against her feet, she noticed a litany of flowers blooming in a rainbow of colors. No stars sparkled in the lifeless grey sky above. A crystal waterfall crashed down into a river nearby. Walking over to the nearby ledge, she witnessed a dozen floating rocky islands below. Each had its own field of flowers growing on them To her eyes, Lenne thought she died and had been spirited away to the Farplane.
"Again I have found you, my love," a disembodied voice spoke.
Gasping loudly, Lenne darted her head around frantically, trying to find where the voice came from. The source revealed himself—a tall blond-haired man wearing an all too familiar pale green jacket and black shorts. Her head began to spin faster with each step he took. She looked hazily into his eyes and saw the same man who entranced her the last time she walked in the Farplane.
"Soon we can be together in peace. Soon we will be free, Lenne."