Chapter 29: The Sleepers Awaken
Things improved after Barret tossed Cloud in the ocean. While the blond still drifted into moments of melancholy, he didn't fully retreat into himself, and the group's interactions were almost back to normal despite the gaping hole caused by Aerith's absence. Even with the improved atmosphere, the journey was long and arduous. The lack of free movement caused a different, but no less felt, discomfort than foot travel. Barret huffed a loud "Finally" and even Yuffie's shoulders drooped in relief when Cloud pointed to the southern shore of the Northern Continent and said, "This is where we need to get off."
As anxious as they were to catch up to Aerith, they took a few hours on the shore to stretch out their stiff muscles and let Yuffie recover her strength.
The air on the Northern Continent was noticeably cooler, even by the shore. The nearby forest was scattered with conifers and pale-barked birch, their few remaining leaves a brilliant gold. Beyond the verdant expanse of forest, a huge granite mountain loomed over them. A massive crack ran down its center as if some angry deity's hammer struck the massive edifice. Cloud's gaze lingered on the split before looking down when Cait Sith asked, "Is this the Sleeping Forest then?"
He started to shake his head and then paused, considering. "Some of it is, but the first part we need to go through is a normal forest."
Once Yuffie announced she was recovered enough to move on, they started across the small grassy plain separating the forest from the coast. Just before reaching the treeline, Red XIII spotted a well worn track leading to a dirt trail through the woods. "That's convenient," Zack mused, falling in line on the deeply grooved trail. With the large swords both he and Cloud carried, cutting through forest and underbrush didn't pose much of an obstacle, but the option of avoiding the extra effort was a welcome surprise.
Under the inconsistent shade of the forest, the chill in the air grew more oppressive. In some of the darker patches of shadow, Cloud spied gleaming bluish patches. He huffed, a faint steaming condensation showing on the exhale. "It's the wrong time of year to be heading this far north," he murmured to Tifa.
She followed the direction of his gaze and then grimaced at the swathes of bluish-white. Curious, Yuffie shaded her eyes to try and see what they were frowning at. "Why is the ground a weird color over there?" she finally asked pointing to the ground.
Vincent glanced over, then looked down at her with the faintest flicker of amusement in his crimson eyes and replied, "It's snow. The shadows make it look blue."
"Snow?" she parroted, swinging her head from the snow to the man and back. "Is there some monster on this continent that makes snow like Shiva? I've only seen snow on the very tops of mountains this early in the year."
Tifa nodded and explained, "That's why Cloud and I are concerned. The cold season is only just starting and to have even this much snow so far south and at such a low elevation…" She trailed off and shook her head, her brow creased with worry.
"Meh, what's the worry over a lil' snow?" Cid huffed and spat towards one of the nearest patches of snow. "Ya only gotta worry about the big storms down here. Now north of that mountain range, that's where the nasty cold and storms are, but we ain't gotta worry 'bout goin' that far north, right?"
Cloud grimaced, shook his head, and shrugged. Cid hung his head and cursed, "Damn me and my big mouth, with our luck we're gonna have ta' scale a glacier." Zack laughed weakly but soon turned his gaze north, more interested in getting to Aerith than focusing on the conversation.
The small track twisted and meandered across the uneven floor of the forest but finally opened to massive break in the trees. The fossilized remains of some enormous monsters dominated the cleared area. Closest to the makeshift road, one of the excavated rib cages was draped with fabric paneling and converted into some sort of shop.
A sinister skull, bristling with spines and fangs the length of Cloud's arm rested partially on its side right by the road. A young man in green overalls and a cap dug in the soil near the snout of the skull. "It's… It's beautiful!" Cid breathed, his gray eyes shining with awe as he looked up at the skull.
"I dinna think ye were such a fan of fossils," Cait Sith remarked, shaking his head. "Though I suppose the beastie is impressive." He stroked his furred chin thoughtfully.
The pilot looked down at the mechanical cat in confusion and then shook his head sharply, "Not the damn skull ya' numbskull! Look what's on it!"
Cloud raised a skeptical eyebrow and then noticed some sort of metal contraption leaning against the skull. Tilting his head slightly for a change in perspective, he finally realized it was some sort of aircraft, but not like any he'd seen before.
"Those sleek lines," Cid gushed tracing its outline in the air with his hands. "The cut of the wings. It's a work of aviation art!"
He fished a small notebook and pen from his pocket and deftly sketched the outline of the machine. The entranced man ignored the strange looks the others shot him, while loudly bemoaning the severe damage to the nose and cockpit as well as the signs of rust and sheared off wing. Chuckling with faint amusement, Cloud examined the rest of the encampment.
While most of the dwellings were tents or prefabricated buildings, he faint curls of smoke wafted from the eyeholes of a skull atop the sheer cliff that split the campsite. He frowned, tracing the path of the cliff first to the left and then the right, a faint chill curling in his heart. It ran through the forest as far as he could see and the forest atop the plateau was different than the forest below.
Keeping his suspicions close, he approached the young man. Hearing Cloud's footsteps, he looked up, his expression slightly bored and relieved at the distraction. "Welcome to Bone Village! Home to nature lovers. We're excavating here to learn the history of the land! It's really very fascinating…"
He looked down and grimaced, "Though not so much right now, I'm kind of being punished... Anyway, how can I help you?" he asked, his rounded, stubbled face was smeared with dirt but his hazel eyes sparkled with curiosity. He blinked slightly at Cait Sith, cringed warily at the sight of Red XIII and Vincent, but somehow managed to keep his smile in place.
"Can you tell us where the City of the Ancients is?" Zack asked before Cloud could reply.
"City of the Ancients?" he hummed and then smacked a fist in his open hand with a smile. "Oh, you must mean the Forgotten Capital! It is in the mountains, but we haven't managed to find an easy way to reach it. It's too bad to be honest, we know there must be a wealth of history there but we can only look down on it from the cliff tops. The cliffs are too sheer and it would take not only a superior pilot, but airship as well to try and land in that canyon. It's such an archaeological tragedy." He shook his head and turned his dusty hands palm up.
"Have you seen our friend Aerith?" Tifa asked, her voice tinged with worry for her friend. "She has long brown hair, and green eyes. She wore a pink dress and carried a Princess Guard staff. The staff has a golden winged ornament with a ruby on its head."
"Oh that girl?" The young man shook his head and sighed, "I tried to warn her but she went into the Sleeping Forest anyway. It's really not safe in there." He sighed wistfully, "I'd better get back to work, I hope your friend lucked out and managed to make it through." He crouched back down and started sifting through a pile of rocks with a frown.
"Right, let's split up and see if we can figure out more about Aerith and this Sleeping Forest," Cloud ordered, slipping into command despite his previous melancholy. "Zack, you're with me, I want to make sure you don't try going in the forest without us."
Zack opened his mouth to deny the accusation. Cloud raised one eyebrow and folded his arms sternly. "Fine…" he huffed petulantly. "Half an hour?"
"An hour," Cloud returned sternly. "You know how dangerous it can be to rush in with poor information." Zack grimaced and then reluctantly nodded his agreement.
An hour later, they gathered together back at the rib cage dwelling to share their information. The consensus of the various workers was that entering the forest without the aid of a Lunar Harp resulted in severe disorientation. All who tried wandered back out where they entered after hours of traveling in circles… if they managed to emerge before succumbing to the elements or exhaustion.
Cid snorted and jerked his chin to Barret's arm and asked, "Why don' ya use your Chainsaw in there? I bet that'd wake the forest up!"
Cloud shivered, suddenly feeling a sense of menace from the forest above.
Zack huffed and shook his head, "Much as I agree with the need for speed, Barret's trying to save the environment. Cutting down a forest kind of goes against that."
Cid frowned but then dipped his head and huffed, "Guess I can see that. Probably take less time to hunt down the freakin' harp anyway."
Cloud's shoulders relaxed when the menace from above receded.
"Though I still don't see how a harp's gonna help us when the place makes my compass spin like drunk Willy on Friday nights," the grizzled pilot snorted, his fingers rasping against the stubble on his chin.
"I suppose we'll have to find out," Yuffie responded philosophically and then asked, "So how do we get our hands on a Lunar Harp?"
Tifa raised her hand before speaking, "I learned the answer to that one. Apparently they find quite a few of them here. The students I spoke to said that if we pay for a dig and they find something they'll give it to us." More than one member of the party gaped at this revelation, stunned silent.
"That seems rather counter-productive towards the archaeology field," Red XIII finally huffed with a shake of his head. "It sounds more along the lines of mercenary treasure hunters."
The man in the makeshift doorway to the rib cage behind them huffed and folded his arms defensively, "Hey, don't knock it, we've gotta get funding somehow! We don't give away items of real significant value."
"What about the Lunar Harps we keep hearing about?" Vincent prodded. "If they're truly the way through the forest, why would you relinquish something of such value?"
The graying man grimaced and scratched the stubble on his chin, "They may wake up the forest, but only for a short time. You've still gotta make it through the forest and a whole lotta monsters and rough terrain to get anywhere. We'd love if someone made it through to the city and beyond so we could possibly find an easier way in from the north. But until someone gives us the funding and means to make an easy, safe path through all those obstacles, this path is a bust."
"And how is givin' away the harps gonna help?" Barret asked, folding his arms.
"Oh, we don't just give them away!" the man huffed. "You have to pay for the digging hours and the equipment to search out the most likely dig spot."
"Equipment to search?" Cait Sith asked, "What kind of machinery is that?"
The researcher shook his head, not visibly bothered by addressing a robotic cat and replied, "Oh it isn't machinery in the classic sense of the word. It is a vibration-oriented method of triangulating irregularities in the stratum. Our sensors then pinpoint interferences characteristic of artifacts concealed in…" he trailed off, flushing at the glazed look in Zack and Yuffie's eyes and coughed, his cheeks slightly flushed.
"Er, they set off little percussion bombs to narrow down the location of things underground," he rephrased sheepishly.
Cloud stroked his chin thoughtfully and asked, "Do I have to pay for the location finders, or can I just hire the excavators?"
"I don't see why not," the older man mused, pulling off his hat and scratching his gray-flecked red hair. "You have to pay the wages of each digger, but if they don't find anything there's no refunds."
"I understand," Cloud replied, a faint smirk twitching at the corner of his mouth. "We're in a bit of a hurry so can we hire multiple digs?"
The older man clapped his hat back on his head and huffed, "I suppose. We got a whole group of new people in, so long as you pay well and don't flip out over any dud digs I think we can work with you."
Cloud and Zack haggled a bit with the man and purchased new Diamond Armlets for the whole party except Barret, since the Dragon Armlet from the Temple of the Ancients was slightly stronger. They also bought a Diamond Armlet for Aerith, "For when we find her again." Zack declared firmly. Cloud didn't argue. Once the gil had changed hands, the old man raised the bone whistle hanging around his neck and blew one long blast followed by half a dozen short blasts.
One by one, six young researchers in an array of dust stained khaki and forest green overalls lined up. "We using the percussion bombs Dr. Malcom?" one young woman asked, angling her head towards the rib cage room behind him.
"Nah," Dr. Malcom shook his head and smirked. "We've got a hotshot here who hired each of you to dig in the spots he tells you. Whatever you find, no matter how junky or amazing it is, will go in this box for them to pick up tomorrow."
"Tomorrow?" Zack asked petulantly while Cloud pointed to a few spots around the ancient aircraft then ascended the rebar ladder to indicate a few more locations on the plateau
"Of course tomorrow!" Dr. Malcom huffed. "My workers may be young and spry but they're not mole-people. Digging takes time and it is already nearing evening." He waved his hands to indicate the lengthening shadows. "Don't burst a blood vessel buddy, if your friend's intuition is on target, you'll have your items in the morning. Now if you'll excuse me…" The older man ducked inside his rib cage shelter with an obvious huff.
"Way ta' piss the man off," Barret chuckled, shaking his head.
Cloud climbed back down the ladder and pointed to an area east of the nearby skull. "They told me we're free to camp in this area. Vincent and Cid, they say there's a spring at the base of the plateau just beyond that outcropping," he pointed to a blackened protrusion an obvious track in the dirt leading to it. "You two get the water. Yuffie, Tifa, and Cait Sith are on firewood duty while Zack and I cook dinner."
"What about Red and I?" Barret asked, folding his arms and huffing.
Zack grinned, "You know what is left; you're in charge of setting up the camp site."
"The hell man!" Barret shouted, kicking a rock. "Why ya' gotta make the guys with the least workin' hands set up camp?"
Cloud grimaced apologetically and shrugged, "Sorry Barret, that's how the duty rotation fell. You're welcome to ask someone to trade if you want."
"How 'bout we trade with you?" he huffed and scowled down at the blond. "I notice we haven't been on cookin' duty in a long time."
A pained expression crossed Tifa's face and she shook her head, answering for Cloud, "Sorry Barret, we took a vote and decided the two of you shouldn't cook ever again."
Yuffie looked a little green and groaned, "Beach Plug gumbo with a side of fur."
Red XIII hung his head at the last bit while Barret huffed, "I just didn't have the right spices. Or the right vegetables… or meat or…" he trailed off and shook his head. "Yeah, that was pretty awful… But on the other continent-"
"Five-alarm Zemzelett chili," Tifa interrupted in a flat voice. Zack, Cloud, Red XIII, and even Barret cringed.
"Right, we'll just... set up some tents," he sighed, slumping away.
As they gathered around their fire for their evening meal, Yuffie tilted her head to the side, peering through the darkness to the distant lights of the Bone Village. She hummed thoughtfully and asked, "Aren't archaeologists supposed to keep what they dig up to study, not sell them off?"
"That's typically the case," Zack agreed, listening carefully to make sure there weren't any eavesdroppers. "Cloud and I figure they're treasure hunters and curio seekers with a few genuine researchers thrown in. The researchers are so involved in their findings…"
"They don't notice the unscrupulous actions of their coworkers," Tifa finished nodding her head in understanding.
The next morning dawned cold and foggy. A sparkling rime of frost coated the blades of grass around the camp and their breaths steamed around their faces. Yuffie and Tifa rubbed their bare arms and shivered in the early chill.
After a quick meal and clean up, Cloud and the others checked the box outside the rib cage. Cloud handed Zack the Lunar Harp while he dug through the rest of the findings. The harp's body was shaped like a golden crescent moon on a pedestal. Despite clumps of dirt clinging to the golden surface, it was in pristine condition. Even the strings still retained tension.
"There must be some magical properties in it," Vincent theorized when he saw the intact strings. "Otherwise the strings would have disintegrated long ago."
"Kinda makes ya' wonder," Barret huffed, shaking his head at Cloud studying a ratty mop and a long-barreled handgun. "Why they're practically givin' the things away, why there are so many of 'em that they can give 'em away…"
"And how the hell a harp's gonna wake a sleepin' forest?" Cid finished when the other man trailed off.
Yuffie's eyes gleamed and her fingers twitched towards the harp. "Now I wanna try it out!" she declared.
"Do you even know how to play a harp?" Zack asked, narrowing his eyes at her and raising the harp out of her reach.
"I messed with Uncle Hiiro's koto once, that's close enough!" she huffed, jumping to try and reach the instrument.
"Ahem," Dr. Malcom coughed, scowling at the pair. "If you please, take pity on the young men and women who spent most of the night digging for your items and refrain from using the Harp until you are in the forest proper." He scowled them down until Yuffie gave a petulant nod of agreement.
"That's an ominous sign," Cloud muttered, shoving the handful of elixirs, ethers and other random items in his pouch and rising to his feet. In a louder voice he called, "Alright, we've got what we came for, let's head for the forest."
With Red XIII using the fossils as a jumping platform rather than the ladder, they slipped under the thick canopy of the Sleeping Forest. The instant he entered its shade, Cloud froze. The scenery was exactly like that of the dream he shared with Aerith. A chill washed over his skin and he shivered once before shaking his head and pressing on.
This time, no strange power inhibited his progress and he traveled through the ghostly silence into the next portion of the forest. As if crossing some strange, unseen boundary, they swayed on their feet. The trees seemed to dance and sway around them as if they uprooted and shifted to new locations between blinks. A heavy pressure formed on them, pushing them back towards the camp. Cloud stumbled and almost fell.
The sensation was worse than standing on a heaving deck in a storm. Yuffie doubled over, her hand clapped over her mouth
"Zack, the harp!" Cloud cried, trying to stand and instead falling to his knees. Bracing himself on his arms, he frowned and plucked a shocking glimmer of red from the forest loam.
Curving his fingers like claws, Zack scraped them across the silver strands. The sounds that issued from the beautiful instrument were impossible to describe. Yuffie later said it reminded her of when one of her more vocal cats fell from the rafters yowling and tried to catch itself on the brass Da Chao statue. Instead of stopping its momentum, the feline's claws screeched against the smooth metal all the way down.
Needless to say, the Sleeping Forest woke up.
Still swaying slightly, Cid wiggled a pinky in his left ear and muttered, "No wonder that Doc wouldn't let us play it back in camp."
"Guess that explains why they practically give them away," Tifa huffed, running her hands up and down her arms to smooth the goosebumps and hairs set on end by the racket.
While the others conversed, Cloud surreptitiously slipped the summon materia in one of Cait Sith's open materia slots. Once he finished that, he took the lead, guiding them between the massive tree trunks and mist-shrouded ferns. In the end, the Sleeping Forest wasn't nearly as deep as it appeared from the outside. The thick underbrush and trees lending the illusion of impenetrable depth. After two hours of weaving through the trees, hoping Cloud wasn't leading them in circles, the ground perceptibly angled uphill.
Soon massive rocks encroached among the trees, thinning them until they entered a white stone canyon. Far above, a few scattered trees overlooked the crack in the earth, but in the canyon proper, hardly any vegetation survived. Instead, strange, colorful coral shapes grew like twisted plants and giant petrified lily pads from the walls and floor of the canyon.
They followed the rough, meandering crevasse a short way until it ended in a box canyon. Cloud crouched behind a pile of rocks and emerged with a Water Ring. He rolled it on his palm thoughtfully and then gave the thick-banded, cobalt ring to Tifa. She studied it a moment and her Diamond Knuckles then shrugged, slipping it on her left thumb.
"There may be a way to get more of those further on," he told her with a nod to the ring.
She nodded and Yuffie chirped, "Just let us know what monster to raid and we'll get a good supply of them."
"When you say 'further on'," Cait Sith began, peering up at the knobbly walls of the dead-end, "Dare I hope there's some other way forward than straight up?"
Cloud nodded and replied, "There's a way up we passed on the way to get the ring." They backtracked nearly to the canyon entrance, where Cloud indicated a steep but accessible path climbing the west side of the canyon. A hollow, petrified tree trunk served as a bridge to the other wall of the canyon. Despite its massive size, the taller members of the party needed to stoop and then pause while an irritated Zack scraped spiderwebs out of his hair.
Periodically, rotund, spiny-backed Boundfats and seahorse shaped Malldancers emerged from the coral-lined stone to attack them. Neither enemy was particularly agile or strong though the Malldancers' darkness and slow inflicting attacks were irritating.
As was his habit since picking up the strange yellow materia in the Temple of the Ancients, Cloud cast the spell on the monsters each time. "I'm tellin' ya Cloud, that materia's a dud," Barret huffed, slashing one of the Malldancers with his Chainsaw though not quite finishing it off.
"Ya' oughta, listen to Barret kid. Ya' keep tryin' and nothin' keeps happenin'. Time ta' throw in the towel," Cid chimed in, pinning a Boundfat to the ground with his Dragoon Lance.
The blond scowled, a faint pout on his face, "I can tell it does something! I just need to figure out what it does and how to use it." He triggered the materia at Barret's almost dead Malldancer. As with every time before, the spell triggered like a normal sword attack, only a faint glow around him showing any difference. This time however, the Malldancer flashed blue and spun as it shrunk until a shimmering magenta X-potion plinked to the ground in its place.
Since it was the last monster, deathly silence fell in the canyon, the whole party staring at the healing item with varying levels of shock and disgust. "That's even worse than the monster-corpse gil," Yuffie moaned in a slightly nauseous tone.
"That is so cool," Zack breathed, crouching down to pick up the X-Potion. "Do you have any idea how rare these things are?" he asked, brandishing the potion at Yuffie.
"Not surprising if they're actually made out of these monsters!" the young ninja huffed, waving her arms frantically. "Don't you guys understand the implications here? What if all the healing items were actually once monsters?"
Tifa grimaced, a faint greenish tinge on her face and then rested a hand on Yuffie's shoulder. "It's probably best not to think about it."
"And I thought the money thing was bad," Cait Sith sighed to Red XIII as he watched Cloud shrug and pocket the X-potion Zack handed him.
"Ignorance truly is bliss," the crimson feline agreed, shaking his head.
Author's Note (groveling) Many apologies for not including the Capital in this chapter as promised. Things were getting super long (looking to be close to 15K or more) so to facilitate a sooner update (Ugh, battle scenes…) I split things here. Many apologies for saying the answers to many questions and puzzle pieces will be in this chapter… Next chapter. (dodges torches and shoes)
All Joking aside, I'm sorry it has taken so long to update, My job has gone through some major changes which means mandatory overtime (Yay!/sarcasm) Getting yelled at on the phone all day kind of saps the muse. Thank Circle of Phoenix for the kick-start in even getting this much posted! **Bonus points for anyone who catches the reference in the title. :D