Chapter VII
Preparing for War

Tailz sat by the fire, watching the flames spike up and down. He had tried getting more rest, but something inside of him would not allow it. He was tired, but restless, and that combination was something he hated. But nothing could be done about it, not from the knowledge that Tailz had within him.

But the fire had a relaxing effect on the traveler. He knew fire could not be controlled, that it could destroy life and homes effortlessly, and that made him calm. It was like he was sleeping as he sat still, watching the fire. But eventually, the fire began to flicker and die down, so Tailz had to get up and keep it going. And after a quick stretch, that was the task in Tailz’s mind. He walked around the battle site and on the outskirts of the surrounding rubble, looking for anything that would fuel the fire.

Unfortunately, beyond the battle site’s ring of stones, light was very scarce. It only took a few steps for Tailz to step on some loose stones and lose his footing. Little commotion came from Tailz trying not to fall, but it was enough for Silver to come out of his slumber.

Silver heard the noise, and noticed Tailz was not in his view. He grabbed his sword from the ground beside him and quickly rose to his feet.

“Tailz?” Silver waited for a response, and it was quick.

“Yeah, it’s just me. I’m gathering more wood, so don’t worry about it.”

Silver put his sword back on the earth. “Ok.” He took a look around, and then lowered himself back on the ground. After a minute or so, Tailz reemerged with an arm full of wood, and sat down again by the dying fire. He carefully placed a few logs on the fire, so he would not kill it completely.

“Tailz?” Silver said.

“What?”

“I thought you had the power to move objects without touching them.”

”Heh, the kid thinks I’m all powerful.” Tailz looked at the pile of wood he had, and held out his arm to them. One piece of wood slowly lifted off the pile, and proceeded to quickly fly to his hand. ”You learn something new everyday.”

“What’s your point?”

“Why didn’t you just put the logs on the fire that way?”

Tailz shook his head. “I’m powerful, but I’m not lazy.”

Silver closed his eyes. “Makes sense I guess.” He said quietly.

Tailz showed a little smile. “Indeed.” He faced towards the fire once more, content with its light.

Silver slept for several more hours. Tailz looked at him and smiled. ”Perhaps Amarant would like to know.” He told himself.

Amarant was sleeping soundly near the fading fire when he woke up.

“Why did I wake up?” He said quietly, rubbing his eyes. ”Amarant…Amarant…"

”Tailz?” ”You always were slow when you woke up.”

Amarant blinked several times. ”I’m still tired, just let me sleep.”

”I don’t need much, so why should you?”

Amarant burst awake with impatience. ”Because some of us are still human! I’ve had my ‘powers’ for under a week, and I’m exhausted! How long have you had to control your powers!?”

”Like I said before, I don’t know, but that’s hardly the point at this early hour.”

Amarant nodded. ”You’re right. So just let me be.” ”In a bit. I just wanted to inform you of another adversary you now have: his name is Silver.”

Amarant was on his feet and his fists were clenched when he yelled at Tailz. ”WHAT?!” ”Glad to see you approve.”

”How could you Tailz!?” ”It wasn’t my choice.”

Amarant felt himself reach a boiling point. His hands were bleeding he was holding them so tightly. ”HOW CAN YOU DRAG SOMEONE ELSE INTO THIS!?”

Amarant could hear Tailz laugh a little in his mind. ”Don’t worry, Amarant. He’s young and doesn’t have a clue what he’s getting into.”

”ARE YOU SERIOUS??!”

”Naturally. Later.”

”TAILZ!!?!!” He waited to get no response. ”ANSWER ME YOU TRAITOR!!” Amarant could hold it no longer, and began yelling out loud.

“HOW CAN YOU POISON ANOTHER?! FIRST YOU CURSE ME WITH YOUR GIFT OF POWER, THEN YOU MANIPULATE ANOTHER TO JOIN YOUR SUICIDE!! HOW MANY PEOPLE ARE GOING TO BE AFFECTED BY YOUR MADNESS?! YOU ARE HELPING NO ONE WITH YOUR QUEST FOR ANSWERS!! YOU WILL SOLVE NOTHING THROUGH ALL THE DEATH YOU WILL BRING!! DO YOU HEAR ME?? THE ONLY THING YOU WILL ACCOMPLISH IS YOUR OWN PRIVATE HELL, WHETHER IT BE ON THIS WORLD OR THE NEXT!!!”

There was silence, then Amarant sat down. “Okay, calm yourself.” Another minute later, he was breathing normally once again. “You have to remember he isn’t the same person. I doubt that there is a way to reverse whatever happened to him.”

He lay back down by the fire and threw the blankets back over him. “But I can hope.”

White Magic shifted in her sleep. A deep breath later, she closed her eyes once more.

Silver opened his eyes. It had been several hours since Tailz woke him up in the middle of the night, but the Sun was barely up. He got himself on his feet, got rid of the dust on his clothes, and looked around. He saw Tailz, standing on the ridge of the battle site. He climbed the ridge and stood near Tailz. Silver stood still for a moment, waiting for Tailz to acknowledge him.

“Beautiful, isn’t it?” Tailz said all of a sudden. Silver looked at him in surprise, then towards the direction he was facing. What he seen could only be described as Tailz said it: beautiful. The sky above and beyond was tinted orange, growing brighter until the clouds split near the horizon, allowing the fire red sun to emerge. “Never thought I would hear such a phrase from you.” Silver said, knowing full well Tailz would not respond.

They stood in silence once more. ”Wouldn’t think Tailz was one to enjoy a sunrise.” Silver thought. He looked at his Master again. His shoulder-length hair was a mix of white and dull grey, and it blew softly in the wind, just as his long black cloak did. His black shoes could be seen among the stronger gusts of wind, as it was picking up. Soon, it was blowing his cloak straight back, for it was only attached at the neck. Silver could see Tailz’s pure black pants, and a plain long-sleeved shirt that was in black as well. ”He sure likes to keep himself dark.” Silver thought, as he noticed black gloves completing the ensemble.

They continued to stand in silence, until the clouds changed to white and the sun faded to yellow. Something else changed as well: Silver’s patience. They had done nothing for at least 2 hours, and he was anxious to start his training. “Tailz?” Silver finally ventured to say, facing towards his Master. He did not see Tailz move, but he did see that he had his short sword drawn. Silver put his hand on his sword’s hilt. “Tailz, you alright?”

“One day, perhaps.” Tailz said immediately. He turned towards Silver and smiled; the first movement he had made since Silver awakened. He noticed that Silver was battle-ready. “It seems you don’t trust me. Keep it that way.” Silver nodded, and then removed his hand from his sword. Tailz sheathed his sword and approached his apprentice.

“I can tell you are anxious to start your training. Hate to disappoint you, but your physical training will wait another day.” Silver looked at Tailz with confusion. “There is more to training then becoming stronger, more agile, more precise. Your mind controls every action you take in battle, whether or not you think about it, or act on impulse. Today, I want to hear your mind.”

Tailz jumped down from the rocks, with Silver following suit. “Before we start anything, do you need a meal to start the day?”

Silver shook his head. “All I need is some water. I’ve gone days without food before, so it’s no big deal.” “Make sure you stay that way. I don’t pack food with me. But I will take some of your water.” Silver took a drink from his water bottle, then flung it at Tailz. After a quick drink, Tailz threw it back. Then he sat down.

“I wish to see the control you have over your powers.” Tailz said, contradicting what he said just a few minutes ago. “Before that, however, we shall focus on your swordsmanship, strategy, and footwork. Because if you can’t defend yourself long enough to unleash your powers, there is no point.”

“Ok…” Silver said slowly, unsure why Tailz went to that topic after saying he wanted to know his mind. “Now, like I said, those are all the physical attributes that we will probably not get into today. Your mind is the most important of all training: you can be the most powerful being in the universe, but with a weak mind, a much weaker adversary can destroy you.”

Silver nodded, and then sat down as well. “So you want to know why I went after that Priest.”

Tailz looked into Silver’s grey eyes. “I said yesterday that I don’t care about him, for the moment. And you don’t want to tell me either; so don’t. Unless you deem it important, leave it for the time being. I want to know your past, from the beginning. Mostly, where you obtained your powers, and who you trained under; assuming you did so.”

“How does that show my mind?” Tailz smiled. “It is obvious that your recent life has been focused on fighting. During the physical training, I will decipher that part of your mind. For now, I want to hear of your past.”

Silver nodded, taking a deep breath. He looked into the sky. “Up until the age of 12, there is nothing to tell. I lived in my home in Mideel with my parents. We formed, more or less, a normal family; and I was a normal kid. I went to school, I played with friends, I followed by Dad around learning about life and other skills. I also had a fierce dedication to whatever I set my mind to, and that saved my life.” “From what?” Tailz replied, not so much to keep the story going, but because he somehow knew Silver wanted the extra attention.

“You remember when ShinRa went to war with Wutai?”

“Vaguely. ShinRa just wanted control.”

Silver nodded. “Yeah. They had influence in the rest of the world, but not Wutai. They had managed to-” “Get to the point.” Tailz interrupted with.

Silver smiled nervously. “Oh, sorry. Anyways, the war with Wutai went fairly even for a while, so ShinRa came to Mideel to recruit some people to fight. ‘One from every family’ they requested, and that was put into place rather peacefully, until they came to my family. My father was ill with some kind of temporary paralysis, so he could not go. Mom was taking care of him, so she could not go either. So they decided to take me to the war.” Silver had a sudden sadness show in his eyes. “Mom and Dad said nothing that day, for fear of going to jail and never seeing me again. I knew they didn’t want me to go, but they didn’t have much for options. But I could not accept the situation so easily.” He looked over at Tailz to notice his Master was sitting sideways from him, and appeared to be in a trance. Silver hung his head, then smiled.

“So I killed all of the soldiers and flew off to Midgar in a ship I stole. Once there, I killed the President and made an alliance with the lost soldier, Sephiroth.”

“Sure you did.” Tailz replied. “Keep with the story I was listening to. What happened when you did not go with ShinRa peacefully?”

”Should have known.” “I panicked. I was still young, and the thought of going anywhere without my parents was frightening, especially when I didn’t know if I would come back. I fought to get away, but to no use at all. But I struggled and struggled, and when I put all of my strength into it, I awoke my ‘Geomancer’ powers.”

Immediately, Silver noticed that Tailz perked up. “Without any control or warning, Water erupted from my hands and killed the soldier that was dragging me away. The other soldier’s fled, but their Commander came back very quickly and issued an edict: If I was to stay in Mideel, the town would burn.”

“So, exile.” Tailz replied.

“Yes, and no.” Silver said back. “The major did forbid me from staying in the town, but they still supported me. One main reason for this is that when I killed that soldier, the others ran and left the other recruited villagers. I unintentionally saved them all, so they helped me out.”

“Before you go on.” Tailz interrupted with. “Why didn’t ShinRa immediately take everybody to war?”

“The Mayor made a deal with him. He said he would exile me from the City so long as none of the villagers were taken to the war. And if they tried, the Mayor told him that I would kill him.”

“Quite the bluff.” Tailz said. “True enough. I doubt I could do that attack again, especially when I didn’t know how I did it before. But it worked, and the Commander left with the deal.”

Silver took another deep breath. “It’s been a long time since I talked about this. But anyways, the residents still helped me out by providing food, and helping build a well-hidden shelter in the dense woods around the village.”

“That shelter didn’t last long, did it?”

Silver stopped for a moment, staring at Tailz. “How did you guess?”

“It’s based on two things. You seem to be really independent, so I believe you would have wanted to be in a shelter you have built, not another person.” “That’s one…sort of.”

“The other is practice. By yourself in the wilderness, no matter how familiar, you would want as much power as you could obtain. So, with you saying you had determination, I would imagine you would ‘see what you can do.’ “

Silver smiled. “More or less Tailz. There is one more, but that comes later. I used the wood shelter the few of us built for some time, and each day I did I ventured to the local pond. As you have already guessed, I went to see what I could do; and at first, all I could do was shift it around a bit, like stirring a big pot of water. It didn’t take me too long, though, to be able to actually lift some of it out of the pond and propel it like I did at the soldier. And during that ‘training’ I found out I could do the same to earth, and air. I actually made myself a small well were I was dwelling, and transported drinking water to fill it up. Then, I created a hut in about a minute or so from the ground around me. That’s the third reason why I used my powers to create my shelter: I could flatten the hut in several seconds to eliminate any trace of my being around, just in case ShinRa showed up to inspect the area. I could cover the well with earth, cover the fire; whatever I needed to hide within a minute at the most.”

“Impressive.” Tailz said. “Unfortunately, even with that power, it must not have been very comfortable for you in the night.”

Silver let a huge grin show. “Not necessarily. I created an ‘air pocket’ about the size of a bed to sleep on, and that was more than comfortable enough.”

“Again, impressive. Now, how did you make the air pocket continuous during your sleep?”

Silver laughed a little nervously. “Well, let’s just say for a while I awoke a few times a night after the pocket disappeared and I hit the dirt. But I persisted, and adapted my mind so it could concentrate even during my deepest slumbers.”

“Can you prove that?”

“I suppose I could.” Silver got to his feet and rolled his right sleeve up to reveal an armlet with two glowing orbs attached to it. It was right before his shoulder, with one orb flickering a bright red and the other emulating a light blue. “Before you make any assumptions, these are not Materia.”

“Of course they are not. No Materia glows and flickers.”

Silver nodded. “That’s true enough. Now, in these two orbs are two elements: in one fire, in the other ice. You see, I have discovered that I create flames not by actually manifesting fire, but by raising the temperature around my hand until flames are created. That is putting heat into an area, and I can take it away from an area too. I can create Ice by lowering the temperature in water until it freezes, and because it is still Water, I can control it all the same. The problem is that is takes some time to raise or lower the temperature of an area to get the effects. But once that is done, even the smallest amount of Ice or Fire I can expand on, and use in several attacks.”

“You still haven’t showed an example.” Tailz said.

“The fire and the ice are kept hot and cold by my thoughts. I keep them going, even in my sleep. And since they are encased in mythril, the orbs will not shatter. I doubt they’ll ever crack in all my life.”

Tailz showed impatience. “If you can create flames and ice already, then why have them in some orbs? Are you trying to prove something?”

“They enable quicker casting. Like I said, otherwise I would have to raise or lower the temperature to get what I desired, and that takes time. In battle, time isn’t always on my side.”

Tailz smiled. “A well-chosen tactic, Silver.”

Silver took a bow. “It works pretty well. Now, what about your past? I revealed the ‘important’ parts of my past, what about you Tailz?”

Tailz looked at Silver, but it seemed like he was looking beyond his Apprentice. He kept that pose for a silent moment. “My past is no longer available. I strive for the future, which I will tell you.”

Silver sat back down with interest. “Ok.” Then he leaned forward. “I’m listening.”

Tailz smiled. “Then listen closely. This is about preparing for war.”

“When is she going to wake up?” Amarant said quietly. It was getting towards noon, and she hadn’t made a sound from the tent. But Amarant knew how exhausted she was last night, and he could not bring himself to wake her. He sat down by the smoldering fire and waited.

In the tent, however, White Magic was already up. She had been up ever since Amarant’s outburst a few hours ago, but she didn’t want to go outside yet. Even after she had an hour of prayer and meditation, she could not bring herself to leave the tent. “How do you confront someone with information you overhear?” She spoke to herself in her mind. She didn’t know how she could continue her discussion with Amarant without bringing his yelling into the topic. White laid herself back on the bed, and continued to think.

“Preparing for war?” Silver repeated.

“Yes.” Tailz replied. “For what I am doing is not in the best interests of the world. And that means we will have opposition, and there is a very real chance their will be many who will oppose us, and try to halt our actions.” He looked at Silver. “I am looking for the Black Materia. I mentioned it yesterday, but you did not acknowledge it, so I repeat it once more. I am looking for the Black Materia.”

“The Black Materia?” Silver said, much surprised. He openly started to sweat. “I’ve…heard of that item before. I’ve heard rumors of its powers as well. They say it will bring about the end of all things.”

Tailz smiled. “Yes. Unfortunately, that is what they are: rumors. No one truly knows what the Black Materia can do. No matter its true powers though, I must find it.”

“Why?” Silver said.

“Because it is calling to me, and I must find out why that is so. Understand, Silver, that I have no memory of myself, other than the past week. And something tells me that this Materia, or the quest to obtain it, will fill in that void.” Tailz stood up. “That quest has begun, and you can accompany me if you so wish, but you must realize that ‘justice’ will not prevail. I will kill to continue my quest, whether or not the person that I grant death to is a fighter, or an innocent being. Nothing short of death will stop me on this quest.”

Tailz unsheathed his sword and pointed it directly at Silver. “If you cannot accept this, you can either leave or fight me right now. But if you do accept this, you cannot back out. If you try, you will achieve nothing less than death.”

It didn’t take long for Silver to decide. ”If a few people die so that one man can piece together his past, I can accept that. In the end, if he decides to fight for good, I will stay alongside him once more. If he keeps to his evil, then I will destroy him. After all, I can't see him slaughtering hundreds of people during this quest.”

Silver stood up and extended his hand. Tailz looked at Silver. “There is one more realization you must come to: your free will is gone. Unless you cannot contact me, you will not make any actions without my orders. Can you agree to that as well?”

Silver nodded. “Then you will become more powerful than you thought possible.” Tailz smiled, and then before Silver could act, Tailz swiped at Silver’s arm with his sword. Silver jumped back and looked at his right arm. It was bleeding from the elbow to the armlet. “That scar will keep you reminded of who are you. You are Silver, but more importantly, you are my Apprentice.”

Silver nodded, looking at his wound again. “Now I’ll have to get a new shirt.” It was cut cleanly where Tailz had made his mark.

Tailz nodded. “Yes, your attire will have to change. You are far too bright right now. The first town we arrive in, we will change your clothes.”

Tailz sheathed his sword, not even caring to wipe Silver’s blood from it. “But that is minor in such a desolate place. We will start with your training in a few hours.”

“A few hours? Why not now?” Silver asked impatiently.

“That fight with the Priest has left me exhausted, even still. And there is no point in training you if your trainer isn’t prepared for it either.” Tailz lowered himself to the ground and covered his face with a black mist. “When I awaken, then we shall begin your training. Keep watch until then.”

Silver started to walk around the site, keeping an eye out for even the slightest movement.

White made herself stand up within the tent. It was time to get out there and keep the mission going. She had finally decided not to let Amarant know she heard him yelling, and so did she step out of the tent.

Amarant stood up and showed White Magic a smile. “Hey. How was your sleep?”

White smiled back. “The most beautiful kind: uninterrupted and restful.” ”Good. She didn’t hear me then.” “But why didn’t you sleep in the tent as well?”

“I prefer the stars.” He replied. “And, no offense, but sleeping in a tent with a girl I just met is a little strange to me.”

“You know I’m forbidden to do anything like that.” She replied, making Amarant a little red in the cheeks. “But I know what you mean. No offense taken.”

“That’s a relief.” He said. “Well, guess we better take camp down.”