Chapter VIII
The Creation of The Ends

Amarant was walking along a still silent White Magic. Other then her previous comments on sleep, she had said nothing. Amarant looked around this island they were on: there was nothing out of the ordinary on it. A few rocks here and there, a forest far off in the distance, the ocean behind them: nothing Amarant could look at until they reached the destination.

”You are not helping me by being quiet.” Amarant finally said to the White Mage. She looked at him.

”I apologize. I’ve just been deep in thought. But I will start talking once more.” White took a deep breath, like she always did before starting a long tale, and exhaled. “Now, I told you about Jenova, and how she manipulated the Cetra to her will.” Amarant nodded. “I’ll continue with that part of our history. I would imagine that you want to know how she was defeated.”

”Yes.” Amarant replied. ”Tailz may need such a tactic.”

”During the course of the genocide of the Cetra, one man lived. He did not transform like all the others before him, but still inherited the energy within his body. He become powerful, but was not able to control it. All he could do was contain it and make sure it did not poison any of the others around him. He went into seclusion, hiding himself until he could fully control his new powers. He didn’t want to kill anybody unnecessarily.”

”If only Tailz had done the same.”

”However, that man did take a long time to master the power that Jenova cursed him with. We don’t know exactly how much time he took, but it was during his seclusion that Jenova ensnared some of the other Cetra.”

”How could she ensnare them? They hated her! They had to!”

”She played upon their humanity. She told some of those that were still alive to serve her, or become what the others have: murderers and monsters. A few of them agreed to this, but others simply did not. She killed those who did not agree, and then began to command the Cetra in the making of Materia to her evil designs. That is where a lot of the devastating materia, such as Poison and Destruct, comes from.”

”What about Fire, Ice, and other materias of that sort?”

”Those were already created by the Cetra for creating fire to cook with, or ice to cool an area down. Jenova only had harmful magic created by the Cetra whom served her. Like I said, she had them develop Poison and Destruct Materia, but she moved on. She continued to experiment and develop magic as we know it, until she found a way to combine all known magic. That created the ultimate magic attack: Ultima.”

”I have heard of Ultima before, but that was just a legend.”

”Unfortunately, it exists. But no one that lives has such a Materia, or at least they have not come forward with that information. But Ultima is still not the ultimate magic, as ironic as that may seem. For after that was developed, Jenova started to harness and use the force which none of us can escape: gravity. She found that, when captured within a Materia and used against living beings, it can significantly harm them at a constant rate. She named the Materia Gravity, and the spells Demi. Demi takes away one-quarter of the target’s life; Demi2 a half; and Demi3 three-quarters. But she soon found a flaw in her spells.”

Amarant thought for a moment. “It cannot kill you.”

”Exactly. It will just keep on chipping away at your life, until it can take no more. When you are barely alive, it will just cease to work. But by then, you could be taken out with a simple strike, so it does it’s job in the end. But Jenova did not want a Materia that would weaken her target; she had already done that with Poison. She wanted to destroy her target. She started to experiment with Gravity and Earth Materias, going for something wholly new and damaging. She succeeding in creating the Comet Materia.”

Amarant nodded to show he was still listening as they walked along. “Comet, the first spell of this materia, simply summons some comets to damage one of your opponents. Comet2 summons comets to damage all of your enemies.”

”What’s with multiple spells per materia? I mean, I understand them, but why do you need to acquire so much experience fighting to use the higher-level spells?”

”Because they are higher-level spells. You acquire AP, which the materia measures, as you get stronger, so that when you can cast those spells, you don’t just destroy yourself. That makes sure you are strong enough to wield them; but let’s stay on topic please.”

Amarant smiled a little nervously. “Sorry.”

”It’s alright. I’m sure you can predict the rest of the story anyways. With the creation of Comet, Jenova was getting closer to her goal. She had come to Earth as a meteor, and she wanted to destroy the world in her image. She pursued the power of Gravity to repeat that action. What she created was named the Black Materia. Using immense forces of gravity, it would attract stray pieces of mass in space and fuse them together, creating a meteor. Then, it would be pulled towards this Earth, and if it is not stopped, all life on Earth could be destroyed.”

Amarant hung his head. “You said that yesterday, about what the Black Materia does…but how could you possibly stop it? I know that the Lifestream stopped it the last time it happened, but isn’t that a finite resource?”

”You are more right than you know.” White Magic stated. “Lifestream is all life that is not present on the earth, but within it. The theory is that Lifestream cannot grow nor can it decrease, for all life cycles within it. When a life force dies, it becomes part of the Lifestream, until it is reborn as another life force on earth. Therefore, no new life is actually created, but is just cycled.” White Magic took a deep breath, and exhaled. “But once again we are off topic. Let ’s try and focus.”

Amarant mouthed a ‘sorry’ and let White continue. “With the completion of the Black Materia, Jenova now had the power to destroy the world in her image. But very fortunately for the world, she never got that chance. You remember the Cetra man that survived Jenova’s virus and went into seclusion? During the time that Jenova had spent with the Cetra that helped her, he was able to control his power: able to adapt it, increase it and pass on parts of it to other Cetra, just enough power so they too would survive and control it. A group of them were changed this way, more or less, into warriors to combat Jenova. When they discovered that she had formed such a weapon of mass destruction, they went to stop her. But they didn’t succeed.”

Silver made another crude circle around Tailz, waiting for his Master to awaken. But it was still dark out: the sun was not due for another hour. But that was not truly what Silver was waiting for; he was waiting for his chance.

All night, he wandered around the site where Tailz lay, wanting to prove himself. Any opponent would do: a fiend that wished to attack for territory, or an enemy of Tailz wishing for revenge. He was actually smiling at the thought, for if he defeated such a foe, his Master would surely grant him the power he desired. It would prove his loyalty, and in Silver’s mind, Tailz could not deny such an action.

After one more circle was created by his footprints, Silver sat himself down on the ground near Tailz and relaxed. “He said to be patient.” Even if commanded to do so, that was not an easy task for Silver. He was young, full of impatience at some points in life, and no amount of power will change that.

But he would try to learn. The one aspect he knew most about himself is that as long as he was not still, he could wait forever.

Silver did try to stay still for while, try to overcome himelf, but it did not last. He had to do something to occupy himself. He lifted his right hand, and a large crystal of ice formed within it, it’s bottom point resting in his hand. It was as beautiful as it was reflective, for Silver could see Tailz clearly on its surface. Soon enough, a small red glow was manifesting in the crystal’s hollow center. Within seconds, it burst into a small flame. Drops of water formed at the sides of the crystal, then it quickly re-froze.

”Keep the fire small enough so you don’t melt the crystal…” Silver said to himself. “…but do not make it insignificant.” The self-coaching kept Silver’s mind well concentrated. “Keep the crystal frozen enough so it does not shatter with little force, but do not make it so cold as to extinguish the flames.” Silver concentrated for many minutes, keeping a equilibrium between the fire and the ice.

”A perfect balance.”

Tailz’s voice stunned Silver’s concentration, who quickly dropped the crystal to the ground. It’s sharp bottom pierced the fertile Midgar soil, but the top of the crystal was quickly disappearing in light of the growing flame. Silver quickly re-concentrated on his crystal, and in a short moment, the flames subsided and the ice expanded, restoring the steeple it once had.

”You do not fail to impress, Silver. But this is no combat skill.”

”Not completely, but I’m working on that aspect. The idea is to have the crystal pierce another person’s skin-“

”Enemy.” Tailz interrupted with. Silver looked at him. “The idea is to have it pierce your enemy. Not just another person.”

”Alright. Then, the idea is to have the crystal pierce my enemy’s skin, and transfer the flame into his body. But I haven’t been able to do anything like that yet.”

”Such an attack would be easy to counter, Silver. One fireball and the ice melts, leaving a tiny fire going towards your opponent.” Silver nodded. “That’s why I said I was working on it.”

”Don’t. Something like that is doomed to failure, unless you know your opponent cannot cast any Fire spells. But such occasions will be very rare.”

Silver nodded his head. “Alright Master." He stopped concentrating on the crystal, the flames within it soon fading away as the ice begun to melt in light of the new day's sun. "So, do we start the physical training today?”

Tailz smiled. “Yes we do. Strength and powers I doubt I need to train you on; it will mostly be your tactics in battle.”

”What exactly is that supposed to mean!?” Silver bursted out with.

”You’ll see.” Tailz said. “Now, let’s begin with some simple. I’m going to do a move, and you tell me why I did it.”

Silver nodded his head. Tailz held his hand in the air, and shot a fireball forth. It soared straight into the abyss of the sky without changing directions. Silver watched it shoot into the unknown.

”That is absolutely pointless!” He said. “That will do nothing in battle…” Silver looked around where Tailz was, just to find earth and grass.

”Not everything is crystal clear at first.” Tailz said. Silver didn’t move, for he saw his Master’s arm over his right shoulder, and he knew his neck was just behind a short sword.

”To an amateur who cannot focus correctly, that is a distraction that will cause them their life.” Tailz removed his sword and walked in front of Silver. “You must focus on your enemy, unless the attacks they unleash are upon you. Ones like that may have a purpose later on, but not likely.”

”How can a fireball shot into space have a purpose later on in the fight?” Silver said. Tailz just stood there, but he looked like he was concentrating. “Are you preparing another distraction?” Silver said somewhat cocky, and Tailz just smiled.

Silver continued to look at Tailz, until he blinked. When his eyes opened again, he was staring at the sky. “What the…” He said quietly.

”That ‘useless’ fireball came back and struck you, my Apprentice. That is what I meant.”

Silver sat up and grabbed his chest. “Ouch…”

”Yes, you must learn to focus on your opponent, but be able to read the surroundings as well. I could tell all along you didn’t see that fireball coming back, and rightly so: you didn’t think I could do such a thing.”

”He reads me like a book.” “Quite true, Tailz. But how? When a fireball is cast, to my knowledge anyways, you can’t alter it’s direction after that!”

Tailz turned his back to Silver. “I don’t know how I can do such actions. But we will continue your training along the way.”

Silver got to his feet, still in some pain. “Where are we going?”

Tailz pointed off in the distance. Silver faced that way, and noticed a light-green glow on the horizon.

Amarant was taken back by the statement White had just made. “They didn’t defeat her? Then how did they survive?”

”Although they couldn’t actually defeat her, they imprisoned her. Using their newfound power and what they could already do with the Lifestream, they basically created a Materia of  her, capturing her in pure Lifestream. She was too powerful for them to destroy, but with this method, she was not able to take any further actions.”

”Whatever you have to do. But then what did they do with her? Or do you know that?”

White Magic nodded. ”I don’t know the exact tale, but this is what I suspect: the remaining Cetra transported Jenova to the Northern Crater and put her at the deepest point, where they believed no other living thing would enter unless they had to. But just in case someone did wish to revive Jenova, 5 Cetra stayed in the Northern Crater. There, they kept on increasing their power and, since Lifestream was rather abundant there, they become very wise. They soon become other entities over time, but you don’t need to be privy of such information.”

”Nothing new.” Amarant thought.

”So did the passage of a more ‘peaceful’ time start, but there was some volatility. With what Cetra were plagued by her virus, she was able to keep herself alive, in a way. Those cursed Cetra infected other animals and humans, and since then monsters and fiends have wandered this earth. That is the Jenova Chain. Simple, yet catastrophic to many people. Now, with the passage of this peace time, a corporation emerged that was first a great military army, but soon become an energy company: ShinRa. That shouldn’t surprise you.”

”Not really.”

”ShinRa mined Lifestream from the earth and used it to power huge machines and cities. Cities grew around Reactors, or they fell…we’ll discuss that some other time. With such a massive demand for Lifestream, or Mako energy as it was known, ShinRa scoured the world in such of an abundance of that energy, and they found it at the Northern Crater. But while searching, they also uncovered Jenova, still imprisoned in her materia. They excavated her, and took her to Nibelheim.”

”Why?”

”With what power they could measure from her, they felt she was a Cetra, of which there was only a rumour of. This was about 20 years ago, and the Cetra were very near to extinction at that time. Since they had what they thought was a Cetra, they figured they could use her and go in search of the mythical place known as the Promised Land.”

”The…Promised Land?”

”Correct. It is said to be a land full of nothing but Mako energy, and that would be a place where ShinRa could mine and become more powerful than any entity on the planet. But they were stopped, by one of their own no less. It is here that I tell you about the legendary soldier. You have undoubtedly heard of him before; his name is Sephiroth.”

Silver looked in the direction Tailz was facing. There was a light-green glow beyond where the eye could see, but that gave away the destination.

”Midgar?” Silver said. He looked at Tailz, who said nothing. He started to walk that way.

”Midgar!?! You want to go to the haven of death? The cursed city?!” Tailz did not look back. “Why would you go there?”

Tailz stopped. “I don’t know.” His right foot pushed him forward.

”If you do not know, they why take the chance!?” Silver yelled.

”Because I must.”

Silver couldn’t believe his ears. ”I don’t know why I have to go to the haven of death, but I know I must go!? This isn’t good…maybe I shouldn’t have agreed to become his apprentice.”

Tailz stopped once more. “When I look at Midgar, it is not like I look upon the gates of a strange city. For some reason, it feels like home. And so I must go, not knowing why, or what will happen once we reach there.” Tailz began to walk once more. “Follow me, or die now. That was the pact you took when you became my apprentice.”

Silver watched his master continue on. “Definitely didn’t give it enough thought.” He said quietly, then ran after Tailz.

”Mark talked of Sephiroth many times: of someday meeting him, even after he disappeared.” Thoughts of Mark’s near-obsession with Sephiroth ran through his mind. Now, he would hear what Sephiroth truly was, and see if Mark was right to want to meet this soldier.

”What I now tell you must never be retold, unless you believe it can save your friend.” White said bluntly. “The history part can be told, for quite honestly, few would believe it. Sounds like a fairy tale to explain the Northern Crater, some have said. But this is pertanent; it deals with a legend. You cannot tell anybody this.” Amarant nodded. “Sephiroth was born and created about 20 years ago in Nibelheim.”

Amarant blinked a few times. White looked at him. “I know you are confused at that remark.” Amarant just nodded his head.

”When ShinRa discovered Jenova, they took her to the reactor in Nibelheim and conducted experiments on her to try and figure out exactly what she was. All their tests pointed to her having extreme amounts of energy and power, and they wanted to be able to harness such an energy. Professor Gast, along with a young professor named Hojo and a young woman named Lucrecia where the ones conducting the experiments in a mansion inside the town. A Turk named Vincent was also present, there to keep an eye on the project. Gast and Hojo excavated the body of Jenova and retrieved some of her more powerful cells within her to test and determine what they actually where. As far as I know, they never figured that out, but they did come to the conclusion that she was no Cetra. But that didn’t stop them at all. Hojo came forth with an idea to Gast to inject a human with some of the Jenova cells, to see if they could create some sort of superhuman. Gast renounced the idea immediately, as he was not finished with his experiments on what cells he had taken. But Hojo was not the patient man: more so, he saw opportunity in Lucrecia that was not going to be around forever.”

”How does she know all of this?” Amarant thought to himself as White continued.

”Lucrecia, during her time assisting with Professor’s Gast and Hojo, found herself in love with Hojo. Soon enough, she was pregnant with his child, and Hojo saw his window to explore. We don’t know whether she was manipulated or forced into this, or whether it was of her complete free will, but Hojo injected her unborn baby with Jenova DNA he had extracted from the cells Gast had collected. The child was also injected with Mako energy, for Jenova was surrounded by it and Hojo knew it to be powerful. After knowing this, and knowing that ShinRa was backing Hojo, Gast fled Nibelheim, no longer a supporter of ShinRa. We believe Vincent fled as well, but no one really knows what happened to him. After some time, Lucrecia gave birth to a male child that Hojo named Sephiroth.”

”I understand now; Sephiroth was born from those two, but ‘created’ by Jenova, so to speak.”

”Sometime during Sephiroth’s upbringing, Lucrecia left Hojo and never returned. But Sephiroth was so young at the time that he did not notice, and Hojo told him that his mother, Jenova, died giving birth to him. It was a half-truth: Jenova is technically Sephiroth’s mother, but not by birth. Anyways, as Sephiroth grew up, he showeds more promise for a powerful solider than any other even before his training. So ShinRa asked Hojo to infuse some of the Jenova cells within current ShinRa soldiers, to see if it would do the same. Hojo did try that on a few soldiers, but they became comatose, if they lived. So he injected them with just Mako instead. The soldiers that were picked for the second experiment become very powerful and deadly, and so did SOLDIER emerge. When he was of proper age, around 15 or 16, Sephiroth was introduced into SOLDIER, and soon found himself at a very high rank within the organization.”

”You don’t need to elaborate on Sephiroth’s military career.” Amarant suddenly interrupted with. “I know all of it.” He finished off solemnly.

White looked over at her comrade with a surprised look. “How do you know all of his military history?”

”I had a close friend that spoke often of Sephiroth, and knew practically everything there is to know about him: he even broke into a ShinRa building once to get ‘all of the info.’ He never did get it though, and the guards nearly caught him.”

White smiled. “Guess that makes my story shorter. Around 6 years ago Sephiroth, with a couple of SOLDIER members, went to investigate some monster disturbances at the Nibelheim Reactor. It was there that he went inside the Reactor and discovered some of the humans Hojo had experimented with, but failed upon and sealed inside containers keeping them barely alive. He went further into the Reactor and found a door with a name plate above it: Jenova.”

Amarant lowered his head. “What an epiphany that could be.”

”Indeed. We assume Sephiroth was confused at that name, for Hojo told him that his mother, named Jenova, died giving birth to him. With questions in his head, Sephiroth went back to the town and entered the ShinRa Mansion’s basement, where Hojo had kept his files and his info on the experiments he did. It was there that Sephiroth found out who he truly was: a human, born of a human mother but given the blood and DNA of an alien. Now, it could have gone many ways from there: Sephiroth could have found new meaning in his life, and accepted it as such. He could have denied it, or he could have researched it further. Instead, Sephiroth accepted it, but felt that the town could not survive any longer for hiding his secret. He also put the idea in his head that he was superior than any other, for he was a unique being. He destroyed Nibelheim, slaughtering most of it’s citizens and burning it to the ground.”

”What? …but I have heard that Nibelheim still stands today.”

”I’ll get to that later. After his rampage, Sephiroth went into the Reactor to free his ‘mother’, what he now called her, but he was stopped. We don’t know who or how, but he was tossed into the Lifestream and never returned, and Jenova’s head went with him. After the incident, ShinRa rebuilt Nibelheim as quickly as they could and put ShinRa staff there to inhabit the place, to keep the incident a secret. Hojo went back to the town from Midgar, and with what townsfolk had survived the fire, he subjected cruel treatments and harsh experiments, trying to recreate Sephiroth. They came to the conclusion that he was dead, but such a great warrior that he was, they needed a replacement. None of the people that Hojo experimented on survived, but become lifeless and emotionless Sephiroth clones. They were confined to the city, and all the ‘citizens’ were told to monitor their progress, though they never made any. And so does Nibelheim exist today: another illusion of ShinRa. But Sephiroth was always in their minds: they wanted another ‘Sephiroth’, the great hero and warrior.”

”I have this feeling that is not the end of Sephiroth.” Amarant said.