Chapter XI
The Cave's Tale

"Was it worth it?" Tailz asked his young apprentice. Shortly after, he summoned fire to encompass his hand, and brought his blade down to it. It started to heat instantly, eventually turning the color red.

But, just an hour before, it was not like this.

Silver looked at Tailz, who was sitting against a large piece of stone. That was were Silver had put his Master and he did not move since. Even after Tailz had opened his eyes.

"Alright, tell me." Tailz said. He knew something had happened to his apprentice, what with the blood-stained shirt and scorched hair. But Tailz knew nothing of the attack that had just happened perhaps 3 hours ago. However, rather than just ask Silver what had happened, he wished to plunder his own mind, to try to find the events he could not see. From this question, Silver assumed that he had failed.

"You attacked me." Silver said. He looked at Tailz, who did not respond in any way. "Tailz, you attacked me! Doesn't that surprise you!?"

"I don't remember what I did, Silver, so anything is possible. For all I know, I was possessed during that time. It is obvious I wasn't controlling myself directly."

"You did speak in quite a threatening manner, but you mostly kept your calm." Silver replied. He went on to tell exact details about the battle, how Silver survived the brutal onslaught of devastating attacks and eventually 'defeated' his Master. Tailz made no sound, made no movement during the entire tale as Silver spared no descriptions. It took nearly an hour for Silver to tell the strange event, at which Tailz was surprised not at the ending, but by an attack he had done.

"So I have the power of lightning."  Tailz thought as he created an orb of lightning within his right palm. He quickly extinguished the orb, and looked at Silver to see him grabbing his left arm. Tailz had noticed that it was still bleeding, but as Silver made no mention of it, he thought it was under control. Apparently, though, that was not the truth. Tailz stood up and approached his apprentice, who immediately sat back up and ignored his left arm.

"You are a fool if you believe you can venture with your arm still bleeding as it is." He said. "We shall have to treat it." He drew his short sword and quickly cut off the entire left sleeve to find a massive cut running from Silver's wrist to his elbow: a cut so deep that it had bleed for four hours. And although the cut was not gushing out blood like a waterfall, the amount still lost was weakening Silver. If he had kept it undercover, he might not have lived.

"Was what worth it?" Silver asked.

"When you feel this pain, you will know." Tailz continued to heat his sword up, and it was growing a fierce red by the time Tailz put out the flames within his hand. "Secure your arm."

"I won't move."

"Secure your arm."

"I can take the pain!" Silver yelled at his Master, only to have him lower his sword to the sitting apprentice's throat. "Yes, Master." Silver immediately said to have the sword removed from his neck. Raising his right hand over his left arm, Silver created two rings of ice: one at his bicep, and the other at hand. He then extended the ice from his hand to the ground, and did the same with the ice at his bicep. Connecting the two 'bases' with ice completed the restraint. "Alright, I'm ready."

Tailz re-ignited his hand, and heated his blade back up to maximum temperature for a few seconds. After that was accomplished, he quickly lowered the blade's end to the cut. Fire met flesh as Silver clenched his teeth in great pain, sweat instantly appearing on his forehead.

"You will think much more clearly after such a battle." Tailz said as he cauterized Silver's wound. "Remember this pain, apprentice. It will remind you that I am not here to give you power. I am here to teach you to use your own."

Silver made no response due to the overwhelming pain shooting up his arm.

"I am surprised you haven't lost your consciousness from the pain, Silver. The ability to live through such pain is admirable, but since it is you who caused it, it is essentially pointless and unnecessary. Remeber that you're inability to think logically could bring about your fall much quicker than anticipated."

"I know..." Silver managed to whisper forth as Tailz continued to 'heal' him. He was nearly done burning the flesh to seal the wound off.

"Do you? If you would have thought logically, you would have used your power over earth to raise a shelter for us. Even considering the state of pain you were in, and still are, you should have been able to think of that." Tailz lifted the sword off of his student's flesh, and it seemed to Silver that he breathed again for the first time in minutes.

"What exactly do you mean?" Silver asked.

"Explain why you dragged me over to this rock." Tailz said, standing up.

"After your attacks, I noticed that we were straight out in the open." Silver started with, noticing Tailz was using Ice to cool his blade down. "If anyone or anything wanted to attack, I would of had no cover to protect you with while I fought them off."

Tailz scoffed at this. "Silver." He sheathed his sword. "You and I both know we are the only ones that are even close to the Ruins of Midgar."

"I did suspect that...but then why have me stand guard on those nights?"

"To make sure you followed my commands."

"Well, I did swear allegiance to you, and with that allegiance I swore off my free will."

"So you did." Tailz said. He stood over his apprentice, and raised his right arm above his head. Many fine crystals seemed to form from thin air and fall over Silver, then disappear without a trace. Silver stood up after this, being somewhat cured. "Thanks, Master."

"Back to you bringing me here." He said, not acknowledging the thanks he had just received. "You can say you did it for enemy purposes, but it is too clear what you are truly doing."

"And that is?" Silver wasn't fully understanding his Master's words.

"You are trying to impress me. You are going out of your way through pain and trails to show me what you are capable of. And you are doing this so that I may teach you greater power, so you may seem like I do: invincible."

Silver did not move at this 'theory', but his eyes told the whole story. When Tailz looked at them, they said 'He found me out.'

"I will only show you the path to greater power. I will not tread it for you."

"But what about the training?"

"I will train you on your fighting and your powers, but I will not train you on how powerful they can be. That is your duty. But enough of this. We leave."

Silver nodded, and brushed himself off. "It won't take long to be within Midgar now."

"We are not going to Midgar." Silver looked at him. "Now is not the time."

Silver walked close to his Master. "After we've come all this way you want to turn back? What would be the point?"

"Now is not the time. Something is affecting me the closer I get to the city."

"And what is it? What is it doing to you?"

"I don't know for sure. It may have caused me to attack you, and it may not have."

"If it's effecting you, how can you not know?"

Tailz grew angry at the question, and grabbed Silver by the throat, lifting him at least a foot off the ground. Then, his wrist ignited into flames, but not the hand holding his apprentice. "I don't know because I don't know who I am! I don't even know what I am!" Tailz dropped Silver and looked at the flames. "These powers, my speed, my skill...I know nothing about them." The flames went out, but Tailz did not stop looking at his hand. "Who am I..."

Silver stood up, and showed pity to his Master. "You are Tailz, and my Master."

Tailz looked at Silver, but showed no smile. He walked past his apprentice. "We leave for Junon."

"Junon?" Silver said, turning around to see his Master still walking. "What, through the mountains?"

"Yes." Tailz said, and stopped walking. Silver caught up to his Master, and took a short lead. Tailz simply looked at Midgar.

"I will return." He said quietly as he looked upon the city. However, as he looked at the left part of the ruins, he saw a small figure emerge and walk away from the disaster site. Tailz smiled, though bleakly at the view he had just seen. "The hallucinations again. That must change before I return."

He turned around, and follwed Silver south.

Amarant followed Cerberus to a wide area on the ridge devoid of any people, except for a White Mage standing nearby. "This is our makeshift training area." Cerberus said.

Amarant looked around the area: there was nothing at all. It was just a piece of land. "Pretty simple training area." He said.

"We don't need an arena or anything, just some open space here to battle. And this White Mage is ready to heal any wound, in case something goes wrong." Cerberus walked a few feet from Amarant, then faced him. "Now, what have you for weapons?"

"Just these." Amarant said, reaching into his robes and extracting his claws that hung on his belt.

"How long have you fought with that weapon?"

"3, 4 years or so."

Cerberus smiled. "Very good. That will bring us more time to focus on defense and long-range attacks. I can assume you do not have any long range attacks?"

"What exactly do you mean?"

"I mean either throwing items or magic."

Amarant shook his head. "Nothing of the sort."

Cerberus walked towards him. "Then we shall have to fix that. Follow me."

The two of them left the training area, just as quickly as they arrived. But they did not go far: Amarant seen a large barn-like structure that they were heading to, and it was only a few large paces off. Cerberus opened the large double-doors, letting the light from the sun stream in. "This is our weapons storage. Here we will find something to equip you with for long range battle."

As Amarant followed the Training Monk into the building, he was in total shock for the amount of weaponry he seen. Several Materia's of every kind were on shelves, labeled and held in clear containers. Fire, Ice, Lightning, and Gravity Amarant saw, as well as Destruct, Comet and many others. But that was only a few feet inside the building. Soon, weapons of every kind could be seen in plain view: handguns, sniper rifles, machine guns, swords, knives, steel-plated gloves, whips, and other items of destruction.

"Why would you have all this weaponry?" Amarant asked Cerberus as they walked along, and continued to see more weapons adorn the walls.

"As you are not affiliated with the Temples, I cannot answer that." Cerberus said, before stopping abruptly. "I believe these items will be more suited to your style of fighting." Cerberus put his hand on something from the counter in front of him.

"My style of fighting?" Amarant said, without even looking at what Cerberus grabbed. "You've known me for 5 minutes!"

"While we walked towards the training area, I used Scan on you. It gave me a brief look at your stats, and from them, I concluded that you are more of a power fighter, though your speed is high as well. And once I learned of your weapon selection, it was confirmed." Cerberus held out a small four-bladed star to Amarant. "This will be the style of long-range weapon you will utilize. These smaller ones are refered to as shurikens, while these larger ones are called pinwheels." Cerberus grasped a sun-shaped circle with small blades all around the exterior about the size of his head, and held it out.

"I think I could use those. But how do I keep them on my person?"

"These special holders will ensure you have an adequete supply." Cerberus handed him a black holder with two small cylinders attached to each other. "This goes on your belt. Each cylinder, although only about 10 centimetres deep, can hold 15 shurikens, giving you a total of 30."

Amarant looked at the holder as Cerberus put another large one on top of it, obvious meant to hold the pinwheels. "Again, this attaches to your belt. It only holds 7 pinwheels, though, so keep that in mind." He walked past Amarant, back towards the exit, but stopped about 5 metres away from it and looked on a shelf to his right; a shelf full of Materia.

"You don't use any Materia at all, correct?"

"That's right." Amarant said, approaching Cerberus. He then attached the holders to his belt, with the shurikens taking the left side.

"Then you will need this, I would think." Cerberus grasped a green Materia from the shelf, and held it out. "This is Shell, also known as MBarrier. It will help shield you against magic attacks. It will be a great help since you do not have any other Materia. If you did, each one would increase your Magic Defense a bit, and you wouldn't need this."

"Alright. But don't I need some kinda holder for this?"

"The spot between the two holders for your shurikens was designed to hold a Materia. Put it there."

"Ok." Amarant did just that. "This guy is all business, much different than White Magic."

Cerberus looked at Amarant's choice of apparel: with a robe that was much like a monks, there wasn't much to look at. "Do you have any sentimental reason to wear that clothing?"

"None. Why..."

"Then we shall re-equip you with better clothes, and a little bit of armor to go on top of that as well."

"I don't know about that." Amarant said quickly. "I like to go into towns and not seem like the battle type."

"The armor won't be a lot, really. Just some leather in strategic places. It can also be removed and re-attached with ease."

Amarant nodded his head to show his approval. "Alright, let's do it."

"This might take some getting used to."

Amarant had gotten some simple clothes, with just a thick white shirt and thick white pants being his main ensemble, along with a pair of brown leather boots and a belt that was there only to give his ranged-weapon holders something to attach to. But the rest was rather different for the not-so-warrior-type. Leather pads were attached right above his shoulders, as well as his chest. Thin leather pads strapped to his forearms, protecting only the outside of his arm and running all the way to his knuckles, but that allowed him freedom of movement in battle to throw his new weapons. And since the leather was not overall that thick, he could put on his claws with no hassle. His pants did stay as is, though, with no leather pads being attached to them.

"It won't take long for you to adjust to them." Cerberus said, standing just a few feet away at the training area. "Just walking around with them may seem strange, but in battle, you will not notice them. Your mind will be focused on surviving, so you will pay them no heed and attack just as you would."

"More than likely." Amarant said, readjusting the leather chest pad. "But until then, they do feel rather strange."

"Then let us get to battle-practice." Cerberus said. "Like I said before, we won't go over your claw technique, since you probably have gotten your own ways of attacking with them by now. We will focus mainly on defensive manuevers, defensive shielding, and long-range attacks."

"So I'm going to throw these shurikens and pinwheels as dummies?"

"A dummy will not prepare you for the battle that may lie ahead." Cerberus signalled to the White Mage, who approached them. "I will be the target."

"Pardon?"

"I will be the target. The White Mage here will cast Stop on any incoming objects just as they would strike me, and that will allow us to see your accuracy with those throwing weapons."

Amarant shook his head, as if trying to clear his mind. "Alright, let's get this straight here. Ok, you're asking me to throw objects at you, objects that could kill you, and depend on a White Mage to stop them before they do? No way I will agree to that!"

"This training exercise has been done countless number of times by myself and the White Mage here, so do not worry. But if you still do not believe me, which your eyes say, then perhaps a demonstration will suffice." He held out his arm, equipped with the yellow armor plates. "This armor cannot be pierced by a normal blow of a sword, nor by a flying shuriken." He reached forward, grabbed a shuriken from Amarant's holder, and stabbed his armor repeatedly with the small throwing blade. It didn't even leave a mark, nor a scratch, on the armor's surface. "I will hold out my arm here, and after you back up a few steps, you will throw a shuriken straight at my arm. The White Mage here will Stop it, and you will see how safe this truly is."

"Alright." Amarant said, taking back the throwing star that Cerberus had taken. He turned around, took several paces back, then faced Cerberus and the White Mage. Cerberus had his right arm straight out, between himself and the White Mage. "Throw when you are ready." He said. Amarant nodded, and with a flick of his wrist, the shuriken was sent flying straight towards the armor on Cerberus' arm. But Amarant never heard metal hit metal. That sound never surfaced.

"Come and take a look." Amarant walked towards Cerberus, and found the shuriken was at least a hand's length away from him as it floated on the air. Looking at the White Mage, Amarant saw a smile come from her face. "But you merely threw this weapon at me. Do it again, but use all your might. Throw this as fast as you can, so it can be completely proven to you how safe this is."

"Ok." Amarant once again turned around, took a few paces back, and faced Cerberus once more. With the same shuriken as before, Amarant focused on his target. "He better be right about this." Amarant took a step forward, throwing his momentum into the mix. Leaning forward as the step finished, he threw the star as hard as he could side-arm, and seen it streak straight at Cerberus' forearm. Like the last time, though, the sound of metal hitting metal was never heard.

"Obviously, the shuriken got closer this time." Cerberus said as Amarant approached him. Looking at the gap between it and his arm, Amarant saw there was still enough room for two hands to get through, if held vertically-together. "Is that satisfying enough?"

"It is. I threw that one so hard it almost felt like I pulled my arm from my socket."

Cerberus smiled. "Don't throw it like that again, not with that much force. Remember, this is training, so don't over- exert yourself. But remember not to lag either. If you do not keep at a peak-pace, you will not learn as much as you could."

And with those words in mind, the training of Amarant begun. For many hours they trained, and many things did they cover. Cerberus explained to Amarant about how shurikens were meant more for injuring your opponent, while pinwheels were made for grave injuries and finishing the battle. Countless times Amarant threw his shurikens and pinwheels at the Training Monk, and countless times did they stop before striking him. Then, Cerberus returned the favor, and attacked Amarant, teaching him how to effectively dodge and roll attacks that were aimed for various body areas. Then, with the help of the White Mage, Amarant was told how to activate the Shell Materia, how to get it working as quickly as possible, and how to deactivate it, should the need for it arise. Then she cast Protect on Cerberus and Amarant, and they engaged in real battle. Amarant found out just how much he learnt during that battle, for he was able to dodge and roll his attacks with ease, and reposition himself for counter-attacks just as quickly. No blood was shed that day, but the gallons of sweat dripping off of Amarant's face was an indicator of the length and pressure of the training he had receiving.

When the curfew was in effect, and White Magic went inside her tent to find out how Amarant was doing, she seen him sleeping softly in the guest bed. White smiled at this, for his leather armor and claws were still equipped, showing how exhausted he truly was. Casting Sleep and Cure on him to make sure he got the best rest possible, White removed his claws and threw a blanket over top of him before going to bed herself. Before she fell asleep, she wondered how well he would deal with the event coming up in the morning.

"We stop here, for a moment." Tailz said.

Silver shook his head in disappointment. Due to his injuries, he was still somewhat weak. And despite his insistences that he would be fine marching straight-on until nightfall, Tailz made them stop every couple of hours and rest. Always saying something to the effect of 'This will remind you to think after battle', Tailz seemed very impatient at having to stop so often. But Silver had began to think it was something more.

"He said this will make me think, but wouldn't marching under this pain drive the point home more? And why not keep on going? He's so impatient."  Silver, among his thoughts as they trekked, made a epiphany to himself. "Maybe he does care if I live. Maybe all that talk of making sure he isn't remembered as the 'man who trained a weak apprentice' is just a cover." As he sat on the ground during another stop, he gazed into the eyes of Tailz, who was standing nearby. Tailz met his gaze.

"Time to go. Your weakness is running my patience thin." He said, and starting walking. Silver got up, and smiled. "Perhaps this is the way he wishes to be seen, as ruthless and cut-throat to everybody else. Put to those who earn it, he will show a different side." He nodded his head. "I'll earn it! I want to see his 'good' side more often than not, so I will follow his orders, every single one. My determination will bring forth a better Tailz. In the end, any motives will be given to me as well, and then a mutual decision could be made! Yes, that is the how it should be, especially for a man who doesn't know who he is. I'll help him with my determination to become a great man! That will be my mission."

They continued walking south, away from Midgar, for many hours after Silver made a choice on what exactly was his goal on his journey. They stopped every few hours, just like before, but Tailz did not make the same short speech on how Silver was weak. He seemed content to just pace around as Silver rested and kept his left arm in check. It was truly sealed from what Tailz did to it, with not a drop of blood coming forth from the cauterized area. After a few minutes, they trekked once more, getting ever closer to the Mountains of Midgar.

However, even as they rested at regular intervals, Silver was quite exhausted. During their trek towards the Ruins of Midgar, Tailz had kept a pace hardly faster than walking. But now the pace he had set was much quicker than walking, almost akin to that of jogging, and it was rigorous for the injured apprentice. When at last the sun fell and Tailz said they would stop for the night, Silver was more than ready for sleeping on any surface he could find.

Luckily for him, and most likely Tailz as well, they were able to make it to a small forest before they stopped for the night. And with fall coming on, many leaves had fallen to the ground, providing enough padding for a makeshift bed wherever they pleased.

"I will keep watch tonight. You need the rest to heal." Silver was somewhat taken back by the remark: it was the first words he heard all day that didn't remark on his weakness, or inability to think. But with him exhausted as he was, Silver didn't stay awake to ponder it's meaning. Immediately he made a large pile of leaves long enough for himself, and laid down to rest. Within the minute, his rhythmed-breathing told Tailz that he was indeed asleep.

Tailz, in the meantime, stuck his sword into the ground near a tree and leaned against the large oak. He lowered his head, and to all who would have approached him, he was asleep. But under that guise, Tailz kept his malice, waiting for something to approach. To be killed.

He kept in the same position all night: one leg straight out, the other bent, his arms dangling at his side as the shadows hid the wandering eyes he had.

"Amarant! Amarant!!" Amarant slowing opened his eyes to see White Magic run right past him. "AMARANT!!!!"

"What?!" He practically yelled back at her. He noticed the Sun had barely risen yet, and he was still tired.

"The Door is going to open in 18 minutes, so hurry up and get outside where the rest of the Monks are!"

"18 MINUTES!?" Amarant said as he went to don his battle clothes, and found them already on them. All that was missing was his claws, which he quickly picked up. "Must have slept in my clothes last-"

"No time for that! Get outside and find Cerberus! He'll give you your position!"

Amarant nodded his head in a panic as he dashed out of the tent and towards the large group of Temple-members that were close to the Door.

"Alright everybody, LISTEN UP!!!!" White Magic yelled at the Monks and Mages in front of her. Any clatter or whispers were immediately replaced with dead silence, and all eyes were on her as she stood on the ridge near where the door was.

"We have approximately 5 minutes until this Door opens, so I'll only repeat this once! And if you have any questions after, speak up! It may be the different betweeen life and death for you! Now, take a quick look at where everybody is." Amarant did so, and noticed for the first time that all the 'warriors' were set up in a semi-circle around the door; something he didn't notice before due to the state of panic of being prepared and put into position. "This is where you will stay THE ENTIRE TIME!! Now, I know each and everyone of you has been told what your purpose is here, but I wish to make it clear to the entire group what the plan is. The first few people by the Door are White Mages, like myself. In the case that a dangerous fiend comes from the Door, they will Scan it and yell out any weaknesses that are available. Magic Monks, immediately ready whatever kind of Magic that is. After the Scanning is complete, they will try and Slow it or Stop it. While this may work, if it does not, it may provoke the fiend into attacking. If it even tries to attack one of our people, all of you will attack it! Magic users, use only medium-level spells like Fire2 or Ice2 from the start, just in case it has much more life than we expect. That way, you will have enough power left to cast some high level spells to weaken it. Now, in the event that our long-range magic and attacks do not take it out, or do nothing to stop it at all, all Monks with close -range fighting skills will move in and attack. You know who you are. As for defense, do not concern yourself with it at all. As you probably noticed, there is a White Mage behing every 4 Monks and Mages. They will make sure everyone that they are assigned to cover has the appropriate defense spell cast on them, and they will heal you if it is required. In the case that you become critically injured and need immediate healing, back out of the semi-circle. There, a Mage will null the Shell you have, if any, and you will be healed. But be ready to enter the battle immediately after, in case the fiend is still not defeated. Also, if you need just some normal healing, get into the open and yell out HEAL until it is done. White Mages, whomever backs out and yells Heal will be given precidence over any other warrior you are covering. After the fiend is taken care of, we may revive it with a Phoenix Down if we feel it's necessary, so be prepared just in case it becomes hostile once more. Are there any questions?"

Silence took the battle-ready Monks and Mages. "Alright everybody, may the Temple bless you all, and good luck! We have 3 minutes!" White Magic left the ridge where the door was, and put herself among the White Mages nearest the door. Amarant looked at her, and could have sworn she looked back and winked at him for good luck.

Amarant put two shurikens in his hands and readied himself to throw them. He was in the lower right-hand 'corner' of the semi-circle, and he felt that was the perfect angle to throw shurikens at any fiend that emerged. What kind of fiend, or how powerful, Amarant kept from his mind to remain calm and collected.

"ABOUT 1 MINUTE!!!!" White yelled out, and everybody took battle stances. Swords were raised, arrows put into bows, incantations were spoken, and prayers were heard all around. And although Amarant was never much of a religious man, he felt the need to pray, being in the company of the Temples. "Dear God, please see that none of us are hurt this day. Amen."

When Amarant opened his eyes after praying, he noticed the symbols on the Door were shining brighter than ever before, and only getting brighter. "THIS IS IT!!! READY YOURSELVES!!!!" White Magic yelled out.

Without any warning, the symbols on the Door began to rotate, each clockwise. Then, light burst forth from the Symbol of the Sun, but it only went out a few feet. Light then burst forth from the Ocean symbol, then the Earth and the Moon. The light all stopped a few feet from each symbol, and did not touch the other beams of light. Then, they all angled towards the center of the beams, and when they collided, it shot straight into the heart of the forest. Where the beam went, trees fell in it's path, while those that still stood were ignited into flames. The beam went on straight and true, but seemed to stop at about the center of the forest, where the Temple of the Ancients once stood.

Amarant was in complete awe at the destruction that beam had done so far: a beam that was of Cetra origin. As he watched the beam, he saw that is was retreating, but with intense speed. The beam soon struck the Door from where it came, but no explosion or avalanche followed from the force that hit the mountain. Instead, the beam disappeared, leaving behind a massive flash of light that blinded anybody who looked at it. It didn't take long for everyone's vision to return, and they all gazed at the ridge. The Door where the beam had come from was gone, with no trace of it to be seen. Only darkness could be viewed from any position that the Monks and Mages had.

"The fires that the beam started are gone." A Monk said close to Amarant. Looking at the fallen and broken trees where a new path was, Amarant noticed he was right. Any fire that was created by the beam of light had disappeared; extinguished when the beam itself had disappeared.

"You three!" White Magic said, pointing at the White Mages closest to her. "Follow me to the ridge. We will Scan the inside and see if anything is lying in wait." They nodded their heads, and followed White up the ridge. They all stand by the door, and cast Scan into the empty space.

"I sense nothing." One of them said.

"Myself as well." Another said.

"I don't sense anything as well. You?" White asked the final White Mage.

"Nothing." She replied. White took a deep breath at these remarks. "Very good to know. Now, get the Geomancers up here to test the site! Everybody else is dismissed!"

Amarant also took a deep breath at the remarks, and put the two shurikens away that he had kept in his hands. He turned to leave, but White ran up and put her hand on his shoulder to stop him. "You handled yourself quite well." She remarked.

"Thanks." He turned around to face her. "I just kept myself from thinking how powerful or dangerous the fiend coming out of their could be, and I was fine."

"Easy for you to say." White said. "I have to invision the worst case scenerio, and plan from that. I was sweating buckets up there, but I was ready."

"Wouldn't expect it any other way." Amarant smiled. "But what's with the Geomancers?"

"Well, although there is no 'true' Geomancer, he have people who act like them. In caves and what not, they cast very-low level Quake spells on certain areas to make sure the ground is secure enough to walk on. They control the area that cast on too, of course."

"But what if those quakes cause the cave to collaspe?"

"Better a quake in an empty cave than the footsteps of 10 researchers." Amarant nodded, and was about to say something else when White was distracted.

"The Cave is secure!" A Geomancer yelled out from the entrace.

"Alright. Thanks!" White yelled out. The Geomancer just nodded his head. "Before I take you in to have a look, I have to make sure you won't be seeing anything you shouldn't be."

"Understandable." Amarant said as White Magic walked off. She disappeared in the darkness of the cave for several minutes before re-emerging to wave Amarant in. He walked over, somewhat hesitant to see what had to be locked away in a secret cave in the mountains.

When he entered the cave, he found it wasn't as dark as he had supposed. Already, torches were lit and put into holders in the walls. Amarant noticed that the holders had rust upon them, showing that they had been there for a great deal of time. After a few more steps, he stood right beside White Magic. "Whoa." Amarant said as he gazed upon the wall for the first time.

What he saw was nothing short of spectacular. Intricate drawing adorned the wall in front of them, and although they showed no color, at once Amarant knew they were of events that had passed, or that would pass. The first drawing to the left showed the moon high in the sky with few clouds around it. Below it was a mountain, with a door drawn in it, and 4 small white symbols on the door. Looking slowly to the right, Amarant then saw a woman with long hair seperating this picture from the next. Farther to the right was drawn a tunnel viewed from the entrance, and within that tunnel was a human looking at the wall to the left. But the human was holding a dagger, and Amarant thought that it was not sheathed to be different. Looking more to the right, Amarant saw the same woman seperate the drawings once again. Looking at her for the moment, Amarant saw no distinguished feature at all about her. Whomever drew her on the stone wanted to either keep her anonymous, or she was not deserving of such detail.

To the right of the woman, Amarant saw another drawing. In it, a half-sun was in the sky, covered by thick cloud-cover. Below it, the same tunnel was drawn, but at the end of it, a door with three white symbols was shown. To the right was the same woman yet again, once again being the border between drawings. Amarant saw to the right of her a tunnel, but it was different then the tunnel in the last two drawings: this one was much wider and higher, looking to be more of a chamber than a cave. However, inside the chamber, was a human carrying a dagger, much like the previous drawing. It was held up, and it appeared that he was ready for battle. The same woman was to the right again, but nothing else was to the right of her as the end of the cave blocked any more drawings from being created.

"Done analyzing silently yet?" White interrupted with as Amarant looked at the woman again. He nodded. "Good. This silence was starting to scare me. Now, do you know the events that are depicted here?"

"I think I can solve them." Amarant looked at the first drawing. "Maybe this means the creation of the Door?"

"That was the final answer I came up with. It doesn't show anything else, so let's assume we are right. Next."

Amarant looked at the picture with the human holding a dagger. "I can assume that this drawing represents what we are doing now; since the Door has opened, he are inside and looking at the wall as this person is." He pointed at the human within the drawing.

"Same conclusion here. What perplexes me is the choice of weapon. Generally, thieves are the ones who use daggers the most. Prehaps this means that a thief was predicted to find the Door open. Or something."

"Could be. The next drawing looks like the first, so I assume that was the creation of this Door." He pointed to the end of the cave. "But I don't see any symbols on it."

"Could be some time yet before the symbols show up." White stated. "The next picture, if you could. We'll focus on the woman after."

"Well, it appears like it's a totally different cave altogether. Maybe it is a different cave, or it means that what is behind this door is much larger than this."

"Works for me. And here we see the thief ready for battle, or so it seems. But then there is no other drawings, due to the other Door here cutting off the space."

"Unless there are more drawings behind this door, in the next chamber." White looked at Amarant and smiled. "That's what I thought as well. Now, what do you think of this woman?"

"Well, to look at, she isn't much at all. All you can discern are her eyes, nose, mouth and hair. No detail at all within her, like she wasn't important."

White nodded at this, but was soon scratching her head. "Or, perhaps the reason she doesn't have any detail is that she is so well known, she doesn't need any. But in the history of the Cetra, there is only one woman that lies predominantly. Jenova."

Amarant looked at White when she mentioned Jenova, then he looked back at the woman on the wall. "Well, being that she seperates each 'event', so to speak, she must be important. And with the events that you told me, Jenova was very important in the Cetra history."

"That is true." White said. "But why give her the honor, so to speak, of being with events that happened after her death? This cave was obviously constructed about the same time as the Temple of the Ancients, so she was dead. What is the point..."

They stood there for several minutes, but they both had blank minds to the question at hand. "Oh well. Perhaps the trip will let us think of a reason."

"Trip?" Amarant replied as they left the cave.

"We are leaving this island for another Temple. Researchers will take a look at the drawings and let me know if they figure out anything."

"Great." Amarant said once they were out of the cave. "That means he have to walk all the way back to the plane."

"Not this time!" White said cheerfully. "At the base of the mountain, he have some buggies that will glady be our transportation to the jet!"

"Thank god." Amarant said. White smiled. "Pack your stuff up, we leave immediately."

It didn't take long for Amarant to grab what he had, mainly because all that he had was on his back. He grabbed his 'old' clothes and took them with him, though, just in case he was in need of spare clothes. After removing his leather armor- plates and his claws, as well as his ranged weapon holders, White was ready as well. They went down the mountain and were soon in a buggy with another Monk, who was driving them towards their jet. However, just like when they first arrived on the island, Amarant had no idea where he was truly heading.