9 - A Single Line Of Darkness

[Sephiroth X]

(( Part One ))

*Sephiroth X quietly sprinted across the Desert of the Dead using the night as his cover. It was one of the basic rules he remembered from those who lived in this desert before he was one of them, the daytime heat can kill if you push yourself during it. The only people who moved during the day were the drifter gangs, but they were crazy as it was. X grinned at himself slightly as he hustled, calling others crazy when he in the not so distant past tried to storm the city of Zion in the broad daylight of a risen sun. X wasn’t going to do something so risky again though, this time… He went to Zion in darkness.

- - - - -

*Within Zion in the Senate main headquarters sitting in his personal chambers, The Senator sat in his chair looking down upon the dormant nighttime Zion. The lights of the city put an eerie glow over the aged leader of The Senate as he took a moment to appreciate the momentary peace that had settled. But his moment of Zen was abruptly shortened when he heard is door open and one of his lieutenants came up to him holding some PDA.

The Senator- What is it?

Nighttime Lt.- Our night vision cameras picked up this about 3 minutes ago, my Lordship, about a mile from our main wall and closing.

*The Senator looked at the PDA and saw a zoomed out black and green image with a humanoid figure in the middle of it. He clicked on the center of the picture to get it to zoom in, and has the picture refocused it was a night vision image of Sephiroth X. The Senator smirked a little upon seeing this.

The Senator- How fast is he approaching?

Nighttime Lt.- Pretty fast, my Lordship, he should be at the main wall within a minute or two at most.

The Senator- How many do we have on night shifts tonight?

Nighttime Lt.- Um… I think tonight’s roster was about-

*The lieutenant was cut off as another figure walked into the room, he was wearing a robed outfit and the light from the outside hallway made him nothing but a silouhette.

Robed Man- There will be no need for that…

*The Senator immediately recognized this third person’s voice, and quickly waved his hand instructing the lieutenant to back away so he couldn’t hear the conversation about to commence, and the lieutenant followed orders. The robed man walked up to The Senator, standing behind The Senator’s chair looking out over his right shoulder. The Senator himself never broke his alternating gaze from the image of Sephiroth X and Zion.

The Senator- Supreme High Priest Revan of the Holy Order of the Magi… what brings you out of your foxhole tonight?

*Revan smiled a little as the Zion lights faintly illuminated his face as well.

Revan- The person your inferiors just spotted coming to Zion.

The Senator- …. How did you know he was coming here?

Revan- It’s our job to know these things, and we expected it anyway.

The Senator- Wait you knew he was coming and you didn’t even bother to tell me about it?

Revan- Seriously, it was a common sense thing if you’ve been paying attention. This man’s on a collision course with his destiny, which involves our precious Element of Prosperity, it seemed quite logical that he would probably attempt to return here in looking for more information about the Valley and all of those mythos.

The Senator- Your probably right. So is that the only reason you came here, or is there something else?

Revan- Let him in.

The Senator- … Excuse me?

Revan- Sephiroth X. Let him enter Zion.

The Senator- …Do you mind if I ask why?

Revan- There are things we want him to find out, and things to see.

The Senator- … I’ll do it. But I’m warning you that I don’t want this to explode into something ugly… I know for a fact that I along with my inferiors are getting frustrated covering up for your bizarre dealings.

Revan- Now now, don’t be like that. We both know that the reason you hold your job right now is because of us. Don’t let it go to your head, my dear figurehead.

*The Senator gritted his teeth quietly as Revan turned around and began to leave The Senator’s quarters. The Senator waved his arm and instructed the lieutenant to come close to him again.

Nighttime Lt.- Yes, my Lordship?

The Senator- Ready a reasonable attack squadron…

*The Senator tapped his finger on a section of a building marked on a Zion map.

The Senator- Have them intercept Sephiroth X here.

*Revan stopped momentarily just near the exit from The Senators quarters.

Revan- What did we just discuss…

The Senator- Well it doesn’t take someone with high rank like myself to put the pieces together and see that you plan on leading him someplace… And someone of this mans skills would know something is up if he would just sneak into Zion and never encounter anything close to resistance.

Revan- … Perhaps you do have a point there …

*Revan turned around and walked up behind The Senator again and observed the location The Senator dubbed the ‘strike zone’.

Revan- You… are positive that this would be a good place to mount a resistance against him?

The Senator- Given his current trajectory to Zion, he would first find his way into the Archives and most likely stay indoors and use this building to move about.

Revan- If he would enter the Archives first and then we assume go directly to the strike point, he would have already passed our Armory… are you sure you want that?

*The Senator nodded.

The Senator- Sephiroth X sticks to his swords and his melee fighting, the armory wouldn’t be much help to him. Plus if we let him get past a good chunk of our critical facilities and then he encounters resistance, he might believe that he is on to something and would search further rather than leaving Zion and not going to were The Magi would want him.

*Revan smirked slightly.

Revan- Very well done, you impress me with your knowledge of enemy tactics. So tell me, how big of a resistance would you put up against Sephiroth X?

The Senator- A large one, to say the least.

Revan- Large enough to even kill him?

The Senator- Let me say this, the only way that we’ll convince Sephiroth X that he’s onto something AND the only way my troops will fight at their all is if they both feel their lives are at risk. So the soldiers I am going to send there will be issued with orders to kill him, not put up a fight and then die.

Revan- Well I think it’s safe to say that Sephiroth X will come out of their victorious anyway.

The Senator- And if they actually do get a chance to put him down for good… I wouldn’t hesitate at the chance.

Revan- You fear him that much?

The Senator- His strength has probably grown since last time he came to the Wall of Zion… and last time he almost got through in broad daylight… Imagine what could happen now… or if he got th-

*Revan cut him off.

Revan- Don’t speak too highly of him, you forget that –we- had no involvement with the last time Sephiroth X came to Zion… if we did I believe he would be dead now.

The Senator- Either I speak too highly of him or you underestimate him, either way one of us is right.

Revan- … So what specific room in the complex is the attack going to take place in?

*Revan leaned over the Senator’s shoulder a little more to look to the fine details of the map.

The Senator- The Observatory, the largest room in that building complex. As you pointed out it is just beyond the Armory based on where we expect Sephiroth X to enter it from. The only things beyond that room are our prototype weapons lab and the Secondary Archive… And you and I both know the only real reason the Secondary Archive even exists…

*Revan’s smirk turned into a devilish smile.

Revan- Very well planned, very well…

*Revan turned around again and began walking out of the room.

Revan- Plan accordingly, Senator... and thank you for you’re loyalty and cooperation.

*The door opened for Revan, and he walked out leaving only The Senator and his lieutenant.
Nighttime Lt.- The strike force is organizing and getting prepared, they will be situated in the Observatory in under five minutes. Is there anything else you would like, Senator?

The Senator- …Hand me Hades.

Nighttime Lt.- Your katana, sir?

*The Senator nodded as he stood up from his chair. The lieutenant quick went over to the Senator’s personal closet and came back with the blade The Senator requested. Then as The Senator fastened his sword and sheath onto his belt he turned and started walking past the lieutenant before halting momentarily.

The Senator- …Inform the troops that if Sephiroth X attempts to enter Zion, do not engaged in combat even if attacked, the expection being the strike force in the observatory… give them orders to kill.

Nighttime Lt.- My Lordship?

The Senator- … Do it.

*The lieutenant nodded slowly.

Nighttime Lt. – Yes, my Lordship.

*The lieutenant quickly paced out of the room to relay his orders, and The Senator slowly walked out of his quarters with his own agenda in mind.

[Sephiroth X]

*Sephiroth X stood looking straight up at the grand defensive wall of Zion. The main gate was out of question considering it’s locked up from the inside at nighttime. So how to get in was the question. X looked around and didn’t notice anything else that could possibly lead to something like an entrance, so X decided he’d have to improvise.

*He pulled out the Masamune and gripped it tightly, took one step back, and then slashed horizontally at the wall of Zion. The end result leaving a large horizontal gash in the wall, big enough for one to use as a foothold. Sephiroth X tested the stability of his newly made foothold, and then used it to raise himself up a few feet onto the wall. From there X slashed the Masamune again above him creating another climb point on the wall of Zion, he reached up and gripped it with his hand and pulled himself up enough to where he could get his foot into this new foothold. Seeing that his apparent means of entry might actually work, he took a second to look down at the ground and then back up to the top of the Zion wall. As he looked down, he was maybe 8 feet off of the ground, looking up on the other hand was a different story all together.

Sephiroth X- Heh… well small progress is better than none I guess.

*Sephiroth X continued his repetitive process of hacking and slashing his way into climbing up the massive wall of Zion. It was a slight time consuming process, but for the sake of attempting a more stealthy entrance into Zion it was necessary. As Sephiroth X slowly grew closer to the top of the massive barrier of Zion he made sure to keep his slashes as quiet as he could whilst still making his footholds in the wall. It was possible that a guard atop the wall could hear one of his hacks as he got closer to the top.

*After a slow and progressive scaling of the Zion wall with nothing more than the Masamune, Sephiroth X reached up and grasped the ledge of the walls top. He slowly lifted himself high enough to peak over the top of the wall and see if any guards were patrolling in the immediate vicinity. He first looked to his left, nothing, wasn’t even a spotlight post close by to his left, as he looked to his left he saw one spotlight post close with a probably half-sleeping guard walking along the wall towards him. There was one guard in the spotlight post as well, but his attention was focused on some book he was reading while having his leg kicked up on a desk sitting in a chair. As the patrolling guard paced closer to were X was he lowered himself a little bit so nothing but his fingers were peeking over the walls ledge, and their black coloring basically made even those look invisible against the nighttime backdrop. The guard walked up right to were X hung beneath him and as he proceeded to walk past the guard heard a quiet whistle, prompting him to pause momentarily and look out to the nighttime desert. After a split second suddenly he heard something else that sounded like a faint voice.

Sephiroth X- Hey…

*Perplexed by what he just heard the guard promptly leaned out over the wall’s guard railing and before he could even see the desert ground at the base of the wall Sephiroth X spring-boarded up and grabbed the guard by the collar of his shirt and emphatically pulled him down over the railing, while X grabbed the ledge of the wall again to mask his presence, sending the guard plummeting down the height of the massive wall slamming into the desert below with a faint scream heard the entire way down.

*The guard that was reading some book in the guard tower pulled the book down from his face after hearing what he swore was a scream. He looked down the length of the patrol path and couldn’t see the patrolling guard that passed him moments ago. The guard put a bookmark on the page he was currently on and set it down on his desk while he grabbed his rifle and stood up.

Book Reading Guard- Hey… what’s goin’ on down there?

*The second guard slowly walked down the same path that the previous guard had walked down, this time with his rifle in a sidesaddle ready stance just for precautionary measures.

*Figuring the same trick wouldn’t work twice, Sephiroth X shimmied to his right on the side of the wall slowly and continued to quietly shimmy as the second guard above him walked past inconspicuous of the presence near him. After quietly maneuvering along the wall for a few more moments X was near the base of the spotlight post the guard just came out of. X peaked over the ledge of the wall again to see that the guard was now about halfway down the way between spotlight stations wondering where the last guard went to. Quietly Sephiroth X spring-boarded up over the railing of the wall and slipped quietly into the spotlight post were the guard just came from, keeping himself pressed near a dark corner of the small room. Sephiroth X leaned and peaked his head out of the post for a moment to see were the guard nearing the place were Seph did away with the last guard. As X hid back in the room’s shadows again he noticed the guard’s book on the desk…

”How to Make Yourself a Womanizer in 10 Easy Steps” by Butch McMansterson

*Seph blinked momentarily at the book and one of his eyebrows shot up slightly.

*The book-reading guard looked around slightly on edge, that guard that just came through was just here a few moments ago and he knew it. No way he could have gotten down the wall into the city from here and he wasn’t down further on the wall at all either… unless… unless he… The guard immediately glanced over the edge of the wall facing the desert and sure enough down motionless on the desert sand. The guard immediately turned and ran in a dead sprint back to his post to sound the security alarms and alert his superiors.

Book Reading Guard- “Oh crap Oh crap Oh crap Oh crap Oh crap Oh crap Oh crap!”

*The guard ran back to his post making haste and upon reaching the small spotlight post he stopped in the doorway… something wasn’t right… The book! Were did it-

Thwack!

*The elbow of Sephiroth X came from the shadows from the guard’s right side and knocked him out in mid thought sending him falling to the ground. Sephiroth X walked out from the shadows momentarily with the book in hand reading a short excerpt from it with a disgusted look on his face.

Sephiroth X- You people actually read this crap?! Here I thought you all were just fucking stupid, now I think you all were brainwashed or something.

*A few moments later Sephiroth X had the unconscious guard propped into his chair with his pointless book covering his face creating the illusion of a sleeping guard. Seph felt satisfied with this setup and determined it was time to move into the city level of Zion. Walking out of the spotlight post, Seph leaned over the security railing that faced inward towards the Zion city structures observing some basic things.

Sephiroth X- … Information’s what you’re here for X … were would you start…?

*His mako green eyes panned across some of the immediate structures and became fixated on one of the closer ones. A single patrolman guarded its wall-side entrance and judging from the large layout of the building it seemed to be a multi-purpose facility for The Senate. As his eyes gazed over this single building more specifically he noticed a series of windows midway in the complex, within this section he could visibly see a few computer terminals and small structures that seemed to be bookshelves. Bingo he thought to himself, that was exactly what he was hoping to find. It seemed like luck was on his side tonight as well, the side of the wall he decided to scale was essentially the only barrier between he and that building as well.

*X observed the setup on the base of the wall’s city-side, it was fairly dark and obscured enough by shadows of larger buildings. Going directly down the wall would be the safest approach towards reaching this building unseen, so X hopped over the railing of the wall and held his hand against the side of the great Zion wall as he fell downward towards the ground picking up speed. Then as Seph slid about halfway down the length of the wall he drifted into the shadows of the larger buildings within the city and knew that this would be the moment that he would need to slow down his gravity-driven decent. X quickly unsheathed the Masamune with his free hand and drove it into the wall of Zion and quickly slowed his descent. With almost perfect timing with his placement of the Masamune X landed on the ground of Zion just as his momentum ceased, he removed his blade from the Zion wall and sheathed it once again as he observed his immediate surroundings.

*Within the shadows he saw the entrance to the ‘Archive building’ as he dubbed it in the stir of the moment, there was a single light over the doorway and the lone patrol he saw above on top of the wall. The guard didn’t make any movements like he had heard or seen X come down the wall, that was good, his presence wasn’t compromised. So only one guard stood between he and the archive building.

*Seph reached down and pulled a small pebble out of the ground, he had an idea. The guard protecting the entrance to the archive building was slightly to X’s left, and further to the left of X was a window of another building. Seph quickly hurled the small pebble at the window and put enough velocity behind it to make the window crack and shatter upon impact. The guard immediately turned his attention towards his right, which was X’s left, and looked at the window.

Archive Guard- What was that?

*The archive guard looked at the broken window for a second and then turned to look around the area again, as his head motioned back towards his left Sephiroth X immediately came at him out of the shadows in a sprint so fast and with such speed that the guard never had time to react. X leapt into the air in front of the guard and thrust his right leg out at the guards face, Seph’s foot connected directly on the guards jaw and sent the guard’s head flying back toward the Archive building’s wall with an emphatic THUD! and the guard fell over unconscious.

*Seph checked his surroundings after disposing of the guard to make sure nobody else was alerted to his presence. He then knelt down to check the guard over for any kind of keycard he might have on him that would give him access to the Archive Building. Upon checking a few pockets within the man’s vest he pulled out a small Zion Access Keycard.

Sephiroth X- There we go…

*Seph took the keycard and slid it into the appropriate slot for the door lock, as the red light on the door turned to green X heard the door unlock and slide open. Seph held the handle of the sheathed Masamune as he slowly paced through the door into the Archive building anticipating any resistance. As he entered the Archives however there was no resistance and there wasn’t even anybody within the vicinity.

*The lights in the room were dimmed making everything shadowed and dark indicating the Archives were closed for the night, Seph had other plans however. He looked around momentarily, there were massive shelves holding many books and multiple computer terminals that were left in standby mode. X turned his head and looked over his shoulder back toward the door as he heard it close behind him and found precisely what he was looking for as well, a series of light switches for this section of the facility. Seph quickly turned on each series of lights individually determining which ones seemed more ‘primary’ than others since he only wanted enough light to be able to read and not turn the place into a giant beacon saying ‘Hey someone’s in here!’. Upon turning on a couple sets of lights X walked around the library styled archives observing his resources.

Sephiroth X- Ok X… you know what you’re hear for… Now… were do we start…?

*He followed the directional signs for the Archives book organization system and found himself in the ‘E’ section quickly.

Sephiroth X- Well… Might as well start with the most obvious name… Element of Prosperity.

*His green eyes scanned the entire E section of books as he read the titles of every book’s spine. He knew that there had to be some kind of book that mentioned the Element, something so historical and significant to this world’s culture had to have been chronicled somehow. After re-observing the E section, he finally did find what he hoped would be the first breadcrumb on his trail. X grabbed a small stepladder and used it to reach up onto a higher bookshelf and pull out a respectable sized book entitled ‘Element of Prosperity : Tales of our Time’.

Sephiroth X- Hmm…

*X tucked the book under his arm and looked for anything else he could on the Element of Prosperity. To his shock though the book he grabbed was the only one that referenced the Element of Prosperity within the E section.

Sephiroth X- Interesting… Wait…

*Seph walked at a fast pace between bookshelves making his way to the ‘M’ section of the archives. He proceeded to pace back and forth scanning every title like he did in the E section. This time he grabbed two books that suited what he was looking for.

“Mythologies of Modern Civilization”
”Myths and Urban Legends”

*X held his three books under his arm and promptly proceeded towards the ‘H’ section this time. It didn’t take him long to find a book he was looking for, and he pulled out two different books entitled ‘Modern History’ written by two different authors. Seph walked out of the daunting array of bookshelves holding all 5 books as he proceeded towards one of the reading tables. All 5 books were placed on the table as Seph sat down.

Sephiroth X- Lets find out more about you…

*The first book he opened up was the ‘Element of Prosperity : Tales of our Time’ book. The first few chapters of the book talked about the generic stuff that came with all the legends of the Element, were it came from, what it does, the whole 100 years thing, so Seph promptly paged through all of the common sense stuff hoping to find something of more detail. The book probed into details and speculations as he got further into it, and even proposed theories about what exactly the Element can do.

The Element of Prosperity’s powers were rumored to be exponentially different based on legends of past Warriors of Prosperity. It is plausible to believe that The Element’s affect on the person whom finds it may vary depending on the innate traits and strengths of said person.

*Reading this theory made Seph raise an eyebrow slightly, then he leaned back in his chair and stared off in the distance running this through in his mind.

Sephiroth X- So what he’s saying is… The Element has a more profound affect on stronger people than it does weaker… Like… almost basic multiplication… You multiply 3 times 2 and you get 6… but if you multiply 6 times 2 you get a much larger number in 12… So that would mean, if someone who’s very weak finds the Element of Prosperity it could have little to no affect on him?… Interesting…

*Seph dived back into this book as it explained unimportant details about this theory of the Element having exponential differences from person to person. As X read further the book did speculate that this theory may have been the reason that The Apprentice, now The Senator, was able to defeat the previous Warrior of Prosperity in the 200 Year War.

*Most of the remaining information was irrelevant in the book, after that theory it was nothing more then folklore and gave no theories about potential Valley of the Promised locations or anything. Seph closed that book and reached for the “Mythologies of Modern Civilization” book. This book was a compilation of many of the mythologies that have existed in the recorded history of the world but thankfully for X, just over half of the book was dedicated to the mythology that compromised the Element of Prosperity and its side legends like the Warrior of Prosperity and Valley of the Promised. This book too also cited a theory about the Element of Prosperity’s powers, like the last book it hypothesized that the Element was some sort of multiplier of some sort.

*Good, good… Seph thought to himself, The theory pops up in multiple places, this could mean some of this information is reliable.

*Seph then spoke out loud to himself.

Sephiroth X- So say the last Warrior of Prosperity was relatively weak upon finding it… when he was killed by The Senator an after effect of the Element seemed to carry over into him, if this theory is true then its possible to believe the small carry-over that went into The Senator may have even had a more dramatic effect on The Senator than it ever did the Warrior of Prosperity… the same could be said for Prodigi or Azriel as well…

*X then started scanning through the ”Myths and Urban Legends” book, but found it surprisingly useless since it rambled on about old cults and stuff while only having a small definition of the Element legend. So he set the book aside and proceeded to read something else. He delved into the first of the two ‘Modern History’ books and used the glossary to proceed to the Element of Prosperity section. This book seemed to have the most in detail information of the legend he had read yet, specifically circulating around the last man believed to be the Warrior of Prosperity and his death during the 200 Year War.

Sephiroth X- Alright… here we go…

*As Seph read more he got into fine details about the actual battle that the Warrior of Prosperity died in during the 200 year war. It was a large scale battle between Senate forces and a compilation army made up of other forces, primarily out of Midgar. Records indicate some of the soldiers who survived the battle mentioned that the Warrior of Prosperity didn’t look physically like a man who was built like a ‘legend’ and in fact was surprisingly normal looking, almost frail.

Sephiroth X- Come on.. give me a name so I can go and see who this guy was…

*The book never actually gave a name as to the registered soldier who was remembered as the Warrior of Prosperity, all that was mentioned about him was that he wore an emblem on his uniform of a black winged archangel with a sword, presumably his family’s crest on their coat of arms.

Sephiroth X- Hmm… Well, it seems that this theory about the Element’s power is true… He was described as an average man…

*Seph leaned back again in thought… He had no reason to believe that these books theories were false, but at the same time… he didn’t want to take a gamble that it was wrong… he wanted some more confirmation. Then something clicked together in his mind and he shot straight up in his chair then promptly re-read what he just remembered.

Sephiroth X- Coat of arms… crest… an Archangel…

*He put a couple circumstantial pieces together and it made sense to him.

Sephiroth X- Azriel…

*He returned to the bookshelves in a haste… Azriel also went under the alias of Archangel Zero and from what little X knew of him he remembered that Azriel had a past that involved The Senate and the Warrior… Seph went to the ‘M’ section and looked around for a moment before promptly pulling out a massive book from the section entitled ‘Midgarian Military and Civilian Records’. As he returned to the table with all of his books on it, he set the book down with an emphatic thud and quickly opened it up paging through.

Sephiroth X- Come on, come on you gotta be in here.

*If there was any documented past that was linked to Azriel it would have to be in here. He quickly scanned pages as he flew through the civilian section of the massive book, and after paging through a couple hundred pages he promptly stopped on something that looked close to what he was intending. It was a picture of a black archangel on a red backdrop, holding a sword in his right hand triumphantly.

The Family of the Archangel

*That was what their family was referred to in the history book. It gave a semi detailed description of this family’s lineage and gave names to certain key members of the family. Apparently Azriel’s family had some influence in the world when they were in their prime. As X’s finger traced onward it ran over a picture of someone whom looked vaguely familiar.

Sephiroth X- Azriel…

*The picture of him was noticeably different, he had shorter hair, his eyes were of more normal colors, his skin pigmentation was more colored, and he looked more human. There was a small paragraph on Azriel, it also listed a page reference towards his military records in a different section of the book along with the names of his two brothers and their corresponding military records. Seph grabbed a pencil and wrote down the three page numbers along with the page of the Family entry before jumping around in the book. The first reference he went to was the military records of Azriel. There he saw the same styled picture as before of Azriel, except in militaristic clothing. Here they listed off a few recommendations and awards he received during his service, and also noted that he was involved in the same battle in which the Warrior of Prosperity was involved in.

Sephiroth X- So… he saw his own brother die here…?

*The last thing X noticed before jumping to another military record was that this book only listed off Azriel’s date of birth, no date of death was ever listed… it drew a slight smirk from Seph’s face. He quickly then jumped to the military record of Azriel’s first of two brothers. Here he saw the records of a man named ‘Eibel’, a similar military picture was displayed of him along with him bearing the same coat of arms. Very few commendations were listed off for this man, and he noticed that this brother of Azriel did look somewhat ‘average’ in his build.

Sephiroth X- Was… this him?

*Then X noted the date of death for Eibel, and saw that the date of death didn’t correspond with the recorded time period with that of when the Warrior of Prosperity died, Eibel died three years before that battle. Seph shook his head and proceeded toward the next and final military record and the last of Azriel’s brothers.

*The final record was for a man named ‘Cayne’. His military picture was that of an under-built soldier, whom honestly didn’t look like he should be in the military in the first place. Cayne had no military awards and it was noted that he barely was able to be a standard infantry soldier. Hell, his platoon wasn’t even originally scheduled to be involved in the large scale battle against The Senate. One of the final notes in Cayne’s record however made note of some sort of bravery recommendation during a reconnaissance mission. His record stated that their platoon reported apparently finding a mythological structure called The Valley of the Promised but there was no way to confirm such a claim, especially since it was still only a legend. Then the final thing X looked for in Cayne’s file was his date of death. His file stated that Cayne was K.I.A. in a battle his platoon was reassigned too, the date corresponded with the same time period as the one’s that placed the Warrior of Prosperity when he died.

Sephiroth X- So this guy… Cayne… was the Warrior of Prosperity….

*This confirmed the theories about the Element’s abilities, the stronger the person was before the Element, the more it affected them... For whatever reason, X decided to turn back to the main page of Azriel’s family and see if there was any more Warrior of Prosperity information within there.

*The files on the Family of the Archangel continued on for a few pages summarizing the history of the family. Within the last few paragraphs the book did make reference to rumors that the Element of Prosperity legend and this family may have crossed at some point. Then one of the final lines in the family’s file caught X’s eye in a strange manner…

The Family of the Archangel has been linked to multiple historic events over the time period of recorded history, whether they’ve been through good links or bad links such as the family’s rumored links to a mythological cult like group known as the Holy Order of the Magi.

Sephiroth X- The Holy Order of the Magi…

[Sephiroth X]

*Suddenly the images of the cloaked men attacking Bax flashed back into his mind again, along with the meeting of the mysterious leader known as Revan.

Sephiroth X- … Them …

*Even though it be a distant link, the concept of this mysterious Order having any kind of connection to the Element of Prosperity disturbed X. Seph then flew through the Modern History book again searching for anything on the Holy Order of the Magi and came up with nothing. He promptly closed the book and pounded his fist on it.

Sephiroth X- Damnit who are those guys…

*X then started to think for a second… and his eyes slowly trailed back to the ”Myths and Urban Legends” book that he discarded useless a while ago. He remembered it referenced old cults and other things this world dubbed non existent. X reached over and grabbed the discarded book once again and opened it up paging through it searching for something other than the Element of Prosperity for once. Furiously paging through the book he eventually landed on something extremely familiar to him. A circular symbol with an interior circle complimented with 3 separate circles within that. Seph knew exactly where he had seen this symbol before; he saw it when he was tortured during his Senate capture and again when he was trapped in Valtiel’s hell. The opening of this chapter of the book read as followed.

The Holy Order of the Magi
A cult like group traditionally associated with the symbol of the Halo of the Sun

*X read on… citing excerpts of what he was reading in his mind.

Founded an unknown number of years ago, the Holy Order of the Magi was believed to originated within a church structure of a religion long since vanished from the public eye.

The Holy Order’s corruption was just as revered as were some of the powers legend says the possessed.

Sephiroth X- Powers?

The Magi practiced unusual acts stemming from supernatural powers, they could posses dark elemental gifts, collect souls from the beyond, and even reanimate the living into something much more disturbing legend had it.

*As Sephiroth X read on, he found the legends of the Holy Order of the Magi to be progressively more disturbing and simply wrong. They essentially were the first organized cult, and given what he knew quite possibly the last.

More recent legends of the Holy Order of the Magi are that they exist in the shadows and that their influence and corruption stem all across this world. Although it is believed that The Holy Order of the Magi dissolved away quite some time ago and no longer exists.

Sephiroth X- Well that can be written off as false…

*X read a little bit more before he thought he heard something within the archives, someone there with him. Seph stood up from his chair and placed his hand on the Masamune just to be precautious. Then a voice spoke out to him from the shadows.

Voice- Enjoy what you’re reading, my friend?

*Seph immediately recognized the tone of voice and accent, he turned to the direction of the voice, which came from the other entrance to the Archives. From the shadows came the gold trimmed blue overcoat, gray goatee, and white pony tailed hair of The Senator holding his katana Hades in hand. X gave him a cold stare as he remained silent.

The Senator- If you’d like to check those books out for at home use, I’m afraid you’ll have to come back in the morning.

Sephiroth X- Sorry… I forgot my library card.

*X slowly unsheathed the Masamune.

The Senator- Oh please, for once I don’t come here to fight you.

Sephiroth X- Then why is your weapon in hand.

The Senator- Because I knew you’d react exactly as you just did…

*X scowled for a moment, and then dashed in the air in the blink of an eye at The Senator and swung his sword at him. The Senator drew Hades and blocked the attack and stared Seph down and smirked slightly.

The Senator- Impressive my friend, you’ve gotten much faster. But not fast enough.

*With the same speed that he once overwhelmed Seph with long ago in Midgar, the Senator blurred for a moment then reappeared behind Seph and swung a fist aimed at the back of X’s head. But the punch never reached, as X just as quickly spun around and caught the fist with his free hand.

Sephiroth X- I beg to differ…

*The Senator pulled back his fist and slashed horizontally at Seph whom blocked the attack and pushed Hades back with his strength. Seph quickly spun on one foot and slashed horizontally at the Senator whom deflected the attack by driving his katana downward forcing both swords to drive into the floor boards.

Sephiroth X- You say you don’t come to fight… then what do you come here for!

*Seph used his strength to pull his sword along with The Senator’s out of the floor and both took a few steps back and resumed their fighting stances.

The Senator- To tell you something you may or may not find important.

*Simultaneously The Senator and Sephiroth X swung identical high sword slashes at each other and their blades clashed together. Both swordsmen attempted to slash at each other’s legs immediately and once again their blades rattled against each other with the momentum causing them both to take a step back. Then as both re-gathered their stability they both swung their blades powerfully at each other, clashing midway sending a high pitched CLANG through the archives and they both stood in that stance for a moment.

Sephiroth X- And what would that be…

The Senator- That there are worse things out there than what you may see here in Zion… and that the Senate isn’t the only group of influence around here…

*Seph could feel the Senator let up his resistance against X’s blade, perplexed by this and The Senator’s last statement Seph as well let up his resistance and they both lowered their blades.

Sephiroth X- What are you getting at…?

The Senator- I think you know what I’m… ‘getting at’, my friend.

*Seph looked back to his collection of books, staring at the book that was still opened to the Holy Order of the Magi.

The Senator- You and your hooded counterpart aren’t the only ones whom want the power of the Element…

Sephiroth X- You could be included in that group of people as well…

*The Senator smirked a little.

The Senator- My intentions have obviously never deviated from the power of the Element either… But there are others whom stand in my way besides you two…

Sephiroth X- So that’s what you came here to tell me? To watch my ass?

The Senator- In a sense yes, my friend. If you want even, I’ll make sure The Senate stays out of your way as you two complete your journey…

*X’s eyebrow raised slightly.

Sephiroth X- So you’re saying you would give up the Element so it doesn’t fall into… *He looked back to the book with the Order’s emblem on it* … Them?

The Senator- Oh please don’t think I’m going to give it up at all!… I’ve killed one Warrior of Prosperity, I’m confidant I can make it two…

*A smirk crossed Seph’s face for a moment.

The Senator- I have a feeling there’s more to this place you would like to explore… So I shall leave you in peace for now, though I do forewarn that some information may not be found easily my friend.

*The Senator turned away from X and sheathed Hades as he proceeded to walk back into the shadows and leave, this time out of the entrance that X used to enter the Archives. As he reached the door it slid open for The Senator, he paused and said one last thing.

The Senator- Just remember my words…

*The Senator then stepped out and the door closed behind him, X’s eyes stayed focused on the door for a moment as total silence fell upon the archives for a moment. After a few moments passed Seph nodded his head once slightly in a form of acknowledgement and sheathed the Masamune. His time here in the Archives was done, I felt he gathered all the information he needed besides anything regarding the actual location of the Valley of the Promised. Seph turned and looked at the other doorway that led to and from the Archives, the one the Senator presumably came through. Did he subliminally tell me to look further? Perhaps for the Valley’s location? Seph thought to himself as he stepped up to the next door and it slid open.

*Instead of leading outside again, this one opened up into a hallway lit with blue LED styled lights the length of the hallway with another doorway at the end of it. Sephiroth X proceeded down this hallway towards the next door. As he stepped up to the door it promptly slid open for him, apparently he wouldn’t need keycards to move anyplace internally in the complex which was good. Seph stepped into the next room and saw racks upon racks of guns and ammunition around him. Everything from grenades, large machine guns, grenade launchers, rockets, to massive pistols and enough ammunition to supply a small war effort.

Sephiroth X- Armory I assume…

*Seph had no business in this place, guns weren’t is fancy after all. So he looked around the armory for an alternate exit, the only apparent alternate exit out of the armory was another door on the opposite end of were Seph entered. Seph promptly proceeded towards this other door.

*The armory exit door promptly slid open for X and revealed a large open domed style circular room. Large round pillars circulated around the room creating a kind of outer circle hallway, these pillars also held up a walkway balcony for a second floor of this… ‘observatory’. Seph took a few steps and walked out from one of the pillars into the open area and looked up at the glass ceiling looking at the nighttime sky. A split second later he suddenly heard a voice yell out and echo through the room.

Zion Commander- OPEEEEEN FIIIIIRE!

*The sound of a large amount of guns cocking themselves suddenly rattled through the observatory and immediately a large number of soldiers came around from pillars on the first and second floors of the observatory. The second floor completely circled with guards while the first floor only appeared from one side, leaving Seph an opening to get back to the armory door. Seeing all the guards caught X extremely off guard as his eyes widened momentarily. Almost in unison all of the soldiers guns opened fire at Seph, and in an instinctive reaction X hastily back flipped and slid behind a pillar as bullets pounded into and around his only form of cover.

Sephiroth X- Jesus Christ, were the hell did these guys come from?!

*Bullets rained down on Seph’s location attempting to keep him pinned down. X knew that he couldn’t say here long otherwise he would get flanked and given the approximate number of soldiers there were and the relative close-quarters of the observatory it was probably impossible for him to fight his way out this given his current position. X saw that the door to the armory was about 10 feet from him, he’d have to make a quick dash but it was probable that he could make it. Seph rolled out from under the pillar and upon completing the somersault motion he was in he dove at the door as it just began to slide open and rolled upon landing on the floor of the armory. The door quickly shut behind him but the ping of a few last rounds hitting the door echoed. As X looked around the armory for a moment he sighed slightly looking at the armada of guns around him, and then a thought from his past echoed in his mind… back when he was with Kernighan in the military.

Kernighan- So Seph, I know you think guns are dishonorable and all but is there any other reason you don’t like to use them?

Sephiroth X- When I use guns… lets just say that bad things happen…

*X looked around the armory again, the wheels within his brain starting to formulate things and put them together….

*Two Zion soldiers approached the door to the armory slowly while the a few more stayed a few feet behind them. Slowly they got closer to the door, it didn’t slide open so the soldiers assumed Seph locked the door. The two soldiers came up to the door and prepared to try and kick down the door.

Zion Soldier 1- On three…

Zion Soldier 2- Ok…

Zion Soldier 1- One… Two… Thr-

KABOOM *The door exploded in a large ball of debris and fire nearly incinerating the first soldier while the force of the blast sent the second soldier crashing a few feet into one of the observatory’s pillars killing him almost instantly. A giant cloud of smoke was all that was left of the vicinity around the armory entrance. The remaining first floor soldiers all took a few steps back cautiously and let loose a hoard of gunfire into the smoke for a few seconds before ceasing fire.

Zion Soldier 3- Wh.. what the hell was that?

*Just as the soldier finished his question, the Masamune shot out from the smoke and flew through the air directly at and through the soldier’s chest sending him flying backwards and pinned to a pillar dead. The other soldiers looked at the Masamune-impaled soldier in a shocked horror for a moment before coming back down to Earth.

Zion Soldier 4- Wait… isn’t that his only weapon?

Zion Soldier 5- Yeah.. yeah… Intel said he’s a sword/melee fighter. That means he’s unarmed right?

*The soldiers all turned their attention back to the smoke filled remnants of the armory door and readied their weapons for another offensive. Within the smoke, on one knee, was Sephiroth X with his eyes closed in a semi meditation; listening to the soldiers talking and movements estimating how many there inside the observatory. Then quietly, Seph thought to himself as his mako green eyes shot open within the smoke…

Sephiroth X- It’s time to make some bad things happen…

*Sephiroth X came spinning out of the smoke with his arms fully extended, holding a pair of large black desert eagle styled handguns in his hand and promptly shot both guns in mid spin nailing a multiple soldiers in the process. The soldiers directly in front him came to a staggering and stunned stop as X completed his spin and struck a pose while looking at them.

Zion Soldier 5- Oh sh-

*A bullet flew through the soldiers head before his sentence could be finished, two other soldiers opened fire upon Seph. X entered a cartwheel to avoid some of the fire and came up firing upon finishing the cartwheel sending two shots at each soldier as he spun behind a pillar for some cover, the bullets nailing both of them in the chest and head. Seph released the clips from his handguns and reached under his coat to slap two more clips into his guns. Judging by the trajectories of the gunfire that was being shot in his direction Seph estimated that there were 4 or 5 soldiers left on the first floor, all standing within close proximity of each other. X held both guns with one hand for a moment as he reached down under his coat again and pulled out a small ball shaped device with a button on it, X promptly pushed in the ball’s button and tossed it out into the open area of the observatory near the soldiers shooting at him from ground level.

*After letting go of the ball Seph quickly shut his eyes as a blinding white flash from the flash-bang grenade filled the room and vanished just as quickly. The soldiers on both the first and second floors of the observatory staggered as their vision was momentarily lost from the flash-bang. Before they had time to recover, Sephiroth X landed in the center of the rough group they were in. X’s torso never spun or moved, but his arms motioned almost elegantly as he pointed his guns at the soldiers and opening fire upon them. Both handguns ran out of ammo at the same time and just as the last bullets were fired Seph crossed his arms over his chest with both handgun barrels pointing straight up. X released the clips from his handguns in perfect synchronization with the falling of the soldiers around him that were all dead.

*The soldiers on the second floor had enough time to gather their vision back, and one of the soldier looked down to the first floor to see the group of soldiers down there all dead but no sign of Seph.

Zion Soldier 6- What the hell!?

*Seph then sprung out from underneath the balcony and behind a pillar and sprinted directly up the side of a pillar with both handguns reloaded. As he ran up the length of the pillar up to the second floor level he kept both arms extended downwards towards his feet but angled towards opposite sides of the pillar directly towards the heads of two soldiers whom were standing on both sides. X pulled the trigger on both guns and let out a bullet from each, taking down those two soldiers in that same instant. Seph sprinted up the pillar a few more feet before spring-boarding off the pillar back to the center of the observatory. As Seph began falling, the remaining soldiers opened fire upon him. Seph steadied his body horizontally and spun counterclockwise downwards with his guns pointed outward, unloading the remaining ammunition of his handguns at the remaining soldiers. When Seph landed on the ground of the first floor he went down to one knee looking downward with his arms still extended outwards. All gunfire in the observatory stopped and there was a pause of silence as Seph knelt in his pose and the soldiers stood motionless. Then the sound of numerous bodies falling on the second floor were heard in succession. After the last body fell Seph dropped both of his smoking handguns and stood straight up in the center of the observatory observing the remnants of the soldier attack force and the debris ridden room. Seph’s eyes then noticed something on the floor, not debris, blood, or empty bullet shells, but the paint design the floor was given. The floor tilling was marble with a red paint design over it, the very edge of the circular opening had a red border, followed by a second circle, and three independent circles within this circle complimented by unusual scripture’s or writing… The Halo of the Sun.

Sephiroth X- Hmm…

*Seph’s eyes then looked around for another door out of there and promptly found one. First he walked up to the pillar with the Masamune stuck in it and pulled his sword out of it, the dead soldier falling to the floor in a wet thud. He cleaned his blade with the trim of his coat and them proceeded towards the door, it slid open for him and promptly closed behind him. As the door closed, the glass ceiling of the observatory cracked and shattered down onto the floor.

*X walked down another hallway that was lit up office-lighting styled and promptly walked through another door at the end of this hallway. Seph entered what was some kind of weapons lab, a prototype facility perhaps. There were the typical types of new-age weapons, stun guns, electromagnetic grenades, even some kind of machinegun / grenade launcher / chainsaw hybrid gun which even Seph found rather intriguing. Before leaving a different exit of this prototype lab, Seph’s eye caught glimpse of a weapon on a lab table that made him deviate from his current path. On the table there was a massive sword that resembled the same kind of weapon that Zack always carried around with him, Fjalar he recalled. Sephiroth X picked up the bulky weapon and examined it closely before looking at the display card for the weapon that was left on the table. X set the weapon down and picked up the display card to read it.

”BFS Advent Model Multi-Purpose Standard Infantry Buster Sword Prototype. Codename : Fenrir”

Sephiroth X- Multi-purpose you say?

*Seph set down the card and picked up the prototype sword again. He examined the handle of the sword closely and noticed a series of small switches near the hilt, positioned within easy reach of a standard thumb grip. Seph pressed one of the buttons with his thumb and there was a quiet ‘shink’ noise and part of the large buster sword extended off into a slightly smaller and thinner sub-sword from the main piece. X’s eyebrows rose up slightly and he nodded his head in approval as he replaced the sub-sword within the main blade.

Sephiroth X- Zack might like this thing.

*X strapped on the magnetic sheath that came with the sword onto his pack and clamped the prototype sword onto his back before proceeding out of the prototype lab down another hallway. At the end of this hallway another door opened up revealing a smaller styled library than the one Seph was in earlier, apparently this place was either rarely used, out of date, or extremely confidential because the stale air was a sign that this room was rarely used.

Sephiroth X- A second archive? … Maybe I can find some more information here…

*Before Seph even had a moment to glance at a bookshelf on the wall when he heard some sort of rumbling and saw the shelf slide to his right, revealing a large opening and a dark stairwell down. Seph slowly placed his hand on the Masamune.

Sephiroth X- Well this is a change…

*Slowly and cautiously stepped down the stairs into whatever dark lair had opened for him. The stairwell went straight down for about 30 feet or so until the light from the archive above was drowned away. Seph felt the ground beneath his feet level off, he had reached the bottom of wherever he was. X could barely see anything, whatever little light was still reaching down this far barely allowed him to see his surroundings. It was stone all around him, the floor, ceiling, walls, everything. Then footsteps slowly grew louder coming from Seph’s right, and as he looked to his right he could see what looked like a short hallway with a sharp turn to the left. From around the corner of that turn he could see light progressively grow brighter, and then finally a robed man holding a torch came around the corner.

Robed Man- Hello there Sephiroth X… We’ve been expecting you… Please… come this way.

*The robed man instructed X to follow him, and X did so in a precautious manner.

Sephiroth X- So do you… mind telling me exactly were I am?

Robed Man- I think you know exactly where you are…

Sephiroth X- … I’d like to make sure…

Robed Man- Heh, well if you insist you’re in the home of the Holy Order of the Magi.

Sephiroth X- That was what I was afraid of…

*Sephiroth X followed the man down a series of turns and corridors, taking note of every directional change that they took… he had a feeling that he might need to remember it just in case. There were other turnoffs in the halls they were going down, but those other paths were blocked by other robed men holding torches… apparently they really didn’t want Seph going anyplace else. After a few more corridors, Seph and the robed Holy Order man reached a large double door with one robed man on one side of the door.

Robed Man- High Priest Revan will see you now…

[Sephiroth X]

*The robed man took a stance on the other side of the doors.

Sephiroth X- Revan ey? Well, at least its someone I know…

*Cautiously, Seph took a step forward and pushed open the doors. As he walked in he saw two guards next to the interior side of the doors, a single man standing near a table, and three rows of two people deep in the background. Slowly the doors clamped shut behind him. The rooms lighting was a mixture of electricity and torch. Torches were along the walls while a singe large electrical light beamed down over the large table in the center of the room with the Halo of the Sun engraved atop it. Along the walls of the room were massive amounts of bookshelves and odd vases, jars, and flasks on smaller tables. Some of the flasks had odd slightly glowing liquids in them whilst others did not. After a few moments of observation, the man standing in the middle of the room turned to face X.

Revan- Well hello there Sephiroth X, its been a while.

*The man in the center of the room pulled down his hood revealing a dark colored short haired man, Revan of the Holy Order of the Magi.

Sephiroth X- Been a while Revan… What’s the house call for?

*Revan grinned.

Revan- Well, given your current path I figured it be about time to introduce you to the Holy Order of the Magi in a more ‘personal’ manner you could say… not when we are in the middle of some task like the first time you saw myself or my accomplices.

Sephiroth X- You mean when you tried to kill Bax…

Revan- Yes yes yes the failed attempt to eliminate the Phoenyian. But we’ll get to that in a short bit ok?

*Revan slowly began to pace a little near the table.

Revan- As I’m sure your research has shown by now, The Holy Order of the Magi has been around for quite some time. The only problem is nobody knows what has truly become of us in the last century or so… Heh, well I don’t know if that’s necessarily a problem actually, allows us to operate with a little less pressure you could say.

Sephiroth X- Hmph… So what did become of you then.

*Revan raised up his arms a little, acknowledging everything around him.

Revan- Everything around you is what has become of the Holy Order of the Magi… this little temple of ours, Zion, even The Senate is what has become of us.

*X’s eyebrow raised slightly in a curious manner.

Revan- Yes… even The Senate is a spawn of our own doing. You see… our… ‘operations’ were getting a little too noticed by the public eye and some of them would have provoked something that could have extended the length of the 200-Year War by a great length of time. So our predecessors determined that it was time for us to create a face for ourselves, a mask, a figurehead so to speak. Something to cover up for us and make us virtually disappear. Thus the Senate was born, to keep the Holy Order of the Magi thriving in the darkness from whence we came from and to shield us from some of the troubles this world can bring.

Sephiroth X- Interesting… is a word I could use here… But, why would you cover up things… What were you doing that was so… dark?

*Revan chuckled a little bit.

Revan- I’m surprised you even asked that, X. You of all people have already seen some of the things we’ve done. I believe you yourself were even subjected to one of our little creations as a form of torture when you were apprehended by The Senate, do you not remember that? Heh, and if you don’t remember that surely you must remember our friend… what does he call himself now?… Valtiel is it?

*Seph scowled slightly.

Sephiroth X- So you did create him…

Revan- The spells we created gave birth to his initial incarnation of the Pyramid Head monster. His metamorphosis into Valtiel, although improbable, was a potential outcome of the spell. Unfortunately we couldn’t have expected a former one of our own would do something so rash as to release Fallen from its esper state.

Sephiroth X- One of your own… you mean Azriel?

Revan- Yes, Azriel. He released Fallen from its chamber when he felt he could actually destroy it himself, foolish to think so I must say… I thought he was much smarter then that.

Sephiroth X- And how did Valtiel get the ability to take in Fallen into his being?

Revan- Well originally our spell to create the things commonly referred to as ‘Pyramid Head’ were meant to be storage chambers of a sort… to harvest and bring souls to us for our use… Unfortunately we didn’t expect that our prototype version would be lured by the immense power that constituted the ‘soul’ of Fallen.

Sephiroth X- So… now you’re trying to eliminate Bax and anyone else who could potentially know how to defeat your creation… That way you can hope to… Bring Valtiel and Fallen back under your control…. Thus taking in their power?

*Revan grinned.

Revan- You learn fast… We also want to bring in anyone else whom can assist us in doing so… That is were you come in, X.

Sephiroth X- … How does this involve me?

Revan- You sir are currently chasing down something that can give great power… The Element of Prosperity… We are aware of your pursuit of vengeance against the man who robbed you of your life, love, and for a while memories. And we are vaguely aware of the nemesis that has done this to you.

Sephiroth X- … I find it hard to believe you are aware of anything about him…

Revan- If it is in any way powerful, we know about it…

*X’s scowl continued.

Revan- We also know that you are the only one whom stands in his path and he in your own. You are the only one besides he whom could gain control of the Elements power.

Sephiroth X- … Keep going …

Revan- We believe that you could harness the power of the Element, and if you can do that… we would like you to aid us in our quest to bring back what we sent upon this world.

Sephiroth X- And… what if I choose not to be obedient?

*Revan’s smirk grew larger.

Revan- I was hoping you’d ask that.

*Revan raised one arm up and snapped his fingers. In the background the first row of 3 people stepped into the light. They looked familiar to Seph, he had seem them all before… Then he remembered, they were the three whom tried to kill Bax!

Revan- I’m sure you remember Rivel, Eve, and Teras?

*Seph slowly nodded.

Revan- You see… they were sent on a high priority mission. To eliminate the being known as Bax.

*Teras stepped forward.

Teras- My lord, as far as we perceive it our mission is not over yet.

*Revan never turned to look at them but smiled devilishly.

Revan- Believe me… it’s over.

*Revan snapped his fingers again, and the three Holy Order robed soldiers standing behind Rivel, Eve, and Teras stepped forward and all three promptly kicked the knee’s out from behind Rivel, Eve, and Teras sending them down to their knees. Seph saw the looks on the faces of Bax’s would-be assassins, they were stunned and shocked but at the same time were almost accepting that this was happening. The three soldiers behind them reached under their coats and then pulled out matching mid-length daggers. Without hesitation, all three in unison and without remorse stabbed the daggers into the lower portion of the back of Rivel, Eve, and Teras’ necks. The daggers pierced directly through the spinal columns in one clean stab severing all nerves in the spinal column, all three of the now dead operatives of the Order died and probably never feeling it happen… they even had the same looks on their faces as they died.

Revan- Take them away…

*The three executioners then took the bodies of them and carried them off through another doorway. Sephiroth X stood there momentarily stunned at the execution he had just been a witness to. Revan’s face then slowly turned from a devilish grin to a serious and cold face.

Revan- You will know… what the price for disobedience is.

*Seph’s grip on the Masamune tightened a little.

Revan- And there is no point to resist… we are the Holy Order of the Magi… we are everywhere.

Sephiroth X- Well you know what they say… change doesn’t come easily.

*Revan’s eyes quickly darted to the guards at the door and his head nodded quickly. The two guards quickly tried to restrain Seph, but X quickly flew an elbow into the face of the first guard and unsheathed the Masamune and used it to slash at the second guard, sending them both down to the ground quickly. X quickly darted a glare back to Revan as his eyes flared a luminous green color within the dim lighting of the room.

Sephiroth X- Don’t worry, we’ll see each other again.

Revan- … Yes we will …

*X turned around and kicked the door open emphatically, the swinging momentum forcing the doors to slam into the guards standing by them knocking them out. Seph took off down the halls at a near sprinting speed making no indication he planned on staying around. In his head, X quickly recited the path back up to the surface in his mind, he would need to remember it so he could get out of there as efficiently as possible. After turning a few corners he saw a Holy Order priest charge at him in an attempt to stop him, X simply slid down to a knee and executed a quick slash sending the priest down easily. His pace turned into a hustle now as he really wanted to get out of here, he didn’t want to be in a hallway trying to fend off Magi goons for too long. After Seph took a right turn at one corner suddenly things looked extremely familiar to him.

Sephiroth X- Here we go! Next stairway is the way out of here.

*Seph picked up a little more speed as he flew down the hallway and then took a sharp left turn and hustled up the long stairwell that led back up to the Zion building complex. As he grew closer to the exit he could see that no light was coming from the top, meaning the bookshelf had probably closed since he went down into the Holy Order of the Magi complex. X held the Masamune out in front of him and when he saw the stairs end up ahead of him he used the length of his sword to slice at the wooden back of the bookshelf to weaken it a little, then promptly lowered his shoulder and leapt into the bookshelf barrier plowing through it and rolling a few feet before stopping in a one knee stance.

Sephiroth X- Good… Outta there…

*Before Seph could enjoy the satisfaction of escaping the Holy Order of the Magi though… he realized something… the place he was in… wasn’t a Senate building…

Sephiroth X- I know I followed the right path out of there…

*X stood up slowly, the entire area around him was nothing but darkness. Seph even turned around to see that the bookshelf he just plowed through moments ago wasn’t there anymore nor the entrance to the Holy Order of the Magi underground temple… nothing.

*This wasn’t good…

*Sephiroth X took a step forward and then slowed down and stood still again. Suddenly he felt the Masamune reach out a little bit within his hand, and a momentarily flash of light came through the blade. Seph watched the flash of light form his sword bounce off of once invisible walls that were around him and give a basic illumination to wherever he was. That’s when he realized why the light bounced everywhere… mirrors, this entire place was mirrors… But then Sephiroth X realized something else that was wrong…

*His reflection wasn’t in any of the mirrors.

*Then from some unknown place a faint chuckle echoed through this place of mirrors. And a voice then spoke out to Seph… an instantly familiar voice that sent a cold sensation of fear down the spine of X.

Dark Crono – The puzzle is all but complete…

*In every mirror in the room, Dark Crono and his golden eye slowly appeared from the darkness… every image of him in a slightly different position… none repeating. X slowly looked at every mirror around him, his grip on the Masamune instinctively tightening.

[AltruisticCrono]

Dark Crono – Your attempt for understanding is commemorable. Many throughout eternity have been erased for simply knowing too much. Yet…I believe this realm is ready to unveil the line within darkness.

Still taken back by his surroundings, X shifted his uneasy position and sword grip. Within this time, the mirrors faded their image and the room became black. Crono’s voice continued to echo, illuminating each mirror one at a time with Sephiroth’s reflection, corresponding to each of his sentences.

Dark Crono - Humans are such vague existences. Seven virtues and seven mirrors, said to show the beauty of the mind and soul…inverted, they turn into seven sins…

Loving oneself means resentment of others…
Temperance is another face of pride…
Devotion can turn into neglect…
Honesty is defeated by lies and treachery…
Reason and passion become foolishness and lust…
Wisdom becomes artifice…
A sense of balance and moderation changes shape into overindulgence and self-denial…

Although unsettled at his distorted reflections of sin, X tried to remain steadfast in his belief of his inner character. Peering at each reflection, he noticed there were actually eight mirrors circling him.

Sephiroth X – …what about the eighth mirror that remains in darkness?

Dark Crono - A mirror reflects people and the world. Beautiful things…ugly things…which of those should it reflect, I wonder? The world wishes for things with beauty, there is no merit in a mirror reflecting ugly things.

Death awaits the fools who cannot choose…

…

The mirrors darkened once again and X stood in darkness for several minutes, thinking about Crono’s cryptic phrases. Determining this situation was only a mind game, he lowered his fighting stance and put a hand to his head. Inside his mind, he said to himself, “This situation isn’t threatening, yet I know it requires a certain reaction or appeasement from him.” Preparing his words carefully, he spoke to the haunting voice.

Sephiroth X - Denying your own death is the same as denying yourself… A mirror never shows the truth. Even though you know that there’s nothing more uncontrollable than a distorted mirror. That’s why I wanted to search for the truth in the illusion – the Holy Order behind the Senate.

At first nothing happened, but sevens mirror slowly returned to reflections of X and the eighth illuminated an unfamiliar Dark Crono with a blue aura from his cloak. He felt a completely different presence within that image.

Dark Crono – Impressive. Now determine your next action with such clarity.

The vision of Crono pointed to the mirror behind X. With a puzzled look at the mirror, he saw a single rose by his feet. Quickly looking back in reality, he found no object on the floor.

Dark Crono – The eyes cannot see all that lay outside the balance of nature. Only after you bring the required pieces together can you understand the truth…

Hardly believing his actions, Sephiroth looked into his reflection and bent down to pick the rose up. His alternate in the glass held the rose and brought it to his face.

As if something finally clicked in his mind, X recited the phrase in spite of himself.

Sephiroth X –…the Valley weaves into a single line of darkness… The Element of Prosperity? No one can find the Valley of the Promised since it remains hidden from our eyes… I --

The warm façade of Crono faded back to the evil spirit and then to nothing, startling X in mid sentence.

Dark Crono – You and I are part of the puzzle, yet nature is determined to keep the element concealed. Another soul is required to complement the paradox. I told him of your future presence, yet you must locate him yourself… He was fond of graveyards.

Immediately after the last sentence, X abruptly heard footsteps all around him. Each of the eight mirrors showed Dark Crono and his Mastermune running towards him from a far distance. Preparing his sword, he readied for any direction of attack. Within a split second, Catrina’s death flashed through his mind and closed his eyes. Feeling a void in the room, he thrust his blade behind and shattered the glass on impact. His opening eyes met a ghastly afterimage of Crono passing through his body, dropping him to one knee with horror.

Light from the outside world glimmered on his face, revealing a single drop of blood falling onto a shattered piece of mirror. Breathing a sigh of relief, he could finally escape this cocoon of solitude. He looked down at the glass, expecting to see himself in the reflection, but it remained absent. All that could be seen was the room and its surroundings. Taking a second look at the fragment, X recognized the shape of the fragment…it was one of the continents!

Understanding the potential of this riddle, he pocketed the shard and headed towards the exit. The Valley of the Promised awaited…

-End of Chapter-