By: Mags

Morrigan walked down the crowded city overpass, briefly glancing to his left to see the sun slowly setting over the horizon. It was a sight that few people were able to see, due to the thick clouds of smog and pollution that covered the skies of the blister domes. He sighed as he thought about what it meant to be a top executive of Rachwell Industrial Manufacturing, and the extreme measures that he had to go through to get to where he was. Only the elite of Rachwell IM were allowed to use the overpass, to have offices above the smog line, to be able to see such things as a simple sunset. It was something that most people on the planet had not seen in over 150 years, ever since the air on the surface of the planet became too polluted to breathe and giant domes were constructed over each town to preserve them, and to ensure that there were no casualties. But there had been drawbacks to them too. They cost a fortune to maintain, as the fiber that they were made from was highly sensitive to pressure and the slightest touch could cause a tear. But it was necessary, and people knew this. Which is why there were rarely any complaints about the 57% tax on everything that was produced by the company. It was the company’s was of keeping their people safe.

But Morrigan knew better. The air was perfectly breathable outside the blister domes. Truly, it always had been. The domes were a covert way for the company to keep people in one place so that they could keep an eye on them. There was no travel between domes because there was no getting out of them. Therefore, criminals were easily caught and executed. Yes, he knew that everyone thought that the company’s policy to execute all criminals, no matter what the cause, was insane, but for the most part, it had worked very well. But that did not matter to him. He was above the scum that dwelled inside the blister domes. He was an executive.

Morrigan exited the overpass and entered the main lobby of the Rachwell Company HQ. The Needle, as it was commonly called, as it resembled a giant needle, pointing upward towards the heavens as if to pierce the very sun itself.

Morrigan walked past the sentries to the corporate elevator, and scanned himself into the computer database and entered the elevator. He then requested that it take him to his office.

"Michelle", he spoke to the computer operator "Requesting transportation to the 68^th floor, Room number 1338".

"Request granted" replied Michelle, as the familiar hum of the elevator started up and began to rise up on its long trip from the 3^rd floor to the 68^th floor.

As the elevator rose, Morrigan reflected again on the history of the planet and how it had gotten to such a terrible state.

Over 300 years ago, he remembered hearing that the planet had been in danger of dying out like it was now. Back then, there had been no domes, no population of people choking on their own pollution and most of all… no Rachwell. But there had been heroes. Heroes that had saved the planet from a stray asteroid that had threatened to wipe life off the planet. He even remembered some of their names. There had been the dark Vincent, the devil-may-care Cloud, the beautiful Aeris, and the gruff pilot Cid Highwind. All of whom had memorial parks in their honor. But none were as celebrated as the leader of their team, the great warrior Sephiroth. He was the idol of ever schoolboy, hailed as the greatest warrior the world had ever known. It was he that was credited with the destruction of the rouge asteroid. He had hundreds of legends about him, each more spectacular than the last. Some even suggested that the others had not even been involved with him, but had just been able to steal some of his credit for his heroic actions. But even he was dead now. As were all the heroes. The age of sword-slinging heroes and vile villains had now passed, and he hated how the planet had turned out. The crushing grip of the NEO-Junon, the undisputed ruler of the entire planet, had seen to it that no one got any ideas about becoming such an adventurer, saying "violence would beget violence". In other words, you do anything violent, and we kill you. It had worked so far.

But at what cost? Every person who lived on this god-forsaken planet had wondered at one point in his or her life wondered what it would be like if they actually had a say in what they did with their life. He was sure of it. But those days were gone. They were as dead as the Great Sephiroth. And there was nothing that he could do about it one way or another, executive or no. The only people who had any power over the matter were the President, Mattias Rachwell, and his Vice-President daughter, Minerva Rachwell. Both were cruel, conniving and heartless, and really didn’t give a damn about the general populace either way as long as they continues to make money, even if they already had more money than everyone else on the planet combined. But it did not concern him, and he knew that voicing his opinion would only lead to his death, anyway. So he remained quiet.

Morrigan was snapped out of his reminiscence by the elevator chime signaling that it had reached its destination. He straightened his posture, and stood at attention as the door opened, and the floor moved him to his office quarters.

When the track got near his office space, Morrigan stepped off and walked up to his office door. It read ‘Morrigan, Robert’: Executive President of Archaeological Department. He put his hand on the black space near the doorway, and the system scanned his handprint, matching it with the one recorded in the computer’s dossier on Morrigan, Robert to make sure that it was not an imposter.

The computer chimed, signaling that the match was confirmed and that he could now enter. The door slid open, and he entered. The door then slid shut. Morrigan walked to his desk and tapped a few buttons on his desk, and a computer monitor slid down from the ceiling and bleeped to life.

"Computer, report all messages recorded in my absence"

"Scanning message databank for user: Morrigan, Robert" was the computer’s grainy response.

"Scan complete. You have one new message, recorded at: 5:56 AM" the computer reported.

"Who the hell would send a message at that ungodly hour?" he thought to himself, puzzled. "Only one way to find out" he figured.

"Computer, replay new message number 001" he requested.

"Opening new file" the computer responded.

"File open" is finally said, at last.

Numbers and letters, seeming random in order, flickered across the screen in front of him. Of course, he could not figure it out, but there was a reason for that. It was a secure document, thus it had been sent as a coded message, for safety measures.

But what the hell it was, besides pretty damn important, he had no idea…yet.

"Computer, being decoding of document 001" he said.

"Beginning decoding process" the computer responded, opening the decoding program, the scanning the document, matching the numbers and letters on the screen with a database of over 100,000 different codes and systems. It took almost 15 minutes for it to finish, but at last the screen flashed yellow and red letters appeared.

"Decoding complete" the computer said, reading the red letters that were on the screen.

"Computer, print decoded document 001" was his only response.

The printer built into the side of his desk sprung to life and began spewing out official documentation that seemed to be going on forever. He picked up the first 20 or so pages and flipped through them, scanning it briefly for anything of interest. He stopped at page 23 and ran his finger down the page, his eyes darting back and forth across the print. He stopped at a subsection that read: Old City on Northern Continent determined to be Ancient in nature. He stopped and re-read the line, then read the entire paragraph. At the sight of the last sentence, his eyes lit up. He got up and threw some of the documentation into his briefcase and told his computer to transfer the entire document to his portable computer. After the transference was complete, he had the computer book him on the next flight to the Icicle Blister Dome area. He had to get to that Ancient City as soon as possible. The very fate of the world could depend on it. He threw some more documents into his briefcase and ran out the door, and slammed on the elevator button. When it finally arrived, he told it to hurry him to the roof of the Rachwell building. When he finally arrived at the top of the building 20 minutes later, he braved the fierce winds to get to the chopper that was waiting for him to escort him to the closest airport, the Kisaragi Strip. He got in and hurriedly slammed the door, to escape the bitter winds that blew 4,000 feet above the ground at the top of the Needle. He got in and told the pilot to step on it. And step on it he did. 15 minutes later, he was in the air in a Rachwell Highwind level airship over the Middle Ocean. The Arctica Continent was rapidly approaching as the ship cut through the air like a hot knife through butter. Moments later, they were landing in a clear area about 30 miles south of the Icicle Blister inside a clearing of a forest known as the Ancient Forest, aptly named as it was the only remaining forest on the face of the planet. It seemed to have been unscathed by its close proximity to the Icicle Blister, although the snow around it had long since been turned black as coal. He stepped out onto the ramp that had descended from the airship. He had expected it to be as cold as the rest of the continent was, but surprisingly it was rather warm, seeming to be around 70 degrees, and it was winter here, too. He suspected that this was going to be the least of his surprises though. He saw a group of scientists waiting for him, and he walked over to them, and the head scientist turned to greet him. He reached out and shook hands with the man and they exchanged greetings.

"Dr. Malcolm?" asked Morrigan.

"Yes. I assume that you are Dr. Morrigan of the Rachwell Archaeology Dept.? The one I sent that field report to, yes?" the doctor asked.

"Yes, the same. Would you mind telling me what this is all about, though?"
"Yes, yes, of course. But first, let me get you introduced to everyone and settled into your room that we have prepared for you." Said the doctor very excitedly.

"Very well" Morrigan agreed.

"Well, Dr. Morrigan" said Dr. Malcolm, wasting no time at all "As you know, I am Dr. George Malcolm, a doctor of ancient cultures."

"Yes, I am quite aware of you. I researched your background on my trip over" said Morrigan, getting a bit impatient. "You were the one who uncovered that old Chocobo Ranch on the Aggrieve Continent about 200 miles from the Great Midgar about five years back."

"Yes, but that was nothing compared to what we have uncovered here" said one of the other scientists, a tall, thin man with blonde hair. He looked very cold and distant, but sounded very serious about his work. Morrigan admired that in someone he was going to be working with.

"And you would be…?" asked Morrigan.

"Oh, this is Xendel ShinRa, our expert in biological sciences," said Dr. Malcolm with a hint of pride.

"ShinRa?" Morrigan questioned, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes, ShinRa. I am a direct descendant of the old ShinRa family of the old Planet Stories." Said Dr. ShinRa with distinct coolness.

"Not exactly a heritage to be proud of" noted Morrigan.

"Depends on your point of view," said Xendel without a hint of emotion.

Morrigan did not wish to debate the issue with him, even if ShinRa were the ones credited with almost killing the planet before being toppled by Sephiroth’s AVALANCHE. But it was a moot point, because it was ancient history, and could not be changed, so it really didn’t matter.

"This here", Dr. Malcolm continued, pointing to another scientist, a large, portly man with sprouts of white hair on either side of his head, "Is Dr. Niles Marrion."

Morrigan shook hands with the man, and they exchanged greetings.

"He is in charge of carbon-dating and classification" explained Malcolm.

Morrigan noted that there was just one man left of the group. He was a tall man, thin, with long, gray hair with a hint of black to it. He noted that the man was very upright and seemed to be very distant, even more so then the ShinRa. But there was something odd about the way that the man looked. It was almost as if he had seen or heard about this man before. Something was hauntingly familiar with him, but he could not figure out what. He supposed that he could research his background later, if he liked, but he figured that it was probably just a coincidence.

"And finally", began Malcolm, catching Morrigan’s attention as he was eager to find out who the last man really was, "We come to Dr. Victor Cole, our linguistics expert".

"Cole, eh? Say, wasn’t your father, Dr. Aaron Cole, the man who deciphered the Cetra language?"

"Yes" was the doctor’s only reply.

"You’ll have to excuse Dr. Cole, Dr. Morrigan, he is a bit on the quiet side, but believe me that he is no slacker when it comes to his work" Malcolm whispered to Morrigan as the group began to walk back to the airport station, to a waiting hovercraft.

"This hovercraft will take us to our destination the quickest." Explained Malcolm.

And it proved to be true, too. It took them just five minutes to cross the 500-mile stretch of land that separated the airport from the hotel that the group was staying at. When he stepped out of the craft after their speedy journey, he stood in complete shock at what he saw. It was what seemed to be a complete city made completely out of the remains of giant, prehistoric sea creatures. He was awestruck. This city had to be at least…

"About 500,000 years old" said Malcolm with a hint of glee in his voice. "This is what we wanted to rush you over to see. We have been busy excavating it for over a decade now, funded by grants from Rachwell. This is the fruit of our labors," he said proudly, stretching his arms out, as if to hug the entire city that stood before him.

"This…this is…well…incredible!" Morrigan managed to get out between gasps of excitement. "This is the most important archaeological discovery ever!"

"No…it isn’t." said Xendel.

"What? You mean…?" asked Morrigan hurriedly.

"Yes… there’s more. Meet us at the intersection after nightfall, and we will show you something that will leave you comatose for a day" said Malcolm with a girlish glee.

"Damn, that long, huh? How long until nightfall?" Morrigan asked excitedly.

Victor checked his watch, then looked back up at Morrigan.

"About three hours" he said solemnly.

"Damn! I can’t wait that long!" Morrigan exclaimed.

"Look at it this way, it should take you that long to get situated in you room." Said Xendel.

"Huh? Room? What room? There isn’t a hotel here within a 1,000-mile radius. Don’t tell me we’re camping out, because I did not bring a sleeping bag."

"That’s the beauty of it!" exclaimed Malcolm again, "You don’t need one! The Ancient houses have fully intact sleeping quarters!"

Morrigan looked at the doctor with an expression that combined disbelief, awe, and a hope. "Surely you jest", he said, "These houses are thousands of years old. Any fabric that these people might have had would have worn way hundreds of years ago."

"Should have." Xendel corrected. "For reasons we have yet to figure out, this entire area seems to be immune to the effects of age. You noticed before that the Ancient Forest was not affected by its close proximity to the Icicle Blister Dome. The same goes for this entire area. There are artifacts and structures that are eons old that remain intact as though they were built yesterday. I assure you that the sleeping quarters are not only intact, but also quite comfortable," said Malcolm. "Come", he said, motioning with his hands to follow him as he walked towards the nearest shell-house "Allow me to show you."

Morrigan followed him, although he was more than a bit skeptical, if Dr. Malcolm had proof of such occurrence, then it would mean that what would be considered a scientific impossibility, an area of time fluxuation, where time seemed to virtually stand still, would become scientific fact. This truly was the greatest discovery in the history of the planet.

Morrigan entered the giant shell, and gazed in awe at how nice the living conditions of these ancient people were. There were even lights, and they even worked! But they didn’t seem to be electrical, but rather some sort of rock that could generate luminescence.

"Curiouser and curiouser" Morrigan thought as he gazed from one area of the structure to the other. Then he climbed up the ladder to the top area, where the others were gathered, with Malcolm sprawled out on the bed, looking very comfortable indeed.

"You see?" he said zestfully, "It’s almost as if this area never aged. It a scientific impossibility, yet we’re existing in it!"

"But how is it possible?" Morrigan asked.

"I have no idea," said Malcolm with almost blissful pride.

"This is… monumental!"

"I know, but the best is yet to come."

"I can’t wait," said Morrigan truthfully.

"Well, seeing as how the sun is going to set in about a half hour now, I’d say that it should be about time by the time you get yourself unpacked. This is your bed right here," Malcolm said, patting the bed next to the one he was on. This one has you, Dr. ShinRa, and I bunking together. The building adjacent to us has Dr. Cole and Dr. Marrion in it.

"And as scheduled, we will meet each other at the intersection after the sun goes down." Confirmed Dr. ShinRa.

"Yes", replied Malcolm, "But for now, what do you say we get going outside so Dr. Morrigan can get himself situated."

"Agreed" was the initial consent of the group, as they exited the building.

Dr. Morrigan waited until they had all left then flipped open his briefcase and pulled out his mini-computer and turned it on. He raised the antenna and adjusted the voice-box audio receiver. He then sat it down on his bed and sat down on the bed across from it.

"Computer, bring up all currently existing data on file subject: ‘ShinRa, Dr Xendel.’

"Ana……all curr……data……complete."

"Computer, run silent" Morrigan requested. He was assuming that it was the low valley they were in that was playing havoc with his communications devices. He looked back at the computer and briefly glanced over the information provided. Nothing spectacular, though. It was a usual company biography. A basic run-down of the subject’s life up to the last 5-year update, a photo shot of the subject taken at every 5-year update, and a hodgepodge of other information that hinted of nothing more then who he claimed to be.

"Compute, bring up dossier on subject: ‘Crane, Dr. Victor’

The computer responded by bringing up a screen with a small animation of a person searching through a giant collection of folders. After about six minutes or so, the screen flashed in red letters ‘File Found" and opened the file. The text began to scroll again, but there was something wrong with his bio. There were huge amounts of time and portions of his life unidentified for. At times, it seemed that he had dropped off the face of the planet, only to reappear again in a completely different area. He also noticed that whenever he disappeared, he would always reappear in or near the ancient Canyon complex, the old network of tunnels and caves that had at one time been a centerpoint of knowledge to the old civilization of the planet. Back when Sephiroth had walked the planet Back then, there were legends of an intelligent species of animal that could speak like humans, but it also was said that they had long since died out. The only real proof that there had even been any settlements out there, aside from the odd assortment of trinkets and gadgets, was a giant, primitive observatory with a holographic model of space that had been like nothing else that had existed on the planet at the time. Had Morrigan not seen it, he would not have believed it himself. What was more, there had been a stockpile of books inside the canyon walls, some predating the very canyons themselves. It had been a monumental find, some thought that it was the best find ever, but then, most had not seen the area he was in now. He snickered at that thought He was indeed privileged to have the chance to be here. His watch chimed and he looked to see what time it was. It read 8:45. He was late. The sun had set about 15 minutes ago. He quickly hit the power button on his computer and threw it into his briefcase. As he did so, he heard footsteps downstairs that began to reach the stairs. He shut the briefcase and threw it on his bed. He quickly threw off his business suit jacket, and laid it on his bed, as well. By the time Malcolm had reached the top of the ladder, Morrigan had changed into his casual clothes, which he almost always kept under his business clothes for just such occasions.

"It is time. The sun has now set. Prepare to be amazed," said Malcolm with a hint if mirth in his voice.

"I am ready"

"Then follow me," said Malcolm, as he started back down the ladder. Morrigan followed suit, not quite sure what to expect. He followed Malcolm down the surprisingly well lit shell path, up to the intersection. It seemed to take forever, but finally he reached the group of scientists.

"You’re late," said Xendel with a hint of anger in his voice.

"Does it matter? We have already seen it. If he misses it, what is it to us?" questioned Victor.

"I don’t like to be kept waiting" was Xendel’s only response.

"Well, then let’s get on with it" Morrigan demanded. "This better be good, because I have had to wait in anticipation ever since I got here, without one hint of what I was going to see. This better be spectacular!"

"Spectacular does not do it justice," Malcolm said, as he led the group towards the construct in the center.

To Morrigan, it looked like a giant coral reef. At one point, not too long after the birth of the planet, this must have all been underwater. He shivered at the thought of what the animals that at one time lived in those giant shells had looked like. But it paled in comparison to the giant shell that was slowly coming into view. It looked like a giant snail shell, only spiked. It was perched on a peninsula surrounded by a small lake that, although did not look like it ever moved, remained perfectly clear and he could see almost to the bottom. In fact, he almost swore that he could see the outline of a human body down in the dark depths of the lake, but he dismissed it as a trick of the light, and when he looked back down, the figure was gone. He followed the group up inside the giant shell after he realized that they had left him behind. He ran up the spiraling shell until he bumped into the back of Malcolm. Malcolm turned to face him, grinning from ear to ear.

"Are you prepared to be ‘wowed’?" he asked.

"As I’ll ever be" Morrigan replied hastily.

"Then lets go, while we are still young!" Xendel said impatiently.

"Lets" was Malcolm’s only reply, as he proceeded up the spiral to an area in the center with what looked to be transparent seaweed. It looked to be a normal centerpiece, but it was very large and there were stairs leading downward into some dark abyss coming out of the center of it.

"After you" Malcolm said to Morrigan, politely.

Morrigan could not believe what he was looking at. An underground city made out of what appeared to be some sort of crystal that had been under his feet ever since he had gotten to this amazing place. He was amazed that Malcolm had been able to keep it a secret as long as he had. His chest began to burn, and he realized that he had been holding his breath. He let out a deep exhalation and took a few more steps down the long spiral of stairs. It was incredible. It was spectacular. It… it…

"It smells of death," he thought.

He walked down the rest of the stairs, followed quickly by the rest of the scientists. He was getting a very foreboding feeling about this place, as if something very terrible had happened here at one time. He did not know what or when, but decided to keep it to himself, incase he was the only one who sensed it.

"What do you think?" Malcolm asked. He was positively beaming with pride, and by the look on his face, he was making no attempts to mask it.

"Very impressive" was all he managed to get out. He had a very bad feeling about this place, and he wanted to get out of here as soon as possible. He just didn’t know how to do so without sounding like he wanted to. In the end, he just decided that playing along would be the quickest way out without the bizarre looks and odd questions that he wanted to avoid.

"Can’t have people thinking I’m going crazy, now." He thought to himself. If word got out that he might be mentally unstable, then not only might he lose his job, but they would cast him down into one of the blister domes." He shuddered at that thought. Having to live in a run-down piss-hole like the Nibel dome or the Kalm dome, hell… he’d hate to have to live in any of the domes. They were bad enough that he had to visit them on occasions of prestige like the opening of a new museum or something, but to have to live there… well, he knew he’d rather die. Because once you were in, there was only one way out: death. But he knew that it was stupid to think of such things because they had not yet happened, and until it did he had no reason to worry about such matters. He turned his attention to the group to get his mind off its current track.

"Very impressive. Have you had anyone do a carbon-dating or geological analysis on the are yet?" he asked the group.

Malcolm nodded gleefully. "We had Dr. Marrion do a carbon-dating on it first thing. Or at least, we tried to."

"Just what do you mean by that?" inquired Morrigan.

Marrion waddled forward and in a deep voice that caused his chin to wobble, then began to give Dr. Morrigan the specifics of the crystalline structure they were currently standing in.

"The reason that Dr. Malcolm said that we attempted to carbon-date it was due to the fact that, although not with out a large amount of effort on our part, we were unable to dent, scratch, or in an way make a mark on the material that the structure we are in is made of."

"What do you mean? Are you trying to tell me that you boys with your fancy thousand-dollar machines that are paid for by the company are unable to get a small sample of this clear rock?" Morrigan screamed. He hated incompetence, and he was apparently surrounded by it right now. Dr. Cole’s tapping his shoulder snapped him out of his rage.

"What the hell do you want, you poor excuse for a scientist?"

Dr. Cole looked unscathed by Morrigan’s harsh words. His voice was even and cool.

"If you would like to try it yourself, then do so." He suggested.

"Fine. I will show you pathetic idiots how it’s done." Morrigan said bitterly.

Malcolm, in compliance, reached into his jacket and fished out a purse-sized case covered with smooth velvet. He clicked it open, and Morrigan saw that it contained a small drill mechanism and several sizes of drills. It was the latest in sampling machines produced by the company.

"Go ahead," said Malcolm, offering the drill and bit to Morrigan.

Morrigan hesitantly accepted the case, and removed the miniature drill, and then the bit. He fastened the bit into the front of the drill, and screwed it in tight so that it would not spin out and stab someone. He had seen it happen too many times by amateurs. After he was sure that it was ready, he gave it a couple spins to test it, and after he was positive that it was ready, he reached into the case again and retrieved the drill-scraper. It was a small, cotton-swap tip sized knob tipped with Verilian Diamonds, one of the hardest substances he knew of. It had originally been discovered on the first manned expedition to a neighboring planet’s moon, Verilia. It had been the first successful manned shuttle launch since they had opened the Highwind Shuttle Port and Launching Pad about 30 years prior.

"Watch and learn," said Morrigan sarcastically, as he started the drill up again, and reached out to a nearby pillar. There was a sharp whining sound and a sound of nails on a chalkboard, and finally just the dull motor as the drill-tip stopped it’s scraping. Morrigan was puzzled, and wondered what had happened. He brought the drill-tip close to his face, and was shocked at what he saw. The drill-tip was almost completely eaten away, like he had dipped it in Sea Worm stomach acid. He stole his glance from the drill-tip to the surface of the pillar to which he had tried to scratch. There were a few specks of dust on it. He wiped them off with his hand, and gaped in awe at what he saw. Himself! He was staring back at himself. The surface was that shiny, that he could see himself as though he was looking into a mirror. There was not a scratch to be seen. It was as smooth and shiny as the day that it was made. Morrigan was speechless. He heard someone clear their throat, and realized that now he had to face them again. He turned his back to the pillar to face them, and looked up to see Malcolm with a very pleased look on his face. Morrigan cleared his throat and was able to croak out a barely audible "You have my apologies, gentlemen" before his throat went dry.

"What was that, Dr. Morrigan? Were you apologizing to us pathetic idiots?" Malcolm inquired, imitating Morrigan’s own voice when he quoted him.

Morrigan hated that. As much as he hated, incompetence, he hated arrogance that much more. He was ready to punch Malcolm in the face and then hand his unconscious body its resign slip, but then he saw Dr. Cole step forward. At first, he thought that he was being ganged up on, but then he realized that Dr. Cole was paying him no attention, but was looking at Malcolm.

"George, let it go. He said what he had to. There is no reason to do this." He said coolly, putting his hand on Malcolm’s shoulder.

"Stay back. This is none of your concern," he said with a violent undertone.

"I said let it go. You can gain nothing from this," Dr. Cole said just as evenly as he had before.

"And I said…" Malcolm said, spinning on his heel to meet Dr. Cole face to face. But when his eyes met Dr. Cole’s, he stopped. Dr. Cole narrowed his eyes, but did not turn away from Malcolm. To Morrigan, it seemed as though Dr. Cole’s eyes were turning red.

"Said what?" Dr. Cole almost growled.

Malcolm broke his stare with Cole and his face flushed. His voice grew timid and he broke out in a sweat.

"No…nothing…" he stammered before breaking from Cole’s grip and backing up against the wall, as far from Cole as he could get, and wiped the sweat from his forehead.

Morrigan let out a sigh. He had seen some people do some pretty amazing, if not down right odd, things in his time, but he had to admit that what had just occurred ranked very high up on his list. The way Cole had reacted to Malcolm’s violent advances was incredibly surprising, because Malcolm was about a foot taller than Cole and despite the scrawny, scientist-nerd look, Malcolm looked like he weighed about 60 to 70 pounds heavier than Cole was. Yet just gazing into his eyes had caused Malcolm to crumple like a wet napkin. Plus, the way that Cole had spoken to him after he had gotten peeved had made Cole seem like a towering behemoth, not the none too frightening looking man that had just broken up a fight in progress not 5 minutes ago.

Morrigan looked around and saw that he was not the only one who was giving Cole strange looks, but Cole pretended not to notice and had returned to his normally cool composure. He looked around at the rest of the group, at which point everyone else shifted their eyes to keep them away from his.

"What do you say that we get some sleep?"

"Sounds good to me," Morrigan agreed. He was the only one who was daring enough to speak at the moment.

"Yes…sleep. That…uh…sounds fine to me." Marrion stammered, as he hurried to catch up to Morrigan and Cole, but still not quite sure if he wanted to spend the night in the same area as Cole. The rest of the group followed soon after, with Malcolm walking very slowly behind everyone. After everyone was out of the forgotten city, everyone all went out the door, with Morrigan staying behind for a minute to get one last look at the city before he left it for the night. When he had finally gotten his fill of the city, he turned and walked down the spiraling path to the exit of the building. Dr. Cole was waiting for him at the exit. His face was unreadable, but there was a certain forebodingness about his that Morrigan was again sensing. He also had the same feeling of familiarity to him that he always had.

"Hello, Dr. Cole," Morrigan said as he walked up to Cole.

"Call me Victor," was his only response.

"Very well. What can I do for you?" he asked. It was generally an unusual request to have a superior call you by your first name, but he had no reason not to.

"I want you to take me off this project," Cole replied with a solemn face.

"May I request why I should do that?" Morrigan asked, genuinely perplexed as to the nature of this request. He knew that dozens of scientists would die to be on an assignment like this, yet this man wanted out of it, and he couldn’t help but wonder why.

"Well?"

"I am afraid that I cannot tell you right now," said Cole.

At first, Morrigan was afraid that it was going to turn out to be some kind of nut. But thinking about it calmly, he realized that a man with a position such as his, and based on the way he was acting now, he realized that it was very unlikely that he was insane. But nonetheless, he wanted off the assignment. If he wasn’t insane, then he must have a very good reason to want off. He couldn’t accept an ‘I cannot tell you’.

"I’m sorry, but I must keep you on it until you can give me a rational explanation as to why you should be off the assignment."
"Very well… but I assure you that you are making a grievous error even in keeping this project open," said Cole enigmatically as he turned away from a very puzzled Morrigan and walked out into the warm night air towards the house they were staying in.

"Victor, wait, " Morrigan called out, running up to meet him as he turned to face him.

"Look, if there is anything that you need to tell me, then please go ahead. All I need is a good reason, and if you like I will send you on your way back to Rachwell HQ in NEO-Junon."

"If I did get taken off the assignment, then I would not want to go back to NEO-Junon. I would request transportation to the Canyon Sector excavation site." Cole said as they walked down the shell path towards the intersection.

"And why is that?" Morrigan questioned, remembering that Cole had a history of disappearing for large amounts of time, and each time turning up in that area.

"Because I know that area well. I would be able to do the most good there."

"I see, but then why not get familiarized with an area such as this, then?" Morrigan suggested.

"I have my reasons," Cole replied simply.

"I see," Morrigan responded plainly. He was none too pleased with Cole’s lack of help in the way of offering information, and he’d need more than this to get a transfer slip passed by the company.

They reached the intersection, and Morrigan turned in the direction that would take them towards the buildings they were staying in, but was stopped when Cole reached out and grabbed hold of his shoulder. He turned to face Cole to see what he wanted.

"Let’s go this way," Cole offered, pointing in the opposite direction, an area behind a cliff that Morrigan had not been able to explore yet.

"Fine."

They walked a distance, and as they neared the lone building that stood between them and the cliff trail, Morrigan turned to face Cole as they were walking.

"Is there something you wanted to show me up here?"

"Yes. If those fools had any scientific know-how, they would have already explored this area, anyway." Cole said, with a hint of vehemence in his voice.

"What? You mean that they didn’t search the entire area before they contacted me?" Morrigan answered, equally as annoyed.

"We got in rather late, and they decided to just check the building we were in before we went to sleep. They thought themselves lucky to find the path down to the Ancient City, but they didn’t seem to realize that it was the moonlight that caused the stairs to appear. During the day, the sunlight reflects off of various crystals, causing a solidified hologram of a fish to appear, blocking the path down to the City."

Morrigan curled the side of his mouth into a small smile. He couldn’t help but be impressed by the man’s work. He seemed to have the entire thing figured out. He would obviously have to see definite proof of the man’s claims, but he suspected that they were as he said they were. He, as of yet, had no reason to doubt the man’s claims.

They had passed the building in relative silence as Morrigan thought over what to say next. He was not good at conversations, but luckily for him, Cole wasn’t big on conversations. They neared the cliff, and took a sharp turn to the right and entered a large crack in the cliff wall. After a couple seconds of darkness, they stepped out into the open. Morrigan looked around again, this time seeming to be in some sort of ancient amphitheater, except that there were no chairs. He followed Cole across the ramp that led to another set of stairs, which winded about until they went upward towards the giant crystal structure in the center. They walked down the stairs and across the ramp to the large crystal structure in the center. Morrigan looked about, but saw nothing unusual or anything else for that matter. He thought that perhaps it was a shrine to some deity, but there were no carvings or writing on the walls, which meant that the temple or other sort of shrine.

"So then what was this odd place" he wondered, turning to look at Cole, to see what sort of hypothesis he had about it. But when he looked towards Cole, he saw that he was on his knees in front of the crystal.

"Praying?" Morrigan thought. "Why would he be doing that?" Morrigan thought it was rather unusual for a man of science to be doing such an unscientific thing like praying.

"Dr. Cole…uh…Victor?" Morrigan called out hesitantly.

"I can hear her. Her soft voice…begging me to not hate myself for what has happened to the planet," said Cole softly, with a hint of sadness in his voice.

"What? Wha…who, Victor?" Morrigan asked, really confused now.

"Her. The last Ancient, whom he buried here so many years ago," he replied just as softly.

"What? The last Ancient? You mean that Aeris girl from the legends? Come on, Victor. There hasn’t even been any proof that those stories ever did happen. The only facts we have to go by is that there was a rouge asteroid from outer reaches of space that Sephiroth is credited with destroying. Those are official documents by the people at ShinRa, Xendel’s ancestors and one-time rulers of the planet. There is no official documentation that makes any mention of the other people in the stories. Yuffie, Cloud, Barret, they are all considered to be make-believe. The only people from the legend that we know ever existed were the pilot, Cid Highwind and the Turk, Vincent Valentine."

"Ex-Turk," Victor said solemnly as he rose to his feet "And while no there may be no written proof of their existence, mark my words they did exist."

"And how would you know?" Morrigan asked, expecting Cole to clam up. He was wrong, though.

"I will show you," was his reply.

With that said, Cole walked to the ledge of the platform they were on and leapt a good 20 feet across the ravine that separated them from the other side. He walked past a large concrete cone that jutted out of the ground and over to a large construct that, to Morrigan, resembled an ancient harp. It was several long crystals hanging from what looked like a spitfire grill. They were hanging over a large pit. The whole thing was very strange indeed, and Morrigan couldn’t help but think that Cole was insane and merely wasting his time. Nevertheless, there was the off chance that he wasn’t, and he did have something to show. Either way, he figured that he could stand to wait another ten to fifteen minutes or so.

Cole walked around the area for a minute, apparently looking for something. After a few more minutes, he finally bent down out of Morrigan’s sight. When he rose back to his feet, he held in his hand a large cane with nasty looking spikes on it. He held it up like a trophy so Morrigan could see it better.

"This is the Key to the Ancient Machine," pronounced Cole. "Now watch carefully."

Morrigan watched with keen interest as Cole placed the key inside the hole. Morrigan was waiting for it to fall into the hole, beyond retrieval, but the key remained. He finally had it in place, and Cole backed away. To Morrigan’s amazement, the key began to rotate, playing the crystals like a musicbox. As it did so, the large cylinder began to fall down into the stone that surrounded it. After it had finally fallen out of sight, Morrigan began to hear a noise that sounded like running water. Morrigan looked around but saw nothing.

"Now watch carefully" said Cole, back next to Morrigan.

Morrigan would have been scared out of his mind by Cole startling him like that, but he was too busy watching the water come splashing down over the cliff edge overhead, surrounding them in a wall of water. It was almost too much for the already overwhelmed Morrigan.

"Look," Cole said again, motioning to the wall of water over the crystal. The light reflecting off the crystal and on to the water had created a video screen of sorts. It was incredible. But there seemed to be even more to it then just pretty scenery. The crystal was projecting a picture. And not just any picture, a picture of one of the most beautiful women he had ever seen. She was simply radiating with beauty. It was odd, but he suddenly realized where he had seen her before.

"Aeris, the last Ancient," Cole said, affirming his suspicions.

"How did you…know about this?"

"I’ve been here before," Cole replied with an odd glow in his eye.

"Surely you jest. Malcolm’s group told me that this place hasn’t been visited in thousands of years."

"Malcolm’s group knows nothing of what they are dealing with. This is the Knowlespole, the Forgotten Capital of the now extinct Cetra race. The information contained here could reap huge benefits for your company, but only at the expense of the planet."

"I do not understand."

"I did not expect any less," Cole said vehemently, "From a scientist."

"Oh?"

"The Cetra were masters of the planet. The knowledge they possessed made them stronger than all of your technological gadgets put together."

"But they are dead and we are not."

"Like I said… you know nothing."

"You said that the last Ancient was buried here. Do you know where?" Morrigan asked hopefully.

"The warrior Cloud Strife left her lifeless body in the Ancient Lake, after she had been killed."

"Killed? That wasn’t part of any story that I remember hearing about," said Morrigan, once again quite puzzled.

"That is because that if the truth about the nature of her death got out, then your valiant hero Sephiroth would not seem so valiant anymore." Cole spoke with obvious pain in his eyes. He clenched his fist and bowed his head.

Morrigan was clueless.

"I still do not understand this. Are you trying to tell us that the documentation we discovered that hailed Sephiroth as a hero is false?" Morrigan asked, attempting to understand what exactly Cole was saying.

"If you still do not get the picture, then I believe I have a way to make the picture whole once again. I am going to take you to the Nibel Blister dome, where I will explain the rest of the story."

"Alright, let me pack my things and I will meet you at the hovercraft in ten minutes."

"Very well. Just do not let the others know. I have no desire to let them see what I am going to show you."

"Fine," Morrigan said, leaving the water viewer and climbing the stairs. When he got to the opposite side, he turned back to tell Cole that he should probably get his things packed too, but Cole was gone.

Morrigan shook it off, and walked down the trail towards the bed house. He got his things ready as soon as he could, taking time to leave Malcolm a note of what he was doing and what he should do in his absence. And then he left.

When Malcolm woke up, he found the note that Morrigan had left him. It read:

Malcolm grinned as he read the letter. When he was through, he took it and placed it in his briefcase. He then called HQ and gave them the necessary information, then gathered the group together and they headed out towards the Lake. Dr. Malcolm already had some pretty interesting ideas of what to do with the body that Morrigan said they would find there. He laughed to himself as he thought about it.

"Oh, the possibilities," he said to himself, laughing, as he ran up to catch up with the group.