melodiesoflife | Event || Terra Incognita

Robin nodded. The Captain -- she had been promoted since the battle of Aqures Ixen -- frowned for a moment. They knew of the Heroes of Light. She didn't think she should be surprised by that, but much like Sephiroth, she wondered how they knew to expect them.

She sucked in a breath, then she nodded. "I understand. Thank you for telling us," she said. "We would be honored to meet your Sage, of course, if you would lead us."

She hesitated.

"But how did he know of our coming?" she asked.

Both words, even though they were translated almost immediately, instantly pinged at more of Sephiroth's attention. He drew his posture up just that tiniest bit straighter and more directly looked over the strange creatures that had come to greet them, one by one. Was there something else behind that statement, was this continent's separation from the rest of the World a direct consequence of that legendary battle? Curiosity was piqued-

The Pyramid of Prayers. He'd seen it from the airship on the approach, a truly enormous building at the center of a well-established city but with a name like that...well it drew all sorts of theories about how it might come to be named such.

The Major stepped forwards then, not quite barging into the group but very much making his presence known. He looked around the other Heroes to enforce his involvement even more, before turning his attention back to the welcoming committee in anticipation of the reply to Robin's last question. This Sage was certainly the individual they needed to see.

"Sure, we might as well. Kinda wanna know how he knew we were comin' too."

Listening to Moglin, something dawned on Sparks, and he mumbled a comment mostly to himself.

"Huh. They do that 'kupo' thing too."

"We don't know, but maybe he will tell you. Follow us, Kupo."

With that said, Moglin along with the Bangaa and the Elezen led them throughout the city toward the Pyramid. The Bangaa in particular commented on the various sectors, until they got close to the pyramid.

"The Cult of Narayana that Davoix mentioned..." Moglin paused, referring to what the Elezen had said earlier. "You should look out for them, Kupo. They're lunatics that worship the Calamity from the Skies and they have grown a lot more active, Kupo. They don't cause us a lot of troubles but if they learn of you, they will probably go crazy, Kupo."

Zelda followed behind letting her eyes flick in wonder around the city. She worried about keeping their identities secret but that didn't seem to be the most important thing to worry about. She looked down at the little moogle, her bright blue gaze curious.

"Why would they worship the calamity?"

It didn't make sense to her unless they knew or assumed something that she didn't know. Destruction hardly seemed something to put a guiding faith too.

Robin followed, too -- and then she paused. She frowned; she had a little knowledge of cults. She remembered fighting the Grimleal in Plegia, though she knew little of their beliefs.

She knew they could be trouble, though.

"They would be angered by our arrival?" she asked. "As Heroes of Light?"

"Reckon they might just be," Sparks answered to Robin.

Better ask their guides more on this, to know what they could be up against. "So they're lunatics, but are they dangerous? Is there a lot of 'em?"

"We don't really know. I don't think I really want to know either." The Bangaa was the one to speak, but the Moogle nodded and the Elezen remained silent.

When they finally reached the Pyramid's entrance, the Bangaa moved to open the door and let them all in.

"They've never caused us trouble, Kupo..." "But if they think you're a threat to their deity, they might become dangerous, Kupo. You won't find any here but there are a lot more around Downapolis."

Robin frowned. She wasn't quite sure what to make of that. But, one question lingered.

"Who is their deity?" she asked. "The Calamity itself?"

As the group led them through the city, much like Zelda, Sephiroth afforded a quick glance around at each sector that was considered appropriate enough for a comment to be made. It was clear, that each and more of the details were to be inspected closer during the time that the expedition had them spend here.

But it was very much the continued hum of conversation going on between the others which had much of the silver-haired Major's attention. The pessimist in him agreed with Sparks completely, yet to be so close-minded while they were still so ignorant of the demographics of the new continent could be equally dangerous.

Any mention of the Calamity instilled a sort-of hyper awareness now that Sephiroth knew that much more of the particulars of his own existence, though he remained silent and for all appearances as passive as could be as he brought up the rear of the group. Occasionally meeting the eye contact with one or two citizens, just to further gauge the reaction to them that hadn't been already represented by the committee that now led them to the Pyramid.

"We'll be careful then. What about our moogles?" Zelda looked over at those guiding them curiously. Kopula wasn't with her on this trip but she knew that more than a few of the heroes had their moogles with them.

"Wouldn't it be obvious that they are from the other continent? I just mean... if we are trying to hide our identities." It might not matter considering there are others on this planet but it wasn't to hard of a leap to guess that those visiting were a little odd.

She just hoped that everyone would stay safe.

"Narayana. I recognize that name," Rukia folded her arms, her face growing serious. "The Reaper mentioned it after his defeat, and change of identity to Hades. He thanked our group for freeing him from 'Narayana's Curse' it was called."

It looked like she could do some serious investigation here. She just hoped that a week would be enough time to dig for the information she needed to better understand what had happened, and how it had happened in the first place.

"Yes, the Calamity, Narayana, is their deity." The Moogle nodded then widened his eyes. "They are Moogles? But yes, they would need to hide."

When the Moogle opened the door to the pyramid after going past some guard, it would reveal a large hall filled people praying, with statues and stained glasses decorating the place. Specifically, there were four statues. The one in the bottom left corner of the room depicted a woman looking somewhat similar to Nebilim, whereas the one in the bottom right corner looked similar to Ib. The one in the top left corner looked similar to Igor, and the last statue looked like the spitting image of Kalki. All four statues had an extended hand over which floated a fake Black Crystal.

The stained glasses meanwhile seemed to depict events that happened during ancient cycles. Among the various tales depicted on the stained glasses, the Heroes would be able to see something looking like Sephiroth with the Calamity at his side attacking other Heroes of Light while another depicted a similar Dycedarg attacking the Heroes. In other series of stained glasses, they could see people looking like Ganondorf, the Librarian and Blair standing over Crystallis and brandishing a sword against the planet, Heroes of Light being murdered one after the other by the likeness of Haytham and a group of Heroes finding a locked chest on a floating continent.

The escort turned to the Heroes without paying attention to any of this on their end, and pointed to a series of stair going to the pyramid's summit.

"The Sage awaits for you in the Hall of Prayers. We'll be waiting for you here, Kupo."

Twilight stayed silent as she had followed the group, trying to take everything in. She mentally noted everything being said and regretted not having a pen and pad with her. The stained glasses, though, caught her attention. It reminded her of the stained glasses adorning Celestia's castle of her and her friends' exploits...

However, that first window, the one with the Sephiroth look-alike caught her attention, especially seeing the person there with them. Did that... make sense? Was that him in the window?

Jade had said nothing this whole time. Like Sephiroth, he had chosen to observe while the others handled the pleasantries.

Once they entered the pyramid, however, the silence was broken by a sharp intake of breath as he caught sight of the statues -- specifically, the one of Professor Nebilim. It didn't take long before he recognized the others, too.

"The last cycle..."

Zelda's eyes lock on the familiar depiction where Ganondorf stood. She felt her throat dry and her palms become clammy when she realized what this was. The cracked crystal came to mind when she looked at the fake dark crystal and she wondered what the connection was between the two. The dark crystals she thought were bad while the crack one was dying.

It didn't make sense and yet every step forward gave her an uneasy feeling in the pit of her stomach.

"When was this place built?"

Zelda let the question linger in the air trying not to let on how uncomfortable she was feeling or how important that questions was to her. How could they have known about the last cycle if the world had been reset?

Kidd had been quiet as well. She was not in a particular position to introduce herself as any sort of representative. If anything, she'd rather as little be known about her and her actions and establishment in Crystallis as possible.. It paid to be a little gunshy at times, just to cover the backs of the others.

She followed them along, simply posing as their entourage and ready to make a move to their defense if it was needed. What she was not expecting was the window displaying a tragedy that she was far too familiar with and sometimes could fool herself into having been just a dream.

"Kenway...." The name was all she uttered, softly and just at the level of her breath. It was one that anyone who spoke with her at length might have heard.

"Narayana..."

Robin followed in quiet after that. She could tell by some of the soft murmurs and the stares that some of this was familiar. It made her eyes narrow; it made her wonder, exactly, what happened in the past. The previous cycle, as Jade indicated, was likely an explanation here. She swallowed; then she nodded. She glanced at her fellow Heroes.

Then, she began to ascend the stairs, to the Sage.

Given that Ellie had only been present in this world for a short time, none of the statues or stained glass figures looked familiar to her. She paid them no heed.

Save one.

Sephiroth had a distinctive look to him that could hardly be mistaken for another. When her eyes glossed over the window, they immediately returned, narrowing in quiet speculation. Yes, she remembered meeting this man. He seemed to be depicted as an antagonist to these Heroes.

That was very interesting indeed. It took all of her effort not to look around and see if he was joined with the party, as she was curious to see how he reacted. But if he was here, then maybe she'd chance a peek, just to see if he registered any emotions on his face.

"These window scenarios seem a little grim," she observed openly with a small frown. The only one that didn't seem to contain some sort of grisly portent was the treasure chest, and she half-expected that unlocking it would result in some sort of vile beast biting off everyone's heads in order to fit the trend.

Stopping at the stairs, she looked up, then nodded. "Thank you." And up she went, keeping her place in the relative middle of the group on the far right side.

As they were led into the Pyramid, the various statues and images presented seemed to hit Sephiroth's subconscious in swift succession. As soon as he spotted the first large statue with its black crystal, his gaze was caught by the next detail, and then the next. Upon making eye contact with the stained glass depicting the scenario from his doppelganger, Sephiroth flexed his leather-clad hands as if it might help him temper it.

"Because you have...nothing." He closed his eyes momentarily-

There were two people specifically shot a glance; Jade when he sharply inhaled and then immediately to Zelda whom he held his gaze on for a mite longer before seeming to quietly swallow something within himself and somewhat calmly shake off what -had he not the knowledge he had now- could certainly have had a completely different reaction from him. Inside, he felt something contort, a familiar sense of dread rising but it was a personal beast that he's more used to contending with now.

He met Ellie's eye contact, instantly the epitome of calm if still retaining his usual stern bearing, as if the stained glass figure was the furthest from his likeness. Discreetly he might have chewed on the bottom corner of his lip as she made her comment though; not appreciated, yet certainly this newer Hero of Light didn't know any better. Sephiroth blinked, naturally enough even if his slitted pupils were contracted a little in the gloomier room, and then looked towards the staircase and where their escort bid them climb.

"Lets go." He spoke to no one in particular, yet everyone at the same time as he rose both arms to tighten the tail of his long silver hair and began to climb along with the others. Taking care to keep his pace a little slower than most, maintaining his position somewhere at the back as more of an observer.

Sephiroth would notice in short order that yet another pair of eyes was fixed upon him. Ashelia moved herself closer to him within the group. She could understand Sephiroth's reaction - subtle, but as someone who had known him more than a year, somewhat apparent - but it still gave her pause. If these people held up his doppelganger's actions as an example of greatness, as some holy endeavor in aiding the Calamity's ascendance...was Sephiroth the kind of man to be swayed by such things? She thought not, but she thought not about a lot of things.

So, the Queen hung back with him, preferring to let Zelda do the talking - between the two of them, Zelda was a much friendlier face for first impressions anyway.

Unfortunately, Minato wasn't able to talk to Elizabeth in further detail about Crystallis... this was the second time he regretted he hadn't spoken to her more, before she had joined other Heroes who were in stasis. Not only as an information source, of course, but if she really had a relationship to him other than being his attendant. She was from a future he did not yet know; it all feels like a wasted opportunity.

He recognized the distinctive nose--well, admittedly, his entire face was hard to forget--of her master's. Igor. Just looking at the statue, it takes Minato back to the distinctive all-surrounding blue, and the bright light of that wide, ever-moving elevator. Plus, his words for him to recognize the contract, and take responsibility and accept the consequences for his actions.

When he thought about it...

--He still didn't understand. This was going to keep nagging at him, for the rest of the Mysidia trip now. What was Igor doing, in this world?

". . ." Minato follows behind some of the other Heroes without comment.

Wanting to know what this Sage had to say, K'pandolu had followed- but this raised only more questions. She stared at the stained glass, trying to pull all the details she could out of it, one ear flicking briefly in Sephiroth's direction as her mind spun. The last cycle… How? How did they know any of this?

She moved closer to Sephiroth and the others, mouth set in a line. Whatever they were about to find would be better found if they were united.

When they reached the end of the stairs, a door awaited them. Needless to them, some might be exhausted by then as the stairs went up for what amounts to over thirty floors. And upon opening the door, they would find a very simple room. Unlike the entrance hall where there were statues and stained glasses, nothing of the sort in this room. Only shelves with some small figures, old books and tobacco.

There was a man standing before the shelves, probably the Sage. Without looking back, he addressed the Heroes of Light who had just entered the hall.

"Minato, please be a dear and close the door behind you."

He knew them.

Robin couldn't hide the surprise on her face; for that matter, she didn't want to. She suspected the sage would know they were surprised, at this point. The woman tilted her head to the side, before she nodded.

"It's an honor, Sage," she said. "But... you seem to already know our names."

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