"You're not even as attractive as I thought you'd be..."

[for-cosmos.livejournal.com]

Characters:  The Warrior of Light, Matoya.
Progress:  Incomplete
Summary:  A meeting of the FF1 cast in its current entirety.
Location:  Matoya's Cave.
Date:  October 1st.
Warnings: ...Matoya?

He was approaching what had to be the cave that he had been told about, the one where the wise woman Matoya lived. He had come here intending to ask if the woman knew anything of the Chaos Shrine and how he and the others who were looking for Garland could get to that place. If she had tolerated it, he had intended to ask her about the few things he remembered from his past. It would do no harm for him to try. The worst that could happen would be that she tired of his questions, or that she had no answers for him.

Now, though, he had so many other things that he wished to ask. He wanted to know about the Lucavi. He wanted to ask if the Iifa tree would bring Firion back to life. He knew that hunting Garland was the most important thing for him to do, but  wanting justice for Firion's death, and the more personal curiosity about his past warred inside of him. He only hoped that he could manage to ask all of these things.

The cave, as he approached it, did not seem to be anything of particular importance. It looked like a cave like any other from the outside. It was only once he reached the entrance that the Warrior saw the brooms sweeping the room of their own accord, and muttering to themselves. It was an odd sight, but he did not find himself completely surprised by it. It made some sort of sense for these things to be here in the place where Matoya was supposed to be.

"This place..."

Comments

[tidesnpcs.livejournal.com]

As usual, Matoya was seated with her crystal eye, hunkered down over it in fact. Of all the people to come and go from her cave, this one she knew the best. She'd watched over him and his companions from afar, seen their coming before they were born.

And as for his comment, she finished it off for him by raising her voice. "... is no different than the last time you were here. You're no better looking than you were then either."

[for-cosmos.livejournal.com]

If the brooms had given him deja vu, the sight of Matoya was deeply familiar, and her words brought memory with them. He had come to see her before, with a different question in mind. He (and others- there had been others with him, hadn't there?) had come to her needing a potion. Instead, he had needed to retrieve her Crystal for her. The memory was blurry and incomplete, but it was there, and Matoya was right here, for him to ask questions of.

"You have not changed." he said, and it was true. The cave was exactly the same, despite being on a different world, and Matoya herself was no different from the way he remembered her.

He was silent for a moment as he considered the questions he had for her. More than ever now, he had questions that he wanted to ask her about himself and about his world, but it would be irresponsible to blurt those out when he had a mission to accomplish. Instead, he asked "How can I find the Chaos Shrine?"

[tidesnpcs.livejournal.com]

To help him out, she summoned an image into the crystal sitting before her. The ruins of the Chaos Shrine, sitting in the outlying countryside of Cornelia. Standing before it was the Warrior of Light and his other three companions at that time, their crystals shimmering from pendants around their necks. That image she left for him to look at and consider, and she lifted her blind eyes to him as though she could see his face. He had been away, had his memories tampered with in a way that she could not fix. Only time and self-reflection could provide that. No need to point out the obvious to him.

"The way is the same as before, although the path more veiled than you last knew. The light of the crystals will light your path."

[for-cosmos.livejournal.com]

He stepped forward into the cave to see the image that Matoya had called up in her crystal. He took in as much of it as he could. He was there in the scene, surrounded by things that were both recognizable and unfamiliar to him. The crystal he wore around his neck and the ruins that they stood before were immediately recognizable from his time in the Void, but this was clearly not the Void. It was a time before then, something that he should remember, but could not.

He continued to watch the image in the crystal for a moment, until he registered Matoya's words. Only then did he look up at her, wearing a frown. Speaking of crystals and the light implied to him that she spoke of Cosmos, and only the image placed before him made him hesitant. "Then we must have all of the Warriors of Cosmos present in this world before the way to the Shrine is opened?"

[tidesnpcs.livejournal.com]

Immediately the witch disliked whatever had played with the warrior's memories. This should have been over and done with already. More work for her, and that irritated. "This has nothing to do with that goddess." Even that much knowledge hadn't escaped her knowledge.

The image in the crystal shifted to a glorious and glittering airborne fortress. The scene shifted from the outside view, to what lay within, moving through the hallways. There stood an opening, which showed blue skies and soft white clouds below. And in looking down, one could see the world. Streaks of light shone out, drawn to a central point. By studying the images as they moved, one felt thrust down as the view shifted to the point of convergence. The Chaos Shrine. But only the same one just shown before.

"You have seen this before."

[for-cosmos.livejournal.com]

"I have..." It was half a statement, half a question. If Matoya was saying it, it had to have been true, but the actual memory still was not coming to him. Memories about his quest, it seemed, were buried far deeper than simple information about the world. It would take some time to recall, if he could get himself to remember any of it. "Then these crystals need to be found, in order for us to find the way to the Chaos Shrine?"

[tidesnpcs.livejournal.com]

"One there is found, three yet remain lost. None have found their resting place." The scenes shifted once more, quick flashes of shrines guarded by fierce fiends and violent elements. Raging waters, bubbling lava, overpowering winds, shaking earth. Then the crystal went dark, revealing nothing further. Matoya was grateful that he had the decency to remember not to vex her with unnecessary queries. However, she had one of her own. "For what purpose do you seek the abode of Chaos?"

[for-cosmos.livejournal.com]

The Warrior watched the images flash by in the Crystal, doing his best to commit the images and the ideas Matoya mentioned to memory. There were four crystals, one which was already upon Gaia. It seemed, from the elements that surrounded each shrine that appeared, the stones each represented the power of one of them. He looked up again once the crystal went dark. "This seems to be the same as when the way was opened to Terra."

"To find Garland, and end the cycle of Chaos." His answer was immediate, and decisive. As soon as Garland had announced his goal upon Terra, the Warrior had gained his own goal.

[tidesnpcs.livejournal.com]

A decisive frown appeared on Matoya's face. There was knowing, and then there was knowing. "How will you accomplish this? The fallen knight will die once more and be reborn Chaos." The cycle could not be stopped, it was quite neverending. How many lifetimes had she watched this happen again and again? Heroes would rise and vanquish, only for the cycle to begin anew. Waste of lives if you asked her. Nobody quite did. There had been glimpses, hints, that one cycle might be different, that the eternity would end. However, it came at great price and much sorrow.

[for-cosmos.livejournal.com]

"I..." He began to respond, only to find that he had no answer to give. The last time he and the others had defeated Chaos, Cosmos had given her life, in order for them to end the cycle once and for all. It had been a horrible sacrifice, but thanks to her, the cycle of Chaos in the Void had been ended. Now, however it seemed that even that sacrifice had not stopped the cycle from continuing again on this world. Cosmos was gone, though he hated to think of it. There was no sacrifice to be made this time, to end it all. "I do not know." He finally admitted.

[tidesnpcs.livejournal.com]

Without warning, Matoya rose to her feet and shuffled over to the fire. Age had long sense paid its toll on her, but today especially she felt particularly weary. In all her long years, never had she been so vexed with the prospect of seeing them come to and end, yet knowing that it was not the time. With a mighty groan from the effort it took, she bent and put her kettle on for tea.

"I would like to see it end." Possibly the most frank admittance anyone would ever get from her, and that only because she was feeling her age and crotchety. "Your presence here is a mistake. No matter what lifetime he lives, Garland always makes mistakes. He is too rash. It is his weakness and to our benefit."

Back to the table she wobbled, easing into the chair with a weary sigh. A storm would arrive in two days, and it made her bones ache.

[for-cosmos.livejournal.com]

"Then how can the cycle be ended for good? There must be some way," he asked, wearing a frown of his own as he watched her hobble over to the fire and back. "Perhaps my presence here is a mistake, but he knows that I and the other warriors of Cosmos are here. He will be prepared for us." Perhaps Garland was rash, but he was also a strong opponent, one the Warrior had faced many times. Garland was powerful enough to deal with his mistakes, unless he and the others were prepared to stand against him.

[tidesnpcs.livejournal.com]

"Only through hardship and sorrow."

Cryptic as ever. Matoya folded her aged hands together and brought them to rest on the table. "I'm glad you don't have any ridiculous notions about putting everything back how it was. Quite impossible. No one likes to hear it." For all anyone might be able to tell, she could well just be talking to herself, rambling on as she does when left to her hermitage. It is not unusual for her to hold entire conversations with someone in advance of their meeting, odd as that be.

To dispel the notion that she was dismissing her visitor by ignoring him, she said bluntly. "You have other questions. Ask them."

[for-cosmos.livejournal.com]

He wanted to ask for her to explain what she meant. There had been sorrow and hardship on the group trip to Terra, in near-failure and even the deaths of their comrades. Was that what she meant, or was there more to come?

Before he could, though, she had already continued on, and he could only nod blankly. He was a warrior, after all, not someone who could rebuild. He could only do his best to stop the fighting, so that others had a chance to move on with their lives. Her rambling was as much to herself as it was to him, so there was little else he could do to respond to it, until she continued the conversation once again.

"My comrade, Firion. He was killed, only a short time ago... I know that there is a tree in this world that returns the dead. Will he be returned to life as others have?" He had gained hints of his past, and information on how to defeat Garland, already from Matoya's answers. It was enough for him to continue on his mission. The only thing left to concern him was that.

[tidesnpcs.livejournal.com]

Matoya shook her head, but not in denial of his query. "You are mistaken. The tree does not return the dead. It is a flaw of Garland's magic. That tree exists to prevent the souls from cycling back to the source of life. This manifests in what this world calls Mist. Those who have returned to the living were blocked from returning to this world's source of life, and having no other place to go, reanimate. Once all the souls have been blocked from the Crystal, Garland will fill it with the souls of the dead world you saw."

She fell silent, staring into her dark crystal, pondering what answer she should give him. His friend could well return, but given the instability of the flawed spells, there was no guarantee, only possibilities. And even should the youth return to the living, he would never be whole once more. The restoration of those who had passed was unnatural and should in no wise be encouraged or thought of as a good thing. "Knowing that his return fulfills Garland's purposes for this world, is this still what you wish?"

[for-cosmos.livejournal.com]

"He would aid in Garland's eventual defeat. I do not want to support anything of Garland's plans, but I also would not want my comrades to die." The warrior said after a moment of silence. "Our battle in the Void was a cycle as well, and time and again Warriors were returned to the conflict. Until we can end the cycle for good, it is an advantage that our warriors are returned to us. If we can defeat him before he is able to filter the souls of Terra to the source of life, then it should not matter."

[tidesnpcs.livejournal.com]

"He will not come back whole. Part of his soul will remain with this world."

Matoya sighed and waved a hand towards the fire. "If you're going to stay, make yourself useful and fetch that tea. I'm getting too old for entertaining."

There was a wealth of information she was still willing to share, but not without tea to fortify herself.

[for-cosmos.livejournal.com]

"Part of his soul?" he asked, even as he rose to his feet. He watched her even as he went to the fire to get the kettle and pour the tea, not out of suspicion, but respect, and curiosity. When he came back to the table, he was carrying two cups of tea- his questions had not gotten him kicked out of her cave yet, and it seemed that he would not be removed in the near future.

"Please, explain." he said, setting the cup down on the table in front of her with a gentle thump, and waiting patiently for her reply.

[tidesnpcs.livejournal.com]

The moment he placed the cups on the table, an impressive spread of foods appeared on the table around them. Many of the warrior's favorites were among them, and yet Matoya reached for her cup as if nothing out of the ordinary had occurred. She sipped from it in silence, taking long enough to put out the impression that she had no intent whatsoever of saying another word.

"His soul rightfully belongs to this world's Crystal now. It departed to enrich it with his memories. What does not return with him will linger in the Mist with the remainder of the souls prevented from finding rest. You have already seen this. It manifests differently. Some lose memories, others senses, others still their abilities."

[for-cosmos.livejournal.com]

The sudden appearance of the food startled him more than the food itself did. setting his cup down, he took a seat at the table once again. As he waited for Matoya to speak, he began to eat the food offered. Still, she paused so long that he was about to ask his question again when she finally spoke.

"Is there any way to tell what will be lost to the Mist and the crystal?"

Perhaps it was callous of him to pick that out of the information Matoya was giving him, but unless she told him of some way to destroy the Iifa Tree and remove that part of Garland's plan, there was little he could do about the Mist or the crystal taking part of the souls of those who died. He wanted to stop it. Having pieces of one's soul taken away by the Iifa tree was a steep price, even for being returned to life.

[tidesnpcs.livejournal.com]

"None whatsoever. Some things truly are the province of the whims of chance. No one can know everything." Not even herself. In this particular case, she did not care to set a precedent of telling anyone the minutia of their life. Why she'd never get a moment's peace! Her blind eyes turned to the direction of the swishing, muttering brooms and reflected that it would provide her more of them. Sometimes it seemed foolish to keep the nags around and yet they made themselves useful after a fashion.

Matoya cradled the cup in her hands, appreciating the relief its warmth gave to her aching joints. She had been feeling her age more and more lately. A portent that perhaps soon the end could come. Not likely when these heroes couldn't divine for themselves what to do with their lives much less how to resolve everything. Irksome. The foolishness of youth. Wasted on the young. "It's not the same, you realize. Not the same at all."

She was certain he was thinking of both Garland's defeat and ending the destructive spell centered around that accursed tree. One would not cancel out the other. Best to dissuade him of that notion before he brought it up.

[for-cosmos.livejournal.com]

"I see." It was the first question that had been left completely unanswered, though at least Matoya had given reason for the lack of an answer. It was more information than was truly needed in the first place, at least. Already, she had told him much of what he had come here wanting to know.

When she spoke once again, he paused, to once again focus his attention more completely on her. "You said that the Iifa tree was a tool in Garland's purpose. I understand that he intends to bring the souls of Terra to this world's crystal, but how does that further the cycle of chaos? When we faced him on Terra, he spoke of that, not of any other plot of his."

[tidesnpcs.livejournal.com]

Matoya leveled him a look that said quite clearly she was less than impressed. Difficult to do when she was still entirely blind and yet so she did. "Are you as daft as you are unattractive?"

An annoyed snort escaped her and she set to the business of drinking her tea. For all appearances her interview seemed at an end, yet she had not thrown her guest out, as she was wont to do. After draining half the cup, she deigned to speak. "Will he be allowed to live or will someone seek to end his life? When he dies, he will be reborn Chaos and perpetuate the cycle. You have seen this once before. There is always a need to stop him, always a need to put him closer to the rebirth."

[for-cosmos.livejournal.com]

The insult seemed to be an end to the conversation, and he almost rose to his feet to leave, but her next words were not telling him to get out, but rather to continue the conversation. He settled in his seat once again, perhaps the slightest bit disconcerted with the insult. He was a warrior instead of a scholar or a mage for a reason.

"He will not be allowed to live, but I cannot allow him to continue the cycle." the warrior said. "How can he be stopped from being reborn as Chaos?" She could not have been talking about the Conflict on Cosmos's side, and there, Chaos and Garland had been separate, defeated individually. He had faced Garland before, and had faced Chaos before, but the memories still were not clear.

[tidesnpcs.livejournal.com]

"He can't."

Short, sweet and painfully to the point. "I told you, the cycle cannot be stopped. He will fall and be reborn. His mastery of time is absolute."

[for-cosmos.livejournal.com]

"Surely there must be some way to stop him, or at least remove him from this world," the warrior protested.

[tidesnpcs.livejournal.com]

Matoya sighed heavily. More than anything she wished to see an end as well. There was one she had foreseen but it was not now. "You would have to remove the spirit of Chaos from the world. That time has not yet come."

[for-cosmos.livejournal.com]

"Then when? I will not simply stand by and wait for that time to come." he said heatedly. The Warrior had sworn to end the cycle for good, and not being able to accomplish that, for any reason, was not an attractive thought to him.

[tidesnpcs.livejournal.com]

"You'll know." She frowned at him, motioning to the exit. "Losing your temper won't hasten the day. You have your answers. Now leave."