Until now, Aerith thought the Lifestream had no scent. The way her soul perceived was sort of done with five spiritual senses – Hearing was how she felt the remnants around her and, sight was how faint or weak energy was perceived as images. It was true she could touch things too but in this world, you could say it was just an extension of sight.

There was no need to eat so clearly, there was no taste. She just knew when her sense of smell was working, even when there really was no scent. Even the blood that was on Dyne was only symbolical so there was no smell in this world. Aerith thought briefly about how sad it was that even flowers wouldn’t have had any scent here.

She came across another soul.

It had the smell of something rotting. It was as if it wasn’t completely decomposed but yet, released a strong unpleasant smell as if it was starting to rot away. It was the kind of stench that made you frown.

It was the only spot that the Mako was weak. It was an area where the Mako was distorted as it flowed past it, unable to reform because of getting stuck there. An old man was there.

“Well well, that’s a face I remember.”

Just like his past life, the man wore an expensive suit that was tailored to fit his character. At a glance, Aerith could feel that he too retained an image that was almost as solid as hers. But the only things clear were his expensive clothing, shoes and ornaments. His face was very faint. He had chubby cheeks, a moustache that had been tidied up and he talked with a shaky voice just like that of an old man.

“Your name was… Doesn’t matter. You’re the girl that has the Ancients’ blood flowing inside you. Am I right?”

“It does matter.”

But Aerith had no intentions of telling him her name. The person before her was the former leader of Shinra Inc, President Shinra, the absolute authority of a corporation that surpassed and dictated the nations.

“I see, so you fell down here too. You’re dead like me? In the same place?”

The President continued unable to hold back the joy in his tone. “We’re reunited in the end as if we’ve been sent to another life together. The Planet really knows how to make arrangements. I really feel like I’ve gained something out of this.”

“Gained something?”

It meant the same thing that Dyne said at first. But in Dyne’s case it was mostly only cynicism towards himself. The old man was completely different. Aerith sensed from his thoughts that President Shinra was seriously thinking the way he was.

“You don’t understand do you? The Ancients are more stupid than I thought. Well, that’s why you refused cooperating with Shinra Inc so much. My my, what a pitiful and miserable life.”

“How rude. I don’t remember being miserable at all.”

The old man let out a chuckle at how angry Aerith was as if he just made a fool of her.

“Not knowing one’s gains and losses is happiness in a way. But try to think about it. After escaping from Hojo’s facility together with your mother, your life has been in the garbage dump slums for fifteen years. When the Turks found you, you could have lived a luxurious life on the upper levels of the plate if you came back to us. At that time, Hojo was dreaming of some other experiment and so I gave the instructions to keep an eye on you. But if you took the initiative of deciding to cooperate with us then I would have welcomed you and given you special treatment. So what do you think now? After living in the slums, crawling around like a bug, getting involved with Avalanche and dying without knowing what luxury is, can you still say that your life wasn’t miserable?”

“…That’s really a conceited point of view, weighing how fortunate and how unfortunate others are.”

“I’m a self-righteous person. If you look at it fairly I’m sure there is no human being that gained more than me.”

A sneer came to his face and the President continued to remonstrate.

“With my wits, I managed to expand Shinra, a company that only started off by producing weapons, to the size it is today. Discovering the possibilities of the uses of Mako energy and developing the Mako reactors that drew the energy out was the turning point. The Mako provided power to the public, raising their standards of life and also made them my slaves. After getting their hands on such a life of convenience, it became something like an addictive drug to the ignorant people and took over their minds. And we, the Shinra that controlled that energy expanded the scale of our company in an instant. With some simple advertising we could gather all the top talents we wanted. Dreams of planning the construction of a Metropolis, a space exploration programme… They would all do it all for me. I could use them. They served me like servants to a king. The public couldn’t see what was happening. Even the media that drove the public could only follow Shinra’s command as we monopolized the Mako energy. Shinra had taken over the country and I had ascended on a throne in which no one would ever criticize me no matter what I done. I could trample all the fools, have unlimited wealth and dictate as the ruler of the world! I wouldn’t mind living a longer life but, never mind that. So, what do you think Ancient? Do you understand which of our lives gained more now? Or rather, how miserable your life was?”

“Hmmm… Maybe?”

What Aerith did understand was that the happiness the old man before her had was far different from what she was thinking. The happiness he spoke off was all relative things. He wanted to be in a position where he had more gain than anyone else. As a result of that, the Shinra Inc’s thoughts of absorbing the Planet’s life remained with him even now. He was like a helpless soul that couldn’t feel happiness anymore than those that were less fortunate than him could.

She had no intentions of pointing that out. If that was the end point of his satisfaction then it couldn’t be helped. He couldn’t take his hands off the wealth he had scraped together and like rubbish, it was rotting away releasing a stench.

As if stuck in a drain – the ugly old man didn’t know that he wasn’t freed from the misery of his ambitions even after dying.

Always seeking for someone to compare himself with, the President was dissatisfied seeing how responseless Aerith was.

“It was so foolish of me to compare myself to such a stupid human. I’m not in a good mood. I’m pretty annoyed. Leave quickly if you don’t understand what I’m saying.”

“I’ll do that.”

This old man couldn’t be saved. On the throne where his desires rotted drifting away, he was going to remain there until he reached the end of his long years and his ego disappeared.

Just when Aerith turned her back towards President Shinra and was about to return on her journey…

Something strange happened. A strange wave separate from the Lifestream, rushed into the Sea of Mako shaking it violently. It was an ominous wave like a great pulse.

“What is this?”

Hearing the screams of the old man, Aerith spun round.

All she could see was the figure of the President being drawn away into the distance. Gradually, the speed picked up extremely fast.

He wasn’t on a current. The old man was dragged away as if he was caught by gravity, picking up speed as he dropped. He was heading somewhere in the Sea of Mako, drawn away.

Leaving a long trailing scream of terror behind, President Shinra disappeared.
Aerith felt the pulse again. She knew what it was clearly this time. It was the same wave of the one who ended her life in the Forgotten City.

That man was lurking somewhere in the Lifestream.

“Sephiroth…”

The silver haired apostate angel smiled thinly as if taking away the wicked souls to hell. This time Aerith knew the danger wasn’t over.

The Holy she had summoned was being suppressed just as it was about to work. The Planet’s scar from long ago… Sephiroth was in the Northern Crater that was Jenova’s “Promised Land”, waiting for the moment when he would be reborn as his original self.

The Ultimate Destructive Black Magic Meteor was on the move. The devil’s hammer that would descend from the distant heavens to smash the Planet was summoned.

Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8