Final Fantasy VII: Lifestream - Book 2: Aftermath

FIFTY-TWO

We pressed onward through the marshes, the day wearing on as we made our way southwest. As always, I padded a short distance ahead of the others, the mud sticky beneath my paws as I tested the ground. The gloom hanging over the swamp did little to hinder my sight, and I kept my ears alert, listening for anything that might pose a threat to us. But aside from the serpents we'd fought earlier, there was nothing. We went on, none of us saying much and all of us wanting to get out of this dark and terrible place as quickly as possible.

At times as we traveled, Aerith used her earth magic to harden the ground wherever it proved to be particularly troublesome and difficult to pass. Only infrequently at first, but as we drew closer to the last and largest of the lakes and the muck became more treacherous, she had to begin using her spells much more often.

We stayed in the trees as much as we could, as Tifa had suggested, but it soon became too difficult even for Aerith to provide us a path to move upon as deep, murky pools of mud and wetness filled the ground everywhere we looked. They forced us away from the protective shelter of the woods and drove us closer to the water.

Although the ground there wasn't much better off, it was still solid enough that we could keep moving. Our progress slowed considerably, however. Almost to a halt at times, and we had to watch virtually every step we took. I did the best I could to guide the others while keeping a wary eye on the lake. The water stretched on far beyond our sight, and it was cloaked in mist from the light rain.

At first, all went well as we made our way slowly but steadily along the shore, none of us speaking as we moved. But when we were almost to the southwestern edge of the lake, the ripples swirling across its dark surface suddenly intensified. We all turned, paralyzed in that moment, as the reptilian monster burst forth from the water once more just as it had yesterday, its dry hissing loud and chilling in our ears and its scales black and glistening. Only now, the foul creature wasn't alone. Not one, but three giant serpents exploded from the lake.

"Oh, shit..." Barret gaped.

They surged toward us in an instant, slithering and writhing out of the water and baring their sharp fangs. But suddenly, there was a rustle of movement from the trees ahead of us, and seconds later, something large, sharp, and very familiar shot through the air, its four razor points spinning rapidly in a wide arc. The weapon cut across the snout of one of the Midgarsormyrs before hitting the next one and then the third as well, one after the other, before its trajectory took it back to the edge of the woods where its owner caught it easily.

"Get your asses in gear, guys!" the Wutaian girl shouted. "This isn't the time to be standing around!"

I stared at her in disbelief. "You!"

It was the young ninja thief from Kalm. She sat atop her chocobo, wearing a muddy cloak over her green top and white shorts. Her dark, almond eyes were fixed on us and the snakes, and at first, I didn't have any idea what she was doing out here. But then I remembered how Bill had told us at the Chocobo Farm that she'd arrived there before us and had ventured into the marshes as well.

"You guys are lucky I heard you and doubled back!" she said. "And I was almost clear of this ugly place, too!"

The girl's sudden and unexpected appearance quickly jolted us out of our temporary paralysis, and we all got moving, hurrying toward the trees as quickly as we could. But the giant serpents had no intention of allowing us an easy escape. The monsters surged up onto the shore and cut us off, sweeping around us in far less than a heartbeat as Cloud and Tifa's chobobos both squawked in terror.

Barret fired at the snakes. "Outta our way, assholes!"

While he poured bullets into the monsters and Cloud quickly drew his blade, Tifa raced her mount at one of the serpents and tore a gouge across its body with her mythril claws. At the same time, I growled and jumped, using my own claws to rip into another serpent. The ninja girl expertly threw her shuriken again, cutting across the same snake from the other side. When I landed, I followed up with a blast of cold magic that left a sheen of frost on the creature's scales.