"The airship's stopping!" Freya exclaimed. The flying vessel was hovering over one spot, it's shadow dark upon the stone of the mountain. In the distance Clayra could be faintly seen rising from the desert. The five chocobos, easily climbing the mountain as if running on flat terrain, easily kept up with it while carrying their passengers. They stopped in the ship's shadow, standing calmly on the side of the peak.

"This looks faintly familiar," Kuja muttered.

"This spot's really hard to stand on." Zidane looked below them. "It's sheer right here, and I don't think anyone could climb up here."

"I used magic, I think."

"Where's the door?" Vivi asked. At this, Kuja frowned.

"I know I put it in one of the four cardinal directions, but I don't know which one or where I stood. I have to face the door directly, I remember that much."

"I'll fly up and find out which way's north." Choco carried Zidane up to the airship.

"Stand in the center of the shadow," Steiner suggested. "Maybe that will jog you're memory." They estimated the middle point, and Kuja stood his chocobo there. Zidane returned, and dropped straight down from one side of the ship."

"This is north," he said. Kuja closed his eyes, trying to think.

"I remember - I felt clever hiding it here - who would think to look so close to Cleyra... It was... daytime! Yes! The sun was... was... damn it! I'm not sure."

"Keep trying," encouraged the Dragoon. "Try to remember anything. Where did you come from? Which direction?"

"From... my fortress... I went East..." His forehead furrowed as he tried to think. "The sun... was on my face..."

"Which side?" asked Vivi. Kuja's arm slowly rose as he spoke.

"It - it was in my eyes! Yes! I remember bringing up my arm to shield my eyes from the glare." He held his forearm before his eyes.

"Before noon," surmised Steiner.

"And then you got here - " prompted Zidane.

"I got here... and I looked around. No one was watching, or anywhere nearby, so I turned..." He faced his chocobo east, then slowly turned it to the left, so he faced his brother. As if walking in his past, he raised his arms up, palms facing outwards, and began to chant. "Aragoweth cara xirani. Aragoweth cara shivraldo a Kyra Shandya a xiran a goweth. Kuja awagoweth, kiran trani skrallen!" A line of purple fire traced a door not two feet from Kuja, and solidified into a white doorway.

"You did it!" cheered Freya. Kuja opened his eyes, and they widened in surprise.

"Great job, bro!" They gathered to go in. With Kuja leading, they slipped one by one into the hiding place of Kuja's secret Black Mage Machine, where the last of the Mist rested.

Where the last hope of all casters on Gaia rested