Temple of the Ancients The Temple of the Ancients is a location in " Final Fantasy VII " , built by the Cetra thousands of years ago to house the Black Materia . The outside of the temple is similar in architecture to the Mayan pyramid of Kukulkan . The interior is a large maze - like cavern of staircases , and includes a passage where the party must avoid falling boulders , and a large clock the party must operate , walking across its hands to access the rooms its hands can point to . The mural room where the source of the Black Materia is stored shows paintings similar to the ancient Egypt , depicting the summoning of Ultimate Magic , Meteor . The Keystone is required to open the temple ' s door . The temple lies on an island , and can only be reached via the Tiny Bronco . It can only be visited once , and is replaced by a crater on the world map . Story . Cloud Strife and his party obtain the Keystone from Dio . Cait Sith turns out to be a double - agent for Shinra Electric Power Company and hands the Keystone to the Turks to grab the Black Materia before Sephiroth can . Tseng , the leader of the Turks , enters the temple , but is attacked by Sephiroth who wounds Tseng and leaves him for dead . Cloud ' s party finds the temple surrounded by Sephiroth Clone s and fights their way through until coming upon the room where the device to turn the temple into the Black Materia is kept . Sephiroth appears in a ghostly form , telling the party about his plan to use the Black Materia to summon Meteor , and inflict an injury so deep to the Planet the Lifestream would concentrate its energy to heal it and he would merge with it to become a god . Sephiroth disappears , but the encounter triggers the Jenova cells inside Cloud to awaken him for the Reunion , and bring the Black Materia to Sephiroth . The temple itself is the Black Materia , but the only way to shrink the temple is from the inside , so anybody shrinking is crushed . This was designed so nobody would get the Black Materia . Since Sephiroth is followed by fanatical clones , any of them could get the Black Materia for him . Cait Sith volunteers to do it , and as he goes to turn the temple to its Materia form , he bids farewell to the party . Cloud ' s party escapes the temple as it turns into the Black Materia . Another Cait Sith , calling himself Cait Sith Number 2 , comes up to rejoin the party . Cloud grabs the Black Materia , but Sephiroth returns and takes control of him , forcing Cloud to give up the Materia and attack Aeris , but he is knocked unconscious by the remaining party member . In a dream vision Aeris tells Cloud she is going to the Forgotten Capital to save the Planet from Sephiroth , and as Cloud comes to in Gongaga she has left . Locations . The Temple of the Ancients is located to the South on Gaia ' s Eastern continent . Well of Knowledge . Then name in the menu of the area is simply Temple of the Ancients . The debug room references the area as " The Rock " . The " Final Fantasy VII Ultimania Omega " titles the room , though it labels the well of water as . Quests . Navigating the maze . The maze is the start of the Temple , where the player must follow the " spirit bodies " of the Cetra , that were left in the temple aeons ago solely to protect it . All the Ancients found here can heal HP / MP completely and prompt save . The first Ancient found also sells basic items . Rolling boulders . A long room where " U " shaped boulders roll towards Cloud . To proceed , Cloud must position himself to safety under the hollow part of the boulders . If he is crushed , the boulder will push him to the start of the room , where the player must start over ; small HP damage will also be inflicted to all party members . Once the player reaches the end of the room , the boulders will stop . The Morph Materia can be collected here . Clock puzzle . Once getting past the room with the Rolling Boulders , the player will enter a circular room shaped like a huge clock , and the end of each number leads to a room . It is possible to move the hands of the clock , but only one at time . The hand moved is respective to where the player starts ; if Cloud came from a room connected through the minute hand , he ' ll be only able to move the second hand , and vice - versa . By completing a full cycle , either clockwise or counterclockwise , the player can move the other hand as well . The riddle of the clock is harder in the original Japanese version , because the player can ' t initially wind the clock . After being knocked off the clock three times , a flag is turned on which changes it to the version of the puzzle the player can control . This flag is always on in other versions of the game , so if the flag was turned off via hacking , the original version of the puzzle can be played on other versions of the game . Shops . About half - way through the temple , there is a room with a little man who can help the party out by restoring their health , and serving as a Save point . He also has a small item shop . Enemies . Mural Room . It is just available after examine the device that turn the temple into the Black Materia . Creation and development . How summons came to be is never explained within the " Compilation of Final Fantasy VII " releases or media , except for some dummied lines from the original " Final Fantasy VII " explained by Sephiroth after obtaining the Bahamut Materia in the Temple of the Ancients . The majority of the lines of explanation were not translated for the English version of " Final Fantasy VII " and can only be found in the original Japanese version . Sephiroth explains that during the times of the Ancients there were beings created by the Planet that sealed their life energy in Materia . It is suggested the creatures that protect the Temple were created by the Planet , and it could be assumed the Red Dragon turns itself into the Bahamut Materia upon defeat . The spirits protecting the temple have forgotten how to speak , but in an earlier version , the spirit in the room where the player can first buy items from it spoke with an accent that sounded like it was from a rural Japanese area , saying " welcome " and " come again " . It is also suggested Cid ' s Mop would have been obtainable from here , but in the final game it is dug up from Bone Village instead . The clock puzzle was harder in the original Japanese version , as instead of moving the minute hand the player had to " leave it up to the guard " and choose whether to move time backwards or forwards , then choose how much time should pass / revert . The challenge lied in memorizing the time interval each option corresponded to , as they did not point out the exact amount of time that would move . If the player stands on the hour or minute hand when the second hand moves across the one Cloud is standing on , the player will fall down the hole . In the original Japanese version falling three times would give the ability to move time precisely . In all later released , including " Final Fantasy VII International " , this second method is activated by default rendering the more difficult puzzle unused in these versions . Musical themes . The theme of the Temple of the Ancients is the " Forested Temple " . A remixed version of the theme is also heard as Cloud and Tifa ' s dungeon theme in " Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy " . " Forested Temple " is included on the third disc of " Final Fantasy VII Vinyl Limited Edition " compilation album .