As the Emperor's Letter indicates, this cave lies in the center of a star-shaped mountain range, found north of Tzen on the southern continent. The same mountain range was visible in the World of Balance, but lacked the opening in the middle then. Information gathered elsewhere suggests that Lock has come here in search of a legendary hidden treasure said to be able to restore life, so let's start looking.

Incidentally, text in the game data that isn't typically displayed suggests that an extra step in the quest was removed during development, involving seeing the old man living north of the Beast Plain about a map the emperor had, so presumably the letter would have mentioned him and this map somehow instead of leading you to the mountains directly. The text hasn't been completely removed, however, which can make for some confusion if you happen to see it.

Inside the cave, "Another World of Beasts" plays. Unlike most locations, the game requires the use of two separate parties here. Make sure both are capable of fighting off the enemies (or use Mog and Moruru's Charm to keep one safe). Both parties share inventory, allowing equipment to be swapped between them as needed. The monsters are some of the more troublesome ones in the game, but most are quite vulnerable to Ice, so freeze them to death. Most also absorb Flame, but few actually attack with it, so resistance is not a priority. Try not to walk on the spikes, since they inflict 400 damage to each character per step.

Don't approach the treasure chest near the entrance immediately. Instead, take the party downstairs and up another stairway to the south, then step on the switch to extend a bridge to the chest, thus avoiding a hidden pitfall.

Explore, alternating parties frequently, since each will need to do things to let the other progress. My favorite is the switch that drains water from one area to cool lava in another, opening paths in both. Empty chests litter the area, with only a few still containing treasure. The interesting ones are a Wing Edge, a Ribbon, and a Wyvern's Horn.

The rare Gharypdes deserves special mention due to having the godly Three Stars as a rare steal. You'll usually just get Phoenix Tails, though.

There's also a dragon roaming around near the Wyvern's Horn.

Using Flame protection and avoiding levels divisible by 4 will protect from all of the Red Dragon's dangerous attacks, until it loses about two thirds of its health and starts using Flare more often than not. Counter with Magicseal Sword, or just burn off its relatively few magic points. Trying to use Reflect won't work as well, since, similar to King Behemoth, it will targer characters with 'reflect' status and use Eraser to remove it.

It won't use that more often than once every third turn, and is just as incapable of removing 'reflect' from a Reflect Ring as the King Behemoth. Other than that, the Red Dragon uses Fira (67%) or Fireball (33%) normally, switching to Flare (67%) or Figa (33%) after losing 19,760 (of 30,000) health. It will additionally use a random selection of Southern Cross, Level 4 Flare, or Flare Star every 40 seconds. There's also a chance of a fairly unimpressive counterattack.

Also, 'poison', 'slip', 'slow', and even 'confusion' work. Nothing to steal. Win an Ame no Murakumo, the second-strongest but otherwise unremarkable katana.

Unused combat text for this dragon:

Moving on, the two parties will meet up shortly after this. Beyond one last cooperative button press is a familiar character opening a chest...

Everyone automatically leaves. The sparkle beyond Lock just acts as an exit in case of a second trip here.

The hook dangling from the airship at the very beginning is the only other exit, since you cannot use Teleport Stones or cast Teleport outside of combat in this location... which means the only alternative to the sparkle is working all the way back though all the tricks in reverse. Regardless of how you leave, you'll end up on the airship deck with Setzer as the sole active party member, so head below deck to regroup before going anywhere else.

The chest Lock opened also appears closed on any repeat visits, but there's no significance to this; it's just an oversight.

Lock enters the basement where Rachel's body lies preserved. After exchanging looks with the old man, he places the magicite atop her, but nothing seems to happen.

The stone glows, then rises into the air and manifests a large red aura in the shape of a bird, but then shatters.

Lock appears downcast, but then Rachel opens her eyes.

"Forever Rachel" starts playing, and the phoenix aura appears again.

Accident? I thought she was killed in an Imperial raid. Or maybe it was somehow taken to mean her fall in the cave that caused the memory loss.

She closes her eyes, and the aura fades.

Rachel rises into the air.

She flickers and disappears, to be replaced with a few sparkles that fly into a formation that fits the phoenix aura that appears again. The aura glows brighter and flies off, and the music fades as the scene does.

Lock returns upstairs, where Celes is waiting for him.

He turns to her, and "Locke" starts playing. They leave the house together, but Lock stops.

Lock runs into the house, leaving Celes confused, then runs back out again.

They nod to each other, and the scene concludes there, with Lock and Celes as the active party. Fortunately, the airship will be parked just outside of town.

Enjoy powerful healing and revival magic, plus Figa at an unusually rapid learning rate, from Phoenix. The Valiant Knife, meanwhile, inflicts much more damage than the attack power suggests, since it ignores defense and additionally gets a damage bonus based on how badly hurt the user is.

Remember the locks only a treasure hunter could possibly open? Lock has that covered. While most of the houses are abandoned, a few remain occupied. Open the weapon shop and head to the basement to find the owner still there.

The screen flashes blue as he produces a piece of magicite.

Unfortunately, it's only possible to get one or the other, not both. The magicite teaches the game's most powerful spell and can (sometimes) turn enemies into items, while the sword is one of the game's most powerful weapons and is necessary to get a (usually) even more potent one.

You can also steal the Ragnarök sword during the next to last stage of the final battle, but that only does any good for the rest of that battle, unless playing a remake that allows saving after clearing the game.

Incidentally, the owner refuses to leave.

Unlock the house over the accessory shop to find a man sick in bed.

The screen flashes an ominous red.

The shield is worse than useless, as it inflicts multiple status effects, causes multiple weaknesses, and lowers all stats, but if equipped on a surviving character (except Gogo) for a total of 256 battles...

This transforms it into the almighty Hero's Shield, which has superior defense and blocking, nulls or absorbs every element, and even teaches Ultima.

Anyway, that's all 14 party members. Time for some sidequests...