About me
Hello, My name is Payton Dreifus, and I welcome you to this place where I have begun consolidating my fic writing for the game Final Fantasy XIV.I am a CIS, African-Canadian & lesbian woman of 26 years writing under semi-anonymity.
A fledgling hobby writer, half decent Gposer & a survivor of child abuse currently living with my wife, Maeve, and our darling daughter, Áine.I originally began this as a project out of a need of something to keep me grounded a few years ago now, improving as I went. Every step I have taken has been for the passion I held for the story I had to tell, and my outlook is thus. I don't do what I do for likes...or attention, although seeing people enjoy my work is something that makes me happy beyond mere words. In the end, my Warrior of Light & I are in many respects the same person...and while I am living through my happiness, I wanted to write a story about her path to the same place...with all the trials & tribulations that come with it.I originally started writing right AS I reached Heavensward, so I have bundled a summary of the events in ARR into Arlessia's Bio for simplicity & exposition.I hope you enjoy learning about my OCs & the story I have to tell.-Payton
Arlessia "Blessed-Eye" Sharpe
Arlessia "Blessed-Eye" Sharpe is a Ala Mhigan born Hyur of 28 years in age, a master rogue & thief. Adept in Dueling, Subterfuge, Sleight of Hand & Stealth, she also has formal training as a shinobi by a teacher of Doman tradition, and Ishgardian MachinstryLethal with her daggers of custom make, although she would rather find ways to avoid conflict, she is not averse to a fight...especially when it comes to standing against the Garlean Empire.Born a half a year before the fall of the Mad King Theodoric, and a mere four before the Garlean Militrary swooped in to invade. She was born the child of Ghislaine Sharpe, Her mother ( A renowned Leatherworker) & Hernais Vance, Her father (He was an Echo-Blessed Red Mage belonging to the resistance).Knowing nothing for the formative years of her life than the struggle to live under the iron curtain of the Empire, Arlessia would have a reasonably peaceful childhood due to the fact her parents didn't resist the demands of the Garleans, unlike many. But that doesn't mean they abandoned their people either. Learning from a young age the merit of capability in hunting, skinning & in some measures, diplomacy as she watched her father negotiate with the Imperials, she grew to be one of the kindest children in the capitol city, who wanted to simply keep those she cared for safe. She kept close friendships with but two children her age, the Hyur Gerhild Steele & Miqo'te Hemmet Tatch.Ultimately, however...this dream would shatter.One day, her father would tragically be killed in an altercation with the Garleans after a crafted weapon sent to them by Hernais' old friend Gerolt...a mistake on his part...would be found by the guards during a sweep of their home. Unwilling to concede that the Ala Mhigan family had no intent of rebellion & were going to get rid of the rapier & focus inside, the officer in charge would order that the entire family be clapped in irons...and summarily tortured in front of Hernais to make him speak. Seeing the fear in his wife & six-year old child's eyes, Hernais made the decision to engage the Imperials with the weapon in the crate, killing them with ease.And in the following moments, he would be taken surprise by a lethal bullet fired from the wrist weapon of Gaius van Baelsar himself, the Legatus of the XIVth legion.The Black Wolf...and Viceroy of Ala Mhigo.Hernais bled out on the very same cobbles that he had walked his child along so many times...today being the last. Using his last breaths to tell the Black Wolf his men threatened his family, he would expire before his family, the trauma searing it's mark into Arlessia & Ghislaine both as they wailed in despair & pain.And yet, life moved on. The widow & half-orphan being given amnesty by Van Baelsar, they would be protected from further tragedy by an attaché who volunteered to watch them. Although these facts did little to change the fact that seeing her father put to death before her very eyes had an indelible impact on Arlessia. To her, Baelsar was nothing more than a monster.Nearly two years after her father had been murdered, Ghislaine made the very dire decision to smuggle her daughter out from the province entirely...although her reasons wouldn't be apparent to Arlessia at the time. When they made contact with the smuggler however, the shots that rang out in their direction showed that they had been followed.Seeing no other option, Ghislaine made the sacrifice any other mother would to free their child from tyranny. She cried for the smuggler to take Arlessia as she watched them row away, the shrieks Arlessia made barely heard over the gunshots as she lost sight of her mother. This was the last time she has seen Ghislaine.Doing his best to row out to sea, the smuggler would unfortunately take a bullet to the throat, bleeding out in mere seconds as she screamed. This had the effect of forcing Arlessia to choose.Die...or to push his body off the bark they were on & start rowing in a direction away from those trying to kill her.So she rowed.She rowed.And rowed.And rowed until her arms threatened to fall off & her eyes were completely devoid of tears. On the verge of collapse & lost at sea, she would have a stroke of luck & was found by a passing Maelstrom vessel on it's way back from scouting out imperial territory. It would be the captain himself who carried her out of the deteriorating row-boat onto deck & re-ordered their return to their home. Limsa Lominsa.On the week-long trip, she recovered physically...but emotionally?
She barely ate, didn't speak to anyone aside from the captain...but even then it was a pitiable few words.
She pushed everything down. She had lost everything, for a motive that she did not understand. How could she?Upon arrival at Limsa Lominsa, the Maelstrom would bring her to the aftcastle in order to inform the leadership of this waif they found next to dead...but they didn't get that far. Breaking away from the captain's grip, she ran from them, finally breaking from the stress of just...everything...and disappeared into the underbelly of the Pirate Nation of Eorzea.In the ensuing years she would survive by the skin of her teeth in the gutter. She let none near unless she was too tired to run.
Eating food thrown away by others or the fish dredged up that nobody wanted...some storekeepers occasionally would take pity on her upon seeing her gaunt & laying in the street. Give her some fresh bread once in a blue moon.But that was all too rare.Eventually as she got older, she began becoming a problem for the yellowjackets as she started stealing gil to earn a higher quality of living. Starting with pickpocketing, she would over the course of a few years be quite adept with a shortblade, opting for the more brazen cutpurse style.One fateful day however, when she was out looking for marks, she cut the purse of a boy no older than she was. Sprinting away through the crowds in the markets, she would be surprised when she turned back to see that boy keeping up with her easily...but just barely out stripped by her speed. Evading the Yellowjackets & making their ways along routes only she & the other beggars used, it would be in the plaza of the Aftcastle that the two youths would come to a stop, collapsing in separate heaps as they had spent every ounce of energy.After what seemed like an eternity of regaining what breath they could, the boy would erupt into laughter."Y'er a damber mort. Would ye' care to be me friend?"Seeing that no-one had dared make the proposition to her since she left home in a flurry of tragedy...not since she was forced to abandon Gerhild & Hemmet.That was the day she met Jacke Swallow.The two of them would instantly be close friends after that day. And when eventually Jacke made it known that he was reforming the Upright Thieves, Limsa Lominsa's guildship of rogues who kept the differing pirate factions in compliance to the Galadrion Accord, in order to honor the example of the man who had saved his own life long ago, Arlessia promised to him that when they were both of age, she would join the guild as one of it's first recruits.And she would on the day she turned eighteen, walk into the place Jacke had made into his guild's home & fulfill that promise. In terms of how early this was, the guild had only 3 other recruits at the time.V'kebbe the Stray, a firebrand of a Miqo'te that aligned well with Arlessia's tastes in friends...quickly becoming nearly as close as Jacke himself.Perimu "Underfoot" Haurimu, a closely guarded plainsfolk Lalafell whom Arlessia would in time come to respect as a true expert in their chosen craft.And finally, the man who kept people from mindlessly wandering into their home base, Lonnie. OR as he was known with his full name, Lonwoerd, yet another friend of Jacke.This would set off the first steps of Arlessia's career as a rogue, one that would expose her even more to the depravity of the world she lived in...but it also in turn gave her the weapons to fight back against it, although she did have trouble finding the salt within her in order to kill another.That would change in...unfortunate circumstances.After she turned nineteen, she would receive her first solo mission for the guild as it had begun to grow with well trained hands, she was sent to dispatch a notorious outlaw wanted dead by the Yellowjackets.Syznskoef Hyllkestsyn, The Bloody Wake. Roegadyn captain of the Crimson Tide.Still unblooded, Arlessia was doubtful about the choice to send her alone...against a outlaw responsible for such death & pain...but in truth it didn't matter.As she worked her way through Moraby Drydocks to follow the intel they had received, it would be revealed it had been a trap. Arlessia wouldn't even have a chance to draw her daggers before she was seized by the throat by Hyllkestsyn's massive hand as he levelled his cutlass at her jugular. However, he paused as he appraised her looks with a leering glare whilst she choked on the lack of oxygen.Before she asphyxiated to death however, he would toss her aside-the strain of trying to stay conscious too much as he ordered his crew to bring her to their ship, the Vermillion Wraith. On those decks, she would come to endure what was anathema to her. For bells she would be spit on & beat senseless whenever she regained consciousness. Eventually however, she would come to & not receive corporal punishment for existing.She would awaken to the glowering frame of Hyllkestsyn towering over her as she was tied to a ladder around the mid-ship area. It would be at this moment when she was told they would be selling her to a noble in frigid & far-off Garlemald who had a certain penchant for owning Ala Mhigan serfs...and that he would take his time breaking her in anticipation of this sale...in more ways than one.Leaving her to her spiralling thoughts, Arlessia would lash out, hoping desperately to break free as she screamed for bells upon bells. By the time she gave up, her voice was shot, the rope bindings had dug their way into her wrists, soaked in her blood & she was entertaining thoughts of suicide.
How she would do it...when she'd do it...Her despair would be interrupted however.
A boy, no more older than her or Jacke & sporting many a tattoo, snuck silently into the section of the ship where she was being held. Approaching her with a dark look upon his face & tugging at his belt, she tried to back away...but she had nowhere to go as he draped himself over her in an attempt to have his way with her.
Was this...was this what my mother envisioned when she freed me from our home?
As she asked herself this time after time, the depraved man's knee between her legs, she grit her teeth before taking a deep breath.
' No. My life...if it must be spent...let it be spent fighting with all I have...'
Desperation begets fear.
Fear begets anger.
Anger begets fury.
Fury begets the ability to kill another.Without another second of this...'man' trying his damnedest to defile her, she would clamp down on his throat without hesitation...And pulled with all her might.He screamed as she ripped his throat out with her teeth. He pleaded for her to stop...like she had pleaded of him.
His voice was soon lost in the bubbling of his own blood erupting from his torn jugular.When the rapist fell lifelessly to the deck, it would be at this moment when the ship was rocked by an explosion & Hyllkestsyn would storm into the room.However, before he could act upon the sight of Arlessia, still bound to the ladder & standing there defiantly with a corpse at her feet, the door opposite of him flung open & daggers thudded into him again & again as Jacke ended this menace rightly.Once it was over however, Arlessia would break down. She had come within ilms of slavery...or worse...to the empire she had come to despise. As Jacke told her that the mission had been planted by a spy in the guild, she would pass out. Freeing his friend from her bonds, the ropes stuck to her wrists by merit of the dried blood, he would carry her out into the storm that poured down onto the entire of the Rogue's Guild as they restrained the surviving Crimson Wake crew members.
Underfoot asked what they should do with them all.Mill them all. Leave them for the gulls.Such was Jacke's quiet command as he looked at his closest friend, bloody, beaten & assaulted. This has been the only time Arlessia has known Jacke to act out ofPureUnadulteratedRageIt would take Arlessia quite some time to recover from this...but she would never again fearing taking another life. If it meant that her coveted & precious freedom would be at risk?She would kill a hundred men to avoid that fate again.In a few years, she would grow in skill & renown. Arlessia would be feared by those who broke the code...and loved by the people who called the guild home, like she did. She would become one of the most experienced rogues in the Dutiful Sisters of the Edelweiss, the only one entrusted with the Admiralty's most secret assassinations, all the while making quite the career as the most reliable bounty hunter this side of the Rhotano. She would even prove her courage in the shadow of the Seventh Umbral Calamity, leading innocents within the city to safety as Dalamud fell...and promptly broke. As Bahamut emerged from the cocoon of ancient allag's legacy, she would nearly be blown completely off the upper decks when the Primal flew past the city before finding cover with everyone else. A dark day that she very much prefers to avoid thinking about.After a while, though, peace would return to Eorzea as the land was rejuvenated, and tales of the Warrior of Light...the original Warrior of Light...spread, becoming the realm of mythos.But as always, these days or relative peace had to end.When she was on a job at the age of 24 to find & capture someone with outstanding debts, Arlessia would run afoul of a Serpent Reavers war band, the tempered minions of Leviathan ambushing her right outside the walls of Aleport. She held her own well, until...she couldn't.In the middle of the fight, she would start to feel a deep pull on her consciousness...and seeing an opening, one of the Reavers uppercutted her with his axe, the beard gouging a deep gash in her face that crossed her right eye in a gout of vibrant red blood.It would be at this moment the Yellowjackets would finally come to her aid as they swarmed the tempered & protected Arlessia as she clutched her face with a wail of pain...the blood slicking her hands steadily.But the pull didn't cease.It got stronger.As she was pulled from the here & now...away from her body, the blood that leaked from her destroyed eye socket would turn a nigh neon aquamarine in color...the color of pure aether.Arlessia's mind would be pulled into the aetherial sea & granted audience with the will of the planet herself...Hydaelyn. But the timing of the call had put Arlessia's life in danger. And so Hydaelyn would weave an enchantment on the dying hyur in order to save this child's life...albeit at a cost.When she awoke, Arlessia would be surrounded by friends & what she considered family now. But when she rose, her vision was clear. Sharp. Augmented.Turning to the mirror in her room, she would scream when she removed the blindfold, her attention ignoring the bloody scar, still on the mend, as she saw the glowing blue iris that had come to replace the strip of green her mother had given her.When Jacke finally managed to calm her down, he told her the truth. Her eye had mended itself. By the time the healers arrived for her, they had barely anything to do.Her eye had mended itself with her own aether, through the intricate enchantment performed by Hydaelyn.When she told him what she had seen, he at first laughed. But when he saw that SHE wasn't...Jacke sighed heavily & told her to take some time off. No doubt this had been very hard on her.When she returned to her work as a bounty hunter months later, however, something had changed.The first echo vision was so raw...so pure that she outright collapsed in shock. And it happened with nearly every mark after that. She couldn't go a single job without seeing the memories of those she hunted.It was torture at first. She tried to become what she was again for
2 years.
She felt like a pane of glass, shattered yet still bound by the frame that held in in place...if only barely.It would be with great trepidation that she would withdraw from the frontlines of the Guild's jobs & stop bounty hunting...if anything to spare herself the pain of receiving a vision mid-combat. Instead, she would join the Lominsan Adventurer's Guild, and began taking jobs that had her as first pick due to her reputation from her previous vocation.Arlessia would find a fulfillment she had not felt for quite a while, since she first joined the Dutiful Sisters, in fact. She even impressed a certain mysterious Miqo'te scholar the first time they met. Then came the offer that would take her out of Vylbrand for the first time since she arrived all those long years ago.Giving a tearful goodbye to Jacke, V'kebbe, Underfoot & all the others, she would set out on her first major job as an adventurer.She would be Admiral Merlwyb Bloefhiswyn's envoy to the other city-states of Ul'dah & Gridania for the remembrance ceremonies for those who perished in the flames of the Seventh Umbral Calamity.A path which would see her realize her potential...and after much heartbreak, tragedy & bloodshed, fulfill that wish her mother wished that night.To find happiness & live a long life in a realm reborn.Free as a falcon upon the wind.Over the course of the end of the Seventh Umbral Era, Arlessia would make quite the name for herself on top of her sterling reputation as she worked for the common good of those around her, never hesitating to throw herself to someone's aid.Eventually, through the gentle guidance of the Archon Y'shtola of the Circle of Knowing, Arlessia would be approached by the Scions of the Seventh Dawn. Enticed by an offer of respite, she traveled to Vesper Bay in Thanalan. Once she arrived at their hidden headquarters, their leader-Minfilia Warde, offered Arlessia a place amongst their ranks in exchange for her deft hand...and the gift she had been blessed with...the one Arlessia herself had thought of as a curse for many years now. For Minfilia was like her...yet Arlessia would be wary until Minfilia finished her offer.
Blessed by the echo, she promised that if Arlessia would lend her skills to their cause, she would grant Arlessia a home in the Scions & search for ways to lessen the pain the Highlander had suffered with daily for years.You see, her echo since her first audience with The Will of the Star had been the source of nigh constant pain, to the point it was nearly chronic. Due to the circumstances around the wounds she received as Hydaelyn called to her, the sensitivity to the memories & emotions of others around her was bordering on being obtrusive. Whenever she walked in another's memories, she would more than likely start bleeding a vitae that was akin to liquified aether from her once-wounded eye.Seeing the heartfelt offer for what it was, Arlessia would accept it gladly. This decision would be first that would, in time, lead her to becoming fast friends with most who called the Scions home like her, including the daughter of her father's battle-brother, Lyse Hext, daughter of Curtis Hext himself. Putting herself to work in the Scions would quickly garner her acclaim that had the realm referring to her as a Warrior of Light true.The slaying of primals, routing the Imperials from Eorzea...in doing so avenging her father by slaying his murderer-Gaius van Baelsar-during Operation Archon, and standing defiantly against the shadowy & effectively immortal beings known as Ascians, led in their efforts by the Paragon Lahabrea.
She's become a Lieutenant of the Maelstrom's Adventurer Corps, rekindled the prospects of peace with long-estranged Ishgard, explored the secrets of ancient Allag's Crystal Tower, and with the help of the grandchildren of the Archon Louisoux Leveilleur, the hero who stood with the original Warrior of Light, who are Scions in their own rights, would discover the secrets of the final moments of the Seventh Umbral Calamity those 5 years prior.Although originally having her differences with Alphinaud & Alisaie Leveilleur, she would come to have common ground with them & soon consider them fond friends, even siblings of a sort as they faced the specter of their Grandfather's sacrifice & Arlessia confronted the Dreadwyrm...the Elder Primal responsible for the calamity itself...Bahamut of the First Brood.With time, however, outside forces would seek to test the mettle of the Warrior of Light. One such being being the Wyrmfather Midgarsormr...and his meddling with led to the death of a Scion close to Arlessia, but in the end Moenbryda's sacrifice would lay the groundwork for the Scions to finally be able to kill an Ascian... permanently.On the back of this, ultimately this time of strife admist peace led to the assumed assassination of Ul'dah's head of state, Sultana Nanamo Ulnamo & the framing of the Warrior of Light & betrayal of the Scions.In this dire event, the Scions who were originally invited as guests of honor to what would be dubbed the 'Bloody Banquet', would be betrayed by the Crystal Braves-a cross-city state Grand Company formed by Alphinaud. Forced to flee the city, Scion after Scion were forced to stand & hold the line...in order for Minfilia & Arlessia to escape.
Arlessia would have to be dragged away by Thancred as Lyse & Papalymo stood their ground, the sounds of her demanding Thancred to let her go echoing around the Chamber of Rule. When the time came for Thancred & Y'shtola to do the same in the decrepit Sil'dihn aquaducts, she couldn't take it anymore.And yet...when Thancred told her to protect Minfilia...she could not say no, no matter how much her soul raged at it.Not that it did any good. Minfilia was then received of a direct command by Hydaelyn, the motives of such unknown to Arlessia as Minfilia ordered her to flee.To survive.Her heart fell seeing Minfilia drop the lantern & run back towards Thancred & Y'shtola, being caught up in the Archon's cast of the apocryphal spell Flow.And Arlessia? As the rush of wind blew past her, pushing her further towards the exit of the aquaduct, again knew despair.When all was said & done, the only ones who managed to escape this black day through the sacrifices of other Scions or intercession of Ul'dahn allies were Arlessia, Alphinaud & the order's coinkeeper, Tataru Taru.In this uncertain time of betrayal & pain, Arlessia would do her best to keep moving. To keep to the ideals her mentor Minfilia instilled in her. But she was only mortal.To do what she could...what she must for those she had lost.For those she could yet save.Those words would spark a depression in her that still somewhat smolders to this day.With the assistance of a dear friend, Haurchefant de Fortemps, the three Scions would seek asylum in the blizzard-cloaked northern kingdom of Ishgard, right as the crescendo of the Dragonsong War approached quickly at hand.Taking up arms in order to help those who she owed a debt of life, her actions would shape Ishgard's future...And in time, that of her home.In time...her own fate.In time...her own happiness.Earned all on the edge of light & raven down dark, she & her allies would turn the tide...even as Arlessia's condition...shifted.She would be plagued with dreams. Premonitions. Omens. Visions with figures she could not recognize.Ephemeral voices, bound to only her, would start to awaken slowly...affecting her psyche & emotions in noticeable ways. Although that is nothing compared to when they began to fight for control of her body.
Possessed of the ability to force Arlessia's mind & body apart, these 'Entities' she would come to call them as would puppet her flesh towards their own ends, either unknowable or motivated by a single, overwhelming, all encompassing concept of her emotions. Whenever this has happened, Arlessia's right eye-which is bound directly to her corporeal aether, would change hue to one that seemed to represent the color of each of these vastly different shards of sentience.The first was the one with the luminous, piercing golden eyes. Originally showing herself to Arlessia in a dream the night before she & the Scions were to follow the flight of Ishgard's traitorous Archbishop to Asyz Lla, the words she spoke was a warning.
"'Ware the blood-spawn of shadow...for they will test you, body & soul. And you must wade through it all, 'til journey's end. Unbreakable...Inviolate...Invincible..."She was cryptic...alien. And in time would seem to be the one in control of her visions...only for her to tell Arlessia through another vision that the Scion herself was...she just couldn't control them.Yet.She was the first...but Arlessia knows next to nothing about her...only that she is granted with terrifying power. Displayed by the fact that this entity would slay the newborn Primal Thordan & three of his knights Twelve like they were dust already, Arlessia holds a healthy measure of fear whenever this entity chooses to show itself within her...although it seems to prefer pulling strings from the shadows of the back of Arlessia's mind.The second was a voice wreathed in anger & revenge like it was a cloak. Brought out when Arlessia would become enraged to her limit, thirsting for justice, the Entity that would eventually be named Nemesis, after a legend of a avatar of retribution & blood-soaked justice, would break free.
A zealous berserker, when she first manifested her first thoughts were to pass along judgement & retribution upon those who Arlessia faced with an eye of blazing crimson. She has always been akin to a raging wildfire...yet with the passing of time, Arlessia would start being able to influence the direction that wildfire burned.Days before Nidhoggs return, riding the flesh of the Azure Dragoon to the forefront of the Dragonsong War, yet another voice would awaken. Silently at first, Arlessia would be bolstered by this entity during the Grand Melee between the Grand Companies. They would afterwords finally make their voice known during the Final Siege upon the Steps of Faith. Invigorated by the eye of Hraesvelgr & the dauntless determination of Arlessia's spirit as she between Nidhogg & Ishgard upon the Steps of Faith, they awakened in the shadow of the Wyrm of Hate.It's voice warm with determination, this entity would also bequeath what boon it had to offer, empowering her enough to guarantee the outcome of the battle upon the bridge. Guaranteeing the final death of Nidhogg, the betrayed.Stout in chivalry & always acting with honor, whenever this orange hue takes to Arlessia's eye, she is ever in full control. Later it would be named by Arlessia herself as Alke...a figure from a story that her father had once told her of a Knightess that never backed down from a battle. This entity seeks only to assist the Warrior of Light in her efforts & to ensure that her legend does not end here...so long as she acts with the true desires of her heart.From the gloam of adveristy would this next apparition hie themselves free of bondage...After an assassination attempt with the poison Coerthan Nightshade, Arlessia's health would take a turn as this newer...darker entity would be awakened by the active aetheric presence of the poison within her blood. Instead of making contact however, this newborn shade would bide their time. Gathering power until she was weakened. And after the end of the Dragonsong War & the reappearance of the Warriors of Darkness, he would take multiple chances to wrest control from her over the course of weeks, all the while Arlessia, Sama, Harjatan & Yelle would scour the realm for options to cure the Warrior of Light...eventually knowing they would have to resurrect a unique spell created by Amdapor & Nym both.
The Design of Resurgence.
Openly malicious, this entity would name itself 'Bacchus', a word that held no meaning to the wraith that wore the face of someone Arlessia had crossed blades with months earlier.Citing his reasons for opposing her as beyond her feeble existence, she would soon see the truth. He drew power from the Nihilism that she had ever walked beside. The dark thoughts that Hope drove away with it's light. His desires would be to take control of her body before then taking his toll upon the world she called home...nothing beneath his contempt.His aims would fall short however, as upon the casting of the Design of Resurgence, the majority of the Coerthan Nightshade in her blood would be outright burned out... pieces of Arlessia's being & the entity with it. Although he wouldn't be destroyed, Bacchus would be forever changed, the only appearance he'd be able to take being that of a charred corpse with glowing Violet eyes.It would be quite some time until the next would appear. Arlessia in this time would be cursed once again by the shadow of Nidhogg when the Primal Shinryu was summoned from the Wyrm's baleful eyes, once again constantly forced to keep her guard up in case she would be...tested. But in the same hand, she would find ways to communicate with those that dwelled within her. Common ground, for some...the prospect of the Entities possessing memories of their own, otherwise.She wouldn't be surprised when the next awoke. It would be in the Ruby Sea, in Othard. Stung by the malevolent essence of Nidhogg, a reminder that this last vestige of his seething power desired the end of the Bastard Primal, Arlessia would fall into the sea. Sinking lower & lower, she would hear a voice urge her to not lose hope as she dispersed the smoke tainting her for the moment & making her way back up to the surface. Their voice echoed in her head with such mirth & flair, it was like she had a bard within her. And so, when she reached the shore & espied the thin apparition of a dark-skinned Miqo-te watching her intently, she named it Uzume, the Reveler.Although newly awakened, she promised Arlessia that she would be watching the mortal closely.Although she is just a woman, mortal in life & mind, she never walks alone.
Other Characters in the StoryIn this section will be brief backgrounds on the original characters that exist alongside Arlessia in this story. Due to element cap, I shall leave them all on this page for people to scroll through. This whole thing indeed a work in progress, after all.
On top is Arlessia's blood family, followed by her friends, and perhaps in the future, her antagonists.
----Ghislaine & Hernais, Arlessia's Parents----
----Ghislaine Sharpe----
-Assumed Alive-
Age: She'd be 62 years old in the present day if she is alive
Occupation: Artisan, Masterwork Leatherworker
Place of birth: Ala Ghanna, the Last Forest----Hernais Vance----
-Deceased-
Age at time of death: 36
Occupation: Hunter/Butcher, Ex-Red Mage & freedom fighter
Place of Birth: Capitol city of Ala MhigoSurvived by their daughter, Arlessia Sharpe.~~~Born from both two different types of cloth, the fact Ghislaine & Hernais came to meet was sheer circumstance. Ghislaine, a young adult learning her aunt's trade at the time of the rebellion, just happened to be outside her home village of Ala Ghanna when a heavily wounded Hernais stumbled towards her from the direction of Rustrock.As he collapsed from exhaustion near her, she rushed to his aid & used what triage knowledge she knew to staunch the bleeding from his wounds with makeshift tourniquets. When he came to minutes later, he was awestruck with what he considered to be an angel of Rhalgr's divinity watching over him, although when she spoke, he came back to reality. After bringing him back to the village for the local healers to take a look at the forlorn Red Mage, he explained he had been fighting nearby & got separated from his squad after taking his wounds.Having some reason to stay in Ala Ghanna to mend his wounds, he was still consumed with the need to know Ghislaine...which she was wary of at first, she was a simple village girl, after all...but soon enough she fell for him with enough grace one might think it was a Menphina herself guiding her heart. After the weeks of his convalescence passed, he would part from her...but only at her insistence to let his allies know he was still alive. When he returned days later to see her again, it only proved the feeling that they indeed were drawn to each other by fate's invisible hand & reinforced the foundation that would lead to their marriage as the rebellion stretched on...and eventually to their union giving conception of their daughter, Arlessia...who little did they know, possessed the self-same type of gift Hernais possessed in secret...albeit a benefit of her singularly resolute soul.Hernais would lose his life protecting his family at the hands of Gaius van Baelsar, and is buried in the graveyard at Bloodhowe with his hunting Kukri, Red Mage focus & favourite sketch of his family at his side within his grave.Ghislaine survived the altercation in the wake of her smuggling her daughter out of the province, albeit the Garleans punished her by blinding her with a heated iron rod. However, it is quite debated whether she has lived to the present day, the last time she was seen in Ala Ghanna was after she recovered from her...'punishment', walking slowly towards the capitol after having an argument with her sister.It is assumed she had rebuilt her life from the ashes of what she had sacrificed.~"Nothing's wrong, my dear. She simply needed you. Our dear daughter is truly a daddy's girl, no doubt about that. Have you thought of a name, Nais?""I have. Arlessia. Her name is Arlessia."-Ghislaine & Hernais speak of naming their child, 3 days after she is born.
----Adelena Sharpe, Arlessia's Aunt----
Age: 62
Occupation: Artisan, Master Tailor & part-time Miner
Place of birth: Ala Ghanna, the Last Forest~~~~Adelena Sharpe, Ghislaine's twin sister, has never left Ala Ghanna until recently. She is a tailor of considerable skill...as much as you can be without leaving your home.She was the last person at her home to see her sister after she was rendered blind by the Imperials, the argument they had being so bitter that she disowned any acknowledgement that they are indeed sisters.A widower in these last few years, she's been a shell of her former self, putting down her tailoring in order to help keep the village's quarry running, whilst hollowed in by abuse of drink & the occasional hit of somnus when she's unable to bear her husband's absence. When Arlessia, Lyse Hext & Meffrid Noward arrived in Ala Ghanna seeking new recruits for the renewed push by the Ala Mhigan resistance, she quite literally runs into Arlessia, not at first recognizing her niece due to the years since she's been missing.On a second meeting however, the haze would slowly lift as Arlessia would be joined by their family's prized chocobo, Purity, the very hatchling the sister's father had hatched himself & Ghislaine had inherited. Upon seeing the telltale mark of her white feathers & the bird recognizing her immediately, Adelena would turn to the stranger who was in possession of her.Although from the first moment Arlessia introduced herself as the niece Adelena had mourned for nearly twenty years she was enraged at the sheer gall...atleast she hoped. Quickly the trauma began rushing back, although Arlessia would wade through this with the recollection of a moment they had shared shortly after Hernais was murdered.A memory that would be inappropriate at any other time, but as the sounds of young Arlessia asking her aunt where they would have to go to go swim in the Aetherial Sea overlapped with the recollection of the woman before her, the haze she had been hiding in cleared completely for the first time in years...and just in time to catch Arlessia as she began sobbing in relief...Once they calmed their hearts & dried their tears, Adelena would turn Arlessia onto the truth that her mother had survived the night she was smuggled out, although if she still lived to that day was unknown...albeit it was a lot more than what Arlessia had just a day prior.Now she has left for Rhalgr's Reach, eager to lend her skills with tailoring in the service of the Resistance.For Ala Mhigo.
~"Arlessia, Our dear Junebug...How you've grown! You've become a woman!" Adelena said, prompting tears to flow from Arlessia's eyes."I...missed you...so...much!" She sobbed, throwing herself into Adenlena like the overly-emotional young niece she remembered."Welcome home, Junebug."- Adelena Sharpe, upon finally seeing that her niece was indeed alive & in front of her.
----Purity, Arlessia's Chobobo----
Age: 58 (Chocobo Years)
Original Owner: Arlessia's Late Grandfather, Wracwulf Sharpe
Likes: Hand-fed foodstuffs, adventures alongside Arlessia, annoying Thancred, cuddling with Sama & Leste, her Chocobo
Dislikes: Caves/Being Underground, Cactuars, Imperials, City Handlers that are dismissive/abusive to other people's Chocobos
~~~What do you prefer?Cats or Hounds?Although Arlessia is agreeable to nearly any animal in existence, she has a special place in her heart for Chocobos. This stems from her relationship with her own Chocobo, Purity. Named as such for her pure white feathers that she has sported since her hatching, she has been in faithful service alongside the Sharpes for 3 generations. Originally hatched by Wracwulf, the father of Ghislaine & Adelena, he would be the first to teach the chick the fundamentals of being a beast of burden.But Purity is no simple beast.Like most chocobos, she is extremely intelligent & loyal to those who treat her kindly. To the Sharpe family, Purity was a lot more than a bird that helped them heave stone in Ala Ghanna or bring butchered meats to the Capitol for sale. She is quite literally a well-loved & cherished member of their family.For most of his life, Wracwulf would have Purity at his side...and she did so willingly & with vivacious aplomb.And so, when Wracwulf fell ill in his winter years, he bequeathed the care & tutelage of Purity to Ghislaine.
'She must always be learning...or else she is just another pet.'
Passing peacefully in his sleep after saying these sage words, the Chocobo would mourn her first master, but when Ghislaine & Adelena both would welcome her just as their father had, she found she still had a purpose.By the time that Ghislaine had met Hernais, the man who would in time become her husband, it was clear that the roads were no longer safe. So, in a promise held by their blossoming relationship, Hernais would teach Purity how to be a war-bird & avian hunting compaion both. The decades under her molt allowing her ample times to assist her family in their defense, she would become a true regal protector...especially now that Ghislaine was with child.From the moment she was born, Arlessia had a strong bond with Purity...and she with Arlessia. Whenever Ghislaine would come to say goodbye to Hernais with their bundled baby in her arms, Purity would always make sure the child was in good health before gently nuzzling her head or allowing Arlessia to reach for her beak with her small & plush hands...even until Arlessia was well into her childhood.When Hernais was murdered, Arlessia would often start crying at the most random of times. Whenever this occurred, no matter where she was, Purity would immediately be in distress. No matter what anyone, even Ghislaine, would do to try & calm the steed, it would only take her being allowed to wrap herself around the young daughter in an effort to comfort the girl she was bonded with. She was a pillar of comfort & support in a time where it became harder & harder for Ghislaine to tend to the needs of her daughter...until she couldn't bear to see her suffer under the Garlean's tyranny any longer.Taking Ghislaine & Arlessia to the beaches of the Sea of Jade in the dead of night, Purity watched on as the hired smuggler arrived to take them away. But once the imperials who had followed them began firing shots at the trespass, Ghislaine would beg them to leave...and to not look back. Turning to Purity, she would unbuckle the barding the Chocobo had grown so accustomed to as she grew more & more distressed.'I know you're worried...and that is exactly why she is going to need you, Purity...my cherished baby chick. You're free. Go! Find my daughter, no matter where she finds herself.'She looked towards the rapidly encroaching imperials.'Keep her safe.'And with that, Purity obeyed without protest, sprinting away with speed only boasted by a well-trained steed in her prime. Running from the sea, Purity would spend nearly 13 years scouring the realm of Eorzea high & low for Arlessia. From Coerthas, still verdant & green...to Gridania, her claws creating paths through the trees.Eventually near the end of those 13 long, long years, she would finally come across the Rhotano strait unto Vylbrand. In the time since she had been let loose, Purity had avoided many a hunting party & cadre of Chocobo Wranglers. And as she neared the city-state of Limsa Lominsa, she caught a shred of a familiar scent. Arlessia was here, in the city!But the years had not been kind for Purity...and in anticipation of her mission being finished, she finally allowed herself to be tired.Approaching the city gates directly, her feathers were filthy, the simple saddle she had worn emblazoned with her name & the names of who she called family, a group of Chocobo Handlers descended on her.Seeking a strong bird for the Maelstrom, they would tackle her to the ground, struggling to keep down the exhausted & wizened protector as she fought to throw the four handlers from her back...to no avail.Once she was upon the ground, the leader of these men & women smirked broadly as another person approached from the city...the source of the scent.At first, Arlessia...aged 21, didn't recognize her long-estranged protector. Her mind was on the job she had taken as a bounty hunter, and upon looking at the struggling bird that looked at her with such intensity even as strong men & women fought to restrain her, Arlessia noted how she reminded her of Purity.Although, when the lead handler read out the name emblazoned upon the saddle, she stopped dead in her tracks.'Purity?'She breathed, turning immediately to appraise the exhausted bird again before throwing herself wholly into the scuffle. Not even bothering to draw her steel, the daughter of Ghislaine & Hernais fought them all off Purity, knocking most of them out & breaking many a bone. When it was all over, Purity weakly sang at her as she knelt down, her joyful & sorrowful tears mingled with the falling rain."My my, Purity...you haven't aged a day."Arlessia would take up ownership of Purity immediately, making sure to care for & cherish the every need of this intelligent creature that served her family faithfully for nearly 6 decades.3 generations of Sharpes...and Purity remembers...and loves...them all.In the present, Purity is quite literally the only family Arlessia believed she had left for nearly another decade, until the day they would cross Baelsar's Wall & return to the land that had sired them both...finding within the village of Ala Ghanna, Ghislaine's Sister, Adelena.To this day Purity is a nigh constant companion for the Warrior of Light, fighting at her side with the courage as a entire platoon of Knights.So...answer me this.What do you prefer...cats? Or hounds?~~~~'Kweh...Kweh Kweh!'-Purity, singing happily as she & Arlessia walk the paths of Doma towards the Azim Steppe alongside her master's friends & allies
----Hemmet Tatch & Gerhild Steele----
----Hemmet Tatch----
Age: 27
Occupation: Monk in service of the Ala Mhigan Resistance, Vigilante
Place of Birth: Ala Ghiri, the Peaks~~~
---Gerhild Steele---
Age: 28
Occupation: Dragoon in service to the Ala Mhigan Resistance, Vigilante
Place of Birth: Capitol city of Ala Mhigo~~~
The story behind these two Ala Mhigan nationals goes back to over two decades past.The Miqo'te Hemmet Tatch & Hyuran Gerhild Steele in their youths were childhood friends of Arlessia Sharpe...best friends, at the time. They did their best to look out for each other under the rule of the empire whilst still being just...children. One story that they remember well is one night where the three of them snuck out of the Ala Mhigan Capitol to go play games & swim in the loch. As they did however, they saw a centuries old Onyx Gryphon soaring in the moonlit midnight skies. A sight of Ala Mhigan portent.They stood by & supported Arlessia emotionally when her father was killed in broad daylight by the Viceroy at the time, Gaius van Baelsar.
And their reward for it? When Ghislaine smuggled her daughter out of the province & was punished, Hemmet & Gerhild both were victims of corporal punishment for even just being acquainted with her...and it was only through the submission of their parents that they were not subjected to it for long.
Afterwards, Ghislaine spread the word that Arlessia had been killed by the imperials, sparking an instantaneous & violent riot against the empire. Everyone knew what the empire had done to this family...and they wouldn't stand by as they did it again.
Hemmet & Gerhild's parents did not want to take part in the violence...but due to how close the children had been with Arlessia & how they submitted to the Garleans, the fact they didn't rise up with the rest of the city made them seem...suspicious. Their first thoughts were in truth about the safety of their children.And so, they became targets.Hemmet's father was attacked by an angry mob on a trip to the market before being dragged to & thrown through the front window of their home. His mother would be able to shield him long enough for him to escape when an improvised firebomb was thrown through, although both of his parents would perish in the flames.Gerhild's in the selfsame riot was stoned in the street as their daughter hid in her room, waiting for them to come home, only for her to be told they died when a neighbor came to check on her.This event so shaped the course of their future lives. In the wake of the riot, Viceroy van Baelsar introduced a resettlement initiative for those affected by the riots...and unfortunately the two newly orphaned children fell through the cracks. Left to languish on the streets...in the gutter...not so different than Arlessia in truth, but that would never know that.And so, the Sharpe name was tainted for them. They cursed their lost friend as the source of their woes & suffering...if only so they could not look directly into the truth.
They were alone.
They were scared.With this new chapter of their adolescence thrust upon them, Hemmet & Gerhild swore a blood vow. That one would never abandon the other. When they came of age, they left the Capitol feigning a desire to work in the outer villages, but in truth they left to find the resistance.Find them they did.
Applying under aliases in order to protect each other in the event one of them would get captured, they would begin their journey in earnest to whom they would become.Hiding in the shadow of the Destroyer in Rhalgr's Reach, the two would find shelter. A home. A way to fight.
Hemmet would find an old text detailing the breadth of the Fists of Rhalgr's teachings during a night of exploration in the temple at the top of the Reach & in turn devoted himself to the once-sacred techniques of monks past.Meanwhile, whilst Hemmet had been & was on track to be a fighter true to the resistance, Gerhild had troubles finding what she was proficient at. Swords, bows, axes...she struggled with all, until one fateful day.She & Hemmet were sparring in the wastes just outside the Reach when a traveler on the road passed by them. Intrigued by his outlandish armor & long halberd, she would stop him to inquire about where he came from. Consider her surprise, when he responded in a thick Ishgardian accent...and a flash came from within his pack. Plucking his soul crystal from his pack, they were perplexed as the light emanated from it drifted steadily towards Gerhild.As it turned out, he was a higher officer of the Knights Dragoon that had become wizened with age, his combat prowess slipping with every day. A year earlier, he had received a vison in his sleep from what he interpreted as the Fury herself that the person who would inherit his soul crystal, and in turn carry his legacy, would be someone not of Ishgard, but indeed of a far off land from his home. According to the vision, whoever was chosen would burn as a bright star, all so that balance be maintained.So he handed in his commission to the Lord Commander & left on a pilgrimage to find that stalwart soul that very same day.And it had chosen her. Without another word, he handed her his soul crystal, his lance, and a scroll detailing the process to make her own dragoon mail.With both of these bound souls set in their own vocations, they would finally bring justice to the mantles they had created to serve their people.They were the Last Fist & the Fang of Onyx. And they would fight until their dying breath for their home.When Baelsar's wall was poised to fall years later, they were sent on escort in order to make sure M'naago, the resistance's envoy to the scions, survived to bring the intel that the Griffin was going to assault the wall directly to Yda Hext (in truth the fallen scions' sister, Lyse) & Papalymo Totolymo.A mission that in time would bring them directly into contact with a ghost from their past.Arlessia Sharpe, now a prominent member of the Scions of the Seventh Dawn & a Warrior of Light worthy of the title.Although they would discover her survival by sheer merit of them attacking her on the road in suspicion that she was a member of the Skulls, a unit purely constructed with Ala Mhigan volunteers seeking citizenship, sent to infiltrate the resistance. No doubt their suspicions had merit, but they placed them on the wrong person.With this shocking revelation that Arlessia had returned to fight for Ala Mhigan independence & freedom, and moreso still considered the two estranged vigilantes as her friends, over the course of the next few weeks Hemmet would come to obsess about it. Angry & bloodthirsty to such a degree he began alienating Gerhild, his closest ally & the one person he trusted...and loved.While they had grown quite close, she had long moved on from her trauma at the hands of Ghislaine's lie. Hemmet had not. He kept it close, the flame guttering just enough to not burn him, but still stoking it with every day.And now...it threatened to consume him.Going down separate paths after the Miqo'te monk lashed out at her in a fit of rage, it is unclear what will become of their relationship...Gerhild has officially begun working with Arlessia's allies in an attempt to potentially repair some of the damage she is responsible for in her ignorance...but time will tell when the war for liberty or death reaches finally it's bloody climax.
~
"See this scar?! This was carved at the ripe old age of nine! Because I had been HER FRIEND! They accused me of aiding in her disappearance...I only survived because of my parents.And guess what?They were then killed in a riot two days later...because HER MOTHER said that the garleans gunned her daughter down-She told her deception to none. Not even us as she watched me get thrown into the gutter by the Imperial resettlement initiative."
-Hemmet, on why he nurtures his hate of Arlessia Sharpe."Once I might've been friend to your niece...but that is a...complicated story.
I am ultimately undeserving of that epithet. I merely seek to atone for my misdeeds against her. Right my wrongs." -Gerhild, speaking to Arlessia's Aunt, Adelena when the master tailor decided to join the Ala Mhigan Resistance.
---- Sama Kaisuri, Formerly Sama Oronir ----
Age: 26
Occupation: Seedseer, Whitemage & Scion of the Seventh Dawn
Place of Birth: The Dawn Throne, The Azim Steppe
~~~~
The romantic partner of Arlessia & a White Mage of remarkable skill and power, Sama is an echo-blessed healer who works closely with the Warrior of Light in the Scions, Although she originally hails from the Azim Steppe, the ancestral home to the Xaela Au Ra in distant Othard since antiquity.Born to the warrior Esugen & healer Maral of the Oronir tribe as their second child, Sama's early childhood was bound tightly by the dogma & tradition of Xaela culture.From an early age it was clear she had aptitude in the shamanistic healing arts taught by her mother Maral, whilst her older brother Oro was her father's preffered student in warfare & hunting. Being an advisor to the Khatun, who was the Khagan of the Steppe entire, he embodied the strength of body & radiance of soul the Oronir idolized...at the detriment of his relationship with his daughter. She despised his every breath and could only find solace in the days where she & her mother would leave the Dawn Throne to gather herbs for the tribe or practice their healing arts. Eventually he would start showing such dismissive disdain & contempt for her, citing her abilities as those of a weakling.It would be no wonder then, when her father died the year she turned 18 winters due to sickness in his bed, she & Oro both spit upon his corpse. They could have healed his woes, but he refused. And so, he died a bitter old man unable to rise from his back."A Oronir doesn't die in bed, weakling."Hearing her brother's words, she realized that her father had indeed succeeded in creating a worthy heir...and so the slow descent would begin.
He with his war, she with her healing...they walked apart.
The following winter, their mother would pass away peacefully in her sleep. Sama would mourn her for 3 weeks straight, but Oro? He took a vow of Silence.'My voice is for the one true Khagan of the steppe alone.'Now alone as members of the tribe, the Tsagaan Sar-the oath of fealty to the winning tribe of the Nadaam-would end upon the dawn of a new lunar new year.And so, the siblings would be called to represent the tribe alongside the other warriors & mages of the Oronir under the command of a new Khatun, the son of the Khatun that their father had served so dogmatically.Magnai the Older.From the first time she had seen him, Sama was infatuated with the man. His set jaw, how his horns framed his ferocious face...yet how they accentuated the thoughtful eyes enchanted with limbal rings of purest gold. Although arrogant, he was a storm of death upon the hunting plains & the field of battle, earning glory & renown for their tribe. She aspired to the example he set...whilst also feeling the pull of a romantic crush.The young marauder would indeed lead the Oronir to yet another victory in the Nadaam as she knew, but what nobody knows is that he had won through deceit. Coming to Sama days before the Nadaam was slated to begin, he spoke to her of something he would like her to do. He knew she desired him, and so in return for seeing the Oronir to victory & glory, he promised, he would take her as his wife. To elevate her above to be his consort.The way to that goal, he said, was to poison the ingredients of the ritual feasts of the three other tribes that posed the most threat.Dotharl.Qerel.Adarkim.Bewitched by the tenderness he expressed to her & her alone, she ignored the fact that what he was asking her to do was tantamount to heresy...eager to prove that the feelings she felt towards him were real.A response Magnai had counted on...and manipulated.She did exactly what she asked, spreading spores of a semi-toxic fungus found in the western caves of the Steppe over items sold in the markets of Reunion that she knew the three targeted tribes needed for ritual feasts. It wouldn't be enough to kill anyone, telling the world someone had interfered...no, instead it would cause food poisoning & dysentery in those who ate of the ritual feast. And it worked.With this deception having the desired effect, none could resist Oronir in the Nadaam. Save the Dotharl.The Khatun of the Dotharl, Sadu Heavensflame, would singlehandedly almost foil the onslaught of the Oronir with her sheer magical might. But she was brought low by Magnai, the enchanted axe he inherited from his father-The Scale of the Father- granting him resistance to the flaming meteors she brought down to devastate their nemesis.Following the Nadaam & in the wake of the crowning as Magnai as the new Khagan of the Azim Steppe, Sadu protested to the Gharl, ancestral officiators of the Nadaam since antiquity, that the Oronir had cheated-the majority of her tribe's warriors being unable to to take the field from a sudden rash of illness following the ritual feast. After some investigation by the Gharl, however, no evidence of foul play could be found.With the protest disavowed by the Gharl, this would spark the intense hatred Sadu carries for Magnai to this day. But Sama felt the price to be worth it.She would be worthy of him...she thought.Merely a week after the Nadaam, she expected any day now Magnai would commit himself to her as she had been promised. Sama would experience a mysterious dream of what she at first perceived to be a glimpse into the realm of Nhaama, a vast aetherial space with the largest crystal she had ever seen at it's heart.'My child...'
Nhaama spoke, her words echoing through Sama's very being.Hear...Feel...Think...And with that, she awoke-drenched in sweat as cold winds whipped through her yurt...and she felt...different. When she emerged, her brother silently looked to her with a measure of confusion. In truth, she had been murmuring in her sleep.'Hear, Feel, Think'Pushing her thoughts about about the vision away, she dismissed it to anxiety.
What did he care, after all? They had not been close in some time. Going about her business that day, she would accidentally walk into another member of the tribe. Apologizing & helping her gather the fruits that had been dropped, she felt a cool feeling run down her tail towards her spine...and then to her head. Clasping a hand to her temple, she was then shown a vision of the other girl's memories of this morning fighting with their spouse over her inability to bear a child. Her most sacred duty, to him.Without thinking, Sama asked her about it...and immediately regretted it as the look of shock & revulsion that warped the girl's face spoke volumes. Before she could apologize once more, the other girl ran off, making for the central keep on top of the Dawn Throne.Sighing in acceptance of her folly, she continued gathering the fruit as the heavens turned dark. After she brought them to the tribe's quartermaster & some time had passed, rain began to fall as she was ambushed by members of both Oronir & their lesser allies who also lived upon the Throne, the Buduga.Dragging her kicking & screaming before the entrance to the seat of the Khagan, they proceeded to kick & beat her until she submitted, laying in dirty grass as she sobbed in pain. Before long, however, Magnai would emerge from the keep with his many retainers at his side.Surrounded by an angry mob, she was called traitor & wretch. They all accused her of being a Dotharl spy, shocking her to her core. Despite her protests the accusations continued.Traitor.
Wretch.
Witch.
Dotharl whore.
Who was she in her past life.With a booming command, Magnai then ordered silence. Sama then saw her, the girl who's memories she had seen. She crawled towards Magnai, pleading. Promising him that she was no traitor or Dotharl spy, that she hadn't meant to look into her memories.But he didn't say a thing until she ceased her mewling. Demanding of him what had become of the oath he had sworn to her, to take her as his wife & protect her...And he finally replied.'What oath?'As her heart shattered, she stammered wordlessly. She saw how he had used her to gain power. How else could he gain the high throne of Khagan aside from wrapping the tribe's best healer around his finger?'I care not what delusions you have...I bring only my judgement.'Without hesitation, he raised his hand in authority, proclaiming that she was from here on out was exiled from the Azim Steppe...and that he originally thought to merely execute her, make her an example of defiance of the will of the Khagan...but the tribe's best warrior had convinced him otherwise.Either way, he sought to be rid of her.As she descended into misery and wails of despair, she looked up to see Oro at the Older's side. With a nod from Magnai, he strode fowards slowly, his eyes filled with fury locked on the wretch that had been his little sister.And he had spoke for the first time since their mother's passing."Begone from these lands, traitorous witch! On this day, let it be known! If you are seen in the Azim Steppe after this next moon...I shall kill you myself. Aiat."He pointed towards Doma."You have until then to flee like the coward you are to Doma! I care not after that whither you go. You are a curse upon our family's legacy!"Sama could not comprehend how he could do such a thing...mayhap...no. This was her fault. So she asked him as such.'Brother, why...? You know I would never do...'
"You are no sister of mine. Begone, before I kill you here & now."As she watched in stunned silence as her brother walked back into the shadow of this oathbreaker of a khagan, Magnai smirked as she wept for the loss of the only family...the only home she had.
"Oronir women don't cry, whelp. Look to the skies, and see Azim's judgement on you."With that, the khagan's will was enforced. She was dragged from the Dawn Throne with nothing but the coat on her back, the beating she had been given making it hard for her to rise on her own. She wasn't even given a water skin for her journey. They simply dragged her down the stairs & tossed her aside, injuring her arm even more & returning back to the Dawn Throne.As she limped slowly towards Reunion, the sun had risen & rains stopped by the time she reached the Qestiri village. Walking through the gate, she had the misfortune to almost immediately be seen by a Oronir trader that had passed her on the road earlier.He ordered her to keep walking, yet another blade thrust into her back, making her feel number to the world.
But then...
"Is that necessary? Do you Oronir treat all with such contempt, or just this poor injured girl? It makes me wonder if I should even consider your custom at all."The Doman man perusing the Oronir youth's merchandise had spoken. He had been here for only a few months, his scars fresh from when the Mol found him in the mountains. Sama had seen him when she had performed his grim task, but this was the closest she had come to him. When the trader rebuked him for even considering her as a living being & insulting their ways, she knew that the Doman would make the mistake of drawing his steel there & then.Seeing his hand drift to his katana, Sama spoke up through a voice ravaged by betrayal.
"Please...don't."
She sniffled sorrowfully as he looked at her, surprised.
"If you draw steel, the Qestir will slay you without hesitation. I refuse to see you get exiled or killed for my tarnished honor. So please...let it go.
Let it go..."Quietly contemplating her as she began to walk off again, Hien Rijin nodded.
"If you insist-my lady. Safe travels."Sama would continue onwards in her exile, seeking asylum in Garlean-Occupied Doma...but that could not last, unless she wanted people around her to suffer.Though, she hardly had a choice in the matter.Taken in by a small Doman family that found her collapsed & starving on the side of the road, they would not let her go further until she rested & recovered. In return, she helped with her magicks to revitalize the earth the family tilled & healed the father when he accidentally struck his leg with his Nata, a wood-splitting tool.When she was rested enough to leave, she was given an outfit for colder climes by the father as a token of appreciation for saving his leg. Sama still wears it on chilly days or nights to this present day & cherishes it fondly, even if the family that gave it to her has all but disappeared from the region. Mayhap they died, or were conscripted. She knows naught.From here, she would seek passage across the Ruby Sea, paying her tithe to the Confederacy in the service of healing their more seriously wounded members. In return she would be granted passage & ferrying to the edge of Kugane's entrance.Coming to rest in the city where Koban flowed like water, she would earn a living healing those who came to her, be they wounded or sick. She saved many a life with her ministrations, but she also couldn't help just as many. Abiding in the bustling port for only a couple years, a depression came to fall upon her like a pox. It was these...people. Even though their laws were spartan & brutal, many minor crimes having the punishment of death, most of the more affluent members of the elite flaunted the Sekiseigumi with relative ease to bleed more out of those who were less fortunate than they.She hated every second she allowed herself to reside in this vice & greed.Finally deciding to move on, she sold the property she worked out of to a Hrothgar man of Bozjan descent, wizened & blinded by age.Using the Koban from the sale to buy fare on a ship heading across the sea to Aldenard, the far western continent, she had the rest traded in for a meager start in Eorzean Gil before embarking on the long sea voyage. After nearly a full month at sea, she would disembark in Vesper Bay, in arid Thanalan. The climes of the area somewhat disagreeing with her fresh off the boat, she decided to move more inland via chocobo carriage to Gridania. From the first moment they crossed from Thanalan into the Twelveswood, Sama was enraptured.Such vibrancy in the nature around her...and when she reached out, she felt the wind, earth & water around her in a primal sense she had yet to experience. She even felt presences within the trees that watched her closely & with mirthful curiosity.Upon reaching the city-state within the boundless forest, she was put back by the...reclusiveness of the Gridanians when it came to her presence. One might even say a touch xenophobic. This was, after all, the first time many of the citizens had seen an Au Ra of Xaela descent. Being assessed for entry by the Wood-Wailers, they noted that she would most likely be an asset to the conjurer's guild. Once she heard that, she inquired about what they'd meant & what a Conjurer's guild was.Being pointed in the direction of the Nophica's Altar instead of actually having her question answered, she would instead get lost in the labyrinthine paths under the forest's boughs & find herself in a longhouse that served as the city's marketplace. No longer than she had been confusedly looking around for someone to ask for help she heard a scream come from down the hall as a loud snap pervaded the space. Sparing no time, she ran quickly over to the man who had made it, his leg cleanly broken as the bone peeked through the skin.'Let me help!'
She suddenly spoke up, pushing others aside gently to make room for her to set the man's leg & start healing it with the magicks her mother had taught her, right as another person came running."I'm a healer from Stillglade Fane, show me the injured party!"
As the tall Elezen Man said this, he would come up to the scene before gasping lightly as Sama mended the man's leg with nary a stray fracture, beating him to it by sheer merit of right place, right time.As she finished, the radiant light of her healing magicks fading, she tested the limb before nodding to the Hyur attached to it.
"Please refrain from heavy lifting for at least three suns."
He looked at her quizzically.
"I...I thank you, stranger. I know not where you hail from, but you've saved my career."As the scene dissolved around her, she soon found herself before the healer who had arrived, with him appraising her.
"From where DO you call home, my lady? And where did you learn spells like that?"
She shrugged with a measure of embarassment. She hadn't meant to cause a scene."I...I have no home. I am an exile from the Azim Steppe...North of Doma."Hearing this, the man's features softened. She had taken his duty, but in doing so showed she had just as much aptitude as he. Reaching out his hand, he helped her to her feet.
With gentle compassion he inquired about why she came to Gridania, and upon her answer & learning that she had been pointed in the direction of the Conjurer's guild, he smiled broadly.
"You're in luck, miss...?" He asked, inquiring her name. As she breathed to speak, she felt compelled. Her tribe name, it had been her surname for most of her life, and this is the first time since she had become bereft of it that she missed the certainty that came from being Oronir.
Thinking, she decided to create a name of her own.
"Sama...Kaisuri. I am Sama Kaisuri."
"Taggart. Taggart Verilaux." The man said in reply with a gesture to himself.
"And I am a member of the Conjurer's guild myself. I would be more than happy to guide you to our guildhall of Stillglade Fane."
Frowning, she took his offer with some hesitance. She still did not know what to think of this...'guildship'. But once she was guided there & brought before the Padjali Guildmaster E-Sumi-Yan, she finally understood the truth.'A...fraternity...of healers? And you act in service of this place you live?' She asked as E-Sumi sipped his tea. They had knelt in the audience chamber & E-Sumi had asked for a pot to be readied for their guest. He spoke with a voice deeper than his young appearance belied, his horns the true indict of his nature.
"Indeed. It is our honor to make the Twelveswood a better place, aligned with the elementals that allow us to live in peace. Although one must do so with balance, 'lest the elementals rain their fury upon them, much like the survivors of the War of the Magi."
As she did her best to absorb the information that E-Sumi-Yan patiently blessed her with, she couldn't help but feel like this was similar to the shamanism she had been taught. Her thoughts turned to how certain tribes of her lost home had been taxing on the ecosystem of the Steppe...so to preserve the balance, they were destroyed.
'Please...I would like to learn...if you'd have me.'
She'd eventually said, looking up into E-Sumi's eyes, their silver irises still as he thought about it.
"I don't see why not...although I would test how much you truly do know. Taggart. Show Miss Kaisuri to the free room. The one across from yours."With a bow, Taggart complied. It was with this agreement that Sama was officially inducted into the conjurer's guild. Finally she had found a calling for her.A home, for her.She worked tirelessly to prove that E-Sumi's faith in her abilities was not spent lightly...yet even as that drove her, he had her measure upon hearing her story that first time. Whenever she wasn't working alongside Taggart to assist those in need in the Twelveswood or trying her best to help heal the land from the ravages of the Seventh Umbral Calamity years prior, she would occasionally tell the other guildmates about the world beyond Gridania's borders that she knew.But most of all, like a garden, she cultivated her peace. 2 years after she came to call Gridania home, E-Sumi-Yan approached her & Taggart with an assignment. He wanted them to go assist the Seedseers O-Raya-Senna & O-Ruhn-Senna, the siblings of Kan-E-Senna, leader of Gridania. The two had gone to perform the ritual named the Quieting, in order to quell the 'Great One'...a elemental of terrifying power inhabiting the Guardian Tree in the place of power known as Everschade...unguarded.Seeing the import of this task, Sama wouldn't hesitate to accept as her & Taggart rushed to the Seedseer's aid. At first they were reticent about being 'saved' by mere Conjurers, and one that was an effective outsider at that, Raya-O soon came to see the merit of their intercession when the Guardian Tree itself gifted a soul crystal to Sama.The very same soul crystal entrusted to it by the legendary White mage
A-Towa-Cant.Seeing this as a sign from the elementals, Raya-O would proclaim that from that day forward, Sama would be her student, much to the chagrin of her brother-who stormed off at the statement.
Although this was an event to be happy about, her prowess being recognized, she hadn't come alone.So it was then that Sama made a stipulation upon Raya-O. That she allow to provide Taggart with a soul crystal of his own. He was very much her equal...and her friend. She would not leave him behind when he had done so much to ensure her the possibility of a life under these shaded boughs.Taggart at first protested, that she had been the one chosen, but consider his surprise when after a long moment of thought, Raya-O agreed.In time, both students were tested. Taught in the practices of the White Mages of ancient Amdapor, they grew in power, and eventually were the key to completing the Quieting for the Padjal, in their hubris, had failed the first time.Grateful that the disaster of the Great One's greenwrath had been averted, Sama & Taggart were changed. Within the span of two years, that strife had been enough to awaken a desire to help the larger realm with their gifts...albeit at the constant protestation of their teacher. Raya-O knew not what they believed, but Seedseers were forbidden from setting foot outside the twelveswood. So the two whitemages simply bowed to their teacher.But a vision in the midst of a fateful night changed everything.
Sama saw fire.
She saw ruin.
She saw a silvered sword with a single, burning eye piercing the ground as the world burned around it. And then she heard it.
"Follow...my...path..."
Hearing the voice of A-Towa-Cant immediately rose her from her dreams & she woke Taggart. Without another word towards Raya-O, they would register in the Gridanian adventurer's guild & left to follow the steps of A-Towa-Cant. As they did, they would take jobs that required their talents. Long nights of people showing their appreciation when a hunting expedition was saved or rogue imbalances in the aether of nature imperiling settlements.On many nights when they would retire to the nearest tavern, they both would be regaled by a unusual bard's telling of a hero he referred to as 'The Warrior of Light'-Arlessia Blessed-Eye! The woman who felled the Praetorium nigh singlehandedly! Scion of the Seventh Dawn! The hero being someone of whom he was acquainted, he would sing verse & strum his lyre in spun tales about her struggle with the Ultima Weapon, her lethal encounters with the Primals summoned by the various tribes that antagonized Eorzea, and even a tale that she had slain dread Bahamut himself! His tales often being of such proportion most would assume they were falsities, Sama grew to admire the idea of this woman she hadn't met, even after the bloody banquet robbed this fanciful idea. Often, this wandering Minstrel would haunt the places they went, up until one certain evening that began much like the others.The venue had been the Tavern at Fallgourd Float, and the crowd had been mostly comprised of adventurers.'Hark!'Cried the minstrel, his heavy leather boots thudding against the bar as he leap on top of it.'I come directly from Ul'dah this day, still bleeding from the machinations of the powers that be! And I bring with me, a flyer, taken from the bounty board of the Adventurer's Guild...written in cipher!" He explained, clearing his throat heavily.
'I shall now describe the contents of this job offer in detail for those adventurers present.
"Adventurers, soldiers of fortune, and misfits be aware! The Scions of the Seventh Dawn yet live...and require able hands for a mission of the HIGHEST import! If this offer of coin, adversity & glory entices thee, pray, come to the Holy see of Ishgard and find Cid Garlond. You will be appraised of the details when you arrive. The fate of Eorzea itself is in the balance."And it is signed!'He said, the crowd murmuring at the prospect of the offer.'Signed, Arlessia Blessed-Eye. Adventurer, just like you.'Everyone went silent.Taggart choked on his ale before looking to Sama with wide eyes. As she traded with him a glance, the Minstrel would leap down from his perch.
'So, who's up for a field trip to frigid & religious Ishgard?'The question hung for barely a half a second before Sama stood.'I volunteer!'This decision...she couldn't place it, but when it became clear the Warrior of Light was in need, she felt compelled by a strange pang of nostalgia to volunteer. With a barely stifled laugh, Taggart would join her in being the first stalwart souls to answer the call.The Adventurer task force was assembled to slay the Vundu Primal 'Bismarck'...but this would be the very last journey Sama & Taggart would embark on together. During the assault upon Bismarck to claim the key to fabled Asyz Lla, Taggart would meet his end as he saved both Arlessia & Sama from certain doom, his death coming from blunt force trauma due to being struck on the back of his head by the magitek generator being used by the taskforce...but his efforts resulted in the mission being a success.In the end, Sama would bear the grim task of returning Taggart's remains to Gridania, their friendship cut all too soon. But for a mercy, she found a vulnerable kinship with Arlessia, who was deeply affected by the loss of Taggart as well, who promised Sama their friendship & support, should she ever need it.Upon her return to Gridania, her link with A-Towa-Cant's soul crystal would break, her guilt at the death of her friend disrupting her emotionally & making it impossible for her to progress as a white mage.
Raya-O disowned her as her apprentice for defying her in such a grave manner & allowing Taggart, the man she pleaded so much to allow to become a Seedseer, to die. No matter who she spoke to, save E-Sumi-Yan, who seemed merely saddened by his student's loss, Sama experienced all the hatred she felt as she fled the Azim Steppe. When she approached Taggart's mother however, hoping to express her sympathies for the loss of her son, Millicent Verilaux would simply strike her across the face, demanding she leave the Black Shroud & never return.Once again deprived of a home, she would make for Ishgard, the one place many wouldn't think she'd find solace due to her Auri heritage, but she didn't leave the Forgotten Knight much anyways...allowing her detractors to forget about her.Only, however, she would receive her first vision from Hydaelyn since before her exile three days later...and she explained the truth of her gifts finally. The Mothercrystal...the will of the star itself...it bade her to pick her staff back up, because Arlessia needed her. She told Sama to seek out the Viera twins Harjatan & Yelle Arda and the Ishgardian-born Reaper Akavi Greystone. They were in the city, and were associates of Arlessia.Only together...Only together would they be able to keep Arlessia from meeting her end in the dark depths of Asyz Lla.And with that, Hydaelyn let go...and Sama's course was set. Suffice it to say, when she approached these adventurers she didn't know & explained what she needed from them, they though that she was mocking them. But the moment she explained that Hydaelyn herself had given her this charge, they agreed.Before the hour was up, they were loaned an airship by Count Edmont de Fortemps, the Warrior of Light's patron in the Holy See...and grieving father. He assisted them in order to help Arlessia fulfill her vow to him...but more importantly to bring her back alive.And, well, you know what they say.The rest is history.
~
"Hey there, bright eyes. I'm sorry I took so long. But I'm here...finally...Arlessia is here as well, to pay her respects..." -Sama Kaisuri, her greeting words upon finally being able to mourn Taggart's death at his gravesite, a year after his passing.
----Harjatan & Yelle Arda, the Golden-Eyed & the Blind Shadow----
Age: 47 (though they never tell people exactly how old they are)
Occupation: Wandering Adventurers, Scions of the Seventh Dawn, experienced Strongwoman & Circus Magician both
Place of Birth: Skatay Mountain Range, Western Othard
~~~~
Duality.How does one see it in nature?Simple. You observe a pair of Vieran twins.Born in the shadow of the Skatay Mountain Range to a small & isolated Vieran tribe, Harjatan & Yelle's lives were filled with adversity from the start.Due to the matriarchal nature of Vieran society, their father was absent since their conception...the expectation that their mother would provide whilst he continued to ensure the safety of the tribe as a Wood Warder. That belief was challenged the day of their birth.
A cursed moon hung overhead as the Arda's mother went into labour, and she would unfortunately pass away during childbirth from strain on her heart...at first that was the thought, in truth. Orphaned from the moment they entered the world, when they were pulled free, the midwives would be horrified. One of the twins, a girl, had bloody & smoking burns over her eyes...her eyes damaged beyond repair with magicks...because they were burned BY magicks.As the tribe struggled to save the girl, the other-a boy-cried, cried & cried as dark flames wreathed his reaching hands...the source of the injuries upon the other clear for all to see. Superstitious in their beliefs, the birth...and in turn the twins...were deemed cursed from that day on. Although they cared for the babes in the absence of their birth parents, the tribe was wary to do more than the bare minimum as required.Yelle was completely blind, forced to interpet the world through sound alone from the death magicks that had burned her eyes, would be a sickly thing for the first decade of her life. Even from such tender ages however, Harjatan was ever there. Caring for her. Making sure she didn't cry. Allowing him to guide her in this world, in a tribe that ostracized them for the circumstances of their birth.Although, Harjatan was not the strongest Viera either. He was gaunt, physically incapable, and cursed with volatile magical potential that he struggled to keep in check. Be it accidental lashes of lightning, bursts of flame, accumulation of ice, or even...heavens forbid...a flare-up of death magicks, it could not be stopped by any except for his sibling. He vowed to never hurt Yelle again, so he made it his mission to master whatever magicks he could, which would be physically demanding for him, given his lithe nature.As they neared the end of adolescence-and more importantly, when their genders finally established themselves, dividing the twins as brother & sister visibly-the tribe began to finally vilify them as the curses they suspected them to be.
Given the names Harjatan & Yelle, once their genders were made clear by their bodies, the tribe tried to separate them, as was tradition. Yet, every time they did so, Yelle would break away to run back to him, knowing that he would die if they made him a Wood Warder like their father.After seeing her loyalty to him, Harjatan would at last seize his potential with a firm grip & turned it upon the matriarchs that dared try to take his sister away from him. Slinging bolts of lightning that seared skin, creating patches of ice under foot, and melting their weapons with flames akin to the hells', he protected her once again from those who sought to sever their bond. Under the threat he posed, the tribe leader would decree that they be allowed to leave...free to try & make their own way in this cruel world all too eager to see their people enslaved.That very same day, at the age of 16, they would set out through the jungles, their self-imposed exile protected by what Wood Warders spied their march from the tribe's home...and although they wouldn't know it...their father included. Not that he knew they were his children, only that they were cursed.The journey was long & fraught with dangers...but when the twins emerged into the kingdom of Dalmasca from the jungle half a year after they set out, they felt just as out of place in society. Being as a good portion of Dalmasca's populace were Vieran themselves, they avoided settling in Rabanastre permanently, instead opting to gather as many supplies-and magickal tomes for Harjatan-as they could steal & carry before leaving onto the road once-more.Dalmasca would be conquered & absorbed into the Garlean Empire half a year later. After this happened, the Viera would constantly be faced with Imperial patrols between nations conquered by the Empire as they moved west across Othard, crossing into Ilsabard proper through Corvos...or Locus Amoenus as the Garleans renamed it, claiming that this stretch of the mothercontinent was their ancestral home.It would be in Corvos...upon the turning of the twin's 20th year that Yelle's health would take a turn, forcing Harjatan to make camp closer to town than he'd like. As his sister slept, pouring sweat & feverish, Harjatan would be studying a new spell concept when a Garlean soldier burst from the forest they had camped in, tackling the physically weak Viera to the ground as he called for reinforcements.
Every time Harjatan tried to cast his magicks to defend himself, the imperial soldier would headbutt the fledgling mage, disrupting his focus before wrapping his hands around the boy's throat.Waking to see her brother being attacked, Yelle would launch herself at the noise his attacker made, tearing the Garlean dog off of her sibling with a scream. Mantling on top of him blindly, something had changed within the once-sickly Viera. No matter what the man did, he couldn't move as Yelle held him down. Her raw, hither-unto-now untapped strength was such that even though she merely meant to restrain him, she easily snapped the soldier's forearms with a sickening crunch.Hearing this, Yelle would snap out of the adrenaline-fueled torpor she was in & ran over to gather their supplies before picking up her brother as he struggled for breath. Hoisting him over her shoulders as if he weighed nothing, she would run away from their camp, through the dead of night, at such a speed that by the time the imperial's reinforcements had arrived, they only found a guttering fire & a maimed guardsman...no sign of the savages he purportedly saw...and was bested by.When they finally came to a rest, it was clear to them that something had changed within Yelle. At first, Harjatan was stumped how the debilitated sibling he had cared for for most of their lives had made such a rebound, but if you were to ask him in the present day, he'd confidently tell you that the reason her health took a sudden turn was to at long last be freed from the effects of her proximity to his magicks in the womb, leaving her with unnatural & at times terrifying strength.He would no longer need to solely protect her, not that it meant he wouldn't stop trying.Nay, they truly became duality incarnated into flesh.Harjatan, the penitent brother wise beyond his years, possessed of magickal might & an intellect that outstripped his physical strength & endurancein combat.Yelle, a late bloom, would command the strength of multiple men & a single ox combined, at the detriment of her aptitude with magick of the more classical nature.No fitting description of both sides of a single coin than this exists. Alone, they are incarnates of their respective strengths.
Together, they were unstoppable.Now capable of fighting & travelling alongside her brother without being a burden, he would come to ask her where she thought they should go, using a map they had stolen back in Rabanastre. Guiding her hand, he listed off areas labelled on the map from Hingashi to the east in Othard back the way they came, all the way to distant Aldenard's isle of Vylbrand.After a moment of long thought & a reminder of where their estranged home lied, she would shrug simply and retort.'Why limit ourselves to deciding a single place to go? I say...'She pointed at the map randomly, her finger landing on the isle across the southern sea strait from Corvos: Radz-At-Han.'...that we START here.'Bewlidered at his sister's brazen response, Harjatan couldn't help but burst into a fit of laughter before tackling Yelle with a hug & a playful ruffle of her hair."Gods, I missed you, sister."She hadn't gone anywhere, but he was right.It was good to be free.And so their long journey started up once more, this time with a different purpose than mere survival & protecting Yelle. The Twins took up the Surname Arda & took off to see all that there was to see.They would keep up with this for another decade, the time spent travelling by foot as innocent travelers...or at times members of a traveling circus...along the routes across the star trained the twins both into seasoned combatants...and sharpened their senses of humour. Yelle had taken up a spear that very first day in Radz-At-Han of hannish make, whilst as they travelled, Harjatan's unfettered thirst for knowledge would be unsated-even though they would learn all they could whenever they reached the heart of a nation. There was nary a place in all of Ilsabard they didn't travel, with the sole exception of the Garlean heartland...and due to their trespasses in the Imperial provinces & penchant for disrupting the efforts ne'er-do-wells wherever they went, be they bandits or the Empire, they had long been branded enemies of the empire by the time they first set foot in Eorzea.This was a time of strife when they entered Ala Mhigo by way of occupied Werlyt & the Ghimlyt Dark, the aetherial anomaly of the region's dark skies being the sole reason they took that route, they emerged into a land just 3 years prior being conquered by the Empire, so security was tight. Deciding on taking a wary approach through this territory, it would be in trying to attempt the crossing of the unfinished edifice that would become Baelsar's Wall that Harjatan would be granted his tell-tale scar down his cheek from his eye.Spotted by Imperial aerial patrols, the twins would head north over the course of 2 days & countless malms to try & lose them in the still-green thickets of Coerthas...although they were successful, they would unluckily run into a armed & terrifying cadre of black-plated strangers. Taken aback by the sudden appearance of these strange twins, the unknown knights would engage them in an order to keep their camp a secret. As they did however, the Garleans that had been tracking the Vieran fugitives would come through the treeline. Seeing them as the bigger threat, the knights would bring their heavy & thick claymores to bear against the intruders. Seeing an opportunity to do some good, Yelle would turn back to assist the knights, despite the protests of her brother.Now that the two bands had united against the imperial pursuers, Yelle lending her ungodly strength to the front as Harjatan healed their wounds reluctantly, they made pitiable quick work of the hunting party.Once it was over though & the tension once again set back in, their leader would quickly draw a dagger & gouge the garish blemish across Harjatan's face. Immediately jumping to his rescue, Yelle knocked the older elezen man to the ground with a roar before stopping her spear tip half an ilm from opening his throat.'Get back!'As she seethed at clamor made by the other men & women who wanted so desperately to put the twins down for their insolence, every step towards her that she heard made her press her blade harder to his throat. Their leader signaling for them to put their weapons up, he reached up & undid the clasp on his helm before throwing it away so she could see his face.And the smile it wore.'Apologies for hurting...I'm guessing he's your brother?'
The man spoke with a voice like black satin as Harjatan finally rose, struggling to heal his wound due to the pain. Hearing how much pain he was in, she would breath out raggedly.
'I slashed his cheek for his cowardice...force of habit. But aside from that, you both fought well, even if one of you was hesitant.''Say another fucking word about my brother, and I will split you open like a damn grape.'
She spoke with fury, her eyelids opening only slightly as she spoke...but slightly was enough.'I don't doubt that, my dear.
Counter offer: You let me go...and I tell you of a type of magicks used to grant sight to those have lost theirs...considering the scarring in your sockets, would I be wrong saying that it has been some time since you've seen last?...or would it be for the first time?'
Both Harjatan & Yelle froze as he spoke. They had no idea if he told the truth...but it finally dawned on Yelle.
She may feel when the sun has risen, it's heat on her skin...
...but she's never SEEN it rise.After a few moments of tense silence, Yelle's spear digging a shallow cut that bled onto the man's ornate onyx armor, Harjatan would be the one to break it.Bursting into a fit of hysterical laughter as he finally stopped trying to heal his wound, he reached out to pat his sister as he laughed his lungs hoarse."By the gods sister, let the man go already!"Taking a breath of anxious relief that she didn't have to avenge her brother's honor, she relaxed & took her spear away from the man's neck.
'I'm glad you saw reason.'Speaking as he rose, she pointed the index & middle finger towards where she heard him whilst he ran a hand through his grey streaked mane of black hair.'On one condition.'The man stopped mid-turn.'I want to learn how to fight as you do.'
He was quiet for a long while, everyone else gasping as she made this audacious stipulation of Ser Ompagne Deepblack. Looking to his allies & students both, he chuckled wryly before looking back to the blind Viera.'Do you even realize what you ask, girl?''Do you? I heard the weight of those weapons you carry. If you handed me one of those...I could render you to dust with a single swing.'He scoffed at that. But after a moment, he appraised her again. She didn't look that strong physically, but in the battle she moved with a prowess that few could claim.
And below that...below the skin of both of them, the pain & scars left by the injustices of their world were evident, although he knew'Very well. I am Ompagne Deepblack, of the Knights Abyssal. Or otherwise known as the order of Dark Knights.'"MASTER! You cannot mean to-" An Hyuran woman protested as an Auri child hid behind her."Silence."Turning back to Yelle, Ser Ompagne took a deep breath.
'We are avengers. We throw aside our shields & reach into the darkness that permeates within every man, woman & child to wreak unrepentant justice upon those who prey upon the weak.
The innocent call us many things.
Oathbreakers.
Kinslayers.
Murderers.
We do what we must, in order for the downtrodden & the meek find justice against men who would dare treat them as...lesser.
Do you still wish to join us...knowing this?'His question was graven...and yet it hung in the air for all of two seconds as Yelle turned to where she heard her brother hummed to himself.
'Go on.'
With his affirmation secured, she sighed & turned back to the cadre of Dark Knights.
'I do. We have known the sting of being unwanted for most of our lives...born under a cursed moon, our...deformities...whilst we have been vilified, we have done our utmost to protect the weak as we traveled.I will take your oaths.'Hearing the murmuring from the crowd, she knew that not all of them trusted her word. She was an outsider from a far off land, and they both had brought the imperials down upon them.
But upon hearing this answer, Deepblack smiled earnestly."Honest. I like that. Very well, but as a stipulation of my own...there is a method of magick known by the scholars of Sharlayan as 'Aethersight'. It used to be used to grant the blind the ability to see again by binding one's aether to the region of the brain related to sight. It later was branded as dangerous by the Studium & all examples of how to perform the procedure were locked away in their archives. All...except one, kept in the Vault, in the Holy See of Ishgard."Hearing this, Yelle was excited for a moment, but Harjatan knew exactly what that meant.
"Meaning it is out of reach. Fucking figures."
As he spoke, Harjatan sighed heavily in thought. Having heard this countless times before, Yelle looked to him concernedly."Indeed, but to join our ranks, you must prove yourself willing to commit to something. Earn your sight...and then find us."With that, Ser Ompagne finally gestured to those with him to follow him into the woods, presumably back to their camp to relocate. Her gaze fixed on where they disappeared, Yelle listened intently at the fading footsteps.
"Are you okay, brother?"
"I'm fine."
He rubbed the bloody gash under his eye.
"...gratitude...am I right? Oh well. I've heard many find scars attractive, so I honestly should be thanking him. Shall we? If we're to keep your promise, we must perform research. If the spell exists, I can replicate it...even improve upon it...In time."
As Harjatan placed a hand upon her shoulder, she nodded.
"What would I do without you?"
"Well..."
"Don't answer that, you moron. And remind me to buy a blindfold when we reach civilization next."
"I thought you didn't like bindfolds?"
"Well, I just found out I dislike people looking directly past my eyelids into my skull more, as it happens."With a final bout of laughter, she hugged him tightly before they gathered their things & decided upon a course of action next upon their old & well weathered map.It would take 7 years of constant research from various sources of knowledge, various excursions into abandoned libraries...and a good deal of favours to scholars in Old Sharlayan, but in the end, Harjatan would be successful. He would find a way to grant Yelle her very own brand of aethersight, entirely unique to her...as a promise.A promise kept that Harjatan would do anything to make his sister happy.In that time, the Seventh Umbral Calamity would fall upon Eorzea. And in the devastation, Coerthas would become a snow-blasted waste. And yet, when they finally returned, they found the Dark Knights exactly where they had left them. Whether they had migrated indeed that day or merely stayed where they were, they did not know. When they arrived, they noticed that very little remained in the order's ranks. By all accounts, the only ones around were a grey & wizened Ompagne & his second, the woman who protested at Yelle's joining of their ranks, an elezen by the name of Sarassh. They were joined by two boys who had just crossed the threshold of adolescence, one of Hyuran heritage with skin as dark as slate contrasted by platinum blonde hair & the selfsame Auri child from that day, his eyes glowing with a turquoise limbal ring that clashed with his dark scales, pale skin & white locks.Fray Myste & Sidurgu Orl.With a shaking hand, Ser Ompagne was at last able to fulfill that promise he made years ago when without warning he threw a dagger at Yelle as she approached...and she simply handed it back to him directly, garnering him to look into her hooded & blindfolded face.
'Hello, Ser Ompagne. It's been quite some time.'"I've awaited this day for so long, you two. Come here & let me look at you. Welcome."
Ompagne said, clasping her hand before pulling the both of them into an embrace.Living amongst the order, Yelle would immediately begin training as a Dark Knight under Sarassh, a harsh taskmaster who doubted with every fiber of her being that Yelle had what it took to become a master of the dark arts. She was relentless, brooked no failure without punishment, and demeaned the Viera without cease in order to harden her into a warrior worthy of the title.Meanwhile, Harjatan busied himself by teaching the young fray conjury out of boredome & the hyur's insistance he wanted to learn in order to more effectively help his master & brother in Ompagne & Sid. On the other hand, however, he would soon find himself in the confidence of Ompagne...becoming a physician of sorts for the ailing man as his health declined from old wounds & ageIn the uncertain times following the blighting of Coerthas into a cold & hellish waste that was hard to survive in, soon enough the cadre would be forced to return to the confines of Ishgard before they froze to death.Although their circumstances changed, the bonds of their fraternity only grew tighter as the years passed. For some...that meant garnering a modicum of respect. Sid even started laughing at Harjatan's jokes.
For Yelle & Fray, however, their feelings towards each other began to border on love. More than once, Yelle would awaken to a bundle of flowers picked from outside the city gates before her door, still chill to the touch.It would all come to a head however when she & Fray would be sparring in the wilds, trading blows with their training weapons like handshakes when she finally asked him outright if it was him leaving her the flowers. Seeing his shocked reaction & seeing an opportunity, she seized his hesitation to answer to break through his guard. Her blade at his throat & his in the snow, their faces were a mere ilm apart as he finally answered her, his heart in his throat, that yes-it was indeed him.As she heard this, she could no longer hold herself back & lifted his visor with her free hand before kissing him with the repressed passion of four decades of life as their necks caressed the edge of the blade between them.The flames of romance began to quicken between the two of them with every day after that. He was a part of her that she didn't know she had been missing...and for the first time since her brother had bestowed upon her Aethersight, she was truly happy. But it was not to be as tragedy soon struck.Sarassh, as ever, was pushing Yelle beyond her breaking point in order to teach her the skill to blast her foes with a sheer flood of darkness from within her. But as ever, Yelle struggled with communing with her dark side. To her, the technique was beyond her grasp considering it required total alignment with that which dwelt within. The part of herself that Yelle never fed.
Sarassh would, at that moment, decide that enough was enough. Drawing her blade in a flourish, she struck at Yelle with intent to either see her succeed or see her blood spray into the snows of Coerthas.Nothing mortal, however...just enough to teach her that Yelle was only holding herself back.But she instead merely saw that her teacher was trying to kill her. Confused & on the defensive, Yelle would feel a flickering pain within her breast, she at last connected with her dark side...but it proved to be insatiable as it soon began raging out of control. Seeing this, Sarassh would try desperately to seal the demon back within the prison it had been freed from by attempting to wrap a shield around Yelle until it receded. Except her dark side would prevent her from even getting close to achieving that.Clashing blades in a no holds barred fight to survive, Sarassh barely held on against the full unchecked might that coursed through Yelle's body. She had always held herself back, not out of fear of losing herself, but out of fear of hurting her friends.
After a moment however she would begin to uncontrollably scream in shock as the dark side in control of Yelle's faculties extended a hand...and took control of the very blood that coursed within the Elder Dark Knight's veins as they forced it to burst through the skin in long, pulsating crimson spikes.Seeing what she had done, Yelle fought with all her mental fortitude to break the haze...to return to her senses...but it was too late. Both claymores fell from their wielder's hands.
One from sorrow at what she had done...the other from the inability to hold such weight any longer."Hah...well done...girl..."
Those were Sarassh's final words.
Her dark side had murdered Sarassh with Aetherial Drain.Having heard the scream from their sparring point nearby, the rest of the fraternity arrived to see Sarassh fall back, the sheer amount of blood erupting from her defying reason as Yelle began panicking, he gaze lowering to her hands in horror.The horror.What had she done?!Harjatan would immediately rush to her side, checking her for any injuries, but she was unharmed. Despite her best efforts, Sarassh had not even laid a scratch on Yelle's body.The others, on the other hand...were speechless.Sarassh had been the second most experienced of their order, the one who had kept them alive during the long winter enveloped them in the wilds.
Sid looked between her & Yelle, stammering in utter confusion, his eyes blazing with a fury that spoke of his disgust.
Fray was stunned that Yelle had even been able to DO such a horrific thing. As she looked to him, he couldn't even meet her gaze as she looked to him for support.
And Ompagne?
Without a word, he walked over to her & gently fell to a knee with a cough before rising with her lifeless, blood-soaked remains in his arms...tears flowing freely."Leave us. You are no longer...a Dark Knight."So quickly things fell apart.Leaving Coerthas behind, the twins once again looked to their map...and didn't know what to do. Whilst Harjatan had been welcomed & respected, Yelle had been family.
And in a complete misunderstanding of the highest order, she betrayed that family.'It wasn't your fault.'
When Harjatan finally found the courage to speak about what happened, they had arrived, dazed & weary in Ul'dah.'Brother...please. Don't. Don't lie to me.'As she looked to him, she removed the blindfold she had worn religiously since that day in that verdant forest. She had gained, for the first time in her life, a happiness that extended past her brother. Something of her own.And she had ruined it with her own two bloodstained hands.Yet time would march ever on. Never quite moving past the loss of her found family & the man she had grown to love with all her being, she instead buried the pain. Buried it under her strength. Beneath the solid iron of her sword for hire...and Harjatan did what he could to be there for her, never quite losing the responsibility he had before she had convalesced.Years passed.Adventures occurred.New bonds were made.The Twins Arda had become wiser at the cost of the home they worked hard to earn. And so, they now made a name for themselves as adventurers at the highest of the roster, with few above them in reliability.
With that in mind, is it any surprise that their reaction when they received a personal offer for a job from the VERY best of their pedigree was one of intrigue?An invitation to join Arlessia 'Blessed-Eye' to delve into the very depths of the Great Gubal Library...how could they resist?This decision would lead them to the respite & healing that they, in their hearts of hearts, deserved & desired.The Scions would become their family.And she would indeed see Fray again, before his life would tragically end after the end of the Dragonsong War. He would live long enough to know Yelle would live well, no matter what.
~~~
"You fool...you sweet, sweet fool.
If you had suggested we leave the order...I would've. Gods...but you'd never. So I was content...until I lost control.
Sleep well my love. You won't be alone forever..."
-Yelle, saying her last words to Fray Myste upon his demise upon the Steps of Faith after a failed jailbreak.
~
"For every mark you leave upon her...I shall sear your souls from this plane tenfold."
-Harjatan, moments before unleashing death magicks upon a squad of Garlean soldiers that ambushed his sister.
----Akavi Greystone (given surname unknown)----
Age: 27
Occupation: Traveling adventurer, Lemures Reaper, Scion of the Seventh Dawn
Place of Birth: Alvenroy, a village in far northern Coerthas, in the shadow of the border of Ishgard & Garlemald
~~~~
Tragedy can be the crucible that forges the strongest of souls.And few could claim to be stronger than Akavi Greystone.Born under a different surname to a young mother in the far off & isolated village of Alvenroy, the formative years of her life were rather mundane, compared to the vocation she would take up in her adult life.
The peoples who lived in Helphen Steeple were good, fury fearing folk who struggled earnestly to maintain their life in this home, locked in snow & ice...even long before the Seventh Umbral Calamity fell upon the realm.
Mostly comprised of Elezen with a small group of Hyur, their beliefs were...untraditional, to say the least, considering the stage the Coerthan population's religion had been for the last thousand years.
They saw no ill will with Dragonkind, and knew that whatever had happened those millennia prior, that their ancestors had cast the first stone.
So, in supplication to the Fury herself, they performed ritual blood-letting through flagellation...and in penitence for the sins of their forefathers. Those who have performed this penance mark their faces with ink-black tattoos of a very savage nature, a stripe added to their skin every time they tithe to the Fury until one day, the tattoo is complete & they are given their rest.
No sooner than they have finished their tithes can the members of this faith be permitted to sire offspring & focus on teaching the next generation...Although theirs was a particular case, Akavi having been already born & in childhood when her mother recieved hers.
So from a young age, behind the weal of childlike innocence & mirth, Akavi was to be sculpted to one day succeed her mother, the youngest member of Alvenroy's council of Elders, who governed their home in compliance with their faith.An event that would never come.The year upon which Akavi reached the age of 10, during a night of blessed silence & frigid winds, as Akavi & her mother slept in their beds...the Garleans came.A raiding party under the command of the psychopath Vitus Messalla, ordered to procure new slaves for the forgeworks in their homeland, the true purpose of this incursion was clear.Messalla craved blood.And so, upon the ringing of the midnight bell of Alvenroy, the slaughter began.Descending upon the village by way of climbing equipment & from the surrounding forests, their attack was swift. Brutal. Unstoppable.They would wake when the first explosions rocked the firmament the village sat on. Rising in a start, Akavi's mother watched in horror as the black-clad men of iron slaughtered the old...and took the young prisoner."Come. Come now!"As she pleaded for her daughter to wake & dress quickly, they took the back door out of their home right as one of the raiders kicked down the front entrance. Holding Akavi tightly to her chest, they ran fearfully as fast as she could towards the treeline.As they reached the final gate out from the village, however, they would run directly into another raider. Sneering malevolently as he thrust his gunblade forward & fired a bullet from it's barrel, the mother screamed as the slug tore past her & ripped through her daughter's left eye. Falling to the ground screaming, Akavi would be pushed to towards the treeline by her mother."Run, Akavi! RUN!"With those departing words, Akavi's mother would run towards the bloodthirsty Garlean in an attempt to stall him & for her daughter to get away...but the child could barely walk, her vision blurred with blood, let alone run. Falling to the ground some distance away, she began crawling before hearing the sound of a sword piercing flesh...the sound of blood spilling into the snow.Looking back, she screamed in horror as she saw her mother, who had thrown herself upon the savage's gunblade, the steel ripping clean through her mid-section. Twisting his blade before kicking her backwards, the Garlean snarled as he snapped to the young girl's scream. Quickly stomping his way towards her, she would try her best to quickly crawl away from him, but it was too late.'Where are you going, girl?!'As he demanded this of her, he chuckled, drunk on blood. Raising his weapon high in order to strike her down, Akavi stared into the face of her would be killer, her heart freezing as fear. As she screamed & he roared in aggression, neither would hear the sound of crunching snow...running footsteps quickly approaching.In a flash of momentum, Akavi's face would be spattered with the Garleans blood as a scythe ripped clean through the raider's midsection, throwing his torso & legs in two different directions.Stunned beyond comprehension, the young girl stammered idly as she looked up to the hooded figure before her, his tattered robes & leather cuirass gouged with scars as he looked upon her.Her innocence lost, she saw two more figures emerge from the dark forest leisurely before running over to engage the whatever raiders were nearby before coming to stand before the elezen lass slowly. She was in shock, barely registering what these people were saying to her until the man leaned down."...are you okay, girl?"As she looked at him, he lifted his hood to reveal strikingly blue eyes. When she tried to answer, but couldn't, it made him furrow his brow & look to the other people-a large cat-like man unlike any she had ever seen, and a taller, gaunt & assumedly Hyuran woman.She sighed before the Hrothgar man spoke to her in hushed tones.
Hearing a name, the girl looked up to the woman. Seeing their leader, the woman leaned down-the pendant over her forehead falling to the side somewhat to reveal a pearlescent & milky orb underneath."Be not afraid, child. We have come...to stop the monsters."As the vagrant Lemures stepped in to stop the raiders, they were unfortunately too late to save anyone else. The man with the blue eyes stalked the ruins, slaying any other garlean bastards that crossed his path...but the majority of the imperials had already fled with their spoils & sated lust for blood.Tending to the girl's wounds, the woman-Drusilla-would order that the villagers be put to rest. Finally emerging from the shock of what had happened, Akavi spoke...telling the strangers where their dead were buried.Saying goodbye to her mother one more time as she was laid to rest, Akavi couldn't help but notice the serenity upon her mother's cold features. It might've been possible she lived long enough to see someone save her precious daughter....And that was enough.Vowing to do right by her, Akavi would discard her given surname & would be taken in by Drusilla herself, given lodging & an education. She was a hard woman, burdened with a legacy that few could...but in time, Akavi would regard her as her guardian.As years passed & she got older, however, Akavi felt like she had taken it for granted. The Lemures changed, their ranks slowly depleted. Time eroded those around her and the specter of death followed close.
The Hrothgar Warrior would give his life when a bandit clan would storm the hideout that they were residing in at the time, holding them at bay in order to allow Drusilla the moments she needed to commune with her Avatar, a voidsent of tremendous power bonded to her, finally revealing to the young girl the true nature of their enclave.
The blue-eyed man who had saved her life would walk away from the order eventually, his stay with the Lemures one of convience, as in truth he had been a traveling adventurer & explorer...one who had fallen down a dark path. Although through it all, he never spoke ill of Akavi, seemingly the only thing he did as a member of the Lemures he didn't regret was saving her life. Although he didn't share his destination, Akavi would hear the occaisional story of this man.
A light-bound meteor that fought for others.Although her life was hard, it had the effect that those around her instilled in her a drive to protect this family she had been welcomed into. Upon coming of age, Akavi would make a decision that would steer the direction of her life. Coming to Drusilla in the middle of the night, she knelt before her as her reapers did. Surprised at this, Akavi would look up to her, the eyepatch Drusilla had made shining in the candle light."Drusilla...I have taken your kindness for granted. You have done so much for me & I have given rise to a debt that I cannot pay with words alone. Teach me.
Wield me like you would your scythe.
...Your avatar."Hearing this heartfelt plea, Drusilla would relent, allowing Akavi to start training as a reaper. She brooked no failure, although it was never even a prospect as Akavi committed herself wholly to the Lemure's teachings & legacy that had spanned the breadth of Garlemald's history...no matter how much
Solus zos Galvus had tried to erase it.Becoming a practitioner of arts powered by the void, she would be bonded to her avatar a mere year later, showing to Drusilla that the girl had a preternatural affinity for their art.In the ancient home of the Reapers in the mountains of Ilsabard, Lapis Manalis, the Lemures would return for their sister's ascension to a true Reaper. Bound by chains to the center of an altar painted in the blood of sacrificed wildlife, Drusilla conduct the ritual whilst her right hand man, Arnegis, would mark the skin of Akavi's face with the tattoos that her mother had worn.
Beneath the sting of the tattooing, Akavi's pain would help attune her to the particular voidsent that would investigate this disturbance in the veil. Calling forth with a slash of a dagger upon each palm, Akavi called out. Hearing this call, the voidsent couldn't resist crossing over into our world. However, he would be bound by Drusilla opposite of Akavi as Arnegis finished the tattoo.Looking to the other-worldly intruder with a deep breath, she said the words."Tu, altera nummi parte ... Opto tuam potestatem, qualem optas meam.Ingrediamur pacta nostra. Fiat mihi avatar.Aeterem inimicorum meorum eritis, animarum suarum potestate... et quidquid aliud desideratis, pretium mihi permittitis, ut quos amores tueamur."You, the other side of the coin ... I wish for your power, such as you desire mine.Enter our compact. Become my avatar.You shall be tithed the aether of my foes, the power of their souls...and whatever else you desire for the price of allowing me the strength to protect those I love.As unholy powers clashed & the voidsent debated it's options, it would soon enough relent & accept her offer.With a strike of the hammer against their bonds, Ahz & Akavi would be merged, a being of the immaterial with a being of reality. And Akavi smiled when it came to pass.But, in this the shock of the sudden infusion of dark-aspected aether rushing into her body however knocked them both unconscious.Ahz is a being with unique disposition compared to other avatars. In time, Akavi & him would enjoy the benefits of the convenant...and even each other's company, since the only thing Ahz desired aside from aether was knowledge about our world.When she awoke, Drusilla was at her bedside. Tossing her the soulstone made purely for her, the very first task she was given would be to face off against the doll-like contraptions that the Reapers had used as training mammets since antiquity, the final test being against the Galatea Magna. The large clockwork reaper was the earmark for a Reaper's raw ability upon being bonded to their avatar...and the highest score it tracked was Drusilla's.Until today.When Akavi struck it down, she was so innately in tune with her avatar that she cleared the course in a mere five minutes, the strength & lethality of her scythework nigh turning the Galatea Magna to dust, let alone tracking her aptitude. When all was over & Akavi stood victorious above the smoking ruin, it called out for all the Lemures to hear.'Rating...Skill equal to that of...Reaper Drusilla. No higher ratings exist.'When joined by her voidsent, she had become the ideal reaper that Drusilla had hoped for. Congratulating her ward happily, the Lemures departed Lapis Manalis once again, leaving the cavern forlon like they had done so many times.In the following years, Akavi would be on the forefront of the Lemure's real goal. To slay any rogue voidsent that dared intrude in our world...and to bring a righteous end to one in particular. Orcus.Responsible for killing Arnegis, teacher & student would pursue the fiend relentlessly, eventually their zeal resulting in Drusilla being captured. Knowing that Orcus had a particular fixation on her own soul & his habits to play with his food, Akavi would challenge him in single combat. With disgusting glee, he accepted-only for him to not realise that Akavi was Drusilla's equal. With her protege at her side, Drusilla would-after much torment & torture at the hands of Orcus after being captured...the two of them together finally bring an end to the fiend...and free her Grandfather's corpse from his grasp.At the end of long & fraught journey, even though Drusilla offered to explain why Rullus fell from grace, Akavi denied the offer.'For me, what matters is that you finally are free to enjoy the peace you deserve, 'Silla. I don't need to know.'Touched by the sentiments of her ward, Drusilla could only laugh as they returned to their new hideout in Ul'dah's pearl lane. It would be their headquarters for most days, the only exception being the winter solstice, when the Lemures would return to their home of old & renew or shatter their compacts, depending on whether the Reaper desired freedom.
Their mission now beyond them, they would still keep vigilant for voidsent incursions into their world.And so, to facilitate this, the Reapers took up the mantles of adventurers.Although it was at first a front for her true purpose, Akavi soon grew to enjoy the life it offered her. The freedom of choice. Making quite a name for herself as a renowned, albeit infamous, adventurer, she would base her operations around the city of Ishgard, her coerthan accent allowing her access as she pleased within the locked city-state. She would even start to develop romantic feelings for someone...the young & brazen Lord Commander of the temple Knights. But these feeling would go unrequited for years, even as Ishgard opened it's gates for adventurers, he was bonafide nobility-thus according to Ishgardian norms, out of her reach.A single face in a sea of possible suitors seeking the de Borel name.Consigned to this torment of the heart, she would continue throwing herself into her work. But soon...she would receive the offer of a lifetime.Receiving a personal offer of a job by a nameless messenger, the envelope she was given had a letter written in cypher, the key to it included within.As she flipped through the missive & drank alone at her table in the Forgotten Knight, she noticed the signature of it's sender, unencrypted.Arlessia Blessed-eye.
Scion of the Seventh Dawn.
Warrior of Light.She had heard all the tales, of course. But now she had her & Ahz's attention.The day she left for the Great Gubal Library in the Dravanian Hinterlands, her heart fairly sang...almost as if in anticipation of what to come.Comradery formed between her & the realm's foremost adventurers.A new purpose upon when she, the twins Arda & Sama Kaisuri raced to Asyz Lla.A fellowship much like the Lemures, in which she was invited to join.Tragedy forges the strongest souls...and the call of a future that she would perhaps see with her own eye forged the strongest bonds.
~~~
"I plan on sharing this tradition as long as I am able. No longer will these tattoos be a symbol of wisdom or authority, but of my bloodline. If I have kids, that is."
-Akavi Greystone, Speaking of her tattoos & her birth village to Sama Kaisuri & Arlessia Sharpe.
----Roric Wynter----
Age: 23
Occupation: Ala Mhigan Resistance Captain, Former Imperial conscript
Place of Birth: the outskirts of Ala Ghanna, the Last Forest
~~~~
Service.
Duty.
Citizenship.What worth these three ideals ever carried to other citizens of Imperial Occupied Ala Mhigo, Roric Wynter has never cared too much about. Born in poverty to the meager life of the son of a bread baker & cobbler respectively, the era of his home's occupation wasn't too horribly disruptive. Roric was lucky to be spared the sight of the Garlean's cruelty until he was already a young teenager when his father was conscripted.By the time he had been born, the Garlean garrison in the region had become Laissez-faire when it came to enforcing their grip upon the broken populace, the higher ranking officers believing the savages beneath them to be cowed completely...allowing them to focus on external threats to their dominion...mainly the still operational Ala Mhigan Resistance & the tense cease-fire they had with the Eorzean Alliance.So, he was relatively free to live his life as a child, ignorant to the truth of his home's situation, much like the rest of the 'glorious generation' that the imperial viceroy Gaius van Baelsar tried to spur into patriots. Those who didn't volunteer though, well...They would be conscripted.The day Roric Wynter turned 18 years old, his coming of age celebrated by his sickly mother alone, the Imperials came for him before the candles on the birthday cake they had saved & scrimped for were blown out. The soldiers demanding he come with them, Roric refused, lashing out against the soldiers in a vain attempt to stay with his mother who needed him.Beating the naïve boy senseless, the Garleans would extract punishment from them by thrashing their home & destroying their furniture. His birthday cake wasn't even spared the underside of a standard-issue legionary boot. Dragged before the selections officers, Roric's head would be shaved before he was then sent along down the line where he would be stripped, blasted with water by conscripted mages of the XIVth, and given a stamped & pressed uniform.Seeing that his actions were only making his situation worse when he would try escaping, only to be bound & left to rot with his uniform in the brig. Upon the turn of the morning, he was in full uniform & at attention when the disciplinary officer arrived to check on him. With that, the officer had him sign a waiver before then the Highlander was loaded up into a transport.Their destination: The Imperial Military academy for conscripts in the Imperial province of Werlyt.From the moment they arrived, the conscripts received their first new moniker.Savages. Fodder. Aan.After a grueling introduction to the Garlean military machine, they were immediately set to work being ground down into living weapons to spread the influence of the motherland. Although his heart wasn't in it, he didn't want to die.
So he performed.
He did the excercises, he learned what they taught, he absorbed it all like a sponge in order to at some point, go back home. But in reality, what they taught at this academy was the bare essentials in order to get more meat on the front line quicker & cheaper than investing these men & women's futures.Upon completion of this basic training, his first deployment would be in the service of Regula van Hydrus, legatus of the VIth legion, and immediately he would be shipped off to suppress a rebellion that had kicked up in central Ilsabard, the campaign itself taking 3 years. Over the course of that time, Roric would be educated on the true hell that was warfare when his legatus ordered him to gun down people he thought to be innocent...and yet, they only saw him as a garlean dog, lashing out & leaving two distinct scars in his face.Punished for his hesitancy with merely defensive postings around the legion's operations, all of that would change with the death of Solus zos Galvus in 1577, the fifth year of the Seventh Astral Era.The emperor was dead.He also did not appoint his heir, as well.And so, alongside his childhood friend Varis-Solus' grandson, Regula van Hydrus gave the order. The VIth would support his grace through the coming war of succession against his uncle Titus yae Galvus. In this bitter engagement, failure & hesitation would be met by summary execution, so Roric had no choice but to fight...and in turn would be recognized for storming several key locations that paved the way to Varis claiming victory & the Imperial throne...despite wounds taken along the way, scarring his face.When it was all over, Roric would be granted leave before his legion's next deployment, allowing for him to secure transport home to Ala Mhigo. When he arrived at their home in the fields outside Ala Ghanna, he found the place to be long deserted.Searching through the items that had stood the test of these years passed, Roric would find a letter in the nightstand by his bed addressed to him.Knowing that it was from his mother, he gingerly folded it open before the contents broke his heart.'Hello, my son. I hope it is you that is reading this. One year.It has been one year since you were taken from me. Sent to go die in those bastard's wars.Ever since you were conscripted, my health has declined rapidly. I struggle to stand on the best of days & my cough has elevated to long-term pneumonia effects. I...I struggle more every day. Raganfrid does what he can for me, of course...but I know my time draws near.I cannot help but-'He wipes the tears from his face before he keeps reading.'-wonder what has become of you, my darling.Please...come home. I miss you.I.....'A pen stroke attached to the I falls to the bottom of the page.Seeing the date that was scribed at the top of the letter in a different hand, it was indeed written in 1574...and it contained a message too.She passed while she was writing this. I am sorry.It was Raganfrid's script.Finally taking a breath for the first time in the minutes he had been reading the final words his mother left him, he collapsed to the floor heavily. Sobbing uncontrollably, it would seem that his sorrow changed the weather. Rain descending upon the lower peaks, Rhalgr himself threw his bolts of levin above in rage against the pain this son of his was experiencing.The sole reason for him to return home gone, he returned 2 days early to the capitol & took the first transport back to the Empire...knowing that they would hunt him down if he tried to defect. And so, he settled for what he believed to be his fate.Service.
Duty.
Death.The VIth legion's next deployment had been decided. There was a location of import somewhere in the bounds of Coerthas & Dravania, and Regula van Hydrus had been commanded by Emperor Varis to escort him there, and to take the
state-of-the art Agrius class cruiser-the Gration-as a boon from his radiance himself.The VIth would be ordered hie to the fabled Asyz Lla & seize the secrets of ancient allag to bind even the most elder of Primals.Roric was numb to everything. Although they met resistance in the Sea of Clouds from some Eorzean nobodies, he didn't care. All he desired was a big enough battle to walk into the center of so someone would put a bullet in his brain or a blade in his heart.Yet, there would only be a single chance that he'd been given.Following their discovery of Asyz Lla by following the flight of Archbishop Thoran the VIIth from the slaying of the primal Bismarck, and as the Eorzean excursion found a way to break through the shield guarding the Allagan isles, the legion made landfall in the area called the 'Gamma Quadrant' by the automated sentries, which were extremely hostile to the imperials.Finally...FINALLY.As he joined the other soldiers in their sortie to engage the host of auto-warmachina, he would espy those Eorzeans again...and they were trying to sneak their way through the fighting. Seizing his chance, he would pursue...his desire to end his life more important than whatever the Garleans thought he was loyal to.Consider his surprise then when he crossed the corner the Eorzeans had ran past & was promptly clothslined by a hidden assailant. Winded & knocked flat on his back, his helm lost, weapon clattering along the metal deck, Roric would snap back to reality as an unknown woman straddled him & brought a razor sharp dagger to his neck. Taking stock of everything, his heart stopped nigh instantly as his instinctual fear of death kicked in. If she had slit his throat right then, he would have been satisfied...reunited with his family.But she didn't. As she sat upon his torso, her fashionable, yet functional black garb & high-heeled boots strikingly stood out against the dark skies. she appraised him. He didn't resist...he WANTED her to kill him. Closing his eyes, he accepted her judgment upon his sins.'Do you walk in Rhalgr's shadow?'The question stilled him. He hadn't thought much on his faith after he was conscripted...but once she asked him this question, he opened his eyes once more.'Don't lie now.'
She brought her other dagger to her right eye.
'I will know.'His crimson irises met her fair features, dark freckles marking a sun-seasoned skin, her brown hair bound tightly into a ponytail, a singular scar scratched down her face...and a luminous set of eyes looking upon him with a look he could not recognize.She reminded him of home...and with that, he had his answer to her.'As Byregot and Halone both as my witness, Rhalgr does indeed guide my path.'No matter how much he hated his existence.As she listened to his answer, she read his demeanor. She knew he spoke true.'I'm just a conscript from Ala Ghanna...my family dead whilst I fought in these bastard's wars.'She shifted slightly, the warmth of her pressure upon his torso lifting before she suddenly would remove her dagger from his neck & throw it without looking into the hull of an Allagan defense node, the unit erupting into a shower of sparks as it fell to the deck.Without breaking her gaze, she would rise into a stand from sitting upon him, extending a hand to the highlander. Taking it hesitantly, she smiled with such wamrth...warmth that he hadn't know since...'Then, true son of Ala Mhigo, you shall live to claim your freedom some day. I pray you have the opportunity to see your village again.'Finally breaking her gaze away from Roric, she would take up his blade & stab it within the churning insides of of the defense node, slicking the suface with oil & having the machinery within scracth it as well. After a moment, she nodded with a smirk before tossing his blade back to him & turned to leave, strutting confidently, the boy was awestruck.'Wait! Who are you!?'She looked at him once again, her smile undiminished.'Arlessia Sharpe, Warrior of Light...and yours?'He was taken aback that she wanted to even know his name. He didn't feel worthy of even such a simple thing as that.'R-Roric Wynter.'Her eyes narrowed with satisfaction. Before blessing him with wisdom.'Well, Roric Wynter. Until next we meet. Keep your secret safe, & choose your moment well. You'll only get one chance.'After she said this, she started off into a sprint towards the other side of the Gamma Quadrant, leaving the young boy stunned...and slightly flustered. Taking up his weapon once again, he left his helm where it lay & returned to the Gration's staging area.Thinking upon her words for quite some time, he found that life had been revitalized. Although she ultimately didn't mean to, from that day forward he decided on his how he would earn his freedom, in perfect balance with the Trader's Scales.He would indeed defect...and join the Ala Mhigan Resistance.And as she said, his chance would indeed come. Months later, during renewed operations to divine the method of how Allag bound beings such as the Warring Triad, Roric heard rumors that the Legatus had clashed with a party of Eorzeans in the Flagship. Taking the opportunity, Roric would steal a gunship & proceed to fly himself to the central isle. In the doing, however, he would be forced to kill his squad leader...who had jumped up to stop him.Once he was underway & arrived at the flagship however, he was fortunate enough to spy the Eorzeans leaving the containment level...and he believed he knew one of them.And indeed, it was surprising to Arlessia too, when Roric saught her & her partner out upon seeing them...although Sama would at first level her weapon at the Garlean soldier suddenly approaching them. Once Arlessia recognized him & told her to put her weapons up, they would explain to Roric that Regula van Hydrus had been killed in the depths of the flagship by the Primal Zurvan.Finally free of the yoke of the Empire by his own hands, he asked her if she would help him get into contact with the Ala Mhigan resistance. As he asked this of her, her eyes shifted in a way mayhap only he might've noticed.Understanding.'Very well-I shall make an introduction. But the resistance can be very insular-You will have to prove your loyalty.'He smirked at her warning.'I welcome the challenge.'And with that, she would bring her hand to her ear & inform her other allies that there was a change in plan.She needed to help see someone home.By the midnight hour that day, she had brought Roric to the small & diminutive settlement of Little Ala Mhigo. As they approached, guards rushed out to meet them. At Arlessia's insistance, one of them would run into the walls & seek out the wizened elder of this sect of displaced Ala Mhigans. Gundobald.As Gundobald came to assess the situation, he relaxed the moment he had seen Arlessia.'...Warrior of Light. You stand before my settlement, asking for my presence...with a garlean soldier in tow?''Hail, Gundobald. This is no imperial. Just a conscript who has defected to join the resistance. To fight for the right to see his home once again.''Has he now...?'Gundobald looked at the boy, his eyes shining with the light of decades of experience.'Your legion?''Regula Van Hydrus' VIth legion, I jumped ship when the legatus was slain.'
'Why defect?'
'Many reasons, to be honest. I was sick of the disdain...the torture. My mother died while I fought in other men's wars. I had resolved to take my own life the day I ran into her. She promised me that I'd live to see my village again.'Roric sighed heavily.'She saved me.'Listening intently to Wynter's tale, Gundobald exchanged a look with Arlessia. Smirking, she nodded confidently. With her speaking for his character, Gundobald sighed.'Hah. She has that effect. Welcome to the Resistance, lad. I know exactly who to put you with...but first...'
Elated, Roric snapped to attention.'Yes?'
'...You shall rest, once we find you some more suitable armor. The fight starts tomorrow.''Sir, yes sir! For Ala Mhigo!'Roric then turned towards Arlessia with a look of gratitude.'Thank you, Warrior of Light. For helping me.'The look in her eyes were the same as that day as she replied.'For Ala Mhigo. Be well, son. What comes next, you must rise to the occasion. Rise above it, for their sake.'And with that, she left.Finally finding his drive...his desire to improve the lot of his people, Roric would be put under the command of Meffrid Noward, a right hand of the leader of the Resistance in province, Conrad Kemp. Taking up the arts of pugilism, he would serve with distinction, his heart finally in why & what he fought for. Roric would quickly rise through the ranks due to his experience & ability to teach his new allies the operating procedures for the modern-day legions.It was of little surprise when he heard the tale of how Meffrid & his squad would run into the Warrior of Light in Quarrymill & would ultimately be saved thanks to her, although she never thought of it more than an obligation to her brothers & sisters of Ala Mhigo. It was a personal favourite of a tale Meffrid quite enjoyed telling.As the drive for Ala Mhigan liberation increased & the different factions of the resistance banded together into two different groups, he would think back to how he first met her. Lost emotionally & mentally, looking for a blade fall on.
That look. Her confidence. Her warmth.She inspired him to be BETTER.
Then the wall fell.
~~~
'I am quite eager to repay the debt I owe you. I wish you success in your talks with the brass, Arlessia. The winds are shifting. I can feel it.'
-Roric Wynter, welcoming Arlessia to Rhalgr's Reach...the moments where the war truly began.
----Ryouta Kyōgoku----
Age: 25
Occupation: House of Sparrows Shinobi & Assassin
Place of Birth: Doma, in the village of Isari
~~~
The strength to rebuild your entire life as a child speaks volumes of one's character.To Ryouta, Son of Nanba, he knows this keenly.Born the youngest of three siblings to a humble family in the fishing village of Isari, the only Elezen to settle there...and some of the very few native to Hingashi & Doma alike, they were indeed memorable names & faces. It is told by the villagers of Isari that one's unique characteristics determine which Kami see you & if they react positively or negatively, so the thought of the general populace of the village was that the Kyōgoku clan was blessed indeed, for their Patriarch was the leader of their fishing crews for many a year.When Ryouta was born, his parents were convinced that the Kami looked favorably upon them. That was before the year their youngest son reached the tender age of 4. A flare-up of the Liberation Front's offensive to disrupt the Garlean Empire's hold on the region ended quite poorly, in which Ryouta's older brother & sister were slain...which would be quite the shock to their parents, as they had enlisted in secret & were moonlighting as rebels.When the Garleans came searching during the dead of night, they prostrated themselves before the occupiers, seeking to atone for the rashful actions of their spawn...but the imperials did not meet them eye-to-eye. Sentencing them to death in a public execution, the same fate would have befallen the infant Ryouta if not for the appearance of a mysterious stranger of Bozjan descent.Without hesitation 'nor mercy, the Hrothgar would decimate the imperials in the blanket of darkness. Moving faster than his years hinted, striking with his dual daggers of flaming edges, it was akin to the invaders fighting the specter of a shinigami made flesh. Once none remained of the enforcement detachment, the man would load them in twos over his shoulder & carry them deeper into mainland Doma, leaving their carcasses to the roaming tigers. And after this grim task to preserve the lives of the villagers was finished, he took the boy across the Ruby Sea to the city of Kugane, effectively adopting him as the village would wake to find blood soaking their idyllic beaches & two villagers dead.This man who would save the young boy's life that day was the man who would in time become the holder of Ryouta's leash.
The Partriarch of the House of Sparrows.
The Master of the Shadow Accord.
The Flock Keeper.It isn't known how the Keeper learned the Shinobi arts. Mayhap he learned in Bozja, his home before the imperial occupation...or mayhap he had been traveling the length & breadth of Othard for years & was fortunate enough to find himself on the good side of a Shinobi's blade.In one night of drunken vulnerability however, the Keeper would let slip to his adopted Elezen ward that he had on multiple occasions direct contact with the blood descendants of Sasuke, the father of Doman Shinobi. None know if this is the truth or idle fantasies of an old mind.Raising him in the safety of his personal fortress & lair of assassins, Ryouta would grow to be inducted into the order, as he had nothing else to be.
At the least, this way, The Flock Keeper could instill in the boy skills needed to survive in this world.
Nay.
Not just survive, but to THRIVE.Growing up under the shadow of these expectations & the grueling training, Ryouta never complained once, for it was all he knew. Before long, he was the head of his class, by far the shining example of a Sparrow. By the time he had come to the age of 10, he would have multiple completed contracts under his belt, and many more successful thefts of information & blackmail materiel. If you saw him...if he let you, that is...you would see he was a prodigy at the vocation he had been selected for.Although he would occasionally stumble & fail, he never took it as a sign to give up. For the strongest trees weather inumerable storms, he thought.Then came the Bozja Incident.He had been sparring with his master as a final test of his abilities, real blades & a single misstep would send either one from on top of the Shadow Accord's roof. When the flash came, even from far off Hingashi, they stopped & were buffeted by a hot cross wind...but that was all for young Ryouta.His master however, fell to one knee.And proceeded to curse the Garlean Empire.He knew about the lunar transmission tower built in his far off home...and he didn't need spies or contacts to know what happened when the bastard fools turned the thing on. In the following days, it was confirmed that the entire city of Bozja-the buildings, citizens, Imperials, his own spies & the surrounding wild lands, were turned to glass. It would be in this moment that the Flock Keeper made a decree to his assassins.That the Garlean Empire was enemy of the House of Sparrows, until either one faded into the ashes of history...but the Keeper would not see the lives of his flock to be lost seeking his lost honor.
'Engage the blackguard bastards for a contract if you must, but only if it guarantees your return to your brothers & sisters."
Seeing the distraught nature of his master, Ryouta would throw himself more into his duties, becoming one of the head Ninja of the House of Sparrows. And so, he would commit himself to the honor & reputation of this organization until the winter of his 25th year, where he would take his third ever international contract. Coming across the vast ocean by a chartered ship through the strait between Thavnair & Corvos, Ryouta would arrive in Limsa Lominsa before immediately heading towards the city-state he had been instructed to meet his contact in: Ishgard, the Holy See.Although in this strange land for the very first time, he would find his destination before long with the help of a trio of friendly well-to do merchant triplets...allowing him to finally get a audience with his contact:Countess Ystride de Caulignont.A haughty & imperious woman, she told Ryouta the target that she wanted dead was something 'called an Au Ra'. She didn't know he had already seen various Au Ra of different tribes & clans before, so as he took this job on, he was already suspicious of this woman's true intentions...but he was bound by his code. Stalking the pale, dark scaled warrior with his tracking skills, it would be Ryouta who informed Countess Ystride of Sidurgu Orl's approach for their 'trial by combat'. But by fortune of either those Kami watching him from birth or elsewise, he wouldn't be the only unseen combatant that day.After engaging the Countess' paid off temple knights, Sidurgu would attempt going for the kill, only for Ryouta to spring upon him from the shadows, the flames licking off his blades melting the snow around him as he proceeded to exploit the Dark Knight's slow & unwieldy combat style.Having bloodied the Grim Protector within an ilm of his life, another of Vieran descent would arrive with a brazen throw of their heavy blade...yelling out at the assassin in order to get his attention. Consider his shock then when he in turn felt the cold, honed steel edge of a blade at the back of his neck before he could take another step...yet his heightened & honed senses heard not a soul behind him aside his employer.'Unknown Shinobi. Whom do you serve?'The question was pointed & showed no sign of fear. And yet, the sight infuriated him. A shinobi...but an Eorzean Shinobi?Heresy.If he wasn't wearing his combat mask, he would have spit disrespectfully as his answer, but alas...so he gave her his name.
youta Kyōgoku-that is my name. "And whom I serve? You have no right to know that, scum. You think yourself a shinobi?"
He had no reason to give this strangely garbed woman any respect, but combination of her blade & the luminous eye on her right side held his attention. And even though he admonished her for being but a mongrel in his eyes...she simply tapped her blade against his neck & spoke as if he hadn't insulted her...yet he could tell there was something hidden underneath.Something he only ever saw in his master.'A shinobi is a tool for whom they serve. Birth. Nation of origin. None of that matters, in the end. I serve those closest to me, an order of heroes grander than I-those who are vital to the preservation of this world. Can you say the same? After all: you were hired so...'She gestured to his employer, the Countess.'...this...'woman' can murder her own child. One that has done no sin or crime aside from being born.'Hearing this, his eyes widened. There had been a reason he found such distaste for Ystride...and that was why. She decieved him. But this shinobi...she gave him the very first choice of his entire life.
'So. What will it be, Ryouta Kyōgoku? Death, or Life?'That moment would change him indelibly. He saw Ystride, her mask of composure finally giving way to that of a zealous heirophant & megalomaniac.
He saw Sidurgu, how he fought tooth & nail for the life of someone he wasn't bound to...to someone who seemed to resent his nature.
He saw the Viera, Yelle, for even though she exuded the conflict of grief, she still came to Sidurgu's aid.
And this shinobi...
She tapped his neck again.Was this how his master saw him?"It would seem there were details omitted to manipulate our contract. This venture...is no longer profitable...or honorable."
Ryouta said this, his assessment from his own heart, and the stranger immediately drew the steel from his neck as he sheathed his own weapons. He saw her now for what she truly was.She was a new breed of shinobi. One forged in the fires of conflict, loss & resolve.Even the Sasuke of legend would fear to take her measure, he thought to himself."What is your name?" He asked, cold & collected.
'Arlessia Blessed-eye.'He would remember the name. Offering to her assistance if she ever came to his home of Kugane, he would hie himself from the fray, taking the opportunity to leave even as Countess Ystride laid in the bed she made...and lost her head for it. Seeing the carnage left in their wake on the tundra however, he wouldn't regret this decision.He had stared death itself in the face & offered them his services.He could only laugh...even as his ship back to Kugane slipped port.In the ensuing months following this outcome of his contract, he for the first time grew to doubt his master's vision. Had he known the contract was for a child?Upon confronting the Keeper about it, he denied all involvement or knowledge of those circumstances. But even as he trusted the master, he doubted still.This has only gotten worse with the arrival of the Scions of the Seventh Dawn in the Far East. Being allowed to intercede & save them from the ire of the Sekiseigumi following a Garlean trap, Arlessia Blessed-Eye would visit his home to thank him & the Keeper in person...and to petition for their assistance in the...Liberation of Doma?Although the Keeper has denied her petition, Ryouta thinks this is a mistake.And so...he still...doubts.~~~
'...But in all seriousness, it is good you have come. The Flock Keeper would've sent for you before long, in a manner you might've not liked, but we both know you have your own timetable.'
-Ryouta Kyōgoku, welcoming Arlessia Blessed-eye to his order's home in the Hingashi mountains, The Shadow Accord.
----Lu Lingqi, the Phoenix Shield----
Age: 23
Occupation: Warrior in service to the Doman Liberation Front
Place of Birth: Clan Bu's Holdings within the Yuzuka Estates, Yanxia
~~~
Doma's spirit has always dwelt with her people.Long under the reign of the Garlean Empire as one of the first places taken by Emperor Solus' conquest edict, even if they obliterated the mountainous lands of Yanxia from beneath her people's feet...if even a single family were to live in the aftermath, Doma would survive.Such is the way Lu Lingqi, Daughter of Clan Bu, looks upon her duty to her ancestral homeland. A stalwart soul imbued with strength of arms & a balanced gait, she is a prodigy of the art of the Sword & Shield & would see herself as being the wall upon Doma would be liberated.Born the older of two siblings to Lu Bu, the Horselord, she is heir apparent to the legacy of one of Doma's largest & oldest Roegadyn clans...now lost to the Kami. Having come to the plains & valleys of Yanxia in the years following the nation's unity under Ganen Rijin, their accolades are great, their triumphs the subject of myths.Long have they served the people of Doma with distinction as vassals of the Rijin line, distinguished by the telltale yellow tattoos upon the faces of their members who've weathered a trial of resolve. The most prominent of their tales is undoubtedly the story of how her distant ancestor Sakuma had assisted the Auspice Suzaku when she was attacked by poachers seeking her prized down. Through sheer coincidence, Sakuma of House Bu was traveling on a pilgrimage to honor the Kami & was in earshot when the Firebird of legend crashed into a trap laid by these evil men corrupted by greed. Even though she required no assistance by her might...he intervened, all the same. Striking them down with his halberd with peerless grace, Suzaku would be moved by his valor, his martial prowess.Granting upon the sole warrior three of her priceless feathers, the flames of her divinity granting them hues unseen anywhere else in the world, she would decree that his line would forever more have her favor. And so, humbled beyond belief, Sakuma would return to his clan with the divine gifts, where he would enshrine them into a symbol of authority for the leader of their clan...a headdress of brass gilded gold with a singular vibrant emerald sat within the face, the three feathers bequeathed upon Sakuma flowing out from the rear, behind the wearer, like the flowing flames of the auspice herself. And from that point on, this symbol would mark the leader of the clan, until the present day.From Sakuma to his son, Ishii.From Ishii to his daughter Mizuno.And on, and on and on...until the Garleans would invade the heart of Doma. Called into action, Lu Bu-the current leader of the Bu clan, would answer the ancient compact between the Rijin Line & his own to stand against the invaders. He would ride his mare, Red Hare, beside his armies-their banners mixing with his & the other houses swore to the descendants of Ganen.It was not enough. Beside the other vassal houses of Doma, it was soon made clear that they had mistaken the capabilities of the Garlean Horde & their magitek, which reduced foot-soldiers & cavalry obsolete. Seeing no other option, Lord Kaien would give the order to surrender.The regent of Doma would hand his kingdom to the invaders without further bloodshed and in turn would be elevated to assistant Viceroy of the new imperial province in an advisory capacity. The people would become fodder in their own home...and the noble houses would constantly be regarded with suspicion & levied with heavy tithes to their new masters. Amongst these noble houses were the men & women of Clan Bu, who suffered for their role as the most threatening opponents aside from Clan Rijin that the Imperial dogs faced during the invasion. But the clan would begin the slow road to recovery when they welcomed a new addition to their depleted ranks when Lu's first daughter Lu Lingqi would be born 3 years after the invasion, and 2 years after that her sister, Mi.Named after her father, Lu's life would be strikingly sheltered. Not allowed to leave the bounds of their holdings within the Yuzuka Estates, she experienced life in a gilded cage...or that is how she came to see it later on in life. In reality, Lu & his wife, Ane, worried dearly for her safety in these uncertain time for Doma...for the Garleans would find any reason to weaken the people under their dominion. This was their fear, even when the Horse Lord would snap at his daughter, admonishing her foolishness & speaking about how she would represent his legacy. In time...Lu Lingqi would find the beginnings of a purpose in being the guardian of her baby sister. To this end, she would begin to aspire to always be the one to fight her sister's battles, like the tales she had been told of Ishii, the son of Sakuma. Ishii had been a sole user of the stalwart Sword & Shield in times of Katana, Spears & Bows.Although present in her & her sister's lives, their father wouldn't be emotionally available & would leave the task of rearing their children to Ane. This would lead to a drifting void in the girls' childhood, up until the day of Lu's 15th birthday. Coming before her with a wrapped gift, she would struggle to lift it before unveiling a matching set of arm & armor, shining in the candlelight.
A sword & Shield.
Homura & Mitsuba.
It would be then when he would speak directly to her."You shall begin your training tomorrow. Meet me by the One at sundown. Don't be late."Just like that, the course of her life was once-again changed...for the good of the Clan. Although initially thrilled to see that her father finally deigned to take a part in her life...but when she stood upon the sandy banks of the one for the first time in her life, straining against the weight of her new gifts, she would be sorely disappointed.Immediately putting her to task in a duel, she would be disarmed in only a matter of seconds...a humiliating embarrassment by her own blood. Humbled for seemingly no reason, he would tell her the purpose for her gifts."You are mine heir apparent...and as thus, you must be taught. From this day forward, you are to train with those weapons until they are like feathers in your grip-Sand in your palm. And every day, at sunset, you shall show me how you have improved. I will not be gentle. I will not hold back."She couldn't meet his gaze. The pain in her arms barely allowed her the strength to rise from her feet. But when she did, the look in her eyes spoke more than any petty excuses she had."If you beat me in single combat before your twentieth summer, I will know you will be ready. If not...you shall learn the true depths of this world's contempt."This was the beginning of their rift. And Lu's path to mastering the blade.It would take years of daily humiliation, training & no room for aught else when she would first even leave a mark upon her father's armor. A nick gouged in his left bracer. He immediately would reprise, knocking her to the ground with a headbutt that would shatter mountains...but she WAS improving.She & Mi however...you'd think this would cut deeply into their relationship, but the hours spent with her sister was time where she was allowed to feel vulnerable. Weak.Yet her sister didn't admonish her, like he would. She would listen, helping clean the wounds she'd taken from her training against nearby beasts or their father, listening intently to her vent about how hard this was.How she had begun to resent the man.And every time, Mi would chuckle, seeing how alike the two really were.'Lu, what do you dream to be?'The day she asked this, Lu was sporting a black eye from her visit to the One's banks. The question took her by surprise. She hadn't really thought of it, not since that day she turned 15.'I wanted...to be your protector. I never wanted this. Any of this.'She looked to her mother nearby, watching them with a small smile. Graceful & Porcelain in appearance, yet the yellow tattoo upon her face spoke of her having been able to pass her own trials. Lu scoffed.'A mother who stands idly by as our father beats me within a measure of my life in order to...forge me into another him. I don't know anymore.'Mi was quiet a moment before looking to the moon.'I want to be a fisher.'Lu's eyes snapped to her right to look at her younger sister. The look upon her face was pure. Clear. Unclouded.'That's impossible...they would never allow it.''And yet I dream every day for it. I hate being pent up here, unable to see life in it's beauty. I pray every day you're out here, working yourself to death that you'll see that it doesn't matter what HE wants...but instead what you want. You are the first born...so you indeed have his & the legacy of our entire clan upon your shoulders-but look at you! You're stronger than I'd ever be.'Mi looked over to her sister, tears in her eyes.'I'll always have you. But the rest of the clan...nay. All of Doma needs a protector more than I. Think on that, elder sister.'And with that, Mi went inside...leaving Lu with her thoughts. Had it really been as simple as her missing the point? Thinking upon this for the rest of the night, sitting there and watching the twin moons amidst that raven-black cloak of glittering jewels, she would wait until sunrise...the next day being her 19th birthday.Standing outside in their manor's courtyard, she hummed quietly as she waited for the appearance of the Clan's leader, everyone else from all the other families of the clan gathered to watch as this was highly unusual. When he emerged, he was in full armor. He had known she'd do this.'We agreed at sundown, daughter.''Enough of this farce.'Lu Lingqi & her father would fight before their entire clan, even their shinobi. Their clashes of weapons leaving sparks in the air, she growled with a feral intensity that had been missing those previous years. And he could see the resolve burning in her eyes.
All the shame.
All the embarrassment.
Every broken bone, slash in her skin & bruise leading up to this moment.When she realized her destiny...with both hands.This duel would end with Lu disarming her father after a long battle where she kept pace with him, the training she underwent every day showing it's merit as her muscles rippled with sweat in the dawn light. And finally, with a thunderous parry with her shield, his spiked halberd she would bring her blade to her father's throat, the first instinct she had to rake it through the waiting flesh in exchange for what she had suffered at his hands...but instead, when he clasped his massive hands around her arms in capitulation, she would instead tear up, the compassion she felt mingling with whatever unknown affection & respect she had for her father from her childhood coming back to her in waves.'Well fought, Lu. Come, my daughter.'Lowering her weapon as he said this, he would take her to the home of one of the clan's elders before laying her down upon a bench & personally beginning the work of tattooing her under her right eye.'We, of Clan Bu, endure this pain so that it may harden us to become Doma's shield whenever she might need us. And for us, the blood descendants of Sakuma...of Ishii...of Mizuno & every ancestor after them, we must strive to be the best we can be. We may have become slaves in our own homeland, but we shall never forget. Let this tattoo ever remind you that should a single Bu survive, Doma shall ever be safe.'As he finished the induction speech, she would stop his hand before he began.'Father. I want to be a protector...like you. So I plead with you, spare her the suffering you gave me.'Her crimson eyes were fierce.'...For the good of the clan.'His crimson eyes stared back, the divine feathers in his headdress listing in a hot breeze. Feeling a reminder of how his own father had spoken to him upon his tattooing, he sighed.'...For the good of the clan. Everyone's trial is different, my daughter.'As he explained, she let his hand fall, the yellow ink driven into her skin.'I was instructed to tame a horse deemed to be a kami in earthly form to earn my tattoos...too wild & strong for anyone else to tame. Red Hare. After I succeeded, however, it was deemed nothing would top that achievement by my own father. So, how was I to appropriately test you, my daughter? You-who played with swords & stones during your childhood, instead of Mi who learned from your mother the arts of artisanry & mercantile.'She couldn't help but laugh at this, and for once in her life, her father laughed too. She really did play herself for a fabled hero when she was a child.'I only want to protect our people, father. And Mi dreams of being a fisher.''I know...my namesake. You & her will have your own oaths to swear, before you become an adult, this I know. Me & your mother wouldn't dare bar either of you from chasing dreams. I know no matter what you two do in life, the Clan shall be proud of you. Yet someone must lead when I pass on. And she has chosen you."As he finished her tattoo over the course of hours & took her back to their home, Lu would be surprised to see that Mi had also gained the first step in her own mark of resolve, the yellow ink barely settled for her part in inspiring Lu into success.But as she looked to her father, he already seemed so distant and imperious again...for he had business with Lord Kaien. Leaving that evening for Doma Castle, he would speak to his regent about their hidden mission.It wouldn't be until a few years later when Lord Kaien would order the gathering of the banners once more in the wake of Emperor Solus zos Galvus' death when she'd see him let his walls down once again.
Storms threatened to batter down the walls of the manor.
Lightning flashed in the dark skies above.
Yet Lu Bu would stand out in it, his mind ten leagues away as his daughter confronted him. She couldn't understand.
The burden of duty.But even as he & her fought over his leaving to ride with his & Lord Kaien's armies to liberate their homeland, he never felt prouder than to hear her argue for him to stay. But he could not.After explaining to her that he had to go, it all but broke his heart hearing her pain...all of them being in pain. Saying his final farewells, he would walk into the storm...and would not come home.For in the shadow of the Garlean Emperor's passing, an assination attempt would mark the first move towards violence & rebellion for a free Doma. In a brothel somewhere deep in the province, a beast given flesh would survive the blades of four shinobi-and took interest in a young girl who was numb to the world except in the one way it ended.In ash.Zenos. Yae. Galvus.This day, the name of the crown price of Garlemald would be seared in the minds of all domans.The bulk of the returning XIIth legion would arrive whilst the Doman Liberation Front fought to secure Doma Castle & Monzen from the Imperial garrison. Following a bombardment that all but made sure the Domans would not be receiving reinforcements, Zenos would be the first to enter the fray from a magitek gunship, only bringing himself & a meager five soldiers.And yet...he would tear through them like a savage monster turned man.The fight had long been turned to the Imperial's favor when Lu Bu was discovered by Zenos, piquing the Garlean blueblood's cold interest. Leaving Lord Kaien's side to engage the foul abomination that was the Legatus, the Horse Lord would be shocked when he was ripped from his saddle when Zenos crippled Red Hare with a bone-shattering kick to the mare's leg. And in mere moments Zenos would pick up Lu Bu's fallen halberd & proceed to impale him through the heart against his faithful steed, killing both of them before turning to the grim task of punishing Lord Kaien, and his inner circle-including his son, Hien. Although it would not be, for the young scion of the Rijin line would disappear when a second wind from the cornered men & women would rush into the fray against the XIIth.In the aftermath, judgement was swift.Whatever holdout ordered to keep the safety of the Horse Lord's family would be woefully unprepared for the entire battalion that descended upon their home...not that they wouldn't fight to defend it.
Their lives coin to be spent in order for the Clan's continued survival, Ane would make the choice to rush her girls into the basement tunnels, a failsafe in case the garleans came marching for House Bu. Getting Lu & Mi into the hidden exit, Ane would then make the difficult sacrifice to stay behind to earn her daughters what she could barter with her life.A future.The girls would emerge from the tunnels in the town of Namai's high mountains. Going even further to hide in the fishing village of Isari, as their mother had told them, just fleeing did not sit right with Lu. Leaving Mi in the care of the kindly villagers after a month, she would range once more into Yanxia, anxious to find out what had become of their parents. And the horror of what she found would stain her to her core.She first tried the manor...and she would find her mother, a noose around her neck & various markings of assault before the end came. Cutting her decomposing body loose, she would go about the grim task of laying the liquefying corpse of her to rest before making for the Monzen, which in the month following the battle had it's remaining buildings levelled in it's entirety by the new Viceroy of Doma.Yotsuyu, Orphan of the Naeuri, Widow of Sashihai.As Lu explored the moldering fields of battle under the cover of darkness & wearing a mask fashioned from the rags she was wearing, she would finally see the resting place of her father by merit of his spear reaching for the heavens from his body. Tearing up as she approached, she cursed him for not listening to her. And yet, when she saw he did not have his headdress upon him, she would search his armor, finding a scrap of paper with two words scrawled upon them in his blood.One River.And so, she walked. Heading for the strand of beach that she & her father had dueled upon so many times you could see exactly which steps they had taken even to this day...and there was a spot of disturbed sand, right in the center.Digging down, she would uncover a chest emblazoned with the sigil of her shield, Mitsuba. And when she opened it, she would begin uncontrollably sobbing in sorrow.Inside rested the symbol of her ascension to the leader of Clan Bu, which had all of two survivors. Hugging the lid as she wailed into herself, she mourned for time lost. What she would give to roll back everything...and merely enjoy all the time he spent with her, instead of hating what he had did.She would've loved her father.When her eyes could no longer form tears, she wearily took up the gilded bronze of the headdress, the long phoenix feathers dragging through the sand as she stood & put it on, the pin to secure it sliding through her dark locks smoothly.Such was the ascension of Lu Lingqi, heir apparent to Clan Bu.When she returned to Isari with a few choice keepsakes for both her & her sister, it was clear to Mi when she set eyes upon her sibling what she had found. And as she herself mourned, Lu would hold her close, shedding nary a tear, but not barring Mi from shedding hers. In time, Isari would grow to become a home to them...but Lu would only ever remember her promise to her father when she looked upon the faces of the kindly villagers, their faces gaunt & eyes sunken.Mi had her dream. She took to the trade of fisherman with such vehement zeal that the others feared they had created something terrible. But Lu?She couldn't stay.Giving Mi a fond hug, she declared her intent to join the Doman Liberation Front and fight as their father had before her. For the good...of Doma.'He'd be so proud of you, sister.'As a farewell gift to Mi, Lu would finish her sister's tattoos, the tragedy they had lived through proof enough that she was ready.And when the Kami would call to her as well, during an imperial raid upon Isari, Mi would stare unflinching into the face of death...and bequeath to another, an Au Ra healer who came to her aid when a Garlean bullet grazed her fragile heart, her dreams & hopes for the sister she held dearest to her.Sama Kaisuri would agree to deliver them...forever changing Lu's life once more.In the present, Lu Lingqi has waded through the ash & now fights for her home's deliverance alongside the Scions of the Seventh Dawn.All so her father, mother & sister may see their dreams fulfilled.For the good...of the Clan.
~~~'On the name of House Bu-you shall pay for what you did to my father! I swear upon my family's graves!'
-Lu Lingqi, confronting Zenos yae Galvus after the assassination attempt by Yugiri Mistwalker & the Warrior of Light