Conflict at the Ruins

Disclaimer: Of coarse, as you may already know FF XI is NOT mine no matter how much I want it to.

Prologue:

Jycht laid there beside Idelle admiring her presence while she slept. He noticed every detail of her fragile face. Her beautiful red hair hit just below the bottom of her ears with bangs came down diagonally just above her right eye. Jycht ran his hands through her hair and stopped when he felt the small pony tail that kept some of her hair out of face.

I opened up my eyes and smiled warmly as I noticed Jycht's warm gaze looking back at me through the faint moon light.

"You're still awake," I asked, "Are you ok?"

He gave a small laugh and said "Yeah, I'm fine. I guess I just want to get one good look at you before you go adventuring tomorrow."

"Oh, come on you big baby," I replied smiling, "I'm not going to be gone for more than a day!" We both laughed hugging each other before finally falling asleep.

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It was a nice summer day at Windurst with a slight breeze that carried the smell of pine around the city like a pleasant perfume. I took a deep breathe and held it in to keep the smell from slipping away. With my eyes still closed a slow sigh escape my lips. As a new adventurer I was slowly gaining the confidence to go out and fight.

"Idelle! Hey, Idelle!" a male voice called out to me. I turned to see a young male Elvaan running quickly in my direction. It was Jycht. His long white hair was swaying in the wind with his bangs almost covering his eyes. When he reached me he bent over and put his hands on his knees, panting. After a few moments he caught his breathe and stood up straight. "Where are you heading?"

"The Horutoto Ruins, why?" I asked.

"Oh, great I'll go with you," he replied, "I'm heading out that way as well and I'll protect you since your new to adventuring."

We both smiled at each other and I crossed my arms and shook my head at his request. Like I needed his help. I maybe new to the whole fighting thing but I didn't want to be treated like a child.

He placed his hand on my head and said, "Oh, come on little Hume," he gave me a roguish grin and continued, "You know you need me to! You maybe a warrior but every fighter needs a healer. And Horutoto isn't really the safest place for your level without someone to back you up."

"Ok Captain Obvious, you can come along." I replied.

"Good decision. Now what is the reason you're going to the ruins?" He asked with concern.

"Well, the guards at the gate asked me to help some scientist there," I said pointing behind me towards the gate, "Well are you ready to go?" He gave me a simple nod and we were off. We past through the gate from Windurst Woods into East Sarutabaruta and I was so amazed at the giant grassland.

"Idelle," Jycht said, "follow me."

Quickly, I caught up to him and he led the way to what seemed like a very aged old tower. Jycht explained to me how this was one of the many entrances to the ruins and how they were mainly infested with goblins. Soon after his speech we entered the tower and walked down a flight of stairs. It wasn't to long before we got to the second flight we noticed something slightly different from when we walked in. There was a slight rumbling sound in which the source was hard to determine. Within a few seconds the right wall in the flight of stairs below us was turned to ruble to reveal a Gigus who had a young gold haired Elvaan pined against the opposite wall. It was only a second later a second Elvaan appeared sword in hand swiftly attacked the Gigus straight in the spinal cord.

Jycht and I both stood the in awe at the conflict in front of our very eyes. I've read about the Gigus but I never knew they were in this area. The man wielding the sword quickly pulled his sword out and went for another attack. But before he could the Gigus turned around and with the back of its hand knocked the Elvaan off his feet and into the air. He landed a few stairs below and slowly rolled down to the bottom of the stares.

"Shit," I heard Jycht mutter to himself, "that other ones going to be next."

Jycht then turned to me and pulled me into his arms and told me, "Idelle, I'm going to need you to go and relay the message to the guards of this incident. Now hurry!"

"Pl…please come with me." I said feeling myself brim up with tears.

"I can't. They need me here. Hurry! Go!" He replied as he let go of me and pushed me up the stairs. I ran as fast as I knew how and no matter how hard I tried I couldn't force myself to look back.

I ran harder and faster than I ever knew I could with the nightmarish thought that my husband could be dead or dieing.