For them, the path was not chosen... They chose their own path. Yes, not knowing the fear of death. Having never learned to fear it.
It was only as they lay there, last breath lingering upon their lips as they exchanged false hopes for a brighter future, that they truly learned what it was to know fear and the pain of death.
It was then that her voice rang loudest, as she came to them once more, equally beaten and broken from her own battle to rejoin them, when she sang the song of requiem and gave their once false hopes new life in a hazy future.
But the song of requiem holds no love for the one that gives voice to its cursed words, no matter how pure their intention may be. Like the summoning of the Eidolon that had so often served the dominion, this power came with a heavy price.
As their wounds healed with each incantation that passed her lips, the life ebbed slowly out until nothing more could be given and she lay dying in the place of all those that she had loved, fiery locks flickering in the gentle breeze that carried away her final breath as her tired eyes closed slowly to the sight of the man she had loved more than any other.
And, as they made their makeshift flag of crimson pride, they find that her memory does not fade from their mind or heart, blessed by the final strength of the vermillion crystal to remember what had been lost that day.
For who is to say that the crystal cannot mourn as well, as it too begins to flicker and fade, for the life that was lost that day, for the world that must crumble to ruin before being born once more without the crystals guidance, for the child that it brought life too when all others believed her to be beyond saving.
*Eleven years earlier*
Their tears will etch upon her own memory as her voice falls as nothing more than gentle chimes of her crystal shell. Though she does not possess the body of a human, her subconscious and her will can sense the pain that these two feel as they plead for her favour.
"Please, by the light and mercy of the crystal, spare our child"
She sees the weak, almost lifeless body of the child that lies within the grieving parent's arms. Another victim of the disease that has ripped through the outskirts of her beloved Rubrum. Chancellor Chival stands close behind as he lowers his head in grief for a life he does not know, the kindness of his heart reaching out for the child as she dies slowly before their eyes, wishing only to comfort the parents slightly by granting an audience with the crystal to help spare their child, doubting that there is likely nothing to be done. There is little comfort in the face of death.
But there is something in the weary eyes of the little girl, a fire that seems unwilling to fade as she continues her losing battle against the disease that eats away at everything she has left to fight with. Perhaps there is still hope left for the child if she resorts to the only choice that is placed before her.
Her chimes grow more urgent as the breath of the child grows more ragged and the end grows closer with the time that they waste. She needs a human voice to put forth her offer.
'My faithful L'cei Zhuyu, be my voice and grant an answer for these grieving souls'
He is there before her within moments, void eyes waiting expectantly for her message as her chimes become more clear and he is given the message to pass on in her stead, his own shock at her offer refusing to come to the surface as, for the first time since he had become a L'cei, the crystal takes the matters of life and death into her own control.
"Your child shall be spared, but a price must be paid in return. The child shall be one with the crystal and reborn to this world, erasing all memories of what came before this day. A human embodiment of the crystal that is neither L'cei nor human"
There is no fighting with the crystal or her will as Lord Zhuyu watches the parents place their dying child at the foot of the crystal, bidding a final farewell before being shown out as the crystal imbues life once more in that which was once doomed.
It is in that moment, as the child is reborn and granted a new name, Lord Zhuyu questions what the future will hold for the child that now holds a portion of the crystals power in her very being, for the girl who will only ever be known as Requiem, child of the vermillion bird crystal.
So what did you all think? Its my first attempt at final fantasy so should I continue with this idea or not? Thanks for reading and I hope you all liked it.