"Ignorant child, born of chaos.

Know you that it was Our King, pitying the world bereft of Order,

surfeit with Strife,

who stamped true seal on mortal wax"

I had not been this well entertained for a millennia, I was certain of the fact. The short days I had travelled within Princess Ashelia of Dalmasca had been the most delightful experience I had had since I had declared a war against the Occuria. After having found out about my ability to explore her memories I had quickly updated my knowledge of her past and the present task at hand. The trouble she was in was indeed crafted by the Occuria, I knew their way of dealing with things.

But the enemies she was going to face – an Empire equipped with two nethicites of divine origin, Venat as their ally – and without using the power granted by the Occuria?

In some wars, you must know to pick your side, I thought to myself, amused. Not that my new master's fate truly mattered to me. I was now destined to fight by her side until someone bested her in battle and then I would move on to the next master to wield me. This was my new form of existence which I would maintain until I found a way to break the cycle. This certainly was very interesting.

I noticed my master slowing down her steps which left her slightly behind the rest of the crew. I found uncertainty in her heart.

"Your Majesty?" The Knight was quick to frown in worry.

"It's nothing. It's just…the Esper from the Great Crystal. I…I think she's laughing at me," the Princess said, both puzzled and somewhat disturbed. She couldn't read my mind but apparently she had an inkling of the feelings I was experiencing. I would have to keep that in mind.

"Well, it's not that weird. Sometimes that Zalera guy is laughing so hard it keeps me awake at night," huffed the Hume who was called Vaan. I wondered what kind of a Hume he was if the insides of his mind were so hilarious.

The Viera stepped forward and habitually put a clawed hand on her hip. "They may be ours to summon but they are not without a will of their own. They are servants in flesh yet rebels by nature. This you felt for yourself when you obtained her, did you not?"

The Princess nodded, slightly surprised that the others had had similar experiences and said with determination, "I will simply need to get used to it, then."

A practical approach. I chuckled to myself, enjoying how my master was doing her best to ignore me. I had not known before that mortals were so entertaining.

As we arrived to a town that was called Balfonheim, I saw for myself the change of Ivalice. The Humes were ever so ambitious in building. In the Princess' memory I had seen the capital of Archadia, a city that challenged the ancient Giruvegan in size and population. As old cultures died out, new began to blossom. Such was the way of mortals. Yet in their momentary glory and superfluous quantity, the mortal races never attain perfection. Balfonheim was full of crude houses that were home to raw and uncouth people.

Despite this I observed everything with interest, albeit not very keen. The people were all revoltingly average, in no way out of ordinary. But then again, the legendary were supposed to be few and far between. If the Occuria was anything to judge – which, I had to admit, it regrettably was – I was in the company of a living legend at the very moment.

The reason behind the visit to the seaside town was a man Hume named Reddas. I had come to presume that he was a…king of a sort but his throne was as lacking in splendor as those of many barbaric tribe leaders in ancient times. He listened to the Princess' account of what had happened in Giruvegan before my entrance without comment, his eyes narrowing from time to time.

Then the Occuria's mysterious clue became the subject of discussion. In a tower on a distant shore sleeps the Sun-Cryst, had Gerun said. It had to be Ridorana they spoke of. There was another one of their hidden treasures, the Mother of the Stones, out of sight in jagd. The ancient peoples' legends mention the world's edge where the Great Maw devours the sea. The Ridorana Cataract.

"If we strike this Sun-Cryst with the Swords of Kings, no new stone may be born," the Viera mused. "We say the Sun-Cryst is the source of all nethicite's power. If we break it, the Dusk Shard would be as a thing lifeless." This was true. The new Era of Stones would then be denied. "As for the manufacted nethicite, who can say?"

"There is another way. We use the Treaty-Blade to cut a new stone form the Cryst to use that to fight the Dusk Shard and the manufacted stones," came another voice. It was that of the man who had discarded his name and a great deal of other things with it. His voice always seemed to evoke something in the Princess' heart. I found the reaction interesting yet quite irrational. It was surely something exclusively for mortals.

While I had been lost in thought, the group had arrived at the conclusion that the distant tower indeed was the Pharos at Ridorana and that the strong mist that had threatened the ships there was that of the Sun-Cryst.

"All well and good but how do we get there? Those seas are jagd as I recall," the prodigal pirate pointed out a loophole in the plan.

In the end, the solution to the problem was a man-made stone stolen from Archadia that enabled Hume vehicles to function despite jagd. Mortals were so very curious beings. They had triumphed many of the laws that the gods had passed in the beginning of time. They built machines to make themselves fly like birds. They made weapons strong enough to obliterate the world as they knew it. They overreached themselves just to see if they could.

Something about that ambition made me wonder if they were so different from me after all.

All the way from Balfonheim to Ridorana the Princess sat silent in her seat. She was thinking about the choice she would have to make: to follow the path set by the Occuria and destroy all of her enemies at once or to find another way to deal with the conflict. Irritated at the emotions seeping through her consciousness, I decided to look for something to distract me.

I knew there was another Esper at her command; I had felt the presence of one when I had first come into contact with her. Still, they had yet to show themselves. I roamed about the narrow space I was given in her mind, looking for any sign of my kin.

"What seek you here, High Seraph?"

Being who he was, it was no wonder that Exodus had not sought me out though he undoubtedly was aware of my being there. I could not have hoped for a quieter Esper to share the Princess' soul with.

"No harm in visiting my neighbours, is there?" I responded. "I hardly expected to meet you again. Now we are slaves to Humes instead of the Undying. I cannot imagine what fate awaits us next."

"This Hume is of no significance. Not worthy of the swords she possesses." If I didn't know Exodus better I could have sworn that there was a hint of disappointment in his words.

"Look, there it is!"

Vaan's sudden exclamation pulled the Princess out of her contemplations and I lost sight of Exodus in the process. I did not bother to search him out again but focused on the vision I received through the Princess' eyes. It truly was the Cataract. What was open sea in one moment changed into a seemingly bottomless pit that resembled a giant mouth. Large rocks could be seen on the brim, as if they were fangs of some primeval creature. There, at the edge of the world, stood the Pharos of Ridorana. Was there a more perfect stage for shaping legends for generations to come?

All passengers of the airship paid quiet homage to the edifice as the owners of the ship steered her to a suitable landing point. Having securely anchored our only means to leave the jagd alive everyone started packing equipment and items for the hike on unfamiliar territory ahead. The Princess took with her not only one, but both of the swords granted for her. She had not yet made her mind. Her time was running short.

Reddas had also noticed her hesitation.

"Your words still sound of doubt. Pray you reach the answer, ere we the Sun-Cryst."

"And should I choose revenge, what then?" The question was a challenge, yet also a plead for advice.

"Then your woe shall be your own," he said, leaving her listening to the bitter undertones of his words.

I recognized the Occuria's design in the architecture of the city. I had never seen the place with my own eyes but it was clear that it had belonged to a blessed people, much like Giruvegan. What I could not comprehend was what force had turned the city into ruins.

"There's something really peaceful about this place," said Penelo, the youngest of the Humes. "I mean, it doesn't creep you out like most of these really old places we've been in, you know?"

"Wouldn't bet too much of my gil on the peaceful part. We have company," remarked the pirate, readying his rifle as he nodded to the direction of an approaching Deathclaw.

I wondered if I'd ever get used to the way Humes fight. Watching things from the surface of the earth alone was an alienating experience, but they held their weapons in their very hands unlike me. I observed the Princess' grip on the handle of her sword as she swung it horizontally, aiming its blade at one of the monster's vital organs, her blow accompanied with a savage cry. The creature's bright-red blood splattered on her arm and the Knight delivered the final blow. The Princess simply lowered her shield and wiped her sword on a patch of grass protruding from the ornate stone paving. Repugnant Humes.

In the Eastern side of the island there was a coliseum. It had probably been used by would-be legends to test their skill against monsters and each other. The stone floor had clearly drunk blood in its time. Now the area was completely void of life though. It offered no object of interest save for some minor treasure in the stone corridors under the grandstand.

The group stopped to have a brief respite near an old lavatory basin. The Viera crouched over the basin, sniffing the water and examining the alga on its surface.

"I sense no sign of poison. As long as we do not drink it we should be alright."

Everyone gathered around the basin, rinsing off the most of the grime on their skin and clothes. Having cleaned herself up somewhat, the Princess let her eyes and as well as her mind wander. Both had a common goal: the gigantic tower towards the North. The others seemed to guess her musings but chose to ignore her. Basch the Knight stood stoic leaning on a wall, scanning the area should a monster appear. The Viera and her partner were slightly apart from the others, conversing quietly. It was as though the man was asking her something. She shook her head and her answer seemed to satisfy him. Vaan and Penelo were having a rather cheerful chat of their own and Reddas was absently rubbing his bald head, lost in thought.

As the journey continued more fiends were encountered, this time a variety of Malboros in addition to the cannibalistic Deathclaws. The enemies grew fewer, however, as we neared the Pharos. The common assumption went unvoiced but was clear: there was something there that the average beasts were too afraid of to approach.

Such creature was indeed met before the entrance to the Pharos. A dragon lacking flesh altogether, all bones and dust. A truly formidable watch, unrelenting even in death it was, killing intent evident in the glow of its eyes. The party had trouble with vanquishing it as it had no flesh to cut. Weapons did not work well on its hardened bones and the mist surrounding it protected it from the rage of elemental spells. The power most holy alone was its weakness. The Princess, too, realised this and made her decision.

"Stand back, everyone! I'm going to summon!"

For the first time she chose me to aid her in battle. The darkness of my prison was pierced by a sudden ray of light and I was pulled out. A glyph under my master's feet whispered magick, the workings of which no mortal had the slightest idea of. I came into existence anew by that magick.

It was a most exhilarating feeling. I was near a drunken state, for the lack of a better term, bewitched by a temporary release from my tight confines. Yet I had no chance to scrutinize this feeling for very long. The Princess' will commanded me to focus on the monster before me.

I struck the bone dragon with Redemption, a power that I had once used to guide the dead to the world beyond. The creature was still bound fast to this side of life, refusing to leave. I assaulted it again.

"The god of Death alone is the same to all. To his side – now go!"

The dragon fell, the spells binding it undone. So was the magick that had brought me back to life. Though longing to stay, I vanished in a fleeting moment, again wrapped in darkness. The Princess' heart was silent for a moment. She was impressed by my power. Somehow this pleased me.

"Hey Fran, something's written on this wall!"

Vaan's voice turned everyone's attention back to the massive door that was adorned by ancient texts incomprehensible to mortals and the somewhat fresher inscription in the wall next to it. Our trials to face here were far from over.


A/N: The second chapter. I somehow had fun with this one. I find Ultima's point of view interesting to write though it makes things a little complicated every now and then. I try my best not to make it boring. I'm already dreading the next chapter (or maybe the one after that, depending on how many things I end up adding to this story. Ideas kind of come and go, edited, re-edited, re-re-edited...)

Don't you just love the subtle insult towards Vaan's intellect. Or then not.

Thanks for reading *bows* Until next time!