13th Sun

Second Astral Moon

9:46 AM

The Dusk Vigil

There comes a point in every man's life where time becomes a reminder. A reminder that nothing lasts forever. The thought of a constantly moving and soon to be fleeting rule of humanity, told through the constructs made by man to chronicle that which has been lost and what is soon to fade away. Though, at a point, on the other end of the spectrum, time could become what man desires most. Soon, it turns from how much of it they wish would pass to what little they have to hold onto. doing whatever they can to forsake the inevitable of It's nearing end. It drives them, empowers them as a race and even further as a being for whatever they grasp for. In this case, that was the side of things for the likes of the Warrior of Light and her companions forthwith, as they tread through the history-worn and battle-broken halls of Coerthas's own Dusk Vigil. Led by Lucia to the outskirts of Falcon's Nest and through to the gates that held the Vigil's history in an un-easing darkness, the group of six made their way to its core as it seemed like there was nowhere else they could go within the keep. Alphinaud spoke up in protest to this juncture, which admittedly got a chuckle out of Cyprus.

"I would much more prefer a crossroads than a dead end." The Elezen boy spoke.

"What did you expect? A keep is a keep, no matter its purpose. Not like it's gonna get any bigger by us staring at a wall and begging it too."

Cyprus replied as a smirk crossed onto his face. That's when he noticed a bead of sweat travel down the side of Alphinaud's head.

"Well, it's just that, um.…"

Lucia crossed her arms over her chest and couldn't help but grin at the boy's clear distress, deciding to speak up before he could finish.

"You've heard the tales of the dead wandering these halls, have you Alphinaud?"

That's when the distress became blatantly clear to the five that accompanied him. For being such a well-kempt Scholar of high regard, Alphinaud was deathly afraid of ghosts. More the undead than anything else.

"N-no! Well, yes, but nothing of the sort is guaranteed here, Lucia, I assure you!"

"If anything, I should be the one reassuring you."

"N-nonsense!"

He blurted out, another bead of sweat trailing down his head. Cyprus and Lucia both snickered at the boy while the Au Ra ruffled his hair, getting an annoyed huff out of him and a dismissive glance to the side. However, he knew that their words were merely in jest.

Well, mostly in jest.

Dariya meanwhile couldn't keep herself from exploring every nook and cranny of the Vigil, gazing and poking at anything and that seemed remotely interesting to the Viera. She convinced Eniro to come along with her for her search, in which she would end up finding something of particular interest. Something that only Cyprus knew would keep her mind racing for hours, maybe even days, if Eniro didn't pull her from it's premises.

A library.

Chock-full of information regarding those who once resided in the Dusk Vigil itself, Dariya was as happy as can be and had to be scolded by her Lalafell companion to not take anything with her once they left. Though he seemed to resent the idea of staying in Ishgard any longer than he had too, "N" couldn't help but find enjoyment at the sight of Dariya scouring for secrets better left behind lock and key in the Vigil's chambers. It reminded him of a time where he himself had as much freedom as her unwavering smile made seem like she had. Her being happy made him happy.

Or, at least, what Eniro saw as being such.

"Never thought you'd be a history buff, Dariya."

"Don't count it out just because it's not obvious! Cyprus can tell you all about the lengths I've gone too to find out more about Eorzea."

Dariya would comment while her hands shuffled through rows and rows of literature, lined up neatly and accordingly throughout the shelves they were placed on. Albeit dusty and obviously aged for the worst, some of the books either crumbled away upon her touch or refused to even open at all. That was until the Viera traced her nails down the side of a specific cover that piqued her interest.

"The Warrior Of Light: Refuge In An Old Era."

As she read the title, Dariya's eyes glimmered with a newfound sense of enlightenment while her already prevalent smirk changed into that of a full-on grin. She pulled the book from it's shelf and blew the dust off of its cover before setting it down onto a nearby table. Eniro, purely out of curiosity, waddled along after her and hopped up into a chair with his gaze now fixated on the book as well.

"What's so special about this one?"

He asked, getting an almost immediate response out of Dariya which admittedly caught him off guard.

"Are you kidding me!? This is an actually restored, intact copy of the Warrior's Of Light Refuge!"

"And that is what, exactly?"

"Stories of the first ever Warrior Of Light!"

Eniro would audibly groan as he heard this, confident in the fact that his ears weren't ready for Dariya to begin spouting some history mumbo jumbo that he wouldn't understand. However, Dariya's only concern as of now was reading-and telling-the tale of Hydaelyn's first blessed son to anyone who would listen. And that "anyone", reluctantly enough, was Eniro. He watched with his arms crossed over his chest as she flipped the books front cover open and began to read.

"In a time when all lay shrouded in Darkness, a prophesied hero rose to deliver the world from it's doom. Fighting in the name of the Light, the hero styled himself it's foot soldier. And thus did he come to be known as the Warrior of Light. Curiously, in the centuries that followed, other heroes appeared who claimed the selfsame epithet, despite sharing no discernable connection with their predecessors. And in time, Warrior of Light came to be a name accorded to all men and women of uncommon skill and valor."

"Is that...it? Seems like a bland description for a realm restoring hero if you ask me."

Eniro said, rolling his shoulders adjustingly as his eyes stayed glued to the image beside the text. In the book lies a picture of the supposed first Warrior of Light, capped in blues and golds with a glowing sword and shield to their arms. They stood atop a grayscale hill with the sun beaming down before them, as if granting them the light as a gift for their deeds. It got Eniro curious, but not too curious to where he'd start thinking about things he didn't know. And quite frankly, things he had no interest in knowing. At least not for now.

"Well, remember, this is only the first Warrior of Light to ever conceive themselves as so. There's been a bunch of others after him that did a lot bigger and better things, I just know it!"

"Dariya, going back to the source won't tell us everything, It'll only tell us how it all started."

"Exactly!"

As a groan escaped from Eniro's lips and a light giggle left Dariya's, an influx of debris came barreling down the hallway that led back to Alphinaud and Cyprus from seemingly out of nowhere. Both the rogue and the dancer jumped in surprise, as more and more pieces of the building itself

were shot down the hallway with the roof even beginning to cave in. Dariya grabbed her chakrams and cut a path through the flinging rock to their friends, looking back to watch as Eniro hastily followed with a hand pulling at his hood to keep it from falling. The both of them eventually got back to the statue room, a giant circular room on the edge of the Dusk Vigil that led outside into the snowy flats that the group had entered from. Before the Viera and Lalafell lied their friends, Lucia stood with her sword and shield at the ready while a humongous shadow loomed over the stone-walled room. In this shadow formed wings, and out of it came a hawk-no, a Griffin-larger in size than any monster they had ever faced and landing before the knighted women with a screech of pure rancor and malic. In that moment, Dariya turned to face Eniro who had his daggers clenched into his palms, already two steps ahead of the Warrior Of Light and realizing quickly that in times like this, the only choice they had was to fight.

"...Well, Here we go!"

Dariya proclaimed, taking both chakrams in hand yet again and making a dash for the Griffin, followed by Eniro who stepped into the shadows with a quick lunge to take after Dariya's lead. Needless to say, "eventful" was an understatement to describe the day of the Scions Of The Seventh Dawn. Or at least, what remained of them.

13th Sun

Second Astral Moon

9:55 AM

Mor Dhona

Upon making their way into Revenant's Toll from the freezing cold wastes of Coerthas's Central Highlands, the group of Thancred, Y'shtola, and Krile had seemed to arrive at the apex of the small town's destruction. Buildings, burning at the hinges and falling on their sides as the streets below them crumbled. People, scattering from their homes as dark clouds alight with steam and flame began to loom overhead. Some streets ran red with the blood of civilians, while others had survivors at the doorstep of Hydaelyn's gates. At a glance, it had seemed like all was lost, and one thing that was for sure was that the three Scions were far too late.

"By the Twelve…Y-Y'shtola, Krile! Assist any civilians who are still alive! Leave finding Urianger to-"

Before Thancred could give the order and break away into Revenant's Toll, Krile stopped him with a simple grab of the hand and smiled up at the jaded rogue.

"No, you stay behind and help Y'shtola. The whole reason I'm here is to find Urianger, isn't it?

The Lalafell winked at the man before running off herself, leaving a rather disappointed Thancred and an on edge Y'shtola to both leap into action and do what they do best: save lives.

As she traversed through the burning remnants of Revenant's Toll, the effects of the heat surrounding Krile began to take a toll on her vision, along with making it harder to breath and making her body feel heavier. Krile didn't expect the fire to be this hot from one bomb, its warmth akin to that of magick, something procured from a potion or a ward to burn hotter than it's normal temperature. It eventually got so bad that Krile had to take off her jacket entirely, leaving her in a dark blue undershirt and blue skirt. Needless to say, the sharlayan was as confused as anyone else affected by the fires. This wasn't normal.

"What the hell is going on? Th-This fire, it's...It's almost as if it's Magick! What could have caused this?"

She leaned her hand against a wall and wiped sweat from her brow, having found her way to the stairs leading up to Rowena's multiple inquired shops within Revenant's Toll. Krile made her way up the flights of stairs and eventually found the top, a stone balcony with wooden furniture decorating it and plants by the corners of it's walls. The plants had been knocked over and lit aflame, along with some of the furniture having already been completely burned out. She looked around the vicinity of the balcony for a moment until spotting an unfamiliar face before her-the face of Lord Haurchefaunt, carrying on his shoulders not one but two civilians who were knocked out by the explosions knockback. The knight looked over towards Krile and initially thought that she had gotten lost in the flames, but noticed the staff on her back and Aetherometer on the sleeve of her jacket that signified she had association with the Scions and even better yet, was a Student Of Baldesion.

"Well, it would seem to be that our reinforcements have arrived! Sharlayan, I presume?"

"You presume correctly, but we cannot waste any time. Are there any other residents capable of helping the civilians of Revenant's Toll?"

"The likes of Garlond Ironworks are dedicating their time to building a drone that will cascade water crystals amongst the flames. If you'd like, I could take you to them."

"Garlond Ironworks? Are they here? Y-yes, please, that'd be much more than appreciated. But, first and foremost, who are you?"

"Lord Haurchefaunt Greystone!"

"Hmph...Krile."

The mere mentioning of his own name gave way to a grin that snuck itself onto Haurchefaunt's face, taking the initiative and running back down the steps behind Krile with the Student of Baldesion in tow. As they made their way outside of Revenant's Toll, Krile looked back at the burning town and thought of Thancred and Y'shtola. It pained her to leave them behind, however so temporarily without any sign of Urianger, but she had to get to the Crystal Tower and find out exactly what caused this. If anybody knew, it would be Cid, and Krile knew better than to doubt one of if not the best engineer in all of Eorzea. She smiled back at the shambled and aflame remnants of Revenant's Toll, and with a simple mutter of "Good luck.", followed Haurchefaunt and made for the Crystal Tower.

Meanwhile, back on the inside, Y'shtola was casting wide ranged healing magicks left and right as Thancred went from building to building to find survivors that he could bring to his companion. A part of him knew that finding Urianger wouldn't be easy knowing him, but he could never have thought that they'd stumble upon a burning and barely standing rendition of the town that prided itself as a hub for adventurers near and far. Thancred made a mental note to personally deal with the culprit who blew Revenant's Toll to bits, but for now had to put his focus into saving lives rather than making an attempt to end them. However, while sifting through the barely alive bodies of adventurer and civilian alike, Thancred came across a shopkeep that had been completely uprooted by the explosion, and in turn had trapped a man-still fighting for his life-underneath a heap of debris with only his face and right arm visible. Begging and pleading to the rogue to save him, Thancred tried with all of his might to pull the man from the debris, but came up to no avail as the ground shook beneath his feet and flames began to form from the rising carnage all around him. Hope seemed lost for the poor man, but Thancred wouldn't stop, he wouldn't give up no matter how futile, and just continued to pull and pull until his arms could give no more to their efforts of saving the man.

That was, until, an arrow shot right into the center of the surrounding debris and exploded in a cascade of water, extinguishing the surrounding flames and revealing to Thancred who had done so: G'raha Tia. The two could only share a smile in their passing, successfully removing the debris from the surviving man and pulling him up onto his feet. While Thancred carried the man back to Y'shtola, G'raha looked on at the destruction of Revenant's Toll that he was just too late to stop from happening. Shaking his head to remove such thoughts, G'raha immediately took a B-line for the Crystal Tower, marching in tow of Haurchefaunt and Krile as he too felt that Cid held the answers to all of this. However, even then, as he made for the Crystal Tower with a look of nothing but determined fear striking his features, G'raha couldn't help but pick at a thought riding in the forays of his mind:

Where was that other Miqo'te that attacked him? Where was Alenka?

13th Sun

Second Astral Moon

10:09 PM

The Dusk Vigil

A symphony of bells and cymbals rang throughout the snow-kempt keep as Dariya had used Standard Step to make space between herself and the griffin. Eniro was focused on striking it from the sides and the back, leaving Dariya to keep its attention while he focused on doing the most damage. Eventually, the monster had caught on the two's tactic and allowed itself to be struck by Eniro, giving an opening to the Viera in front of him to toss her chakrams in a Cascade at the beast. However, as she threw them, the griffin ducked the oncoming projectiles as they flew and hit Eniro right in the chest, cutting a hole into his cloak before doubling back for Dariya to catch them. While distracted by Eniro's predicament, Dariya wasn't fast enough to notice the griffin swiping at her with its left talon, cutting her side vehemently and sending Dariya into a crumbling pillar. Eniro meanwhile had slid onto the ground and regained his bearings, noticing that Dariya had gotten struck before running over to help her back to her feet.

"Come on, come on...The damn things adapting, we have to change tactics!"

"W-what about the others?"

"Elf boy's healing them the best he can. We have to hold down the fort until they can stand again."

As the two spoke, the griffin screeched in a tone of agony and rage that pierced even the stone walls of the Vigil, causing the ears of everyone within 10 miles-or maybe even more-to ring in pain as the creature turned its eyes back to the Viera and Lalafell.

"Ack! Dammit! J-just learn to keep up, will ye'!? For a realm restoring hero, you sure all hell move slow!"

"And for a well-renowned Rogue, you sure as hell get hit a lot!"

"Then learn to cover me!"

Eniro chuckled at Dariya's statement about his resilience and dashed off into the shadows yet again, leaving the Dancer to steel herself for whatever oncoming attacks the griffin could throw at her. Change tactics, huh? That'd be no problem.

Pirouette...

Emboite...

Jete...

Entrechat…

The four symbols blossomed into the glass of the chakrams, forming an array of colors around Dariya as the sounds of bells, maracas, drums, and cymbals sound from her weapons into the battlefield. Readying the splash of color that was Technical Step, Dariya dashed from side to side to get the griffin's attention and began to focus on defense-using Shield Samba to give herself more of a resilient edge and En Avant to make her way around the beast without being hit. Shield Samba, however temporary, gave Dariya the edge she needed to get knocked down and get back up again while Eniro waited for an opportune moment to strike. And sooner or later, he got one.

"N! Make your move!"

Dariya called out to the rogue as she activated Technical Step, catching the griffin's talon as it struck her and clipping the appendage off entirely. Once the claw came off and caused the beast to stumble backwards, Eniro took the advantage he was given and sprung forward using the strings on his daggers with a darkened smile forming on his face. Spinning in a circle and traveling down the griffin's back, Eniro cut a straight line all the way down its body and landed next to Dariya almost seamlessly, watching as she dashed forward and threw her chakrams into the air while the griffin was stunned. This allowed her to use Flourishing Windmill, which cut at the griffins beak and made it lose balance after taking so much damage.

"Follow my lead and finish it off!"

"Don't have to tell me twice how to kill something!"

Dariya and Eniro called between each other as the rogue made yet another dash forward, sprinting in a half-U around Dariya to get as close to the griffin as possible. Dariya caught her chakrams from out of the air and gained a determined glint in her eye, beginning to spin and jump in fluid succession as her chakrams cut away at the downed griffin's face. Meanwhile, Eniro had set himself up to strike in between each of Dariya's own attacks, going once, then twice, and then a third time as the both of them struck the griffin in sync with Bladeshower and Dream within a Dream to finally end the battle. As the beast toppled over onto its side, dead and dealt with, Eniro sheathed his daggers back onto his hips while Dariya did the same with her chakrams. She looked over towards the boy and saw him adjusting the hood of his cloak, keeping it tied up to where his face was completely hidden from view.

"Hey, what's with the cloak?"

"You wouldn't want to know."

Just then, as Dariya raised an eyebrow at Eniro's curious response, Cyprus came from around the corner while clutching onto his side.

"Guys...R-Revenant's Toll...It's.."

That's when Alphinaud and Lucia came round as well, Lucia helping Cyprus stay on his feet while Alphinaud began to speak in his stead.

"It's just been reported to Lucia through a linkpearl via Camp Dragonhead that Revenant's Toll has been attacked."

Dariya could feel her eyes widen as she turned to face Alphinaud, Eniro pocketing his hands and giving an annoyed sigh before turning to the Elezen as well.

"A-attacked!? By who?"

"That's the thing. We don't know who."

13th Sun

Second Astral Moon

10:16 PM

The Umbral Isles

"AHHH!"

The blood curdling screams of Kan-E-Senna filled the halls of Pharos Sirius as Admes continued to torture her beyond what she herself could even imagine. Stabbing that already bloodied knife into her leg and dragging it all the way up to her knee and twisting as more and more blood shed from the Seedseer without being shown any mercy by the boy in front of her. Struggling in her bonds as tears flowed down her face, Kan-E was very clearly beginning to lose consciousness while Admes held her chin up to face him with a terrifying red-eyed grin.

"My, oh my. You haven't begged once since we got here. For that, I'll commend you, but for your defiance...you will learn to beg. You will learn discipline. And you will reveal to me the location of that damned tower."

Admes leaned himself forward and continued to caress the face and hair of Kan-E-Senna, watching in pure bliss as she struggled and squirmed in an avail-less attempt at breaking free.

"G-get away from me! You won't get anything out of me you evil bastard-AHHHH!"

"Shh shh shh shh shh shh...There, there, it'll be ok. I'll be as gentle as possible until you let up. Or...I could change my plan of attack and not even have to hurt you."

Admes let go of the hilt of the knife that now stuck in Kan-E-Senna's thigh, leaving her entire left leg pulsing and gushing with blood as dried tears pasted onto her cheeks. She watched helplessly as Admes took a box of matches from the table beside him, lighting one with a match that also resided on the table. He counted the matches in the box before leaning forward yet again, placing the matches back onto the table and holding one lit match in his right hand. His left hand began to crawl up the right leg of Kan-E-Senna, forcing her to watch as a grin formed onto his face while she was bound and helpless to do anything.

"I could hurt you, yes….or...I could go after the Guardian Tree."

The Guardian Tree was the sole source of bodily Aether within the Black Shroud. If Admes were to destroy it, he would be killing the mythical beings known as elementals that watch over Gridania, and soon after, kill everyone residing in the City-State itself. As soon as Kan-E heard it's name, her eyes widened and all of her former resolve had left her. All of those people...the elementals...her brother and sister...She had no choice.

"Ok! Ok, Fine! I'll tell you where it is! Just please...don't destroy the tree...Don't hurt them...please…"

Admes only grinned wider as the Elder Seedseer fell deeper into despair.

"Good, good...You've finally learned how to beg."