Summary: An Ascian in black comes calling. Minfilia is kidnapped and a dear friend sacrifices their life.
Author's Note: Contains canonical character death and non-graphical violence.
Business as usual resumed and while the Scions worked hard on finding a way to end the Ascians, Rhea helped out the Crystal Braves with a bit of their work. As luck would have it, one of those jobs ended up coinciding well with Moenbryda's work and the Scions ended up in North Thanalan, pushing back a raiding party of Garleans from the Ceruleum Processing Plant.
After all that was cleaned up, Rhea escorted Moenbryda to one of the many crystals jutting out from the land. She needed to test her aether siphon in as safe a location as possible to make sure it would work for facilitating the creation of a Blade of Light. With a giant axe strapped to her back, Meon knelt and tinkered with her siphon while Rhea kept an eye out for any residual Garleans.
As they conversed and Moen reminisced about her home and why she came to Eorzea, Rhea found she rather liked the roegadyn. She was lively and boisterous and never failed to make her smile. She hoped she would be staying around a while. She could easily see the two of them becoming the closest of friends - both scholars and warriors, alike. Besides, anyone who could make Urianger squirm the way she did was worth keeping around!
Raising her siphon to the crystal, she focused on it and soon it was glowing bright. Whatever Moenbryda had done, she seemed pleased by the results. Perhaps hope for the end of the Ascian menace was closer than Rhea had thought. "I'm not sure how to go about it just yet, but I swear to find a way. I'll put a blade in your hands if it's the last thing I do!" Moenbyrda announced to Rhea enthusiastically. In a way, she reminded Rhea of Haurchefant with her enthusiasm, though at the memory of him, she quickly pushed those thoughts away.
Not that she had to work too hard at it for all of a sudden, she sensed a presence behind her. Turning around, she frowned at the emptiness of North Thanalan. They were being watched, and not just by anyone...
Sure enough, a wisp of purple smoke formed and out stepped an Ascian, though by his mask, he was not one Rhea had met before. Moenbryda drew her axe, ""An Ascian!? Are they onto us!?"
The masked man spoke, "By your brand, I see you are an Archon of Sharlayan. Keeper of knowledge. Seeker of truth. Meddler."
"I don't know what the hells you're saying, but I don't much like your tone!" Moenbryda called to him, glaring at him across the desolate expanse.
"Hahaha. Your instincts serve you well. But come, be not unsettled on my account. That lovely brow was not made for frowns. Ah, but I waste my breath. Let me direct my words to one who understands them," he then turned his attention to Rhea, who already had her tome drawn. She was ready for him, "We meet at last, Warrior of Light. I am Nabriales...and you have long been a thorn in my side. I suffered the overweening presence of Lahabrea that men might host the power of gods, only for you to undo my hard work."
She bared her teeth at him. Moenbryda, at her side, cried out as she charged him, jumping into the air to bring her axe down hard upon him. Rhea hardly had time to react as he stopped her axe with a finger then blasted her back with a pulse. "Do settle down," the Ascian said with a bored tone, returning his attention back to Rhea.
"You must concede that I acted in self-defense," he said then stopped a moment. "But what's this? I do not sense the blessing of Light...Oh dear! Could it be that frail Hydaelyn has forgotten Her champion!? This I did not foresee!" He cackled manically, "Shorn of Light as you are, you are no longer a threat. And better yet, the seal is broken. Now is the time to claim the staff! With it in my grasp, I shall rise above them all and take my place at Lord Zodiark's right hand!"
Before she could stop him, Nabriales was gone in another wisp of spoke, and Rhea was left with naught else but questions - primarily, what staff was he talking about? Questions Moenbryda shared, though at least she had the answer to one of them. He was after Tupsimati - Archon Louisoix's staff, and Minfilia and the others were in danger.
Rushing back to the Rising Stone, not wasting time to run to the aetheryte to teleport but using their own inner aether, Moenbryda and Rhea rushed into the Solar. Sure enough, Nabriales stood there confronting Minfilia and Minfilia stood there clinging to the remnants of Louisoix's staff.
"So you were able to divine my intent. What now, Warrior of Light? Ah, but that name is no longer fitting. You have become decidedly dull, and quite incapable of barring my entry," Nabriales said, looking over his shoulder to the battle ready Rhea.
"What do you mean!?" Minfilia called to him, her grip tightening on the staff.
"You truly do not know? Then I suppose it is only right that I enlighten you. The blessing of Light kept you and your fellow meddlers safe. It was that which prevented my kind from entering your domain. My kind, I say, though it had no power over the likes of Elidibus and Lahabrea. Being of this world, they could come and go as they please, while I could only look on...but I need look no longer. Now that the seal is gone, I mean to act. Unlike the others, I am not given to waiting. I shall take that staff and bring about the next Rejoining."
Minfilia's eyes went wide at him, "...Rejoining? Then it was your doing! The Isle of Val, the scholars─all of it!"
Nabriales raised his hand towards her, clearly finished talking. With a growl, Moenbryda once more launched at him, yelling as she flew at him, "You will not harm her!"
In a flash, a beam of purple light left the ascian's hand as he turned and pointed it to Moenbryda. It went flying and pierced right through her abdomen, stopping her mid air and causing her to collapse to the ground. Rhea's eyes went wide as she and Minfilia both called out her name. Glaring at Nabriales, Rhea began to wonder how she could attack him without suffering the same fate. Just by a glance, she could see Moen's wound was quite severe.
"Why must you insist on forcing my hand? Did you learn nothing from our last meeting? Ah, but I forget - my words fall upon deaf ears," he comment, seeming to be quite bored.
"The staff is but a broken relic─a memorial to the departed. What possible use could you have for it?" Minfilia asked, her tone pleading for want of trying to understand.
"What use!? You mean to say that all this time, you kept the key, never knowing what it was you possessed?" Nabriales looked to her with an expression of surprise, "The staff Tupsimati - or rather, the stone tablet it bears - is host to a great power. Together with the horn, it can be used to draw vast quantities of aether from its bearer's surroundings. How else do you think Louisoix was able to invoke the power of the Twelve without making them an offering of crystals? Summoning requires not only prayer, but a profusion of aether. Even a child knows that."
Enough clicked into place for both Rhea and Minfilia that they knew he could not have it and it was Minfilia who voiced it, "If I did not know before, you may be certain I do now. But above all, I know that we cannot allow this staff to fall into your hands. I will die before I let you take it!"
"Insufferable woman. I would happily end your miserable life here and now...alas, Elidibus would never let me hear the end of it..." he sighed, "Very well. If you will not part with the staff, I will take you too." Lifting his hand, a portal not unlike the one Rhea had used to get to the void in the Crystal Tower formed behind Minfilia and it sucked her through as Nabriales followed. Rhea knew she had to go after them before it closed but she was worried about Moen.
Kneeling at the roegadyn's side, she looked at her, "After them! Quickly...before the rift closes! Forget about me! Go!"
With a nod, Rhea rose and ran for the portal, diving through before it closed behind her. Where she emerged on the other side seemed like an arena of sorts made of crystals with a mighty effigy she'd never seen before looming over the platform. Floating before the effigy hung Minfilia with her hands bound above her head.
When Nabriales formed in front of her, Rhea pulled her tome once more and readied for battle. And what a battle it was. It was as if she was fighting Lahabrea all over again - only a more weaker version. Except this time, Rhea did not have the Blessing of Light and thus she was hard pressed through the whole of it, having to be clever and crafty about her spells. In the end, she felled him and with his fall, they were expelled from this pocket of the void he had brought them to. Appearing once more in the Solar of the Rising Stones, Minfilia and Rhea fought to catch their breaths. From across the room, Moenbryda smiled at them, glad they were safe.
Rhea wanted to go to her, but the figure moving out of the corner of her eye drew her attention to it. It seemed they were not the only ones ejected from the portal, for Nabriales was there and severely weakened. "You may have bested me this day...but what of the next? What of all the days to come!? Remember: Light no longer holds sway here. I may return whensoever I wish. Again and again and again. Eventually, you will falter and the staff will be mine. Until next time, Scions," he warned them menacingly as he began to use the last of his strength to teleport away.
Quickly, Moenbrya took the white auracite she had and slid it across the floor to Minfilia's feet. Wasting no time, Minfilia took it up and aimed it at him, "There will be no next time! This is the end!" As they had hoped, his essence began to be sucked into the white auracite until he was trapped within, screeching at what was happening.
The only problem they had was they had yet to form a Blade of Light. How they were going to destroy it, and quickly, was now their foremost problem. "Use Tupsimati to gather aether! Quickly, before he breaks free! Concentrate! Call to mind the time you struck down Lahabrea with the blade of Light!" Minfilia called to her.
Dropping her tome, she rushed to the relic on the floor and picked it up. Looking to the white auracite which floated in the air, she focused with all her might. She remembered that moment in the space-between when she called upon the aether and the Light within her and formed, with Hydaelyn's blessing, a Blade of Light. In her hands, she could feel Tupsimati grow warm as it pulled vast amounts of aether into it and when she felt like it had reached its zenith, she opened her eyes, bared her teeth and thrust the staff forward, pushing all the aether within into a stream pointed right at the auracite.
Power raged as his soul tried to resist the Blade but it quickly became apparent that not even Tupsimati could harness enough aether to destroy him. "Damn it...so much aether...and it still isn't enough..." Moenbryda cursed, "...if only we had...a bit more aether..."
Minfilia cried out to Hydaelyn, begging for her intervention. Rhea focused all her energy into the beam, pushing it as hard as she could, as she watched Moen move out of the corner of her eye. It wasn't until she was nearly to the beam, Rhea realized what she was going to do and a deep pain pierced her heart. Yet she could not falter, she could not stop pushing the Blade at the Ascian. She knew what was coming, and as painful as it was, even she knew it was necessary.
"Master Louisoix... I understand now...the choice you made..." Moen spoke softly as she hobbled towards the beam of Light, "In death...there is life...farewell, Urianger...you daft old coot..." Reaching out with her hand, she turned her head and gave Rhea the smallest of smiles before the stream absorbed her aether and she vanished before them.
The surge within the Blade was palpable and served to be just enough to obliterate the white auracite prison as the ascian within screeched and screamed at his demise. When he was gone, so too was the Blade of Light and Rhea let out a heavy breath as her shoulders slumped. It was over, but at a heavy price.
Sorrow swiftly took purchase in her heart at the loss of Moenbryda. Minfilia, too, felt the loss heavily as they stood there in silence for a long moment. Eventually the Antecedent spoke but, in truth, Rhea heard nothing of her words as she stared into the space Moenbryda had last been. Guilt washed upon her. Why hadn't she stopped her? They could have found another way...
Rushing footsteps and the slamming open of the doors pulled Rhea back as the other Scions rushed into the room. Stepping to the side, Rhea and Minfilia explained what happened. It was not until Urianger entered the room, having heard it all, that Rhea's composure was sorely tested. He was so broken, so full of mourning. He spoke of Moen and her relationship with Louisoix and how it had left her.
In the end, he had received a small measure of reassurance from Moenbryda's last words but begged leave to go to the Waking Sands to mourn in his own way. As he departed, the rest of the Scion's resolved themselves to give Moen a proper Sharlayan memorial.
As they departed for the mark of the Scholar, Rhea looked one last time to where Moen had been and closed her eyes, sending a prayer to Halone to guide her home.