Darklegacy Series
Chapter
1 - Healer of Mithran Wounds
by: Asukas
This is a fan-fiction based upon the world of Final Fantasy XI, Vana'diel. I take no credit for the locations that my story is based upon or the lore that surrounds them. Also some of the names in the story are taken from real players that I have run across in game.
Little is known about the origination of the mithran race, except that few decades ago they were seen as savages of the outlands, not that much different than the beastmen of today. Other than that we also know that their roots are deep within the land that is now called Kazahm. Kazahm, built on the coastline of the Yuhtunga Jungle, is a land both lush with vegetation and filled with unspeakable dangers. Despite all attempts to keep the Vana'diel conquest out of Kazahm, it has become infected, as you would hear from the great mithran rangers, with foreigners from the mainland looking for a place to improve their skills as warriors and lay claim for their countries.
It wasn't until the Tarutaru of Windurst needed protection from the growing number of Yagudos, that mithrans were called upon to leave Kazahm. Thousands of mithrans left to help defend Windurst, not knowing that leaving Kazahm brought the sentence of banishment. For years many mithrans lost their lives to aid in the protection and expansion of the Windurstian civilization. And after the beastmens' numbers dropped, the mithran settled in what is now known as the "Mithran Groves," in Windurst.
But this story in particular is about a mithra named Asukas. Born in windurst to a mithran ranger who was from the original group of travelers that left Kazahm years ago. Very little is known about Asukas' family except that they entrusted Asukas to the tarutaru to raise and teach her the magical arts of healing. For years, Mithras have existed with the tarutaru in Windurst. By leaving Kazham, the Mithras, did not know that leaving brought banishment from their homeland. So the mithrans have co-existed with the tarutaru to help defend Windurst from the beastmen and help bring the outlands under Windurstian control.
Being a young mithran in Windurst was not easy for Asukas. Especially trying to study the magical arts at the aurastery in Windurst Waters. Many of her teachers just saw her as the wild, little mithra, who chased her tail in the mithran groves. Not being tarutaru, Asukas lacked the mana that tarutarus are born with a great deal of, so she had to learn to use her mana conservatively. But even more of a challenge was trying to learn the secret magical arts that the tarutaru tried to keep to themselves.
One afternoon, while farming silk from crawlers in Saraburta, Asukas came across an intriguing knight from the kingdom of San d'Oria. He said he was on his was to Giddeus to fight a dragon, and was in need of a mage with healing powers. This being her first chance to prove herself worth as a healer, she offered her services. The knight and Asukas proceeded to Giddeus, an untamed area that she had only read about from the Windurstain library and from tales told to her when she was young. After traveling a fair distance into Giddeus, they were immediately ambushed by hordes of yagudo. Asukas fell back to an elevated location in order to heal effectively without risk of being hit or drawing hate from the enemy. The knight proceeded to take down yagudo after yagudo with ease. Asukas even got her first chance to cast some enfeebling spells in order to reduce the amount of damage that the knight would take. After hours of fighting and healing, they both cleared the area of the yagudo. Asukas' mind was exhausted from all the concentration put into her casting. She told the knight that she needed to meditate a bit before preceding any further. Without reply he keep forging forward, deeper and deeper, into the Giddeus outlands. Asukas rose from meditation, not letting her mind recover from the mental outpour that she had just unleashed, in order to keep up with the knight.
As they approached the area that he called the burning circle, several other knights from San d'Oria were waiting and joined the party to defeat this evil dragon. Asukas told the party that she needed to meditate some before the battle, and proceeded to focus her mind on recovery of the unleashed energy. Without warning she was attacked by a notorious monster hiding in the high brush. Asukas called out for help to her party, and the last response she remembered was, "We can take this dragon without that useless cat, she is slowing us down anyhow."
When Asukas woke, three days had passed and she awoke in the residence of Perih Vashai, a mithran ranger who lives in the Mithran Groves in Windurst. Perih had found Asukas out in Giddeus, while hunting for Yagudo's necklaces. Perih spent days and days nursing Asukas back to health, while telling her stories of her adventures as a ranger. After Asukas had regained enough strength to tell Perih what had happened in Giddeus, Perih talked of how the mithra have become weak living with the tarutaru, and how she longed to be back in Kazham.
After several more days had passed, Asukas longed for revenge. She hated San d'Oria for the betrayal that those knights had brought to her that day in Giddeus. Windurst, being a home of mostly peaceful tarutaru, was not the place for her anymore. So Asukas packed her things and left the only world she know to head west to a country called Bastok. She had met adventures before in Windurst from Bastok, and knew how much the very industrialized country of Bastok fought to demolish the tyranny that San d'Oria had set up in the west. So Asukas future became Bastok, and little did she know at the time that her future would entail many great adventures and bring honor back to her exiled family that she never really knew.
...More to come...