I had awoken in Ru'Lude Gardens, I had pasted the Rendezvous Point that me & Romidant use to chat but I was in a hurry to help defend Al Zhubi... Quickly putting on my Olduum Ring, I tapped my foot impatiently as I waited for the ring to charge up for teleport to Wajaom Woodlands... Apon arrival to Wajaom Woodlands, I jumped off the pedstal and quickly checked my map to find the hill that would take me to Al Zhubi quicker... I ended up running around in circles, not being able to find the hill, only to realize that it was up a small cliff and hiddened by alot of shrubs. Running at my full speed, I ran down the valley, past Ameretats of the Malboro family and cliffs. Upon reaching the town, I prepared myself for the worse and entered.
I ran into town, seeing that there was nothing by the gates, so I proceeded to run deeper into the town, over the bridges of the Bastion, only to see chaos of adventurers barely managing to put a small dent in enemies Hit Points and several non-claimed Lamias roaming about. I had no idea where the generals were, I was too focused on helping out with curing and hasting the meleers. I managed to anger a few Qutrub with Dispeling of their Ice Spikes / Shock Spikes spell, it caused my downfall... but, a few kind mages casted raise on me and I resumed fighting... Somewhere, I heard a shout: "The last general has fallen!" Instantly, I disengaged the current monster I was fighting and started running towards the Hall of Binding, shouting out with several others: "Get to the Hall of Binding, NOW!" I practicually tackled the first skeleton I saw, only to fall short of grasping it... The gates to the Hall broke open, Lamia and Skeletons charging to the item we were trying to protect so dearly. Barely avoiding swiping claws, sharp weapons and being crushed by so many people in a small area, I tried my best to fend off the mobs starting to head towards the Astral Candescence... I tried my elemental spells at my disposal, only to see barely any damage or no mark of infliction. At one point, something managed to steal alot of my life, I started to breathe haggardly, my limbs starting to droop, I felt like I was going to fall to the darkness once more... just as I was going to seep into darkness, a high level cure spell hit me, jolting me awake, a white mage noticed me and nodded to keep on fighting. Engaging the army once again, hoping that my degen would do some damage to help out, I noticed that a few Lamia slithered past me, spinning around, I shouted: "Don't let the Lamia get it!" I disengaged the enemy I was facing to leap over a healing Hume and run fast enough to out-pace the Lamia that were getting nearer to the Astral Candescence. I ended up back to back with an Elvaan male Red Mage; striking blows with our swords. One of the skeletons swiped at me with a polearm, I dodged it with a backstep, the spearhead just barely slicing at my torso. When we finally thought it was all over, I suddenly got shoved to the side by a Lamia, crashing into the rope railing, almost falling off the platform when a strong arm of a Galka pulled me back. Suddenly in a flash, the Astral Candescence vanished; the Lamia cheered and disappeared with the item... Silence fell apon the Hall, it was deafing... Everyone realized we had lost. Suddenly a small sobbing noise started which ended up into crying, then some muttering and cursing broke out... I had not realized that I had fallen to my knees, my degen laying on the ground next to me. I slowly looked around, noticing the lifeless bodies of comrades, the white mages were starting to raise the unconcious... my eyes fell apon the empty container of the Astral Candescence, the room seemed a bit darker without it now... I think I heard the sound of a fist punching the wall, I'm not sure because I was in the state of shock with disbelief from our loss... I slowly regained myself from shock, got up, shealthed my degen and started to head out... Several of adventurers were gathered at the front door, a bunch of Warriors and Paladins were tugging at the door, unable to open it... I heard mutterings of panic about not being able to get out. Someone shouted to the group about a side door, practicually everyone crowded the door and ran down the corridor, of course there was arguements being yelled at each other to go faster... I waited for it to cool down and headed down the path... It was fairly dark and narrow. Eventually when it felt like an enternity, I spotted light and broke out into fresh air, I was by the gate that lead to Whitegate... I heard that the army managed to capture ten of the citizens of Al Zhubi and talk of people forming a rescue party for both the prisoners and the Astral Candescence... I felt tired and slowly headed to the Mog House I was currently renting..
My moogle greeted me with kindness and ask if everything was alright... I told that we lost the Astral Candescence, he patted me with sympthy and handed me some food. After finishing the Al Zhubi dish and drink, I tried to get a hold of my fiancee, no luck... I glanced at the Lilac Corsage that he got me, a small smile brought to my face as I climbed into bed and with a small good night, I slept in deep slumber.
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Author's Notes: This was actually a summary of what happened but it ended up turning into this story. My server, Pandemonium, defended the Astral Candescence against the attacks of the beastmen of Al Zhubi until last night, June 18th of 2006, we finally lost. I thank you for taking your time and reading this.