ATUHOR'S NOSE: Happy New Year, told ya I aten't dead. DSI may not be top priority anymore, but it's still on the list. Check out Beyond the Borders too, if you haven't already.
I might be getting a bit more experimental now. Though I guess this fic was always a bit experimental.
... Also, in case anyone's forgotten, this fic takes place in October 2017. I checked, and it turns out a certain patch to certain XIV content was released shortly after.
e: Did I need to retcon in the canon name of the XIV world after playing Endwalker? No. But I did it anyway.
Message History: Luke
Tempest, where the hell are you?
Scouring the multiverse for OP spells and/or abilities I can use. Why?
I thought we were going to meet up at the Pride Lands?
Oh, right, that.
I
impulsively decided not to.
Why?!
See above re: "OP spells and/or abilities".
Oh. But I should have told you earlier.
No, I got *that* part, I mean why did you run off on your own to do this?
It didn't seem like the kind of thing I needed a buddy for?
I suppose that depends on where you're searching.
That depends on what worlds I find.
... I say that and immediately find this one, huh.
*What* one?
Nothing dangerous.
That wasn't the question.
No need to send a buddy-
What world, Tempest?
... How did you interrupt me over text?
Tempest, please.
... Hydaelyn. The FFXIV world.
Though the scanners are labeling it "Etheirys"?
Don't recognize that name at all. Wonder where it came from.
I don't know that world. How dangerous is it?
...
The chief danger is being tempered by a primal - brainwashed to worship and serve them.
I don't know if we have anything like the Echo that would make us immune to that.
And just getting the actual Echo, while probably possible, might just be the same thing from a different source.
That sounds very dangerous indeed.
How common are primals?
Hopefully less common now, with the Warrior of Light going around killing them.
... but they can be summoned at any time, with prayer and crystals.
You're not making it sound like a good idea to let you go there alone.
Well! To be fair! I'm focusing on the single biggest danger here!
It's *mostly* a typical Final Fantasy world.
And... bringing someone else along just risks them getting tempered as well.
I don't like this.
But I can't exactly stop you, so... just be careful, okay?
I'll try my best.
Message History: Vanitas, probably
You split off from your friends.
Yes? To hang out with Demyx?
After that, too.
... What's your point?
Isn't your team's whole thing the Power of Friendship™?
Doesn't mean we need to hang around 100% of the time.
I'm doing this for their sake, too.
Surely that counts?
All I know is, last time people went off on their own, it went badly for them.
... You mean the tragedy you were at the center of, right?
Center-adjacent at most.
But yes.
... Hm. Maybe I *should* have brought a buddy.
Too late now, though.
Pff. If you want to invite me along, just say so.
... I mean.
I know that was a joke, but
would you?
I don't think my more light-aligned friends would understand.
Yes, I'll be your safety buddy on your search for whatever.
Just give me a bit to catch up.
Sure, sure. I'll just wait in orbit until then.
Message History: ?
Did you think you could ignore me indefinitely, child?
... whomst?
Ah... so you are not yet ready.
...whomst x2 combo?!
I don't know why, when I landed in Gridania, I was surprised that Vanitas wasn't there waiting for me. I didn't tell him where in 'Etheirys' I was landing, because as usual, I didn't actually get a choice in that matter on the first landing — and presumably, neither did he, so for all I knew he might not even have landed on the Source. (He had, in fact, but the point is that I should've realized I didn't know that at the time.)
I was more understandably surprised that he didn't text me when he realized we weren't in the same place.
I didn't notice this the moment it happened, of course. I was doing odd jobs for gil (... sigh, yes, sidequests — this isn't the Neath, they're not overprepared to exchange for any and all possible foreign money) and looking on the market board for a few items that I had suddenly realized might be useful. Only after I spent a few hours on that did I consider that something might be wrong.
To which my first response was to try texting Vanitas again. Only, y'know, pulling out an anachronistic smartphone where natives to the world might see it wouldn't be a smart idea, if the world order was to be maintained. (And I had opinions on that, but for the moment, I was going along with it.)
But I found it strangely difficult to get privacy in this city — not helped by the fact that, for reasons unclear to me, I was forbidden from renting an inn room. So after wandering around for a bit, I found a mildly secluded corner, where I could at least stay out of sight long enough to open a Corridor.
I still didn't know how to determine the exit point, but I figured an effectively randomly-placed Corridor was at least pretty likely to open somewhere away from people.
Assuming, of course, it didn't open into solid rock. Which happened a few times. This isn't particularly dangerous, just annoying — imagine someone cut a mountain in half and slapped a door on the exposed section. Now imagine that you can't see what's behind the door because the whole thing is constantly emanating black smoke. You're not gonna hurt yourself, you just can't go through.
After a few tries, I managed to get through, and... I had to admit that I wasn't entirely clear what I was seeing.
The place I had landed didn't look very nice at all. It looked kind of... blown to smitheroons. The twisted and charred ruins looked largely metallic.
The aesthetic was obviously Garlean, but other than that I had no idea where I was.
Not for the first time, but for a brand new reason, I regretted relying so much on teleportation and flight and not really bothering to learn the layout of the world in this game.
So I wandered aimlessly through the ruins, trying to figure anything out.
For quite a while.
Some of the ruins looked tall and platform-y, and I was itching to test out new motion techniques, so I made sure to check out the top of all of them. Never know where you might find an inexplicable treasure chest, after all.
None of them looked like they were supposed to be tall and platform-y. As I nyoomed to the top of one of the largest-looking ones, I wondered aloud, "What in the world happened here?"
"What indeed? A miserable failure. And yet a partial success."
I whirled around toward the source of the voice — a figure wearing a hooded cloak and a red mask.
"You," the figure continued, "are an outsider."
"Of course I'm not from around here," I said, "do you see a third eye on this forehead?"
The figure eyed me skeptically for several seconds.
It was obvious what they meant, and despite my cool facade, I was seething inwardly. Can anyone just immediately tell I'm not from their world? Why don't I just wear a big neon sign saying "Attention, off-worlder"?
"Very well," the figure said, shrugging. "If you will insist upon this charade. Why do you lurk in this particular location?"
I shrugged loudly. "Why not here? Admittedly, I don't even recognize this place..."
"Truly? An outsider who recognizes a Paragon does not also recognize the Praetorium?"
"This is the Praetorium?" I asked in disbelief. "I don't remember it being this... exploded." Was it blown up in one of those mid-dungeon cutscenes nobody ever gets to watch? Wonder how that happened. And 'Paragon'? I thought he was an Ascian. ... Unless that's one of the other names they've had over their very long existence? Gosh, if only I could look this stuff up on the internet.
"A recent development, I will admit," they said. "The destruction was not the point, but it was at least cathartic."
My jaw dropped. "You... blew all this up... for catharsis?"
"Ha! No. As I said, the destruction was not the point. The point was to break Her shield over Her chosen, which was accomplished perfectly. Unfortunately, my chosen pawn completely failed to capitalize on the opportunity. And then things got worse..."
I did remember some of that. A major NPC was possessed by an Ascian, and at the end of the Praetorium, some magical nonsense was pulled to finally separate the two. "... You're not here looking for a new vessel, right?" I asked cautiously.
The Ascian shook his head. "No, my ambitions are quite firmly rooted in this world. And even were I seeking to possess outsiders, the Key you bear protects you from my influence as surely as would the Echo."
"I see..." I said, not seeing. "Nice of you to just out and tell me that... Why are you here, then? Just to make sure I don't interfere with your plans?"
"In part, yes," he said. "Tell me, outsider. If your dearest friends were killed long ago, but you could resurrect them by stomping on thirteen anthills, what would you do?"
"Um?" I paused, taken aback by the sudden non sequitur. "That's oddly specific, but uhhh... I guess the first thing I'd do is question why the resurrection method requires this kind of cruelty to animals?"
"A valid question," he said. "Your friends' souls were shattered upon their deaths, and are now residing in the anthills. Only by destroying them and reuniting the shards can your friends be restored."
Shards... "Would I be correct to infer that the 'ants' are a metaphor for... people? Regular, non-Paragon people?"
"And what of it if they are?"
I took a moment to choose my words carefully. "Do the ants need to die to restore my friends? Or is it just the hills that need to be destroyed?"
This time he was the one to be taken aback. "A curious question. Would the answer change your course?"
"Hell yes, it would! If I only needed to destroy the hills, I'd arrange for the ants to evacuate beforehand — build a new anthill for them, if I have to. Or, or, since I'm an outsider, maybe find a... a beehive? For them to borrow?" I frowned. "I think I'm stretching this metaphor to the breaking point, but never mind, you do see what I'm getting at?"
The figure laughed. "And you truly believe you would do this?"
I frowned. "I do realize that my answer is tainted by the fact that I'm obviously trying to reverse-engineer your analogy... but if the ants talked to me, yes, I would literally do this, for literal ants."
He folded his arms. "Hmph. Well, you're an outsider. It goes without saying that your thought process is unusual."
"Wh— well all right then!" I exclaimed, throwing my hands up in exasperation. "If you were just gonna throw my opinion out the window, why even ask it?"
He smirked. "Why, have you already forgotten that I'm here to ensure you don't interfere with our plans?"
It took me a moment to catch the meaning of that. "... Oh. I didn't think you meant that so... directly." I paused a moment. "I wasn't actually planning to interfere, though. I don't even know y'all's plan. Hell, I've lost track of my plan. I'm just vaguely hoping to find something that can help me when I go up against the big bad guy."
"By which you mean Master Xehanort, I presume."
I flinched, taken aback. "How...?"
"You are not the first outsider to grace our realm, you know," he said.
I frowned. He got here first, huh? Figures. "Don't suppose you can and/or want to tell me what he got out of his visit?"
He shrugged. "Very little. While we were sympathetic to his goal, we also found it quite incompatible with our own."
"You're... sympathetic... to blowing up the universe to see what happens?" I asked, confused.
He laughed. "Is that what you think he desires?"
"That's... Last I checked, yeah. Admittedly, it's hard to keep track of what this guy's thinking, but I do pretty distinctly remember the phrase 'you would risk an apocalypse out of sheer curiosity?!'"
He shook his head, still laughing. "Of course, of course... and no one ever lies about their motivations, after all."
"Is there a point to all this?"
We both turned towards the voice to see a Dark Corridor opening and Vanitas walking out.
"Ah, our other outsider," the Ascian said. "I knew you weren't far away, but I had been wondering..."
"Yeah, yeah, you know everything that goes on around here," Vanitas said, waving his hand dismissively. "Are you gonna make your move or not?" A brief pause. "Don't play dumb. You didn't have to show up here. You could've just let Tempest wander around aimlessly. You have something in mind for her."
The Ascian smirked. "You're quite observant." And with a flick of his hand, a puddle of caustic goo appeared at Vanitas's feet.
The Towering Ruin is sealed off!
I leapt backwards in shock, only to be blocked by a shimmering purple barrier. "I have so many questions right now..." For example, is the author actually writing this fight scene instead of copping out like she always does? I summoned Voice of the Well. "But screw it, if it's a fight you want, it's a fight you'll get!"
"Good," the Ascian said, channeling a spell. Instinctively, I jumped to the side, but he seemed to have this strange ability called "re-adjusting aim" and got me anyway with a burst of dark energy.
While I stumbled back, Vanitas swung at the Ascian from behind, but he vanished before Void Gear struck.
"Oh, I do not like this," I muttered, looking around frantically.
"Over there," Vanitas shouted, pointing behind me — I turned around — there was the Ascian, floating outside the arena like a godsdamned cheater and charging some kind of beam attack — I dashed to the side and just barely avoided it as he blinked to the other side of the arena —
"Damn it, Collision Magnet!" I whipped the rope of magnetic energy through the barrier and at the Ascian, pulling him back into the arena — and definitely faster than either of us was anticipating, because, with a look of shock on his face, he slammed into me and knocked me back on my ass.
"Up, Tempe," Vanitas said, grabbing me by the arm and pulling me to my feet while the Ascian skidded comically to a halt in mid-air.
"Impressive," the Ascian said. "You can do things normally considered impossible."
"When you can travel between worlds at will and pick up everything you like from each one," I said, "'impossible' is just a polite suggestion."
"Indeed it is," the Ascian said. "However — "
"Don't get distracted."
The Ascian's eyes grew wide and in an instant he whirled around to catch Void Gear before it came down on his head.
He glared at Vanitas. "You're not clever."
"Am I?" Vanitas taunted.
"No," the Ascian said, reaching behind him and catching Voice of the Well mid-thrust as I attempted to run him through. "You're not."
The three of us stood there for a second or two, looking distinctly awkward.
"Pearl—"
"Darkra—"
Despite the lack of a signal, we managed to pick the exact same moment to cast our spells, and an orb of light emerged from my Keyblade at the same time as tendrils of darkness left Vanitas's palm — the Ascian started warping out — the light and darkness collided —
BOOM
I skidded backwards, somehow managing to stay on my feet. This was far too small to be the blast of setting off a Point of Shadow, and in any case nobody here was Light enough to do that. Apparently light magic colliding with dark magic had a similar effect. (It occurs to me, as I write this later, that forming the χ-blade is going to be very destructive.)
As my vision cleared, I immediately spotted Vanitas on the other side of the arena, recovering from the blast immediately. It didn't take much longer to find the Ascian, as he warped in a few meters up, looking distinctly rattled.
"All right... perhaps you're a little clever."
I wasn't sure, but I thought I could see, under his hood, a trickle of blood running down his face.
Wasting no time, Vanitas dashed through the air —
"That's enough," the Ascian said, holding his hand out and halting Vanitas in mid-air. I launched magic at him, which he stopped similarly with no apparent exertion.
"Tempe, you ripped Xaldin's gimmick, didn't you? Use it!"
"Xaldin's...? ...!" Well, shoot, I'd completely forgotten about that. Still pointing my Keyblade at the Ascian, I gathered magical energy in the back of my mind and, attempting to imitate Vanitas, leapt at the Ascian —
"I said..."
— jumped —
"... that's enough."
The Ascian smoothly turned around to catch me as I came down behind him and held his other hand out to stop me.
"Your persistence does you credit, but it is a fool's errand to attempt to destroy one such as me."
"Point of order: you attacked us," I said.
The Towering Ruin is no longer sealed.
"Indeed. And now I have stopped attacking you. You see how that works?"
He dropped us to the ground, releasing whatever magic he was using to freeze us in place.
I cursed in pain as I hit the ground. "Why do you drop us. Unnecessary." Grumbling, I quickly got back to my feet.
Vanitas, already on his feet, pointed Void Gear at the Ascian. "So what was the point of fighting us, then?"
The Ascian shrugged very loudly. "Curiosity." He took out a... big rock?... and tossed it to me.
I caught the rock and turned it over in my hands. "... This is probably bait, but... what exactly is this thing?" I asked.
"An artifact I'd like to get out of our way for a while," the Ascian said. "Plus, the time you spend puzzling over it will get you out of our way for a while."
"What makes you think she's gonna do that?" Vanitas asked.
"Why, she told me what she came here for," the Ascian said.
I blinked and looked closer at the big rock. It wasn't just a rock; it had thin lines of what looked like crystal running through it, in patterns that reminded me vaguely of computer circuitboards. "... Huh." I looked back up and realized the Ascian was gone. "... Rude."
"Smug jackass," Vanitas said. He glanced at me as I snickered. "Yeah, yeah, I know that's rich coming from me. He's worse, though."
"Eh, maybe..." I equivocated. "If it's any consolation... actually, I'll tell you later. Don't want him overhearing."
"What, you think that thing might actually be the answer to your question?" Vanitas asked incredulously.
"Might be. Dunno what the thing is." I shrugged. "We'll find out some way or another."
Message History: ?
Have you tried using your fourth-wall awareness?
No, and I'm not going to.
I suppose not.
I'm aware that three years have passed out there.
I'm aware that some things have changed.
There's no rule that any of that has to be reflected in here.
*This* is my life, okay?
If you think about that for a moment, you might see a glaring flaw in that argument.
? has been blocked.
Message History: Marco
Tempest what did you do
... you're gonna have to be more specific.
[Image: An angry selfie of Marco Diaz. Star Butterfly is fighting several Shadows in the background.]
... Oh. That.
... In my defense, I totally forgot that was part of it.
... That's worse, isn't it?
Yeah, it's definitely worse.
Shoot.
I will head over and
help you deal with my decision.
Could you maybe phrase that less ominously?
... I don't think so.
Would it help if I promised I didn't *mean* it ominously?
... Better than nothing.