p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Restlessness had been felt for days. Tension vibrated in the air and everyone seemed to be just waiting for the unstoppable fate. It didn't matter what the leaders of the city-states said to calm the people. The sky was on fire, and no one could gloss over that with honeyed words. Hardly anyone had returned from Carteneau and the battle with the Garleans was still dragging on and on./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"In East Thalanan, people were drawn to Camp Drybone. Most in the area lived in the city, but those who came from the villages sought shelter in the church. The feeling was hard to describe. The Immortal Flames stationed only sporadic soldiers around the camp to keep the crowd calm. Most of them were still at war with Garlemald, and many Brass Blades wanted nothing to do with the refugees from Gyr Abania./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Feli was sitting on a caravan. The Miqo'te girl looked at the blood-red sky. Her parents whispered quietly to each other, so she wouldn't overhear what they were talking about. They too, for lack of a better solution, were on their way to camp. The vehicle bumped over the dusty desert floor. It had not rained for days, and it was very, very hot./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"A few hundred yards away, a couple of trees jutted out of the ground, deep into an abyss. The burning wall. It owed its name to the deep red light it emitted every evening at sunset, and what was normally a pretty sight was obscured tonight by the threatening sky./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"One could see the moon. Bigger and clearer than ever before, it was making its way toward the planet. Feli wondered if Dalamud had a will of his own. She did not understand what was going on or why the moon decided to keep falling. Menphinas loyal hound. Did the goddess forsake us? Did the twelve?/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Despite she didn't know much about the religion of her tribe, she knew what the moon meant to them. But they were in Thanalan now. It is the realm of the Traders and Azeyma, the Warden. What if they are watching over us now?/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"This question was answered with a deep rumble. Felicitas forced herself to look away from the red moon and turned to her mother. „Feli!" The Miqo'te pulled her daughter close. The planet itself seemed to tremble. She could hear hoof beats as a herd of Myotragus jumped on the street. At the same moment a flock of birds was startled, and a second rumble went through the very earth below./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"„We need to get to the camp!" She could hear her father say as she watched the moon shattering. Slowly at first. Crack after crack, but as clear as day. Dalamud was far away, and yet the shard that first hit the ground made the earth shake again, many times more violently than before. Still – the worst was yet to come./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"„Seven Hells!" Feli does not remember who cursed, she could only remember a roar - wild and raging, it pierced the air. She could remember feeling nothing at that moment. Just watched in shock. Watched the dragon hatch from the moon as if it were an egg. Watched as Dalamud crashed to the ground and broke into thousand pieces. She watched as comets flew over her. The child could no longer see the dragon, but the hellfire that was now raining down on them./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"She was only shaken out of her state of shock when the ground broke away from under her, and she heard her mother scream. Then she was overcome by a terrible fear. Feli reached for her mother's hand, but it was nowhere to be felt, and then realized that she could no longer see anything. The ground was churned up, and the dust floated thickly in the air. The child coughed as she breathed in the sand and the smoke./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Felicitas!" The voices could only be heard muffled. She felt that she had fallen on hard ground, but before she could pick herself up, part of the earth shot up right next to her. Feli cried out. Rock crumbled down on her, and then suddenly it was terribly hot. One of Bahamuts killing fires hit not far away and made a sickening sound./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Feli could see nothing and could hardly breathe. She could no longer hear her parents' voices, and she tasted blood in her mouth. She backed away and bumped into a hot stone. A corrupted crystal, freshly born from the earth. The Miqo'te child hadn't even noticed, but tears were streaming down her face and the heat was almost unbearable. She would die here. She was quite sure of that./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;" /p
hr style="margin: 0.875em auto 1.2525em; border-style: solid; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; width: 359.234px; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15.12px; background-color: #ffffff;" /
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;" /p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Thal, please..." said Nald, watching the moon shatter./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""We are not here to intervene, only to observe, brother."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Nald knew his brother's words even before he spoke them, they sounded cold and distant, but he could feel the pain behind Thal's words./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""So we are abandoning our children yet again."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"In separate forms, they flew across the realm. White feathers adorned Thal's eagle body, just as black feathers adorned his brother's./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""You know our task is far greater than this. It will cost many lives, but our children are strong. They will endure."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"The world below them was pure chaos. The Traders could feel the fear the Calamity brought. The souls cried out by this forceful rejoining. The destruction of a world strengthened the souls of these children and weakened the soul of the Mothercrystal. Hydaelyn's influence enfeebled once /br /"You sense it too, don't you?" It was not so much a question as a statement. This feeling a reunion of worlds brought was indescribable. So much dead, so much destruction./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"But there was also something else - a dark presence. Stronger than before and yet pure in its own way. The twin gods know that the power of Zodiark was nourished by this blight./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""This is the last one. It has to be. She can't take it much longer." Nald said, and Thal muttered something in agreement. The keeper of the realm of death landed on the remains of a destroyed caravan. The air shimmered with heat, and he wondered if it was wise to stay here. The unstable ether was forming around his animal body, and he could not estimate how much it would take to reveal his true form to the mortals. Still, something bothered him./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Not far away, he could make out two figures in the dust. Lifeless, they lay there, in a position of mutual protection. But the fire of the Primal had burned them alive./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"„Thal?" His brother landed right next to him, watching over this lifeless people with a sense of guilt./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""A mortal." Was Thals answer, that let his twin brother in confusion. And then he could hear it. A soft but heavy breathing nearby. The traders flew side by side as they found a child huddled under a wall of newly emerged crystals. She was covered with dust and ashes and her breathing was getting weaker by the second. She was dying./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"It was one thing to weigh the souls of these poor children on the scales. To take them to the heavens or hells, but another to watch them die. Nald closed his eyes. He couldn't bear the thought of it./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Brother, should we really just watch?"/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Thals gaze was still on the child as he hesitated. He could feel something that irritated him, and even more so that his brother didn't seem to notice./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"He took off his animal form and assumed that of a man. Thal's dark skin shimmered almost golden in the fire of the apocalypse, his white hair was loosely braided over his shoulder and his eyes represented the blue flames of his true form. His brother watched him. He could feel what irritated him, but Nald wanted to hear it. Never before had they interfered with a mortals' life./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Why her, why here?" Nald asked./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""She wasn't born to die here." Thal whispered. "I can just feel this is wrong."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""More wrong than the death of our other children?" Nald did the same as his brother when he took human form. He had the same dark skin that shimmered golden against the red sky. Long dark hair that fell down his back and warm, fiery eyes that matched his brother's cold blue./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"A brief pang of anger coursed through Thal, as if these lives were not dear enough to him, but just one look at his twin was enough to appease him. Neither of them took this burden lightly. Of that he was sure./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""If I'm not mistaken, it was you who wanted to interfere." Thal teased./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"His brother sighed and bent down to the girl. Her breathing was now shallow. Nald took her carefully in his arms. The smoke from her lungs was easily removed, as was the dirt from her skin. But he could not heal the scars this day had left on her soul. Gently he lifted her up. It would be another hard time for her. The Calamity made her an orphan and when she woke up she had to understand what had happened. And above all, Nald'Thal was not someone a mortal liked to face after almost dying. But his heart swell when the unconscious child clung to him./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""That it is right. I know it is."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Thal didn't answer, but he smiled. "Come now, brother, we have our duties. Take her with us for now, we shall see what comes when she awakens!"/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"In East Thalanan, people were drawn to Camp Drybone. Most in the area lived in the city, but those who came from the villages sought shelter in the church. The feeling was hard to describe. The Immortal Flames stationed only sporadic soldiers around the camp to keep the crowd calm. Most of them were still at war with Garlemald, and many Brass Blades wanted nothing to do with the refugees from Gyr Abania./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Feli was sitting on a caravan. The Miqo'te girl looked at the blood-red sky. Her parents whispered quietly to each other, so she wouldn't overhear what they were talking about. They too, for lack of a better solution, were on their way to camp. The vehicle bumped over the dusty desert floor. It had not rained for days, and it was very, very hot./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"A few hundred yards away, a couple of trees jutted out of the ground, deep into an abyss. The burning wall. It owed its name to the deep red light it emitted every evening at sunset, and what was normally a pretty sight was obscured tonight by the threatening sky./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"One could see the moon. Bigger and clearer than ever before, it was making its way toward the planet. Feli wondered if Dalamud had a will of his own. She did not understand what was going on or why the moon decided to keep falling. Menphinas loyal hound. Did the goddess forsake us? Did the twelve?/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Despite she didn't know much about the religion of her tribe, she knew what the moon meant to them. But they were in Thanalan now. It is the realm of the Traders and Azeyma, the Warden. What if they are watching over us now?/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"This question was answered with a deep rumble. Felicitas forced herself to look away from the red moon and turned to her mother. „Feli!" The Miqo'te pulled her daughter close. The planet itself seemed to tremble. She could hear hoof beats as a herd of Myotragus jumped on the street. At the same moment a flock of birds was startled, and a second rumble went through the very earth below./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"„We need to get to the camp!" She could hear her father say as she watched the moon shattering. Slowly at first. Crack after crack, but as clear as day. Dalamud was far away, and yet the shard that first hit the ground made the earth shake again, many times more violently than before. Still – the worst was yet to come./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"„Seven Hells!" Feli does not remember who cursed, she could only remember a roar - wild and raging, it pierced the air. She could remember feeling nothing at that moment. Just watched in shock. Watched the dragon hatch from the moon as if it were an egg. Watched as Dalamud crashed to the ground and broke into thousand pieces. She watched as comets flew over her. The child could no longer see the dragon, but the hellfire that was now raining down on them./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"She was only shaken out of her state of shock when the ground broke away from under her, and she heard her mother scream. Then she was overcome by a terrible fear. Feli reached for her mother's hand, but it was nowhere to be felt, and then realized that she could no longer see anything. The ground was churned up, and the dust floated thickly in the air. The child coughed as she breathed in the sand and the smoke./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Felicitas!" The voices could only be heard muffled. She felt that she had fallen on hard ground, but before she could pick herself up, part of the earth shot up right next to her. Feli cried out. Rock crumbled down on her, and then suddenly it was terribly hot. One of Bahamuts killing fires hit not far away and made a sickening sound./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Feli could see nothing and could hardly breathe. She could no longer hear her parents' voices, and she tasted blood in her mouth. She backed away and bumped into a hot stone. A corrupted crystal, freshly born from the earth. The Miqo'te child hadn't even noticed, but tears were streaming down her face and the heat was almost unbearable. She would die here. She was quite sure of that./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;" /p
hr style="margin: 0.875em auto 1.2525em; border-style: solid; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; width: 359.234px; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15.12px; background-color: #ffffff;" /
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;" /p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Thal, please..." said Nald, watching the moon shatter./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""We are not here to intervene, only to observe, brother."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Nald knew his brother's words even before he spoke them, they sounded cold and distant, but he could feel the pain behind Thal's words./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""So we are abandoning our children yet again."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"In separate forms, they flew across the realm. White feathers adorned Thal's eagle body, just as black feathers adorned his brother's./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""You know our task is far greater than this. It will cost many lives, but our children are strong. They will endure."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"The world below them was pure chaos. The Traders could feel the fear the Calamity brought. The souls cried out by this forceful rejoining. The destruction of a world strengthened the souls of these children and weakened the soul of the Mothercrystal. Hydaelyn's influence enfeebled once /br /"You sense it too, don't you?" It was not so much a question as a statement. This feeling a reunion of worlds brought was indescribable. So much dead, so much destruction./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"But there was also something else - a dark presence. Stronger than before and yet pure in its own way. The twin gods know that the power of Zodiark was nourished by this blight./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""This is the last one. It has to be. She can't take it much longer." Nald said, and Thal muttered something in agreement. The keeper of the realm of death landed on the remains of a destroyed caravan. The air shimmered with heat, and he wondered if it was wise to stay here. The unstable ether was forming around his animal body, and he could not estimate how much it would take to reveal his true form to the mortals. Still, something bothered him./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Not far away, he could make out two figures in the dust. Lifeless, they lay there, in a position of mutual protection. But the fire of the Primal had burned them alive./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"„Thal?" His brother landed right next to him, watching over this lifeless people with a sense of guilt./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""A mortal." Was Thals answer, that let his twin brother in confusion. And then he could hear it. A soft but heavy breathing nearby. The traders flew side by side as they found a child huddled under a wall of newly emerged crystals. She was covered with dust and ashes and her breathing was getting weaker by the second. She was dying./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"It was one thing to weigh the souls of these poor children on the scales. To take them to the heavens or hells, but another to watch them die. Nald closed his eyes. He couldn't bear the thought of it./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Brother, should we really just watch?"/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Thals gaze was still on the child as he hesitated. He could feel something that irritated him, and even more so that his brother didn't seem to notice./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"He took off his animal form and assumed that of a man. Thal's dark skin shimmered almost golden in the fire of the apocalypse, his white hair was loosely braided over his shoulder and his eyes represented the blue flames of his true form. His brother watched him. He could feel what irritated him, but Nald wanted to hear it. Never before had they interfered with a mortals' life./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Why her, why here?" Nald asked./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""She wasn't born to die here." Thal whispered. "I can just feel this is wrong."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""More wrong than the death of our other children?" Nald did the same as his brother when he took human form. He had the same dark skin that shimmered golden against the red sky. Long dark hair that fell down his back and warm, fiery eyes that matched his brother's cold blue./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"A brief pang of anger coursed through Thal, as if these lives were not dear enough to him, but just one look at his twin was enough to appease him. Neither of them took this burden lightly. Of that he was sure./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""If I'm not mistaken, it was you who wanted to interfere." Thal teased./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"His brother sighed and bent down to the girl. Her breathing was now shallow. Nald took her carefully in his arms. The smoke from her lungs was easily removed, as was the dirt from her skin. But he could not heal the scars this day had left on her soul. Gently he lifted her up. It would be another hard time for her. The Calamity made her an orphan and when she woke up she had to understand what had happened. And above all, Nald'Thal was not someone a mortal liked to face after almost dying. But his heart swell when the unconscious child clung to him./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""That it is right. I know it is."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Thal didn't answer, but he smiled. "Come now, brother, we have our duties. Take her with us for now, we shall see what comes when she awakens!"/p