So life has been busy since I last wrote: between work, a dire cold, a (working) trip to Europe (trip pics coming out… between XIV stuff), and Shadowbringers, I haven’t had much time to write. However I’m determined to put a dent in the story now, as a lot of the writing I did do is recording thoughts on 5.0 happenings, so I do want to catch up to it sooner rather than later lol! Still going to take me years…
My spoiler-free thoughts on Shadowbringers now that I’m done: it’s SO GOOD! I love how the focus closes in from Stormblood’s sprawling war epic to a highly character-driven conflict, getting closer to people we already care about, the lore bombs (oh the lore bombs), the tension and drama (cried multiple times, screamed of excitement multiple times, will upload video evidence). That ENDING. My heart. Respect. I am not sure how I’m going to write it with 8 people. Also Soken is a GOD. Still. I’ve tried the new raid and I think it’s going to be the best raid yet; I don’t even remember much of FFVIII but the XIV plot is really intriguing. Still haven’t downed any of the EX primals, though I’ve actually made a go of it with friends and without, but I do want a weapon. Also, to fit the story, I fantasia’d to Vivienne! And also one thing that made me way too excited was a part where Alphinaud said words that inadvertently title-dropped this fic! I started writing this almost two years ago! I can’t believe it, it’s too perfect lol
This chapter is extra big because Bahamut is a BIG BOI. Still haven’t fought him synced yet, but I wouldn’t rule it out as happening some time this summer! (also I know Akh Morn is the tankbuster, not a stack, but I’m writing it as a stack for reasons)
Chapter 14: Blow, Blow, Thou Winter Wind
Chapter 15: The Elder Primal
Rinala returned from a grocery shopping trip in Revenant Toll’s market in the mid-afternoon a couple days later – Warrior of Light saving nations from gods one day, on-duty culinarian assisting Higiri the next. But even as she dropped off her purchases at the bar, her attention was drawn by Moenbryda’s hearty guffaw, Yda’s high-pitched giggle, and a deeper grunt from someone who could only be Thancred.
She looked, of course, and saw the three of them clustered around one of the smaller tables. Yda was holding a very large bottle, and the table was covered with several beer bottles and many glasses, most of them upside down. Thancred had just slipped from his seat, kneeling on the floor now with his cheek on the table. He was struggling drunkenly to raise himself as the two women laughed at him. Rinala frowned at the scene. She really liked all of them, but this was fun for them?
“Moenbryda challenged Thancred to a drinking contest,” Higiri said in her softly inflected voice. “Apparently she wants to test those among the Scions whom she has not measured herself against yet. They began nearly a bell ago…”
“Are they going to be okay?” Rinala asked.
“From what I know of Eorzeans and drink, I think so? But you go on and spend some time with them, if you like. I can see you want to! I don’t need your help just yet.”
“Oh, thank you!” Rinala said. “Please call me when you need me!”
“Rinala!” Yda called, waving her over. “How are you? Come join us!”
“Another vict- I mean, challenger?” Moenbryda asked, her eyes gleaming wickedly.
“Definitely not,” Rinala said. “I just wanted to make sure you were all right… and to join your company if you were just having fun!”
“I’m having fun, aren’t we, Yda?” Yda nodded, grinning, though it didn’t seem she’d been drinking at all herself. Moenbryda shrugged at Thancred. “Thancred’s all right. Probably.”
Thancred rolled his face on the table, trying yet to get up. “Hey… Hey… I jus’ gotta say… Ye’re a – hic – a pretty – hic – a… A… Ye’re all right.” He patted the table soothingly.
“Trying to tumble the table now, are we?” Moenbryda said, smirking. “Don’t give up yet, boy! Yda! Line ’em up!”
Thancred mumbled something unintelligible about ‘pretty’ and slid to the floor, completely boneless. Rinala bent over him, peering at him in concern. She couldn’t Esuna the effects of alcohol. She’d tried before. “R… Rrrrrr… R’nala! Di’n’t know – hic – ya had a sister!” His smile was ridiculously wide, and his eyes were slightly crossed.
“I don’t, you know that,” she said, laughing. “Don’t you think you’ve had enough?”
“Oh, he’s fine,” Moenbryda said. “Though more horizontal than I’d hoped at this point. Pity. You want to go?”
“Oh, no no no no!” Rinala waved both arms in front of herself frantically. She’d be done after one glass of beer, two at the most, if she could even drink that much liquid in one go, and it smelled like Moenbryda was drinking something substantially stronger, even if in smaller glasses.
“Don’t be silly,” Moenbryda said, catching her glance. “We’d balance it for your weight. Baby shots, of course.”
“No, no, no. It would be too embarrassing! And I have to help cook tonight!” She probably should have led with that.
Moenbryda laughed. “Embarrassing like what it’s done to the lad here?”
“’M not done,” Thancred mumbled loudly from the floor, and hiccuped violently.
“I think you are, my friend,” Yda said. “And no, I don’t think Rinala would enjoy it very much. Hmm, I should give Tam a call!”
“I’ll do it!” Rinala said, happy not to be Moenbryda’s next target… but still wanting to spend time with them. “Why didn’t you call him first?”
Yda shrugged. “Thancred was already here, and he thought he could handle it!”
“Aye, I bet Tam could give me a run for my money, especially since I’ve already started,” Moenbryda said.
Rinala giggled. “I’m sure he’d be willing to drink extra to make it fair.”
“He looks like an old hand at the game – though you really can’t judge a man’s weight by his face. Why, Papalymo…”
“What about Papalymo?” Yda asked eagerly.
“Would roast me alive if I told, sorry, sister!” Moenbryda shrugged. “And Urianger generally stays away from the stuff. I don’t suppose Y’shtola or F’lhaminn could be enticed…?”
Rinala called Tam. “Hi!”
“Rinala. What’s the occasion?” Tam drawled. She could hear wind in the background; he was probably on one of Revenant Toll’s highest towers.
“Moenbryda’s looking for people to have a drinking contest with! She already beat Thancred, would you want to try?”
“Thancred’s out? You must be so disappointed.”
Her tail and ears twitched indignantly. “Shush! Do you want to or not?”
“I’ll be right down. Tell her to prepare herself.”
“He’s on his way,” she told Moenbryda happily. “He says to prepare yourself.”
Moenbryda grinned like a shark. “Ooh, I like that. But until he gets here, are you sure you don’t want just a drop?”
Rinala hesitated. Moenbryda was so confident and charismatic, and Yda liked her, and Rinala kind of wanted her to think well of her… Surely a tiny drink couldn’t hurt? Or even be funny? If she could make Moenbryda laugh…
A protective hand abruptly fell upon her shoulder. “She already said no,” Y’shtola said firmly. “I know you’re simply bonding, but pray do not be a worse influence upon her than you already are.”
“I’m all right, but thanks!” Rinala said gratefully.
“Aye, you’re right,” Moenbryda said. “My apologies, Rinala. That was untoward of me. But do stay, and witness my competition with Tam! You can’t have only good influences in your life!” She winked, and Yda and Rinala giggled.
“Actually, Higiri is ready for you,” Y’shtola said.
“Oh, okay. I will be right there!”
“Clean up for dinner, please,” Y’shtola told the other two, and walked away, already diving back into her book.
“An’ anoth’r thin’,” Thancred called weakly, as Rinala began to leave. “Pretty.”
“Stop going on about the table, already,” Moenbryda told him, picking him up under the armpits and dragging him to sit against a crate. He slumped over when she let go. “What are we going to do with you, boy?” He giggled helplessly.
Rinala was still slightly offended. He thought the table was prettier than she was. Menphina’s breath, what did she have to do to catch his eye?
Roaille had escaped, but not for long. Half the Warriors of Light and the Crystal Braves were in pursuit, racing to intercept her before she reached what was left of Castrum Meridianum and its token but entrenched Garlean garrison. Yet they were late to catch her, and she was arguing with a sizeable Garlean patrol by the time they rode up on chocobos. Whether or not the Garleans trusted Roaille, they took offense at the Eorzeans interrupting, and Roaille joined their side of the fray.
It was considerably noisier than anyone had hoped it would be, and the Garleans summoned reinforcements – more, Achiyo thought, to fend off the Eorzeans and escape than to protect Roaille. It was now a raging pitched battle in the middle of Raubahn’s Push, and the arrival of several magitech armours of various types meant they were being forced back to the Ceruleum Plant.
Until Yugiri and several shinobi appeared suddenly on the battlefield, immobilizing the magitech armours. The Garleans called a retreat shortly after that, leaving Roaille fighting alone with Ilberd, until Chuchupa leapt up between them and punched precisely into her lightly-armoured solar plexus, knocking Roaille to her back, completely winded.
The Crystal Braves bound her, and Alphinaud, who had been present but not in the fore of the fight – which Achiyo thought was well, as he was still wearing the same light clothing he always wore, and had no weapon to defend himself with but his grimoire – stepped forward to confront her. “Behold…a respected officer of the Immortal Flames. People looked up to you as one of the order’s founding members, one of its pillars. It saddens me to see you fallen so low.”
Roaille glared up at him with a contemptuous snort. “What would you know of low? You, a spoiled little lordling who has never known any want!” Alphinaud stumbled back, stammering, his righteous air completely blasted away. Roaille ranted on, her voice raising in volume and pitch until she was nigh-screaming. “People such as you take wealth and birth for granted! You think it your gods-given right to rule over others! You know naught of our plight – the injustice that we lowborn Ishgardians must endure! To the noble lords and ladies, we are not people, but resources to be consumed! I did what I had to do to survive – stealing, killing, even whoring myself! It is no fault of mine if fools imagined me a paragon when I joined the Flames!”
Several of the Warriors of Light inhaled to protest, but Achiyo beat them all to it, her blood boiling. Her voice was tightly controlled – no screaming for her, a samurai’s daughter – but though Roaille tried to shout over her, Achiyo won out through sheer intensity. “No fault of yours!? When you were given power to rival a noble lord, what did you do with it but prove yourself no better than they whom you hate? Alphinaud is right! He may not know of your suffering, but he knows how to take responsibility as a man! When was the last time you thought of the suffering of any but yourself? Why should it be the fault of others that you never sought to recover your integrity?”
“I was just goin’ to call ‘er a bitch, nicely said, Princess,” Chuchupa said.
“You know nothing!” Roaille shouted. “Nothing of me! Shut up!”
Achiyo mastered her breathing. She would not let this woman get to her personally.
“To hear you tell it, one would think you the only person ever to have suffered,” said Ilberd, stepping closer, his face and voice hard but calm – calmer than Achiyo could bring herself to be at this moment, no matter how well-controlled her face. “In case you have forgotten, Raubahn himself was born into poverty… as was I. We lived hand-to-mouth, with little more than the shirts on our backs. Hunger was our constant companion. Yet never did we bemoan our lot in life, nor did we begrudge others their fortunes. We accepted the hand that we had been dealt, and played it to the best of our ability. Life was a battle, aye, but no matter what fate threw at us, we took it on the chin and came back for more. Everything we have, we fought for.”
“How are we any different then!?” Roaille spat at him.
Ilberd’s gaze bored into Roaille’s. “’Tis true that we were both mercenaries of lowly birth. And ’tis true that we both had our fair share of struggles. But whereas I sold my sword, you, Marshal… you sold your comrades. If life has taught me one thing, it is that you never betray your own. I would sooner cut off my own arm than raise a hand against a friend.” Roaille looked away from his conviction, fury twisting her face. “…But enough talk. You will return to Ul’dah to face justice – and the people whose trust you have dragged through the gutter.”
Crystal Braves hauled her to her feet and set about marching her back down the road towards the Ceruleum Plant.
Alphinaud watched them with complex emotions rippling across his face. “Not so much as a hint of remorse…” He sighed. “’Tis well that this sordid business is finally at an end. A friend’s betrayal cuts deeper than steel. We must hope that we have chosen our own allies more wisely than Raubahn chose his.” He turned to Achiyo. “Thank you for that, by the way. I-I am glad you have such faith in me.”
“It is the truth I have seen,” Achiyo said, still subdued, trying to process what had just happened. “You say lofty things… but you mean them.” His arrogance, she was beginning to see, was borne of exactly what Roaille said – in more charitable terms. He was ignorant of the sensations of suffering, and a naive idealist to the core, worse than Minfilia, perhaps. And… that was not a bad thing. He was a good person, somewhere in there, though she wished he were less haughty so it were easier to see. “Excuse me.”
She made her way over to Ilberd, who was directing the remaining soldiers. “Your tale of your past… It sounds much like mine. Poverty, hunger, mercenary life… I experienced it all as well.”
He made a lop-sided, sympathetic smile, unexpected in that rough, scarred face. “I would not have believed you to have had the sort of rough upbringing that Raubahn and I had. My condolences, ma’am.”
She shook her head. “I only wished to say that I respect you even more that you said what you said.”
“Thank you, ma’am. And your words spoke true as well. If Raubahn ever has a free moment after dealing with the prisoner, I’ll be meeting him for a drink. Would you like to join us, and we all commiserate together on our difficult lives?”
She blinked, startled. “I would be honoured to raise a glass with you and General Raubahn, but I have no wish to speak of my history.” She offered him a weak smile. “It is in the past now, and hopefully will stay there forever. My apologies.”
“No apology necessary. I know there’s things we’d rather forget. Rhalgr guide you, Lady Achiyo.”
She could only bless all the kami that she’d always had the strength of will and presence of mind to never submit to the life Roaille had described. Perhaps it was true Roaille had suffered even worse than any of them… but that still did not excuse her from anything that occurred after she became Flame Marshal, once she had been able to leave her suffering behind. Perhaps Achiyo did not know the entire truth, but everything after that point was Roaille’s choice, even if she had felt it was not. And that she would cast blame anywhere but herself… it was natural, and easy, and infuriated Achiyo beyond belief. In the Far East such an attitude was almost as inexcusable as betrayal itself.
She prayed to the kami that nothing like that ever awaited in her future, either.
They’d hardly arrived back at the Rising Stones when Alisaie Leveilleur called for them through Urianger. Apparently she was stuck, and Urianger had suggested that the presence of Warriors of Light would clear up the issue. R’nyath was inclined to laugh at the idea that the eight of them would reveal a passage into the fragments of Dalamud just by being around, theorizing that dumb luck or giant monsters would doubtless be the catalyst, but Kekeniro smiled brightly in anticipation. Alisaie was a good arcanist, though not quite on the same level as Alphinaud, but Kekeniro had a few years and a Summoner’s Stone on both of them. This puzzle would fall before him!
“Why are you giggling to yourself? What’s so funny?” Rinala asked him.
He looked up at her anxiously. “Did it just come out as giggling? I was going for maniacal laughter.”
She made a teasingly sympathetic face at him. “I’m sorry, you’re too innocent to be evil.”
“Aww.” He drooped, feigning dejection. “So much for living up to the reputation of my people.” She giggled herself, and ran off to gather potions for their mission.
While the active ones went running about the countryside with Alisaie, Kekeniro went with Aentfryn to Northern Thanalan. He wanted to check something, based on his recent experiences with Moenbryda and his memories of their last venture under Carteneau.
They met Urianger there, who’d had the same idea, and the three of them together made short work of the theoretical obstacles to their entrance to the final interment hulk. The technical obstacles were a bit more challenging, but the Scions of the Seventh Dawn had resources, especially when Alphinaud abruptly appeared to throw his intellect, purse, and connections at the solution.
When she found out, Alisaie was indignant that her brother had seen fit to intervene in her pet project, but as Alphinaud reminded her, it was his grandfather involved as well, and she relented rather easily, if vociferously. And then they were off to bickering about motivation again. Kekeniro wondered whether he ought to place them near each other on the battlefield, or keep them well apart. While it was true that their relationship wasn’t exactly eye-to-eye right now, and that might distract them fatally, Kekeniro believed that some things could be worked out much more easily on the battlefield. This might prove to be one of those times. They would be able to see each other’s passion for their goal, the passion that Kekeniro saw in both of them, if they fought together, and it would dispel their doubts in each other.
The descent into the final internment hulk met with resistance immediately. Alphinaud was nearly too distracted, gawking at their alien surroundings, to fight, but upon noticing that Alisaie was ahead of him, he too jumped to attack with his carbuncle. They had a lot of carbuncles between the three arcanists, Kekeniro reflected, wondering how he could use that to his advantage.
Their first truly difficult fight was against a long, lean, wingless draconic creature, in an immense chamber – but admittedly all the chambers were immense, some more than others – the sort of which they had not seen before, lined with gigantic tanks, each one containing a pickled dragon. And they were big dragons. While they didn’t have time to look around while their enemy faced them, the moment it fell, Kekeniro was peering up at them, checking the aetherometer in his new grimoire, trying to figure out just what it was he was sensing about this room.
Alisaie noticed him wandering away from the group and followed his gaze, and gasped. “By the Twelve… Dragons…and so many… We were aware that the Allagans possessed the means to control the creatures, but to imprison them thus is…barbaric. I would not wish such a fate upon my worst enemy.”
“They’re alive?” Rinala exclaimed in a hushed tone, as if they could be heard through those thick glass walls.
“Yes,” Kekeniro said. “Every last one of them. And I seem to recall similar tanks in the other hulks as well, at least the second one, if in fewer quantity.”
“Damn,” R’nyath said. “Hundreds. Probably thousands. Trapped unconscious in these, for them, tiny… Ugh.” He shivered in repulsion.
“We didn’t come across a chamber like this in the first one, certainly,” Aentfryn said. “Though we hardly visited every part of it. What is it for?”
“Dalamud did not want for defenses, this we have experienced firsthand,” Alisaie said. “Such guardians as the Allagans created – both living and unliving – were surely no less capable of repelling intruders than these poor creatures…”
Alphinaud turned to Alisaie. “Tell me something, Alisaie. Have you not managed to determine by whose will Bahamut exists?” He looked at Kekeniro. “I see you are thinking the same thoughts as I.”
Kekeniro nodded. “I just figured it out. It’s… painfully obvious, once the puzzle has been assembled.”
“And no less horrifying,” Alphinaud said.
Alisaie frowned at both of them. “If you’re so certain, perhaps you’d like to share?”
“Come now, it’s not that difficult,” Alphinaud chided her.
“I would like to know,” Achiyo said in a low voice. Kekeniro looked at her and shivered. An angry Achiyo was a scary Achiyo.
Alisaie sighed and thought. “At first, I assumed that Bahamut had no people of his own – that the Allagans had perhaps discovered a way to simulate prayer itself. However, Nael’s words gave me cause to reconsider – specifically, the shade’s mention of Bahamut’s ‘beloved children’. From that, I inferred that the primal is given form by the will of worshipers whom we have yet to – Oh.” She turned to stare at the endless ranks of frozen dragons, eyes wide, and she took a step back from the edge of the platform. “Gods strike me down for a blind fool! Bahamut’s beloved children, right there before my very eyes… How could I be so stupid? Who else but the dragons of eld would summon Bahamut? Who else but they could sustain him? And to think I wondered why the Allagans kept them imprisoned here!”
Alphinaud nodded, taking a few steps closer to the dragons himself, looking furious. “Even should the flame of Bahamut’s life go out, his faithful children would summon him back. For this reason, the Allagan Empire kept an army of dragons here in a perpetual state of duress, that they might sustain the primal’s existence. Truly, the Allagans’ ingenuity knew no bounds… and neither did their cruelty.”
Alisaie bared her small, pearly teeth. “Small wonder that Bahamut was so enraged! Let no one deny that it was man who sowed the seeds of the Calamity!”
Alphinaud raised an eyebrow, half-turning towards her. “Will you now turn your hatred towards our own kind, dear sister?”
She glared at him. “Do not patronize me, Alphinaud. I merely acknowledge our guilt. Lest you be in any doubt, I have no intention of allowing Bahamut to lay the world to waste, regardless of the atrocities the Allagans committed against his kind. We have no choice but to eliminate all who worship him, be they his children or his thralls.”
“I will lead the way,” Achiyo said in that same deadly voice. “This… slavery, this… unlife… is unspeakable.”
“It’s too bad that everyone responsible is long dead, so I can’t punch ’em into the next Calamity,” Chuchupa fumed. “In the prick. With an oar spiked with rusty nails. I don’t even like dragons! But this…!”
“Tam?” Rinala asked anxiously.
Tam looked at her. “What?”
“I know you like dragons…”
“And?”
“Don’t bother,” Vivienne told her. “If he doesn’t want to share, he doesn’t want to.”
“It’s not that,” Rinala said. “I’m just worried about him in particular.”
Tam snorted. “Don’t do that, kid. It’s not worth the effort for either of us.”
“How do we put them out of their misery?” Aentfryn asked.
“There must be a control somewhere to – ah, but we need not find it,” Kekeniro said, abandoning his attempted analysis of the Allagan technology. He was a summoner, not an engineer! He could barely make heads or tails of the aetherial flows in the room, let alone the way it all worked. “If we shut down all power to the hulk, as we did with the others to end the regeneration process, then these tanks should also lose power and their captives… perish.” He couldn’t think of a more delicate way to put it. Now he wanted to go back and check the other hulks to see what had happened. But even if there was still enough power to keep transportation devices running after a main systems shut down, these tanks had to take a lot of power, and he’d have noticed once they turned it all off… wouldn’t he?
He really wanted to check. Alone, if necessary. Also, he wondered how everything had survived the fall from Dalamud so well. If the Allagans were cruel, they were also excellent engineers. If only they had turned that knowledge and skill towards helping others… if only people didn’t have to be people… He was still an optimist, but sometimes it was difficult…
“Good,” Alisaie said grimly. “Let us press on.”
It was a long journey to the bottom, and though their path was speeded by several teleporters that they had no choice but to take blindly, they also stopped to rest several times. The last time was after yet another recreation of Dalamud, within the centre of which was their most difficult fight yet – a living monster surrounded by Allagan mechs.
They were weary, aching from falls and throws, low on energy from the constant fighting – and yet they were still driven to press on, determination and even still a little excitement mixed in with the apprehension and dread of each new threat. At least, that was how Kekeniro felt, and he thought the others felt the same to various degrees. Bahamut awaited them, and they were going to get rid of him once and for all, dangit!
Alisaie was also constantly burning for justice, driving the others onward by her restless example. Aentfryn had to force everyone to rest to keep her from running herself ragged. No one really wanted to rest inside a model of Dalamud, but they didn’t know what would happen when they shut down the last hulk. Perhaps nothing would happen. But Bahamut was powerful even in sleep, and Kekeniro for one did not want to tempt fate.
No one actually slept, but even a few hours was helpful, and when they got up, Kekeniro was almost cheerful among his determination. They were going to win, so help him Nald’thal.
Through the final teleporter, and into the control room; it was already open, offering a magnificent view of Bahamut. “Gods, he is almost whole again!” Alisaie exclaimed.
“Looks like he still needs work to me,” Chuchupa sniffed, looking down at the primal’s unfinished chest. Yes, his right arm was done, and his wings past the first and largest joint, but… it was still less than half-complete by Kekeniro’s reckoning. But though they had a few more moons yet before having to contend with a fully-realized Bahamut, he had no doubt that it would be a struggle just to defeat it at its current strength. Perhaps even a sennight later and they would not be able to, if he gauged his fellow Warriors of Light correctly.
“His size is staggering…” said Alphinaud. “I can scarce imagine how Grandfather stood against such a monstrosity.”
“This cannot be allowed to proceed any further,” Alisaie said, and strode forward to the hulk controls. “Let us disable the coil and move on.”
“Move on?” Vivienne asked. “You mean it will not be ended by cutting the flow of energy to this husk?”
“It won’t,” Kekeniro said. “He won’t grow anymore, and his followers should be silenced, but… what’s already there won’t just go away. We’ll have to smash it ourselves. It may come to a fight, our greatest fight yet. Or, depending on circumstances, we may have to fight first, then disable it, which would also smash it. I don’t know what he’s capable of…”
“You mean-” Chuchupa began, and stopped short, for before Alisaie had half-crossed the distance to the controls, Louisoix appeared before them, blocking her path.
“Grandfather!” Alisaie cried, and checked herself. “No, that man is dead. I will not dishonor my beloved grandsire’s memory by calling you such. You are but his twisted shade – the thrall of a mad primal.”
Louisoix glared at them, his eyes burning red with an unholy light. “You were foolish to disregard my warning, child. Are you so convinced of your own righteousness?”
Alisaie bowed her head, already doubtful, but Alphinaud stepped forward in her defense. “’Tis the rightness of our path that led us to return. Eorzea will never be safe whilst Bahamut remains to threaten all we hold dear. What of the hero who gave his life in defense of the realm? Do you truly dispute the justice of our cause?”
“My poor, ignorant grandchildren,” said Louisoix, his voice deep and cold. “Your world is shaped by naught but recent conflict. Listen, and I will speak to you of ‘justice’.” And he spoke, at length, of the history of Bahamut’s people, of their enslavement by the Allagan Empire. Kekeniro listened intently. He did not doubt the facts Louisoix spoke, only their moral interpretation, for nothing was without bias, and a Tempered witness was as poor as one could wish for. Still, the facts were probably true, and every bit of knowledge counted. “As long as man is suffered to remain, the dragons shall never be at peace. Only when the plague of people has been expunged shall the children of Lord Bahamut be free. Then shall the world know true justice.”
“Stop it!” Alisaie cried. “Grandfather would never say such things! His belief that people were worth saving never faltered! He had faith in their strength… that they could stand together and push back against the darkness seeking to shape them.”
“A false hope,” answered Louisoix. “’Tis folly to place one’s faith in so flawed a race. ‘Stand together’? Hmph. They would first need to agree on which direction to face. If history teaches us anything, it is that man cannot find common ground between his own two feet.” He pointed at them both. “Even you, twins whose veins run with the same blood, struggle to fathom each other’s reasoning. You hide your differing agendas behind the convenient banner of Eorzea’s salvation. Given your obvious self-interest, can you truly claim no kinship with the Allagans? And though I hoped they might bring you closer, ‘twould seem that the twin grimoires I bestowed upon you were a wasted gesture…”
Both twins turned away, unwilling to answer, contemplating the weight of their grimoires at their backs. But Aentfryn grunted. “Men are not to be trusted, ’tis true, individually or collectively. You will find none here more jaded nor self-interested than me from all that men have done to me and mine. But I am still here, because even I believe Eorzea should live. I saw what Bahamut did the first time. You will not get a second chance.”
“Indeed,” Alphinaud said, rallying, though Alisaie still withdrew in her hurt. “There may well be truth in your judgement of Alisaie and me… But such a one-sided tirade bemoaning the evils of man rings false coming from the lips of Archon Louisoix.” He strode forward slowly, staring into those glowing red eyes. “Tell me – do you champion the cause of dragons because Bahamut compels you as his thrall? Or is it because you yourself have transcended the limits of man’s existence?”
Alisaie whipped around and stared at Alphinaud in wonder.
“Ah, so the possibility did not escape your notice?” Louisoix smiled, and began to glow with aetherial power. Alphinaud and Alisaie flinched, ready to dodge whatever came next. “What I prayed for, and what I have become… these are the keys that unlock the truth behind Eorzea’s rebirth. If you would have them, then you must needs take them by force. Come, rend this divine form asunder and claim your answers!” He floated into the air, bursting into blue flames – and the blue flames burst into a great blue-feathered bird, crested and plumed with aether, swooping over them in a cerulean blaze.
Alisaie gasped and stammered. “But… I thought… He has become a primal!?”
Alphinaud turned to her. “’Tis difficult, I know, but you must accept it: that entity is no phantom or imposter – it is our beloved grandsire!”
Alisaie stared at him, then at the great, fierce bird, beating its wings to stay aloft in place. After only a moment’s hesitation, she turned to the Warriors of Light. “Please… for his sake and ours… you must defeat our grandfather!”
“I understand,” Achiyo said. “Kekeniro, what are your orders?”
“For now, we must fight away from the controls,” Kekeniro said. “We can’t risk them getting damaged.” For a mercy, it seemed that the bird – the Phoenix, if he wasn’t mistaken, of Near Eastern lore and legend – was not interested in ruining their day by destroying the controls, only in destroying them personally. He could deal with that. “We’re going to be dealing with a lot of fire, so Achiyo, you and Vivienne need to take turns holding its attention to avoid overheating.”
He was silent a moment, looking at the great beautiful bird. He’d always wanted to make Louisoix proud, to follow in his footsteps. To have to slay him now, even if he was not himself anymore and they were doing his past self a kindness by killing what he’d become… for both personal reasons and for the sake of Alisaie and Alphinaud… It was deeply saddening. “Let’s go.”
Achiyo nodded and went forth, her sword flashing by the glow of Allagan lights. The baleful dreaming form of Bahamut loomed behind the Phoenix, as if to remind them who was truly in command here. They were all grimly silent, even Chuchupa or Rinala or R’nyath. This was a duty to fulfill.
He hadn’t expected this fight, not like this. He might have expected to fight Louisoix as a man, as a sorcerer, not as a primal himself. Now that was something to make a note of… primals could temper other primals?
The majestic bird cried out in a shrill voice and dove at Achiyo, who put up her shield, bracing herself for its impact. Even as it dove, R’nyath was already loosing arrows rapidly, striking the creature in the breast and wing. But such accuracy didn’t count the way it did against a mortal living creature. There was hardly a dent in the Phoenix’s aether, and it slammed into Achiyo’s defense like the fist of a golem, sending her skidding back into their midst. They scattered, jumping away from those scorching feathers, already sending a wave of attacks raining down on it before it could fly away again. Kekeniro bent his will towards Garuda-egi, and wind tore at the Phoenix, though it didn’t seem to care.
A smaller flaming bird swooped down from above somewhere, and another, and another. They were of pure aether, summoned by Phoenix’s presence. Fire burst around them, pooling on the ground in multicoloured array. Kekeniro called out positions, and received clipped, businesslike answers in return. The smaller birds fell, but even as the last one died, a wave of fire aether rippled over them from the Phoenix, and the birds soared again.
“Ye gods,” Chuchupa muttered, jumping back from a close call to Kekeniro’s vicinity. “Thank goodness ye an’ the healers have yer shite together.” Indeed, Rinala was less panicky than usual – had been, this whole journey into the last hulk. He wondered why that might be… But he’d never seen Aentfryn so driven either. The twins were shoulder to shoulder, casting with all their might, supporting each other in every way. For all their differences, they were a strong team and Kekeniro was glad to have them both.
“How do we defeat an enemy that restores itself even as we fight it?” Vivienne called, currently taking the Phoenix’s ire as Achiyo stepped back to catch her breath. “Is this not impossible?”
“Nothing’s impossible!” Kekeniro cried. “These birds, this primal – they can only regenerate themselves as long as they have fire aether to expend! We must endure!”
“We shall endure!” Achiyo called in the strong, commanding voice that only came out in dire situations, and she stepped back on the attack. Perhaps he had… inspired her?
The Phoenix screamed again, and its blue plumage erupted into brilliant red and gold. The multicoloured fire swept over them again, but so did the cooling feel of Medica, again and again. And yet their healers were struggling to keep up through the barrage of sheer power Phoenix was putting out. Aentfryn’s shields, Eos’s cantrips, and Rinala’s regenerative spells were being stretched to the limit just to keep them fighting.
“Kill the smaller birds!” Kekeniro shouted. “They’re low on aether! Phoenix cannot make them rise again!”
The smaller birds swooped past them, tearing at them with fiery talons. But one by one, R’nyath or Tam brought them down. Phoenix faced them alone, proud, defiant, raging. It seemed to pause, observing them in their fragile smallness, and Kekeniro felt a shiver run down his spine. No! They could not hesitate! He cast again, inciting Garuda to do the same, and his melee-focused companions ran forward, Tam leaping high into the air and landing in a cloud of flames of his own. And the Phoenix called, opening its wings wide and blasting them all back in yet another cloud of fire.
“Can you cast Sacred Soil again?” Kekeniro demanded of Aentfryn. “Put it around Phoenix!”
The faint blue light sprang up around Phoenix, as it turned to assault Vivienne, with a wave of Aentfryn’s hand.
“Now!” Kekeniro cried. This was their last chance before everything went up in flames. No one had breath to answer him, gritting their teeth for the final push. R’nyath dropped to one knee to steady himself, drew back his bow, and released an aether charged shot that rippled through Phoenix’s body and soul. It wasn’t quite finished – and Tam ducked the razor talons and stabbed upwards explosively.
The Phoenix cried out, fading, wilting. There was something mournful about its cry, something that almost brought Kekeniro to tears. It struck the ground and burst into a cloud of aether, dispersing everywhere.
Shaking, panting, they took stock of each other. Everyone was still alive and present, though looking much the worse for wear. Scorch marks marred all of them, sooty sweat gleamed on every face, and Rinala had inhaled smoke and was trying unsuccessfully to Esuna it through a violent coughing fit. R’nyath passed her water, instead. Kekeniro flopped onto his bottom and let his head flop to one side. He was tired. Garuda-egi squeaked inquisitively at him and he petted her reassuringly.
Alisaie took a few steps towards where the Phoenix had died, staring uncertainly. After a moment, she bowed her head and spoke softly. “Grandfather is truly gone this time. But better it end this way than the alternative…”
A light flared before them, from that same spot. “I am yet here, Alisaie. My dear, sweet granddaughter…” The light expanded into Louisoix, the same as before yet without that possessed glow in his eyes.
Alisaie gasped. “Grandfather…?”
Louisoix looked past her momentarily. “I must thank you, Warriors of Light. Without your valour, I might never have broken free of Bahamut’s control. These last few moments are mine to live as the man I once was.” His voice was weary, but happy. Achiyo bowed, those emotions reflected on her own face.
Alisaie, on the verge of tears, approached him hesitantly. “This is all that I wanted. Yet now that it is happening, I find myself struggling to believe it… Is it really you?”
Louisoix nodded, smiling, and Alisaie sniffled, and closed the distance between them to hug and be hugged, an outpouring of emotion for a girl who normally kept such intimate feelings under lock and key.
Alphinaud followed more slowly, looking shame-faced. “Grandfather, pray forgive me my insolence. It was not my intent to demean you.”
Louisoix laughed and opened an arm to welcome Alphinaud into the hug as well. “Forgive you? I am proud of you, child. You were wise enough to deduce the manner of creature I had become. Alphinaud. Alisaie. If any here should beg forgiveness, it is I.”
Alisaie looked up at him, drying her eyes quickly. “Grandfather, I must ask… Will you not tell us what befell during the Calamity?”
“Yes. Yes, of course. You have come far to hear the truth…” He stepped back from his grandchildren and turned to look at the distant shadow of Bahamut. “Let us then begin the tale at the Battle of Carteneau, where clashed the forces of the Garlean Empire and the Eorzean Alliance. Some of you were there, I believe.”
“I,” said Aentfryn.
“An’ me,” said Chuchupa.
Louisoix nodded. “As you saw, ’twas there in the sky above the surging armies that the elder primal Bahamut broke free of the red moon, Dalamud. In an effort to contain this avatar of destruction, I called upon the Twelve to aid me in the creation of a prison of aether… But Bahamut would not be caged by such feeble bars – too vast was his might; too fierce his rage. Little choice remained to me…”
Kekeniro felt the Echo dragging his mind’s eye to Louisoix’s tale. He had seen some of Bahamut’s rampage over the Black Shroud, had felt even with his then-inexperienced aether-sight the raw surging power of Teraflare as it toppled centuries-old trees and rent the ground beyond Gridania. But that was nothing compared to…
Louisoix stood alone on a clifftop, surrounded by the symbols of the Twelve. Aether flowed into him, and a great rushing wind surrounded him. Before him hovered Bahamut, huge as a city, wings spread wide, eyes flaming, magnificent, unconquerable, invincible. A shield of fire washed over him, obscuring that gigantic form.
And Louisoix charged like an arrow from the bow, given flight by the incredible power granted him by the Twelve. He struck the shield, creating a huge magic circle rivaling its size, and Bahamut smashed it with one of the most fearsome spells a dragon could muster: Akh Morn. The fiery sphere descended upon the desolate land, nearly impacting…
Louisoix had been forced down to the ground, but still stood strong, lifting his hand to cast again, a mighty spell that turned the Archsage himself into a deadly missile, piercing shield and dragon and exploding into the sky beyond, scattering aether everywhere. And Louisoix himself burst into aether – he had expected nothing less, though it was swift and painless. But with the last of his awareness, he saw Bahamut burst, and the shockwave crash into the rocky plains in a devastating riot of flame. And then a gentle rain of aether upon the land…
Kekeniro came from the echo shaking his head to reorient himself. Louisoix was still talking, at least to his grandchildren, apparently not noticing that the Warriors of Light were having a moment. “Believing the deed done, I relinquished my hold on that staggering energy, desirous that it should be returned to the realm without delay. But I had not reckoned on Bahamut’s tenacious will. Even as he teetered upon the cusp of oblivion, the dragon reached out to claim me. Alas, within my fast-fading form, enough remained of the Phoenix’s energy to offer Bahamut a hold, and he dragged me along in his wake.”
“And thus began your existence as the elder primal’s thrall…” Alphinaud said.
Alisaie put a hand to her chin contempatively. “I cannot help but wonder at his will to survive… Though he was all but obliterated, Bahamut found a way to seize the power you surrendered.”
Louisoix turned to the eight. “ Warriors of Light, heed me. You must put a stop to Bahamut’s regeneration. Whether it be for man or for dragonkind, the question of justice is irrelevant. The elder primal will leave naught but a smoldering wasteland for both his children and ours. I beg you to defend Eorzea, and guide its people to the future they yet struggle to find. ‘Tis time for the tale of Bahamut, and his part in the Calamity, to come to an end.”
Alisaie gasped silently, and both twins, knowing what that meant, bowed their heads.
“Alphinaud, Alisaie.” Louisoix called them gently, and they looked up at him as he rested a hand on each of their shoulders. “Your hopes and dreams must no longer be an extension of mine. You must needs find your own reason to fight for this realm – your own meaning in this sea of chaos. Will you do that for me?”
“Of course, Grandfather,” Alphinaud said immediately. “I have already made it my mission to see this newborn Eorzea survive and flourish.”
Alisaie was silent.
“Alisaie,” said Louisoix. “While I was yet in thrall to Bahamut, you spoke of my faith in man’s strength. Know that your words reached me, imprisoned though my soul still was. So forceful was your conviction, I wonder if that belief has not become your own. Perhaps, after all your anger and sorrow was spent, you found something greater within you.” When Alisaie still did not respond, he looked towards the Warriors of Light, holding each of their gazes in turn. “See this fight to its culmination. ‘Tis also your strength in which I have faith.”
“Thank you… for everything…” Alisaie finally looked up, though Kekeniro heard tears in her voice. “Pray take your rest, Grandfather… You deserve it.”
Louisoix smiled, and knelt before them, still clasping their shoulders. “There are records of an art that allowed one to summon the power of a primal from the essence of its demise. And though I am no true primal, all that I have left, I give to you. Alphinaud. Alisaie. My darling grandchildren. May Light’s blessings ever keep and protect you.” He stood and stepped back, and vanished in a bright light.
Ali watched the light fade. Then she took a deep breath, nodded to herself, and turned to the others, followed by Alphinaud. “Come, everyone. Our task remains undone!”
Kekeniro nodded. “Let’s shut this thing down!”
“No more will the Allagans enslave an entire species, though both be long dead or forgotten,” Achiyo said softly. She was really taking this personally, wasn’t she?
They approached the controls together, and Kekeniro looked to Alisaie. She’d done the others, this one shouldn’t be too different.
Alisaie smiled as she walked forward. “’Twas a long and arduous road, but at last we reach its end. Farewell, Bahamut. I banish you back to the aether!”
As she reached out her hand, the dragon roared, a sound that shook the vast cavern and struck a chill in Kekeniro’s bones. The distant eyes flashed, and a spell began to charge-
“He is not yet whole!” Alisaie cried. “I did not think him capable…”
“Everyone take cover!!” Kekeniro bellowed. “Sacred Soil, Medica 2, get down!!”
Megaflare erupted from Bahamut’s core, blasting towards their position as everyone scrambled. Aentfryn was not down, jumping forward to grab the twins and pull them back into his bubble. Achiyo was after him, her shield outstretched. Kekeniro gritted his teeth. He’d have done the same if he had a shield or was a big brawny Roegadyn, but they were going to get hurt-!
Megaflare struck, throwing everyone back as the beams detonated on the platform. Kekeniro ducked and covered his head, rolled backwards in a little ball from the shockwave. Even after the ground stopped shaking, it took him several seconds to pick himself up and look around – but then, it seemed it did for everyone else, too.
Alphinaud groaned from where he had been caught by Aentfryn, who’d spun him around and shielded him physically. “Ugh… Alisaie! ALISAIE!”
Alisaie had tumbled a little farther, and was not moving, but Aentfryn’s body had protected her from the worst of the blast. “She’ll be fine,” Aentfryn said, coughing, burns all down his back, clearly in pain. Eos twirled in distress and began to heal him.
“I… I am fine,” Alisaie said, raising herself on an elbow. “Thanks to you.”
“I… we owe you our lives,” Alphinaud said, climbing to his feet and adding his strength to Eos. “Thank you!”
“Don’t mention it,” Aentfryn grunted. “I mean it. Do not speak to anyone about this.”
“Aww, doesn’t want anyone to know he’s soft for kids?” Chuchupa teased, and fielded the glare Aentfryn tossed at her with cheeky aplomb.
Alisaie got to her feet and took an unsteady, pained step forward, as Bahamut began to charge another attack, greater than before. “I had thought it finally over… We’ll not survive another blast!” She bowed her head in defeat – but only for a moment. “No… Is this how I honour my promise to Grandfather?” She was silent another moment, then began speaking as if to herself, but her voice swiftly grew strong and determined. “I will find my own reason to fight, Grandfather. In fact, I believe I already have. That reason has been with me all along, guiding me – Eorzea’s blade of Light, shearing through the endless shrouds of darkness… I have been shown the miraculous feats of which we are all capable. Of which I am capable.” She took another step forward, her voice growing to a triumphant shout. “Bahamut! You have wreaked enough havoc! I will not let your wrathful fires consume all that we know and love!”
She drew her grimoire, and as Bahamut’s Megaflare burst again upon them, thrust forth her hand in a cast. A many-prismed shield sprang up about them, just as the spell crashed against it like a tsunami against a cliff. She cried out with the strain of holding the shield… but it held.
Alphinaud limped to join her. “How long I have waited to hear you say that! You have found your resolve at last! Let me join my strength to yours. In this place, in this moment, our purpose has become one!”
He drew his grimoire, but as he cast, both his and hers flashed and floated into the air, whirling about each other before slamming together to create one large tome. Kekeniro could feel the aether pulsing in the air, just waiting for them to do something with it – for it was all theirs, united and whole. Alphinaud and Alisaie looked at each other, then swept their hands towards Bahamut in a symmetrical motion, crying out: “For the future of Eorzea!”
The united grimoire shone, and the shield burned brightly, stronger than ever as Bahamut’s assault subsided.
“This last task is yours, Warriors of Light!” Alisaie cried, looking back to them. “You must destroy Bahamut’s crystal core!”
“’Tis what we came here to do,” Achiyo said.
“Will do!” Chuchupa said, banging her fist into her palm. R’nyath grinned and nodded.
“With pleasure,” Vivienne said fiercely.
“I suppose if we must,” Tam said, and Vivienne glared at him.
“But… how do we…” Rinala said uncertainly, staring at the long distance between them and the dragon. No ordinary spell could reach so far… An arrow might, if loosed by a master archer, but how much would one arrow do? Or even a quiver of them?
Fortunately, Kekeniro and Alphinaud already knew the answer. “Just leave it to us!” Alphinaud told them, and the twins’ energy gathered around them, imbuing them with power. Kekeniro felt his feet leave the ground, and they were all inexorably flung forward, towards Bahamut’s crystaline core.
When they came back to their senses, they were assembled upon a metallic platform floating in a blue void, ringed with fire. A distant light illuminated all, and before them descended a manifestation of Bahamut complete – the dragon’s soul, or what was left of it through being a primal. He flung his wings open and roared, staring balefully at them but not attacking, waiting for them to come to their doom.
“Wait, is that… Bahamut?” R’nyath exclaimed, blinking rapidly to clear his eyes. “I’m confused.”
“What’s to be confused about?” Kekeniro asked his friend. “We’re only fighting Bahamut, avatar of hatred and death, inside Bahamut, under the petrified remains of Bahamut.” Tam snorted.
“’Tis the embodiment of Bahamut’s soul and will, the aether he has gathered to this point,” Aentfryn said. “I thought it might come to this.”
“This ain’t pretty,” Chuchupa growled. “Ye know what I’m talking ’bout, don’t ye?”
Aentfryn nodded. “That bugger tore through Eorzea like a knife through rotten sackcloth. Even while he is not at full strength, we have a fight on our hands. Let us pray we all make it out alive.”
Kekeniro saw several people glance at him and Rinala, particularly Achiyo and Vivienne. To be sure, Rinala was probably the weakest of them all, the least heavily armoured next to Kekeniro. Should Bahamut so much as glance at her… Well, she had Protect, and Aentfryn had Adloquium. But in the meantime, they were asking Achiyo and Vivienne to take the brunt of the dragon’s fury, and those two had to be responsible for all of them. Vaguely, he wondered – if Bahamut got free, would it count as finishing the Seventh Umbral Calamity, or as beginning the Eighth?
“We must needs fight,” Achiyo said to Aentfryn. Kekeniro could just barely see, by the set of her hands, that she was afraid. “If we do not, no one else will. Deep breath. I will protect you. With me!”
She adjusted her shield and sprang forward as Rinala cast Protect and Aentfryn Succor, followed closely by Vivienne and Chuchupa. Tam soared overhead, landing lance-point-first on the dragon’s back and sliding off to land behind. And Bahamut roared, breathing fire, slashing with claws a yalm long. Rinala screamed, for the first time on their current trip, and cast Cure 2.
R’nyath had flinched, but was otherwise holding steady at Kekeniro’s shoulder, frowning a little. “Do you hear that?”
“Hear what?” Kekeniro asked, moving away from him, casting another Ruin and preparing to Fester his Miasma. “Spread out, don’t make yourselves a target! Achiyo, draw his attention away from us if you can!” Spells rang through the air with a wealth of sparkles, and Bahamut’s answering fire roared and burst around them. Kekeniro certainly couldn’t hear anything else.
“It’s… like… singing. Someone, very faint…” R’nyath was just a little bit distracted, pausing between arrows, but Kekeniro let him. This could be important. “I think… I’m not sure, but it could be… Hydaelyn?”
“Hydaelyn?” Rinala chirped, though her face was pale. “Is she here to aid us?”
R’nyath shook his head and dodged a fiery missile. “I don’t think so. It’s more she’s just… there, singing a lament… for everyone caught up in this. She may not even be aware that we’re fighting.”
“Whatever’s going on, we need to- Achiyo! Look out!” Bahamut had reared back, and she jumped back just in time to avoid being body-slammed into the floor. Bahamut raised himself laboriously and swiped at her with his tail. “Vivienne! A new dragon, take it to Achiyo’s right! R’nyath, Chuchupa, help slay it!” He had enough to deal with, reading Bahamut’s tells and the surging of aether, without trying to tune in to the distant voice he now also heard dimly in his heart. “Watch the orbs! Don’t let them come together!”
Well, they hadn’t been obliterated in the first few moments, so he could regain his hope and his composure. It was one thing to have everyone believe in them, and another thing to actually accomplish their task, after all. But he was also beginning to have new ideas.
Bahamut rose up in the air with a great flap of his wings, and dove upon them. “Scatter scatter scatter!” Kekeniro yelled, trying to find a position where he wouldn’t get buffeted into the flames. “Watch for him to come around!”
But Bahamut backed off, and a whole phalanx of dragons swooped into view. Achiyo and Vivienne exchanged glances, and each attacked different dragons. It was amazing to work with defenders who knew what they were doing! “Keep watching for flares, the aether currents haven’t died down yet!”
The dragons tore at them, fang and claw, and Rinala was beginning to squeak in panic as first Achiyo and then Vivienne stumbled under the assault, bleeding from a dozen different wounds. Vivienne snarled, her black rage boiling out of her in a dark cloud of aether, her greatsword cleaving lethal strokes through air and dragon. But Achiyo’s face was set, grimly silent, her suffering channelled inward to minimize others’ concern rather than outward. Kekeniro set a Shadowflare under the thickest of the dragon pack and hoped they’d relieve the pressure in time.
The last dragon had fallen to Tam’s lance, screaming as its neck was broken, when Bahamut returned in a majestic rush of fire. Kekeniro fought the urge to simply gape in awe through the swirling hot air and aether that boiled around the dragon, then realized what was happening. “Teraflare! Teraflare! Everyone get together to heal easily! Sacred Soil, Cure 3!” Oh gods, they would live or die here. He stared up in fear at the dragon, feeling all the magic shields assembling between Bahamut and them, adding his own strength to theirs even though he didn’t know the right spells to make his own. His last thought before the fire roared down upon them was ‘Gods, Bahamut is amazing.’
Noise too loud to hear, light too bright to see, pain too hot to feel – Teraflare ripped through them all, through their shields, through their souls. Rinala staggered to one knee, casting Cure 3 twice before collapsing. But it was enough; Aentfryn dragged her up and cast Lustrate on her, and she swayed before standing on her own to keep casting. Everything was on fire, including the floor, though their clothes were extinguishing under the barrage of healing. They all looked singed around the edges, Rinala around the tail as well, and dirty sweat gleamed on every face.
Bahamut swooped back onto Vivienne, who stabbed and dashed away from the group, turning his ire away from them. The fire died down on the metal floor, and darkness fell, even that distant light dimming. There was nothing now but the ring of fire and the dragon, and the chaos of ever-falling Teraflares. Kekeniro barely had breath to call positions, and the others were all deadly silent, concentrating.
He felt the aether bunch up furiously, a spell he’d only seen once before a few minutes ago in Louisoix’s vision, and dashed forward. “Everyone huddle! Cure 3, Succor! This is Akh Morn! Stay until it passes!” They took him at his word, rushing into a bunch with Achiyo and Vivienne between them and Bahamut, and he was crowded by the legs of people taller than him. Even though it made him feel protected, he knew it would do nothing due to the way Akh Morn worked. Only a large pool of aether could dissipate enough of the force that no one would die; physical shielding meant nothing.
The spell slammed down on them with unrelenting fury, twice, thrice, four times. “Spread out!” Kekeniro croaked once it ended, his mouth dry as bone, his arms aching from casting, his legs from sprinting away from flares. “More Teraflares incoming!”
Bahamut growled, the first sound he’d truly made since they’d begun to fight, and lashed out at Achiyo, sending her skidding backwards and onto her tail. A flaming missile slammed into her; she flung up her enchanted shield barely in time, but she was exhausted – and Akh Morn was building again, he could feel it in the air. “Benediction Achiyo! Get ready to move back in for Akh Morn!”
“Not again!” Rinala wailed, probably running dangerously low on mana despite R’nyath’s assistance.
“Yes again! Right now!” Once more they gathered up, and Bahamut’s wrath fell upon them collectively. Five times, this time, and now Aentfryn fell to his knees, though Eos cast at him desperately. Kekeniro wondered what the fairy thought of it all, then shook the thought away almost angrily. He was losing focus. They were almost there. He had to figure out what was happening next, tell the team, dodge Teraflares, and attune to the aether – just a little more, and his plan… Bahamut was no weaker in his attacks, but they were slowly slaying him, all eight of them together.
But they were running out of time. Akh Morn was coming yet again, and this time no one would survive. “This is our last chance! Every onze of strength you have, give it now!” As he spoke, he finally felt his attunement sink in just enough, just enough to-
Power surged through him, the dragon’s power, and he felt his body lift into the air, buoyed by gigantic aetherial wings. He screamed as it coursed through him, a conduit – could he cast – he could cast – “TERAFLARE!!”
Fiery missiles erupted from his hands and sizzled towards Bahamut, slamming into his back and erupting in a pillar of blue light. Bahamut roared and shook, turning towards him as he collapsed, utterly spent with the effort of channeling magic that wasn’t truly his. He was swooning towards the edge of unconsciousness and still those flaming eyes bored into his as Bahamut loomed over him, poised to strike…
He heard a collective defiant yell from the team, saw almost in slowed time the others unleashing everything they had left, saw Bahamut rearing back to cast Akh Morn-
-and something seemed to snap inside the primal, and he roared, and roared again, convulsing, falling to the floor. Bright waves of light washed over his surface, faster and brighter until the apparition shattered into a wash of aether.
Kekeniro put his head back down and gave a long sigh. They’d done it. The ambient aether was high, but calming down. Garuda-egi came to sit on his head and squeak at him, and he chuckled.
He heard the others cheer, heard Rinala’s giggling, R’nyath’s wild scream of victory, Chuchupa’s whoop, and felt the pirate come to drag him to his feet. “Up ye get, ye great silly brain! What possessed ye to do that of all things?”
“Oh, it was an idea I had from something Louisoix said, and my own research,” Kekeniro said nonchalantly, brushing himself off – though it didn’t make much of a difference, he was still covered in soot and smoke and sweat and blood. “Well done, everyone.”
“Well done you,” Vivienne said to him graciously, surprising him. “What? I respect power, and you had it when it counted.”
“That… was… amazing!” R’nyath gushed, twirling in place. “I can’t believe we did it!”
Achiyo smiled, one of the most free smiles he’d seen her make. “Nor can I… and I’m glad it’s over.”
“I was so scared,” Rinala said to her. “That was scarier than Ultima… scarier than Nael… but I could sing for joy! And I don’t know how to sing!” She spun around gracefully instead.
“Haha, I’ll teach you, don’t worry!” R’nyath caught her hand and spun her again, and again, both Miqo’te laughing until they were dizzy. Kekeniro took a second look at her. Something about her had been different this whole time. He hadn’t seen her in a while, but she’d somehow changed. Actually, come to think of it, she’d been better than before when they fought Shiva, too. Well, whatever she was doing, it was working! So he wouldn’t inquire unless it became important.
Aentfryn was not laughing out loud, but his expression was easy. Perhaps he had found closure for what he’d witnessed at Carteneau, Kekeniro wondered. He still didn’t really understand his fellow bookworm, but it was good to see him express happiness.
“Well, well, it’s a good thing Kekeniro decided to harness unspeakable, forbidden power, isn’t it?” Tam said, leaning on his spear.
“I think we all need a good long rest after that,” Achiyo said. “Particularly him. Thank you for guiding us through all of that.”
“You’re welcome! Aye, I’ve a mind to go visit Lilidi and sleep for two or three days,” Kekeniro said cheerfully. He missed his girlfriend’s loving arms, and her passion for life would pick his energy back up in no time – not to mention the good food her hunts brought in.
Tam looked around at the now-blank platform. “I just have one question – how do we get out of here?”
Kekeniro sighed again. “Um… let’s see…”
“I’ll take care of it,” Aentfryn grunted. “Do you feel the twins’ aether? Let me show you the path.”
They teleported back to the hulk where they had left found, and found the twins waiting there, watching the distant half-constructed dragon. It was still there… but subdued of all energy. The last coil still burned its beam into it. Not for much longer, Kekeniro suspected.
“You did it!” Alisaie cried, upon seeing them, beaming all over her pretty face.
“We did,” Achiyo answered her.
“Ye should have seen it!” Chuchupa cried. R’nyath might have been exuberant with her, but when Kekeniro looked around, he saw his friend lost in thought. “Though… perhaps I’ll save the yarn to spin back at th’ Rising Stones. No doubt it’ll take near as much energy to tell as to fight!”
“No doubt it was most spectacular,” Alphinaud said, smiling.
Alisaie turned to contemplate the control panel and the dragon beyond. “But one task remains… With this last coil disabled, there shall be naught left to bind Bahamut to this world. His beloved children will finally know peace…” She stretched out her hand to manipulate the panel, and it blinked off.
The final coil fell silent, and nearly all light in the cavern went out – but Bahamut began to glow with blue fire. As it had with the smaller manifestation, it grew brighter and brighter, until finally it shattered in a brilliant flash of light – much bigger than the smaller one had done. And a rain of glittering aether began to drift through the massive cavern.
Alisaie stretched out her hands to the sparkles, relief and peace washing over her face. “’Tis done. He is truly gone.” And after a moment, she turned to Alphinaud, who was still watching the aether dance, with a slightly accusing look on her face. “You knew, didn’t you? You knew what Grandfather had become.”
Alphinaud shook his head. “I… was not certain. But from all I had gleaned, it seemed a distinct possibility. The scene people describe of the Battle of Carteneau was one of unimaginable devastation. And ’tis through the combined prayers of the desperate – and an abundant source of aether – that primals are born. I merely put two and two together.”
Alisaie grinned and raised an eyebrow. “And you consider that a sufficient explanation?” She snorted. “Well, however you stumbled across your theory, ’twas this revelation that made you wary of my attachment to Grandfather. You feared that in my obsession, I would fall under his primal sway. Is that why you decided to join us? To pull me back should I show signs of wavering?”
Alphinaud bowed his head. “Pray forgive me, Sister. I wished only to protect you. Yet I see now that I needn’t have doubted the strength of your conviction.”
“I thank you for your concern,” Alisaie said, only slightly sarcastic. “Let us make our way back to the surface. Poor Urianger must be beside himself with worry!”
When they returned to the Rising Stones, Rinala noticed that R’nyath hurried to F’lhaminn immediately, whereupon both disappeared into a back room, and wondered why. Was he not tired and hungry like the rest of them? But she did not wonder terribly hard, as she was too tired to really concern herself with why he was still so energetic. Higiri had been hard at work while they were out, and while Minfilia and Moenbryda came eagerly to hear of their deeds, which Chuchupa took the lead in telling, they all set to an amazing dinner of chicken and eggs on rice, flavoured with strange but delicious Far Eastern seasonings. Alphinaud and Alisaie looked set to fall asleep on the table, but stubbornly held out, each refusing to fall before the other.
They’d all but finished when R’nyath and F’lhaminn returned, looking at once excited and serious. “Whatever are you doing?” Minfilia asked, intrigued, as R’nyath picked up a guitar.
The musicians took a place on the stairs that led down from the Seventh Heaven, and R’nyath sat himself there, guitar on his knee. “Remember how I said I heard Hydaelyn singing, during that final battle?”
Rinala gasped. “You wrote it down?”
“Well, no. I might, but I just taught F’lhaminn the song by rote – it’s faster and easier.”
“You remembered it all?” Achiyo asked in astonishment. “I could barely make out that there were words, let alone what they were.”
R’nyath winked solemnly. “I’m a bard. F’lhaminn’s the greatest singer in Eorzea. This is what we do.”
“I could not ask for a higher honour than this, to sing words of Hydaelyn herself.” F’lhaminn said. “I pray that I may do them justice.” She looked to R’nyath, who began to strum gently. “To all of my children, in whom life flows abundant…”
Rinala felt tears spring into her eyes. Truly, it was a blessing they had all survived, and put an end to the whole tragic tale. To hear the words of Hydaelyn herself, she who loved all… even Bahamut, even the Allagans… and to hear them filtered through the beautiful voice that had inspired her since she was very young, she would be weeping long before the song ended.
R’nyath’s strumming grew more determined, plucking out individual notes, and he stood, unable to sit any longer. F’lhaminn’s voice swelled to sternness, until the song burst into a desperate entreaty. “Answer, answer, answer together!”
The guitar ceased, but both musicians sang together. “Thy Life is a riddle, to bear rapture and sorrow… To listen, to suffer, to entrust unto tomorrow!”
Rinala wiped her streaming eyes, and saw almost everyone else doing the same. This had been their answer to Bahamut. They would live. They would remember, even if they weren’t allowed to tell anyone else. And they would fight to keep anything like that from happening again.