I forgot how long the Radiata bit was, and I couldn’t figure out how to abridge the WHM quest, so this is likely the third-last chapter of 4.0.
TIL that ‘cermet‘ is a real thing?? Man I know a little bit about a lot of things but I didn’t know that. I thought FFXIV made it up for the Garleans to use.
Estinien’s cannon-slaying is probably the best moment in all of Stormblood. He’s the Azure Dragoon, after all. (Jocat guitar sting)
Chapter 62: Legacies
Rinala walked through the forest of the Fringes, head down, tail low, lost in thought. Trying to figure out how her life had fallen down around her. How she had lost herself to the point that she couldn’t do her job anymore. That the Scions didn’t want her around anymore.
She had failed them, while fighting Lakshmi. She had not tried to resist or shield her mind when the goddess tried to ensnare them in visions. The others had; she had felt their aether flare up, shielding them, and she had not done so in time.
So when she had opened her eyes and seen Thancred, as he used to be, with shorter hair and two working amber eyes and his black and white tunic, smiling at her, she had gone to him. And he’d drawn her into his arms, inexorably, taken her chin in his hand the way he had when showing her how to use make-up, and leaned in… And then everything went black suddenly and she had not sensed anything else until she woke on the hard stone floor with her friends still fighting for their lives around her. Vivienne was right to yell at her. She had let her selfish feelings nearly bring them to ruin… and nearly made them mourn her. They did care about her, she wasn’t so far gone she couldn’t admit that.
Would Thancred mourn her? She couldn’t help wondering. Another selfish thought occurred to her… if she did die, he’d be sorry. -Followed by another miserable thought… but what if he actually didn’t care? If he didn’t seem to care when she was alive…
At least it had not been a painful death, to have her life force drawn out of her like that. She was still shaken by the fact that she had died, and terrified of the idea of it happening again, but pretending she was loved by the one she loved, and then just stopping… there were more traumatic ways to go.
She pushed open the door of the hunter’s hut to find Sylphie dithering in a panic, turning this way and that, Gatty’s hat clutched in her hands. “Oh no, what’s happened?”
“I don’t know!” Sylphie cried. “Where could they have gone!? Sanche could barely move! This isn’t funny, Gatty! Please, please come out…”
Rinala hurried to her side, putting a hand on her shoulder. She might be here as part of her break, but Sylphie needed her. “They can’t have gone far, then. It doesn’t feel like they ran away.” The only fear she sensed was Sylphie’s.
Sylphie took a deep breath, leaning into Rinala’s hand. “You’re right. Gatty’s been doing wonderfully with her training, so there’s no reason for them to run away. And you’re back! Oh, it’s good to see you again.” She gave Rinala a hopeful smile.
“Training?” Rinala asked.
“Oh, yeah! I thought you knew,” Sylphie said. “Brother E-Sumi eventually found us, but he was very kind, and he convinced Sanche and Gatty that we weren’t trying to make trouble for them. He let me take Gatty as a student of conjury, to help control her emotions and abilities, while I try to help Sanche with her illness. It’s been a huge help, she’s improved so much in everything, but now…”
“I know I was gone a long time,” Rinala said. “I’m sorry I left you to handle this all alone for so long!” But she had been needed in the Far East… She had too many responsibilities… and she was failing them all…
“Until now there haven’t been any problems,” Sylphie said. “So don’t worry. But it is good to see you back. When we find them, we’ll want to hear about all your adventures. Right now, though…” She looked around the hut, thinking. “…Ah, I think I might have it! I’ve heard Sanche talking about a cave called the ‘Comet’s Tail’, and how she wanted to visit it again before… before it was too late. She’s been getting worse and worse, recently, even with treatment. I said we’d head straight there when she was well enough, but she may have convinced Gatty to help her sneak out. Brother E-Sumi is likely on his way. I’ll go and intercept him while you head to the cave. If you find them there, make sure Sanche takes her medicine!” She pressed a glass bottle into Rinala’s hands, then darted out the door.
“But- I don’t know where the Comet’s Tail is…” Rinala began.
She managed to find it by following Sanche’s stumbling footprints through the woods, through a swamp – ! – and into a cave. She ran in, for even though the footprints vanished on the hard stones of the cave floor, the path they were following went straight ahead. And there ahead of her two figures, a woman stooped in pain, and a little horned girl. And as she ran, the woman slumped to the ground, unconscious.
Gatty cried out in alarm, and voidsent crawled from the shadows around – until Rinala sprinted between her and them, and cast Assize. Fighting primals might push her to exhaustion, but somehow these fights were easy. Had she grown stronger?
If she had really grown stronger, she wouldn’t have died…
That wasn’t important right now. “Mama, don’t leave me…” Gatty wailed. “Please, you have to help her!”
“I have the medicine,” Rinala said comfortingly, and knelt to give it to Sanche. But when the bottle was empty, Sanche showed no sign of waking.
“Why isn’t the medicine working?” Gatty cried. She’d grown calm on seeing the bottle, but now she was starting to become emotional again. “Mama? Mama! Open your eyes!” She hugged herself. “I can’t… I’m losing control… No, I must control my fear. Feel the ground beneath my feet, the flow of wind and water…” She began to go into a meditation, breathing in and holding, breathing out and holding.
“Good girl,” Rinala said, and reached out to try to heal Sanche with whatever conjury might be able to do.
E-Sumi-Yan and Sylphie ran up to join them. “Nicely done, Gatty,” E-Sumi said. “You have made remarkable progress since last we met. You have instructed her well, Sylphie. Hello, Rinala. Welcome back.”
“Don’t worry!” Sylphie said. “We’ll look after your mama!”
With three powerful conjurers working together, Sanche’s aether was strengthened… a little. She opened her eyes and gazed at the ceiling. Rinala looked up too. It was a soft glow of raw lightning crystals, sparkling like the galaxies of midsummer Thanalan night skies. “It’s so beautiful…” Sanche murmured. “Thank you for bringing me here… one last time.”
“Don’t say that, Mama!” Gatty cried. “I’ll learn conjury, and once you’re better we can come here every day!”
E-Sumi shook his head softly, unseen by Gatty and Sanche. “There are limits to the healing arts. Each life comes to an end, and even a conjurer cannot undo that which fate has ordained. Take heart, however, in knowing that your care and attention is what has allowed these irreplaceable moments between mother and daughter.”
“My precious girl,” Sanche said to Gatty. “You have filled my days with love… But I was selfish… and that selfishness has brought you pain. For that, I am truly sorry…”
“Mama!” exclaimed Gatty, trying valiantly not to cry.
Sanche laid a hand on her cheek. “My love… My light… I pray you find such happiness as I have known…” She did not look away from Gatty, but it sounded like her next words were for the conjurers. “Thank you… all of you. Watch over her…”
For another moment, she looked at the roof of the cave, at Gatty, then gently closed her eyes. Her hand slipped from Gatty’s cheek.
“No…” Gatty whispered, then screamed it. “No. No!!!” She flung herself to the ground and sobbed… aether bleeding off her like a star. Sylphie knelt beside her, resting a hand on her shoulder, trying to give her support without words.
A dark portal began to open in the air in front of them, and Rinala and Sylphie jumped to their feet. “Oh no…” Sylphie said. But things only became stranger as Sanche’s body dissolved into aether… and the aether was absorbed by the portal. Even E-Sumi-Yan looked alarmed and angry. What was happening? All Rinala could feel was an overwhelming surge of umbral aether… tainted by voidsent.
“So very close…” said the portal, in a voice that was full of gravel, as if not used to forming words. “Heed my words, then.”
“How long has this fiend lurked within Sanche, awaiting this very moment?” E-Sumi said.
“Terrible child,” echoed the voice from the portal. “Dragging around your sick mother. You have killed her! Accept the evil you have done, and atone with your very life!”
Gatty stood and stared at the portal with wide, tear-filled eyes. “But, I didn’t… I killed her?”
Sylphie reached out to her, her hand back on her shoulder. “Ignore it, Gatty!”
Rinala clenched her hands to her chest. “You didn’t kill anyone! You couldn’t kill anyone!”
Gatty stumbled backward, away from Sylphie’s hand, her gaze wandering erratically. “But I did bring Mama here… It was me. I killed her…” She froze, seeming to suddenly hear the words she said, and then collapsed, screaming, sobbing, clutching her face; aether washed off her in surging waves. And a huge demonic creature crawled from the portal, leathery grey skin, bat-like wings, and deformed horns, standing over them menacingly.
“The voidsent has sunk its hooks into Gatty’s spirit!” E-Sumi said. “We must destroy it ere her life force is drained away!”
“Right!” Rinala said, grabbing her staff and preparing to blast it with Holy. She couldn’t save Sanche. She couldn’t save Gosetsu or Haurchefant or Minfilia. She couldn’t even save herself. But even if she was a useless Warrior of Light, she could still try to help save Gatty.
“Remember the elements, Gatty!” Sylphie called to her, stretching out to hold her with her own aether. “Let wind and water calm your mind!”
“Do not give in to despair!” E-Sumi said, supporting Gatty and casting Stone on the voidsent. “It is what the voidsent wants!”
The voidsent growled. Holy had not stunned it like it was supposed to. “All who stand with you will die! Revel in the depth of your atrocity!” Before Rinala could try something else, it blasted out a black beam that struck Sylphie, who collapsed with a pained cry.
“No! Sylphie!” cried Rinala in horrified grief.
“Sylphie!?” E-Sumi called to her, but Sylphie lay still.
“No, not you, too…” wailed Gatty. “This is all my fault!” She screamed again, and both Rinala and E-Sumi were knocked back twenty yalms by a savage surge of aether.
“She’s losing too much aether!” E-Sumi said to Rinala. “I will try to staunch the flow. Rinala, slay the voidsent!” He jumped up and ran back to Gatty, reaching out both hands now to sustain her, casting Asylum around them both.
Rinala twirled her staff to cast, wishing she could draw on the umbral magic of thaumaturgy… but even if it killed the voidsent faster, it would disrupt Gatty’s fragile balance; she couldn’t risk it. The voidsent was flying about the chamber, and smaller portals were appearing all over. Rinala cast and cast again, trying to get them all before any of them could spawn greater problems. At least it did not seem that the voidsent was going to directly target her or E-Sumi – although if it fancied taking a shot at the guildmaster, that would almost certainly be too much for it to handle, she would think. She was glad he was there to take control of things and tell her what to do.
“The candle of life burns down for us all,” E-Sumi said to Gatty. “You cannot punish yourself. Gatty, remember what you mother wanted for you!”
Gatty’s sobs were slowing, and she lifted her head slightly. “What Mama wanted…?”
“Yes, think back on her words!” E-Sumi said. “Say them, Gatty! Hear yourself say them!”
“‘I pray you find such happiness’…” Gatty said quietly, and repeated it again and again, her sobs dwindling to nothing.
“Well done, Rinala,” E-Sumi said. “I will rouse Sylphie – pray focus your art upon her.”
“Yes, Guildmaster,” Rinala said, like she was a student in her lessons again. She bounded to Sylphie’s side as E-Sumi chanted the Padjal revivification spell.
“Spirits of the forest… I call on your winds… The rains which nourish… Quicken the pulse of life!” He lifted his hand, and Sylphie’s body raised itself to its feet… and Sylphie opened her eyes. Rinala gave her Benediction and Sylphie blinked, and dove for her conjurer’s wand.
“Thank you, Guildmaster, Rinala. Gatty! We won’t let you go, Gatty!” Once more she turned to Gatty, channelling aether to her, getting close enough to take her hand.
“Yes, we’re all here for you!” Rinala said. “You’re not alone!” She felt alone… and she really didn’t want Gatty to feel that way too.
“Draw on our strength!” E-Sumi said. “Remember your mother’s love!”
Gatty took a deep breath and squeezed Sylphie’s hand. “I… I’m in control now. Thank you… Mama, I know what you wanted for me… And I think I’ve found it…”
The bond the voidsent had made in her shattered, and E-Sumi smiled. “You’ve done well, Gatty. Now, let us banish this foul creature from our world!”
“Foolish girl!” howled the voidsent. “Your right to love is forfeit! You belong to me!”
“Gatty belongs to herself!” Sylphie cried fiercely, as all four of them, even Gatty, fought back. With wind and stone, supporting each other with healing spells, they battered the bewildered voidsent until its wings faltered and it sank to the ground. Right where Rinala could run forward and…
“Your feeble magicks are… ah…!” The voidsent screamed as it disintegrated under Holy.
“Well done, all of you,” E-Sumi-Yan said to them. “Gatty, how do you feel?”
Gatty looked at him, and though there was sadness in her eyes still, it was serene. “When Mama died, it was as if I’d fallen into a deep, dark hole. My mind was full of screaming… and then I heard your voices from somewhere far away, calling me back. I heard Mama’s voice, too. That’s when I knew that she would always be at my side… I’ll do my best to make her proud of me!”
E-Sumi nodded. “With the strength you’ve shown, there is already much of which to be proud. Your aether is tranquil. Calm. I see no need to enforce further training at the guild… though its doors are open to you, nonetheless. Will you return with us to Gridania?”
The little girl thought solemnly. “…I’d always thought Mama wanted to live alone with me, away from other people. So I tried to forget about wanting friends, or travelling to other places. But now, I think what she really wanted was to let me find my own way. And thanks to Sylphie’s lessons, there’s no need to hide in the forest anymore. I will go to Gridania. I want to study more conjury, and learn to fight fiends as well as Rinala! And I still have much to learn from Sylphie.”
“Oh, my skills are…” Rinala was going to say ‘nothing special’, but Sylphie gave her such an eyebrow that even in her current state, she couldn’t say it. “Thank you.” She had nearly lost Sylphie, her closest friend from her student days. Even if she had strength and ability, she wasn’t sure she deserved it.
Sylphie smiled and took both of Gatty’s hands in hers with excitement. “We’ll keep studying together, I promise. Although we both have far to go before we’re a match for Rinala!”
E-Sumi had a sly grin. “Well, well, Sylphie. Making promises to study? ‘Twould seem that mentoring Gatty has proven beneficial to you both.” As Gatty giggled at Sylphie’s startled expression, he continued. “‘Tis time we were on our way. We shall hold a memorial for Sanche, then see about settling you into your new life at Stillglade Fane.” As Sylphie and Gatty began to move off, he put out a hand to stop Rinala. “Rinala, a moment.”
“Yes, Guildmaster?” she said, wondering if it was worth trying to appear normal now that Sylphie and Gatty were gone. There was no pretending with Brother E-Sumi, even if she wanted to. And she was so tired of pretending…
“Look at me,” he commanded gently, and it was hard, so hard, to obey, but she did. She looked at him and let him see all the exhausted unhappiness that plagued her. She had spent four of the last twelve months sitting around on a ship, she should not be exhausted! But as she felt him probing her aether, she let her face slacken into vacant misery, and her ears and shoulders and tail slumped.
He nodded. “As I thought. You are not well. But no conjury will aid you – unless it is to remember the calming lessons of meditation, as Gatty has learned.”
“What is wrong with me?” she asked. “Why am I so… hopeless? Why is this one thing affecting my whole life?”
“It is not simply one thing, is it?” E-Sumi said. “This is not the place to discuss all that has been happening in your life, but I should be very surprised if you only had one problem causing you grief. Do you have time to come to Stillglade Fane as well, soon if not now? I would offer my aid. Perhaps you are no longer my student, but I am still your teacher.”
“I have time,” she said. Yes, he was very much her teacher. She might be taller than him, but she looked up to him so much. His appearance was of a fourteen-year-old boy and she had not seen him as anything but a mentor for years. “The Scions have sent me away to get better. I was going to visit R’nyath’s family but I don’t have a schedule.”
“I see,” he said. “That makes it easier. I will see you there.” He turned to Teleport, then paused. “And Rinala… it is good to see you again.”
“You too, Guildmaster.”
Tam, standing on the wall of Ala Ghiri with the other Scions on lunch break, looked up at the distant spikes of Castrum Abania and its ominous cannon. “All right, can anyone explain to me what that cannon is for?”
“Er, for defence, of course,” Alphinaud said.
“Defence against what?” Tam asked. “Bahamut?”
“Funny you should say that,” Kekeniro said, around a mouthful of dried apple.
“Is it actually?” Achiyo asked.
“No,” Kekeniro said, and swallowed. “I haven’t the faintest. It’s far too big to be used on infantry, and the Garleans are already the ones with the biggest air power, certainly against the Ala Mhigans. No, I’ve been working on summoning a Bahamut-egi.”
“A what!?” Alphinaud exclaimed, and descended into thought. “That immense destruction…”
“It wouldn’t be half as destructive,” Kekeniro said. “Even a tenth, honestly. No single summoner could control the immensity of Bahamut…” He drifted off with a dreamy smile for a second. “No, I’m not going to be casting Teraflares every thirty seconds or anything. But I think I might be able to summon one big enough to do one Akh Morn.”
“Only you would think of Akh Morn with fondness,” Aentfryn said. “We both died to Nidhogg’s Akh Morn.”
“You what!?” Lyse said. “There are far too many revelations in this conversation. What were we really talking about?”
“Bahamut,” Kekeniro said, at the same time that Tam said “that cannon.”
Tam shrugged. “It’s too big to be useful but not too big to be dangerous. Let’s hope Bahamut-egi does not prove the same.”
Kekeniro nodded. “I’m not quite done, anyway. I have to go to Azys Lla one more time with Y’mhitra, and then I’d like to visit Northern Thanalan for a final attunement.”
“Alone?” R’nyath said. “Want company?”
Kekeniro shook his head. “I’m more than a match for anything in Northern Thanalan now. Don’t worry about me.”
“New thought!” R’nyath put up a finger. “How’s Lilidi? Shall we put together a baby gift basket?”
“She’s doing fine, thanks!” Kekeniro smiled. “I’ll ask her. She’ll probably refuse. She’s rich, you know, even after she gave her estate away. She’s almost certainly got it covered.”
“Yeah, but gifts are more fun!” R’nyath said. “And I can ask my parents for ideas, I’m sure between the four of them they’ll have something to suggest. But I’ll wait for your permission.”
The Alliance was attacking Specula Imperatoris at sunset, but most of the Scions were waiting just outside Ala Ghiri. Lyse could not be kept back, of course, and Alphinaud and Chuchupa had gone with her to help her. But Raubahn had wanted the rest of them not as the vanguard for once, but as the reinforcements, to turn the tide should it appear against the Alliance, to counter any flanking manoeuvres from the Empire. There was no good in attacking with the same strategy each time, as Kekeniro pointed out to the rest.
Alisaie was watching the tower with binoculars, but there wasn’t much to see from this angle, Achiyo knew. There was a bit of smoke, the occasional stray arrow or misaimed spell going high, and that was about it. She put them down with a sigh. “I hope the assault is going well…”
“I am sure it is well,” Achiyo said. Attacking at sunset, the sun would be largely behind them.”They have the advantage of light, rest, and numbers. And Alphinaud has gained much experience in the last two years.”
“Yes, he tried to get into the field as much as he could while we were running missions in Doma,” Alisaie said. “Sometimes I had to argue with him to make sure I was able to go on missions too. It’s not his skill I’m worried about. It’s just… not knowing.”
Achiyo nodded. Neither Lyse nor Chuchupa would allow Alphinaud to come to harm, even though he really had become as competent as either of them. Though she was trying not to think about the fact that they were in just as much danger as well.
Suddenly a huge crack echoed across the landscape, ringing from every mountain and reverberating for many seconds. Everyone jumped to their feet, staring at the far distant cannon of Castrum Abania, now lowered into position, dust and smoke billowing around it…
And at the main tower of Specula Imperatoris, which swayed and collapsed, almost in slow motion.
“By the Twelve, did you see that!?” Alisaie cried.
“I missed it, but I damn well heard it,” R’nyath said, rubbing one ear. “That was the cannon, wasn’t it? But why would they fire on their own…?”
“Dammit, no one’s responding!” Alisaie said, her hand already on her linkpearl. “I don’t know if the shell is being jammed or…”
“I think this is what we were held in reserve for,” Kekeniro said, looking at Achiyo.
She nodded. “Quick! They need our help!”
They ran the malm to the fortress gates. Halfway there, there was a streak of fire above the cannon, and another explosion – and a few seconds later, the resulting bang – from Castrum Abania… but it was quieter than the last one. It did not seem like the cannon had fired again. Still, they all jumped; Achiyo felt like she would have a heart attack.
The gates stood ajar from the assault. Alisaie was wheezing, not just from the running but from trying not to hyperventilate. “It’s worse than it looks- H-he probably wasn’t even- Pull yourself together. We need to find my brother. Right… now.”
“We will,” Tam said. “There’s the General. Maybe he knows.” There was no more fighting inside the fortress, but what a hellish sight! The ruins of the tower sent up flames and smoke into the twilight sky, and huge pieces of metal, cermet, and cement debris were scattered across the courtyard. Some small part of Achiyo wondered at how things had turned out that she should feel such horror at the sight of an Imperial installation in smouldering ruins – but it was not the fortress, but the people within it that inspired such feelings. Soldiers were running about shouting with lights in the smoky darkness, carrying and dragging wounded, forming an emergency medical station by the gates.
“I’m glad you’re here,” Raubahn said, as they ran up. “In case it isn’t obvious, the Imperials fired on us. On Specula Imperatoris. I didn’t think they had it in them. To kill their own men just to kill us! Gods damn them all!”
“Where is my brother?” Alisaie demanded. “Tell me where he is! I want to see him!”
“He was in the tower when it was struck,” Pipin said, and Alisaie went pale and swayed where she stood. Achiyo put out a hasty hand to her, though she felt sick herself, but Alisaie steadied. “But that need not mean anything. Our forces are still evacuating, and many remain unaccounted for.”
Alisaie looked like she would run off at once, but Raubahn stopped her, speaking as if to a child. “Alisaie? Alisaie, listen: there are soldiers wounded and dying all around us – soldiers with families, just like you and me. They need our help. Do you understand?”
Alisaie took a deep breath and slapped her face gently with both hands. “…He’s right. I’ll go aid the wounded to the north.”
“We shall help as well,” Achiyo said. “I’ll go east.”
“I’ll help in carrying,” Vivienne said. “Come, Tam.”
They split up as Raubahn gave more orders. Achiyo ran towards the burning tower, where the debris was even larger. Bodies in uniforms of all colours lay scattered about, and she went to the first one she saw and cast Clemency. And the next, and the next. If only Rinala were here… Though perhaps it was good she should be spared this sight.
Her heart still pounded in her chest; she was nearly overwhelmed by the chaos around her – the groans of the dying, the urgent shouts of the living, the blaze of flames in the tower, the murky shapes of bodies and debris in the twilight gloom. It was like Rhalgr’s Reach when Zenos attacked. But now she was the one to rush to the aid of the defeated, as Raubahn had come to hers back then. She reminded herself to breathe, and to keep moving.
She found herself laying her hands on an unconscious Temple Knight who was barely breathing. His eyelids fluttered, and he sat up with a groan as she completed her spell. “Ugh… Everything hurts. I think I was struck by debris from the tower…” He blinked and focused on her. “Wait, I know you! Lady Achiyo! Ward of House Fortemps!”
“Yes,” she said.
“We fought together on the Steps of Faith. You saved my life back then… and now…”
She had no memory of this man specifically, but most of the Temple Knights had been wearing helmets on the Steps. One of Lucia’s hand-picked men, then. “Can you walk? I am nearly spent in healing.”
He reached for her hand, and she helped pull him up. He winced, but he stood. “I can walk. Thank you. A thousand times, thank you…”
“You are welcome,” she said. “I hope to see you again in Ishgard.”
He managed to smile at that, and turned to limp down to the rest of the army. Achiyo turned the other way, for she had heard Lyse’s voice. “Conrad! Conrad, can you hear me!? Naago, put him down over there!”
Achiyo ran up. “Lyse! Alphinaud! Chuchupa!” Ah, the relief she felt was almost painful in itself.
“Achiyo!” Alphinaud cried with a quavering voice. “Full glad am I to see you! Wait – where is my sister?”
“She is healing casualties to the north,” Achiyo said. “She is unharmed.”
“Good,” Chuchupa said. “Glad ye made it. This ain’t what I’m good at.”
“Conrad! Conrad! Speak to me!” Lyse called as M’naago prayed. Conrad was unconscious. Achiyo reached out to cast Clemency with her reserves, though surely Alphinaud had already done his part with healing spells. But Conrad’s body was rejecting the aether…
“It… it was all so sudden,” Alphinaud said. “Conrad had just convinced the last few Skulls to surrender, when… when there was an impact, and… we heard the bang, and… and everything started to shake…” He was in shock, wide-eyed with adrenaline from the near-death experience, his hands and voice trembling though he tried to appear calm. “We carried the survivors to safety, but Conrad is… We have done what we can for him. All that remains is to pray.”
Conrad groaned.
“Conrad!?” Lyse cried, bending over him.
Conrad’s eyes were swollen shut from injuries to his head. “Is… is that you, Lyse? Can’t… can’t see a damn thing…” He sighed with a tiny pained smile. “Well, that’s that, then. Time’s up.”
“What are you talking about!?” Lyse said. “You’ll be on your feet before you know it!”
He reached out a hand in her direction, and she took it and held it tightly. “It’s all right, Lyse. I’ve lived long enough. But listen… I want… I want you to lead the Resistance in my stead.”
Lyse shook her head violently. “Don’t say another word! You’ll recover – we’ll recover! We’ll bring freedom to Ala Mhigo together! We’re not going to stop here!”
“No… no, you won’t.” Conrad gave her the tiniest nod. “Everything we’ve built, everyone we’ve brought together… I know you’ll show them the way… You’ve got it in you, Lyse. Not because you’re Curtis’s daughter, or Yda’s sister, but because… because you’re you. Because you’re you…”
Tears formed in Lyse’s eyes, though only one fell down her cheek. “Conrad…”
He gripped her hand. “Lead them to victory. To freedom.”
She nodded, her voice firm. “I will, Conrad. I will. I promise.”
Conrad seemed satisfied, and stopped talking. A few moments later, Achiyo realized he had stopped breathing.
Alphinaud walked away a few paces, and Achiyo followed him. He turned to her with anguished, burning eyes. “We could have killed them. We could have walked away… But instead we tried to convince them to lay down their arms. We tried to seek a peaceful resolution. We showed them mercy, and this was their response. Fire and blood! This was their answer! Such crimes cannot go unpunished. They must not! Gods as my witness, there will be a reckoning!” He clenched his shaking hands and looked at them.
“Yes,” she said. “This is why we fight.” She had seen Imperials kill their own before, but never en masse. She was incapable of comprehending it either way. But where it drove Alphinaud to enraged, disbelieving passion, it froze her into numb silence. When she could stand directly between injustice and its victims, that would be when she found her voice. For now, all she could do was meet Alphinaud’s eyes with grim understanding in her own.
And it seemed that her coldness helped to temper his fire, for he sighed miserably and shook himself, beginning to breathe normally again. “…Forgive me. Now is not the time for vows of vengeance. We must remain calm and rational and in control. The Imperials have demonstrated a willingness to fire on their own. So long as we remain here, we are in danger. I pray you find my sister and leave at once. We will meet you in Ala Ghiri.”
“Yes, I can do that,” she said. “But you must follow us directly, for she is as worried about you as you are about her. She was half-mad with fright to hear that you were in the tower when it fell.”
He managed to smile. “I understand. We will be there as soon as we can.”
The Alliance painfully regathered in Ala Ghiri by the following morning. Lyse and Tam climbed the cliff behind the village to get a view of Castrum Abania by the light of dawn, and reported that the cannon appeared to be broken. By who or what, they could not say.
Half the army was grieved by Conrad Kemp’s death; the other half was vengeful. Vivienne felt their anger, their hurt, and did not like how well it fuelled her. The next Imperials she fought had better run if they did not want an unduly violent death, even by her standards.
This sudden brutal attack, that the Imperials should destroy their own fortress so long as they took some of the Alliance forces with them… it had Zenos’s pretty little fingerprints all over it. No one else in that command would dare to throw away lives and facilities so carelessly with the prince watching over them, so it must be him himself. And he did like bold recklessness, uncaring what it cost him so long as his enemy suffered. “Another defeat like that, and this campaign is over,” she’d overhead one officer say to another.
Not on her watch. But what did they do now? She had no patience for strategy meetings, so she left that up to Alphinaud, Raubahn, Kekeniro, Lyse, and the officers. She wanted to do something – a sentiment shared by many, such as Chuchupa, M’naago, and Alisaie. Who would tame her restlessness long enough for her to channel it into the proper direction?
Achiyo was the first person she found who fit that bill. R’nyath she found first, but he was listlessly picking at his guitar, and she did not want to listen to an upset bard. Achiyo would say little enough, but she would say sensible things.
Though Achiyo was practising again; she’d gone for a walk outside the village, and in the shadow of a rocky outcropping, she fought invisible spectres, honing her strikes ever faster, ever harder. She must be thinking of her self-imposed duty to fight Zenos on their next meeting. Perhaps she should also have been at the strategy meeting… but Kekeniro would handle it.
Vivienne walked up to the edge of her impromptu practise field. “Want a partner?”
Achiyo straightened and doffed her helm, breathing a little hard. “I don’t want to hurt you.”
Vivienne gave her a mirthless grin. “Getting hurt is my job, that doesn’t bother me. Or I can go grab some practise swords.”
Achiyo shook her head and smiled a little. “They won’t last a minute between the two of us. Well, if you wish to engage me, I shan’t stop you.”
“I know I don’t fight like Zenos, but at least I’m taller than you,” Vivienne said, putting on her helm and drawing Cronus. “Not an eight bloody foot tall katana master, but it’ll give you some assistance. More than Chuchupa, anyway.”
Achiyo did not answer, replacing her own helm and saluting Vivienne before charging in. They didn’t need words.
I’m upset, Achiyo’s movements said.
Godsdammit, do I have to be the responsible one today? Vivienne’s answered.
I have to kill Zenos, or this will never stop.
I’ll do what I can to get you there. And if you fall… I’m next to face him.
I can’t stop thinking about those who died yesterday.
We’ll get revenge. They will regret their cruelty.
Is revenge what I want?
Have you never wanted revenge before!? For those who died who should not have?
Suddenly a familiar dizzy feeling came over her and she stumbled back, putting up her hand for a time-out. “Câlice godsdamn-!”
Apparently it was early spring. Achiyo and Percival were walking down a road through a forest just beginning to put out new buds of green; there was the trickling sound of some stream nearby. The road was weathered, little-used. Late snowdrops were withering at its edge, and it was rather chilly. “I almost miss playing the koto,” Achiyo said.
“No, you don’t,” Percival teased her. “You told me playing music is your worst skill.”
“It is! That does not mean I cannot miss even it.” Achiyo laughed. “I’m sure I’ve forgotten everything except how to pluck the strings.”
“Isn’t that the main part?”
“It helps to know what order to pluck the strings in,” she said, and he chuckled. “And there’s the other hand, as well. That was where I got in trouble. I could never coordinate.”
“Which is odd, because you have no trouble coordinating a sword and shield.”
“You don’t even play an instrument,” Achiyo pointed out.
“Not… technically true,” Percival said hesitantly. “I have played guitar.”
“Which one is that?”
“It’s got about six strings, and looks a bit like a… a… what’s it called… Maybe kind of like a shamisen, but bigger.”
“You have never mentioned this.”
“Well, I never said I was good at it… Last time I played I was… oh, younger than you. I could play ‘Yellow Serpent Banner’ and ‘Florentel’s Dream’ and that’s about-” He stopped suddenly. “Ware.”
There were people on the road ahead, armed and armoured, and they were covering the road from side to side, fifteen or twenty of them. Vivienne did not like the look of them.
And neither, it seemed, did Percival. He narrowed his eyes as he regarded them, still a good thirty yalms away. “Do you want anything with us?”
“We’d like your money,” said one of them, a taller man with a beard and a sword. “Hard to get by these days, you know.”
“Throw in the girl and we won’t even kill ya!” said another, who was elbowed into silence by his fellows.
Percival rolled his eyes and drew his sword, though he was backing away. “Brigands, huh? I feel like ‘no’. Achiyo, this is too many. Retreat and I’ll join you when I get away.”
A couple more attackers jumped from the forest on their right, trying to slow them down or cut them off. Achiyo swerved to face them, still backing away, but the main group was running towards them. Percival moved to intercept her opponents and glared at her. “Run! That’s an order! I’ll find you!”
“Yes – good luck!” Achiyo turned and ran back along the path, sword and shield ready, but they had not been surrounded so her route was clear. Percival shouted “Not so fast!” in the background, and there was the flicker of Flash.
A blur. Running. Waiting. How long had Achiyo waited, at the last fork in the road? Vivienne had a feeling she already knew what was going to happen – why else would the Echo show her? Slowly, Achiyo’s steps drew her back down the road she had just run from.
There were bodies in the road. Vivienne counted them – eleven. One of them was his, right in the middle. Achiyo ran forward and stopped stock still at his side. His face was grey and bloodless in death; his body and throat were covered in many wounds between the plates of his armour.
She opened her mouth and no sound came out. She fell to her knees beside him, clutching at his hand. His grey-blue eyes were dull, staring sightlessly up at the clouded sky. Achiyo was silent and motionless, but her eyes told of her shock.
This was hard to see. “Why show me this?” Vivienne said, though she wasn’t there and no one could hear her. “I knew he was dead. Let her grief rest.”
But the vision continued. Rough voices echoed between the trees up the road, approaching. “Aha, the girl came back. See, we didn’t have to go find her after all.”
“She’s got a lot to pay for, we lost ten men to that bastard. She won’t be so pretty when we’re done with her.”
Achiyo stood and faced them. There were another ten men, and she stared at them with wild, trembling eyes and drew her sword and shield.
“Dammit, she’s going to fight. Watch out, she’s got another of those straight swords-”
Achiyo opened her mouth in a silent shriek and charged at them, right into their midst, attacking everything that moved, casting Flash to disorient them. She was sloppy in her grief, Vivienne could see, but she was facing unskilled thugs. She killed four men before the rest ran from her.
She stood still, watching them go, her sword dripping blood.
A grave on a riverbank, by a plum tree covered in white flowers. The word ‘Otou-san’ floating in the thin breeze. And Achiyo going into a cave and wreaking absolute vengeance on the men within. They fled from her, begged for mercy, it didn’t matter. One by one she cut them all down. It was a slaughter worthy of a Dark Knight, and Vivienne did not like to see it. Her friend was a Paladin, through and through; this was not her. But as they said, ‘voidsent run when a gentle hand takes up the sword’.
The last one alive was the leader, who dared to plead with her even as he fought her, but she showed no more sign of listening to him than to any of his minions. She stabbed him in the ribs and as he coughed and staggered back, she swayed, putting a hand to her head… an Echo?
It was not possible to nest Echoes apparently, but Vivienne could guess what it was. Achiyo stepped back unsteadily until she hit the wall, then came out of her vision with anguished eyes. With a gurgling rasp, the wounded bandit leader seized his sword and rushed at her.
Up until that point Achiyo had been unnervingly silent as she slew man after man, but now she screamed and swung, beheading the man cleanly. The bloodied sword and shield fell from her hands, and she clutched her bloodstained gloves to her head, staring blankly. The vision began to fade, but the screams echoed…
Vivienne cursed as she woke from the vision. “What in the seven hells…” She felt she had seen something she shouldn’t.
“Dare I ask?” Achiyo said dryly. She had sheathed her sword. Apparently this Echo had taken a few minutes.
“Nope,” Vivienne said. “We’re not talking about that one.”
Achiyo blinked at her, and nodded. She understood what that meant well enough. Vivienne took a longer look at her, just to reassure herself that her friend was… if not in good spirits, at least not a pale, bloodstained, haunted wraith.
She turned away and cleared her throat awkwardly. “He was a good man.” He’d given his life for his daughter, and now his daughter was saving the world. Whatever sins he bore, whether they were connected to Vivienne or not, she would not hate him because of that.
“He was a good man,” Achiyo repeated quietly. “I still miss him.”
“I bet,” Vivienne said. “He must be proud of you.”
“I think so,” Achiyo said. Vivienne sensed her eyes on her. “I think you are the only one who has seen all of my past.” Was she really? Others had seen most of it – but she was the only one present for this one, so she was the only one by default. “But you have always respected my privacy. Thank you.”
“I didn’t need the extra understanding,” Vivienne said. “But I won’t abuse it. You have my word on that.”
“We have that for which we came,” Alphinaud said to the Scions – and Stark Woad, their Ala Mhigan contact from the subjugated village of Radiata just below Castrum Abania. “All that remains is to make our preparations. Our objective is to permanently disable the cannon. Achiyo, I would ask you and the ever-dependable Warriors of Light to enter the castrum with my sister and me by way of the ventilation ducts leading to the hangars. From there, we will proceed into weapons research and unleash bloody mayhem to create a diversion.”
Chuchupa grinned from ear to ear. “Yesssss!” Vivienne nodded with grim satisfaction. Selene sighed from where she was sitting elegantly on top of Titan-egi.
“At the same time, Lyse and her unit will make for our primary objective, the fire control centre, via the upper levels,” Alphinaud continued. “Once we are finished in weapons research, our ultimate goal will be to rejoin her in the control centre to assist in securing the cannon before finally notifying the Alliance that they are clear to attack.”
“First we’ve got to get you into those ventilation ducts,” Stark Woad said. “We’ll need to deal with the magitek patrols – and then you’ll only have a narrow window to infiltrate the castrum.” She was not beaten down like many of the other Ala Mhigans of this area, a strong woman who had patiently waited for this day under the most gruelling circumstances and was thrilled to finally participate in it.
“Understood,” Lyse said. “I’ll go and brief Naago on the details. We’ll be back here before you know it!”
Achiyo was trying to remain focused. To not think about the death she would deal out. To not think of the death she and her friends risked. But no matter how many died on her blade, or the wounds she took, she must press on. For Ala Mhigo. For Doma. For Eorzea and those she wished to return to.
But she had seen too much mortality recently not to think about it at all.
“The Alliance is counting on us to deal with that cannon. Failure is not an option,” said Alphinaud, jarring her from her reverie. Lyse was already back with M’naago and her squad.
She set her shoulders. Her heart was already beating faster in anticipation. “No, it is not. Nor shall we. With me.”
The magitek patrols were downed. The ventilation duct was carefully unsealed; Stark Woad had the correct tools, of course, smuggled out in preparation, and she would seal it again behind them. The air in the vents was awful, stinking of ceruleum smoke and fumes. They crawled low to the ground, and Achiyo considered that this was when the hangers were not actively being in use.
Before anyone got too lightheaded, they found the hatch Stark Woad marked on the map she’d given them that would lead into the hangars. R’nyath opened it and they dropped in, hiding behind some crates while they caught their breath in the cleaner air.
“That is our path,” Alphinaud said, pointing to one door. “Lyse, that is yours.”
Lyse nodded grimly. “Good luck.”
“And to you,” Achiyo said. Her heart was beating wildly, more terrified of being caught than of the battle that would ensue. It would steady once she was not trying to remain unseen. “Ready?” On their nod, she got up and sprinted for the door. Lyse’s group would wait a minute, and then move while the Imperials moved to stop Achiyo’s group.
It did not take long for the alarms to sound. Nor did it take long to learn why this place was called ‘weapons research’. Nearly the first being they encountered was some sort of tripodal creature of flesh and metal. It had wheels on all three limbs, and as it swung a forelimb at Achiyo, sawblades emerged from the wheel, whirring and grinding loudly on her shield. If ever she felt the need to curse in fear, it was now.
Noble ladies did not curse, and the irrelevant notion kept her from screaming as she stabbed at it.
R’nyath, Chuchupa, Alphinaud, and Alisaie were cracking quips about the horrors they fought. Achiyo did not begrudge it to them. Far better to keep their spirits up, especially the young ones. They had already lost Rinala to sickness of heart. She would not be offended by them making light of the situation in words, for they showed clearly that they were taking it seriously in deeds.
Before them security doors closed and locked, except when disgorging guards, machines, augmented soldiers, and abominations from the darkest depths of some scientist’s imagination, one after another. Fortunately, Kekeniro, R’nyath, and Alphinaud all seemed to have an idea how to open the security doors quickly, and if all else failed… there were always Chuchupa and Vivienne.
Suddenly she was very glad that they had come to destroy this place. What suffering there must have been inside these walls of steel and mountain stone, and what suffering there would be if ever any of these were unleashed!
The last enemy they fought under the light of the sun in a testing arena, a monster as large as Titan, a being of bone, muscle, steel, chemicals, and confused hatred. It was terrifyingly fast for its size, and Achiyo felt her shield was small in the face of its slashes and punches. It struck down at her and she had no time to dodge.
Somehow, somehow she matched its strength, that hulking brutish arm against her slender frame, and her arm did not break, and her shield did not crumple, and her legs did not buckle beneath her. Her tail flexed mightily to balance her as she skidded back, bringing it to a halt. Chuchupa whooped. “Yeah Achiyo! Just keep ‘im right there so’s I can bash his skull in!”
“Damn,” R’nyath said. “I sure couldn’t do that. Could you do that, Chuchupa?”
“Betcha I could! But I’ve got this t’do!” Chuchupa bounded up the creature’s mechanical spine and whacked and kicked it in the back of the head. It was so thickly padded with hard muscle, for a moment it did not seem like she was doing anything.
Then she brought her heel down like a hammer on its left eye socket, and it groaned and reached up to scrabble at her, half its face shattered. She jumped off before it managed to seize and crush her. It pawed at its own face for a bit, the poor thing had no fingers to ease its pain with. Then it howled and flexed, preparing to unleash its great force in every direction-
A white lance slammed through its skull and it fell backwards, landing with a colossal thud.
Achiyo looked at Tam. “Are you all right?”
“I am fine,” he said, wiping off his lance. “Didn’t even break a nail.” He waggled his fingerless-gloved fingers at her
That wasn’t what she was talking about, but he would not deliberately do something that would interfere in the middle of a mission, so she accepted it and led them onwards, heading into the main building of the base. It was a maze of corridors and offices, but they had Stark Woad’s map still.
They came round a corner and saw Lyse entering the same corridor from the other side. They ran to each other – there were no guards between them.
“Lyse!” cried Alphinaud. “Thank the Twelve you’re all right.”
“And you!” Lyse said, and pointed. “There’s the control centre. Let’s hit them hard and fast. Ready?”
Kekeniro hit the lock on the door, and it slid open to reveal a room filled with computer consoles, Imperials, and a huge glass viewport looking over the Peaks.
Fordola was standing at the commander’s station, closest to the door. She whirled at the sound of the door opening, and drew her blade. “They’re here!” The other Imperials jumped to battle-readiness, but the two sides did not charge each other just yet. The Imperials watched to see what the Eorzeans would do.
Lyse bared her teeth. “It was you, wasn’t it… Wasn’t it!?” The raw pain suppressed since Conrad’s death came roaring out.
Fordola nodded coldly. “Aye, I gave the order to fire.”
Lyse shook her head wildly. “It was over! The Skulls had surrendered! No one else had to die! And you killed them! Your own people! Your own comrades!”
“You’re right. I killed them.” Fordola’s voice was colder than her face. “Ansfrid, Hrudolf, Emelin, all the rest – trained and fought with very last one of them. Good soldiers to a man.”
Achiyo reeled. How could she-? She knew there must be casualties in war. But she could not understand not doing everything to bring one’s own people, let alone friends, back safely again. Nor could Lyse, who burst out again. “But why!? Why would you do that!?”
Fordola glared at them, and there was pain in her gaze. This had not been her decision and she was still struggling to own it. “They died so that all Ala Mhigans could live free. That was all we ever wanted. We made a promise that we would do whatever it took so that one day… one day the Imperials would learn to accept us. But everything comes at a price. And if you haven’t got the means to pay, then you pay with blood. Service guarantees citizenship, but citizenship guarantees naught. It’s not enough to do your part, oh no. You have to run faster, fight harder, kill more and more and more – and only then will you be equal. That’s just how it is out here in the provinces. You buy your freedom with blood – there is no other way!” She panted with emotion, her chest heaving in defiance.
“Shut up! Shut your mouth!” Lyse screamed. “You don’t get to talk about freedom! You killed your own! They trusted you and you killed them! Murderer! Butcher! Traitor!” She charged at Fordola, who… was suddenly no longer there. The other Imperials rushed the Eorzeans, and there were enough of them that Achiyo could not watch Lyse’s back.
“Chuchupa, Alisaie, I’m going to need you to go back up Lyse!” Kekeniro called. “Vivienne, watch your left!”
Something was wrong with Fordola. She had not fought like that in Rhaglr’s Reach, nor at Castellum Velodyna. Achiyo couldn’t see what it was, but she could tell that Fordola was evading Lyse’s attacks with preternatural speed. And now, flanked and pressed by both Chuchupa and Alisaie-
She was behind Alisaie. How did she get there? Alisaie turned too late and was flung across the room, slashed through her jacket. She landed with an awful amount of blood oozing from her side.
“I know what you can do,” Fordola said contemptuously. “I’ve already seen it.”
“Alisaie!” Alphinaud broke out of formation and ran to her. So did Achiyo, even without the sheer terror in Alphinaud’s voice. There were only a couple remaining Garleans, and when they saw how badly they were outnumbered, they threw down their weapons.
Fordola looked still ready to fight, but seeing herself all alone, Lyse and Chuchupa in her face, Achiyo preventing her from getting close to Alphinaud and Alisaie, and Vivienne edging forward around the other side of the room with the other Warriors of Light and the Ala Mhigans behind her, she seemed to think better of it. “Even so, the odds are against me…” She flung down a smoke bomb and jumped back.
“Coward!” Lyse shouted between coughing. “Get back here!”
There was a shattering crash. Kekeniro commanded Garuda-egi, and a wind blew the smoke out the window – which was now smashed to pieces. A buzzing magitek armour rose into view outside it, Fordola clinging to its side.
“Hero!” she called to Achiyo sardonically. “Lord Zenos invites you to join him for the royal hunt, to be hosted at the palace. You may bring your horde, if you like. All are welcome.”
R’nyath loosed an arrow at the magitek armour as it retreated, and struck only its shell. It dipped and wavered for a moment, and steadied as it disappeared.
Achiyo whirled. “Will she be all right?”
Alphinaud looked up from where he was healing his sister. “She’ll be all right, but we’ll need to carry her out. Will you help me?”
“Of course,” Vivienne said. “Obviously.”
“For Alisaie? You’re going to have people fighting to help her,” R’nyath joked. “I will stay out of the way. I could do it, but I am squishier than the other volunteers.”
Alphinaud chuckled through his anxiety. “Thank you. Lyse, I leave matters here in your hands.”
Lyse looked shaken. “Uh, right…”
“Don’t worry,” Kekeniro said. “You got this. The others can take Alisaie back, and the prisoners too. I’ll stay here at least until Raubahn and the main force take over.”
Lyse sagged. “Thank you. I’ll call him now.” She glanced again at Alisaie, lying unconscious in Aentfryn’s arms, and clenched her hands.
Regretfully, I have to slow down for a bit. I DON’T WANT TO. I’m so close to the end of the arc. But I have to because my eyeballs are deteriorating with all the hours I’m spending writing on my tablet. Or maybe I’ll switch to writing on the PC again.