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inkedinfantasy · 4 months

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a comm for @emmyselch! some bittersweet pre-dying gasp moments between emet-selch and her OC Lou 💔

He supposed he should have anticipated she would be restless tonight of all nights. Short on time but in dire need of a proper rest, the Warrior of Light and his Scions were spending one last night with the Ondo before finally setting foot in Amaurot. And of course, wherever they went, Lou would follow. He would expect nothing less of her.

Damn it all, he’d tried. None could deny that he’d tried not to care, to maintain the detachment his mission demanded of him. To his credit, it was usually far easier than this. He could not recall when he had last willingly spent so much time with any of these sundered souls, let alone one so singular and familiar. It had allowed hope—and even more disastrously, affection—to take root, worming its way into the cracks of his heart to bloom into something new and so dangerously fragile.

Hemera always did have that effect on him.

But she was not Hemera, not truly. Lou was but a fraction of their soul, who still managed to be as reckless and exasperating and wonderful as they were, certainly, but time and distance from the world that was had still changed plenty. Contemplating her, he saw someone with whom Hemera would surely be great friends, but he could no longer reconcile them into the same person.

And the more time that passed, the less he found he minded.

She was alone when he approached her, sitting perched on a high shelf of rock above the Ondo settlement and staring out at the distant lights of Amaurot. Creation only knew how she’d managed to scale the steep cliffs to make it up there.

She looked over but did not move to stand as he neared. She was plainly full of nervous energy, her fingers drumming restlessly on her folded arms as she sat.

“A sleepless night, so close to the end of your journey? One must consider you either exceptionally eager or exceptionally foolish.”

“I’ve a lot on my mind, as you can well imagine.” She attempted a smile, weak and strained, before looking back out over the city. From here, they had a clear view of the sweeping spires of Amaurot stretched out in the distance. The sight of his phantom city was beautiful and eerie and heartbreaking all at once.

“It looks so much larger, even since the last time you brought me here,” she murmured, gazing out at the vast expanse of towering buildings and small, glowing lights. “Like it goes on forever. Just how much of it did you remake?”

“Not even near the whole of it. Amaurot was the beating heart of the known world.”

She was silent for a moment, lost in thought. “I haven’t told them anything, you know. About the city. About coming here.”

Truly? That she had kept her time in Amaurot a secret was unexpected, and more than a little gratifying. “Such trust you choose to place in me.”

“I…it’s complicated.” She shifted in place, avoiding his gaze. “I know it doesn’t seem like it, but we want to understand. We want to know what you’ve hidden down here. What makes you think this is the only way.” She hesitated, and then, a touch softer, more vulnerable: “I want to know.” Her eyes finally met his, a flush painting her face at the admission.

Knowing would not be enough. It never had been. She would not be satisfied until she had seen the true fate of the unsundered world for herself.

He thought of his dark, empty recreation of Amaurot populated with ghosts, pictured terror and death, the skies raining down fire, monsters carving through everything in their path. Was this the source of the line she drew between them, that he had watched his world burning alive before his eyes while she watched hers die slowly, by inches? Were she in his place, would she truly not do anything she possibly could?

That question had been answered once before, and he wasn’t prepared to hear the answer again.

“No,” he said, his tone far gentler than he’d intended. “I would not show you that, not tonight.”

Silence fell between them, the weight of “not tonight” almost tangible. Tomorrow would be a different story, and one that would be coming to an end.

He considered staying silent, bidding her goodnight and retreating back to the city to await their coming. He disregarded that consideration almost as quickly as it occurred to him. Neither of them were under any illusions as to what would happen when the Scions arrived in Amaurot. In some bitter irony, fate once again saw fit to set their stubbornness and convictions against each other.

The least he could do was make sure they got a proper goodbye this time.

“If you’re unable to take your rest, there’s no sense in wasting the evening. I don’t suppose you’d let me steal you away for the night?”

It had the tone of a lighthearted invitation, one he’d made several times before, but he could see in her searching look that she knew exactly what he was offering. A final night together, one last adventure before they met as enemies.

She knew this, and still she stood, taking his outstretched hand. “Yes.”

With a warp and hum of aether, they vanished.

* * *

They reappeared in the middle of a park, a wide expanse of green tucked in among the towering buildings at the heart of the city. It had been the first part of the city to come to mind when he’d thought of places Lou might like.

She would have enjoyed it in its prime, at least. Like most parts of the city, the park was noticeably underpopulated, missing the liveliness of a real piece of nature that existed even in the midst of a city such as this. The dim murk of the deep sea did it no favors either, creating the impression of a dull, overcast day.

“If you should wish to explore, you should see it in its best light.” He raised his hand, and snapped.

In the dark gloom beneath the waves, he conjured a small bubble of springtime. The park brightened under the warmth of an artificial sun’s glow, spilling over the vibrant green of the grass. A few patches of flowers bloomed, lazily waving in a gentle breeze. The soft, illusory chirr and buzz of insects and distant birdsong surrounded them in an instant, completing his small pocket of life in the bones of the ghostly city.

She turned slowly in place, taking the whole scene in, her grin bright and awestruck. “This is…it feels so alive. Is this more creation magic, then?”

“Not quite,” he said. “A trifling illusion, to capture a perfect day.”

It was an excessive, entirely frivolous use of magic, especially with their final confrontation yet to be had. But damn it all, did they not deserve this moment of peace? In that moment, it felt more than worth it, if it would keep her smiling.

“How far does this reach?” she asked.

“As far as the park does. Restored in its entirety, if only for the moment.”

She turned that bright smile on him. “Well then, we’d best get a move on, hadn’t we?” She took hold of his hand, and he followed as she led him further into the park.

They wound their way aimlessly through their private spring day, guided by whatever caught Lou’s eye. She was utterly captivated, fussing over all the unfamiliar plants they passed, speculating out loud to herself about what species they might have been a precursor to. She took a particular interest in an aromatic flowering shrub growing in picturesque rows along the border of the park land.

“Reminds me of the sage that grows wild in Lakeland. We’d pick it to cook with or dry or sell, and it always took ages to get the smell off my hands.” She smiled, lost in some fond memory as she reached out almost absently to pluck a leaf off the small shrub. Her fingers passed through the illusory plant, the leaf dissolving back into a wisp of aether in her hand. Her smile faltered ever so slightly, taking on a melancholy edge before melting into a yawn. “I—forgive me. I must be more tired than I thought. But there’s still so much more I want to see.”

Knowing her, she would drive herself to exhaustion exploring the city if she could. Surely, he could come up with some sort of compromise.

He considered bringing her to a recreation of Hemera’s home, and discarded the idea for several reasons. First and foremost, he could not recall what state he’d left it in last he’d visited, or if it currently existed in any form at all, for that matter. He must have destroyed, reshaped, and remade it a thousand times over at this point, frustration and grief and the terrifying slow decay of his recollection warring within him and leaving him unsatisfied by every vision he conjured up.

More personally, he’d realized that he did not want to place her against the backdrop of Hemera’s life. There was somewhere else he could bring her, somewhere just as intimate that no other living soul had ever seen.

“I believe I’ve just the place to show you,” he said.

She took his hand again without hesitation. “Lead the way, then.” He opened another portal, and they vanished once more.

* * *

When they rematerialized, he didn’t say anything at first, merely watching as Lou looked around, taking in the room they’d appeared in with a puzzled furrow to her expression.

“This looks like someone’s home.” She looked at him, the obvious question in her eyes.

“It is,” he said. “It’s mine.”

He heard her small, sharp intake of breath clearly in the silence. His home had been the very first thing he’d ever recreated. Even on her first trip to Amaurot, he hadn’t brought her here. The idea of showing her this place had still been too raw, too personal, for all he had already been far closer to her than he’d ever intended to be.

“Is this where you go when you’re not—” She made a vague gesture to indicate whatever it was she imagined he did when he wasn’t following them around, “—or is this where you lived…before?

“Both, I suppose. It is where I tend to spend my time while in Amaurot and a recreation of my former home.”

Our former home lingered unsaid in his mind as he played back days waking up here and being able to believe, if only briefly, that everything was as it should be, that any moment he’d hear Hemera talking far too loudly for the early hour or Hythlodaeus’s laugh from the kitchen. On days like that, the moment after he remembered, the empty truth of the place had been more than he could stand.

Right now, that silence was filled by Lou’s commentary as she explored.

Her attention had been captured by the gaudy, multicolored lamp sitting on one of his end tables. The style of of it was entirely at odds with the sleek, uniformly Amaurotine look of the room itself. “So what’s the story here?” she asked.

“That was a gift from Azem—Hemera. A token from their travels, handmade by an artisan as thanks for diverting a flood that threatened his hometown. Or so they said. I wouldn’t be surprised if they bought it for next to nothing from some tacky shop and concocted a story to convince me not to throw it away the first chance I got.”

Even as he spoke of ridding himself of the thing, he could not keep a hint of fondness from his voice. Lou had gone quiet as he’d recounted the story, her eyes on him and a pensive expression on her face.

“What?”

She hesitated. “I don’t—it would only ruin things. This night has been wonderful, and I don’t want to say something awful and spoil it all.”

“I’d be curious to know what you’re thinking that’s apparently so terrible.”

She exhaled a small sound that was more breath than laughter. “Of course you would be.” She cast another glance at the lamp before relenting. “Maybe you’re right and I’ll never be able to understand, not fully. But I can see why you love this place so much. I can see why you would do anything to save it. Wicked white, I’m set out to do the same thing, aren’t I?” She let out a small, watery laugh. “Can I really begrudge you for fighting for the world that’s yours?”

“Ours,” he insisted fiercely. “All of this is yours, too.”

“Maybe it was, once. But I’m not that person anymore, and I can’t—I’m so sorry. The world that was…so much of what I remember about it is beautiful. But I can’t give up this world for it. I won’t. This is my home, and I love it, and I have a promise to keep. I just wish it didn’t mean losing this.”

The words poured out of her now, a flood of emotion she couldn’t seem to hold back. “You’ve showed me so much more of the world than I ever could’ve imagined. You’ve done so much for Tai-Rinn, and I don’t think I could ever express how grateful I am for that. And that’s not even the whole of it. I—” She cut herself off, her hands at her sides clenching in to fists as she squeezed her eyes shut. A moment passed, and she let out a slow breath, her shoulders slumping slightly before continuing in a quieter tone. “We knew each other before, didn’t we?”

It was the question he had been hoping for from the moment he’d first glimpsed the color of her soul, and still it near knocked the breath out of him. His silence said more than enough.

“I just—I keep remembering things, these bits and pieces. And…I think most of them are about you.” She swallowed nervously. “I care about you so much. But I can only tell you that as myself. If that makes a difference, we can forget I ever brought this up, but…I know I’d regret not telling you when I had the chance, nevertheless.”

He took a step closer to her. “You’re not Hemera. Anyone who knew them could see that. It was you I wanted to bring here.”

“Emet-Selch, I—”

“Hades.”

She blinked. “What?”

“I have been known by my title, by other faces, for countless lifetimes. I would have you call me by my name.”

They had inched slowly closer together as they were speaking, close enough now to touch. She reached out to him tentatively, one hand coming up to gently cup his face.

“Hades,” she murmured.

He leaned in and kissed her.

She responded readily, her other arm sliding around his waist even as he pulled her closer. She was so warm, and that tender, fragile thing growing through the cracks of his heart bloomed like a flower that had been aching to drink in the light.

Even as she broke the kiss, she did not withdraw, merely tightening her embrace as she buried her face in his shoulder. They said nothing, just holding each other for a long moment.

He shifted when he could feel her starting to lean a touch too heavily against him, exhaustion finally beginning to catch up to her. “You need to get some rest.”

She hummed vaguely, the sound muffled against his coat. He stepped back, keeping a steadying grip on her arms as she stumbled slightly before righting herself as he led her down the hall.

The bed in his room was neatly made and looked as though it had never been slept in, so long had it been since he’d last made use of it. Lou paid the state of it no mind, barely pausing to kick off her shoes before flopping down face first with a sigh. She turned her head just enough for one blue eye to peer drowsily up at him from the pillow.

“Will you stay?” she asked, already sounding half asleep.

He sat on the edge of the bed, taking her hand where it lay between them and pressing a kiss to her knuckles. “Yes.”

He held onto her hand, thumb brushing over the back of it, and she was asleep in minutes.

* * *

There was no change in the light to mark the passage of time, of course, but that mattered little. The Warrior of Light’s approach was the only timetable that mattered now, and his arrival was impossible to miss. The searing flare of his light-poisoned aether blazing into view at the outskirts of his perception marked the only living soul in his sight, save the one still sleeping in his bed.

Well then. It seemed he had a choice to make.

The noble course of action would be to wake Lou and and return her to her companions as discreetly as possible before retreating to await the Warrior’s challenge. A challenge that, should she return, would inevitably involve Lou.

Regardless of what the Warrior and his Scions might think, it was not as if he took some particular joy in the thought of dispatching them, though neither would he relent. It was his duty, a dispassionate necessity to facilitate the restoration of his world. Their world, he thought, glancing down at Lou. Returning her would mean pitting her against that duty, and the distinct possibility of seeing her killed.

In that moment, he made his decision.

Across his countless lifetimes, he’d found nobility to be quite overrated, anyway.

Rising as carefully as he could from the bedside, he quietly exited his home. Just outside, he passed a hand over the door, a powerful magical seal flaring to life.

She would be furious. She might never forgive him. But she would be alive.

Without looking back, he opened a portal and vanished.

#my writing #ffxiv #emet selch #shadowbringers

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ainyan · 5 months

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A flashback

Echo dreams provide wonderful opportunity for flashbacks. From Monstrous:

Her skin was normal, unblemished - rich indigo patterned with obsidian scales and speckled with pinprick freckles that glowed like stars in the sky that had once gazed down upon the Light-torn lands of Norvrandt. To the average eye, she looked the same as she always had - tiny and delicate, a small, slim Au Ra - or Drahn, as they called her people here - dark of skin and scale, with indigo eyes rimmed in glowing lavender.

They did not see what she saw; beneath her skin seethed a morass of blighted Light, monstrous and tainted, gnawing at her soul, shattering it to crystalline shards. They did not see in her the architect of their doom, the reason behind the sudden resurgence of Light in the sky, the dampening of the sunless sea that she herself had brought back, only to steal it away once more.

They did not understand the danger - simply by existing, she had become that which she most abhorred - a villain, a monster. If the Light overtook her, she would become a sin eater. A Lightwarden. No. A Primal of the Light, beyond anything that the men and women of this world had ever beheld. Her power would be on par with the greatest of the primals - Hydaelyn and Zodiark.

They did not know how she had failed them. She had failed in her duty. She had failed to contain the Light. And so the Light still burned beneath her skin, seared across her soul; with every breath she took, the danger grew. At any moment she might turn, become the enemy. Or worse, her Light might start bleeding over, corrupting those around her like a Primal tempers the unprotected. She had to go. Had to leave.

She had to die. And better she kill herself in ridding the First of the Light she bore than turn and force those who once called her friend to slay her instead, risking their own souls and sanity in turn. Worse, there would be no guarantee they or anyone else would have the strength of arms or will to take on the woman who held the Light of five Lightwardens in her battered, shattered soul.

So she would go in silence. In secret. She would beard Emet-Selch in his lair within the Tempest and she would free the Exarch from his clutches, then she would find a way to cast herself into the rift, as G’raha Tia had intended to do. Her friends - her family - would live on to fight the good fight, and she would have fulfilled her ultimate duty in forestalling the Eighth Umbral Calamity. With his plans in tatters and missing one-third of his triumvirate of unsundered, hopefully it would take Emet-Selch long enough to hatch a new plan that her soul would be reborn, and a new Warrior of Light would take up her mantle.

“So, this is where thou art.”

No. No, no, NO!

She didn’t want to turn. If she didn’t see them, then they couldn’t stop her. She would take the amaro, she would fly to the Tempest, and she would see an end to this. She would not risk them - her friends, her family.

She would not risk him.

“Kal’istae.” His voice jolted her; her soul cracked and fizzled beneath the weight of corrupted light and she clutched at her breast, gritting the teeth against the pain. “Kal’istae! Wake up!”

Wake up?

Fanfic is full of crucial moments. Want to see mine? Ask!

Thank you for the ask! <3

#asked and answered #kal'istae miurani

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rose-from-ashes · 8 months

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Little thing just, casually noting how STUPID FUCKING POWERFUL Emet is, and how it makes it hard to adapt his power set to even just a player job in the game because of the sheer range of what he's capable of:

Emet describes himself as a sorcerer of eld, and this is accurate. A sorcerer is a magic user naturally capable of magic. They didn't need to make a pact, like a warlock, and they didn't need to study, like a wizard. Emet was born with huge stores of aether, and the ability to manipulate it masterfully, able to draw on his environment to further augment his power if needed as most mages do, but not even really needing to do that. Normally, one would stop there, and call him a black mage.

But he didn't. He's not just powerful, he's studious, and founded the Allagan empire and drew on existing mathematic arcanima practices to create summoning. In other words, he's a wizard, too- someone using their studies to cast powerful spells. Generally, wizards and sorcerers are regarded as equally powerful, just different- but Emet is both, with no downsides. No sacrifices in one to make way for the other. He might not be quite as good a summoner as Lahabrea, the member of the convocation dedicated to creation especially in regards to beings rather than objects, but to mortals? He is without equal and without bounds in both fields. Even in the world unsundered, he was a prodigy.

"Okay", you say, "so he's got two classes maxed out." BUT NO WE DON'T STOP THERE. Emet knows the consequences of leaning too far into one direction or another. He even mentions maintaining the balance between light and dark personally. In regards to the star, yes- but he exists on a massive scale, and we know that the aether of a person can be twisted too far. Emet is heavy on the dark, on black magic, yes- but he wouldn't let himself go too far. Wouldn't risk his mind like that. And isn't there an entire job dedicated to maintaining their balance, using their own aether rather than the world around them, and mixing in the use of a physical weapon as Emet canonically does with his gun? Ah yes, red mage! And Emet does look fabulous in red. So that's ANOTHER whole separate variety of magic he's capable of!

Oh, but we don't stop there. Emet canonically acts as a black mage in Ktisis Hyperboreia, but that's not the only class he can work as there. What's the other? That's right, dark knight! A tank that takes in damage again and again, but keeps getting up, just as Emet does when we fight him in the Dying Gasp. They use their own variety of magic fuelled by emotion and careful self control, manipulating shadows and blasts of force- this magic doesn't fit into any other known magic method. So that's another one.

I could go on, talk about the extreme precision needed to casually shoot a wounded individual in the back to incapacitate without killing them, or the fact that he's incredibly old and has absolutely picked up every damn job in the game- but no one wants to see that, lol. Anyway, as I play him I intend to bring summoner, black mage, red mage, machinist, and dark knight to max level. We'll see how I feel about gunbreaker as well.

#c: emet selch

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porta-decumana · 1 year

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The Great Revampening!

Hi, it’s been a minute since a huge major big post regarding my characters. I want to start this off by saying that most fics are gonna remain unchanged because a lot of these revamps are not things that will require much in the way of retconning! There will be minor tweaks to And Love You Shall Find and MAYBE to Alea Iacta Est. Everything else will remain the same.

The big two things are that Kaida and Lillian are being reworked slightly. Unfortunately when I upgraded my PC, some things were lost and certain files got corrupted. I had to rebuild Kaida and Lillian’s looks from scratch and due to certain things, some changes were made to their appearances. And then I realized... I kind of like those changes.

I also am in process of making a new probably secondary OC but I’ll post about that later when her design is finished. I think much like Ifra and Y’aana, she may not necessarily have full fics dedicated to her but she’ll be a character that shows up in fics. But that’ll go in a later post, time to talk about Kaida and Lillian!

Appearance Changes

Kaida has a new set of scales. Lillian has been given wavy hair and freckles. Both have new hairstyles for 6.3 onward.

Additionally, Kaida’s appearance in previous expansions will be getting slightly revised moving forward (mostly hairstyle changes and I’m going to come up with official “looks” for her for each expansion).

Further changes are under the cut because long.

Backstory Changes

The only characters receiving backstory changes at this time are Kaida and her Unsundered form, Euphrosyne. I’ve been doing a lot of deep diving into Kaida’s character lately and I’m ready to reveal these new changes.

Euphrosyne (Euphie)

Formerly, Euphie was adopted into Hades’s family. However, I’ve decided to switch the scenario so that Hades was adopted into Euphie’s family. Euphrosyne also had two sisters (Aglaia and, tentatively, Thalia).

Kaida Asagiri

I have bumped back the time that Kaida was exiled from the Ruby Sea. Rather than being exiled at age 16, she was exiled at age 19. I chose to do this to give more time to explore her life in the Ruby Sea prior to her adventures as a Warrior of Light.

Kaida had a pet syldra during her time in the Ruby Sea. These were not uncommon for richer clans to own. The pet syldra was named Gin. After her exile, Kousuke and Aika-- Kaida’s siblings-- took care of Gin.

While Kaida lived in the Ruby Sea, she had a long-distance relationship with Yugiri. This relationship was kept mostly secret as Kaida knew that her parents would not approve of her dating someone outside the village. At the time, Ao-no-Sato and Sui-no-Sato were still repairing their relationship after generations of political conflict.

Yugiri was Kaida’s first kiss.

Kaida’s curiosity of the outside world was influenced by Yugiri’s stories, especially the tale of her encounter with a young boy name Shun.

Yugiri broke things off with Kaida when she departed the Ruby Sea to become a shinobi in Doma. Yugiri explained to Kaida that she was doing this because she could not see a future in which the Garleans did not invade the Ruby Sea. Although Yugiri tried to convince Kaida to come with her, Kaida felt, at the time, Yugiri was too obsessed with this paranoia of the Garleans invading (a paranoia Kaida was too familiar with as it had caused her village to become even more reclusive than normal-- something she did not like). Kaida refused and lost contact with Yugiri soon after, which broke her heart.

Rather than being part of a free company prior to the Calamity, Kaida worked in Gridania as part of the Conjurer’s Guild. She trained under E-Sumi-Yan, who took an interest in her geomancy. Because Kaida’s form of geomancy had more to do with water than the earth (given that she learned everything in an underwater village), she was tasked frequently with seeing to aetherial imbalances in the Shroud’s waters. She helped tend to the wounded during the Calamity and afterwards, she was recruited by the Order of the Twin Adders. She attained the rank of Serpeant Sergeant Third Class and mostly did Grand Company work for spare gil to cover living expenses.

During the events of rescuing Minfilia, Tataru, Urianger, etc from Castrum Centri in ARR, Kaida was captured by the XIVth Legion’s Livia sas Junius. This is going to be a fic so please look forward to it, I guess.

When Kaida and Yugiri reunited in 2.2, they tried to make things work out. However, they quickly discovered that they had simply become different people and after a month of trying, they decided to split things off permanently. They remain friends, however.

During the events of the Naadam in Stormblood, Kaida did not fight for the Mol. Instead, she fought for the Malaguld-- the tribe that her father hailed from. Kaida met some of her extended family during this time including her grandfather Sükhbaatar, the khan of the tribe and an experienced warrior, and her cousin, Erhi. Upon winning the Naadam, she gave her title of khagan to her grandfather as she felt it was not her place to hold that title.

Character Changes

Kaida’s Echo is now slightly altered. Rather than simply seeing the past through another’s eyes, Kaida experiences them in a more vivid and emotional way. The emotions sometimes cloud her mind post-vision to the point where she can fall into a state of delirium. The delirium is born from a blend of lingering emotions from the vision (usually the emotions of another) and her own feelings, giving her a cooldown period where she’s more emotionally volatile.

Not entirely a change but more or less something I’ve been developing over time. Kaida is pretty anti-piracy, specifically due to a bad past with the Confederacy, who has long harassed people from her village. Because of this, certain scenes in Stormblood are a bit different, with Kaida likely being forbidden from dealing with Rasho due to her immense hatred towards him. I will probably write about these scenes later. Kaida also has a civil but colder relationship with Merlwyb and does not particularly find Limsa to be a comfortable place. Characters such as Sicard, who lean into piracy a tad too comfortable, make Kaida wary and she is not comfortable around them. There is a bit more to this but I will also save that for fics.

I think that about covers the major changes! I plan to replay Stormblood when Trust support is added because I don’t think I’ve ever gotten to play through it as Kaida before! So when that happens, I foresee many more headcanon posts.

I will be revising banners and profiles gradually over the next week!

Thank you for reading.

#Lillian Willows #Kaida Asagiri #Blog PSA #Euphrosyne #im pretty sure the formatting of this post is gonna get borked but i tried my best lmao

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sunderedwrath · 9 months

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STORY.

Ceres hails from the Second reflection of the Source, a Sapiana (hyur) citizen of the oligarchy Empyrca (Ul'Dah) from a well-off family. One day, she returned home to discover her parents had engaged her to an older man while she wasn't present to defend herself, as their riches had been drained due to her father's gambling problems and her suitor promised to refill their coffers in exchange for a young bride.

Ceres refused and fled her home, only to realize the futility of it all as she wandered the streets of her city without anything to her name. She considered ending her life in protest of it all, not wanting to wallow in poverty or others' pity, but was suddenly approached a masked man introducing himself as Nabriales. He enticed her with the promise of never feeling helpless again, and upon her agreement, awoke the memories of her past life as the Ancient called Hera.

Hera had been an Ancient who lived in one of the many cities scattered across the Unsundered World, far from yet still obeying the laws of the Convocation of the Fourteen. She contributed to the world in her public service position, ensuring that communications to and from others went undisturbed. Ultimately, though, she lived a rather easygoing life in a beautiful utopia -- and, therefore, strongly supported the Convocation's desires to restore it to what it once was. And, upon seeing what she could have as opposed to the nothing she was now left with, how could Ceres do anything but join the Ascian's ranks?

Unfortunately, it turned out that she was made to be the lowest rank of Ascians: she had her past memories, the knowledge of the Ascians' grander scheme, and their nigh limitless powers -- but she could not obtain immortality by switching physical bodies and was nowhere near as strong as anyone above her. She couldn't even get stronger if she tried; as someone who had not been part of the Convocation, there was no way for her to ever be more than what she was.

Also, Nabriales was a obnoxious prick whom she quickly came to despise, but had no choice but to obey him lest she be unmade. She did is bidding, manipulated others to help push the Second's chosen hero into dangerous situations and tilt the balance of the elements -- all the while being far more careful not to actually face the infamous 'Warrior of the Wake.'

And when Nabriales achieved his mission, tipping the scales so that endless fires ravaged the world, she watched him depart without a single concern for any of the minor Ascians he had made. She could have easily teleported away, as many of her fellows did, but instead she remained and observed the defeated hero.

Reda'nüe was not the heroic type. She was self-centered and not above hurting others to further her own gains. She was also incredibly powerful -- far more than Ceres herself. As the Ascian turned it over in her mind, she decided to take a risk. She teleported both herself and Reda'nüe to a (temporarily) safer location, where she offered up the knowledge that she had. All of it.

"There's no saving your world now. It will be consumed by flame and lost within hours. But you don't need to go with it."

"And you can always grow stronger. You'd just need a little help from your fellow shards. I can take you to the other reflections. We can find them together."

Nabriales did not care enough to keep track of the minor Ascian lackeys who did his bidding, and the Unsundered only made note of the collapse of the Second as a whole on the path to Zodiark's restoration. Ceres, weak as she was in comparison, had now found an ally in a shard of Azem -- a powerful one, now content to survive by absorbing the souls of her fellows.

For a time, they have been able to operate quietly and avoid crossing paths with the other Ascians. It takes a very long time to locate your soultwin on an entire world, but they have succeeded twice now. Reda'nüe has absorbed the heroes of the Third and Sixth worlds, consequently paving the way for those worlds to fall to the Ascians.

#story.

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hythlodaeus-mynewoldfriend · 10 months

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🎻 💜

Thank you for asking! Apologies for the slight length on the second one but I did try to just keep Stasia’s a summary, and I’m on mobile so my thoughts are jumbled a little due to incorporating 6.4 lore still in some spots. So spoilers for EW below the cut!

🎻 VIOLIN — does your oc play any instruments? what is their skill level (beginner/intermediate/advanced/virtuoso/etc)?

Sadly none of my ocs play any instruments. Sibs mother attempted to get her to learn but she refused because was it really necessary for a lady to have playing music as a hobby? That wasn’t going to be her chosen hobby when she’d have to spend more time indoors as her supposed husband allowed.

💜 PURPLE HEART — what is your oc's ancestry/genetic background?

God I have thoughts on two of them for this one. I’m gonna do Sib and Stasia.

Sib is some old old old money with her family’s fortune having roots in Doma, which is why their name doesn’t reflect those of other Thavnairians and Hannish. Way back long time ago her ancestors came across a mine full of red gold and upon further digging found there to be more metals and ore and precious gems. Eventually they got more mines and soon found themselves moving the Thavnair near the time of establishment of Radz-at-Han hoping for better and easier trade. Their hopes were realized and their business took off and has been a staple despite their relatively small size among peers, though by choice as it has been a family business from the start. A more recent development among her family is their notions of beauty and their relation to dragons, the longer the tail, more scales one has, etc. means their line is closer to dragons of the first brood, this is false there is no relation to the first brood but good luck trying to convince her mother of such things. As the only living heir Siberite had expectations to run both the family business and marry higher if possible both of which she is well trained to do, now if only her parents can get her to come back home and stay there…..

Now for Stasia her heritage is a little different. She’s about 300 years old but not because she’s elezen or viera, no she’s half Ascian and half sundered soul essentially that can live for as long as she wants but can be killed like anyone else without the need for auracite, her youthful look is something she’s proactive about by using some dark magic. She has creation magic, though at lower level than the unsundered. She’s an oddity in that she can easily transport between reflections without needing to body hop (not that she could even if she wanted too, though she can do minor tweaking of her looks) and can bring others with her if she wanted. The last unique thing about her is that she is a new soul, having no memories or imprints of the Final Days like other sundered souls. All this simply because her father is Lahabrea.

When Stasia was born Lahabrea stuck around for a little while feeling the need to blend in and be there for his kid having made plans to leave them behind soon after Stasia turned 5, at which point her power of teleportation manifested and she found herself on the 13th. Once brought home Lahabrea worked on honing her skills and making them greater to allow for the free transport to come at will with little consequence, something that proved futile as with the control she gained it made going to the lengths expected of her near impossible at the age of 10. Finding her a disappointment and too weak to gain anything he taught, he left. Once on her own at the age of 16 did Emet-Selch find her and discovered that she was a new soul much like the phoenix her father made all those years ago. Gaining her trust he took over her teaching and she eventually came to help in creating the Garlean Empire posing as a cousin within the Galvus family. During their time together Emet told her of their history, about the world before, what would happen when all the rejoinings happened, told her of the paradise she would be in to help mark the start of a new beginning for their peoples.

While she spent her life with them Stasia never knew much on who the unsundered were before the Final Days….until a portal to Elpis was opened and she followed the WoLs to the past and met Emet-Selch, finding the truth in the paradise he spoke of real and seeing the origin of the sentimentality that led to his downfall and rejection of sundered souls as living beings (which her not being complete in a way must have meant he considered her in the same crowd). On her second trip did she find herself helping Siberite out in Pandæmonium Stasia found out she had an older brother in Erichthonios and that she’s more like her father than initially thought now that there wasn’t millennia’s worth of degradation on the mind. While she never told Lahabrea her relation to him it didn’t stop Erichthonios from figuring it out and asking in the stored memory of the crystal that she take to keeping an eye on him since he’d no longer be the oldest. While she still rejects these men as father figures (and will never forgive them for the pain they caused her) the trips to the past helped in gaining understanding on just how to move forward and make a path of her own.

#Thank you again for asking! again I hope it’s not too long!#I am always down to talk about them both more though! like there’s so much going on in the brain irt Stasia #siberite akagane oc #siberite chara ask #the akagane family #stasia oc #stasia chara ask #endwalker spoilers

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grumpyascianteddybear · 1 year

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Voidal Heart Chapter One

Here is Chapter One. Please enjoy!

@jedikitteh

Emet was trying to understand why Lahabrea had insisted on this. They had already used Mhach and its residents to bring about a calamity. What was pilfering through the remnants going to do? Sure, voidsent could be useful, but they came with many cons. The half-creatures' ravenous hunger was only one of those cons. There was also the fact that most of them had gone insane when the flood came. It was annoying to deal with at the best of times and downright irritating at the worst times.

“I know they are loathsome, just as you are, but like you, they have their uses,” Lahabrea purred as he started looking through the coffins for any voidsent that could be useful to them. All these half-beasts had their uses, though some were more useful than others. Emet was mildly aware of a familiar about. A talking cat, if he remembered correctly, though something else was nagging at him.

There was an energy here that he could not explain. Though there was no mistaking the voidsent queen, something else was more powerful. The quiet footsteps caused the Ascian to turn and look behind him. A hand raised, ready to snap fingers to obliterate whatever was there. However, as he caught the soul's brightness, his eyes widened. It could not be! Another that was unsundered like them?

Yet, even though he noted they were indeed whole, there was something very off. Their soul seemed twisted and almost mangled by dark-aspected aether. It wasn’t the same as being tempered, though, and as they drew closer, he got a glimpse of the original color in the mass of twisted aether. It caused him to back up and trip over some rubble. “It can’t be. This is impossible!”

“What are you on about?”

Emet looked up at Lahabrea as he summoned one of his familiars. It was the dragon, and his eyes widened before he scrambled to his feet. No! He knew full well that The Speaker would obliterate her before they even had a chance to see if she could be reasoned with. That was something he could not allow. “Hadianna, stay back!”

“Your daughter is dead!”

To say that he was unsurprised to hear such venom from the other was an understatement. He had lost his son when the Final Days hit. Erichthonios had gone during the first wave of creatures. Then when the sundering happened, he too was sundered with everyone else. Emet did not know how Hadi had gotten out whole, but he would find out. Right now, he just needed to keep her safe. That was the number one thing here.

What happened next was the last thing he expected. She had not been able to transform, yet here she was doing just that. White scales that shined a deep umbral purple covered her body. The lower half was that of a snake now, while her head was a mix of human and snake. There was a sword in one hand and a purple fireball in the other hand. When did she gain the ability to use magic?

“I will not go down without a fight, Uncle Lala.”

Her voice came out in a deep hiss. Emet did not remember her voice being that deep. Was it a result of the flood? There were so many questions running through his head as he watched her. His eyes darted to Lahabrea, who seemed to be hesitant to attack her now. The third seat could be fine with him, given who Hadianna was married to. Elidibus would kill him if she were hurt—somehow, he still had some memories of her left despite Zodiarks seemingly insatiable hunger. He likely wouldn’t take this well, even with her being unsundered.

“I am not a fool. Twisted though you maybe, you are still his wife.”

It was said with a deep sigh of disgust as he lowered his hands. Emet was not surprised by that reaction either, given that Lahabrea had been losing himself. He did seem to care much for anything that connected to their past. He was molding his vessels less and less as the years passed. It was as if he no longer cared for the person he had once been. As if that man was somehow weak to allow all this to happen. Never mind the fact that none of it was their fault, to begin with.

A sigh left him as he noticed a large hand coming toward him. A yipe escaped him as he was picked up and gently placed on his feet. Emet grumbled his thanks as he brushed himself off. It was undignified to be picked up like that and by his daughter too. She was also basically naked, but he wouldn’t get into that now. There were more pressing matters, like how she was not sundered like everyone else.

“Hadi-”

“Belladonna, I go by Belladonna now. Donna, Bell, or Bells is also fine.”

Emet blinked at her as he watched her return to her normal form. He supposed normal was subjective, given that she now had horns, wings, and strange eyes. That she had decided to change her name did bother him slightly. Her mother had been insistent about naming her after him, and now she didn’t want to be known by that name. Was it because she felt abandoned? That certainly wasn’t his intention or her husband's. They had not known she was whole. Elidibus and himself had been looking for a sundered piece rather than a complete soul.

“Belladonna.” Emet repeated back to her and nodded. He had no right to tell her that she could not change her name. If it did not feel right, she had every right to change it to something she identified with. “Are there any other changes I should be aware of? Pronouns?”

“No, just my name.”

Emet nodded at the soft and appreciative smile she gave him. Even with most of her eyes now black, the iris’ were still the same pale green as her mother's. The glow was also still there too. A sign that she was indeed still whole. “Alright, that is good to know.”

“Are you done yet, Selch?”

The growl came from Lahabrea and caused Emet to turn his attention to the other. It looked like The Speaker was getting impatient. One side of his mouth shifted up in annoyance as he regarded the other man. Could Lahabrea, for once, not be an absolute dick? Was that really too much to ask for? Perhaps it would be better to get away from him. “Why don’t you continue as you were while I speak with my daughter?”

Eyes rolled as Lahabrea grunted before walking off. Good, now he and Ha- Emet took a deep breath as he internally corrected himself. Yeah, that was gonna take a bit to get used to. Now he had Belladonna, and he could continue speaking in peace. There was much for them to talk about. Where to start, though? Perhaps it was best to let her ask questions first. “Is there anything you wish to know?”

“Have you found any of Themis’ shards?”

“Elidibus is still whole.” Emet stated and paused. How was he supposed to tell her he was a completely different person now? The soft but confident man she had fallen for and married was gone. Did he even remember his name? Zodiark kept chipping away at the memories, the things that made Elidibus Themis. There was so little left of Themis now. Only a few memories of her were left to remind him of who he had once been. “He is very different now.”

He watched as her face went from happy surprise to uncertainty. It wasn’t something he enjoyed watching either. Emet could only guess at what must have been going through her head. His guesses weren’t on the positive side of things either. How did you deal with something like this? It also worried him as she would have to face Elidibus sooner rather than later. It wasn’t like he could really hide her from him, and he didn’t want to. She was their best chance of him recovering at least some margin of his true self again.

“Belladonna, I know this is a lot to take in.” Emet stated as he looked at her. His eyes were soft as he looked at her. Despite the changes that marked her as a voidsent now, she still looked like herself for the most part. “You are at the moment all he remembers of before; even then, it is only pieces. Zodiark has been feeding on his memories, and I fear you're the only tie he has left to who he was before.”

A nod was less than he expected, but he did not miss the determination in her eyes. She had already made her choice, and Emet knew it was right. His daughter had never been one to give up on those she cared for. She was loyal to a fault regarding those she considered hers. It was something she came by honestly as both himself and her mother had been like that. He was still like that to an extent.

“Chin up, Little One.” Emet stated as he reached out his hand, cupping her face. He ensured the claw-like additions on three fingers didn’t scratch her. She had always been his little soldier, and now she could use magic without the help of foci. It was something they could all be happy about. One perk out of the sea of cons that her being twisted like this came with. “You two have always been able to take on the world together. I doubt that is going to change anytime soon.”

“Thank you, Daddy. Can you take me to see him?”

“Yes, and I shall.” Emet nodded as he quickly closed his eyes and located Elidibus. He was in The Wanderer’s Palace. Great, they would have to deal with the Nymians. Or at least what remained of them. This was gonna be a doozy, but at least there weren’t many people around there. Sometimes it was hard to tell when Elidibus would go off the deep end. It didn’t happen often, but when it did, it was usually something personal, and this was very personal. “I hope you are prepared for this.”

“I am as ready as I will ever be.”

It was a rueful response, and yet it caused him to smile. Humor in the face of darkness and sorrow, yes, that did fit the bill. Emet offered her his hand as he opened a portal to the location. “Also, stay away from the green creatures. They will stab you.”

“Green Creatures?”

#paragraphs of the abyss(emet ficlet)#paragraphs of the void(belladonna)#paragraphs of the speaker(lala)#voidal heart

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gazihsah · 3 months

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「let this memory go」

#ffxiv #ff14 #elidibus #themis #Unsundered Scales #Madeon & WAVEDASH - All Ur Luv (feat. Toro Y Moi)

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abimee · 1 year

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edw spoilers just in case [salutes]

i talked to mags last night about ruyan and tock's indivitual time in elpis and tock has an entirely different time but in ruyans universe i think hades does send a missive back about althaeas familiar like a har har for sending this thing and Althaea, knowing fully damn well she only has one familiar and its Eos and shes literally right next to her, recognizes that something is afoot, but dares not mention it back to hades

no she realizes that someone is lying that theyre her familiar and her interest is IMMEDIATELY piqued, and since she has family working in elpis she KNOWS she would not look out of place visiting, so she BOOKS it there and slips past everyone with them assuming ''oh althaea is here visiting her father''

but she makes sure that hades and hythlo doesnt know shes here, and she immediately deciphers who this mystery familiar is (Ruyan) and understands that she is most certainely either

A) not from this time B) knows something althaea doesnt

so Althaea basically stalks ruyan around elpis to see what shes up to acting as her familiar, all while her actual familiar Eos watches him as well

and i think Althaea puts some pieces together? She doesnt know how, she doesn't know why, and she doesn't fully get where, but she knows that Ruyan must know her, and that Ruyan isn't from here, and so something very, very silly is afoot.

But Althaea also knows that silly little plots like this mean that something very meticulous is happening and must not be disturbed, so Althaea tries not to intervene; but she so badly wants just a moment, and i think in a lull she gets awfully close by to Ruyan and gains his attention and eventually manages to call her over. and IMMEDIATELY Althaea is like ''do NOT tell me anything about you, do NOT say anything i shouldnt know, all i want is to meet you'', and Ruyan realizes that he is in fact standing in front of his fully unsundered self from 15,000 years ago and that she has ''caught'' him in his lying act.

But all she does is get really excited about how for SOME reason, someone or some thing from some where has come here, and she KNOWS about Althaea, and its the coolest thing ever to her! And I think Althaea puts some pieces together and guesses that Ruyan is somewhow connected to althaea in some way, meybe a reborn her from the future, because their aether is exactly the same, but Althaea is for sure that Ruyan isn't any creation of hers. But she's just so EXCITED to see the future standing before her, and she cant stop touching Ruyan's face and scales and hair and the glasses she wears, curious and wondering what the future is like where Ruyan had come from, where people like Ruyan exist born the way they are (points to althaeas ears) and can live without ridicule.

I think the utter joy and delight on Althaea's face churns something in Ruyan's gut, but he promised not to reveal anything or say anything to Althaea she shouldn't know, and even when he tries she shuts Ruyan down and tells her that she must not know, it will ruin the magic of wondering.

Althaea eventually has to return, especially knowing that hades is lurking around and she must not be seen randomly in Elpis after she had missed the chance to come cause she was on an expedition and therefore raise Hades's own suspicions, but i think Althaea Ruyan not by asking a question about the future, but by telling Ruyan one thing, and it's that she hopes that wherever Ruyan came from, and for whatever reason, that she knows that Althaea is rooting for her from the past, and that she hopes that Ruyan enjoys the time she came from and doesn't linger in the past, for to Althaea, living in a past is missing out on the excitement of an unknown tomorrow. She gives Ruyan (essentially herself) a kiss on the cheek, and tells Ruyan that if she wanted to pretend to be one of her familiars she should've made herself an awful lot smaller (especially alluding to Tock, who is lalafell), and then disappears off with Eos in a flash of blue butterfly wings, never to be seen by Ruyan ever again

#i think this is how althaea knows to tell themis about the guiding star #i think althaea just assumes that ruyan ought to still be around to help out in elpis and that she will come to themis' aid #because if they share the same aether then that means they share the same love and althaea loves themis a lot #so ruyan will ought to love him as well. anyway [throws myself off a short pier]

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herohikara-wol · 2 years

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FFXIV Write 2k22 - Prompt 17

Novel

Hero gives Asahi access to The Unending Journey. Everybody Lives AU, you can pry my comfort characters from my cold dead hands.

“You need me to translate your journals?” Asahi glowered warily at the stacks of leather-bound books on his desk, knowing damn well that Hero had assigned him a do-nothing task to keep him out of perceived trouble while he recovered from the trauma. Of course housing an Ascian in his body had left him weakened, in a sorry state that made him feel pitiful. It wasn’t until Zenos assured him that his body had needed time to recover from Elidibus’ possession that Asahi had relented. “Translate them into what?”

“Honestly? I hadn’t gotten that far.” He laughed as if the answer wasn’t grating Asahi’s last nerve. Too transparent to even pretend this task had an onze of import. “I’m only really fluent in Hingan, but Sharlayan wants copies of my journals for their research. Something about a fast track to citizenship given everything I’ve done for the Star. Ameliance is a treat, she argued that if I could produce information about other shards and the Unsundered of Amaurot from my travels then I deserve citizenship at minimum. I have access to information they could only dream of experiencing.”

Oh, alright that made more sense. He didn’t know what language would make the most sense to the Forum of Sharlayan. Alright, maybe this wasn’t a do-nothing task after all. “So you need me to read through your journals, compile the relevant information to the inner-workings of the star, and put it all into a single book written in a more suitable language for future generations to learn from?”

“Yes! That! Exactly that!” Hero beamed like he’d asked Asahi to pass him the sugar, not craft a tome’s worth of information out of a pile of chicken scratch.

“Hero, understand I say this with nothing but love for you. I fucking hate you.”

“I mean, I’m between jobs right now so I wasn’t going to make you do it alone. I was going to help.”

“You might actually help more by not helping, have you considered that?” Asahi leveled a glare at the Viera, who glanced away as if the window were suddenly more interesting than his own boyfriend. “Nevermind. Of course you haven’t. Here’s how this is going to work. I will start reading through your journals, in order, and take notes. Anything I need you to clarify or verify, I will ask about. However, first I want to figure out if your writing is even legible.”

Hero watched as he reached for the first volume, where he described the dreams of Hydaelyn and his starting adventures. How his judgemental sneer shifted to a soft frown of idle curiosity as he turned the page. Asahi couldn’t deny the warrior’s writing style was interesting. As if he knew he’d be recording the information for future generations to enjoy. “Asahi?”

The former tribunus was snapped out of his focus halfway through the first volume, “Ah- yes?”

“Do you want me to bring you snacks and tea?”

“Yes, please.” He remembered how much he resented Hero when they first met, entirely unaware that he was dealing with someone who measured threats on a macro-scale instead of a localized one. It had taken Hero showing him the shadowy world of Ascians and introducing him to Zenos properly for the hyur to appreciate him. It took Hero reaching out to invite Asahi into his and Zenos’ bed for the jealousy to subside. No wonder Zenos loved him so fiercely. Except Zenos saw the confident man Hero had grown into.

These journals showed his fears, his nightmares, his insecurities, and his hopes. Asahi was being granted a chance to see the sides of Hero that even Zenos had never seen. The raw emotional half of his sparkling personality.

He almost sobbed when he reached the page after their fight with Titan and the only words in a shaky hand read “they’re all dead. Everyone is dead.” They forced him to carry the bodies, to bury them with his own hands. To return the sylph’s corpse to her people. What monsters. The more Asahi read, the more he could picture it clearly in his mind’s eye. Hero tried not to retch as he struggled to lower the bodies of the fallen into their graves respectfully, Percival cursing about the situation while Hero whispered prayers to the Spinner.

Soon enough he was reaching for the next book.

He was reading through Hero’s journeys in Ishgard when night fell and Hero came to drag him to bed. “Why did you never tell me what you went through?”

“Honestly? Because I worry if I look back too long, I’ll stop moving forward.” Hero smiled softly at Asahi, “come on, Zenos is in a cuddly mood and I think you need the attention.”

#FFxivWrite2022 #FFXIVWrite #My Writing #FFXIV Fanfiction

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atdutiesend · 1 year

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Well since it's been mentioned--

Lahabrea killed Dove in the solo instance. They're possessing their own body and have been for a long time now, but because Au Ra don't have a lot of visible aging after reaching adulthood until well into middle age, the only people who really noticed are their father and cousin, the Ascians, and of course... Zenos.

That last bit is verse dependent, of course - if your muse would have noticed, they would have noticed.

[6.0 spoilers below the cut.]

All that being said, when they were sent back to the World Unsundered, Dove's empty body was left behind in the Ocular. Emet-Selch created an entirely new, living, body from scratch when he solidified them. Seeing as he never took his aether back, when Dove returned to the present, they resized to fit the current scale of the world, but were left facing their own corpse.

[Vore TW] Well, there was no sense in being wasteful, so they ate their remains, and continued on with saving the world. They're alive again, and had a nice little breakdown over that on their private island.

#out of cryptids #about dove #vore tw #it's a very brief mention and marked in the text #death tw

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ainyan · 1 year

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Monstrous

“So, this is where thou art.”

No. No, no, NO!

She would not risk him.

Wake up?

She felt his hands on her shoulders - lean, strong, iron in their grip as they bore down and shook her forcefully. “Wake up! It’s only a nightmare! Gods - she’s like ice. Raha!”

G’raha? But he’s not here - Emet-Selch had stolen him, taken him away. And she could not hate him for it; the Exarch would have died otherwise. But he couldn’t be…

“Ah, Kali, my dear, awaken.” That soft, soothing voice, gentle but with an underlying core of solid adamant. This was wrong! He was not here. A trick - an Ascian trick to prevent her from her duty… Her spine arched, cracking as she fought the restraining hands. “Gods! Thancred, hold her!”

She heard a grunt. “I’m trying! She’s so infernally strong! Kali, godsdamnit, wake up! Gods, what memory is this?”

Warmth flooded her - more aether? More Light! Gods, no - she’ll turn, she’ll turn and they’re too close, too close! “Let go!” she screamed hoarsely. “Let me go before I turn! I will not kill you - I would rather kill myself!”

Hands bore down on her wrists - slender, almost delicate in form, but the steely grip would not be broken no matter how she twisted. “Are you saying this is the Echo? Gods, Kali!”

“Back away.” The voice was commanding, throaty and rich with just a hint of purr to it. She felt the hands at her wrists fall away, but those on her shoulders remained. “Thancred, move.”

There was a grunt as she struggled against his hold. “I can take a little cold water, Shtola. Do it!”

That was the only warning she had. The next moment, her world was frigid and icy, the shock of it driving her out of her dream and back into reality. Her eyes shot open, pupils so pinpointed the whole eye seemed made of indigo and amethyst, and she shrieked as she was torn from uneasy sleep into the waking world.

#ffxiv #ffxiv fanfiction #wol x thancred #wol x thancred x g'raha #kal'istae miurani #memories echoing back #echo dreams

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rose-from-ashes · 10 months

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Little Dark Age

An in depth look at the lyrics of the song Little Dark Age by MGMT and how these lyrics pertain to Emet below the cut. Fair warning, it's REALLY FUCKING LONG.

Preface with the fact that this song is about depression and is pretty... augh. I take a lot of the lines more literally for emet than you're supposed to, but the original meaning of the song does factor in.

"The ruins of the dead, painted with a scar" - The imagery of dehumanization and ruin resonates strongly with him, as he views himself as less of a person than the other unsundered despite being the most sane- after all, someone has to be not the best person to remain "sane" (using it loosely) through all the horrific things he's seen and done.

"Breathing in the dark, lying on its side" - This stanza is about a depressed individual spending the majority of their time either sleeping or just laying in bed and rotting with their feelings, both things that Emet is prone to doing during particularly hard times.

"And the more I straighten out, the less it wants to try" - The more he tries to give mortals chances to redeem themselves in his eyes, prove themselves worthy, the more they fail, and the colder he grows.

"The feelings start to rot, one wink at a time" - 'winks' refer to sleep, the time one spends with their eyes closed- but sleep can also be connected to death. Every time Emet lives a life and dies, his feelings towards mortals sour, as he experiences their lives and how painful and short they are.

"Oh-oh, forgiving who you are, for what you stand to gain" - Emet very literally does this, acknowledging the horrible thing he's become, and forgiving those horrors for the sake of bringing about a better kinder world he can feel good about leaving alone. He feels that the people deserve to thrive, even at the cost of his humanity and the atrocities he commits.

"Just know that if you hide, it doesn't go away" - In the same breath as Emet acknowledge the horror of what he's done, he turns away from it, justifies it, doesn't solve it- he hides from it, and the full scale only hits him when he's already dead or the rejoining has finally come.

"When you get out of bed, don't end up stranded, horrified, with each stone" - When it finally hits him, when he finally gets up and faces it, he's left feeling... well, 'stranded, horrified', staring at the obstacles of his own actions and even just the sheer difficulty of existing.

"On the stage, my little dark age" - 'little dark age' refers to a depressive episode, but at the same time, it's very literal for emet, constantly bringing forward dark ages and calamities in horrifying and theatrical manner to bring about the rejoining.

"Picking through the cards, knowing what's nearby" - Emet is constantly looking through his options, not even finishing the current rejoining before moving onto the next, a constant cycle of destruction.

"The carvings on the face say they find it hard" - The original line is about looking through tarot cards in an attempt to reassure oneself, and failing because depression can make even positive signs look like a new obstacle. For Emet, where the cards now signify options for calamities, this changes this line until it reads as if the world itself is struggling to keep up with the demands he's putting on it by rejoining again and again without allowing elidibus to right things and heal the star.

"And the engine's failed again, all limits of disguise" - The engine in question is garlemald, as Varis fails to live up to Emet's requirements. Such is the very literal limit of disguise- there is only so much emet can build and do disguised as a mortal, and unfortunately, this limitation did not supply Varis with the power he needed to follow through on Emet's instructions.

"The humor's not the same, coming from denial" - Emet is constantly joking, but we know, having met him before the sundering, that that humor was not there before. It's something he picked up to cope with and hide his pain from the horrible weight he has taken on.

"Oh-oh, I grieve in stereo, the stereo sounds strange" - Emet grieves, deeply and constantly to a point that it cannot be comprehended from a mortal perspective- to a point that even when we tell him about it in elpis, it sounds strange and surreal to him. He is unable to conceptualize the horrible things he's done, he is unable to conceptualize how badly his future self is hurting to the point that he summons spectres of the dead just to feel less alone. His own grief is strange to him.

"I know that if you hide, it doesn't go away" - Emet immersed himself as Solus, far too much. Enough that he started to hide from his own knowledge of mortals, only to be sharply reminded with the death of his own son, he cannot afford to hide from it, as it will come for him eventually.

"If you get out of bed and find me standing all alone, open-eyed" - The name Solus literally means sole, alone, and it's very fitting. He was alone, and even moreso with the death of his son which quite literally opened his eyes to the fact that even after so many rejoinings, mortals were still weak.

"Burn the page, my little dark age" - The experience I just described is shortly followed on Emet shutting down everything in his mind, quite literally burning the page in the form of waging war across the planet, destroying enemies and bringing the fall of dalamud with the intention of destroying eorzea.

"I grieve in stereo, the stereo sounds strange

You know that if it hides, it doesn't go away

If I get out of bed, you'll see me standing all alone, horrified

On the stage, my little dark age" - This is a repetition of the previous stanza, with mild changes- to me, it brings forth the end of Solus's life and the entering of the next era, Emet bringing forth the calamity of light.

"Giddy with delight, seeing what's to come" - The impending calamity looms on the horizon, everything is in place. It's quite literally visible, light filling the sky and corrupting person after person. He knows the rejoining is soon.

"The image of the dead, dead ends in my mind" - At the same time, he can't set aside his grief. The knowledge that the ruins of Amaurot in the first will be lost in that rejoining is quite literally a dead end in his mind, and he spends more and more time there, clinging to the last remnants of the people he lost.

"Policemen swear to God, love seeping from the guns" - A common theme in Emet's calamities he guides are empires, destructive, conquering, and claiming they know what's better, whether in the name of some god or in the name of Emet himself, they shoot, kill and maim with the claim of love, just as he does.

"I know my friends and I would probably turn and run" - Emet knows how terrifying these calamities are to mortals. After all, he lived through the final days, himself.

"If you get out of bed, come find us heading for the bridge, bring a stone" - He invites the warrior of light to the the tempest, invites them to find him and bring all their light, no matter how destructive.

"All the rage, my little dark age" - Despite all their anger and pain, he knows that nothing will stop his 'little dark age', his rejoining.

"I grieve in stereo, the stereo sounds strange" - Both Emet and the player long for their homes and their worlds to survive, and they cannot hide from the fact that these desires will inherently never coexist.

"I know that if you hide, it doesn't go away" - Just as Emet cannot hide from his grief for the end of his world, the warrior can't hide from their grief, and their guilt, knowing that they are now the source of the final days of the first.

"If you get out of bed and find me standing all alone, open-eyed" - The first scene we get after the full knowledge of the inevitibility of the calamity hits us is us getting up in our room alone, opening the window, and being forced to witness the light sky returned to lakeland, proof of what is coming .

"Burn the page, my little dark age" - Again, Emet is quite literally burning the page, obliterating the first in a rejoining we fuel.

"All alone, open-eyed" - We go to amaurot and face emet, our eyes opened to the depth of his grief, and refuse to stand down, facing him alone.

"Burn the page, my little dark age" - I offer you nothing but the scene where Emet turns and walks into the fires of Amaurot.

#please do not reblog #c: emet selch #mun writings; endless chatter

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