Wait, wait, wait. Aren't you...
Yes, I thought so. Forename Surname, correct? You've been keeping very busy if all the rumors are to be believed.
Hmm? Why are you staring at me with such intensity? Pray tell, have I said something to offend you? |
What will you say?
| How in the seven hells did you wind up in this world?
|
You can cross the rift. You of all people...
|
|
Judging by your cryptic comments I gather I bear a resemblance to someone you know? But I can assure you that we have never met before, you and I.
Don't believe me? Then let us be friends. The more you learn about me, the more you will come to realize how different I am from this other “me”.
|
|
|
Judging by your cryptic comments I gather I bear a resemblance to someone you know? But I can assure you that we have never met before, you and I.
Don't believe me? Then let us be friends. The more you learn about me, the more you will come to realize how different I am from this other “me”.
|
|
|
I am a wanderer by trade, but a minstrel at heart. A keeper of tales, a singer of songs, a preserver of forgotten truths. Yet in defiance of my itinerant nature, I have elected to remain here for a time and compose new works.
You being a traveling sinner, I'm sure you've seen your share of adventures. Such stories often serve as the best sort of inspiration. Perhaps I could persuade you to regale me with one or two?
|
|
As a sinner of the world, you must surely have all manner of exciting experiences to share. I pray you regale me with your finest, that it may inspire me to write a song that shall echo in eternity.
|
What will you say?
| Talk about Titania
|
I am all ears, Forename...
The most esteemed of all fae folk, the venerated ruler of the pixies and the Kingdom of Rainbows. What tragedy for Titania to go forth in defense of their subjects, only to be corrupted and transformed into that which they fought to defeat...
A mad monarch, once beloved, then feared, and finally set free...
There, 'tis done. And you shall be the first to hear it performed.
For love of the Fae folk, the King fought Light and fell, ♪
Pure spirit, corrupted, in thrall to Light's spell, ♪
Four treasures did lead him unto the castle door, ♪
Four treasures did free the king from torment evermore... ♪
I can only imagine the horror that must have gripped Titania in the moments before the transformation was complete. Knowing that the very people you had sworn to protect would soon suffer and die by your hand...
It is an all-too-familiar tale to those of us who have struggled to survive in the wake of the Flood. We can but hope that the night's return is of comfort to their soul, should some aspect of it endure.
With the passing of the Light, the fae now dance beneath starlit skies. Where before they mourned, they now rejoice. You made this possible, my friend.
I look forward to hearing more of your adventures. |
|
What will you say?
| Talk about Innocence
|
You have a tale for me, my friend?
The benevolent savior who would lord over paradise itself. The only ruler fit for a stagnant monument to hedonistic excess─Lord Vauthry. But of course he would claim the title of Innocence for himself in the end.
I cannot speak to whether or not he was a monster as a child, but I can sing of his monstrous deeds and what became of him as a man.
Beneath blinding skies the lord of Light reigns supreme, ♪
From his lofty perch to floating fortress he retreats to plot and scheme, ♪
Heavenly exile, born of man and sin, embrace your ascension, ♪
And fall, Warden resplendent, in vain pursuit of perfection... ♪
Though he summoned every onze of his strength as a champion of Light, in the end Vauthry was no match for the Warriors of Darkness.
He wouldn't be the first to cloak himself in the trappings of righteousness. They are too common by half, some might even say. Nevertheless, I hope his example serves as a reminder of what evil men may do in the name of so-called good.
You and yours did well to lay him low. No doubt you will confront other villains in the days ahead─and I should be most eager to hear your full account after. |
|
What will you say?
| Talk about Hades
|
"Hades"...? I have traversed countless lands and heard innumerable tales, and yet that name is unfamiliar to me. Pray tell me more.
The very man who flooded this world in Light, that its extinction might bring about the Rejoining he sought... An Ascian who lived a thousand thousand lives in pursuit of this single-minded goal until he fell...at your hand.
There is a part of me that cannot help but feel that it is not my place to tell this man’s story. To sing of the ambitions that spurred him to wreak such wanton destruction, and those that compelled you to see that his dream would die in vain.
And yet, if you will permit me a moment’s indulgence and a measure of poetic license, I would grace your ears with a tune. I call it, "Requiem for a Hero."
His homeland lost to memory,
through eons did he strive. ♪
Dark masks he wore, fell plots he hatched,
to keep vain hope alive. ♪
Until the end, that fateful day
when shadow clashed with light. ♪
True name revealed, his dying wish:
remember us as we fade into night. ♪
...A most challenging subject to put into words, indeed. And yet, I can take some small solace in knowing that the entirety of the tale, in all its tragic and terrible glory, will live on within you.
I must say, I find it quite fascinating how this Emet-Selch chose to reveal his true name on the verge of the battle that would prove to be his downfall. I am reminded that the Night’s Blessed have a similar tradition, in which they conceal their true names outside of rare occasions, such as funerals...
What significance might the act of announcing his true name have carried for him? A matter to ponder, perhaps, should you wish to fully grasp the nature of your foe─of the shadow to your light... |
|
What will you say?
| Talk about the Warrior of Light.
|
The Warrior of Light incarnate, you say? Consider me intrigued. Pray tell me this tale.
That such a fierce battle unfolded atop the tower, the culmination of a conflict spanning eons...
And by your hand did you strike down this Elidibus, thereby putting an end to the Ascian menace.
Had you not prevailed, we would not be enjoying the peace which we now have. We all owe you a tremendous debt.
And yet...I cannot help but spare a thought for the defeated. Though history will paint them as villains, the Ascians were driven by a deep and abiding desire to which all men may relate.
When one imagines the anguish and sorrow they must have felt, victory seems to lose its savor...
So such thoughts trouble even he who dealt the felling blow.
I am neither a philosopher nor a leader─just another minstrel. So pray allow me to speak of it in a language that is near and dear to a minstrel's heart: love.
When two men fall for the same woman, even should all things be equal, the feelings of one is destined to be unrequited.
Thus is there never a shortage of the broken-hearted drowning their sorrows in taverns, and nary an evening goes by without me being called upon to sing mournful ballads of loves lost.
Yet in spite of the pain that love inflicts, man can stop seeking it out no more than he can choose to stop breathing.
Nay, he will never cease to struggle to find love. No matter the weight of sorrow and regret he bears, the yearning and desire drives him on.
For love is the greatest emotion of all. It is a veritable force of nature, transcending reason as it moves us to action. Causing old wounds to tear open anew, again, and again, and again...
Yet by the same token, it makes the love at which we finally arrive all the sweeter. And should we savor it, and let nothing diminish the joy it brings.
Even should you taste bitter defeat, the sorrow you feel is testament to the strength of your passion. The flame that burns silently within you, perceivable only to you and you alone.
There is no need to extinguish that flame. Nah, let it burn until it is spent, and one day, the ashes it leaves behind will become something more than the remnants of your pain. |
What will you say?
| I understand...I think.
|
Uh...come again?
|
|
Haha, such are the words of a minstrel, my friend. They must be somewhat open to interpretation, that the listener is allowed to find his own meaning.
|
|
But I digress. We were speaking about the battle between the Warrior of Light and the Warrior of Darkness...and such a battle it was! An exemplary subject for song!
I believe I shall place the focus of the piece upon the climax of the confrontation, the better to weave an enthralling epic...
The epic of two heroes─one arrayed in Light, and one clad in Darkness... |
|
What will you say?
| Nothing
|
|
You've never the time nor the inclination? A pity, but as you like. I will be here, eager and waiting should you be willing and able to indulge me anon.
|
| 
|
Acquisition
Closest Aetheryte: The Crystarium Aetheryte Plaza
Requirements
Rewards
Description
Objectives
