I am Unukalhai, and I serve a friend.
Lest you wonder why one so young was chosen for this task, it is because I have... How shall I put this? An intimate knowledge of the primal mind.
You are curious, I am sure. But you need not understand the nature of a power to use it, do you? It is much the same with the Echo, I imagine.
I see that you yet question the true purpose behind my presence here. I am but my master's servant, bid to accept Urianger's invitation to ally with the Scions.
There are those such as Archon Y'shtola, of course, who are sensitive to sudden shifts, and remain suspicious of my motives...
We are bound by common enemies─by the threat of the Warring Triad, and the Garlean Empire. Are such ties not sufficient to explain my actions, Warrior of Light?
Before my appointment to the Scions here in the comparatively peaceful realm of Eorzea, I dwelled in a land wracked by unending conflict.
I was alone in that place, and mastered what magicks I could simply to survive. In the end, however, it was not enough. Overcome by an immense force against which I could mount no defense, I had resigned myself to death's inexorable embrace...until my master intervened to save me.
Mayhap events would have unfolded differently if I had been blessed with comrades to fight at my side, or if there had been a teacher to learn from and emulate... But there was not, and I must accept the futility of wishing it were otherwise.
Until Archon Y'shtola chastised me for the act, I had not realized I was treating you as an ideal rather than as a person.
I was convinced you were the light that brought hope in the darkness; that you walked only the path illuminated by the rays of the sun.
Mayhap I clung to this vision because you continue to achieve what I could not. But this star's salvation will not come at the end of some predestined hero's journey, and I shall never again demean the sacrifices you have made with my blind presumptions...
I have already revealed to you the secrets of my origin. And in the spirit of the friendship you have offered me, I shall endeavor to remain open and truthful from this point forward.
We must have trust between us...
Pray permit me to remove my mask when we speak thus in private.
As I once explained, I was not born of this world. My home fell to oblivion long ago, and is now known as the void.
The champions who fought upon that ruined star were corrupted by the captured essence of the primals─twisted into incarnations of Darkness. Those of the Light who stood to oppose them were but suckling babes in comparison.
I am told there were more like me, young and touched by the Echo, but the Darkness consumed all ere we learned of each other's existence. Even the servants of the power which annihilated my world could find naught to salvage in the emptiness which remained.
...Such a tale you have heard from me before, but I feel the story bears repeating. Think of it as a mantra; a warning that you might avoid the same terrible fate.
'Tis fortunate, however, that this world is bountiful where mine own was found wanting. You have become the hero that I never was, strengthened and steadied by your companions in the Scions of the Seventh Dawn.
And now, more than ever, I am certain that my journey to your star was inevitable─that we are all drawn in and drawn onward by the brilliance of your unwavering Light.
...I am told that soon it will be your turn to travel across the rift.
And unlike the energies which ravaged my home, the star which beckons you is filled with blinding incandescence. Yet a flood of Light will invite destruction as surely as a maelstrom of Darkness.
I wonder, then, how a champion sworn to the Light could serve to redress this imbalance. What strange destiny calls you to this battle...?
...As I understand, you were summoned across the rift to another world, whereupon you halted─nay, reversed─its perilous pitch toward Light.
'Tis well that another world should not share the fate of mine own, but you must be careful─the Ascians will not take well to your intervention.
Of those who yet remain among their number, Elidibus in particular concerns me greatly. It has ever been his aim to seek equilibrium, even when the means to do so is seemingly at odds with his brethren. I can but wonder to what lengths he might go to account for your actions.
...As I understand, you were summoned across the rift to another world─the First─whereupon you reversed its perilous pitch toward Light. But your deeds did not end there. Nay, you then went on strike down no lesser an Ascian than the Emissary himself.
Elidibus... To the last he stayed his course, rendering up his life for his mission. And he may well have accomplished it were it not for you.
Your victory is an event to be rejoiced, as are all victories over the Ascians. Yet if truth be told, I find my heart is torn. For as much suffering as he has caused, Elidibus saw fit to save my life...
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