My sleep was restful, although rather short, as I was suddenly awoken by an early morning rail cart passing by. Unable to return to my slumber, I roused myself enough to get ready and head out to deliver the rations given to me by Papashan. The first sentry I found was rather...skittish...and demanded I leave the pretzel on the ground before he realized I was a friend and not foe. The other two guards were less abrasive, although both seemed to be rather exhausted with their duties and ill-fit to defend against anything. Once my deliveries were complete, I reported back to Papashan. Seeing that I was carrying a rather worn scepter and shield, he kindly replaced my weaponry with a new staff. Although I could tell in it's nature that it was meant for an apprentice mage, I did feel that it was stronger than my previous equipment. Papashan thanked me for helping him, and then informed me that he had a more pressing matter he needed assistance with. A young noblewoman from a very prestigious family had run away from home and he was ordered to see her safe return. Apparently the sultansworn sentries I provided rations to were searching for her and I have now been tasked with finding her as well. The old Lalafell gave me her name, Lady Lilira, and instructed me to quickly head south to the Sultantree and find her before anyone else of the unsavory sort were to discover her.

 

 

I hurried off to the Sultantree and was rather relieved to find Lady Lilira unharmed. As I approached, I could hear her uttering some kind of prayer. I was getting ready to announce my presence, but another white-haired man showed up behind me and called out to her. "Just how important is she to have this many people searching for her?", I thought to myself. He was a rather unique looking fellow with a bright purple tattoo on his neck and some kind of device strapped to his shoulder. The man approached Lady Lilira and insisted that he was here to make sure she returned safely, but Lilira was having none of it and demanded he leave her at once. Refusing, the white-haired man insisted that the area was not safe for her, much less anyone else, and that he could sense an aetheric disturbance around us. Something about the dead watching us. He then turned to me and congratulated me on finding our charge, saying that Papashan had sent him to find Lady Lilira as well. Just as we were preparing to leave, a large gargoyle attacked us.

 

 

This was it! My first real battle against a formidable enemy! The white-haired man jumped in front of Lady Lilira and drew his daggers, engaging the monster before it could approach any further. My hands were shaking, but I quickly removed my staff from my back and began channeling the arcane energies around us. A flash of fire, a bolt of lightning, shards of ice - all of the skills I had been practicing on the small creatures outside of Ul'dah zinged at this creature and it took them with not so much as a peep of pain. What were we up against? Would we survive? Just as I felt that we were weakening the creature, several of what I assume were it's children flew in to join the battle. I let the stranger handle the large gargoyle and began focusing my spells on the smaller ones, hoping that my magic would drive them back. It did at first, but then a second and third wave came forth. I wasn't giving up, and neither was the white-haired man. Before long, we had slain all of the monsters and delivered a fatal blow to the largest one. After the creature fell, the stranger went to check on Lady Lilira. I learned from the guild master that just as life brings aetheric energy to form, death disperses the energy just the same. The gargoyle began to disintegrate and in it's place I noticed a glimmer in the sand. Some kind of crystal, perhaps? I approached the shining blue object and felt an enormous pulse of energy surge out of it. This proved to be too much for me and I collapsed to the ground.

 

 

Somewhere in between consciousness and unconsciousness, I floated in darkness. My mind was blank, but I heard a faint voice echoing in my mind.

 

"Hear...Feel...Think..."

 

The voice echoed again, "Hear...Feel...Think..." and then light erupted in all of the space surrounding me. Below me, a large magical glyph expanded and shot a bolt of light into the sky. It was really amazing! As the bolt soared further and further, the sky opened into a brilliant orange glow surrounded by dark, ominous clouds. Large shards of molten rock and fire began to rain down all around me. What in the hell was going on? Was this a vision of the calamity? Despite the disaster surrounding me, I felt a pressing sense of calmness embrace me as I floated in space. Suddenly, a light brighter than any I had seen before shone all around me and as it faded, the devastation above me was gone and replaced by the image of a very large crystal.

 

 

Again, a voice spoke to me, though I was not sure where it came from. It told me that it's name was Hydaelyn and that the light that once shone throughout this realm was growing dim, with darkness taking it's place and rooting out life across the land. Then, it called on me, asking me to use the light that resides within me to seek out the Crystals of Light and banish the darkness from whence it came. Despite having so many questions, I could not speak or move, and everything around me began to fade away. Soon, after these visions left me, I could feel the hot desert sun on my face as my consciousness returned to me. I could feel the presence of the white-haired man and Lady Lilira standing next to me. I slowly rose, rubbing my eyes and dusting myself off as I regained my balance. Lady Lilira addressed the stranger and demanded that he explain what sort of monster attacked us. He claimed to not have any details other than it being a void-sent demon. This shocked Lady Lilira, and she exclaimed that it was unusual to have a void-sent this close to the city. The stranger then turned to me and approached, sarcastically asking if I had gotten any information during my sudden nap. He explained that my loss of consciousness was caused by an overabundance of aether from the crystal that had fallen from the beast. Unable to make sense of what had just happened, we prepared for our journey back to Papashan. Lady Lilira insisted that she would not be escorted and left without either of us. Unwilling to cause any more of a disturbance in the area and unsure of what to do next, we both agreed to let her go now that she was safe and started to separate in our own directions. Before leaving, the white-haired man assured me that we would be meeting again soon. What did he mean by that? Who was he? What was going on with me? There was nothing left for me here, so I returned to Papashan.

 

 

Papashan enthusiastically thanked me for helping save Lady Lilira and assured me that I would be paid handsomely. I questioned him about the man that he hired and he told me that his name was Thancred. According to Papashan, he is a rather loquacious, self-inflated scholar that studies oddities in the aether. Fair enough. But his assurance that we would meet again had me wondering what kind of studies he was involved with and what I had to do with any of them. He also seemed to know about the crystal, so I made a mental note to seek him out and ask him what that dream was about. Papashan thanked me again for my work and encouragingly told me that I am just the type of adventurer this realm needs.

 

Night had fallen again and I was rather exhausted after the days events. Papashan enthusiastically offered the storage shed to me again and even gave me some of their rations to tide me through the night. I slowly ate the food as I sat in the darkness pondering everything that had happened. Before long, my eyes grew heavy and I was asleep before my head touched the pillow.