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Parth Makeo · **12-15-2015, 04:15 PM**

"I feel as if life itself is nothing but misery and despair...That this world should return to the start...Maybe then...i can regain Happiness in Hydaelyn's wasteland of pain."

-Xyla Quintessence

Deep within the Shroud, in an era before most would think about lived a lone Elezen woman of the Wildwood variety. Her hair as black as the night sky and eyes of bright sea blue was both a sight to behold, and a monster to deter from. For in this era she is what many would consider...

A Witch.

Xyla was her name. And she had nothing to do with the civilians. In fact, her offer was to help those who needed it when and if they were brave enough to ask. She had magical powers of a variety of elements and could see into the future faintly. Yet it is for these reasons that people do not approach her as commonly as most would say.

Some say she would take your firstborn for her work.

Others mention of a man who pissed her off and had his face melted off.

Yet one truthful and unheard voice mentioned...

"She just wants to be left alone..."

Xyla was abandoned by her family from all ties after she predicted her mother's death so accurately. They accused her for her mother's timely demise. Yet all she said was "I told her about the rock...I warned her..." And it went unheard. So she fled to the forest where she would find her place among solitude.....

----

One day, a young Elezen man with fair skin, amber eyes and white hair stumbled upon the home of Xyla on his trip. He called out as he noticed the hole in the rock formation. "Hello? Anyone in there?" hoping to not be rude. This young man was the young Varthamith Von Netowa. A man who sought to get away from the Shroud due to his research being ignored and not funded. Research on how to extend life beyond normal means.Â

He didn't hear a reply so he tried asking again.

"Hello? Does anyone live here?"

...And a reply came through in a soft, gentle yet seductive manner. "Xyla lives here...and you are?" she didn't show herself yet. Instead she opted to hide in the shadows. The Elezen male replied back with a smile "I am called Varthamith. You can call me Varth for short. Tell me...why do you live here?" hoping to see the woman that tied to this voice.Â

"I live here because of those who don't understand my brilliance..." to which Varthamith replied "...I'm looking for a place like that myself. Mind if I take a break here?"

Has he had no idea who Xyla was? Maybe he cared not for history as he walked through the hole and found himself in a dark tunnel. At the end, a single door blocked off the rest of the cave and on the other side, he would widen his eyes in awe and surprise.Â

The interior of Xyla's home had a variety of magical items, reagents and even a small table in the center with a single glass ball for her scrying. The back room covered in a light purple drape as the candles around emanated in a purple glow. Xyla slowly emerged from the back as she stood there just about Varth's height. To see the woman before him brought his rose to a rosy red fire. Never had he seen an Elezen woman this pretty before, and one who was living in a cave no less. He wanted to speak but Xyla had the first word as she giggled.

"Are you love struck with the face of a witch?"

Varthamith shook his head. "N-no! A witch? Blasphemy! Witches are old and have warts on their noses. You are...just beautiful." admitting to her what he saw there. Xyla smiled as she sat down in her chair. "Well isn't that a nice compliment. So you wish to stay here then? I could use someone who can help me gather and buy reagents. I'm running low on Mythrite Sand for one of my dolls." offering a simple delivery service to stay in her place.

Varthamith asked "Dolls? You...make them?"

Xyla then reached in from the back to pull out a life size mannequin doll without hair or any other features. It looked so real otherwise. "Yes. My little dream is to one day make an artificial being act real enough to socialize with the populace."

It's when Varth had a moment of relief as he thought his ideas were insane. "For a moment, i thought I was the only one with insane ideas. I'm currently researching on ways to create immortality in mortals. So far...no one has funded my research." admitting it to her face, Xyla humbly motioned him to sit. She sat on the opposite side, peering into his eyes with a light smile. Varth had a hard time trying to focus. He was captivated and drowning in her eyes. Her hair was vast like the night sky. Then, she laughed.

"You ARE in love with me already! Oh you are such a foolish one!"

Varth didn't know if it was an insult or not, but he countered it with "And what if I am? You don't seem too irked by my plans..."

Xyla smiled and replied...

"Neither did you."

Parth Makeo · **12-17-2015, 02:16 AM**

As the days passed, Varthamith had proven much of his use from Xyla. While he could go into various towns and buy the needed items for Xyla without a problem, she was hard at work with helping him research the means to find his immortality idea. The two seemed like an odd duo but they were comfortable with it. Varth however had some feelings brewing with Xyla. Despite her being a witch, he really did love her company more than anything.

On some nights, Varth would make dinner for the two of them out of good faith instead of the slop that Xyla usually made. And tonight he wanted to surprise her with a dish he found out was her favorite. Baked Flounder. Of course no oven existed in her home, so he had to make it elsewhere. The problem was that flounder was expensive, and his family had recently stopped talking to him altogether when he wouldn't explain what he was doing.

Yet he saved every bit for this moment. All his Gil he made with odd jobs would pay off. "One flounder, please!" he said with such a bold and prideful voice. The vendor did not deny him, offering a caught flounder that was just the right size.
---

While this happened, Xyla started to work on her dolls once more. She attempted to use a small depleted crystal cluster infused with one of the wind sprites of the Shroud. She placed it in the head and attempted to activate it....to see it only fall before her without even a single motion. She rubbed her temple "That's the fifth one that broke...What am I doing wrong?" looking over the notes...until she noticed something among Varthamith's works. A book about very dark magic. Even about summoning Voidsent into this realm.

This was not going to fly at all...

"Why would he need-no...He wouldn't..." her mind put the pieces together, figuring out what he wanted to do. He wanted to become a Voidsent!
---

Sadly Varthamith had all but forgotten about that idea since meeting Xyla. He was so in love that he wanted to change his research badly. Once he entered with the covered baked Flounder in secret he called out. "Xyla! I'm back from town-" and immediately was greeted with his book thrown at his face.

"You want to become a damn Daemon!" she spat at him with such distaste. For a witch, she never wanted anything to do with such spells. Varth tried to explain himself "I don't want to anymore-" but it was no good.Â

"You still have this book. Explain yourself!" Xyla huffed in her anger.

Varthamith sat the Flounder down quietly and told her...

"There is one method in this book that can bind the soul of someone to a magical artifact or any normal object. With enough magical power, and as long as that object cannot be destroyed...The person is immortal, but their body becomes a husk and eventually decays..."

Xyla simplified it. "A Lich. You want to be a fuckin' Lich!? That's like throwing away everything that made you who you are! I will not allow it!" her hands ablaze in fire and ready to burn the book. Varthamith held it out and said. "Do it...I don't need this method anymore."

Xyla was about to cast her spell when she smelt something faint. A ticking sensation...one that enticed her a lot. Her mouth started to drool and her mind was focused on it. "Is that...Flounder?" she turned to see what Varth had under the covers. Revealing the fresh and hot baked fish with mixed vegetables on the side. Golden brown to perfection. "I spent all the Gil i had to buy one. I...may or may not of read your diary when you were out." yet Xyla didn't seem to care. All she did was sit down and looked to Varthamith.

"...No one...has ever been so kind to me..." her eyes slowly watering up, letting loose tears of joy that really made her forget about the voidsent book. Varth lightly held her in his arms. Telling her

"...Thank you for being concerned about me." in relation to the book she reacted hatefully to.Â

And yes...the Fish was Delicious.

Parth Makeo · **12-18-2015, 06:51 PM**

Days turned to weeks, and each cycle of the sun and moon made the two closer. Xyla however had yet to make a moving doll. Unlike how Varthamith's work was getting somewhere, her doll use was not progressing. It made her frustrated.

"Why...Why will they not move?" her mind focusing as she channeled a sprite into a depleted crystal, then placing it in the doll's head she tried to make it move. Varthamith watched her from afar, picking up the minor faults. When it broke apart again, he finally gave some advice.

"The doll needs more Aether. A sprite is not enough. Not even three." he mentioned as he walked up, placing a hand on Xyla's shoulder. He was warm. It soothed her.Â
"I know...but what else is there?" she asked.

"Allow me..." Varth stepped forward and examined the crystal. He figured there was a reason why these dolls can't move and it came to him. "You keep killing the sprites when you stuff them in crystals. Instead, why not suppress them? That way they still thrive but they do not suffer so much." he demonstrated, taking a live wind element sprite from a box he had. Xyla nearly hopped back in fear of it attacking.Â

"Don't worry. This one is obedient..." with a minor adjustment to the chest of the doll, placing the crystal back in the head and then wiring up some lines up into each joint and the crystal straight to the suppressed element, he would back off...

The body at first stood there silently...and then it jittered...Then it shook. Slowly it raised it's arm as it shuddered from movement...until it broke. Defeated, Varthamith shrugged it off.
"Guess it's still a failure...." But Xyla saw it differently. "Are you kidding?! Varth, You made progress! You...You made it move!" her eyes widen with joy and her voice so high in pitch that she was giggling in glee. It was unheard of from her, and Varth just found it adorable.

"I guess I did. But let's work on this together."

Finally. Xyla could enjoy herself to the fullest. Her life had nothing but grief and misfortune for the last years...and with Varthamith at her side, she felt whole...

"Varthamith...I love you. Yet why did I hesitate to say those words? Was i scared of the future I saw? The future without you? No...You are there beside me. I see it...and we are eternally bonded in our own way."

- Xyla Quintessence

Parth Makeo · **12-18-2015, 07:28 PM**

Xyla was a Witch of the Shroud.

Varthamith was a man of high magical intelligence

It was natural that the two would find some comfort in each other

Yet even fate is cruel to the kindest of souls

---

Varthamith had been taken away by the citizens of Amdapor after tracking him down. Performing illegal arts he no longer practiced. Xyla tried convincing them but her words fell on deaf ears. No one ever listened to the witch. It was hard to imagine that she of all people offered to take his place, yet they cared not.

His crimes weighed heavy, and they decided to perform a public execution then and there. Xyla at this point was preparing to start a war. She was done with how others treated her, when Varth had been kind to her. It made her sick.

The day of his execution brought storm clouds. Waiting to rain on it all. The gallows were set and Varthamith was placed there with a bag over his head. Xyla managed to sneak into the crowd. Her time for revenge would come for the people...and yet she didn't cast magic. She didn't cast spells. Instead she tried one more time to convince the judge from ordering the execution to commence.

"Judge. Please, don't take the only thing I have left away from me. My...only happiness. If you take Varthamith from me, I will not hold back in my efforts to kill any and all of those who are here today." A threat. She was met with lances aimed at her throat. The judge stood there on the raised platform with a smug look. "Go ahead and try. You will only be met with the end of a spear. The law forbids any practice or ownership of taboo magic. Including any thaumaturgey. You would be at the gallows as well, but you are harmless."

Xyla lowered her head. "...You are right..But you are also wrong." her eyes slowly changed from their beautiful water blue to a pitch void black as she burst the area in flames, sending the guards back. Her eyes set on the judge as she fired a ball of flame towards him. It missed on purpose to hit the foundation, breaking the gallow and sparing Varthamith for the time. The Shroud did not welcome them anymore, and they had to make a getaway.

She took the bag off of Varthamith's head as they ran, making sure the rope went with it. "X-xyla...What are you doing?" he was confused. "I'm saving you, idiot! I'm not letting them take away what little joy i have left in this world!" a jump off a small cliff and a dash under hallowed trees and they seemed safe for now to catch their breath.

"I...didn't know you cared that much." Varth mentioned as she smacked his face. "Shut up! We need to leave the shroud. I heard of the northern lands. It will be hard, but i know we can make it there." but she was too tired as is.

"There they are!" a guard announced. The two dashed off as quick as they could. An arrow whizzed by them, then a few more. Xyla planned to hop off the waterfall and with her magic, she could make it like they hit the water too hard. "Jump with me!" she yelled. Varth was frightened, not wanting to but having no other option. So they jumped....

They fell...

And in the water they landed without major issues.

The guards wanted to make sure they were dead, so they ordered their men to search the area.

---

After a few more minutes, the two emerged from the water and climbed to an embankment. They caught their breaths and with time, they could finally be free. Xyla looked to Varthamith. Her voice gasping at each word. "W-we...Did it..." she chuckled."

Varthamith did not respond.

"Hey...Varthamith?" she tried to jostle him. No response.

"W-wake up. This isn't funny..." she tried once more, feeling his pulse.

Cold.

In that moment, as if the whole realm came to a sudden stop, Xyla was alone. Varthamith was dead. She turned him over, noticing the arrows in his back that she hadn't seen yet. He shielded her from each one that was aimed at her and yet he still managed to run until the end.

"No...please no..Varthamith you can't leave me...I...I don't want to be alone again...Wake up." she sobbed. Tears hitting his lifeless expression. Her cries of anguish alerted the guards who descended upon Xyla. Ready to kill her for releasing a prisoner.

They said on that day in the forest...the body of ten guards were reduced to ash. Armor broken and shattered from the ice...and flowers bloomed from where they stepped.

---

Xyla didn't dare return to her home. She simply went back to grab a few reagents and a small sphere she got as a present from Varthamith. The orb was cream and yellow colored that swirled within it like magic. The book about Voidsent was there as well. She took advantage of it, and decided against her own judgement to use these arts.

She followed all the steps in the book, used as much aether as her items possessed to reinforce it...and with a transfer of Varthamith's soul, she would bind his being into this realm through the sphere. His phylactery.Â

It felt warm...The same warmth that she felt with his hand.

"Oh Varthamith...We can be together forever. Please. Rise up once more and let me hear your wonderful voice again...please."

Varthamith would rise again. Yet now he had half his skeleton. His body radiated with a cold blue aura. His eyes now husks with magical energy for pupils. He floated there, dressed in a regal robe. His voice was deeper but it was him. "I-i'm...a lich?" he wondered how before noticing Xyla. "See Varthamith? You have your immortality. We can still be together!"

---

It is here that all records of the two vanished from archives in Gridania. It is here that the tale ended and began this Era...and it is at this point that a man in dark black robes approached them and asked if they would join in their cause...

"They will soon pay for what they did to my life. The realm will know my name is Xyla...And with our strength combined, Zodiark will rise once more...and Hydaelyn will fall."

-Xyla Prime

-END-

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[Pre-Event Story] Xyla Prime (comment posting available)

RPC has moved! These pages have been kept for historical purposes