Lyraciilee

Author Notes: This is a bit of backstory of a very important moment of my elezen lady, Aure's, life. Just thought I'd share it since I wrote it down for a change. Please note that this is a dark story, so please take care of yourself and don't read it if you think it may upset you! Aure is about 6 years old in this, so it's set probably around 1557 in the Sixth Astral Era, which is right around the fall of Ala Mhigo and the Empire's takeover. I welcome any comments on the story or the writing after this post, and I hope you enjoy the read! The faint twinkle of the evening's stars were dimmed that night, the moon hidden away in its full splendor by a passing thicket of clouds. So thick were the clouds, that the moon's light could not shine through that all, leaving a thick blanket of darkness to swaddle Ishgard's warm summer night. The height of the Manors that lined the Pillars touched the cloudy sky, the sharpest points atop the roofs like knives, cutting through the thick moisture only to find themselves surrounded like a rushing river still. Among the Pillars heights, tucked in the tight corridors of nobility, a manor stood like the rest. There was nothing out of place or remarkable about it, save for a single flicker of light that lingered inside along the windows. The light from a small candle barely illuminated the hallways and it shifted, dancing about and nearly licking the skin of the hand that held close to it, directing the light forward and keeping it from being too bright. A door opened softly, not even a creek made as it swung forward. Inside, the room was quiet and still. It was a child's room, with toys neatly tucked away in the corner. School books and quills lining the bookshelf adjacent, and several poorly drawn images of a family. The man holding the light stepped inside, looking quietly down towards the bed as he made his way further and further into the room. The door quietly swung mostly shut. The candle light barely gave off enough light for him to see the girl's face. No older than six, she wore long silver hair and soft pale skin; she was the striking image of her mother, and none other. He stood there for some time, agonizing in his mind as he looked down upon her young fragile form. A bead of cold sweat ran down the side of his face. His dark tanned skin faintly glimmering with the liquid left behind as the candle's flame continued to dance. The green of his eyes shimmered too, the flames behind him mirrored in the reflection of the candle's own. His hands trembled. His face contorted with a myriad of emotions. He knew what he must do. He blew on the candle, the flame sharply dying and the room swallowed by the darkness. Tap. He set down the candle holder. He knelt down, his hands shaking. And then he reached out. Trembling hands grabbed the girl's thin neck, wrapping around its entirety and squeezing. Squeezing with all of his might. The girl gasped, her eyes sharply flickering open in the dark and her little hands grabbing at his, pulling as she wheezed and mutedly screamed. Her voice was being held back by his hands. Her breath was struggling, and she kicked her feet towards the assailant, trying to in vain to free herself. And then the clouds moved, the full moon's light raining down and lighting up her room like a wildfire. "Da-ddy…?" The girl gasped, her struggling seizing with shock. Her little hand moved from his hands upon her neck, reaching out towards him as she always had done. But the man's eyes were wild, his face more akin to a wild beast than the man she knew to be her father. He was always cold, stern, quiet, emotionless perhaps. What had she done wrong? It was the last thoughts that raced through her mind before her eyes flickered shut. And then she heard a loud commotion. She felt herself being moved, pressed back against something hard. Her eyes flickered open again. She saw her room, the door to it flung open. Her mother, the striking image of her daughter, was there. Her long white hair wild in the moonlight and nearly glowing. There was a screech, though she couldn't tell from which of her parents it was uttered. The glimmer of steel in the moonlight too, caught her eye. And then her mother flung herself forward, dagger in hand as she lunged towards her father. The blade piercing through his chest cleanly. Even half delirious and held to the walls, Aure could see the blood spattered. The grip her father held on her released, and she fell to the floor hard. He in turn, screeched and dove towards her mother. They were both on the floor the next she could see. Her father on top, punching at her face, blood spattering from her mouth as the dagger tumbled onto the floor. They rolled over, her mother managing to get on top this time. They were close to the dagger now, and she grabbed it. She screamed, plunging the dagger into his face. And then pulling it back. Aure could hear the a gurgling sound. She saw the blood spatter about the pink carpeting. And then her mother screamed again, plunging the dagger into his father's face. Again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again… Aure looked down, watching her father's blood pool around the floor and touch her outstretched finger tips. She felt a hot liquid well at her eyes, blurring her already hazy vision. "Daddy…" She murmured it as she breathed out between her mother's crazed screaming, and then it all seemed to fade away. When her eyes opened again, they stared up to a white unfamiliar ceiling. She felt someone squeeze her hand and tried to look over, finding her neck stiff and unwilling to move. "Aure… dear…" The voice was familiar. Her mother. The woman shifted besides her, leaning forward to come into her view. Her long hair was pulled back and still wet. Her eyes red and puffy. Her fingers trembled. Aure could feel how she shook without even looking. "What do you… remember?" There was a hesitation to her mother's question. "…. Did I… do something wrong Mother?" Aure asked, her voice hoarse and more like a coughing fit than a real question. She could feel her mother tremble again, the shaking growing worse. "No… you… you didn't honey…. But… no one can ever know what happened, okay? If they do… Mommy will have to go away forever. And your baby sisters… they will get hurt. And you will too. So you can't…" "Okay…" Aure interrupted her mother. In truth, she did not understand. But the way her mother trembled, the way she shook and the tears that mounted in the corners of her eyes, it scared the young girl. "Everything will be okay sweetie. I'll tell you what you need to tell everyone when they ask you about this, so just listen to me and remember this…." "So you say it was one of your ladies-in-waiting then? She tried to strangle you, stabbed your father to death, and then your mother chased her off? Is that correct?" The man across from her looked up from his paper towards Aure seriously. She nodded carefully, mindful of the thick bandages that covered her neck. The man looked back to her, his brow raised before giving a heavy sigh and nodding his head. "Very well then Young Miss Descoteaux. I am terribly sorry for the loss of your Father. Send my regards to your mother, and please ask her to come in once more, will you?" Aure pushed herself off the deep purple plush chair and nodded quietly again to the Inquisitor, carefully stepping through the small parlor room and opening the door to enter the hallway once more. Her mother was already there, dressed in black with a black veil across her face. She motioned towards the door and walked quietly past her, her eyes glazed over as she absent-mindedly made her way through the house. She found herself in one of the guest bathrooms and paused, looking about the empty and sterile room. She stepped across the marbled floors, coming to a long mirror and staring at her own reflection for a time. Her fingers reached out, pressing lightly on the bandages about her neck. She reached back, untying the knot that held them in place and slowly pulling them off, layer by layer. When she looked back into the mirror, the thick dark marking of his hands still lay imprinted across her pale skin. The edges had spread across like spikes now as well. Aure reached up, her eyes glassy and blank as she touched it again, a single tear rolling down from the corner of her eye and down her cheek, dropping upon the marble floor, and like a gunshot breaking the utter silence of that place.

Just a sketch of my elezen. I'm rather pleased with how it came out considering I didn't spend too much time on it.

Commissions rehauled and reopened for 2018. Please refer to the first page if you're interested! Here's some current art.

Balmung - Lavender Beds Ward 8, Plot 10 Shroudwolf Clan - A small Keeper Clan that welcomes all races into the family. Welcome for all to visit at any time. The front door is usually unlocked, but there are wards against voidsent.

Hi Nicholas! Of course you can join the LS! Feel free to message one of our officers while your in game and ask for an invite to the LS!

➽ Happy belated Easter! Slots are still available for those interested!

Recruitment is OPEN! After a long hold on recruitment, Shroudwolf is officially open for all recruitment again! Please contact Nauta Lyehga, Sanja Polaali, or Khloe Lyehga in game if you are interested in joining or have questions! Feel free to put in application on our website on enjin if you're ready to jump right in! If you have a lot of questions or want a get a feel for our group, please join us on Discord! Any moderator can send you the link for our discord channel. We look forward to seeing some new faces!

➽ Completed Commission of Zola & Cenka ➽ Completed Nidaya Thank you for commissioning me! Slots are still available for those interested!

Whoops, double posted! Disregard this post.

➽ Completed Commission of Steel Wolf (Censored Version!) Thank you for commissioning me! Slots are still available for those interested!

➽ Completed Commission of Edri Hope Thank you for commissioning me! Slots are still available for those interested!

➽ Commission WIP Snapshot Just a little sneak peak on the progress I've made on my commissions. Thank you to everyone whom commissioned me so far and for all the people that have messaged me or expressed interest!

➽ Streaming Commissions! >> https://picarto.tv/Lyraciilee << EDIT: Thanks to everyone who came by! Done for the night! : )

Happy 2017 Everyone!! Our FC's new plot will be getting started on January 7, 2017. It's called NIGHTSHADE. We've just opened up a new type of event called Wolf Tales. Please check it out! Recruitment is still closed, but we'll let you know when we open it up again!

Hey Steel Wolf! It would be my pleasure to do a headshot commission of your character! Please go ahead and submit a commission form! I'll then contact you by email to sure up all the details. Once the details and price are confirmed, you'll receive a paypal invoice! If you have any other questions, just email me at [email protected]! Thank you for your interest! I look forward to working with you as well!

Commission are officially reopened for 2017! In order to make some extra cash this year, I'm opening my commissions on a far stricter schedule than ever before. Unfortunately, all commissions are real money and no gil commissions are available (or allowed with Squee's ToS apparently!). If you're interested, please check out my newly available ToS, examples, and prices. If you have any questions, feel free to drop me a line! If I owe you art from a long time ago, let me know! We can definitely work something out. Feedback, signal boosts, and general bumping of the thread is super appreciated! Thanks everyone, and Happy 2017!

Shroudwolf would like to wish you all.. Art by Nauta Lyehga (myself). Characters © their respective owners. Top Right Left to Right; Erin hope, Edri Hope, Khloe Lyehga, Kit Redmar Bottom Left to Right; Nauta Lyehga, Frehja Lyehga-D'Argent, Ares D'Argent, Arala Maeko, Whisper

Recruitment is Temporarily Closed! Thank you to everyone who applied and everyone who has recently joined us! We really appreciate everyone's interest! At this time, we'll be closing recruitment while we get all of our new members situated. We try to maintain a close tight knit family atmosphere, so we need to set aside to time to integrate everyone into the family! But we won't be closed forever! Once the family is reintegrated, we'll look at opening some few slots coming 2017. Just because recruitment is closed doesn't mean you can't rp with us either! Feel free to come by the house at any time to meet everyone, join us for an rp event, or just hang out! The LS is still open for anyone to join as well. If you have any questions, please /tell one of our mods in game, or send me a PM! Thank you!

Ahhhh! So sorry I missed your PM!!! With the election and school registration I totally have been distracted. I finally answered your PM and Shea or I will try and poke you tonight!

November Update The Current Events tab has been updated with our Archvisit Duckie's latest summary of our last event! Want to meet with the Clan and do some casual rp? Check out website and see when our next Meat & Greet event is! It is held on the lawn of the SW House, so feel free to come by ICly to meet everyone and see what we're all about! Our FC Story Arc called Primordial Soul is coming to its exciting conclusion! We'll be back with a brand spank'n new Arc throughout November and December! We are still openly recruiting all races. Let myself, Khloe Lyehga, or Sanja Polaali know if you are interested in joining us or have any questions. Thank you!

Just because there are only 10 in active Service of Ishgard doesn't mean there are only 30 soulstones. The text does not explicitly say such a thing. Alberic was allowed to keep his soul stone after he retired as Azure Dragoon and passes it over to the WoL. That would imply there are many more soulstones than only 30. (Because if there were only 30, there's no way he would be allowed to keep his soulstone after retiring. They would NEED it for the new dragoon that would take his place.) While if your character was a part of the Order that does throw a huge wrench in your character backstory, it's still possible to have a Soulstone, and be a Dragoon without being a part of the order. It's also possible that there are indeed reserves for this part of the military or teachers and such that are not counted in this. Also please consider that the Temple Knights of Ishgard are different from say the militant forces of say House Fortemps. You can be a Knight of House Fortemps and not be considered a Temple Knight. I assume such things would probably be available for Dragoons as well, although that is entirely my personal interpretation. Those whom would be like a House Dragoon or some such thing, would also not be accounted for in that active service. A Dragoon is just another title and ranking for an elite type of solider. It's still possible to have the same skill set or something similar while not being a part of the order. It's not like the WoL in the job quests is actually considered a part of order, or at least that is also my interpretation.

October Update We have two new members this month! Welcome to Thunderbolt and Elhi'sae!! Our new FC Story Arc has begun called Primordial Soul and is in full swing! Our lovely FC leader Shea is DMing and our wonderful Archivist Duckie is writing summaries for us! Check out our latest events on our enjin forum or our tumblr! We are still openly recruiting all races. Let myself, Khloe Lyehga, or Sanja Polaali know if you are interested in joining us or have any questions. Thank you!

My character Nauta is also an Ex-Poacher and was a normal Poacher for a very long time until she was finally caught and defeated in battle. It served for quite a fun plot point and character development aspect to try and reintegrate her back into Gridania society, especially when Poachers have a really bad reputation and walking into Gridania as a known Poacher is basically walking yourself into your own jail cell. If you like the idea, definitely go for it! I've had fun with the backstory and my character's grown a lot since then.

Some More Updates! Welcome to our newest member, X'lanya! Our Shards of the Shroud event has finally concluded! Thanks to members of our allied FC Morbolvine for attending as well! Our NEW FC Storyline will pick up on October 1st! Stay tuned!!

Quick Update Added the Ul'dahn RP Hook. Please take a look if you're interested! We also have a tumblr now! Take a look at it here. We also have been added to the Premium FFXIV Tumblr Database! Added a current events tab to go over a quick overview of our current story arc. We'll be finishing up our large story arc, Shards of the Shroud very soon and we're looking forward to starting up our next story arc! We are also still openly recruiting. Let myself, Khloe Lyehga, or Sanja Polaali know if you are interested in joining us or have any questions. Thank you!