Ryanti

A damn need to be a hero. That thought sunk into his head when he watched her pass him with a glare that seemed to Ryanti like a light that was fizzling out. He remembered one other time that he was lectured in this manner. It was from his mother, years back at the time of the Calamity. She had chastised him for trying to abandon his home to join the city in defending itself against the horde that had unleashed itself upon Dalamund's wake. But Sounsyy was a good fifteen or so years younger than his mother. She seemed so convinced of herself. So sure that she understood what the banter between Ryanti and his commanding officer meant. So set in how their unit functioned. Ryanti had offered respect to her as far back as challenging her for the first time. Hell, even before then when she was fighting in Ul'Dah. And she treated him like garbage in return. Like a child. Like he was still that little kid cheering her on from the Bloodsands when he was now a man in his twenties. Yet she didn't want him to leave her now. He figured she could do all of this by herself from the way she was talking. Ol' experienced iron eyes. "What were yer first clue." It was a statement that broke Ryanti out of his negative trance. He eyed her afterwords as her gaze adverted his own. He had a hint of legitimate surprise on his face, immediately picking up the rhetorical content of the statement. Wait... was she really? Truthfully, this ship was imperiously taxing on both of their psyche. The darkness in this place had been so long abandoned that the very walls seemed to close in on you and suffocate you. Ryanti had yet to determine whether or not this was actually the ship itself doing it. But... was she really? My first clue was your dream. Your dream I invaded. Ryanti was scared of this hallway too. Scared of this entire ship. That realization brought his thoughts to perspective. All of these angry thoughts, this urge to lash out... was just stupid. It was all just stupid. He wasn't sure who was right, or who was wrong, or if it even mattered. With her admittance, he also chimed in. "I'm scared. Yes. Very." He stated in a bit of a tight voice, approaching her with his rifle pointed more towards the room in question. His fair skin was very bright against Sounsyy's light, reflecting a big part of it back at the very peculiar patterns along the walls. He stepped up parallel to her, glancing into the room, but seeing nothing but darkness where he was, although he could pick out some odd shapes close to the wall. "Look... I'm sorry, alright?" He finally murmured, though he did not glance at the woman completely, still minorly focused on his own task. "I'm sorry I made you go through that, for leaving you behind, and... for whatever else I did." With that, he lifted one leg at a time over the bit of debris that had piled up against the open part of the door, kicking the half-open panel open a little bit further, causing it to squeak in a quiet noise but nothing further. The ship remained silent. There were a bunch more glass pieces on the floor of this room. Tables were still erect and hugged against the side walls, about 5 fulms in length and 2 in width per table, totaling four tables. It was a small-ish room, and many delicate instruments were absolutely coated in dust and far beyond their usefulness or even being safe to wield. These instruments were sprawled along the top of the tables, and a decent amount had fallen to the floor and broken. There were some larger machines further back, bent and twisted in misuse and what could only be attributed as pressure changes in the air from the past centuries. A lone glass window was at the farthest edge of the room. Bubbles from the deep ocean traced themselves along the glass, visible by Ryanti's light. The fact that this glass stayed intact for so long spoke volumes, especially at this pressure. But it was meant for space, so it held steady. "Must have been some kind of processing room. There are beakers here... maybe they were testing liquids. Looks like these machines were used to mix them." Just then, two sparks shot off in the room. They were minor electrical charges that short-circuited exposed wired in an open ventilation shaft near the top corner of the room. Ryanti immediately pointed his light at it with breakneck speed, seeing nothing but observing a definite place where something could sit down and... watch. "I don't like that vent..."

When Ryanti hovered the flashlight over Sounsyy, he could immediately identify the struggle in her face and in her muscles, but he could not neccissary figure out the source of her anger. Initially, he had attributed it to the pain she was feeling in her bad hand. The young man immediately urged in his gut for her to try to make it to him as soon as possible, so he could relieve her of the pain. Ryanti extended one of his arms, and as soon as he was able he snatched her good arm with it. His grip upon her was very tight, immensely tight. He was utilizing all of his strength to prepare to pull her up. With a clenching of the teeth and a grunt, he snatched the latter part of her good arm with his second arm, and his entire upper body clenched as he yanked her smaller body up onto the deck with him. Ryanti found himself rather heated and absent of breath for a moment, their bodies next to each other and gathering a brief reprieve. It was so much harder to life someone using just their upper body, he mused. With one last breath, the halfling began to stand with the intention of collecting his rifle and proceeding, but before he knew it, he found himself aggressively shoved onto the ground again before his brain could even process it. "What the hells were yeh thinkin'?! Yeh brought me down 'ere fer a reason! Did yeh or didn't yeh? What if that room weren't clear?! Ye'd be up the damn Rogue without a paddle. We. Clear. Together." Ryanti closed his eyes for a brief moment, sitting himself up and looking at her with the kind of glazed look in his eye that spoke volumes in the sense of being flabbergasted that she even did such a thing. He stood silent for a moment, watching her gather her rifle to a ready point and beckon them to go. As much as he was privy to let things like that slide off of his back, Ryanti, like anyone, had a line. Sounsyy had been creeping up further and further to that line. That action and remark finally stepped over the line. The young man snapped himself up, swinging his rifle around with a great deal of speed, pacing up to her aggressively before stopping in front of her, his voice stern in warning. "FYI Sounsyy, there are exceptions to that rule. If there -was- anything up here and we were both on the ropes, we would not have cleared together, we would have died together. So the next time you're thinking of shoving me down or doing some other similar childish shite because you didn't like a decision I made, how about instead you do the adult thing and respect those decisions even if you disagree with them." He could have sworn that none of this would happen if she just bloody trusted him. But no one trusted him, not a damn person. Except for maybe Leura. Or P'welro, if Ryanti felt bold enough to believe it. But none of them were down here. Only Sounsyy. He was beginning to wonder if he would ever be able to gain it, no matter what he did. It stung, because she was the person he wanted to trust him the most. He turned and shined his torchlight at the door. What he could see through the small opening crevasse was a long encompassing hallway shrouded in absolute darkness. A few fixtures that used to hung above the hallway eons ago had fallen into disrepair and were now broken into pieces of glass among the floor, having fallen from the ceiling eras ago. There was a tiny hint that the hallway had doorways on the walls on occasion, but in order to investigate further, they would have to cross that door. Ryanti had shined his light across the entire hallway when Sounsyy was climbing and saw nothing, but he did not investigate the rooms yet. "I brought you down here for many reasons, and some of them include the fact that I know you can survive and take care of yourself better than anyone else on that ship. You can handle it. I know you can." He had a silly idea to explain her anger from before. Maybe it was a funny thought in order for him to be able to finally abandon his stern emotions about the matter. Ryanti brushed himself up against the door panels, once again shifting to his side, and sliding through the panels, his backpack bending due to the panels grinding up on it, but Ryanti shoved himself through, now completely inside the hallway and shining the light throughout all of its corners, immediately noticing that there were indeed rooms to the side. They were paired in two's. Every twenty fulms of the one-hundred and twenty fulm hallway contained two rooms on each side. Some of the doors, which during Allag's heyday had been keycard accessed and automatic, were shut tight for good. Others were broken open, and some were slightly open and long broken such as the door they came in through. Ryanti waited for Sounsyy to join him. "It's like... you're afraid of the dark or something." Ryanti murmured to her as he waited. He said it in jest, almost like it was impossible for him to believe that Captain Mirke would ever be afraid of such a thing, but that she made it look like she was. That had to be the only possibility for a woman like her in Ryanti's mind... right?

Hoping to make it. I'm rather fond of Ala Mhigo OOC and so is Ryanti IC. I'm expecting a lot of Ala Mhigan pride and anti-Garlean sentiments. I hope to not be disappointed, buahahaha.

Ahoy! Welcome to the RPC and the wonderful world of MMO RP!

Well, that's probably intentional. Au Ra escaped the Empire in Othard and are in Eorzea as refugees. A lot of those refugees would be survivors and/or exceptional individuals (in other words, players). Adding to that, it's fairly implied throughout the game that the Raen came to Eorzea with a rather large population compared to the Xaela. The Raen have more of a non-mobile, stable civilization about them, so I think they were more able to have access to leave Othard versus the nomadic Xaela. At least that is my head canon speaking. I do find that Xaela are very rare to find in the game NPC-wise. Even compared to Raen.

This is food for thought. I always thought of the Xaela as a kind of race inspired by the Mongolian nomads that ride the steppes of their homeland and build elaborate tents to rest their heads. The section of Othard that the devs describe as home of the Xaela involves how the tribe used to 'ride the steppes' of Othard or such. So my headcanon immediately went to Mongolia. So if you are looking for inspiration, I recommend checking out the Mongolian nomads.

Ryanti would probably be the guy that pops up in and out or the storyline either to help you or cut you off. Then fades away again because he is walking a different path than the main party. The main character may have their disagreements with Ryanti, maybe even fight him once, but Ryanti would not be a bad guy. He would just walk his own path, though perhaps he would finally end up joining the party in the second half of the game. Or he would be a main supporting character that serves as a primary liason between your sanctuaries/goals and you. I can see Ryanti being a grown up Hope in XIII-2.

I have plenty of history with many well-known classics known for their amazing gameplay (Wave Race 64 anyone?) or their timelessness (Mario Kart 64 anyone?). But if I had to choose any kind of series that impacted me the most, stuck with me throughout my childhood into adulthood, and inspired my writing, it would be the Tales series. The Tales series for me had the most long, slowly-building, epic, iconic narratives I've ever bared witness to in a video game. The style, genre, and presentation of the storytelling in those games were right up my alley more than any other series, and the soundtracks were out of this world. I've frequently believed that those games were fantastic Final Fantasy alternatives for those looking for something more, and despite the hate I might get, the story of Tales games were often superior quality in my eyes. Which culimated in Tales of Vesperia, my favorite video game of all time. But yes, the Tales series (shoutout to Symphonia as well!) Are THE games that made enough of an impact on my life to profoundly effect my life and my writing.

I base my ability to be able to roleplay at a kind of quality standard that is acceptable entirely based on my RP partner(s). Are they enjoying our RP? Do they enjoy my writing? Are my posts entertaining or intriguing to read instead of a chore to? If my partner is not enjoying my RP or let down or disappointed, then I am not doing my job, because I'm usually the one that initiates. So, I usually see it as that I aim to please considering that all of this is a fancy way to ask people for their time and it involves them trusting me enough to make their time invested worth it. I don't want to violate that trust. I have more practical ways of continuing to improve. I'm doing a hell of a lot more editing and grammar checking. It's also important to keep your writing sharp, so I write something at least once a day, no matter how small. I've been RP'ing for a decade now since July. So I consider myself a grizzly veteran. But you never stop learning. If I look at my posts from 2005 I'd want to burn them. But I've learned and improved more within the last few years than I have in those ten. I blame college. But yes, there is always room to learn, even if you have been doing it forever.

Perhaps they have been walking in darkness for too long, but for the long road ahead, there was nothing but. Ryanti was trying to keep as much of an eye on Sounsyy as he was on his own light. There was nothing in the old, decrypted hangar that he saw with his own light besides her. He did not move much on the ship, preferring to stay where he was. He had the high ground. As much as he tried to prepare himself for the possibility that they might be truly not alone on this vessel, he found that there was no way that he could rid himself of the debilitating feeling in his stomach that felt like a hot iron twisting away on his soul. This ship had a darkness, crippling aura to it. It was not like the inventive and ethereal craft of the Allagans that Ryanti would see on the classified objects that he handled in the past. This place was… long abandoned, dark, and cold. There was nothing in this ship that felt welcoming so far in the least. The thought that no one knew where they were besides the small crew on the vessel troubled him. The concept that at this very moment an innocent bystander would be buying a cold beer at the Drowning Wench or a glass of wine at the Bismark while lamenting their lunch hour, would easily trouble anyone’s mind down here. He was not prepared for this. Jonathan was supposed to be the man to guide everyone through the ship. He was a hardened veteran at this sort of thing. He knew how to let things get to him, and to do his job. Ryanti was just there to be guided into obtaining the material he needed, then escorted out. While he was thoroughly trained, he was not prepared for the psychological aspect of this. He couldn’t imagine what kind of thoughts Sounsyy would be going through. He had to be strong for her. Then a noise. A far distant clamming from deep inside the ship. Ryanti turned to face where the door on the second floor was, as that was where it came from. It sounded like a panel falling into the floor or tumbling down some stairs. It was subtle, quiet, far, but it didn’t matter. Ryanti knew they would have to climb into the bowels of the ship. Deeper and deeper. "This ship. It's tryin' to drive us mad." “Tell me about it.” Ryanti responded to Sounsyy. While Sounsyy stared at his backpack, it made no quiet light as it did when it was time to be used at the beginning. Nor did she feel any kind of pull or memorization that she used to during the time on the Roehmerl. It was dead for the moment. As dead as this ship. Ryanti did not look back for the moment. He was too busy glancing his eyes around and shifting his lighting slow, sweeping directions over the second floor. Tiny dust particles blew away with the wind of his calming breathe. All was silent. It could have been nothing… Ryanti saw her whisper into her linkpearl. A sign of concern and a small, minor look of pity crossed his face. He had wanted badly to call this in too. He was unsure of himself that those words would make it to the outside, but he was sure than she was. They probably can’t hear you, Sounsyy. But no sooner than she finished, Ryanti tried anyhow, pressing his finger into his ear. “We are alright. Seems like nothing. Going to brush it off for now. Heading further inside to try to get better reception.” He bent down to his knees while getting off of the nose of the ancient shuttle. He briefly slid on his butt before dropping down onto his feet beside Sounsyy. He sighed a bit to relieve some tension, eyeing the braded woman with a gaze. “Yeah. I’m good.” He paused for a moment, his mind briefly flashing back to her running into him by accident on the way over to where they were now. He could see the same kind of muddled breathing present now. The subtle shaking. The loneliness the fear. Perhaps she could see some of that in him too. “Just the same old breaking ship, and we can’t let it break us.” He lifted up his rifle once more, and gave her a nod to reassure his words to her. He had the same look now that he had when he first raised his sword up to challenge her that one day that now seemed so long ago. He was not challenging her to combat now, no. He was challenging her to press on. Then he raised the light up to where the door was on the second floor. The catwalk that hugged closed to the door looked relatively safe. Ish. The components that used to be accented guardrails looked like they were a bit deformed and melted a tad. It must have been directly related to the fire that consumed the center of the shuttle Ryanti had just gotten off of. Or perhaps a completely different fire that started or died out centuries or millennia removed from the fire that claimed the shuttle’s innards. “This room does look like an airship hanger. I guess you could call it an airship. They remind me of Garlemald’s just… a lot more uhh... well made. The Allagans did not need propellers or sails. They had other means. They’re… more than airships.” He murmured to Sounsyy while looking up at the guard railings, letting the subject fade. He lowered his rifle and clicked a switch upon it, turning off the rifle’s torch. It did invite more darkness to surround their presence within the now dead silent ship, but it also gave him an opportunity to sling his rifle to his back. Ryanti was preparing for something. He knelt onto his knees, looking back up at the place briefly before unzipping a zipper that rested on the actual side of the backpack, hidden from view normally. It was a compartment of the backpack that was in its own place, as it had to be for the size of the object that he contained in it. Light whistling sound of a tight fiber-like rope being pulled was heard as Ryanti whipped out fulm by fulm of climbing rope, a really skinny rope that bent easily and was very tightly woven. “Well… let’s see if this works.” Ryanti muttered to her, forming one end of the rope into a little lasso loop. Afterwords, he stood himself up and launched the lasso’s rope three times until it finally hooked onto one of the vertical railings that had lost its horizontal railing long ago. Ryanti gave it a few harsh tugs, tightening the loop around the notch with two hands before turning to the Captain with a few moments of silence. “I’ll go first.” The young man pursed his lips and leapt onto the rope, immediately wrapping his legs around the material, his face looking up and his eyes constantly focusing on the top of the railing to see if it moved any. Did it become weaker because of the ancient fire or stronger? He pulled his arms downwards and slinked his legs upwards as he began to climb. So far, so good. “Okay Ryanti…” Sounsyy might have heard him say quietly to himself as he solemnly kept climbing with a sure medium pace. It was not too long before he was quite a few fulms above her. It was a lot of cardio work to do this, so Ryanti did not rush himself, knowing that he had to at least partially save energy as he knew he was going to be working on rations. However, the Hyqo’te wasn’t sucking wind. His training served him well. Upon reaching the top, he hooked his arm underneath another one of the melted notches and hoisted one side of his body upon the upper neck, untangling himself from the rope and letting it seep down, Sounsyy hearing Ryanti’s words in her ear via local linkpearl. -Hzzzt- Hold on. Need to clear this.” Followed by a heavy breathe. Ryanti got himself up rather quickly, checking the rope briefly before taking a few steps towards the door. From the bottom, his torchlight on his chest quickly faded away, then silence. Moment after moment passed as Sounsyy was left alone for ten seconds… twenty… thirty… forty… At about one minute, a very distant sound was again heard from within the ship. Two singled-out groans, then many clicks of smaller groans from somewhere deep within. A few seconds later, a light of salvation shined down from the upper deck as Ryanti clicked back on his rifle torch to add to his chest torch when he peered over the railing, his voice crackling in her ear again. “-Hzzzzt- I’m here. I just I thought I heard something and I had to listen. The upper floor is clear though, you’re good to climb.” He let the rifle down, but let the light on, shifting onto his stomach and letting his arms dangling down below, so that just in case the rail broke during her climb, he would be able to catch either the rope or the Captain herself. “I got you.” He called down to her, beckoning her to join him above.

That I don't know. Hopefully that will be answered in the coming patches. Bonus points if it ends up diving into the other nations in the Third Era during the time of Allag that opposed it or whatnot. I'm sure those Eikons vividly remember who summoned them and why. That 5,000 year stasis were probably mere minutes to them, and we already know what binding Primals do to their psyche.... I bet Primals/Eikons were summoned like crazy back then because of everything that was going on.

Sounsyy proving mastery in lore here! But yes. Though I speculate that if the Miqo'te did fight in that war, they would have had to be able to withstand Allag's war effort. We know that Allag tried the hardest it ever tried against Meracydia. The Miqo'te were probably the first to fall. I can't see them having the means to hold up against Allag at anything besides sabatoge or guerilla warfare. That giant object through the Cathedral. Gotta mention that again. I think that's a good representation of "where is your God now" lol. Then you have the dragons. Which sounded like the last to hold out. So who was inbetween? City states? A single nation? The war lasted a hell of a long time. There had to be something. At least in my headcanon. Speculating on that is challenging. My headcanon leans towards them having enough tech and magic competance to fight Allag man to man in traditional warfare. And the only place to be able to do so. The Warring Triad were the first Prinals (Eikons really) that the Allagans were ever able to bind after mastering the technology of permenant binding. Now they are utilized upon Azys Lla's flagship as a kind of trophy to showcase their power by reducing three immensely powerful Eikons into a decorational mountpeice. The three statues are speculated to just be sculptures and the actual Eikons are bound inside of the flagship, but this is pure speculation. All that we know for now was that the Triad was Allag's first success at getting rid of the Primal threat.

It was always said that Allag tried to conquer the entire planet but never did, only able to get about 3/4ths of it even after conquering Meracydia. They were beginning to have problems with rebellion and internal strife even before they nuked themselves. In my headcanon, if you have a nation that has mastered magic and technology to near omnipotent levels, then anyone that could stand up to them probably had their own bag of tricks as well. The possibilities are endless, which is why I wanna know more lol. Allag's demise wasn't just internal. Guerilla warfare by lesser nations? Or was nations like Meracydia also advanced? I say this because if Allag only fought dragons, then well... Ishgard could stand up against dragons, so IMO Allag would have no problem handling them. Entirely plausable that the Miqo'te were just spectators to all this and suffered indirectly, which finally caused them to have a mass exodus eventually. If you look at the Cathedral in Azys Lla, it looks like a Seeker Temple. The giant spear through the top uhh... Probably led to not so good things for the Miqo'te in that ancient war...

Yeah. Meracycdia is the only other nation I know of that opposed Allag. And the only thing that I know is that they had dragons. They label it as a nation but I don't even know if it was really a nation or not because they have only spoken of its dragons. Miqo'te hail from there as well. I'd like to know whether or not Meracycdia was actually a country. With a government. Because they speak of it like it is but what info we have about Meracydia is extremely vague except for the dragons there and that it was ravaged by the Endless Frost. But then you hear of Phelegeon (I probably butchered that word. The boss of the Labrynth of the Ancients) who was kind of like a Spartacus if Allag were the Romans. Then you have people like Urth and Odin. Apparently Odin was from the North. These were classified as enemies of Allag. My headcanon thinks that anything or anyone that could oppose Allag must have possessed great power to be able to stand up to them. Something that would be able to match them or at least be able to weather their opposition.

Very good to hear that information about how the Fifth Asfral Era went down will be presented soon. That is the only known calamity that hasn't really got its own spotlight yet. Maybe the void ark has something to do with the War of the Magi? And damn it, so close to Allagan naming conventions (welcome to Urth, huehue). Again they speak of Allagan's enemies in the Third Era but who were their enemies and what nations did they hale from? Was their tech level respectable to Allag's? More questions than answers...

Ryanti took a few breaths to ease his own tension upon giving out his first order of business. The first order was always to get themselves armed. It was a golden rule in his unit. Ideally, if it weren’t for the water, he would have had his rifle in hand before he had even inserted the key into its resting place. It appeared that Sounsyy was already ready. Good. It did well in reassuring Ryanti that he picked the right person for the job. Or was it the Allagans…? After all, she did receive those dreams, unlike Leura. He began wondering why she was chosen as he gently sat himself down next to the plague, bringing his backpack forward in front of him after taking it off, unzipping it to find the disassembled pieces of his weapon. He had witnessed others checking and examining the artifact in prior missions without so much as just feeling slightly drowsy or having a headache later in the day, but otherwise no symptoms. No dreams. Not like Sounsyy. But why? A man and a woman from the seventh era investigating the traces of the third… he had remembered the prophecy of the seventh era that was the rage during the Calamity, that the era was to be a culmination… were they destined to be the ones to culminate the events on this ship full circle? Or were they just here to die? His gaze followed her as she examined the plague for herself. He placed the first piece of his weapon – the stock- down upon the ground in a standing position as she asked him whether or not he could read it. Immediately it triggered back memories. I’ve been staring at this thing all day. This rectangular shape of darkness. That and this sheet of paper. The letters have become scribbles in my mind. All of these symbols that I’m studying in this dark, cold room. They keep on staring at me. The men in the window, with only their lips visible to me. Lips that keep asking me about my progress. I pick up the tomestone. I hover it over the words on the piece of paper. They begin to change. Morph. My mind feels like it is on fire! My eyes burn! These symbols feel like they are branding themselves onto my brain! The blue light shines! I grab my head! Make it stop! “Yes. I can.” Ryanti answered, with a kind of gaze in his eyes that reminded Sounsyy of her own; the kind of eyes that told her he was in remembrance of a memory he did not enjoy. “It was required of me during the… selection process. It is similar to a non-classified unit. The Keeper of the Artifact is a title, and like any title in any military, there is a skillset you must learn to earn it. The difference is that I cannot disclose what occurs. But I do have a paper in my backpack de-coding the wordings, if we need them later.” But Ryanti wanted to disclose it. He really did. His commitment to secrecy had already been breached by this point. The Captain was never intended to know even what the hell they found in the Deep, or even what the Sharlayans were carrying. But realistically… he could no longer afford to keep things secret when he now trusted Sounsyy with his life. Ryanti preferred it this way anyhow. It was very hard to carry the burden all by yourself. He had picked up on her nervousness in her question. He had also heard her stammering words back in the first room. It was surreal to Ryanti to hear such a capable woman spew out words and curses in such a panic like that. Her shaking her head at him while they were still in the water burned into his short term memory. He had tried to tell her earlier in the mission, hoping that it would ease the transition. But this was Ryanti’s first term in an Allagan structure as well, and even he was having trouble coping, despite his knowledge beforehand and his training. It was why his hands were very subtly twitching when he was assembling his rifle. Occasionally, Ryanti would shake a hand once or twice to try to rid himself of those mild jitters. His mind was still trying to contemplate the kind of rational decisions he needed to make about the communication. The interference was very bad, and they had no clue whether or not it would get better. He clung to the hope that Forty-three was right, that it was the location that was the problem. So he formulated the next step of their objective in his mind. The last piece of his rifle clicked together, and Ryanti cocked back the lever. A slight whining sound emitted from the rifle as it sprung into a loaded state. It was a satisfying sound, letting Ryanti know that there were barriers between him and death down here. He almost immediately reached into his backpack again and pulled out the same powerful revolver that nearly took Cynthia’s head clean off. He spun the chamber and shot it back into place, clicking off the safety and holstering it by his waist. As armed as they were, they had enough firepower to kill nearly one hundred and fifty Garleans if they were to burn all their ammunition. It was the kind of armed-to-the-teeth preparedness that they needed to face their nightmares. Ryanti nodded at Sounsyy’s suggestion. He was to lead, and she was to make sure he didn’t miss anything. Perfect. His fingertips clamped onto his torchlight and he turned the dial, shifting his light to point at a thin angle, giving him as much sight as it could afford distance-wise. Ryanti started to tilt the rifle in front of him when he stopped parallel to Sounsyy. He did not forget the nervousness in her voice. “Remember, we have the absolute best weapons and equipment my people could afford us. And each other. Let’s just take it one step at a time. Our main objective is to locate and acquire any kind of valuable information or data in this place that can benefit the greater good, and prevent the Garleans from getting their hands on anything else. But for now, let’s just press deeper into the ship, and see if we can get a better signal with my teammates. Let’s move out.” He had to say those words himself as much as he knew Sounsyy had to hear them. “Watch my back, Sounsyy. I need you at one hundred and ten percent at all times.” Perhaps more than she ever had been. She had never seen Ryanti this deadly serious before. He walked with a purpose and conviction beyond his years as he stepped in front of her, yet the deep breathe he took and the hesitation he experienced proved that he was just as tense. There was no possible way any of them could have gone in here by themselves. They would have gone mad. After that one last breathe, Ryanti began to move forward. The first thing he did was point his torchlight at both ends of the room, but the beam seemed to go on forever in both directions. He was trying to determine where the closest wall was so that he could huddle closer to it to reduce the amount of space he had to cover with his torchlight. He finally determined it to be the right wall. So as he proceeded, he took a hefty amount of steps forward, and then traversed diagonally to the right a little bit, then pressed forward once more. It was deathly silent. Ryanti’s light shined upon what appeared to be five thousand plus year old cargo crates that seemed to span the entire horizontal distance of this section of the room. Once again, these are made out of cerment. They were all different shapes and sizes. Some were square in shape and large in size. Some possessed a cylinder shape, and were sealed shut by complicated locking mechanisms and where the LED’s upon the boxes used to shine was nothing but blackness, as the lights faded in power long ago just as well as the materials in them were long expired. They were exotic and foreign even to Ryanti; the first relics of an ancient time when the world was different. The air was stale, not ever affording a gust of wind over the eras of time. It smelled of metal. It was different from the Garlean steel which smelt dirty. This kind of metal smelled clean and refined, not containing any kind of imperfections that would leak in the air as an odor. There was so faint smell of oil or fuel or smudge. If Sounsyy noticed, Ryanti was only looking directly at where their lights were pointing, for if you didn’t, it would quickly feel like the space around you was choking you down in claustrophobia. No words could describe the ominous silence. Ryanti had a feeling that they were trespassing, almost committing some sort of sin for being here and re-discovering this. Perhaps it was simply the dread of the silence. “I’ll answer your questions that you had earlier about where we are. I did not forget.” No, he did not. He was just trained to do something when someone required information, but was in a wrecked state of mind. He was taught to deny them the answer and allow them to wait out their frustration before answering, so that they could better absorb the reality around them. It was meant to be a coping mechanism. He had to learn a lot about them to be able to grasp all this. So he spoke, hoping his enlightening dialogue would ease the dread of the long consistent silence. “As we know, there have been seven Astral Eras so far. For thousands of years, we believed that civilization as we know it began after the Age of Endless frost in the Fifth Umbral Era. Before the ice age, historians speculated that man was primitive in nature, and lived out their lives in either stoic or nomadic tribes and lived off the land with countless individual, secular cultures. All sources of either our present day nations or their ancient mothers trace back to the end of this ice age. So naturally, it was thought for a long time that the beginning of recorded history around the early Fifth Astral Era was the beginning of civilization and factual history. Anything prior to that was neck deep in myth and legend.” Ryanti tilted his torchlight up to glance at the ceiling. There were several cords hanging from the roof at the place they were. Some of them were broken, others were still interconnecting into the ceiling. They looked similar to fuel lines that Garlemald would use on their vehicles, but the network within the exposed ceiling seemed much more complicated. Upon lowering his flashlight again among the endless sea of long neglected cargo boxes and scattered portions of cords and wires, he resumed his dialogue. “Some of the beast tribes and Miqo’te tribe lineages extend all the way back to the First Era. It was known for a long time that these tribes possess very interesting legends and fables of a world before the Endless Frost. They speak of everything from ancient sea monsters to extraordinary chariots that rode across the sky and befriended Menphina’s moon. They spoke of Menphina’s loyal hound, and of demi-Gods that sailed the great Star Ocean under Her watch. For centuries and millennia scholars kept these legends transcribed but believed them to be that: imaginative legends and fairytales. They deduced that these legends and fairytales all had common themes. Beings that rode the sky, beings that constructed immense monuments that came crumbling down when they met their end.” Ryanti shined his torchlight to his right, finally reaching the right wall. The ceiling had to be at least eighty fulms in height. There were broken and twisted remnants of a kind of catwalk complex upon the right wall that would have been quite marvelous looking five millennia ago. But now it was all twisted and broken, having partially collapsed at some point. The metal was ripped in half and distorted, and the catwalk was half suspended still on the upper floor and half sprawled upon the ground. “Well, they were wrong. A man by the name of Saint Coinach was a historical figure during the Sixth Astral Era. You might have heard of him. He was the first person to discover that the legends and fairytales of the old tribes contained more reality than fiction. His discovery was to change everything we know about this planet. The Sharlayans knew the real nature of his discoveries, and they have probably known for a very long time. But they chose to keep the true realities of Saint Coinach’s discoveries hidden from the greater public, and for good reason. It turns out that during the Third Astral Era, two further Eras back than the beginning of our recorded history, there existed a time on this planet where civilization reached its absolute apex. On the very top of its apex stood the mighty Allagan Empire. In the very distant past, the landmass of Eorzea was said to be larger, and the Allagan borders must have stretched at least across half of the planet. Their civilization reached a pinnacle of technology to near omni-potent levels, and a complete mastery of the forces of magic. We still do not know how many years thick the Third Astral Era was, but the amount of years Sharlayans theorize vastly extends the length of the Eras we know. However, very little is still known about that time. There is a… point where this Empire and other nations that thrived during that time, such as Meracydia… completely vanish from the record. It was not over years or even months… they were there and then suddenly they weren’t. They were just… gone. Nobody knows why. This happened approximately five thousand years ago.” Ryanti slowed down his steps, until he was completely stopped in his tracks, glancing around in the darkness as if he could see, but obvious could not. “As far as this place goes… according to the plague, this must have been some sort of research vessel. It’s good for us because research vessels contain much more useful data to us than military ones. But it’s not the kind of ship that sailed the ocean, no… this vessel was meant to sail the star ocean, Sounsyy…” The sight of Hydealyn from space in her dream… Ryanti briefly looked back to her, his facial features shining within the confines of her torchlight. “The reason why this information is buried is clear. It’s… much easier for society to accept a clear beginning to the history of civilization and be able to draw a straight line from there to where we are now. It’s easier to accept that the way of life and civilization that we know has always been relatively familiar to us. It would be difficult for people to accept the… truth. Society is not ready to be able to cope with it. That is why Jonathan advised you not to tell your Superior Officer about this. Even if you did, your Superior probably would not believe you.” He solemnly turned around to face his front again. “How can you just simply… tell someone these things and expect them to believe you unless you see it for yourself…” There was a kind of burden in his voice. It was hard to live with this and not be able to tell everyone. Now do you believe…? Ryanti thought. Just then, there was a noise. A sound of a bump or two in a ventilation shaft somewhere further beyond, a bit to the right where the wall met the ceiling. Ryanti’s heart skipped a beat and he immediately pointed his gun up at the source, clicking on the torchlight that came with the rifle. It was weaker than his body one, but certainly not a weak light in of itself. It shined upon the spot where he heard the noise, but there was nothing. Had there always been nothing. “Assume all foreign noises independent of us are hostile.” Ryanti murmured to Sounsyy. “We have no literal idea what could possibly be down here with us if we aren’t alone. Probably something not ever meant to see the light of day.” Within an additional twenty or so steps, they cleared the cargo farm, and found themselves amongst the largest part of the room. It had a trapezoid-like shape to it, and an intricate network of perfectly molded steel and ancient hydraulic pistons held shut the enormous twin hanger doors that hugged the left wall. It would never be opened again. Perpendicular to the hanger doors was another second story catwalk, and this one was intact. In the distance, Ryanti’s light shined upon the door up there, which half of it was broken down, providing an open to go through. “That’s our way out.” When Ryanti lowered his light down to the center of the room, he gasped at the marvel of what he saw. In the center of the room, there was a derelict… craft of some sort resting in that place in which had become its grave. About the size of the Roehmerl, it was nowhere near in perfect condition. The rear rotors were long disintegrated, and the wiry mesh of the light metals used in design of the small shuttle was broken and mulled in many locations. The front landing gear had collapsed long ago. The rear ones, alleviated of the weight due to the nose of the aircraft resting on the ground now, were still standing. The middle of the craft looked like it had caught fire centuries ago, a fire that eventually burned out. The front windshield of the cockpit was broken and shattered in some places, yet still intact upon the ship. “This must be a place where they landed those… smaller ones. Wow… unreal.” Ryanti mentioned, examining the entirety of the craft, noticing a partial serial number on the side of the craft. Some of it had been burned away by the fire. Then his light gathered with interest at the front of the craft, where the shattered window was. It would not be that much of an effort to climb aboard the smaller vessel and peak into the combat. Ryanti felt like he had to do it, even though it make him extra nervous to do so. He had to check to see if anything was… harboring inside of it. The insides of the ship beyond that point were scourged by fire and melted metal, so there were no worries about that. “I need to examine it and make sure it’s clear. Watch my back.” And with that, Ryanti made his way ever so cautiously to the front of the craft. As he laid the torchlight upon the broken windshield, he felt a tingling in his mind. He remembered in one of their first dreams there was a split second… yes… he could almost hear the hydraulic doors closing, the sky being their destination. It had to be a ship like this… a ship like this. That must have been how they arrived. On a ship like this… With a single gesture, he leapt up into the air, his feet landing with a thud upon the nose of the smaller vessel. The scale of it was still immense. Ryanti’s form was miniscule compared even to this ‘smaller’ ship. “Okay Ryanti…” He murmured to himself, examining the lower parts of the nose by sweeping his torchlight slowly, back and forth, finally reaching the windshield, and shining the light inside. All of the levers... all of these controls were buried in dust. It reminded him of Garlean schematics he used to recover from his earlier missions in the Immortal Flames concerning stealing Garlean blueprints. But these were much more sophisticated. All he saw were just buttons and levers galore, and a seat or two before the fiery molten metal brought an end to the ship’s space. He quietly etched the light over the controls… then examined the seats. The seats… they had bite marks on them. How old were those bite marks? Thousands of years old? Centuries? Decades? … Days? “Sounsyy!” Ryanti shouted, his voice booming with an echo across the room to get her attention. “We might not be alone in here!” Just then, four more noises. Like four heavy bumps in a constant pattern above him. The ceiling. Immediately he shined a light up above to investigate. There were so many roof panels that had some off, so many exposed wires and compartments where anything could be hiding… waiting. The artifact could not help them now. It had been dead since they arrived.

That was a fantastic event, guys. Kudos to everyone that worked on it. It was stellar!

Similarities: - We both don't prefer dealing with animals. - We both don't prefer dealing with little kids (don't I seem so friendly? ). - We both are very prideful in what we do. - We both get embarrassed easily. - We both really enjoy history. - We both possess above-average curiosity about stuff. - We both prefer our living areas very organized (we're hygiene freaks!). Differences: - Ryanti is insecure about his heritage. I love mine. 8-) - Ryanti tends to drink very little. I'm a beer and vodka guy. 8-) - Ryanti can sketch and sing on a medium skill range. I'm absolutely horrid at both of those. - Ryanti loves elaborate fashion. I'm fine with a funny t-shirt and cargo shorts. - Ryanti doesn't swear much. I swear like a sailor. - Ryanti sucks at being rowdy. I'm your man when it comes to that. - Ryanti is much more of a spender while I am more of a saver. - Ryanti is a lot more of a risk-taker than I am.

Ryanti writes left handed, and fights right handed. I would say that Ryanti grew up with a natural affinity to the left hand, and that his dominant eye is his left eye. This reflects myself in real life. My left eye is my dominant eye, and my left arm is also my precision arm, which I suppose makes me the 10%. Ryanti is more of a creative person and a cognitive thinker versus someone who is by the books and straightforward. He fights using unorthodox tactics, and I do utilize MMA techniques in his fights at times. He is right-footed though. I may hint in the game that his form slightly changes when he starts emphasizing kicks. He sometimes switches his dominant foot in his stances when he is focused on throwing punches or defending himself vs. kicking and takedowns. I try to draw a correlation there. Ryanti is definitely effected by firearms, because while he fights with a sword right handed, he shoots left handed with rifles. He is alright with pistols in the right hand, though, so really his only beef is with right handed firearms. He certainly prefers ambidextrous firearms. So I guess I can say he is naturally left handed but due to training and how he was raised growing up, his right hand does a fair amount of work too.

Should communication be severed between the divers and the Roehmerl, you will have no more than three suns to return to the surface. Captain Mirke has ordered we meet the Sharlayan rendezvous, regardless of your fates. If the Roehmerl comes under attack and communication with the divers is not restored, we've been ordered to flee to safe waters and deliver the injured Sharlayans to their vessel awaiting us in the southern Bloodbrine. Ryanti had been different since that morning, and there was no more obvious of a time where that was proven true than now. He stood firm, his shoulders stiff and his knees tight as he listened to the Elezen brief them. His look was almost a reflection of Sounsyy’s: a hard yet determined glance in their direction. The Captain and the Keeper were earning glances from the entire crew. No one said a word about it, but most of them knew that despite how unusual the outcome of events had been, both of them understood what was expected of them. Perhaps Ryanti more than Sounsyy. It had yet to be determined, but there was no question that it will be decided upon the coming days. It was true that Sounsyy was hardly recognizable. Ryanti might have mused about how nicely the wetsuit accentuated the shape of a fully trained and capable soldier, but this was far too serious of a time. Immature musings and sourly jokes were out the window long before the sun rose. Though he couldn’t help but smile a little. Her hair looked really nice. Having it down would have distracted her anyhow. He observed Sounsyy see off P’welro with another Limsan manner of farewells that Ryanti was unfamiliar with, but he knew that he didn’t have to understand some things. Likewise, when the woman he had shared an echo with stood alongside him after the Captain had made her way to talk to Jada, Ryanti slightly turned his gaze to her and spoke with a quiet, sincere voice. “I am not going to tell you what to do about me or Sounsyy in the case that we don’t make it back, because we are going to make it back. I’m not just saying that, either.” As for emphasis, he placed a soft palm upon her shoulder, and whispered to her. “I have something for you. It’s in the Captain’s drawer. If you ever need something to keep your hopes up while on deck waiting for us to come back, look in there. This is not a goodbye.” The Hyqo’te took a few steps back, eyeing everyone that stood around the deck of the Roehmerl. “I would like to sincerely thank each and every one of you for choosing to write a memento into my Book of Days.” He solemnly spoke, though his voice was rather loud, enough for Sounsyy to overhear. Ryanti placed a fingertip of two upon his single-strapped backpack that contained everything he would hopefully need to survive. “I have placed it in here, to go with us down to depths unknown. There is no doubt that it will keep me going, despite whatever happens. You’re truly great people, and I am honored to have known you all. Don’t mistake this for a eulogy, I am just letting you all know.” With that, the young man strapped his backpack upon him, and picked up his diving mask and placed it upon his head, checking his gauges one more time before stepping up to the Forecastle with the Captain as Jada wished them well. “We will.” He replied to her. This was when the nerves got to him the most. This was it. This entire mission had culminated up to this point. Ever since he was a child, he had been fascinated by the history of this world and its people, and was determined to unlock the secrets of knowledge that had the potential to better the future. He was lucky, and extraordinarily blessed for having the opportunity to do this… terrifying and mentally agonizing task of being the kind of man to see this through. To save the world. Sounsyy was, in a way, the first person outside of his agency to do this kind of work. To see the world for what it was truly was at one time. To witness the truth. So before they dived, Ryanti took Sounsyy’s injured hand and eyed the loose piece of fabric that would have been for Sounsyy’s ring finger. He placed his fingertip upon the end of the fabric and pressed inward, folding the finger shape inside out, and then rolling the outsides of the fabric with his hands the same way someone would roll up their trousers to turn them into shorts. “I need to say one more thing before we go down.” He murmured to her as he folded the fabric until it fit around the edge of her severed finger. “I cannot promise you what awaits us. But there are some things I can say. It’s very important to understand that you may see some things that may be hard for you to come to terms with. There are truths about this world that have remained hidden for a very, very long time. Our missions are classified for a reason, so…” He trailed off there. It was a hard thing for him to explain. He couldn’t really describe how he felt when he observed his first Allagan relic. Sounsyy and he would be seeing their first Allagan structure. “But there is something that I understand you know, though I will mention it anyway. We will need each other for every moment inside of where we are going. I need to depend on you as much as you depend on me. With my life.” With that, Ryanti put the linkpearl inside of his ear and turned the device on. After his ear twitched once or twice due to the static, he pressed his finger up against his ear and tested it. “Can you hear me, Jonathan?” Jonathan gave him a hand signal from across the room with a swift nod, hearing Ryanti’s voice through his own ears. He was already pacing the deck, and Forty-three had his spectacles on and tested his own linkpearl. Sounsyy could hear all three men. “You’re good to go, friends.” Ryanti smiled a little before placing the mouthpiece into his lips. Sounsyy actually dived first. She had stepped over the ship’s Forecastle feet first, and hit the water with a splash. Ryanti took one last look at the shining Eorzean sun, and closed his eyes, trying to remember how it felt, for he never knew whether or not he had to call upon it later. ”See you on the other side, everyone.” --- Ryanti jumped off the Roehmerl and tilted his body backwards, landing into the water headfirst. Sounsyy could see the bubbles surround the young man’s form as he entered the water begin to clear away in the immediate moment after. Dark figures could be seen approaching the Roehmerl’s side that faced him, the crew glancing at their two forms in the water. Ryanti’s head was at equal height to Sounsyy’s, his form upside down to her. He took a breath through his filter. The air tasted a little bit like Garlean rubber, but it was just fine to breathe. If one could look close, one could see tiny little fibers in their suit glowing a very feint blue as they filtered the water around them into air, dispelling the de-oxygenized water out of the back of their neck. “Confirming that you can hear us.” Jonathan’s voice was heard over the linkpearl, with a little beeping noise to indicate an over signal. Ryanti gave Jonathan a waving of his arm from where he was at. “Excellent. Alright we’ll observe you for as long as we can but right now what you can do for me is make sure the Captain gets used to the process. Now Sounsyy, don’t be afraid to spend some time on that line, I’d rather have you alive and well then quick.” Ryanti bent his torso forward and tucked his knees, turning his orientation back to normal. It was pretty obvious that he had received some training prior to this mission about underwater diving. With movements of his legs and ankles, Ryanti maneuvered his body around Sounsyy’s form as she placed a hand upon the anchor line. More of Jonathan’s voice graced her ear. “Now Ryanti’s going to show you how to breathe right. Look at his diaphragm and match his. He’ll be following you down the line and just go at your own pace. Ryanti’ll tell you when to inhale and exhale, just watch him. Now turn your head towards the sea floor and start going down, ilm by ilm. A slow to medium pace.” With that, Ryanti re-oriented his head towards the bottom of the ocean and waited for the Captain to do the same. When she had done so, Ryanti made gestures with his hands to emphasize when he was taking a breath, and when he was exhaling that breath. It was a slow and calm process, almost similar to the kinds of breathing people would use when meditating. He kept doing it until the Captain caught onto it. Ryanti began nodding to clue her in that she was getting it right. “Is she ready, Seventy-seven?” Jonathan said from up top. Ryanti gave the okay signal. “Alright, get your bearing and start heading down.” Ryanti didn’t need the line, so he stayed perfectly across from the Captain as their bodies slowly began to descend. At first, they didn’t feel too much pressure. It was like swimming in a pool. But Ryanti was very keen on making sure the Captain was breathing properly. This was a crash course, and she had to learn fast. Ryanti’s legs methodically paddled back and forth as he followed her down. After a while, there was a feeling of tightness that seemed to creep up on them. Almost as if on cue, a voice again ringed out in their linkpearls. “Should be feeling it by now. That’s what you’re gonna feel. It’s going to get more powerful before your suit functions kick in. So make sure you’re taking slow, thin breaths but just keep breathing, don’t stop.” It sounded like he was relaying from Forty-three, as it took a little bit of hesitation on his end. He didn’t have the verbal skills Forty-three had. “Breathe… breathe… breathe… breathe…” Jonathan kept saying over the linkpearl. The feeling of tightness was getting rather rough. For a moment, it became uncomfortable and very distracting. But that was when they both heard a little sound of pressure release from their suits. The veins with the very feint blue color began to glow stronger, as if reacting to something. What they were doing was creating a kind of aura around them of concentrated shell aether that kept the water from pressing too much upon their bodies, which relieved the pressure all the way up to them barely feeling it. However, it didn’t mean that their diaphragms would be spared. “You will need to keep this pace of breathing up, so it will be a little workout once the sea goes dark.” --- But it wasn’t dark yet. The sun’s rays decorated the underwater landscape with the healthiest of blues. It was amazing how after a single day, the ocean could wipe away so much blood, and so many more bodies. Distant limp shapes in the underwater horizon still betrayed the ugly reality of what they had done days prior. But there was also a side of the ocean that was beautiful – side that had always been there. Schools of fish sometimes approached the two foreign figures in the ocean. Ryanti waited patiently for Sounsyy to take the first step to let go of the line. His head slowly turned in the water, his snow-white locks floating about. There were Sahagin that had swam up to them, and in fact all around them. But unlike perhaps previous encounters they have had with Lominsians, these Sahagin were not carrying spears, but rather riding elbsts with coral-made straps and latches to the back of them. Ryanti had not seen those on the elbsts from before. Perhaps they were intended to give them a ride to the Allagan anomaly? He reached out with his hand to grab onto the straps that rested upon the elbsts, and the creature in question swam a little forward, but stopped due to the Sahagin rider, who glanced at the Captain and waited as another elbst pulled alongside her. It seemed that their fate to arrive where the Allagan wreckage was going to be via elbst. “You’re getting deeper. We can’t see you anymore. According to the rate you’re going, you’ll be crossing the end of the sea bed within two minutes and be at the objective within ten minutes. Prepare yourselves.” It seemed like a long time. Ryanti’s face was fixed on what was in front of him. Gradually, it seemed the further they traveled under, the more aspects of the sea that they had known about began to fade away. First it was the school of fish, replaced with the bits of fungal and oceanic bottom feeders that clung to the slope of the seabed. It was during this time, when the water began to get colder and darker that Ryanti’s mind was running exceptionally fast. They had no idea what they were going to find. “Go ahead and check and see if your navigation light is working, Seventy-seven. Captain I assure you do the same.” With a single gesture, Ryanti clicked a button on the upper right part of his chest. A small, but very effective and bright forward-mounting light activated, which gave him a good few fulms of light in front of him that glanced off of the elbst and into the depths below, though he still couldn’t see anything. He glanced briefly when the Captain did the same, and nodded to himself in approval. So far, so good. The water got colder. They were getting deep, really deep. Only their suits were keeping them alive now, and it was doing a very good job at that. It was becoming harder to keep air in their lungs, but following the protocol enabled them to last. Their equipment was checking out, and the elbst escort was going off without a hitch. They were the most prepared as they could possibly be. But nothing… nothing could prepare them for what they saw when the blurry, dark, and ominous sign of the Allagan starship, buried for at least five millennia, came into view. Within the dark waters, where visible light was hard to come by, one could still make out the even darker outline of the vessel. It was MASSIVE, easily dwarfing any kind of naval vessel Eorzea possessed. Garlean naval flagships could not hold a candle to the behemoth of a shape that they were witnessing now. Even Garlean airships did not hold a candle to the size of this vessel. It took up the entire horizontal view of where they were facing, as if it was a second horizon. The Sagahin looked back with faces mixed with admiration and fear when the artifact in Ryanti’s bag suddenly lit up, causing the black bag to slightly give off the light from inside. That was when something happened that was reminiscent in their dream. A shining, piercing, illuminous blue light emitted from the Allagan starhip. At its size, it could easily have been mistaken for an entire underwater reef. Then – a sound – a light buzzing sound that permeated the water and sent vibrations through their bodies. They could feel the pull. This was where they were supposed to be. The artifact, the souls were calling out to its resting place, and the graveyard, for the first time since the third era was… alive. Calling. Ryanti’s eyes were as wide as they could be. It became a challenge to keep his calm breathing. This vessel was enormous in the biggest sense of the word, and he could feel that call. It was admirable, amazing, and unbelievable in scale, covered in fossil life and coral formation for the duration it had been down there. Twelve’s graces… what in the god’s seven hells am I looking at…? “Call us when you get i-..n” Jonathan’s voice echoed across the linkpearl. It was slightly garbled, but still understandable. Sahagin were surrounding them now, observing them just as well as guarding them from any aquatic life that had made their homes among the civilization that rose to godhood that still dreamed in the deep blue sea. As they got closer, despite the darkness, they were able to see its true shape. It was very rugged and square in a kind of shape foreign to even Garlemald’s highest standard, built with specifications beyond what anyone that knew nothing but sailing could remotely comprehend. This was not a ship that sailed the water. This was a ship that sailed the sky… and beyond. The elbsts began to change their course, deviating to the bottom right of the huge vessel. Briefly, their lights were able to shine upon the side of the ship. Beyond the sea life that had attached itself to the ship, they could see their first of Allagan metal. Only the Twelve knew what kind of metal. It was extremely well designed to such an extent that five thousand, six thousand something years under the pressure of all of this water… even that could not reduce this contraption to dust. They could almost feel it. The emotion. The weight. The era of their Empire… Ryanti pointed his finger to the lower half of the bottom right side of the ship. There was shaped out to what might be a kind of… door. The Sagahin’s elbsts stopped almost as soon as he did. The ship was so massive in size that where they were floating in the water near the bottom of the ship, they could have looked as up as they could by craning their necks and not even see the top of it. This was not a fairy tale. This was real. Ryanti removed the artifact from its resting place inside of his bag, and immediately the aetherial aura that surrounded him and kept his body from succumbing to the pressure of the depths became visible under the potent artifact. It was now apparent what its job was. It was a literal key. A key card for the maintenance entrance of the rear of the ship. If it had been in Allag’s era, it would have been the access way to the supply hanger. That was their first stop. Ryanti had forgotten to blink for a while now. His eyes felt dry when he did so. Slowly, methodically, the young man with the key in hand approached the entrance to the Allagan starship. His frame huddled in front of the door and was no larger than someone of his stature. It was meant for individual personnel that flew in maintenance shuttles, workers who would have repaired the little ships inside. They would have carried this key. A key that was found eons later. He brushed a bit of seaweed off of the key, and glanced at Sounsyy for a brief moment. He was expressionless, but his gut felt like he was melting. He knew what he was about to do but… taken aback by the fact that it was him doing it. With a slow breathe, the young man brushed the sea life away from the key slot on the side of the door, and messed with the end of the key in the hole before finding the right spot, and sliding the key inside. Rectangular LED lights lit up in red around the lock. Lights that had not been activated in eons, but STILL operational after all this time. They immediately felt an impulse of energy, a kind of pinnacle in transverance. The light in the key left it as the metal contraption slid itself into the key slot and turned on its own. Brief red lights could be seen skitter and scamper along the vessel, reaching all corners of the ship. A louder buzz emitted from the vessel. A domineering, screeching noise, as if it was responding. While they didn’t know it at the time, it was the spirits of the residual energy returning to the ship. The key lost all light after that, and became dormant. Were the spirits gone? The key slid back out, and Ryanti took it. The outlines of the door glew in a much brighter blue light all of a sudden. Intricate lights activated on the doorway and the latch slowly began to open from the sides. Water coasted inside the two doors and almost instantaneously filled up the inside of the hallway. Flood lights lit up the inner parts of the rectangular room that Ryanti was now heading towards, beckoning the Captain to follow him. The inside of the room had elaborate LED lights all over it, and thickly braced computer monitors etched into each side of the wall, doing calculations automatically. Everything was running completely fine in this room. It looked like as it was meant to be a pressurization room. An airlock. It was the first time Ryanti had seen something like this. He couldn’t imagine that it was like for the Captain. As they floated inside of the room, the Sagahin began to pull away. The inside of the room had an architecture that made even the Garleans themselves look like children with toys. It was strangely beautiful how the different colors lights blinked in unison or separately at such precise times, or the computer monitors processing code. Perhaps the blinking red and green lights upon the floor too… The artifact must have used its energy reserves to give this place power. Ryanti floated on one side of the room, watching Sounsyy. The door to the outside world closed with a slow but sure connection, vibrating the room a bit. But it was not dark inside of the room with their Sharlayan navigation lights and of course, the Allagan LEDs decorating the room with a lovely mix of color and operational tone. At their current load, the water was very pressurized, and so the room began to de-pressurize it. Gradually, the aetherial aura around them began to fade as it was no longer needed. Eventually, it shut off, and the water that they were in became less cold and more habitable, all the way until it felt like they were swimming in a pool again. Amazing. Simply amazing. Ryanti let himself sink down to the surface for a moment, sliding a fingertip or two along the walls. There was a certain part of him… his childhood self or maybe… the part of him that still held idealisms and romanticisms. That part of him couldn’t believe what was actually happening. He was touching something built by them. Actual Allagans had been in this hallway. It was the most surreal moment of his life that would easily be overtaken by more surreal moments later in their coming days. Two compartments opened at the bottom of the hallway and began sucking out the water. Ryanti leapt up to the top of the hallway and latched onto something he could grab onto, taking his first fresh breaths as the water was draining. The water was being pumped out into the ocean while the entranceway was water tight in its seal. It had to be. It was meant for space after all. But the Allagans had prepared for events like being trapped underwater. Ryanti allowed himself back to keeping his head and shoulders above the surface as he felt his feet softly hit the ground. He softly turned about to examine the intricate details around him. “This is..” But before he could say anything else, one of the lights closest to the entranceway shattered, and a sound of a groaning machine was heard as the lights dimmed. A sound of snapping electricity was heard and the second door that they were meant to walk out of began to open, but only slightly before one of the panels on the side-by-side door broke, jamming the door open. A huge jolt was heard above the ceiling as a mechanism broke due to age. It was not soon after that the vessel went dark again. And it was dark. Darker than dark. Having his shoulder slam into the side wall during the jolt caused Ryanti to cough up a lung. The Captain could feel the water to her knees spilling out onto the other side of the airlock and Ryanti’s coughs to remind her that he was still there. “Ah… eh... okay. Are you alright?” His heavy breathe were heard as he turned on his Sharlayan light again, providing a much needed torch to his surroundings. He muddled his way to the entrance that they had come from, knocking a bit on the sealed door. “We couldn’t open this again. The pressure would send water our way so violently that we’ll split in half. We’ll have to find another way out once we get our data.” He said it non-chalantly. But he knew what it meant. They were trapped. Already. His waddling slowly turned to walking as the water fizzled out to the ground beyond the second door. Ryanti shined his light into that door, but he couldn’t make out anything beyond it. “At least it’s open enough for us to get through.” He commented, shifting himself to the side and sliding his body through. “No use to stay here... let’s see where we are.” With some movement, and a little bit more momentium, Ryanti made it through. He immediately hugged the wall of the new room he was in with his back. “Everything’s pitch black! I’d keep your light on!” He called out from the other room. A few more breaths later, he spoke again. “Go ahead and get in here with me – we absolutely need to stay together. Period.” Ryanti turned his body towards the wall facing away from the door, and the Sharlayan light illuminated the walls. Again, this kind of perfect metal. Not a hint of rust or… anything. He laid his bag against the wall in front of his feet but decided not to remove the mouthpiece. They may need it later if anything in here was flooded. The air felt unnaturally cold – probably because they were still soaking wet. Ryanti eyed something curious with his light as Sounsyy made her way through second broken door. His eyes squinted at what appeared to be some sort of plague in the wall. He blew upon it and dust clouded his vision, which he wiped away with a hand. His aquamarine eyes darted over the words with a hard gaze, his voice audible but… quiet. “It is with honor and pride that the Consul commission this Research and Development Sub-Ragnarok Class Frigate the Anakalypsi to sail the stars in search of answers to our most incompressible understandings.” He read outloud, his face freezing in pure shock at the next statement. “In the three thousandth, four hundredth and fifty second year of our great Empire…”. Twice the amount of years on the Astral Era calendar… and it was just how long their Empire was around when this was made. This mission is classified for a reason… The bewildered Halfling slowly turned around to the room they were in… adjusting his light to focus less on width and more on depth. The scale of the room they were in, the supply hanger, was baffling. Many Roehmerls could easily fit into this single room. The space was long and wide, with a near endless corridors of metal and a ceiling impossibly high. Despite missing rust, many of the small features such as the LED lighting and the remnants of what used to be cargo lying about were twisted and mangled in their design to the immense decay of thousands of years. It felt eerily lonely, and long forgotten. A civilization that came from dust, and became dust. Or perhaps… not quite. “God’s forfend… “ Ryanti remembered his order then. He placed a finger upon the linkpearl and took a very swift breath in order to re-compose himself. “We have made it inside. Jonathan this place is huge. It’s insane.” He waited for a moment as static enveloped both of their ears. Sounds of the crew were in the background cheering. “Go- -ob Seventy-seven. It look like like y-.. made it in the hanger. We’re tracking yo-…” Then it became all but static for a moment or two. Ryanti’s breathing became tense. “Jonathan?...” A voice came back, but it was the voice of Forty-three. “It seems you have l-… -t getting a good signal. Need to make your way further i-… better signal. Just move to-…. Front. Fro-..nt if you can hear m-.” “Copy. Copy. Copy.” Ryanti kept saying, hoping it would come in. “We can h- .. –st… -ther in. Ove-.” With that, the communications were cut. “Hello!” Ryanti shouted out in response, his voice echoing off of the massive walls of the room they were in. The same room that the Allagans in their dream had boarded from. Though they did not know it at the time. Ryanti gave Sounsyy a look, and pursed his lips as he adjusted his light again to focus on what was in front of him more than ahead of him. “Let’s assemble our weapons. We do not move an ilm until we are fully armed.”

Ryanti felt himself take a few steps back, but not out of will. In fact, it had almost surprised him enough to nearly make him stumble. The cold outline of her four fingers lingered upon the young man’s chest. They were like tiny little icicles. It thawed like the icicles upon the roof of an Ishgardian home in the highlands of Coerthas during the coming spring. It was a feeling Ryanti knew very well. From the time that he was a little Halfling child born of mixed blood in a circle of society that valued purity above all else, to when he stepped on this boat, it felt the same. It was a feeling of being pushed, pushed away. Left in front of the door when it closed. It was a feeling of mistrust, and of suspicion. It mattered not for what reason why people had felt that way about him in the past. There were too many reasons to count: His blood, his demeanor, his place in society, all of those. While they were packing, he was thinking about how ironic it probably was that he had come to bond with this crew. He wondered in his mind just how fast they would turn on him and shoot him dead if ordered. Just how fast Sounsyy would prop his jaw open like she did Cynthia’s. He tried not to think about it, but those thoughts were always in a dark corner of his mind. I’ve outlived a helluva lot of suicide missions where I believed in what I were doin’, so I ain’t keen to die on one I don’t. Of course. When was it ever different? He had crossed his arms and stood silent as he watched Sounsyy look about at the Elezen that had been watching this whole conversation and pick up the rifle to feel it out more. There was really nothing he felt like he could say right now. He let her have the moment. A part of his mind wondered whether Sounsyy actually believed that she had it in her to handle weapons like that and gear like this, and whether or not she was truly ready. He couldn’t read any thoughts behind those dead eyes. He was gambling on an instinct, on a feeling, an intuition. He knew it. It was how he always was, even before he took up this occupation. “Understood, Captain.” Ryanti repeated himself when she explained to him that he should really get to sleep and everything. He understood that he had to, and unlike the last time he said those words, this time they carried an aura of just pure business. When it was time to go below deck, right before Sounsyy went back upwards, she heard his words follow her up. “But we both know we aren’t immediately going straight to our beds.” Ryanti solemnly looked over his shoulder as the Captain proceeded upstairs. He had closed his eyes, despite the darkness surrounding him giving him no need to. There was a certain heaviness in his heart, a familiar feeling that he was all alone in this endeavor. He of course surely wasn’t alone in this physically but… alone in his belief. The only one to believe him was the only one out of the unit that didn’t have any dreams like he did. Now she was barely alive. He felt the straps of the gear crate eat into his hands as he carried it on one side of him. The weight was causing his fair skin to turn red with irritation, but he didn’t really notice. It wasn’t the lightest weight he felt on his body right now. She had told him not to put all of the weight on himself, and then told him that the mission was something she – no one – believed in. How was he supposed to carry all this weight? “She doesn’t trust you.” Ryanti knew that voice. He always had a unique voice. He figured he could feel someone else in that dark empty hallway watching him. The ends of his lips twitched a little bit in response, and the young man moved ever so slightly, the crate in his hand bobbing a bit with the weight. “I know.” Ryanti said back to the darkness, opening his eyes within it even though it saw just as much of nothing. Suddenly, a strike of a match happened, and then there was light. A brief little fire upon the match stick burned into the little cup of the pipe that the man had extended. His pure black locks confirmed who the man was – Jonathan. He took a wiff and a little billow of smoke came out from his chapped lips before he shook the match out, the embers only illuminated part of his face as smoke came from it. “And you trust her?” Ryanti turned to face him, quietly bending his knees and gently placing the crate upon the floorboards with barely a peep, resting the strap upon the top of the crate. “I do.” He simply said, feeling an urge swell up in his gut that he was going to get ridiculed and chastised for what he said. His shoulders tightened up, and the Halfling looked away. For once, the darkness in the hallway seemed a better companion. “Why?” Jonathan pressed him, puffing on his pipe right after. Why, why why… the dreaded why. Ryanti knew it was coming, yet he could never make that blow easier. For what purpose did he ask that; to judge him? To tell him how wrong he was? “I don’t have a reason.” He found himself saying after probing his mind and finding nothing except for the honest answer. “Not any reason that you would be pleased with. You can’t always have concrete reasons to do something, or feel a certain way. That is what faith is.” Jonathan digested Ryanti’s answer while billowing a puff or two from the corner of his lips, nursing the pipe with a finger and his thumb plugged over the top. “You will not make any friends or otherwise in this line of work. There’s no such thing. People look after only themselves, and crave naught else but the table scraps of power that somehow find their way slipping through the fingers of the ones that have always had the power. Trust, faith, love, these things are a luxury not afforded to people like us. If you die following an impossible dream, you will not be the first Keeper to.” Ryanti’s expression molded into a rather perplexing tone, and he allowed himself to sigh. He had heard this before too from Jahh. You would not be the first. You would not be the first. Even though he had always felt like he wasn’t wanted… that he was pushed away by others… “I do not believe that about people. Not all people. So I cannot follow your logic. I have already experienced much in the tastes of death, betrayal, and horrific war. I have killed many. But as I have seen men and women change their outlook on people after their experiences, I find that I don’t have the same ability to change how I see people. I can’t get myself to, no matter what I have seen or done. I still have faith that this cycle of madness can stop. So I cannot agree with you, Jonathan.” Jonathan blew out a sigh that had a thick amount of smoke in it. His back casually shuffled as he laid against the wall to support himself on his good leg. “Because reasons don’t matter to you?” The crate slowly lifted off the floor again by Ryanti’s other hand. “Because I don’t have faith in your reasons. I can’t look at it the way you do, Jonathan. I’m sorry.” “Is that is the real reason why you removed me from command?” Jonathan questioned, his emotionless gaze boring into the young man’s aquamarine eyes. Once again, Ryanti had dropped the bag, and he found himself once again face to face with his superior officer… on paper at least. “I removed you from command because your job in this unit was to be on the ground to guide us to our objective once we dived in. Now that it is I and the Captain diving, the job falls to me now. That is all there is to it. You may be able to advise me from the Roehmerl, but once I dive, let’s be frank: I and the Captain will be the ones making the decisions down there. Without your help down there, the Keeper takes command. You know that was the very reason why you were summoned to help. Because you had to protect me. Now you can only do that from a distance.” Jonathan let out a deeply ingrained sigh from the bottom of his throat. He was happy that being crippled allowed him to smoke again, to feel that feeling again and to ease his mind. Still, his next words were slow and rather hoarse in an ominous tone. “I hope you know what in the seven hells you are doing, Seventy-seven.” Ryanti hoped so too. He lifted the crate once more. “Well, the good news is that we won’t have to wait too long before finding out if I am.” That was true. Tomorrow was it. Tomorrow would be the beginning of the culmination of everything that had come to this – the biggest moment of his life. As he began to turn away and walk towards his resting place, he stopped one final time. “Have you been keeping tabs?” He asked the older man. “Ever since the first shite comment about us was said.” “Good.” Said the snowy haired young man. “I am no naïve marmot. I fully understand that sometimes I… may be wrong about –some- people.” And with that, he retired. A slight sound was heard when Ryanti rose himself up from his slumber against his corner of the room. The sheet that covered him slid down his shoulders and his body, revealing his threadless form to the unwatchful world. It was an uneventful sleep, hopelessly interrupted. Probably anxiety. Forty-three was already out and Jonathan had yet to follow Ryanti back to their resting place. It was an uneventful sleep, hopelessly interrupted. His light clothing was tossed aside near the mattress he had been sleeping on for the past week or so now. He couldn’t remember the last time he had tried to sleep fully nude, but he figured… he could fall asleep easier that way. The salty winds from the window outside leaked through and felt very different with a lack of threading. After the sheets fell, he had pulled them up his legs enough to cover what was sensitive so that the same cold seething wind he had experienced out on deck would not find their way in his most sensitive of areas. He felt his chest with his fingertips, near the same spot Sounsyy had pushed him away. He thought maybe… he could warm that spot with his own fingertips, but they were equally cold, and all it did was re-ensure the memory. He shifted his glance rapidly when he witnessed a feint light, the bluest of light, coming from underneath his pillow. In the bowels of the ship the artifact had rested, but it had seen many places of the Roehmerl since Ryanti uprooted it from its ultra-secure location. With a movement of the pillow, Ryanti gazed upon the piece of work that was the Allagan contraption; the link between the men of present day… and the long lost wishes… the dreams of those who had perished in the deep over five millennia ago. He noticed the blue light was fading in and out faster than usual, with a erythematic pace. With a solemn movement, he picked up the artifact with a single hand. The cerment still felt so well made and so unbelievably strong in form. It was cold to the touch, but yet it was making Ryanti’s palm warm and humid. There was a ‘tenseness’ about the light… and the aura about the device. It was as if the device was looking for something, assured that something was there where it was looking but finding nothing. Ryanti held his breath and touched the tips of his fingers upon the outline of the circular component that held the bulb which was the strongest source of light on the objects. He slid his fingers along the outline of the circle in a command that told the key to give him a diagnostic. He maneuvered his hand swiftly back, and the light upon the object began to dim, giving way to a blue background of a monitor of some sort. A bunch of garbled writing began to spill itself out upon the orb that had turned into a screen of sorts. It was the same garbled writing he had remembered the night before he came upon the ship. That was the last time he had checked. He was trying to make sure everything was okay tomorrow. It looked like it was. Still, as he locked the device with a reverse movement of his fingers, he could see that the artifact was still pulsating rather… fast and tensely. There was life about this object upon it right now. He didn’t know whether or not there were actual souls trying to communicate, or… residual feelings, emotion or energy. It was still so poorly understood in his time. It was almost like a heartbeat. Almost as if he was cradling a heart itself. Ryanti took great care when he enveloped his second hand upon holding the object. With a quiet gesture, he lowered his head to the object and breathed a very calm and warm breath from the back of his throat a few times upon the device. He did it until his breath made the device warm again. He wanted to make it warm to soothe it. “It’s going to be alright.” Ryanti murmured to the device in the slightest of whispers. “It’s okay. Your nightmares will not win tonight.” He continued, and finally the pulsating of the object began to calm down a little bit, and slow down. Ryanti’s eyes closed a quarter way and his lips formed into a weak smile. “You must be worried. I’m worried too. I don’t want to fail like the others.” Ryanti manuveared his eyes to glance up above at the window, his eyes pointing towards the shining silver moon in the sky. His breaths were slow but deep, and he spoke as if trying to communicate beyond the sky, his eyes closed in a kind of prayer. “Mother Crystal… I know we haven’t talked much, but... I would be most grateful if you could watch over us. If you could bless us.” He shifted his eyes back to the Artifact. It felt so surreal knowing that at one time so so long ago when millennia became eons… Allagan hands had touched where Ryanti’s hands had touched. It was easy to believe it was nothing but a dream, as nothing but thoughts and wishes and fairy tales. But this object was real. Those dreams were dreamed by real people in a world that was so far beyond the imagination of most. But it was… real. All of it was real. He rested his forehead upon the orb of light, closing his eyes and whispering out another prayer… this time towards the Allagans. “I would be most grateful if you could watch over us too. Those from an era so profound. I… hope I can be worthy in your eyes to be blessed.” --- Ryanti jolted his eyes open. He must have fallen asleep. Right? But it was dark still, and there was no one in the room with him. How was that? He swept the sheets off of him and stood himself up, glancing around the room and nearly getting dizzy doing it. It felt there was a storm going on, and Ryanti’s body shifted as the Roehmerl crashed back and forth against the waves. Normally in such rough weather, he expected that the crew would be shouting aboard deck and handling the equipment upstairs. He heard nothing. This troubled him and troubled him greatly. “Guys?!?” Ryanti had shouted upon each wooden doorway of the ship that he had opened. Everything was there as if the crew had just left it the way it was, but everyone… everyone was gone. It was like the Roehmerl itself was abandoned and the crew had vanished in an instant. The lack of the crew nor Ryanti’s partners caused the ship to feel eerily empty and void. It was lifeless, and Ryanti could feel the panic racing up against his throat as he swung doors open faster and faster. “Fruhsuun!?! Pamido?!? Jonathan?!? Leura?!? W-welro?!? A-ANYBODY?!? H-hey! It’s a storm! A storm!” As soon as he found stairs that led up to the deck, one of the masts found him. Without the crew, the ship was falling apart in the storm. The wooden pillar crashed upon the stairs and Ryanti helplessly yelled and stumbled onto the steps, having to crawl on all fours to get past the obstacle and continue to the deck. A bolt of lightning crashed against the deck of the ship, and Ryanti had to hold onto the remnants of the mast just to stay on the ship as a roaring wave crashed upon the floorboards. What had caused this?!? What was going on? The clouds around him were a sulfuric, dead yellow, spewing dark lighting from within its bowels and striking the ocean water, sending waves flying towards the ship as Ryanti desperately tried to hold on. His hair whipped around as his frightened eyes looked up at the sky. There were no stars out. It was a black void filled with rotten clouds that seemed to trap him in this reality. He could make out, at an impossible point behind the black void, the shape of the Allagan artifact. Everywhere in the sky he looked was that shape. It was as if it was painted upon the sky at impossible angles that could only be real if taking place in a dream. Immediately after, a huge sound filled Ryanti’s ears that boomed from the distant sky. It sounded like an ultra-modern humming noise that blared from the sky at an immensely loud volume level. It was like a… like a starship activating its full power. He couldn’t make out the form behind the clouds, but blue lights stemmed from it… a shape, he could make out a shape… a MASSIVE shape… A second blaring horn sounded that felt like the ground quaking underneath him. Ryanti had found himself looking over the water as a consequence. The water… the rustling waves of the Indigo Deep. Ryanti whipped his head behind him to witness a massive tentacle of a Kraken, sea monster of legend in the little picture books Ryanti read as a kid, slam against the Captain’s cabin of the Roehmerl, reducing it to shreds in an instant and bending the ship in a contorted, twisted shape as it mauled the guts out of the vessel. Ryanti found the ship tilting to the side at an impossible angle, inevitable that it would sink. The next thing he knew, he was hanging from the guardrail, his feet dangling from the side of the capsized vessel as it began to capsize. Ryanti looked down, and realized that he was wearing his Sharlayan suit. Realizing that he had no other choice, he climbed the side of the ship and stood upon its underbelly that had reared itself above the sea. He fiddled the mouthpiece that rested next to his collarbone, and realized that the suit had been modified for diving. As a precaution, he put the mouthpiece into his lips and took a test breath, breathing from the oxidized air that had been filtered into the tiny tubes in his suit. At that moment, an ultra-loud blaring horn from the blue lights in the sky shook his head and caused him to writh in pain and agony, toppling over the vessel and dropping into the dark water below. He had closed his eyes, and was writhing back and forth in the cold water, feeling himself sinking and the cold beginning to overtake him. It would feel nice to just give into the relaxation of it all… and the numbness of the cold to settle his fright and his pain. But it didn’t feel right, and Ryanti shot open his eyes. Sounds and echoes permeated through the water despite it being an impossibility in reality. Sonic waves buzzed his ears. He was treated to visions in the water of violent creatures heading straight towards him. Ryanti pulled out his Sharlayan knife from his thigh and held it steady in his hand, spinning two and fro and recoiling in fright from these visions and even swiping at them with his knife only to hit nothing and for the image to fade within an instant of coming at him. He continued to sink into the water, but the visions were replaced with echoes of voices he didn’t know speaking a language he didn’t understand. Within the chaos, Ryanti looked for the first time below him to see an astounding sight. There was a figure in shadow, squirming about, looking like it was drowning. A hyur torso with a serpent tail was pursuing her in the darkness, arms outstretched to claim her. It was… it was Sounsyy. It all made sense now… the storm, the ship, the absence of the crew and the Allagan presence. He felt like he was in someone else’s dream… Sounsyy’s. He had invaded a cycle in his dreams because of his desire to break them, though Ryanti did not know he had done this. His blood boiled. He felt his adrenaline surge. The young man swam towards her as hard as he could, eyeing the sea serpent that swiped her arms about Sounsyy to try to claim her. He could feel every muscle he had burn with pain as he swam, getting closer, getting ever closer… with every moment that he swam he knew he might lose her. His teeth put marks into his mouthpiece with his effort and he brought his knife blade up and out. He wasn’t going to lose her. He was not going to be a helpless bystander in the crowd anymore. With his free arm, he reached out as his body javelined towards its target. For a brief moment, he felt his free arm warp around the neck of the creature as he slammed into it from behind. For a tiny second, he felt his other arm thrust as hard as it could with that knife towards the monster’s neck. --- Ryanti woke up. He was lying on the bed stomach first with the covers up to the small of his back, gripping his pillow with both hands near his chin level. The sounds of the morning bell were undoubtedly familiar in Ryanti’s mind, as everyone that was able were to wake up and help prep. The young man looked about, and noticed that there no one in the room with him. His features lit up a bit at the realization that he had gripped the pillow so hard that it had formed tiny breaks in the threading, and that the artifact was in the pocket of his trousers when it had been underneath his pillow. His heart was beating so hard… he felt like he had done something. He gripped his chest slightly, and squeezed at it. There was a connection there. It made a feeling of heat wash through his skin, clearing his mind. He pulled up his covers a little bit and glanced out the window. The sun was bright, and the sky was a crystal clear blue. He realized now that the Roehmerl in his dream was not the real thing. It gave him some relief. But the issue that he was facing today was so great; he couldn’t afford to dwell upon it longer. It was the big day. The biggest day of his life. The door to his room creaked open from a Lalafell that he was familiar with, his spectacles nice and polished up as if there was never any blood on them. “It looks like today is your big day, young man.” “And he’s not talking about graduating or some shite like that.” Jonathan commented, walking into the room with the same kind of walk that spoke authority when he entered the room, even though he still held a single crutch in his armpit and hobbled like a cripple. “Damn it, you people… I’m naked.” Ryanti admitted, earning a stern lookaway by the other two men of his crew as he slinked his undergarments his Sharlayan lower fatigues upon him, swiftly tying up his combat boots. Jonathan leaned upon his crutch and extended his hand out. Thinking about everything revolving the mission, Ryanti caught his hand with his own and was helped onto his feet by the older man despite his injury, squeezing into his netted undershirt right after. “Let’s get you ready.” Jonathan murmured firmly to Seventy-seven, patting him on the back once or twice. Forty-three adjusted his spectacles to the morning sun. “Indeed. The Captain just woke up herself, and the crew are tending to her needs right now as if they were butlers! Strange. I don’t believe we will be able to swallow our pride to do such a thing.” The Captain had just woke up? The same time he did? “Don’t worry about it.” Ryanti told him as Jonathan took big steps with his good leg to be able to get to the door frame and wait outside of it for him. “Let’s go, Seventy-seven. They’re cooking a big breakfast today. Stuff from that Garlean shite. Something filling for the both of ya. They even got juice.” It seemed to be complete chaos in the mess hall. Susuroon was in fantastic spirits for the first time since Eighty-five had gotten hit. There was something about cooking a giant meal in the morning that cheered him up. He had said something along the lines of the feeling tickling his tummy. Ryanti had sat down with Jonathan and Forty-three, and they were talking amongst themselves. Anyone that could have overheard their conversation would note that they were mentioning how to best handle the rations and water they would be taking down there. A fair amount of the conversation also had to do with advising Ryanti what courses of actions to take if he were to run into any situation deemed unsafe. More than likely, this was their way of making up for not being able to go down with him. However, they got up to convene outside of the Mess Hall before the Captain arrived. The mess hall was the first time Ryanti had seen the Captain since that last night. But they didn’t get much of a chance to talk after what happened last night. Ryanti still had those thoughts linger in the back of his mind, but he was all business this first half of the morning, cramming food in his mouth. Asparagus, popoto, lean meats, steamed vegetables, fruit juice, even plain old stalks of lettuce that Ryanti grimaced at when he wolfed it down. He was eating purely to fuel his body this morning, not to please the tongue. He did send a sign to Sounsyy across the table though. A subtle little thumbs up, and a quick smirk. He was ready. He hoped she was. “Marjanie is ready to begin the briefing!” Jonathan shouted out from the entrance to the mess hall, among the commotion, holding out his full hand to indicate attention. “Once you two suit up, we need to get to the deck! We’re expecting light rainfall by the time the sun is a few more clicks across the sky and we’d like to get you two in the water before then! Make sure you have –everything-!” Just then, Jonathan tilted his back a bit, as if he was hearing a little bit of commotion from behind him. Whether or not it was Forty-three or Cwaenlona, no one could really see, but it seemed as if Jonathan was relaying messages because he had a more booming voice than anyone. “Eighty-five has woken up!” Was his next phrase, which got nearly –everyone’s- attention in the mess hall, including Ryanti, who wiped his face clean with a cloth and immediately got himself up out of the stool to follow the group of people that left the place. Her skin was still a bit pale, and it looked like she hadn’t moved all that much since the last time Ryanti and Sounsyy had seen her. She had a sponge bath once or twice though, and her hair was tied in a loose bun to make things a little easier for her. Messy as all hell, not something she would prefer but it worked. Her bandages on the side of her neck were very thick, and the medical gel applied to the wound was a combination of what the Sharlayan crew had and what Cwaenlona had. There would be a scar, no doubt about it. It would haunt her neck for cycles to come, probably. Her words were quiet and weak as her watery eyes took notice of everyone around her. Jada was the closest to her, but Sounsyy and Ryanti were allowed to be close as well since they were leaving. Leura had already spoken with Susuroon and Jada, the two that were notified before Jonathan let the word out, which explained why Susuroon was so happy. She had been told that Ryanti and Sounsyy were leaving, and even though she was kind of messed up at the moment because of the painkilling drugs pumping through her veins, she managed to get a few words out. “You’re wearing… my shite.” She managed to croak out to Sounsyy. “I’d..k- ..kick some… ass in that suit. n’.. look after.. snowcone over there, like he would for me… so… you better… you… better not… you better not do anything l-… less, girl.” She seemed out of breath even saying that, closing her eyes and taking heavy breaths. If one were to look near the top of her bandage, they would see the discoloration. “Sorry, just.. I g-got.. a Garlean n’… vein in my.. neck right now n’.. feels… weird… lightheaded..” She eyed Jada with dazed and unfocused eyes, and it was not too long after before the ones that came were being shoo’d out of the cot. But before Sounsyy left, as Jada held Leura’s head when she closed her eyes and breathed deeply out of fatigue, sweating dripping down the side of her scalp, she spoke one final time. “I never.. dreamed of nothin’, Captain. It really never was my… suit.”

Ryanti’s ears lifted a tad when Sounsyy ended up turning around to face him instead of take a few shots on her own. It was obvious from the moment that she began to speak that Ryanti realized that she had something on her mind and had for a while now. As she spoke to him and explained her thoughts to him, Ryanti took a small breath and listened. He hadn’t paid much attention to how he appeared from the outside. He had chosen to focus more on the tasks at hand, and training Sounsyy, and… busy work. He had neglected to realize the emotions from the inside were leaking out into his expression. He understood that he was new to acting under such an unorthodox and abnormal situation. His experience in open warfare was also new to him, and learning how to emotionally cope with it was more of a challenge than he had anticipated. Despite all of that, Sounsyy was right. What was done was done. He repeated that phrase in his head when she fixed her eyes upon his. There was some fatigue in those eyes of Ryanti’s. A little bit of the white in his eyes had become a damp red in sleepiness. Perhaps the Captain could have seen the struggle to uphold some sort of standard on her ship; a kind of resolve to handle whatever her and her crew could on their turf, playing their game. Maybe she could have seen in his eyes the memories still of being face to face with Juhh, his feet dangling off of the ground as he was fed the words of the failures of others that came before them. But, if she were to see one thing above all else in his eyes, it was the desire to do whatever was right. It was the hope that he was making the right decisions to the best his ability. It was that same care that Sounsyy had shown to her crew, and when Ryanti closed his eyes and slid down his index and middle finger along the inner sides of them, and reopened them, she could see a different kind of care that Ryanti had for her. Sounsyy’s words reminded Ryanti of something. The young man knew he had a choice every day he woke up. The truth was, and he knew, that every day was a new day. A new sunrise. A new beginning. Within that early morning’s light, he had that choice to make. He could either decide to be the same man he was the day before, or he could make the decision to be a better man than he was the day before. He wasn’t sure how many mistakes he made today, and what he did right. He had to make a lot of decisions about everything, and he wasn’t sure which decisions were the right ones… and which were wrong. Now he was going to dive with her as a result of the decisions he made, and he knew he had the power to make the decision to make sure both Sounsyy and himself came back from this alive. The first step to making that decision had to start now. Ryanti’s steps were not heavy, but the pervasive silence made them so. His eyes shifted towards the rifle that Sounsyy cradled in her arms as he approached within a few ilms of her. He trailed his eyes upward until they met her own again, his face illuminated by the shade of the evening moonlight, the thoughts behind his eyes becoming occupied with the notion of getting lost in hers. She could feel the rifle in her grip shift as his hands became upon it, and with a slow motion Ryanti lifted the heavier weapon out of the Captain’s hands. His movement was as swift as the eastern winds, yet as solid as any well-trained operative. Within a moment, he had flipped and brought the rifle’s stock up to his shoulder, resting the metal component of the rifle right ahead of the trigger upon Sounsyy’s left shoulder while bringing his right hand up against the barrel just ahead of her. He was left handed. Ryanti squeezed his left hand upon the trigger, and lowered his head to the side to aim, the rifle’s stock the only thing that separated Ryanti's cheek from Sounsyy’s. Three swift shots rang out. The rounds fell in an arch right before Sounsyy’s eyes. Three rounds hit what was left of that floating target at both ends and the middle. She could only feel the rifle shift a tiny bit as he made those three shots, wasting as little energy as possible while finding a happy medium by ensuring maximum accuracy. This all happened within a single moment. It was a method of communication from Ryanti to Sounsyy. A kind of symbolism. Tonight, there had been a broken barrel behind Sounsyy’s back that Ryanti had dispatched. Tomorrow, it could be anything, but no matter what it could be, Ryanti would dispatch them all the same. With those three rounds, Ryanti had put today behind him. One round for the skirmish. A second round for the fight with his Commander. A final round for his self-doubt, which he melted off of his voice the next time he spoke. His voice was a whisper right next to Sounsyy’s ear, quiet and personal. “Understood, Captain…” He murmured to her, eyeing the back of her for a brief moment, witnessing once again the blemishes that beheld her skin. He didn’t mind how it looked. He saw the goosebumps too. He didn’t mind that either but… he wondered if that was his fault. Ryanti slowly brought the rifle back down, placing it back into her grip with a little bit of ease as he glanced his eyes upon hers once more. A cold gust of wind blew upon his back, and his shoulders tightened up to bear it. He maneuvered further in front of her in a slight adjustment, to keep the cold wind from hitting her. “I will have your back, Sounsyy, and your front. You have my word, and my promise.” Her eyes that he had glanced at before, deadened by past memories and experiences. He wondered if Sounsyy was only talking to him when she mentioned that what was done was done. Ryanti had made his decision of who he wanted to be tomorrow. There was no fear in Ryanti’s eyes anymore. His fingers have become cold in the late evening wind, but her eyes kept him warm on a layer below his skin. He was careful not to touch her skin with those cold fingers when he brushed a bit of the Captain’s hair that had blown into her eyes with the cold, cold wind that came. There were goosebumps on Ryanti’s neck. Probably from the wind. “I need to know… will you have mine?”

Info right here! (In Japanese) Well, it looks like one of my long, LONG time wishes are finally coming true! According to this blog post, the sit poses will become universal come 3.1! This means Miqo'tes will finally be able to put their butts on the floor, and the Indian style will surely become popular as well! UPDATE: Dev blog!

I tend to think of the teleportation issue as something that I've been trying to wrestle with for a long time. One side of me understands that it is lore that exists in the game and therefore I cannot ignore its application. Another side of me is -very- hesitant to use it because of how easily it can be taken advantage of by people. I've seen RP'ers that have breakfast in Ul'Dah, go shopping in Limsa, attend a meeting in Ishgard, and be back in Ul'dah by lunch hour, and that just does not sit well with me if you aren't a complete and utterly deticated magi. In a world building sense, having everyone be able to teleport willy nilly would destroy the sense of adventure and discovery. I'm not sure how many feel this way, but I believe that if you have a pseudo-medieval/kind of not modern but sort of maybe enviroment to work with, any kind of transportation that would be faster than a car or a speedboat would have a huge oppertunity cost, so that it would definately either not be mainstream or something for early adapters. Because after all, this isn't the Third era. I've never roleplayed Ryanti teleporting yet. But if I ever do, it would only be under dire or extreme circumstances. There will be a large oppertunity cost. Ryanti will probably vomit. Ryanti will probably be sick for the entire day. Ryanti's immune system might take a hit, or maybe I will give him hangover symptoms. Basically something that will prevent him from teleporting 50 times a day without extensive experience, practice, and training in the art. That's just my cup of tea.

One cannot question that the Young Veanysus possesses some versatility when it comes to ... presenting himself. Perhaps some prefer him from the back... Others may prefer him from the front... Or maybe poolside, at a private retreat in the Dravanian mountainside, remote enough to get away with anything...