"What do you mean you're not the Warrior of Darkness? Are you an Ascian spy?!" Thancred growled as he reached for the hilt of his gunblade from his back, his face contort in anger and confusion. Alisaie also readied her rapier whilst Alphinaud, Ryne and the Exarch stared at Melanie in horror. Y'shtola still glared at Melanie through her blank gaze and folded arms.
"No, I'm not an Ascian, that's why I asked the Exarch to summon you all here so I can explain all this to you" Melanie spoke in a flustered tone, her arms raised in defense. Thancred narrowed his eyes still clutching onto the hilt of his weapon. "Believe me when I say I'm no threat to you" she continued, looking at Thancred with pleading eyes.
"For you to have occupied our friend makes you every much a threat" Alphinaud chimed in. "But pray do tell whatever it is that you could not speak to us yourself and let us decide whether you pose as a threat or not."
Melanie closed her eyes let out another sigh. "This is not how I planned to tell them. What am I thinking, I didn't even plan this out at all." She then looked up at them all and began.
It all started 3 years ago in my time, which for you is, I don't know how long ago. The time when the Warrior of Light first set foot upon Thanalan soil. Up until that point nobody knew of her existance, where she was born or where she travelled from. That's because she wasn't born. She was a creation that I designed.
"Wait, what?" Thancred laughed. "Do you seriously expect us to believe that?"
"Tell me then Thancred, or any of you, if you know of where the Warrior of Light's homeland is, or how nobody not even the M tribe knew of a M'leineya Leoh until her arrival at Uld'ah. The M tribe has only 1 male breeder, were you to ask him of a M'leoh Tia or M'leoh Nuhn he would tell you no such tribe member exists."
The Exarch began to ponder for a moment and then addressed the Scions. "It's true that in all of the textbooks that cover the Warrior of Light's exploits there is no mention of our friend's birthplace nor anyone who knew her before her registration at Uld'ah. Normally all of Uld'ah's records detail a place of origin for its new citizens but for our friend there was none. It was as if she just appeared."
"You're honestly not buying into what she is saying?" Thancred scoffed with a sarcastic expression on his face, his hands held out in question.
"For the moment, I think it's best we listen to what else she has to reveal to us" the Exarch replied. He then looked back to Melanie. "Go on" he gestured.
You see, where I'm from is a very different world than yours. There is no magic or dungeons with monsters. We have much more of a stable and technologically developed infrastructure where many of our major cities resemble Amaurot. Most of us rely on technology for almost everything from working to travelling and even for personal entertainment. One form of entertainment is a video game where we create a digital character to represent ourselves and fight monsters in an imaginary fantasy world. 3 years ago I picked up a game called Final Fantasy 14. It was a video game based in a world... called Eorzea, and the character I created was M'leineya Leoh.
"Hold on" Y'shtola chuckled. "Am I getting this right that you're implying we're all part of an imaginary world?" she said in a slightly sarcastic tone.
"Not exactly" Melanie replied. "From what Hydaelyn told me when she summoned me here was that your worlds already existed and when the game was created it also formed a bond between our worlds. Somehow everything we did in the game on my world was affecting everything here."
For a moment the room was slient. They all waited hoping for Melanie to tell them she was jesting, but when she said nothing more the reality that she was telling the truth sunk in and suddenly they all reacted at once.
"You mean to tell us that countless people went to war and died because of you?!" Thancred was now red with rage.
"I think I'm going to be sick" Alisaie said faintly, her skin paling as she thought about her friend Tesleen and so many others who suffered and died over the years.
"I spent 200 years sleeping in this tower, travelled 100 years back in time to a world that wasn't my own, watched countless people suffer and die, but for what? Was it even necessary?" the Exarch gasped to himself.
"I was locked away in a small room in Eulmore since I was born having never known my own parents or received any visitors other than my captors, was that all for nothing?" Ryne wept.
Y'shtola raised her hand over eyes in shock. "I sacrificed my own eyesight by throwing myself into the Lifestream, but that was being decided for me?" She then looked back up at Melanie, her eyes glaring fiercely towards her. "You dared to make me blind?!!"
Melanie quickly waved her hands in front of her in protest. "No no, it wasn't like that! We had no idea this was happening nor that your worlds really existed! If we had known we wouldn't have done this to you."
"And what about you?" Alpinaud asked, his voice breaking slightly as he tried to hold back his anger and retain his composure. "You were with us this whole time, yet it is only now that you bring this news to us. How could you have held all of this back from us for all these years?"
"It was only yesterday that Hydaelyn brought me here and told me everything, although what she said was very brief and she didn't even give me the chance to refuse. Even then had I known beforehand there was nothing I could've done. My interactions were limited to controlling this character remotely from my world completely oblivious to what was really happening here and following a story that was already narrated for me."
"Like a puppet" Thancred said folding his arms, his anger cooling down although by his facial expression he was still unimpressed. "All this time we thought you were the selfless hero for jumping head first into danger and putting your life ahead of others, but in reality you were never in danger by hiding safely on your own world whilst manipulating our friend into one dangerous situation after the next for your personal entertainment."
"I..I'm sorry, it sounds very bad when you put it that way and you have every right to be angry at me" Melanie tried her hardest not to sob.
"I never really thought Hydaelyn could be capable of summoning peoples' souls from other worlds, especially since it was brought to our attention that she herself is a primal" Y'shtola said a little amused at the thought. "Seems she is not just any mere primal, that is if one is to believe anything Emet-Selch revealed to us."
"So why couldn't Hydaelyn have just brought you here instead of occupying her body?" Alphinaud asked.
"She said the Warrior of Light cannot exist without the one who created her."
Alphinaud lowered his head and raised a finger to his chin as he pondered for a moment. "That explains why our friend collapsed yesterday." Alphinaud lowered his hand and looked up to the rest of the room who were now all focused on him. "At the time she collapsed everyone, including myself, felt a change within us, something the locals are referring to as The Awakening. If the awakening was the result of the bond between our worlds being severed then suffice to say so too would the bond between our friend and the one controlling her become severed."
The Exarch motioned towards Alphinaud. "From what you described it almost sounds like you're saying our friend solely relied on her creator to order her around, almost as if she was a vessel without a will of her own or maybe even a soul." He then raised a finger to his chin and pondered for a moment. "I know of one person who might be able to enlighten us on the subject and confirm if this is the case, but I'm afraid reaching her is nigh to impossible as she is not want for visitors. Let's say my last attempt at requesting an audience her almost singed my tail and my dignity." He then faced Melanie. "And I dare say that without the Warrior of Darkness as she was we still won't have a chance at that."
Melanie averted his gaze, her stomach turning and her face redenning in shame. "Even if I've never used magic nor know if I ever can I also don't know how to fight."
"Then we no longer have a Warrior of Darkness" Y'shtola added, her arms flailed around her helplessly as she started to mope around the room.
"Then what are we to do?" Alisaie asked facing the Exarch. "If this was all Hydaelyn's doing she wouldn't put us in such a difficult position as to leave us without her own chosen warrior."
"Not unless this is all part of her plan. Let's not forget that our friend here is known as a primal slayer. If Hydaelyn is indeed a primal herself then perhaps she fears that she too could be expelled" Thancred said.
"We don't know that for certain" Y'shtola spoke from over her shoulder. "There is still much we don't know about Hydaelyn and Zodiark but I'm not about to believe that Hydaelyn is some kind of malevolant entity."
Melanie closed her eyes tightly as Hydaelyn's words began to echo in her mind "thou must become the Warrior of Light, for there are none other who can save us." For years she had lived in comfort sheltered from worries and labour. To admit now what she had to do would mean turning her life around and leaving her old life behind which scared her. Yet she could not stand to see her friends suffer, even more so if their suffering was by her own hands. "Hydaelyn said that I must become the Warrior of Light. That's what I have to do."
"But how? If your aether has become anything like mine then even should you learn to wield a sword you would still not come close to being the same hero of legend." Thancred interrupted.
"As I recall your inability to manipulate aether was down to traversing the Lifestream" the Exarch piped in. "But since hers hasn't been distorted the same way then perhaps there is yet a more simpler explanation to why she couldn't use teleportation." He then turned to Melanie.
"Tell me, when you placed your hand upon the device did you feel an energy flowing through you?" Melanie nodded in response. "And what about afterwards?"
"I saw a bright light and then I appeared beside the large aetheryte outside" Melanie replied.
"I think I know what happened" the Exarch said confidentally. "Whilst you were touching the device did you try to meditate on travelling to the Oculus?"
Melanie raised her eyebrows. "No, I guess I didn't" she said in a surprised tone.
"That will be why you were sent back to the aetheryte outside then. Without having a destination in mind where you want to go your body will simply return to the location with which it resonates the greatest, in this case the aetheryte outside."
"Oh, it makes so much sense now" Melanie. "Damn I feel so stupid for not realising I needed to have a destination in mind."
"It's not just that simple. There is also some training required to ensure you don't keep accidentally teleporting to your home point. Without knowing how to meditate on your aether to direct it to a different destination you'll always end up returning to your home point instead. I know of someone back on the Source who can help you with this as well as help you relearn how to use magic."
"That's all fair and well" Y'shtola added as she stopped moping around the room "but there is still the matter of how she'll become the Warrior of Light." She then stepped up to Melanie. "You said you don't know how to fight. From our point of view it took years of fighting one battle after another against all odds for her to become the hero we all knew, time we can now ill afford. How do you propose to become the Warrior of Light before we all die of old age?"
Melanie clenched her fists tightly and swallowed hard. She knew this was her last chance to take back what what she said, but she knew if she did she might never return back home to Earth and would have to spend the rest of her life living in shame and regret of doing nothing to help her friends. "I have to try" she replied, her voice wavering slightly as she tried not to tremble in front of them. Y'shtola closed her eyes and exhaled deeply through her nostrils. "I dare say you have the gall, but whether you really are capable of becoming a fighter is yet to be seen."
"I don't see us having any other choice" the Exarch exclaimed. He then looked at Melanie again. "If you're ready and willing I can send you back to the Source." Melanie nodded eagerly. The Exarch smiled then removed a large golden staff that had been hiding in the folds of his cloak on his back. "Let's make this easier for us all" he said, then he tapped the base of the staff on the floor whilst whispering an inaudible spell and everyone began to glow brightly. Melanie looked at her hands in a panic to see them become transparent, then in a bright flash she was no longer at the bottom of the stairs but now standing in a round and dimly lit blue room. The air was cooler from there being very little sunlight entering the room despite there being many small arched windows made of crystal and gold lining the entire perimeter of the room. The walls and floor appeared to be made of dark blue crystal with a circular pattern in the middle of the floor of what looked like planets and stars etched in gold. Behind her a large glowing portal pulsed above a small set of steps. They were in what was known as The Ocular inside the tower.
Melanie was in absolute awe at how pretty the room looked in person. The artwork that was put into the etchings on the gold panels were astounding. She was so enthralled with the room decor that she barely noticed the Exarch beckoning her towards the portal. "Ahem, if you may Leineya?" he coughed gently to catch her attention. Melanie quickly ran up to him and stood by the portal.
"Pray tell us, is Leineya your real name or should we call you by another?" Alisaie interrupted them. "Oh, my real name is Melanie. The name I chose for my character was a play on my own name, but since I've been accustomed to being called Leineya you can still call me that. Besides most people here know me by this name so it would be a bit confusing if I went by another." "Ah, fair point" Alisaie replied.
Melanie turned back around to face the portal. "I strongly advise that after your arrival to the Source you travel to Revenant's Toll and relay to Krile your situation. Do not speak openly about everything you've revealed to us today to anyone else as I fear if word gets around the Empire wouldn't waste a moment using the opportunity to strike back against Eorzea and her allies. Krile should be able to assist you in finding the right people who can help train you in manipulating aether and becoming a warrior."
Melanie nodded. As she looked at the portal she felt a surge of adrenaline rush through her body making her tremble. "I can't believe I'm really going to do this" she thought to herself. She began to imagine herself as her character shooting fire and lightning balls at monsters and leaping at them with her sword drawn. It was all too unreal and a little disturbing to imagine that she tried to shake the image from her head. "I'm ready" she said outloud. The Exarch backed away from the portal and watched as she readied herself.
"I'll be back before you know it, and I'll be the warrior you need" she said facing the Exarch one last time before stepping forward through the portal.
