It didn't take long for Melanie to walk through the gateway into the dark cobblestoned streets of Revenant's Toll. The tall stone walls surrounding the small village and the rocky landscape shielded the inhabitants from the chilly winds coming in from the north. The air had also started to change into a thin pink fog that had an unnatural slick sheen to it as if the fog was made of oil vapour. Despite the air humming and loudly crackling with energy from the remains of Dalamud's core nearby none of the residents seemed phased by it, nor did it or the fog seem to cause any ill side effects.
At the heart of the village was the aetheryte crystal spinnning above a dark metal and stone dias on a small patch of grass. Whilst it looked a lot less impressive than the one she saw in the Crystarium it was still a sight to behold especially under a pink sky. Its shape reminded her of the mothercrystal she encountered before arriving on the First, only this one was hollow with a static metal object floating in the middle. For a moment she was distracted staring at the crystal that she almost forgot why she was here in the first place. Further ahead up on top of a small hill were various small outdoor market stalls that when looking at took her back to her childhood back on Earth. In fact this small village despite looking like a medieval fortress was the only place she could relate to and it began to make her feel a little homesick.
Behind her a doorway opened as a small number of villagers walked outside chatting. Inside was the sound of chatter, laughter, music, and clinking of cuttlery. This was the place known as The Seventh Heaven, the village tavern that also acted as a headquarters for the Scions of the Seventh Dawn that was nicknamed The Rising Stones. Melanie walked inside the stone building and looked around. A doorway at the back of the tavern with what looked like a No Entry sign marked the entrance to The Rising Stones. Boldy she walked up towards the door and gave it a heavy shove to open it.
Inside The Rising Stones looked much more prestigeous than the actual tavern itself. Fancy wooden furnishings, planters and rugs that looked like they belonged in mansion greeted her. At the back of the room was a private bar area where a female miqo'te in a blue dress and glasses tended. The rest of the room was where all the tavern's wine and food stocks were being held in various crates and barrels. Even further to the back were a pair of doorways, one that lead into a smaller room where the Scions often held their meetings, and another doorway to the side that as of yet she hadn't any idea what was for. As she began to ponder where to go next the side doorway opened and a very exhausted lalafel with ocean green eyes wearing a yellow cape with ears that reminded her of a certain pokemon stumbled out. This was Krile Baldeison, one of the lead bodies of the Scions who had a gift of premonition and would oversee many of their adventures.
"Oh, Leineya you're baaaack!" an excited voice was heard behind her. Melanie turned around to see another lalafel sporting pink leathers and a red beret ran up to her excitedly as if she was about to pounce on her and give her a big hug. This was Tataru, the receptionist for the Scions who had a very lively personality. On hearing Tataru, Krile opened her eyes wider and tried to straighten herself up with a smile before greeting Melanie. "Ah, full glad am I to see you again Leineya. What brings you back to The Rising Stones?" she asked. Before Melanie could even utter a word Krile suddenly stumbled and clutched the side of her head with her hands as if experiencing a severe migraine. Melanie was ready to rush to her aid when she realised what was happening.
"Wait, this is the echo."
Tataru began to do a panic dance on the spot with a worried look on her face. "Ooh, Mistress Krile is everything alright?" she asked worriedly. Krile grimaced for several seconds with her eyes tightly closed and then lowered her hands and raised her head back up again. "It's alright Tataru" she said to her with a smile. She then turned towards Melanie with a slightly more serious look on her face. Melanie wondered what it was that she had seen in her vision. "Well now, it appears we have quite a situation here" she said looking up at Melanie's face. "I guess you know about why I'm here then?" Melanie asked. Krile nodded slowly. "I think it's best that we go to the Solar so we can talk in private" Krile replied, then she motioned to the doorway at the back of the room with Melanie and Tataru in tow.
Once the doorway closed behind them Krile turned around to face Melanie again. "Let me be the first person to say welcome to Eorzea" she said to her. Tataru looked confused at Krile's words. "Our Warrior of Light is none other than a traveller from an entirely different universe who recently arrived on ours but a couple of days ago" Krile explained to her, then she turned her attention back to Melanie. "However at present you're anything but a Warrior of Light, and that is a problem for all of us. I have no idea why Hydaelyn chose you to fill in the place of her champion and the timing couldn't be any more worse than it is now, but I trust in her decision." Krile closed her eyes and let out a sigh and slowly shook her head.
"I cannot stress just how pressed we are for time, especially since you'll be needing every second to relearn everything from the ground up in order not just to become Eorzea's champion but to fit into our society. Your world is so very different from ours that this will be one of the biggest and difficult of all tasks that you'll have ever faced, that is should you choose to follow through with this path."
Krile then opened her eyes and looked back up at Melanie. "Whilst I do not wish to put pressure on you, know that our friends' lives and quite possibly our own future fully depends on whether or not you choose to take up this task. Either way we're going to need to have to involve all leaders of the Eorzean Alliance and inform them of the current situation so they can be ready to act if necessary." Krile turned around to a nearby desk, took a seat and started jotting down on a small piece of parchment paper.
Melanie approached the desk expecting to be given a task. "Will I need to travel to all the different cities and outposts?" she asked. Krile stopped writing for a second and looked up at her with a big smile. "Don't be silly" she said with a slight chuckle. "We now have use of other facilities that allow us to do those things much more efficiently that doesn't require you to have to run around on our behalf. Besides even if I were to give you missives to hand around I doubt you'd be capable of running the task." Melanie frowned, did not being the Warrior of Light make Krile have so little faith in her? Krile raised up the piece of parchment she had been jotting down on and showed it to Melanie. "Here, take this and see if you can read what I've written."
Melanie looked at the small piece of parchment. The words written down were in Eorzean which almost resembled English that she could make out what some of them said. She strained as she picked out a select couple of words that looked familiar. "Limsa Lominsa" she said looking back at Krile. Krile continued to grin at her. "Very good, now try to read what's below that" she said, her eyes locking onto Melanie's. Melanie looked back at the parchment. There were 2 long words that she wasn't able to decipher no matter how much she tried to piece together similar looking letters. Krile nodded satisfied with her judgment. "You see, were I to give you missives you wouldn't be able to give them to the right people since you can't read our language."
Tataru gasped in surprise. "She can't read our language? Then she really isn't our Leineya?" she muttered under her breath.
"Don't worry, Tataru can see to it that the message gets across to the right people. For now I would advise staying within Revenant's Toll for your own safety. You must try to keep a low profile and pray do not speak to anyone what's been discussed today or about your own origins, and needless to say the same goes for you too Tataru."
