It was still early afternoon when Melanie, Reubemont and Suyaya slurped away the last few drops from their wooden tankards that were previously filled with Baderon's Ale that had been imported from Limsa Lominsa that same morning. Having fully recovered from the events that took part earlier on Melanie had already put aside such memories and was happily chatting away with her new team.
"So, what made you decide to become an adventurer?" Suyaya asked her.
"I was looking for something a little different from my mundane lifestyle, something that gave me a sense of accomplishment and that I could apply to helping others in need and in worse situations" Melanie replied. It wasn't enturely untruthful, Melanie had for years been so accustomed to spending her life in misery with a lot of it being self-inflicted that she longed for things to change and to be able to feel satisfied that for once she did something in life that actually meant something. She had always been empathetic to other people's feelings above her own and it gave her a sense of happiness to see them pull through whatever deep pit they'd been dragged into and knowing she helped them get back out of it again. "How about you?"
"I wanted to follow in my parent's foosteps. They used to be great conjurers, that is until the day Dalamud fell and claimed their lives among so many others. I was still only a child at the time so my grand parents took me in and they'd tell me tales about them, how they devoted their lives into helping others and healing the sick and wounded. This wand used to belong to my mother, it was found lying next to her body just outside of Cartenau still glowing. I'd like to believe that a part of her is still with me in this wand, still wanting to help others in need."
Melanie looked down at the small branch that was clipped to Suyaya's robe. Any other branch would've started to wither by now, yet this branch still glowed with life as if it had been freshly plucked from the tree. Melanie smiled at her. "I've no doubts she is" she said. "And what about you Reubemont?" Melanie turned her eyes to him as he wiped away the moisture from his lips and settled his tankard back down onto the table.
"Me? Well I err... I guess that I wanted to protect my sister and those dear to me." Melanie continued to listen expecting more as he gazed into his now empty tankard, but instead he stood up and slammed his hands on the table. "I don't know about you but I think it's high time we tried out our skills, what say you?" he said in a loud and cheerful voice and then started to make his way outside The Quicksand. Melanie looked a little surprised at his sudden departure then quickly grabbed her belongings and followed with Suyaya.
Approaching the large entry way into the city Melanie started to feel a mixture of excitement and anxiety. Whilst she was aware that most of the wildlife outside the city were harmless unless provoked it still left her feeling scared. Her heart almost skipped a beat when she saw the ladybirds outside and almost sent her into a full panic attack. Those things were HUGE! She'd seen big bugs back on Earth but nothing quite this size. It was as big as a cat and its large antenna and twitching head movements made her feel nervous. She thought she was about to faint as Reubemont pulled out his sword and readied his shield to attack. "Here, let us take this one down" he said eyeing up the ladybug.
"Oh good grief, we're really going to fight that thing!" Melanie thought to herself despairingly. Her body started to shake as she unwillingly unclipped her sceptre from her robes and held it in front of her. Reubemont charged in, striking the ladybird with his sword leaving a gash on its side. The ladybird in turn turned around and began trying to claw at him with its legs and bite him. Reubemont blocked its attacks with his shield whilst trying to look for an opportunity to strike again. Melanie stood there not able to do a thing, her eyes transfixed in fear and her heart palpitating like it was about to burst.
Suyaya raised her hands to her side and began chanting under her breath whilst clutching onto the small branch. The earth below her started to respond, collecting up around her into large rocks then being hurled through the air directly at the ladybird and knocking it off-balance. Melanie tried to snap to and quickly closed her eyes whilst speaking out the incantation for fire but nothing was happening. She was too nervous to focus.
Eventually the ladybird fell to the ground in an agonizing squeal, its wings shattered in many places and yellow fluid spread all over its broken body. Melanie opened her eyes and looking down at its corpse felt deep remorse as well as embarassment for her own inadequacies. Reubemont wiped the fluid from his blade and looked over at Melanie. "It's never easy, the first time. I know how you feel. I too struggled to draw blood on my first day. But in the end it's about survival. You do what you need to do to survive." He sheethed his blade and walked over to her placing a hand on her shoulder. Melanie still posed to attack looked up at him with teary eyes. "Don't beat yourself up over this. We can try again and you needn't be afraid of playing your part. Remember, this is about survival. If you don't kill them they will kill you."
Reubemont walked away looking for another target whilst Melanie still stood there eyes wide open in fear and shock, her lips quivvering and tears slowly rolling down her face. She looked down at the body of the dead ladybird and still couldn't help but feel sorry. The ladybird didn't do anything to harm them, all it was doing was fighting to survive. They were the aggressors for drawing swords first. This was all too hard for her to accept right away. Is this to be my new way of life now, to attack without due reason and bring death to innocent creatures such as this? "Head's up!" Reubemont called out as he came running back. This time he was being followed by a furry creature the size of a small dog with long furry ears, a large bushy tail, and the most pointiest and sharpest teeth. "This one's a real fighter, don't hold back!" Reubemont shouted over to them as he turned to face the creature.
Again Suyaya began chanting causing the earth to dance around her and slam into the creature's body. Melanie still unable to do anything stared at the adorable looking creature as it fought tooth and nail to survive. "Hey, Brovola" Suyaya whispered to her. Melanie looked down at Suyaya. "If you want to become an adventurer you'll need to attack. I know right now it feels wrong to fight such peaceful looking creatures, but left unchecked it won't be our choice to make as they'll become too much to handle. Right now we're doing the city a favour. Already their population is starting to enroach on the city's crop fields and smaller outposts. If we don't regularly cull them down they'll become fearless in large numbers and start invading the city's markets stealing food from the stalls and leaving the citizens to go hungry, not only that but they'll also drive themselves into starvation once all the food's gone. So think of it as doing both them and the citizens of Ul'dah a favour." Suyaya smiled at Melanie. Melanie nodded as she could totally see sense in Suyaya's words.
She's right, if the wildlife continues to spread untamed then it would be crueller for them to be left to suffer. As much as I hate the idea of taking an innocent creature's life this is the best way to maintain a healthy balance that doesn't result in untold suffering where everyone's affected.
Melanie closed her eyes and began to meditate on herself and feel around for the firey warmth. It took several seconds until she felt her aether began to churn within her and a familiar warmth coil around her fingers. Her scepter glowed brightly as she pulled it back towards herself and then in a serene voice she quietly uttered the incantation.
"Burn."
A fireball hurled its way towards the furry creature singing the fur on its back sending it into a wild frenzy. It lept into the air ready to dig its teeth into Reubemont's neck when a rock smacked into the sides of its jaws knocking it unconscious to the ground. Melanie lowered her hands and ran over to the creature and once again started to feel remorse for what she'd done. The poor thing must've suffered terribly. Its body was covered in blood and smouldering fur, its jaws smashed in from the onslaught of rocks. She knelt down beside it and offered a silent prayer, tears rolling down her cheeks and dripping from her chin.
Reubemont looked a little surprised to see her praying but as he looked down at the creature's corpse he began understand why. "You are a very caring person. Once again you remind me of my sister" he said softly once Melanie finished her prayer and watched as its body dissipated into aether. "Rest assured its suffering is now over."
Melanie's face grimaced. "It didn't need to suffer" she sobbed quietly without looking up at him. "Was this really the only way? Was there no kinder way to put it down without resulting to butchery and torture?"
Reubemont's jaws opened in surprise to her response then he closed his eyes and breathed out sadly. "This is the way of adventurers. We try not to think too hard about how we do things unless we need to. Whilst it would be nice to administer a more kinder form of euthanasia we don't have the resources, and we need to do it this that way so that we become stronger for when faced with more fiercer opponents later on."
Melanie lowered her hands and raised herself back onto her feet whilst still holding her head down. She wasn't feeling comfortable of the idea of using innocent creatures as a punching bag to make herself stronger. To her that was no better than bullying, an experience she was all too familiar with. She took a final look at the dead creature at her feet and let out a dejected sigh.
"The first kill is never the easiest" Reubemont continued. "It doesn't get that much easier beyond that either, but after a while we tune out of it and no longer think of it in the same way." He then glanced around at the arid landscape. Most of the land was dry with scatterings of dry grass and the odd ironwood tree here and there. Nearby was a waypoint known as Scorpion Crossing where many of the goods going in and out of Ul'dah were being hauled and bound for delivery, whilst even further in the distance atop a tall hill was the Beaconhill Lighthouse towering high above the ocean. There were very few places to stop and rest and some of the nearby wildlife was already looking at the trio nervously. "We should stop for a rest. There's a settlement west of here near the cliffs known as The Silver Bazaar. I'm sure they wouldn't mind us stopping by."
Reubemont led the small group west along a cobbled trail past some large automated hammers that were pounding into the ground flattening it into a level foundation. Each slam was accompanied with a loud thud that made the ground beneath them shake and caused Melanie's heart to leap into her throat. As they were passing the final hammer Reubemont stopped whilst looking northwards. Looming near the edge of the cliffs was a group of several goblins wearing leathers and carrying large satchels on their backs with various junk items dangling off them. Reubemont's face crumpled with dissatisfaction as he looked at them.
"What is it?" Suyaya asked him. "Goblins" he replied with a slight growl in his voice. Melanie started to feel her head hurt and become a little light for a moment and raised a hand to the side of her temples with a slight grimace. "They've been a pest to the local workers and also to travelers on the path leading between Scorpion Crossing and The Silver Bazaar. Constantly dismantling parts from the hammers and robbing traveling merchants. I think we'd do all these people here a favour if we were to put them in their place."
"Are you sure there's enough of us? There's only 3 of us and 8 of them" Suyaya asked a little concerned.
Reubemont looked around at the group of goblins and eyed a group of 3 patrolling just outside of the encampment. "If we take on that small group over there I think we can divide them up so we take on fewer numbers at once. I'll divert their attention behind this rock and take the one in the middle. Suyaya you take the one on the right and Brovola you take the one on the left. Don't hesitate to give them all you've got, this is life and death we're talking about."
Melanie swallowed hard as she readied herself to take on the goblins. Life and death huh? I guess I'll have to put aside my feelings for now.
Reubemont moved forward closer to the goblin encampment trying not to be seen. He picked up a small stone nearby and waited for an opportunity to grab the goblin's attention. "Easy now" he said to himself quietly, then he threw the stone in their direction. "Oh bugger" he said as not just 3 but 5 goblins came charging for him. He desperately ran back to his comrades waving out to them. "Hurry, get safe, go!" he shouted in a panic. Suyaya and Melanie looked confused then saw Reubemont's facial expression suddenly change from desperation to surprise then pain. His eyes closed as he fell forward and slumped to the ground. Behind him a goblin was holding a dagger dripping with blood and a pool of blood was beginning to form underneath Reubemont's body.
Suyaya and Melanie both shrieked and proceeded to run. As Melanie began running she heard an explosion followed by a scream and noticed Suyaya was no longer running beside her. "Suyaya?!" she gasped. She stopped to turn around and saw Suyaya lying on the ground, her clothes smouldering on her back. Melanie's eyes opened even wider as she gasped and proceeded to continue running.
It all happened so quickly. One moment she was about to flee again and the next she felt a sharp pain in her stomach. Time felt like it started to slow as she stopped in her tracks and looked down at the goblin standing in front of her. She stumbled backwards seeing what looked like the hilt of a dagger sticking out from her gut and warm blood soaking into her robes. The pain, oh the pain. She sank to her knees tears starting to fill her eyes. Is this really the end already? The end of me? What about G'raha Tia and the others...who'll save them...who... Everything started to go blurry and dark and the world around her turn as she slumped to the ground embedding the dagger further into her stomach. I don't want to die...
"Are you sure there's enough of us? There's only 3 of us and 8 of them."
The world started to reshape in front of Melanie's eyes again and she was back on her feet with her friends. Her head was stinging and she was holding a hand against the side of the temples. What the... wait, was that the echo I witnessed just now?
"If we take on that small group over there I think we can divide them up so we take on fewer numbers at once. I'll divert their attention behind this rock and take the one in the middle. Suyaya you take the one on the right and..."
"Wait!!!" Melanie called out with her arm outstretched towards Reubemont and her eyes wide open. Reubemont and Suyaya looked at Melanie surprised. "I don't think this is a good idea" Melanie said in a desperate voice. Reubemont tilted his head slightly looking confused. "What makes you think that? All we need to do is just split them up and we should be fine" Reubemont said confidently.
"Actually, I'm with Brovola" Suyaya said as she watched the goblins moving around. "I think if we try to split them up they'll just band together. The way they're moving suggests that they'll stick up for one another."
Reubemont looked back at the pack eyeing them up. "Hmm, I think you're right" he said after some mulling over. "Perhaps we should just ignore them then for now. Good call Brovola. Let's keep on going." Reubemont and Suyaya started back down the cobbled path towards the small settlement in the nearby distance whilst Melanie followed behind feeling shaken up over what she had witnessed but moments ago. So this is the power of the echo, the ability to discern what's about to happen in order to avoid a catastrophy. None of them are aware of what I just saw, what I actually felt. She glanced down at her stomach and gently touched it with her fingers. Nothing, not even a scratch, yet I still feel the knife blade inside me. I can feel the pain it caused me. I can smell the blood in my nostrils. What is this gift even?
