Standing out on the deck of a small ship Melanie and her friends watched as they left Limsa Lominsa behind them as set sail towards Aleport. The busy port provided a very efficient method of transporting goods to and from Western La Noscea and Limsa Lominsa whilst avoiding the more ardeous task of needing to send caravans to trek across rocky terrains full of dangerous and hungry wildlife, wide streams and deep canyons.
From the other side of the ship Reubemont watched and began to worry for his friend. "Is she maybe upset because of what we talked about in Limsa? No, she was fine after we last spoke, at least up until..." he thought to himself.
Holskwyb had also been watching both of them and whilst it wasn't any of her business the tension in the air was so thick you could cut it with a blade. She let out a slightly frustrated sigh and sided up to Reubemont with her arms folded. "Did you guys argue or something back at Limsa?" she asked him.
"No" Reubemont replied as he continued to watch Melanie. "I don't know what's gotten into her. Only last night she was saying how it bothered her about killing another person, and now she can't wait to kill pirates. Something must've happened to her when she went out on her errand but she seems less inclined to talk openly about it." He then looked at Holskwyb. "Perhaps you could talk to her?"
"Me?" Holskwyb looked surprised. "Wouldn't she better talking to you? You two certainly seemed to have gotten it off together very well, in case you think we haven't noticed."
Reubemont shook his head. "That is exactly why you should be the one to talk to her" he replied. "I've risked everything by allowing myself to get too close, and it's also had an impact on her. I can't risk her becoming emotionally attached again...and neither can I." Deep down Reubemont felt a pang in his chest. Although he had given Melanie the impression he didn't think of her any more than a friend and colleague his actions in Limsa were all but an act, something that he had planned the night before to help place some distance between him and Melanie. He was actually very fond of her. "If only she wasn't already betrothed I would've looked beyond the fact that I'm her Captain and allowed myself to fall for her" he thought to himself.
"Very well, I'll go talk to her" Holskwyb said unfolding her arms. She walked across the bridge over to where Melanie was standing still gazing out to sea. She stood there silently for a moment pondering how to break the ice.
"Do you want to talk about what's been eating you?" she finally spoke.
Melanie continued to gaze out. "No" she said quietly.
Holskwyb decided not to press any further. She'd heard many people before who initially refused to talk spill the beans shortly afterwards. For many saying "no" was saying "yes", but if pressed they would just clam up. She decided it best to give Melanie some space for now, she would talk when she felt ready.
"I was ambushed in La Noscea" Melanie said quietly just as Holskwyb was about to walk away. "Three men were about to kill me. I had no other choice but to defend myself and in my defense I...I killed one of them."
Holskwyb exhaled through her nose slowly and made a few circular strokes on the deck with the tip of her toes. "I'm sorry to hear what happened. It must've been a traumatic experience for you to have faced that all by yourself. You did what you had to do to survive, nobody's going to blame you for what you had to do." She placed a hand on Melanie's shoulder. "Forgive me, but I'm going to be blunt here. Encounters like that happen far too frequently in the wild especially to those who appear inexperienced and weak and you can't always rely on others to come and save you. If you expect to survive out there alone then you'll need to toughen up and behave less timid or people like that will walk you to the ground. It's a cut-throat profession to be an adventurer. In a lot of situations it's kill or be killed. Only you can make the choice whether to fight back and live or surrender and die."
Melanie felt very little comfort in Holskwyb's words but she knew she was right. She nodded her head in acknowledgement and continued gazing out to sea. Up until now Reubemont's affection had been all that was keeping her from despairing about being trapped in another world where every turn represented fear and danger, but she knew as long as she didn't learn to stop being afraid and continued to embraced comfort in his security and affection she'd never become stronger and she'd risk getting caught up in another emotional whirlwind. This wasn't going to be the last encounter she'd have to face alone and whilst she considered herself lucky to have escaped alive she might not be so lucky the next time.
--
Made from the same brick and stone as Limsa, Aleport was built like a small fortress featuring battlements above its outer walls and 2 heavily guarded porticulis at both ends of the port leading out into the wilds. Haulers were waiting patiently for the passengers to depart first so they could climb onboard and empty out its cargo. Lining the sides of the dock were crates filled with varying goods ready to be hauled onto the ship to depart back to Limsa Lominsa. Outside the port several caravans awaited to be filled up so they could head out and distribute wares back to the small outposts and villages spread all across Vylbrand.
Not too far into the distance the tall spires of Pharos Sirius loomed omniously over the small port. Large shards of crystalized aether protuding from its upper levels served as a reminder of the Calamity that took place over 30 years ago. Melanie could make out an airship docked at one of its highest points and several workers walking back and forth between the airship and the lighthouse carrying crates loaded with the unmistakable bright orange glow of corrupted crystals.
They had barely disembarked from the ship when a young hyur man dressed in a yellow jacket waved over to them. Reubemont led his group over to see what the commotion was about.
"Are you th' hired help to deal with th' threat at Satasha?" the young man asked them with eager eyes.
"That's us" Reubemont nodded.
"Oh, thank th' twelve! I've been sent from the Hall o' th' Novice to escort you there for a full briefing o'er what we've learned so far." The young hyur man motioned Reubemont and his group to follow him outside the port.
Reubemont noticed Melanie earlier gazing up at Pharos Sirius and took a look for himself. "I see the Admiral's finally approved a restoration effort at the lighthouse" he said.
"Aye! 'Tis all thanks to th' Warrior of Light who breached the upper levels four years ago" the escort replied. "Since there 'aven't been any reports of threats from inside it since she an' a bunch o' other adventurers braved its floors, Admiral Bloefhiswyn sent in some few brave soldiers to check it out 'n see if it were safe 'nough to start rebuildin'. They needn't 'ave bothered, whatever used to dwell in there 'ad been long gone. After they reported back to th' Admiral she approved an expedition into the lighthouse to clear out 'n inspect the lighthouse's structure. I reckon it'll be 'nother couple o' years 'afore we see light shinin' from its beacon again."
Melanie hid a slight smile as she recounted the adventure in her mind. To say that it was a lighthouse was an understatement. Pharos Sirius was huge and more like a multi-tier palace than a mere place to shine light out to sea. Of course it wouldn't have been much of a dungeon if it were nothing more than just a thin spiral tower leading up to its beacon, but then nothing was simple in this universe. Mansions were like massive hotels, libraries had multiple tiers sectioned off by aetheric teleports and magical bridges to reach them, and almost every building looked like it was built by titans. Even the trees of the Twelveswood was massive compared to what she'd seen on Earth with their trunks as wide as a 3 cabin passenger train. That wasn't to say however that all buildings in this universe were oversized, as to the other side of the port atop a small bluff was an average sized lighthouse.
Leaving the small port the landscape was very different. Around here the lack of running fresh water and the heat resulted in most of the local vegetation drying out. Clumps of tall yellowed grass, dried up shrubbery and dead trees dotting the rough landscape were the majority in this part of Vylbrand, save a few patches of white allium and purple trumpet vines growing near the cliffs. A worn cobbled pathway stretched in front of the port's exterior walls. It had definitely seen better days and was in serious need of tending to remove the dry dead grass and weeds that were pushing through the gaps.
Ahead of them set against the base of the highlands was the Hall of the Novice - a small square building whose only defining feature was a green and gold plaque hanging above its door featuring a picture of a golden sprout - the symbol used to represent newly fledged adventurers seeking more than just your average odd job for a small bit of coin. Not all adventurers were up for this kind of business and preferred to just stick to the road as wandering sell swords, especially those who shared no loyalty to the main cities. Reubemont called out to the escort signalling him to halt as he he stopped and turned to his fellow friends.
"This is it" he said with a slight smile. "Beyond those doors leads to great riches and adventures we could only dream of. If any of you are having second thoughts then please say now, because once we enter that building we're no longer just wandering travellers seeking small jobs. We'll be in service of the three major companies as well as our usual line of work. Of course if this isn't in your interest then I'll fully understand and we can continue with what we've been doing."
Suyaya stepped forward gazing up at his violet eyes. "I do believe I speak for all of us when I say that we knew what we were signing up for when we all agreed to have you as our leader. We have had no doubts in your choice to lead us and we're not about to stop believing in you now. Wherever you lead we will follow. And besides, great riches and adventures don't sound all that bad."
Everyone else nodded in unison including Melanie. Reubemont looked a little taken aback by Suyaya's encouraging words and smiled. "Very well, then let's press forth" he said and led his friends up to the doorway into the small building.
Melanie felt a slight bit of nostalgia as they entered the building. There was everything here that a new adventurer needed - shelves filled with literature on how to deal with encounters, mentors and seasoned adventurers ready to give first-hand information on battle techniques. This was definitely the place to be for anyone who wanted to do more than your average berry picking or meat harvesting quests.
The escort motioned them over to a desk where a small open book awaited them. "I need you all to sign in please" he said. Reubemont signed his name down in the book, followed by Suyaya, Johnas and Holskwyb. Melanie took an ink and quil and jotted her name down in Eorzean. It was now becoming a natural habit for her to write in Eorzean despite barely being on the First for less than a month, besides others needed to read her handwriting and if she wrote in English there would no doubts be questions over it.
After all five of them had registered their entry the escort led them to the back of the room where a couple of men dressed in yellow jackets were speaking with a short dark haired roegadyn woman whose sea green eyes and reddish lips stood out from her charcoal coloured skin. She sported a fine swashbukler outfit and what looked to be a flask of rum tied to one side of her belt and a large compass on the other. Her bold posture gave the impression that she'd been well versed in the ways of an adventurer for a long time and was now in the service of offering valuable aid to forthcoming adventurers looking for their share of fortune and glory.
"Ah, this must be them" she said as she caught eyes of Reubemont and his team. The yellow jacketed officers walked away giving them space to talk. "Welcome to the Hall of the Novice where you may find everything you need for further training before you go on your foray into Satasha Seagrot. A..." The roegadyn stopped abruptly as she caught sight of Melanie who quickly glanced away pretending not to notice. "As you no doubts already know, a new band of pirates under their leader Captain Shardon laid seige to Satasha just a few days ago. The men that were stationed outside spoke of no less than 50 pirates barged their way through its gates and barricaded themselves inside. We don't know what their plans are as of yet and the depths still contain everything that was left behind from the last lot who were in there, so needless to say they have all they need to put up quite the resistance and we've definitely seen plenty of evidence of that. Which is why we've called upon the aid of the Adventurer's Guild to deal with those scum. We can't do with pirates setting up a base so close to Aleport."
"What else can you tell us about Captain Shardon?" Reubemont asked the adventurer.
"We believe she's the last surviving relative of Captain Madison, the previous leader of the Serpent Reavers who once took up residence within Satasha and plundered the area for years. Unlike him, she isn't in service of the Sahagin, so we can only assume the reason for her assault is to reclaim what belonged to her brother and quite possibly to seek revenge for his death."
Melanie began to recall the two mi'qote sisters back at the Twelveswood. She could understand the depths of what one would sink to to avenge someone so close to them. It felt so wrong that people could so easily be caught in such a death cycle out of vengeance.
The adventurer caught sight of Melanie again and tilted her head curiously. "I'm sorry, Brovola was it?" she called out to her. "Just the way you looked then reminded me of someone. I can't quite put my finger on it, but your face looks very familiar. I could've sworn I met someone just like you but a few years ago."
Melanie began to panic. Not everyone she'd encountered in the game knew of her secrets and it was only a matter of time before someone might notice even behind her disguise. "I get told that a lot since many of my siblings share similar characteristics. I'm still very new to these lands myself" Melanie replied.
"Oh of course, I guess you must be from the same family" the adventurer pondered. "It was almost as if I met her yesterday - a bold and confident woman with a passion for adventure in her eyes. She'd already earned herself a remarkable reputation from helping many of the locals and the level of skill she displayed was far exceeding mine. In fact she was the one who last ventured into Satasha and disposed of Captain Madison and his crew, relieving the whole island free from his tyrany. I doubt many can share in her heroism, but maybe you'll share more than her looks yourself if you work hard at it."
Melanie smiled listening to the adventurer knowing she was talking about her, even if their perception of events were very different. Having had little else to do at endgame Melanie ventured back clearing many of the side quests in the game. In many ways she wished she'd done them at the same time as the main scenario quests as many of them shared a part of the main story. Some of the side quests had also offered up extra items that weren't provided in the main story quests leaving her partially geared and resorting to either dungeon crawling or purchasing missing pieces from vendors or the auction house.
"Well then, I suppose you people must be eager to go about your mission. Before you do though I recommend you to spend some time here in the hall and ask around the various mentors. They can help provide you with useful information on refining combat skills and are quite happy to participate in a friendly spar or two to help identify any flaws or weaknesses that you may need to improve on."
The team dispersed and began browsing books and talking to some of the mentors stationed in the hall. Melanie wandered a little as she thought about what she could improve herself on. One on one encounters were definitely her weakness. As she recalled her encounter in La Noscea she recognised several key moments where she hesitated to act. Of course anyone who was facing an encounter such as that for the first time would be hesitant to act whilst thinking of a plan of action, but she needed to think and act faster and not give any room for her opponent to make good a move on her. Her eyes turned to a seasoned lalafel mage who had several different tomes stacked on a small table in front of her. "Surely she'd know a thing or two she could teach me" Melanie thought to herself. She made good her approach and walked towards the cheeery looking lalafel.
"Hey young lady, I think yer barkin' up th' wrong tree there!" a loud voice boomed behind her and a heavy hand landed on her shoulder. Melanie flinched in a panic as she experienced a momentary flashback of her encounter in La Noscea and she spun quickly to face the heavily clad roegadyn who looked at her in surprise. "Oh hey, err, I didn't mean t' startle ye!" the roegadyn backed off giving her some space. "I just noticed ye lookin' a bit lost like yer lookin' for a mentor t' speak to. That lassie o'er there might look like yer typical mage but her skills are in th' healin' role. What ya need is a mentor who's skilled in fightin' whilst not bein' in th' front lines. That's my role."
"Oh" Melanie said calming down. "I'm sorry for reacting the way I did. I had....a bad experience before I arrived here, one that almost cost me my life" she said in an apologetic voice.
"Ah, no need t' worry yerself lassie. So, ye already had an encounter an' still escaped in one piece? That's a good sign that ye have th' means t' become a strong 'n proud fighter, but I can tell just from lookin' at ye that ye still have much t' learn. Yer very posture an' th' way y' react are all signals that yer an easy target."
Melanie looked at herself realising that she did indeed look constantly nervous and like she was about to flee to the nearest strong man the moment danger approached her. "This is what Holskwyb was telling me earlier. I need to toughen up and be less timid" she thought to herself.
"Can you help me to become more stronger and look less like a walking target?" she asked him eagerly.
The mentor smiled a broad smile as he clamped his fists together. "I do believe I have just th' thing t' help ye lassie" he said in a booming voice. Grabbing a couple of wooden training dummies that were propped against a wall nearby he motioned her towards a door in the back of the hall.
"Where are we going?" Melanie asked as she followed him into a hallway that branched out into several paths.
"Back here we have our very own trainin' arenas. Here we can watch yer moves an' see where ya need t' work on."
The hallway led outside into a large circular arena that had been built within the foothills away from prying eyes. The mentor quickly planted a couple of target dummies down on the ground and backed away. "First thing's first, I wanna see what yer capable of damage wise. Hit those targets with ye best spells an' we'll see where t' go from 'ere."
Melanie nodded and posed herself ready to attack. Whipping out her staff she focused her gaze on the target dummies and tapped into a fire aspected aether. A large fireball hurtled towards the target dummy and smacked it in the very centre, scorching the wood and leaving a blackened dent where it impacted.
The mentor nodded as he watched her and wandered over to her as she lowered her staff. "Yer damage is impressive, but yer posture is all wrong" he said to her. He drew out a training staff and posed next to her in a very bold position. "As a mi'qote ye should be usin' yer tail to help ye with yer posture. Stand firm with yer staff extended like this an' use yer tail to help ye balance."
Melanie tried to copy his stance and could feel her balance wavering.
"Nah, stretch yer tail out an' raise th' end until ye can feel yer legs get steady" he continued.
Melanie did as he suggested and raised the end of her tail. She could feel her balance starting to stabilize as if she was using a stick on a tight rope to steady herself.
"Now then, see how yer posture makes ye look like ye mean business!" the mentor smiled at her. "Now, when ye cast yer spell pull yer staff back an' then swing it forward like yer smashin' somethin' with it. That'll help ye project yer spells much faster an' with more force t' send yer enemies reelin'!"
Melanie did as she was ordered, pulling her staff backwards as she sought out a fire aspected aether and swung the staff forwards in front of her with all her might. She could feel a huge difference in her magic as if she was throwing the fireball by herself. The fireball sped towards the target dummy at a tremendous speed and smashed through the wood, splintering it into several burning shards.
"Oops" she said, her mouth dropping agape at having destroyed the target dummy.
"Not t' worry lassie, we got plenty o' those things around" the mentor said grinning at her. He grabbed another target dummy from a stack that were lined up against the arena walls and pinned it down ahead of her. "Now, repeat what ye just did an' don't stop until it's nothing more than tinder fer th' fire!"
Melanie resumed her posture and cast out another fireball. Again it launched at high speed and smacked the target dummy squarely, but this time it barely did any damage to the dummy. Melanie tried again and again with the dummy only just barely being singed. She continued determined to at least make a dent in the dummy when she started to feel herself becoming exhausted and her head began to spin.
"Are ye tryin' t' kill yerself lassie?" the mentor grabbed her arm stopping her from launching another spell and gazed at her with a panicked look. Melanie looked at him confused and suddenly realised she'd once again forgotten the first rule of thaumaturgy. The mentor backed off as she began to ready herself once more. Reaching to an ice aspected aether she launched a large shard of ice that smashed into the dummy leaving flakes of frost on its surface. Melanie leaned down and began gasping for air, slowly feeling her aether replenish itself.
"I'm sorry" she panted as she started to recover.
"Mistakes like that will make ye vulnerable and cost ye yer life. Don't let me see ye makin' that mistake again" he scolded in a firm voice.
Melanie readied herself once again feeling her aether restored and began to lobby a series of fireballs followed by ice shards smashing into the target dummy, weaving in the occassional lightning aspected aether to scorch dark lines into its surface.
Minutes felt like hours before the mentor called for a break. The dummy was worse for wear but Melanie felt that she now had a grasp on how to make her spells more efficient and how to balance herself properly in combat. The mentor clapped his hands at a job well done but his face still showed dissatisfaction. Melanie looked at his face confused. She'd done everything he'd asked of her and he didn't need to correct her for what felt like hours, so she didn't know why he looked at her with such disapproval.
"Ye've learned how t' posture yerself in combat an' make yer magic have more of an impact, but ye still 'ave th' look of an amateur" he said to her. Melanie looked down at herself again. How else could she possibly improve herself to look less like a weakling.
"GAAAAHHH!!!" a loud cry from over the foothills startled Melanie.
"Was that Reubemont?" she gasped turning to where she heard the cry.
"That t'would be th' second part of our trainin'" the mentor said with a wicked grin as he walked up behind her.
"A...and what would that be?" Melanie said stumbling backwards away from him.
"Makin' ye less of an easy target" he said cracking his knuckles.
