Returning Home: The Crystal Exarch (Part 4)
This is part three of a series of Post-6.0 but Pre 6.1 Gpose stories I’ve created for Akiko’s journey back to Doma to say farewell to her family who perished in the razing of Monzen. In Ultima Thule, G’raha asked the WoL to take him to Ishgard properly, as well as embark on other adventures, so this is my version of that promise fulfilled.
Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 (Current Post)
It goes both ways in friendship. It’s not always about how the Warrior of Light feels. Anime toxic positivity tropes shape much of how the characters of FFXIV respond to crisis and trauma, but what are they holding inside? 100 years on another planet isn’t anything to sneeze at, and thinking you are going to die, then suddenly being alive, in your youthful body, separated forever from the people you knew for those 100 years, is going to have an effect. He was only on The Source for 23 years, as opposed to The First, where he spent the majority of his life, so really... The First was more home than The Source. The game doesn’t really cover whether or not G’raha has any struggles with it though. He’s elated to have a second chance at life, but when he is alone with his thoughts... does he think about The First? Does he grieve for the people he can never see again? I wanted to imagine what his internal feelings would be regarding it. The soul vessel had been a shot in the dark after all, not a guarantee.