I was tagged by the wonderful @paintedscales and the marvellous @amalthea-felsblood Thank you both!!
A battle does not end so quickly no matter of skill. Despite the battle lasting several hours before the Amalj’aa retreated, Mizuki kept the barrier up the entire time.
“Mizuki, the battle is ours!” Cocobygo called but Mizuki did not move. The brothers looked up at the shield that rippled in the setting sun and they hurried over to her.
“Mizuki-” Cocobani peered around her and screeched “Brothers we must help! Mizuki she-” they gathered before her and gasped, Mizuki stared past them onto the battlefield, unblinking, her breath heavy and blood streaming down her face. Her staff had splintered into crystals several of which had pierced her hands.
“We need to get her out of the aether stream!” Cocobuki shouted, trying to calm his brothers.
-
The lalafell panic emote is so funny, there is no calm panic moment for these lil guys.
After a year at sea, a young adventurer sets off on her journey to find an answer to her question:
What does it mean to live? To have a home?
On the eve of her 22nd nameday, Quinnelainne Varria cast aside her family, life, and identity in hopes of becoming an adventurer in Eorzea. That day, she became 'Quinn Rin'ria' and set off for Limsa Lominsa before dawn. She left no note to her parents.
The sky above was clouded and dark with streaks of fire and smoke covering the once peaceful blue. The terrifying sight filled Katsum’s eyes as she found herself frozen in place, gripping Soldier’s reins tightly to keep the horse still. One moment, it had been a beautiful, peaceful day with only a few clouds dotting the air. That singular and ever strange red moon too had been floating far above the ground, but it had been there for ages. Only recently had it begun to grow closer and closer to the ground, but this…
Fiery storm clouds swirled around the red moon in the distance, huge bolts of lightning sparking off of it as it descended lower and lower. Though it was falling far across the sea from them, the energy coming off of it was enough to make the waves cease their crashing on the shore she stood on and all the birds and animals of the forest go silent.
“KATSUM!” The blonde’s cat-like ears twitched as she tore her gaze from the sky up the hill to see her friend, Criston, atop his horse looking at her in panic, “Come on! We have to get back to the castle!”
Before she could respond, the earth rumbled with a great shake, both horses struggling to stay on their feet. The two youths watched a bright light explode from the red moon and shooting bolts of fire flew from it in all directions. Lightning struck the flying debris and some of the burning projectiles began falling through the sky toward them.
Katsum’s eyes widened and her ears fell back in fear. She twisted Soldier’s reins and wheeled him around with a swift, terrified kick to his sides, “RUN!!”
Without another moment of thought, the young stallion bolted forward, adrenaline filling his lungs and muscles as Katsum clung to his mane and they followed after Criston’s horse at a full-out sprint. Streaks of light flew overhead and behind them, the smaller, faster pieces of burning rock falling all around; through the trees, against the rocky hillside, and into the sea, a loud hiss echoing after the water engulfed them. The two horses ran side by side now, and the elezen and miqo’te youths huddled close to their horses, glancing all about to swerve away from the incoming burning debris. Soon the trees began to give way to the castle town in the distance and they spurred their horses onward as the spark of hope shone before them.
A loud hissing behind them made Katsum look back just in time to cry out, “WATCH OUT! MOVE!” And they separated as a boulder-sized piece of debris flew past them and smashed into the dirt ahead of them. Bits of grass, sand, and rock flew into the air, and Katsum and Soldier banked right to avoid it, skirting around the flaming shard to race towards the castle town gate. Katsum’s knuckles were white and she found it hard to breathe, gripping her horse’s sides tighter as she saw the guards waving to her to hurry. She saw one of them point at something in the sky behind her and she glanced back to see a very large meteor-sized piece of debris blotting out the sky as it fell towards her. There was nothing she could do; it was impossibly fast and it was clear Soldier was not going to outrun it nor have time to get out of the way. She fell upon her horse’s neck and closed her eyes, holding onto him tightly as he ran on and waited for the impact.
Suddenly, a roar split the silence in half as a bolt of flame shot the falling rock and blew it to pieces, the threat now only small hand-sized rocks that fell around Katsum and Soldier harmlessly. A darting shadow passed over them and Katsum looked up at the red blur that passed by and flew into the clouds around the castle and town. The red-scaled creature shot every comet and falling piece of debris that was headed for the kingdom’s town, rendering each one that threatened to fall on the city to ashes and pebbles. The young girl was stunned, wide-eyed, and felt a spark of excitement fill her heart. It was a dragon! A real, living dragon! And not just any dragon, but THE dragon! The very dragon who was painted on every banner and flag of the kingdom; the Crimson Prince of Thunder. She wanted to watch him, but her stallion whinnied. She reluctantly tore her gaze from the soaring dragon to follow his gaze to the safety of the castle gates and the knights and guards waving to her.
It was then she heard the panicked voices of her parents, and she locked eyes with her father who now stood in front of the guards, his red fur and bristling tail unmistakable, and beside him her mother, the blonde woman with a look of relief.
“Come on Katsum! Spur him on again! Quickly!” Her father called to her, and she listened, giving Soldier another kick as he jumped into a faster gait. The sound of hooves beside them let her know that Criston and his horse had made their way back beside them and she spared him a glance to make sure he was alright. Passing through the tall stone gates, the two horses skidded to a stop, their sides heaving and sweat beading off of them.
With shaking hands and legs, Katsum fell into her mother and father’s arms as they reached up to pull her into their embrace. Her mother cried into her shoulder as she hugged her and her father held Soldier’s reins. Katsum saw Criston’s family doing much the same for him, and they all breathed a little easier now to be in the safety of the castle town walls.
The creak of the iron gate made everyone turn to watch it and the drawbridge began to close, the fiery skies still raining burning comets as the red dragon flew over and roared again, battling the skies to keep them all safe from the calamity that now fell upon the earth.
Katsum ran through the burning streets of the castle town, struggling to keep a hold of her long skirt so as to not trip her as she ran and holding her crown in her hand, searching for a way out of the burning city. Helplessly, her wide and tear filled eyes took in the burning homes around her, the screams of the villagers filling her feline ears. No matter where she turned, fire filled her vision and the sounds of battle and cries of fear echoed in the chaos. She could see twisted shadows moving in the distance, moving in rhythm to a kind of death dance as they slowly moved closer and closer to her, making her desperate to escape. Katsum coughed as she got too close to a window where smoke was rolling out of it, the soot filling her nose as she moved away and covered her face with her arm. It was getting harder to see where she was going as her vision was blurred by tears and the fatigue of running.
“Katsum!”
Then a voice reached her ears. The voice of her father.
“Katsum, where are you!?”
And then her mother’s voice.
“Mom! Dad! I’m coming!” A renewed strength filled her heart as she ran through the alleyways and streets towards their voices, praying with all her might that she would find them. They would keep her safe, they would calm this nightmare. If she could just reach them…
Finally, the winding streets gave way to the large plaza of the castle market place and she finally caught sight of her mother and father across from her. She nearly felt relief flood her veins as she took a step towards them, only to shy away as the scaffolding of a market stall fell between them, leaving no clear path for her to run to them with. Ash flew into her eyes and she desperately wiped it away as she craned her neck to see over the debirs where her father and mother were. It was then she saw the soldiers, the men clad in thick black and red armor with a diamond shaped symbol on their helmets. Her father was fighting them back, keeping them from getting too close to her mother while she was firing arrows into the ones that got past him. Her father’s leg and forehead were bleeding and her mother’s clothes were covered in ash.
“Mom!! Dad!!” Katsum screamed over the noise, her voice trembling as her tears flowed.
Her parents glanced over, still fighting as her mother cried out, “You have to run, Katsum! You must survive!”
“No, I won't leave you!”
Suddenly, a loud crack echoed from the castle behind her and she turned to see the tallest tower spire was crumbling, the stones giving way as it twisted and fell from its place at the top of the castle, crashing down towards her.
“Run, Katsum!!”
Yet her body would not respond, and she was left to stare at the slowly falling tower and wait for it to end her. This is until the burning around her neck began and she cried out. She heard the dragon within starting to growl and a rough pressure on her neck, like something was tugging at it.
“…No wonder…sleeping well…necklace…so snug…”
A strange voice filled her mind as the pain around her neck grew and she clenched her eyes shut at the pain. It grew and grew until she could no longer stand it and she reached up to her own neck.
And she was finally startled awake when she found another person’s hands there around her neck.
In a panic, Katsum’s eyes flashed open as she locked her grip around the wrists of her attacker, and she stared up at the dark-haired, tanned-skin miqo’te girl that was hovering above her, her hands being the ones that Katsum held tightly. The girl’s lavender colored eyes widened as she let go of the necklace and tried to pull away, but Katsum was stronger. She waited until the girl too was in a panic and trying to pull away, only letting go when the girl was pulling backward so that she lost her balance so that Katsum could reach back to the pillow behind her head and swing it around to hit the girl with it. She sprung off of the bed at that same moment, moving away until she was pressed against the wall.
“Ow! Hey!” As the girl was trying to get back to her feet, Katsum wildly looked around her, trying to figure out where she was only to guess she was on a ship judging by the sway she felt now that she thought of it. She was in the passenger’s quarters of a ship judging by the bed she had been laying on, though a very low classed one at that. Piles of ropes and timbers were stored against one wall as well as a few rolls of sails and barrels filled with things that Katsum could only wonder about. She could smell the salt air now and hear the lap of the waves against the ship’s thick hull, yet still, she was not calmed. Her sapphire gaze frantically searched about her for a sword, a staff, anything to defend herself, yet she found nothing.
“Ranaa? Is everything alright?” A voice from above caught Katsum’s ear and her panic increased. A light appeared from the dark hallway that led to the main deck as the door opened and shadows were cast by someone descending them. Katsum’s heart leapt as finally, she saw a weapon she had never seen before that the girl seemed to have dropped; a circular blade with a thick cording wrapped around one edge where she guessed the wielder would hold it. She quickly leapt forward and grabbed ahold of it before returning to her place against the wall. She watched a silver-haired woman appear from the hallway, seeing her eyes widen as she saw her. The girl too was moving to her feet and turned to face Katsum.
“Stay back!” Katsum lifted the curved blade as if she were pointing her sword threateningly and spoke in the Draic language. The confused looks on the faces of the two, however, told her that they did not understand what she had said, not that that had surprised her, but the words spoken in the dragon's tongue were far more threatening than just on their own, and she needed that edge in her weakened state right now.
The woman held up her hands then and spoke calmly in Eorzean, thankfully the language she too spoke, “It is alright, child, you are safe here. We are not here to hurt you.”
Katsum looked between them wildly as her hands shook, trying to speak as sternly as she could, “Where am I?” Her voice shook far more than she would have liked it to, but there was nothing she could do to change that.
“You’re on our ship,” The miqo’te answered, “We found you on a piece of debris floating in the water. You’d come from the same direction as a great storm, so we can only guess your ship sank, and you somehow survived.”
Katsum froze as the realization of everything hit her. The fires, the soldiers, running through the streets with her father pulling her along to the shore where her mother had waited. She remembered the tear-filled farewell as they pushed her alone onto the small sailboat as a group of soldiers was closing in, and she remembered watching the burning silhouette of her beloved island, her kingdom, disappear behind the stormy sea clouds as the sea swept her away…and then the storm that had wrecked her bost and knocked her out. The nightmare she had witnessed was real. Her kingdom was attacked…and she alone survived as her parents had saved her. She was alone with the Draic necklace that still hung around her neck.
Her threat with the blade faltered as her heart broke and she dropped it to clatter to the floor. Her breathing grew heavy as she fell to her knees and tears spilled from her eyes. She flinched when she felt someone touch her shoulder, pulling away from the woman and the girl who had drawn closer and crawling away into the corner of the room.
“It’s alright! We aren’t going to hurt you! You have been through something terrible, it is clear, and we just want to help,” The woman said softly.
Katsum shook her head, “Please…I wish to be alone right now…”
The miqo’te looked her over, almost speaking again but the woman cut her off as she picked up the fallen blade and took it with her as she stood, “Come on, Ranaa, she asked for some space.”
“But Nashmeria, we don’t even know her name!” The girl cried, looking back over her shoulder at Katsum as she followed her up the stairs.
“I’m sure she will tell us when she is ready, but for now, let’s leave her be like she asked.”
She listened to the sound of the door shutting softly and the fading footsteps before Katsum buried her head in her arms and cried. She had never felt so alone, and so guilty. She failed to keep her kingdom safe, and her people had suffered for it. Their young queen had fled while they fought to survive. That thought dug into her heart like a dagger. She’d left her parents behind too, though she had tried to pull them onto the boat with her, but they wouldn’t, not with a party of soldiers so close where they would see them and sink their boat before they could escape. So she had been alone, and she wished she had stayed.
Katsum reached up to the dragon necklace around her neck, feeling the dragons aether that flowed within it waning from when it had awoken her and sobbed without end.
