The Maw
After having been on a long trip, Renomus was finally ready to come home. I had been waiting at the docks for a few hours, eagerly looking forward to seeing my good friend again. It’s been a weird three weeks. I’ve always been so used to having him around, leveling Red or Blue Mage in some godforsaken place. Renomus is a little tarutaru who really enjoys to get his things done with his very own two hands instead of always relying on a group of people to help him out. We all know that finding helpful and reliable people can be quite hard these days, so I can understand why he prefers to solo, although it must be a little bit lonely I guess.
It was already become quite late in the evening, where I was in Bastok Port. People had gone back from work long ago and I could smell delicious cuisines being made from the residential district. I was a little envious, since I had only had two saruta oranges for lunch and a squid sushi for dinner. Not much to speak of, but it was something I guess. There were only me and a hume waiting for the airship to arrive this evening. I have found the port in Bastok to be quieter than the ports in Jeuno and Windurst for example. The woman I was standing next to seemed to be waiting for someone dear to her. It was almost like there was a twinkle in her eye as she gazed at the horizon, eager to see her loved one.
I can’t blame her, as I have done the same many a time in Windurst, waiting for my prrrecious Zelthas to return from his adventures in a far away land. A day doesn’t go by without me hoping to receive word that he finally comes home, a free man without a worry in the world. It must be tough on him, living so far away, risking his life at the service of the Star Sibyl. But, it’s also an honor being able to work for the federation. I wish I was allowed to go as well, but I am just an adventurer, so I’m expected to deal with other tasks.
It was getting close to 10pm when the airship finally arrived. Renomus jumped off the deck of the airship, but tripped as he landed and made quite the show. We all laughed at the situation, but I handed Renomus a handkerchief so he could wipe off dirt on his face. «Welcome home, my kitten,» I said smiling to my tarutaru friend before giving him a traditional kitty~hug. It’s funny how tarutarus fit just purrrfectly in the mithras arms. Nothing beats my husbands caring embrace though.
«Such a hassle,» Renomus said, trying to hide the fact that we had caught him in a quite silly situation. He just laughed it off and started walking towards the arrivals area of the port. He walked through the customs and exited the building. We talked about his trip, although I didn’t really get to ask him much about the many things he must have experienced while he was gone. I wish I had the chance, but there’s plenty of time, so no need to rush I guess.
We decided to travel to Jeuno and visit the Marble Bridge Tavern to sit down and talk over a cup of warm cocoa. I teleported us to the Konschat Highlands where we immediately found ourselves a pair of chocobos. We had decided to take the scenic route for once, and made our way through the marshlands. The place was as tedious to navigate as usual, especially since my chocobo wasn’t very fond of rainy weather and water in general. The little bird was quite hard to ride on, so we had to just take our time.
Upon entering the Rolanberry Fields, the chocobo seemed to brighten up as we were starting to get better weather and dry land to run on. The chocobos picked up their speed and off we went toward the grand duchy of Jeuno.
«What’s that,» Renomus shouted all of a sudden. Our chocobos came to a full stop and turned around, and we walked slowly around a mountain corner. «Would you look at that!» Renomus was quite puzzled by the creature.. or thing that was standing tall before us. «Have you ever seen something as ugly as that,» I asked him. I’m sure I looked quite discusted at that moment. We had stumbled upon something that looked like a cavernous maw, not too far from the entrance to the lower parts of Jeuno.
«Let’s try touching it,» Renomus said, walking slowly towards the maw. It had an evil aura around it, and I wasn’t too sure about how safe it would be to approach it. Suddenly, a blinding flash struck us and I lost consciousness.
When I woke up again, I was startled by a group of people standing around me. Behind me was the maw, but it had changed shape again. The group of people looked down on me, mumbling in some dialect I had never heard before. They told me that I should head over to the Eldieme Necropolis, but I wasn’t too sure about the merit in doing that. «I’m sorry, lady, but the entrance to Jeuno is blocked off for civilians,» one of the men told me. «Huh? Blocked off? Since when,» I thought to myself, but before I was able to ask any questions the group of soldiers had jumped back on their chocobos and were ready to ride off.
I looked around and decided I should try to look for Renomus. I used my linkpearl and tried paging him. It took a few minutes before I got a response. It looked like there was some disturbance on the linkshell channel. Things really seemed out of hand, and I had only the maw from before to blame. Renomus told me he was okay, but that he couldn’t find me anywhere. I looked around and tried to find my whereabouts. It seemed that I had been transported to Batallia Downs somehow, so I told Renomus I’d make my way down to him.
As I began running toward the entrance to Rolanberry Fields, I stumbled upon enormous castle-like brick walls. I stumbled and fell. «Rats!? Where am I,» I asked myself. I got back on my feet and continued running, using a magical map I had laying around. Things just didn’t add up, and I there were structures and monsters that I had never seen before.
I finally caught up with Renomus, who had experienced the same strange things. We looked around, trying to find some sensible answer to what may have happened. «Wait, isn’t this the buildings that were long lost during the Crystal War,» Renomus asked me. I looked at him, arguing that what he said was true, but that it made no sense that they were suddenly there. I had seen pictures of the mighty castle defending the grand duchy, but this was the first time I had actually seen it with my very own two eyes. «You don’t think we… somehow, uh.. made it to the past,» the little tarutaru asked me. We looked at each other for a few seconds before we started laughing. «Impossible,» I said while laughing. We continued laughing, while getting more and more anxious. We both knew that it was true, even though it was hard to believe that such thing could even happen.
I explained what the soldiers had told me, and we decided to make our way to Bastok. We didn’t have a chocobo, so we had to run on foot this time. Since we had no idea what to expect, we could only hope that the areas we were to travel through wasn’t infested with some of the beasts that the old scriptures was speaking of. I had come across a book in the library in Windurst a few years ago which had a detailed look on the many creatures that used to inhabit Vana’diel before they got extinct during the Crystal War.
We took every precaution possible, putting on Sneak and Invisible to make sure we wouldn’t get caught by any wild monsters just waiting to get their midday snack. We arrived in the marshlands again, which looked very different from before. We could hear what sounded like a war in the background. The sound was quite disturbing, and we decided to keep our distance and continue south-west. We saw monsters we had never seen before, including sprites that healed our wounds as we walked by. It made us both very happy to be shown such consideration at a battlefield, even though we’re not taking part of it.
But, to our dismay, the road to Konschat Highlands were blocked off, so we backtracked a little. We stumbled upon a path we had never seen before. «Shall we,» I asked Renomus. He looked at my face, looking a little nervous, but he nodded. «This seems to be the only way,» he told me.
We both looked into the distance, into a land so unfamiliar that it made our adventurer hearts beat just a wee bit harder. We were getting excited, yet at the same time nervous. What was waiting for us around this corner? Renomus took a step toward the gate, leading to the area we had never seen nor heard about before. I took another. We looked at each other’s faces, before we turned our attention to the gate again. Seconds after we leaped toward the gate, ready to fill our curious heart with new and wonderful experiences. Our fear was gone. Only our desire for the new and yet untold mysteries ahead remained.
(to be continued…)