The Final Days of Amaurot

Harrowing couldn’t even begin to describe the sight before B’runi. Agonizing, disturbing, frightening, all applicable here and yet seemingly not sufficient in applicability. Then again, what could properly describe the Final Days of Amaurot? Especially from the perspective of someone who had witnessed it first hand. 

B’runi gazed around as she and Su'a ventured further into the simulacrum, only to hear the doors to the Amaurot capitol building shut behind them. B’runi quickly spun around, realizing she and Su'a were now cut off from their friends and spouses. Fear crept up her spine as her fur began to rise. She didn’t like this. She hated this. This place, these feelings, the ghosts, everything. She didn’t care what Su’a claimed. They were not supposed to be here. Or at the very least, she wasn’t. 

B’runi turned back to Su'a to express her concern but felt the words die in her throat when she realized her companion had vanished. Her tail lowered, puffing out a bit as she quickly looked around, trying to see if she could spot hide or hair of him. Nothing. It was as if he had vanished into thin air. 

“Oh gods, oh fuck-!” Panic began to rise in her chest. “SU’A!!” she cried, taking off down the street as she frantically searched around for him. Nothing, only fire and the stench of death crowded her senses and mind. Smoke scraped the inside of her lungs as her breaths came quicker, causing her to sputter and cough a bit as she trudged forward. “Su’a!” she called out, a long whine following, “Where are you, Su’a?”

Her cries went unanswered. B’runi felt her stomach lurch and she collapsed against a nearby wall as she spit up light aether, staining the stonework a bright white. She collapsed to her knees and tried desperately to catch her breath. The smokey sensation wasn’t something she was all too unfamiliar with, given all the battlefields she had visited previously. Yet, somehow the familiarity in this was different, in a way she couldn’t place. She didn’t like it.

Debris rained down from above as monsters terrorized the few Amaurotines remaining in the streets around her. B’runi furrowed her brow. Meteors. They must have frightened Su’a off. “Fuck, that’s why he’s not responding.” She’d have to locate him on her own. The question was, how? Well, there was one way, perhaps. “Renda-Rae!”

There was a tense silence for a moment as B’runi’s voice echoed off the flaming husks of the buildings that lined the streets around her. Then the air next to her rippled with light as a form took shape: the ranger of darkness herself. Her light green eyes surveyed the area around them quickly before settling on B’runi. She quickly knelt down to her side and offered a sad smile.

“Ye gods, you look terrible.”

“Thanks,” B’runi responded, her voice cracking a bit. 

“Shh, it’s okay, I’m here, I’m here.” Renda-Rae cast her gaze around again warily before adding, “wherever… here is.”

“The Squelch’s home, I think. Or at least he claims. Not important right now.” B’runi grit her teeth as her stomach lurched again and she spit a bit of aether to the side. “Eth.” She caught Renda-Rae giving her a look of concern and waved it off. “I’m fine. We need to find Su’a. We got separated and I wouldn’t put it past the Squelch to have done this on purpose to trigger Su’a into transforming quicker. Do you sense him or Ardbert nearby?”

Renda-Rae closed her eyes and focused, her ears shooting upward at full alert as she began to tune into her surroundings. B’runi watched as the mystel’s ears flicked around, checking each direction around them for any sign of their friends. After a moment, Renda-Rae’s brow furrowed and she shook her head with a sigh. “I… I can’t sense either of them. It’s almost like I’m being purposely obstructed.”

“Fuck!” B’runi shouted, slamming her head against the wall behind her. Pain exploded from the back of her head but she didn’t care. It was a dull thrum compared to everything else she had been feeling since she entered this damn city. “He did this on purpose, that rat bastard!” B’runi’s hands began to shake as panic took hold. “We’re both going to transform and kill everyone,” she cried, “because I can’t be there to absorb the light off him. And my niece or nephew will die with him.”

“Hey, hey-! Runi! Focus on my voice.” Renda-Rae sat down next to B’runi and placed her hand on B’runi’s. “Take a deep breath for me. Come on, let’s do it together. Deep breath in.” Renda-Rae took in a deep breath. “And then slowly let it out.” She exhaled. “Can you do that with me? Deep breath in.”

B’runi nodded her head a little, barely make out Renda-Rae’s words through the noise in her head. She took in a deep breath, then slowly exhaled, repeating the exercise until the world around her became a bit clearer again. Her tail settled down beside her and her vision came back into focus, or at least as much as it could through all the clouding from the light aether. 

“There we go,” Renda-Rae said with relief. “Thought I’d lost you there for a minute.”

“Thanks, I don’t know… I don’t know what happened. I just started spiraling.” B’runi held her first to her chest and swallowed roughly. 

Renda-Rae shook her head. “You panic spiraled. It happens to the best of us. Ardbert talked me through my own spirals a few times too. Sometimes our inner fears and anxieties just get the best of us. It’s not fun, especially in circumstances like this, but I’ll be here for you, okay?” Renda-Rae gave B’runi a grin and a thumbs up. “Now let’s go find the two dorks. I can only help you so much against the threats roaming around these streets.”

B’runi smiled a little and offered a thumbs up back. She leaned against the wall as she shakily got to her feet. Her stomach had settled, for now at least. “First, let’s check the door. Maybe if I can get it open, we can get the others in to help me search.”

“Solid plan. More sets of eyes and ears is always better.”

B’runi focused on the door a short ways away, shakily putting one foot in front of the other until she found herself right in front of it. Mustering all her strength, B’runi pressed both her hands against the door and pushed on it, hoping it would open. It didn’t budge, not even a little. B’runi huffed angrily and pushed again, but yielded the same result. 

“Nothing?”

“Nothing,” B’runi confirmed. “I have another idea though.” Regaining a bit more of her steadiness, B’runi took a few steps back and drew her foil. Twirling her focus in the air, B’runi closed her eyes and summoning the most natural element to her fingers. “Verfire!” An eruption of flames slammed against the ancient door, yet it left not a scratch. B’runi let out a growl in frustration and electricity began to crackle over her arms. “Verthunder!” An bolt of lightning arc from B’runi into the doorway, resulting in a loud ‘boom’ and an eruption of dust.

B’runi wagged her tail excitedly, shielding her eyes and waving her other hand around to help the air clear. “Now we’re getting somewhere!” she said with a grin. She began to invoke another cast when the air finally cleared a view of the door, stopping B’runi’s words dead in her throat. Not a mark on the door. Her casts had done nothing. 

B’runi’s heart sank into her stomach. “Nothing…” she twirled the foci with her fingers as she pondered her next course of action. “I could keep launching spells at it but with how my two most natural spells have fared, I worry that’ll be a waste of mana.”

“And if you get attacked by those monsters, you’re a sitting amaro,” Renda-Rae said flatly.

“Exactly.” B’runi let out a long heavy sigh. “I think we’re better off trying to find Su’a without the others. Maybe if we get close enough to them, you’ll be able to pick up on them even with the obstruction.”

“Seems like as good a plan as any. Not like I can do much else besides be emotional support.”

“And play fun battle music.”

Renda-Rae laughed. “And play fun battle music.” She pulled out her lyre and began to strum it. “Lead the way maestro.”

Keeping her rapier drawn, B’runi set foot down the path before her. Wreckage and dead Amaurotines filled the streets as the monsters continued to rampage. Yet, oddly, they seemed to ignore her, her presence going completely unacknowledged by the beasts as they tore through the streets. Odd. 

“They’re all heading in the same direction, like they’re being drawn to something,” Renda-Rae noted. Seems B’runi hadn’t been the only one to notice their strange behavior. 

“Or someone,” B’runi responded, “Let’s follow them, at a distance. Maybe they’ll take us to Su’a.”Picking up her pace, B’runi swiveled her ears around as she focused on her surroundings for other monsters or signs of Su’a. Renda-Rae stayed close beside, vigilant as ever as they tracked the monsters towards whatever there focus was on. 

As they turned a corner, both women stopped, observing the gathering of monsters in the plaza below them. Standing in the center was a figure, who at first glance appeared to be Su’a, yet, he was much too tall and his skin too vibrant. B’runi rubbed her eyes a bit. The light corruption really was messing with her vision. 

Despite the myriad of beasts surrounding him, the man in the center seemed calm, his mere presence seeming to render the monsters completely docile. They sniffed his long black and white hair and sat at the foot of his pure white robes. He was dressed and looked like an Amaurotine but seemed much more… alive than the others. 

“I think he’s friendly,” B’runi whispered to Renda-Rae. “I can’t explain it. Something about his presence just feels… calming.”

Renda-Rae swished her tail in thought before nodding in agreement. “I feel it too. Let’s approach, but tread carefully.”

B’runi clutched her rapier and focus, magic humming in the devices as she moved down the steps towards the plaza. The man and beasts rest motionless, paying B’runi no heed as she drew closer. It wasn’t until she was right up on them that one of the large bird-like creatures took notice, its eyes flying open and its feather puffing up. It screeched, awakening the other monsters from their slumber.

B’runi quickly retreated backwards, narrowly avoiding the snapping jaws of one of the equine-like monsters as it lunged for her. She quickly began to cast a spell, preparing to launch a jolt at the nearest monster when the monsters all vanished, erupting into clouds of dust. 

B’runi lowered her rapier and focus as Renda-Rae quickly rushed to her side. “Are you alright? They just suddenly all lunged at you!”

“Y-Yeah, I don’t know what set them off. Maybe I just got too close.” She looked back towards the plaza and felt a shiver run up her spine as she spotted the man still standing there. His hand was raised high in the air as the dust of the monsters settled around them. B’runi furrowed her eyebrows. “Did he… destroy them?” she whispered to Renda-Rae. She only shrugged in response, not knowing the answer to B’runi’s question. 

The Amaurotine lowered his hand and turned to look at B’runi. His long hair covered part of his face, obscuring one of his eyes while his visible green eye looked B’runi over from head to toe before sliding to her side. Renda-Rae bristled a bit under the man’s gaze and B’runi’s eyes widened in surprise. He could see her too?

Wordlessly, the strange Amaurotine turned his eye back to B’runi. He offered her a reassuring smile and knelt down, extending a hand outward towards her. B’runi stared at him warily. She didn’t know this man, this Amaurotine. He was of the same people as the Squelch. The monsters he had rendered docile had attacked her. 

And yet, for some strange reason, B’runi couldn’t deny the feeling of comfort and familiarity at the stranger’s presence. She couldn’t explain it, but he felt safe. He felt like someone should could trust. He felt like… a friend.

Without another thought, B’runi rushed over to the man and hugged him tightly, tears trickling down her cheeks as she began to sob. “Take me to him please,” she begged. She could feel it, somehow, he knew where Su’a was. He had to know. “I’m… I-I’m so scared,” she sputtered, “I need to be with him.”

The man wrapped his arms around B’runi, holding her close in his tender embrace. “No need to fear, B’runi Masna,” he said in a gentle voice. “Together, let’s go find your friend.”

“I-I just looked away and he was gone,” B’runi said between sobs. “What if Su’a’s dead? Or worse, become a lightwarden? Renda said she couldn’t sense him or Ardbert anywhere.” She clung tightly to the man, shaking like a leaf as she let out all the tears she had been holding back since she had entered the simulacrum, no, since they had set foot in the damnable city. 

She didn’t mean to, but the dam was burst and all the emotions she had been holding up inside her came rushing out in a mix of whines and sobs. Yet, the Amaurotine didn’t seem to mind. He only held her close, gesturing for Renda-Rae to come closer too. “Well, would you like to hear something nice?” he asked them both, “He sent me to come get you.”

B’runi’s ears perked up and she lifted her gaze to meet the man’s kind smile. “He… he did? So he’s okay? That fucking… Squelch hasn’t kill him yet?”

The man seemed to chuckle a little at the nickname before shaking his head. “No, you will find him quite well.” He reached down and pet B’runi on the head. 

His gentle touch caused B’runi to wag her tail and let out a small purr. She reached up and wiped her eyes from underneath her glasses, her face paint smearing a little at the touch. “Oh, I’m so glad,” she mumbled. She sniffled a bit and cleared her throat, trying to regain some semblance of composure. “I’m sorry, you don’t even know me and I’m sobbing all over you. Made a bloody mess of your robes with my tears and paint.” She frowned a bit and flicked her tail. “It’s this stupid place. It’s messing with me. It’s been messing with me since we got here. Phantom memories and chills, giving me… this feeling that my body is all wrong. It hit me like a bolt of lightning the minute we entered this fucking city and now it won’t go away, and between that and all the sights, smells, noises, and… and everything, I just…” B’runi threw her hands up into the air in exasperation before wiping her face again, smearing more of her face paint. 

The man paused in silence, seeming to assess her quietly before placing his hands on her shoulders. “Now, now, there is no need for that. Your apologies are not necessary. You are B’runi Masna. Savior of Eorzea and liberator of Ala Mhigo, among other things.” He offered her a wide grin. “I know you all too well. And I also know that you will come to know more than you mind could ever imagine.” His expression grew more serious, his green eye watching B’runi very carefully as he spoke to her. “But remember the most important things to you and press forward, just like you are now.”

B’runi tilted her head a bit as the Amaurotine spoke. What did he mean by all of that? She furrowed her eyebrows and offered a soft, “Right…”

Seeing her take in his words, the man’s expression softened. He spoke to her once again in a gentle tone, “Now, let’s go find Su’a.”

B’runi’s ears perked up once more and her face shifted into a determined expression. “Right!” She slammed her fists together and puffed up her tail a bit as she took another moment to regain her composure. “I’m not gonna let that… that Squelch get in my head anymore.”

The Amaurotine smiled as he stood back up and laughed a little. “Now that's the right of it. He won't be a bother to you if you keep that up.” He offered his hands to B’runi and Renda-Rae. 

B’runi glanced at her companion, who only smiled in return. “I think he can take it from here,” she said cryptically. B’runi flicked her ear in confusion but Renda-Rae faded away before B’runi could press her any further on her meaning. She frowned a little before looking up at the Amaurotine and putting her much smaller hand in his. 

“Lead the way,” she said after a moment. 

The man lead B’runi through the flaming streets, a quiet air settling over the area as he passed, as if his mere presence was calming the very temper that created this place. Eventually, they drew closer to a building, where a familiar figure stood outside. His gaze was fixated on the sky, a solemn expression on his face as he seemed to be deep in thought. His nose twitched as a scent caught his attention and he began to look around before spotting his dearest friend. 

“B’runi!” he called.

“Su’a!” B’runi shouted back excitedly. She let go of the Amaurotine and ran over full speed to Su’a, near tackling him to the ground as she pulled him into her tight embrace. “Oh praise Rhalgr, you’re alright. I was so scared.” 

Su’a hugged her back tightly, rubbing her back a little. “Ha, sorry. I was thinking a bit too deeply. You alright?”

“Scared out of my bloody mind, but otherwise alright. Your um… your friend?” B’runi gestured towards the Amaurotine standing off a ways behind them, “He found me calling for you and led me here. Said you sent him.”

Su’a looked over behind B’runi towards the man. “Right… friend.” The man waved to the two of them before starting to walk off. 

“Ah-! Thank you, sir!” B’runi called. “Shit, I didn’t get his name. But… he was nice.”

Su’a watched quietly as the Amaurotine dissipated before returning his gaze to B’runi. “I think it’ll be okay,” he said, petting B’runi on the head in the same spot the man had before. 

B’runi let out another soft purr and flicked her tail happily. “I don’t know why but I felt like I could trust him. Maybe it’s because you sent him?”

Su’a furrowed his brows a bit, seeming to considering something before a moment before replying, “Perhaps. I... don't think that will be the last time we see him.”

“Well, given how kind he is, I hope that’s a good thing.” B’runi gazed around at their surroundings, the unsettling sensation of the simulacrum taking hold again now that the strange Amaurotine was gone. “Are you um… still thinking? Or should we continue on? I already checked the doors. They’re sealed shut. Not even my magic made a dent in them. So the only way out is forward.”

“Agreed. We need to go get G’raha, after all.” Su’a took B’runi’s hand and gave it a squeeze before leading her down the road. 

B’runi squeezed his hand back. “Yes. The sooner we get him the better. I can’t imagine what Emet is doing to him.” 

The two of them continued to walk forward in a now eerie silence, venturing deeper into the world before them. Flames consumed the buildings that lined the street they were walking down. Smoke filled the air and debris rained down from above as monsters terrorized the few Amaurotines remaining in the streets. 

As they made their way through the wreckage, Su'a suddenly came to a stop, his gaze fixated on the sky above them. B’runi looked up and furrowed her eyebrows in concern. Meteors. He hadn’t seemed bothered by it when they reunited, but for as long as she had known him, she had known Su’a to be terrified of them.

“B-Bruni…?” he said after a moment in a quiet voice.

“Yeah?” 

“It’s… It's all flooding back to me. Ever since we entered this place, I could tell something was familiar about it,” Su'a said without looking away from the meteor dotted sky. B’runi felt her blood run cold. She looked up at the sky then back at Su'a, watching in silence as he made his way to one of the nearby buildings. He reached up and silently ran his fingers along the walls before looking back at B’runi. “This was my home too.”

“The meteors… it never was Dalamud. It was this,” she said in quiet realization. Su'a merely nodded his head in response and continued on his way. 

B’runi followed close behind, her hand still linked with his as her thoughts began to race. Su'a? An Amaurotine like the Squelch? It would make sense, she supposed. With his clairvoyance and patchwork memories, the times when he felt familiar sensations but couldn’t decipher why, it was all connected to his past life as an Amaurotine. But, if that were the case…

B’runi stopped when she noticed Su'a pause again on their trek through the apocalypse stricken scene. “It was there when my girlfriend drew her last breath,” he said, pointing off to a side street. “I panicked... I pleaded with my former boss, convinced him to grant me one of his yet to be approved concepts, the Pyxidanthera, so that she could still be immortal.”

The realization hit B’runi almost immediately, distant memories of their arrival to the First coming to mind. During their initial visit to the markets in the Crystarium, the Crystal Exarch had introduced them to a pair of pixies that they made pacts with: Tetro and…

“Bell…” B’runi said, looking back at Su'a. “She said as much when we first met her.”

Su'a nodded silently before suddenly turning to her. B’runi flattened her ears and curled her tail, a bit unsettled by Su'a’s more serious expression. The fur on her tail and the hair on her neck stood up in alarm, with her instincts telling her to turn and run back to the entrance they came through, even though she knew full well that was no longer an option. 

“Wh-What…?” she said, voice wavering in uncertainty. 

“She was Terpsichore. And my true name is Tiresias,” Su'a said simply. “And you... were also one of us.”

B’runi felt her mouth drop open as she took a sharp breath in from shock. She only had a moment to process the statement before it felt like a nail was driven into her skull. B’runi staggered back and grabbed her head, gasping for air as the smoke ridden air suddenly felt like claws slicing through the sides of her lungs. 

It hit her all at once. 

Memories came flooding forth as a dam in her mind broke and a stream of past experiences burst from the cracks. The agony of Amaurot’s streets suddenly became magnified tenfold as thousands of screams filled B’runi’s ears. She began to hyperventilate and collapsed to her knees, unable to breathe through the drowning sensation that filled her lungs from all the smoke. 

Tears began to run down her face as past and present merged. She could barely see Su'a between her clashing memories, his image disappearing as past memories played out before her very eyes. She watched, helpless, as a purple haired woman was stabbed through the chest before her while trying to fend off one of the monsters. B’runi reached out her hand towards the woman and cried out, “Harmonia!”

The woman looked back at him and smiled before sputtering up blood and collapsing on the ground. B’runi was on his feet and sprinting towards the woman before he could register what was happening. Somehow he had gathered the strength to stand, yet he couldn’t figure out how. Kneeling down next to her, B’runi took the woman’s hand into his own and squeezed it. “Please, no, I can’t lose you! Not again!”

“It’s okay, shh…” Harmonia smiled up at B’runi and weakly squeezed his hand back. “Oh, my best friend, how many times have you lived this already?”

“Too many,” B’runi replied quietly. 

“Spare yourself further pain. I’ll be okay.”

“I-I can’t-! I keep trying but there’s too many-! Th-th-they keep coming…”

“It’s okay… shh… I’m here.”

B’runi could feel the life leaving Harmonia as her grip on B’runi’s hands weakened. He squeezed Harmonia’s hand tightly, fervently hoping it would somehow preserve her soul. And yet, he knew it was futile. 

“I can’t lose you!” B’runi screamed, a black aura beginning to swirl around him. “H-Harmonia... please-!”

A fluttering sound filled B’runi’s ears and dust kicked up into the air as something landed beside him. He could barely make out the voice that spoke to him through the chaos of his own thoughts. “You’re hurt?” he heard, the voice frantic and worried. 

B’runi looked up at the voice, the black aura dissiminating some as he spotted the figure through the miasma. It wasn’t someone B’runi recognized, he was certain he would remember meeting such a large humanoid creature with moth-like wings. Yet, somehow, as if instinctually, B’runi knew who this was. “My love,” he said, “I-I tried-! I've been back countless times! Over and over! But Harmonia, sh-she's... she's-!” The swirling around B’runi intensified again as grief and panic took hold of his heart once more. 

“Here, let me see,” the other said, shifting into a less monstrous appearance, a form B’runi recognized: the man who escorted her to Su’a. 

B’runi cradled Harmonia close to his chest. “She took a swipe to the abdomen... I can't... I can't do anything…”

“Shh, it’s okay,” Harmonia whispered, her blood coating both her own and B’runi’s black robes. 

The man, B’runi knew who he was, Tiresias, clutched a concept crystal tightly in his hands. “I only have one thing. You must only needs trust me - both of you.”

“Always, my love, always,” B’runi said without hesitation. 

Harmonia’s gaze slowly moved from B’runi’s face to the crystal in Tiresias’s hand, then to his face. She took in a deep breath, every sentence seeming to require great effort now. “Tell my wife how much I loved her, okay?” she whispered. 

“I will.”

A weak smile spread across Harmonia’s face at Tiresias’s reassurance. “Thank you. Then do as you must,” she said. 

Tiresias carefully placed the concept crystal over Harmonia’s heart and closed his eyes, uttering what seemed to be a sort of invocation, “Offer your soul and have your body become anew.” He opened his eyes and looked to B’runi. “And be sure to say your farewells. I didn't get much of a  chance with Terpsichore.” 

“Farewells? But you said this would save her!” B’runi stammered. 

B’runi felt a hand cup his face and he looked down at Harmonia, his best friend clutching the concept crystal close to her chest. “It’s okay. I’m ready.” She took in another deep breath and said, “Remember fondly all those adventures we had with my herd in Elpis, okay? I'm sure Perseus will miss me dearly most of all. I got to be the knight in shining armor for once.” She smiled at her own words before beginning to cough, blood spattering over her arms and the crystal clutched within them. 

“I… I’m going to miss you,” B’runi said, his voice cracking as he spoke. 

“I’ll miss you too,” Harmonia whispered back. The color was quickly fading from her cheeks and each word seemed to require significantly more effort than before. 

“I'll take care of Hippolyta for you. I promise. I'll stay by her side no matter what it takes.” 

“Thank you, my dear.” Harmonia shifted her gaze to Tiresias and whispered out a barely audible, “Protect him.”

“You have my utmost word,” Tiresias assured, “We will see you again, promise.”

Harmonia mustered a nod before turning her gaze skyward. The crystal clutched against her breast began to glow as her soul slipped inside of it. She exhaled one final time as her body grew limp in B’runi’s arms. 

“Harmonia? Harmonia!” B’runi shouted frantically. 

Tiresias placed a hand over his. “Calm yourself, love. Harmonia's soul still lives on.” He tapped the concept crystal gently. “You only needs to live long enough to reunite, okay?”

B’runi gently laid Harmonia’s body down on the ground and pulled the concept crystal from her arms. “Her soul is… in here?” he asked. Tears welled in his eyes and his chest heaved a bit as he tried to fight back more sobs. His best friend was dead, and there was nothing he could do. Why was this feeling so damn familiar? “You said you didn't get a lot of time with Terpischore? Does that mean...?”

Tiresias’s expression darkened at the name, and that was all the confirmation B’runi needed. “She dwells within that crystal as well now,” he said. A lump in his throat bobbed a bit as he thought over his next words. “... so yes. It was also a fatal injury. A building landed on top of her.” Tiresias gazed at the crystal with tired, sad eyes. “This is one of Adonis's concepts. He is still out there holding off those demons. If we want him to create them again, we need to help him.”

“Oh, Tiresias, I… I’m so sorry,” B’runi said. He choked out another sob, trying to stifle his own tears. If Tiresias could hold himself together even after losing his other partner, then B’runi could too. “Let us go assist him then. I’m sure he needs the help.” 

Tiresias gave a simple nod and gestured for B’runi to follow him. “This way, Eris.”  

The name struck hard, hitting B’runi straight through the chest. Her name. No, his name. Their true name. 

“Eris,” Tiresias called once again. “Eris.” No, that voice wasn’t Tiresias. It was someone else. Someone else familiar. 

“Focus now, Eris.” 

The memory quickly washed away as B’runi found herself once again on her hands and knees, clutching her head within the familiar streets of Amaurot. Raising her head, B’runi looked up to see not Tiresias, but Su'a standing before her. 

Her breathing began to steady as she became once again anchored in the present. The hold was temporary though, she could feel it. The longer they remained her the harder it was going to be for her to not slip into the past again. Yet, Su'a stood before her, seemingly the picture of steadfastness as he watched B’runi barely cling to reality.

“H-How are you not losing it, right now?” B’runi managed to croak out through her tears, the air clawing at her throat as she breathed in to speak. 

Su'a watched her for a moment longer before cocking a half smile, the sight sending relief through her. “Trust me,” he said, “I'm shaking on the inside. But… this is all a simulacrum. We’ll be okay.” He bent down and extended a hand to B’runi. 

B’runi gazed at the hand before taking it, slowly getting to her feet with what little strength she still had. Clinging to it like a lifeline, she began to stumble alongside Su'a again as they advanced through the broken city once again. 

“He knew,” Su'a mused quietly, “He wanted to show us this so we could remember... and long for the old days.” B’runi watched as he went silent for a moment before touching his stomach, his thoughts doubtless turning to the young baby that now dwelled within him. “But I'm not sacrificing any more of my friends for this,” he added. 

B’runi nodded in silence. “Let’s just keep moving,” she said, “before I get lost again.”

Su'a continued to guide her along, speaking on occasion of events of the past. Yet, B’runi could barely pay attention. She felt her mind slipping again as her surroundings began to blur once more. Suddenly, it was Tiresias at his side in place of Su'a, the two of them navigating the ruins of the burnt city in search of refuge from the monstrous onslaught. 

“Tiresias! Eris!” a voice called out to them. 

B’runi turned his head towards the speaker, spotting a large, muscular woman running towards them, an axe in hand. “Hippolyta!” he cried out with relief. 

“Praise the Star, you two are alright!” Hippolyta said as she stopped by their side. “I was afraid that-” she stopped. “Where’s Harmonia?”

B’runi felt his heart sink in his chest. He couldn’t meet Hippolyta’s gaze as he pulled the crystal construct from his robes. Holding it out towards the woman, B’runi began to explain what happened. “She sacrificed herself trying to fend off a monster. I couldn’t.. I couldn’t save her in time. Adonis lent us one of his concepts,” B’runi gestured towards the tall man donning white robes that stood nearby. Had he been standing there the whole time? He couldn’t remember. “It was all I could do to put her soul in here, so that she might be reborn.”

Hippolyta stood in silence before taking the concept crystal from B’runi’s hands. Clutching it to her chest, the woman was silent before letting out a loud sob. “Harmonia… my beloved,” she cried. 

“I’m so sorry,” B’runi said quietly, “if… if I had just been faster maybe I could’ve-”

Biting her lips to muffle her sobs, Hippolyta placed a hand on B’runi’s shoulder and squeezed it. “Don’t. Not now. You did what you could. We need to keep moving,” she instructed. 

“She’s right,” Tiresias said. “Come on, we need to-”

“-keep moving,” Su'a finished.

B’runi staggered slightly as she suddenly found herself back in the present. She blinked the memories from her head and gazed at Su'a for a moment to ground herself. “Wh-What?” she murmured. 

“B’runi, stay with me,” he said, “we need to keep moving. Emet-Selch is waiting for us up ahead. I need you here, in the present. Can you do that?’

“I…” B’runi paused for a moment before flicking her ears backwards as another voice called out to them. 

“B’runi! Su'a!” 

B’runi turned towards the voice to see Lynatwyr sprinting towards them, Dual-Haken Axe in one arm and flintlock pistol in the other. The realization hit her square in the chest, knocking the breath out of her. “Hippolyta,” she whispered, staring wide-eyed at Lynatwyr. 

Lynatwyr slowed as she approached them, Skye and Bi’tala close behind her. “Are ye two alright?” she asked, “We got cut off from ye. Emet-Selch, tae bastard, really didn’t want us getting te ye.”

“How did you reach us then?” Su'a asked with a tilt of his head. 

“I scared ‘im off. Soon as I drew me axe, tae man fluttered off like a bird. Couldn’t tell ye why,” Lynatwyr said with a shrug. She rubbed her forehead with a grunt in pain. “Can we keep moving though? I been dealing with a headache e’er since we set foot in ‘ere. Must be the smoke.”

B’runi swished her tail in worry as she gazed at Lynatwyr before looking at Bi’tala and Skye. She met Skye’s worried gaze with tired eyes. It was obvious she had been crying, she knew. A question hung in the air between them. 

‘Are you okay?’ 

He didn’t have to ask. She already knew based on his troubled expression. And yet, B’runi didn’t know how to answer it. She felt anything but fine. She felt weak, tortuous, and filled with agony. She was barely hanging onto the present, the memories of the past bombarding her senses into an overloaded state that rendered her barely able to function in their current environment. Yet, none of those would do them any good at the moment, so she simply shook her head in response to Skye’s un-asked question. 

Skye furrowed their eyebrows. The head shake only served to worry him more, but he knew better than to press. Not right now. Instead, they opted to point to the nearby exit. “Let’s press forward. There’s got to be an end somewhere, right?”

“Right,” Su'a said. “Just up ahead. I recognize this path.”

Bi’tala and the others gazed curiously at Su'a. Between his knowledge of the area and B’runi’s uncharacteristic dissociation, it was obvious something strange had occurred in the short time they were apart. But what exactly was anyone’s guess. It was unnerving. 

Drawing his lance, Bi’tala took the lead alongside Lynatwyr as the group trudged on towards a plaza up ahead. As they entered the circular arena, a sharp cry erupted through the air as large bird-like monsters leapt down from their perches in the broken buildings above. 

“We be surrounded,” Lynatwyr said, “we need tae fend them off te press on!”

“Well then what are we waiting for? Let’s skewer these birds!” Bi’tala spun his lance before lunging forward at one of the monsters. Nailing it with a vorpal thrust, the avian creature erupted into a viscous black goo. Bi’tala recoiled in surprise only to be tackled from behind by another of the birds. He spun around, trying to stab the creature on his back but only serving to anger it more as it drove its talons into his back, causing Bi’tala to cry out in pain. 

“Hold still, lad!” Lynatwyr called, swinging her axe in a wide arc through the air. She struck true with the cleave, slicing the bird monster in half before it also erupted in the black goo.

“Bleh,” Bi’tala gagged, now covered in the slime. “Thanks, now we can-” Bi’tala’s eyes widened as he looked at Lynatwyr. “Watch out!” he yelled, rushing forward towards her. 

B’runi looked over in the direction of her friends just in time to spot an even larger bird monster descending on them, this one tenfold larger than the rest. Talons outstretched, it was obvious it had its sights set on the biggest target in the room. B’runi turned to run towards Lynatwyr just as her vision began to swim. B’runi stumbled and pitched forward, yet just as she was about to hit the ground, she fell through and suddenly she found herself standing upright again. 

The scene before her had changed, the large avian creature bearing down on the group as Hippolyta charged it, axe ready to cleave the beast in two. Adonis stood behind her, covered in slime and wincing in pain from the large gashes in his back where another bird monster had torn gashes in it. 

The large woman charged forward but just as she was about to strike the creature, the scene wraped. Hippolyta suddenly hung from the talons of the beast, struck from behind by its claws. Then back on the ground charging the monster only to be cleaved into pieces from the front. Then again, back on her feet, only to be devoured by the creature’s deceptively small maw. Then back on her feet, fine again, rushing forward as if nothing had happened to meet the monstrous bird head on. 

B’runi stretched out his hand and sprinted forward with his grimoire drawn. “Hippo-”

“-Lyna!” Stumbling over the rocks, B’runi collapsed on the ground and looked ahead in desperation to see which of the fates held true for her dear friend. Instead of Hippolyta, she found Lynatwyr in front of her, saved in the nick of time by Bi’tala as he met the beast’s talons with his lance. 

Without hesitation, Lynatwyr spun around and sliced the large bird’s feet off, causing it to screech in pain. B’runi covered her ears as the world around her shifted again.

“Eris! Eris!” 

B’runi felt someone grab him and pull him to his feet. “Hippolyta-!” he sobbed loudly, tears pouring down his face, “No! We can’t leave them! Please, I can save her if I just-!”

“No,” Tiresias said in a stern voice, pulling B’runi away from the scene, “I know that look. You’ve tried enough. We need to get out of here now.”

“No-! Please, Tiresias! We can’t leave her behind! They’ll die without us!” B’runi pleaded as he fought Tiresias’s grip. 

“There’s no time, Eris!” Tiresias responded, pulling him harder. “We have to keep moving. Please.” The pain was obvious in his voice. He didn’t want to leave her any more than B’runi did. But they have no choice. The demonic bellwether was simply too strong for them. Hippolyta and Adonis were giving them this chance. They had to keep going. 

Adonis clapped his hands together and closed his eyes, his form twisting and shrinking into that of a small sylphic like creature with a long beard. Electricity crackled between his fingers as he focused on the demonic bellwether before them. “Begone foul beast!” he shouted, striking it with a flurry of lightning strikes. He flitted out of the way of one of the bellwether’s attack before being struck down by its talons and slamming into the ground. “Ggk-! Curse these old joints!” 

Hippolyta swung her axe at the beast, intercepting it as it tried to make for Adonis again. Blood and sweat coated her face and arms as she fought with every bit of energy she had left in her. “Go!” she called, “Get out of here! I’ll catch up! Ye needn’t worry about me!” 

“You better!” B’runi called before following along after Tiresias. They fled past the bird monster while it was still occupied by their two friends, the woman cleaving with all the fury she could muster even as her energy began to wane, and the man using the forbidden art of transformation to wield lightning to whatever advantage it would grant them. B’runi cast a quick glance as they ran past, saying a silent prayer. “May you find happiness in the star, old friends,” he whispered. 

Continuing down the path, they stopped under some cover to catch their breath. After a moment to breathe, B’runi felt Tiresias’s hand on his shoulder, but he found he lacked the energy to meet his gaze. “Eris,” he said, “look at me. Eris. Er-”

“-uni! Runi!” B’runi suddenly snapped back to reality again to find herself face to face with Skye. The group surrounded her in the small bit of cover they had found by the stadium. “Are you okay?” he asked quietly, “It’s not the light, is it?”

B’runi stared into Skye’s eyes for a moment before looking towards the meteor filled sky. “I don’t know,” she answered, “I don’t think it’s the light but…” B’runi cast her gaze towards Su'a, her fellow Warrior of Light standing nearby. His expression was unreadable, though his presence was notably different from the man she had grown accustomed to traveling with. He seemed more refined and elegant. A stranger wearing a friendly face.

B’runi’s answer only seemed to frighten Skye more, his grip on her shoulders tightening a little. “We need to find G’raha and get you out of here. All of you.” He glanced over towards Su'a, concern knitting his brow. He could sense it too. Something was different about Su'a. 

Lynatwyr shouldered her axe and looked back towards the arena. “Aye. Ta longer we stay here te worse me headache gets. I don’t much care fer it.” 

Su'a watched the group in silence. It was obvious the simulacrum was impacting all of them, if for nothing else than to scare them. They were all fragments of Ancients in some way, so this familiar scene likely sparked a primal fear in them all, even if some of them knew not why. Emet-Selch had intended this, to force he and B’runi specifically to remember their Final Days, that they might long for the time of peace before. But things were playing out differently. Su'a touched his stomach again. Nothing Emet-Selch showed them could make him sacrifice his friends and family for the days of old. 

He crossed his arms and focused on B’runi, the other adventurer still greatly out of sorts even as she managed to get to her feet. He wasn’t sure what was going through her head at the moment, whether Emet-Selch’s temptations had reached her or if she was as resolved against them as he was. Given the frequency of her dissociations though, it seemed likely that the simulacrum wasn’t causing her to long for the days of old, but instead forcing her to relive the harrowing memories of the Final Days. How that would affect her they’d have to see, but at least she was remembering. 

Then there was Lynatwr. Su'a looked over at his wife, her gaze fixated on the arena they had just passed through. She seemed to be lost in thought as well, her mouth forming a hard line across her face. She didn’t seem to remember anything, not like he or B’runi, as that likely wasn’t Emet-Selch’s intention with the simulacrum. Yet, she had walked this path with them, at least part of it. It only made sense that if any part of this place jogged familiar feelings, it would be that arena. The place she had been left to die. 

The fact that she was standing here now told Su'a all he needed to know though. Even if he couldn’t remember the event, Su'a knew that in order to be present here as a fragmented soul, Hippolyta somehow managed to hang on and fend off the bird monster. By the aid of someone else or on her own, he couldn’t be sure, but regardless, she somehow held on long enough to make it to the sundering. 

Su'a thought about offering this information to B’runi. Perhaps it would offer her some comfort amidst the sensory onslaught she was currently enduring. But as he turned back to her, he was met with an empty gaze, the woman lost in the past again as she relived yet another harrowing event from their last days alive. 

Perhaps it was for the best to keep quiet on it. While the knowledge that one of their friends had survived the ordeal would likely bring some comfort to B’runi, Su’a had no recollection of what became of Adonis. Had he truly perished in the arena? No, that didn’t seem right. Somehow, Su’a could sense that Adonis had survived too. Though who he had become remained a mystery. 

Bi’tala slipped his hand into Su’a’s and gave it a soft squeeze. Su’a squeezed his husband’s hand back in reassurance that he was alright. He hadn’t meant to frighten his friends so, yet… in this place, it seemed unavoidable. He appreciated the comfort of a familiar presence. 

“Let me see the gash on your back,” Su’a requested. 

“Of course, my love.” Bi’tala turned around and shrugged off the shreds of his top, blood soaked into the black fabric. He let out an audible sigh of relief as Su’a began to mend the wound with his curing spells. It would do little save the garments Bi’tala had acquired from his time with the Night’s Blessed, but those could also be acquired anew, once they escaped this damned simulacrum.

Skye gently shook B’runi. “Runi, please, stay with us.” The warrior furrowed his eyebrows in concern and turned to Su'a. “What’s happening to her? Is it the light? Is she…” 

Su'a shook his head. “It’s not the light. It’s… something much harder to explain.” Su'a frowned a little and said, “Emet-Selch is manipulating us for his own reasons. We need to keep moving. The sooner we can confront him, the better.”

B’runi gasped for air as she suddenly returned to reality again, grabbing onto Skye tightly to ground herself. She looked around frantically, regaining her bearings, before clutching her head a little. “I need to get out of here,” she mumbled, eyes brimming over with tears. 

Skye lowered his ears and swished his tail anxiously. Something was wrong with her and Su'a. No, wrong wasn’t the correct word here. Something was different. In the short time they had been separated, something had happened to change them. Though what exactly, Skye couldn’t even begin to guess. All he could do now was try to help get them out of here. Holding B’runi with one arm to keep her steady, he shouldered his axe with the other. “Let’s keep moving then. Su'a thinks we’re almost out.”

B’runi clung to Skye tightly, as if she thought he might disappear in an instant. Perhaps to her, that was actually the case. Her powers were beyond his comprehension, and this even moreso. All he could do now was comfort and protect her until they were free of this place. 

The group of five continued down the path in silence. The monsters, for better or worse, opted to leave their progress unimpeded for the time being as they continued forward. Yet, Su'a knew this wasn’t the end. Emet-Selch still had more to show them: how the Ancients “conquered” the Final Days. 

As if on cue, a tear sliced through the air in front of them, creating a purple aetherial distortion. The group eyed it in tense silence for a moment before Su'a said, “It’s Emet. He wishes us to press on.”

“Is it the only way?” B’runi asked weakly, her eyes distant as she tried to focus on the spatial rift just in front of her. 

“Yes. He wouldn’t do this without reason. That’s not in his nature,” Su'a explained simply. 

“You would know,” she said bitterly. 

Bi’tala glanced between the two warily as an unspoken exchange seemed to pass between the two Warriors of Light. He swallowed roughly and looked to Skye and Lyna, who seemed equally as unsettled. “Let’s just follow it,” Bi’tala suggested, “if Su'a thinks it’s the way out then I trust his judgment. The sooner we get out of here the better, right?’

“... right,” B’runi said after a moment of silence. Tightening her hold on Skye with one hand, B’runi reached out towards the rift. 

As soon as her fingers connected with its aether, she found herself whisked away to another plane, a platform with the star in view below them. Was this the Ancients home planet before it had been sundered? B’runi gazed around at the sprawling space around her. Despite everything that it had taken to get here, the view was breathtaking, that she couldn’t deny. It was not to be enjoyed unimpeded though, as the memories of the Final Days still bombarded B’runi’s senses to the point that she could barely discern where she was at the moment. 

As the others appeared behind her and took in the sight before them, Skye came to her side once more and wrapped his arm around his wife, grounding her in reality before she drifted off again. He wasn’t sure what else he could do, but if his presence was enough to comfort B’runi in her time of need, then that is what he’d provide until she requested otherwise.

Lynatwyr drew her axe again, taking up the vanguard position with Bi’tala as more monsters appeared in the path before them. “This be the way, right, lad?” she asked Su'a. 

“Yes,” Su'a said, “Emet is waiting for us on the other side of these monsters. Let’s go.”

The group of five charged forward down the long path through the starry sky. Even as the onslaught of monsters continued, they stood no chance against the group of adventurers. For better or for worse, B’runi’s episodes seemed to have subsided for now, possibly because the environment lacked the sheer number of triggering elements that the previous area had. But it was anyone’s guess. 

As they beat back the monsters, one after the other, each bigger and stronger than the last, Su'a could feel Emet-Selch’s presence lingering nearby. He was waiting to strike, to test their resolve one final time. Su'a tightened his grip on his staff. He was ready. No matter what Emet-Selch threw at them, he’d be ready to fight it off. 

Su'a glanced over at B’runi, the miqo'te seeming to have regained some grip on reality. Still, she was sluggish and slipping. The trauma brought on by the Finals Days was still taking its toll on her, even if they were away from most of the triggers. He had no doubt she’d be disoriented throughout the entire fight. Still, they couldn’t lose. They couldn’t afford to. 

Finally, the last beast was beaten back. They had won. Defeated the simulacrum. But the battle was far from over. At the end of their path stood the man himself, smirking as the group approached him. 

Su'a narrowed his eyes at Emet-Selch before extending his hand out to his side towards B’runi. B’runi gazed at it before looking up at Su'a. “He’s waiting for us,” he said simply. B’runi stared at his hand for a moment longer before taking it and moving to his side. 

“Then let’s not keep him any longer.”