After S’anah’to and I get patched up in Gridania, we are…’recruited’ by S’olahr to investigate The Tam-Tara Deepcroft. I try my best to keep a strong smile as we enter a crypt full of ghouls and ghosts alike, to limited success.

“You waste much and more time with these...errands. They can be accomplished by ANY adventurer, not a man of your talent!” The voice within grumbles. “Wait, what is that? In the corner of your eye!”

I am mesmerized by a massive orb of void magic at the peak of the dungeon, suspended by the magic beams the cultists invoke. At a glance, I can tell these rituals are feeding it, calling to something in the far distance-- not that it takes an aetherologist to note that ‘void magic’ tends to mean ‘voidsent summoning ritual.’

“We’ve got to stop them!” He snarls. “Such potent destruction can’t be tolerated!”

A bit of a change in tune. I think to myself, rolling my eyes at the audacity of it all. We make our way through the cultist’s home. The lunatics themselves make little challenge-- any time we ‘formally’ fight them, it is over in a matter of seconds, especially once S’olahr and K’yoko start working together to cruelly plummet them to their death.

Everyone who knows my story has already heard what happened next. K’yoko was held at knifepoint, and I was hasty, as it were. Every time I recount the tale, I try to field other people’s reactions. Was I in the wrong to behave so quickly, or is that the only reason we managed to make it out alive at all? It isn’t my decision to make, neither is it any of theirs. The only one who can really ever say if what I did was fair or not is K’yoko herself, who is silent whenever it is brought up.

While she was held hostage, the voice in my head commanded me once again to act. Not that it needed to. The weaving of shadows in the cave isn’t exactly easy, given the orbs of light each member of our party was holding, but with time and effort enough, I moved them from all around the room and coalesced them into a point.

I pierce the man’s chest at a wide angle to prevent impaling K’yoko as well, but my hard work is for naught. He reaches down and slits her throat before I can pull him all the way off the ground. “NO!” Our voices erupt in my mind together, furious at the man and at myself for letting this happen. I pick up my axe and throw it with all my might into his chest, nearly splitting him in two, and then slam him down axe-first, pushing it the rest of the way through.

I want to check on K’yoko, but I know that the best way I can help her is to keep doing what I do best. I hold the front while both S’olahr and S’anah’to try to get her back in working order, and eventually we’re in position to hold down the fort. K’yoko is understandably in shock and not able to help, but with our incredible defensive advantage we’re able to ward them off.

Once the fighting is done, we begin to make our way out. I’m mostly quiet, trying to give everyone else time to catch up. There isn’t a doubt in my mind that they kept track of exactly what I was doing back there, so the jig is ‘up,’ as it were.

“Stop.” The voice commands me. “Aren’t you forgetting something?” Slowly, my gaze returns to the orb. “Consume its aether. If it remains, it will cause havoc. We can make use of it.” I hesitate, but ultimately agree. Reaching my arm out, I pull the aether from it directly into me. The power of the void is ravaging, threatening, but I am indomitable, and overcome this festering power with relative ease. “...More…” The voice echoes. “We will need more to protect what we love. To stop that bastard savior of hers.”

I can feel the edges of my mind spark with potential as I get used to this new form of magic, but I keep this to myself as we all move forward. K’yoko does her best to keep her distance from me, but is also visibly trying not to be too obvious about it. Whenever I glance in her direction, she immediately looks away, and gets an ilm closer to S’anah’to.

I’m almost offended. Almost. I look down at my blood-soaked arms and see her purple cloak splattered with red all along the back and can’t help but wonder if I even deserve her good graces. On the sacrosanct path of a dark knight, these are inevitabilities of the job, or so I’shanta readily warned me. ‘If you wish to take up this claymore and still live an ordinary life, you’ve got a hell of a storm coming your way.’

The inn is stiflingly awkward. I explain why I’ve done what I have, and why I walk the path that I do, but it seems to do little for K’yoko. Out of respect for her privacy, I do not attempt to activate my echo’s power, choosing instead to gaze out of the window where thoughts may remain hidden. Or so I tell myself. Perhaps the truth is that I would rather not know how she feels in such certain terms.

It’s all a bit much. I shrink into myself for a while after pouring my life’s story onto the table, as it feels I’ve said far, far too much. Once we call it a night, I toss and turn in my bed-- these things were clearly not designed with Au Ra horns in mind, so I’m forced to stew in relative discomfort for most of the night.

“We could be helping the world right now, instead of vegetating in this miserable room.” The voice calls out once again.

Do you have a name? I ask, and wait for a long while before I get an answer.

“Not one of my own, no.”

Would you like one?

“...”

How about Khasar?

“...Thank you.” Khasar murmurs. They are silent for the rest of the night.

When the next dawn rises, we are all greeted with the delightful sight of a city-state brimming with festivity as the Starlight Celebration fast approaches. A joy that swells my heart and fades just as quickly as it arrived when I realize I have not taken ANY steps to prepare a gift for S’anah’to.

I cobble together the lamest excuse in the world, and S’anah’to clearly has an almost bemused expression on his face when he escorts me to the Aetheryte. Instead of returning to Wineport, however, I take a detour directly to Ul’dah. S’anah’to mentioned that he needed a new book, so I begin to take the steps required to make him the best custom grimoire in the history of the world. From listening to S’anah’to’s extended explanations on how they work, I understand that what one really needs for a good tome is an experienced alchemist, and make my way directly towards the guild.

“ERRRDEEEEN!” A horrifying war scream calls out from halfway down the road as Mizu runs towards me with all her might. I sigh in anticipation and brace my body, but when she’s around halfway to me, she teleports the remaining distance and completely catches me off guard. She raises her staff up to bonk my head, so I push her away using an open palm against her forehead. “Hnng! HNNNGGG!!”

“Mizu, mercy! I’m on a very important errand!” I protest her flailing, though for all the magical power she boasts, she is even scrawnier than S’anah’to-- nay, than K’yoko. An impressive feat for any living creature.

“You guys didn’t tell me you were leaving!!” She brings her staff down and I catch it with my other hand, noticing that she has...somewhat crudely affixed the brilliant gem Himoto found on our earlier expedition to its tip. The viability of such a weld is a bit beyond my area of expertise, but if I were to guess, I would assume this isn’t the best approach.

“Mizu, are you sure this is the best way to…” I catch her eyes, which burn hotter than a thousand suns. “Ah, what I mean to say is, your staff looks very dangerous and powerful, even more-so than before.”

“Are you and Anah’to fuckin!?” She asks very pointedly, flailing her arms around as I continue to hold her at arm’s length.

“W-what?!” I flush with embarrassment and let her go, causing her to tumble and slam face-first into the ground. “That’s…!”

“I like this one’s audacity.” Khasar comments. “We could learn from her.”

“My staff IS very powerful!” She scrambles up without missing a beat. “So you better not hurt Anah’to, or I’ll bust your kneecaps with my big gem, you spell-hating fiend!” She slams her staff into the ground and uses it to pull herself slightly further upwards. “I don’t know what’s got your balls in a twist about thaumaturgy, but--!”

“Oh for gods’ sake, Mizu. If I show you some magic will you calm down?” I snap back at her, which immediately catches her attention and intrigues her. She leads me to a private section within the Thaumaturge’s guild, and I sigh as I realize that somehow, SOMEHOW, keeping Mizu in the loop is less dangerous than keeping her out of it.

She closes the door to the room we’re in and sits down on a small stool, pulling out a clipboard and pen. After writing a few words, she looks up attentively and nods for me to begin.

I summon the power of lightning into my open palm, and experimentally add a taste of void energy to it. The lightning, which normally crackles between purple and white, immediately becomes a suffocating shade of navy blue. When I unleash it on the dummy, it strikes, ignites it, and also corrodes the wood of the dummy itself. The corrosion only lasts for a few seconds, but the fire finishes the target off.

“Sweet Rhalgr’s Levin!” Mizu rattles with excitement and drops the clipboard instead of taking any actual notes. “Ghk! If you’re so good with lightning magic, why didn’t you like my books!?”

“Your notes were great, Mizu. I just didn’t want people to know I was using this magic, yourself included.”

“...Ooooh!” Mizu clasps her hands together. “Why didn’t you say so?? We have secret members of the guild all the time!” She clears her throat. “I suppose, then, that you are actually very cool, and I am happy that you are with Anah’to.”

“I…” I hang my head in shame. Truly, I have known no lower.

“A little tip!” She whispers to me. “If you want him to really fall apart, just call him Anah’to! He’s not used to people he doesn’t consider family callin’ him that!” I commit this to memory. “...Oh, right, you said you were on an errand, right? I’m sorry for keeping you from it, even if this was an extremely important demonstration.”

“Yes, I wanted to get him a new grimoire for the upcoming Starlight Celebration. He mentioned that his old one was in need of an upgrade.”

“I see, I see!” She says, rubbing her chin. “In that case, I recommend visiting Shinobu at the alchemists’ guild.”

“Have you worked with her before?”

“No, but I do remember that when S’anah’to was getting his first grimoire, the Sultana specifically requested that she make it, or so Anah told us.” She crossed her arms. “You do know where the guild is, right? If you took the time to kiss the new aethernet crystals, you can get there pretty quickly!”

“...The aethernet?” I ask, a bit boorishly.

“Come on, silly little man.” She leads me just outside the guild and points to a quaint crystal in a metallic, protective shell. “Go on then, give it a big ol’ smooch!”

“...Mhm.” I slowly approach it and channel my aether into and out of it, identically to what I’ve grown well-acquainted to doing with aetherytes.

“Alright, I’ve got to get back to work making lightning even cooler than you did!” Mizu punched her own open palm and put on her game-time face. “Next time we meet, I’ll show you how powerful you’d be if you studied at the thaumaturge’s guild full-time!”

“Thank you for the help, Mizu.” I say definitively, walking off back towards the main plaza. I, of course, do not have any clue where I am going, and wander around randomly. Every time I come across an aethernet shard, I take the time to attune to it, and systematically work throughout the publicly accessible areas of Ul’dah until I eventually run into Anah’to’s mother Anah, who is stationed just outside the Royal Promenade.

“Well met, Erden. What brings you to our fine city?” Her demeanor is calm and welcoming, but I can see the confidence she projects.

“I’ve come to have a new grimoire made for S’anah’to in preparation for the Starlight Celebration.” I explain, though clearly look terribly lost to her.

“I see!” This brings her a warm smile. “Full glad am I to hear of such thoughtful behavior. If you’re looking for the alchemists’ guild, you’ll find it down that corridor over there, on the left. Within that chamber is the Scholars’ walk, and at the end of the long hall lies the guild in question.”

“Thank you!” I give a half-bow and turn to leave.

“Ah, just...two more things, before you go.” Her perfect composure falters for a brief moment. “I heard that Halone’s Champion attacked you and Anah’to. Though, I see that you, at least, have made a full recovery. I try not to pry too deeply into my son’s life now that he has left the nest, but...is he alright?”

“Yes! We both journeyed to the conjurer’s guild and were healed in full.” I try not to sound too enthusiastic about this fact, while keeping a reassuring tone.

“Excellent! An…” She cleared her throat. “Ace mentioned that his injuries were less severe.” She shifted her stance and crossed her arms. “I assume that someone has already discussed the state of your aether with you, yes? It’s...very astrally aligned, especially for a non-magic wielder such as yourself. I fear the encounter with this champion has made it even worse.”

“...Yes.” I match her stance. “I’m aware of the situation, though resolving it is a bit less clear to me.”

“The Thaumaturge’s of Ul’dah may be able to provide...some counsel on this. I know you are not much of a mage yourself, but if you were to learn some umbral-aspected magic, preferably something to do with ice, you would get a lot of mileage in treatment.” She taps the side of her cheek with her left hand. “...Barring that, you may be able to do a partial aetheric exchange with Anah’to. His aether is a bit over-aspected umbrally, so it could even out. Such an exchange would be well within his training as a Paladin, permitting you are comfortable enough to ask for such a thing.” I look half-distressed, and half-confused, which she clearly picks up on. “...Ah! Forgive my ramblings. How you handle your aether is hardly any of my business! If you have any more questions while you are in Ul’dah, you know where to find me.”

I thank her for her...help? And head down to the alchemists’ guild. I ask the guild receptionist for Shinobu, and find her tinkering away with some kind of liquid dispenser thing that’s a bit beyond my farmboy education and confirm her identity. She slowly raises her pair of safety goggles after backing away from her work station and asks how she can help me.

Her voice is soft to the point where I have some difficulty hearing here, though that may just be due to the roaring machines and puffs of steam that can be heard throughout the guild. You introduce yourself and your ‘client,’ and try to get into as specific of detail as possible. She calmly flips open an encyclopedia-sized notebook and flips through the pages until she finds a perfect diagram of Anah’to’s grimoire and begins to add notes on the following page.

“A grimoire of light will be challenging to construct.” She informs you pointedly, pulling out a few diagrams as she explains. “A less experienced alchemist might just give you light-infused ink and send you on your way, but it won’t work on just ordinary paper. When you over-aspect ink, it conducts the aether extremely well.” She looks you directly in the eyes. “A bit too well. It will bleed into the pages. After around a week or two, you’ll need a whole new grimoire, and the spells won’t have good geometric definition.

“So…” She lowers her goggles and reaches over the counter to grab a few more diagrams that are tucked behind a precarious stack of bottles. “You’ll need equally and oppositely infused paper. The better the quality, the better the ink I can use, the better the spellwork.” She taps the tips of her fingers together. “I can have this sorted out within a few days, but it’s going to get pretty expensive based on how good you want it to be.”

“...What if I could...get someone to infuse the paper, would that reduce the cost?” I ask in a very hypothetical way.

“Yes.” She spins around in her seat and reaches for some paper on the far end of her desk. “The infusion is the most expensive component of a grimoire. It requires magnitudes of magic more to infuse all the pages, whilst the ink requires more precision.” She stops reaching out upon gripping something. “Ah. There we are.” She pulls out a dense, very light gray sheet of paper and hands it to you. “This is corrosion resistant paper, good for astral imbuement. Bring this back to me after whatever thaumaturge you know fills it up, and I’ll synthesize an appropriate ink to match.” She leans a bit closer. “Make sure you bring it yourself, too. Those delivery moogles always ruin the pages by folding them.” I wouldn’t exactly call her ‘emotional,’ but I would say this is the most emotion I ever see her express during my time with her.

“Got it.” I say, taking a brisk walk to the aethernet shard and warping back to the thaumaturge’s guild. I excuse myself to the private training room I was in a few moments earlier, and happily find it empty. I take a seat on the small stool in the room, and get to work imbuing the first page. I grab both sides of the paper and gently run electrical aether across its surface, adding the finest droplets of the void energy I tapped into earlier.

I continue to add more and more of my aether into the spell and watch the paper change color, gradually fading from light gray into a darker and darker navy until it lists onto the color black. Once I try to imbue more, I notice the edges of the page begin to fray and stop. ‘That wasn’t so bad,’ I think to myself, before realizing that I need to do that once every time I want to imbue one page.

I let out a heavy sigh and move onto the next page, focusing my attention so as to not ‘overcook’ it again. The instant the paper turns pitch, I release my grip. After one or two times where I accidentally fray the pages, I get the timing down pretty well. By the time I make it to the bottom of the pile, I have around 40 sheets of infused paper, and carefully ride the line of maintaining consciousness.

Before I pay Shinobu a visit, I grab a quick bite to eat at the Quicksand-- just some Coffee Biscuits, nothing too fancy. Afterwards, I walk to the guild, not wishing to spend another bit of aether to give my body a break. I try to avoid eye contact with any brass blades on the way-- not that they know exactly what I’ve been up to in the past few months, but any attention is bad attention.

“Is Her Grace not to be disturbed?” I overhear a grizzly, familiar voice and duck around the corner. Peeking through the iron grates, I see Nophica’s Savior speaking to Anah. “I bring urgent news regarding Halone’s Champion.”

“You are in no state to pick a fight!” Khasar ushers. “We need to quit this place immediately!”

I know that! I need to know more, though!

“I’m terribly sorry, Daiki.” Anah shrugged her shoulders. “You know how things get around this time of year-- everyone wants to cram in meetings before the holidays. I’m sure we can arrange a brief meeting with the paladins, though. Go get Jenlyns, he should be on the other end of the chamber.”

“I suppose these things can’t be helped.” He began to step away and then flinched. “Who goes there?!” I heard steel draw and ducked around the corner before he could see me directly. “Tch. These wandering thaumaturges interfere with my senses.”

“Tell me about it!” Anah let out a hearty chuckle. “There’s no need to take your duty so seriously here, Daiki. I know as a wandering Paladin it’s not easy to trust ‘the sultanate,’ but the security here is the finest in Eorzea.”

“...Indeed.” I heard the distinct sound of a blade sheathing. “I look forward to discussing this with everyone. See you soon.”

As metal boots muffled by carpet move in my general direction, I tactically retreat to the alchemists’ guild and nervously make my way to the back corner. Shinobu has a wide array of inks set on display by the time I make my way around, and seems extremely surprised by how the paper I hand her looks.

She looks like she wants to say something, but instead reaches into a drawer and pulls out an aetheroscope pair of goggles before taking a closer look. She carefully combs over the surface of the page before looking at me directly, then raises the paper up to compare it and I. She slowly lowers her goggles and clears her throat.

“This is the best aetherically-infused paper I have ever received, astrally speaking. I can tell you managed to infuse it with some void magic, magic you yourself seem to bear.” She pulls out a separate pen and paper. “Do you have a storefront? This could prove invaluable to the guild.”

“...No, not now, but...maybe someday.” I awkwardly cross my arms.

“Hm. Well…” She puts on her normal goggles again and spreads the paper out across her desk. “This is top shelf stuff. The ink won’t come cheap, but...you said this is a replacement for S’anah’to, right?” She flipped through a few pages in his file. “Says here he’s a member of the Immortal Flames, and a corporal at that-- it should be very easy to get a write-off for the ink.

“This should go without saying,” she continues, stacking the papers and bringing them against a beautiful, ornate, white and golden book casing. “If you try to use astral spells in this tome, it’s going to cause a real disaster. It’ll damage the page you use it on, and the spell itself is going to go flying in every which way, so don’t do that.” She moves with such speed and precision, it’s very difficult to keep up with.

“The ink itself will be made from corrupted ice shards, pulverized to non-threatening concentrations.” She dabs a brush in what I’m pretty sure is glue and runs it along the edge of the pages before firmly pressing a sturdy looking vinyl strip to it. “I’ve mixed it with aethersand to give you an idea of just how valuable this thing is-- cutting edge stuff.” She pulls out a threading needle and begins to sew the strip to a fine leather cover. “This stuff would’ve been a lot easier to pull off before Coerthas dropped out of the Eorzean Alliance, but that’s just the way the world is.”

I blink and she’s finished. Well, ‘finished,’ she’s given me a large vial of ink and an empty book, but that’s about as far as I’m going to be able to take this gift before I get some intervention from S’anah’to. Then I get a brilliant idea-- I should go to the Arcanist’s guild myself and get help from his guildmates to fill it with all the spells he’s made so far, to save him the hassle of needing to render it himself.

“You’re a real miracle worker with grimoires, huh?” I marvel, flipping through the nicely bound book.

“I mostly work with potions, actually.” She lowers her goggles again and begins to write down details of the exchange on paper before bringing them over to the guild’s secretary. Before I leave, Shinobu re-emphasizes my potential as an astral enchanter, and I thank her for her kindness before going on my way, though it's hard to tell how much of it is compassion and how much of it is self-interest.

Wanting to avoid a confrontation with ‘Daiki,’ I use the guild’s aethernet system to warp down to the main aetheryte. Luckily, the time I spent staring at Shinobu’s handiwork was enough time to recover aetherically, at least somewhat. Reaching out with my mind, I warp directly to Limsa.

The jig is immediately up as when I warp in, S’anah’to was approaching the plaza from the guild. Talk about rotten luck! I try to hide the grimoire behind me, but it’s no use, it immediately catches his eye. It seems as though something else was on his mind, but he tries his best to catch up with the situation before him.

I present him with the new weapon and try my best to recount all of the details surrounding its creation, making sure to give him the same warnings that Shinobu gave me. When I tell him I infused the pages myself his eyes go wide and his tail flicks back and forth like a propeller.

“Oh Erden, my sweet, sweet, Erden.” He gives me a tight embrace. “I see now my faith is well-placed, contrary to what K’yoko would have me believe.”

“What do you mean?” I tilt my head, not having heard of the hottest developments in Gridania.

“We have an imposter to catch.” He pulls his new grimoire up and holds it aloft. “And with this, I think I know how.”