“S’olahr! Watch out!” Erden yells, shoving him aside and beheading a cavalry drake that was previously rushing him.

“B-bloody hells.” Olahr mutters. “Sorry, I just--”

“Don’t worry about it,” you say. “Just get her back on her feet!”

“Right.” S’olahr turns his attention back to Phekda and falls to his knees. “Elementals, hear now my prayer for succor…”

“There’s three more coming, from the east! They’re going to surround us!” Hana shouted before disappearing into a puff of smoke.

“Earth, grant us the aether we need to survive,” Olahr grabs his wand and waves it through the air. As he does so, the very land beneath Phekda shimmers.

“Brick! We need a wall, cover our flank!” You command, and Brick immediately rushes to do so, repeatedly striking the ground to raise a larger and larger wall of stone. You turn your attention to the Amalj'aa Erden is focusing down and begin to unleash a volley of light upon them.

“Ice, halt these wounds so that we might have the time needed to recover…” Olahr places his wand directly above Phekda’s stomach where blood was thoroughly soaked into her clothes, though her all-red attire made it difficult to tell at a glance. Behind, the wall Brick made already began to crumble under repeated assault from enemy attacks.

“So much for blowing my cover, where are those Ul’dahn soldiers!?” Erden holds the line south, brawling one Amalj’aa soldier while holding the other in place with his chains. Repeated strikes with his claymore manage to cut cleanly through most scalekin, but the Amalj’aa’s hide is much harder to slice.

“Water, replenish this vessel and grant her the strength to stand again!” Olahr exclaimed, raising his wand skyward. A brilliant light emitted from it, and he made a striking motion down onto Phekda’s chest. “RAISE!” The light covered her whole body and began to pull her back onto her feet.

CRACK! The stone wall behind them scattered as soldiers burst through it, weapons at the ready.

“NO!” Olahr screamed, whipping around and launching the scattered stones back at them. Shrapnels of rock punctured the necks of their frontline and caused them to fall limp, but an agile drake took their place, crawling over the growing pile of dead bodies to lunge at him. Just before it could reach, Hana appeared from behind and slit the beast’s throat. Free of immediate danger, Olahr turned his attention back to Phekda, who was conscious but still in rough shape. He began to quietly chant more incantations to bolster her health.

Hana turned to Erden, who was still trying his best to hold the line, and began to make a complex set of hand gestures. After a brief delay, she bent forward and slammed her hand onto the ground, and after a second a geyser of water erupted underneath the Amal’jaa Erden had bound, causing it to roar with pain. In a frightening burst of speed, she lunged towards it and unleashed a devastating attack from behind, forcing it to collapse to the ground beneath the weight of her blade.

With a strong but steady volley of attacks, you and Erden finished dealing with the last remaining Amalj'aa, giving the group a much needed moment to breathe.

“T-thank you, Olahr.” Phekda muttered.

“Don’t do that to me again!!” Olahr said in a panicked shout, tearing up.

“I was just so worried about what would happen if that javelin had hit you, I moved before I could think.” She said, scratching the back of her head. “...Tactically speaking, it’d be really bad if we lost our healer.”

“Tactically speaking,” you close your grimoire. “If we lose you, our biggest source of damage, we get overwhelmed like that very easily. Not to mention, I can get Olahr back on his feet just fine.” You let out a sigh. “It’s a good thing we have Hana here, with her…water.”

“Suiton isn’t really…meant to be used like this,” Hana explains, “but they’re very weak to water, so I guess it works out!”

“I’m more durable than I look, Phekda!” Olahr huffed. “...But…thank you for looking out for me.” She smiled and leaned into the cup of his hand, before her ears perked.

“Those footsteps…” She turned to the south and saw a massive basilisk making its way towards them, its steps shaking the very earth it walked upon.

“Gods’ sake…” You shake your head. “At the rate they’re coming at us, we’re never going to make it to their fortress before we’re completely exhausted.”

“Maybe we should…” Erden began, before catching something in the corner of his eye. “...Huh?”

“That aether…!” Olahr exclaimed. “Erden, Anah’to, help me hold it still!”

“Uh, alright!” You quickly flip through your pages to fluid aura and target one of the beast’s hind legs. Olahr does the same to the other, and Erden uses his chains to hold it down in the front. It writhes in place for a brief moment, before a luminous blast of pure light comes down from the heavens and irradiates the beast.

“Such magnificent teamwork!” A very familiar but unexpected voice calls out to you all, as your mother Anah runs up to you all followed by a band of Immortal Flames troops, who she turns to as she approaches. “Give us just a moment to speak, and hold the line in the meantime. Give a shout if you see anything.” She sheathes her still-glowing sword and shield, and pulls you in for a big hug. “Are you all in good health? The Amalj'aa are particularly tenacious today!”

“Mom! It’s so good to see you.” You try to squirm away before she crushes you. “I didn’t expect to see any paladins today, let alone you!”

“Yes, well.” She crossed her arms. “There was actually meant to be a much larger number of us, but…an unexpected development in Ul’dah forced us to divvy up. I can explain that later, though.” She turned to O’lahr. “Goodness, O’lahr, is that you?!”

“Hi, Anah!” O’lahr said a little stiffly. “It’s been a long time!”

“That it has! And what a handsome young man you’ve grown into!” She clasped her hands together. “You really are the spitting image of Arhll! And I see you’ve taken up conjury, a very noble profession!”

“Eheh!” He rubbed the back of his head.

“It’s great to see you again, too, Erden.” She glanced over at your waist. “And I see you finished that lovely new grimoire you were talking about, too.” She gently elbows your side. “Isn’t that just the sweetest thing in the whole world? A real heartfelt gift that speaks to what you are most passionate about!”

“Yes, it really is amazing!” You open the grimoire and show the pages. “The design of it even lets me cast stronger light spells than I could before. Though…I’m obviously still nowhere near your level.”

“Oh, Anah’to, I told you to stop comparing yourself to others!” She puts her hands on her hips. “You’re a very strong mage, and very persistent too! I’m confident you will do great things.” Her attention drifts to the pages directly. “...Did you imbue these pages yourself, Erden?”

“...Um,” he shuffles nervously. “Well, I had a little help from Mizu and the alchemist’s guild.” He does not elaborate further.

“I see.” She turns to him with a welcoming smile that grows ever so slightly deeper after he stops talking. “And you two ladies, I’m so sorry for ignoring you! In case you couldn’t tell, I am Anah, Anah’to’s mother.”

“I’m Phekda, and this is Hana.” Phekda said. “We’re both members of the Scions of the Seventh Dawn.”

“I’m vaguely familiar with your organization, but it’s nice to meet you in person.” Anah shook Phekda and Hana’s hands. “I see you are a red mage as well! Are you perchance studying under X’rhun?

“You’ve met my teacher?” Phekda asked.

“Yes, he frequents the Ul’dah area, and occasionally helps us deal with…more complex threats to the city.” Anah looked wistful. “He’s…quite dashing, too.”

“Mom!” You spit out, Phekda erupted into laughter.

Anah tried to regain her composure.

“You said your name was Phekda, right? I could’ve sworn I had heard that name before…”

“I am getting pretty famous around the realm these days.” Phekda puffed out her chest. “...But my full name is Phekda Minoris, if that helps ring any bells.”

“Minoris?!” Anah gasped out, before immediately raising her hand over her mouth, resulting in confused looks all around. “Ah, I mean…” She let out a sigh. “I certainly don’t mean to dig up old wounds, especially here of all places, but I heard about what happened to your brother Nahwe’a from X’rhun. He had mentioned you as his protege as well, it must have slipped my mind.” She grimaced. “You have my condolences.”

“How…how much did you hear?” Phekda seemed to tense up, and both Erden and Olahr looked anxious as well.

“...Nothing specific,” Anah lowered her eyes. “Another casualty of the calamity.

“...Right.” Phekda’s grip on her forearm tightened. Erden looked like he was gearing up to say something, and you almost wanted to push for further questions, but knew all too well that there is a time and a place to just keep your mouth shut.

“Pray forgive me, I should never have brought it up.” Anah bowed her head. “After this is over, let me treat you to a meal at the Quicksand as a way of apology.”

“That won’t be necessary,” Phekda seemed to hype herself back up. “But I appreciate the kind gesture. Let’s just focus on the mission.” Anah returned to her usual graceful demeanor, though hints of pain leaked through it.

“Right then.” Erden turned toward the mountains in front of you all. “Not much further now.”

“Given we don’t have the echo, we’ll be together once we get near the summoning grounds.” You say to Anah. She nods.

“We still have time. If the summoning had been completed, we’d see a solar eclipse cloud the sky over as we get close.” Anah drew her sword and shield. “Let us proceed with the utmost haste.”

“I’ll scout ahead!” Hana said confidently as she disappeared from view.

“Are you sure you’re good to keep going?” Olahr asked Phekda.

“Yeah, you did a good job patching me up. I’ll try not to do anything reckless like that again.” She chuckled.

The six of you and your accompanying Immortal Flames brigade made your way forward towards The Bowl of Embers, not quite sure what exactly would await you there.