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A deep sea.
I woke up and found myself submerged underwater, into the abyss of this deep sea.
Everywhere I looked, I only saw long stretches of blue across the horizon.
The deep sea also seems to show no signs of the sea bed at all. As if this was an endless abyss.
I couldn’t see it of course, but somehow, I can feel it.
I looked upward.
I saw a blinding light covering the surface of the water.
For some reason I can still breathe, but I guess it’s because I am neither alive nor dead at the moment.
And this place… also feels familiar for some reasons.
That’s right.
I’ve been here once, and it was many years ago. Almost three years ago, to be exact.
That’s really quite a time, to be honest, and somehow, I’m back in this place.
As if, this place was connected to me in a personal way.
Suddenly, I felt that I was being pulled upward.
I cannot hazard a guess as to who would’ve pulled me, but I can feel myself getting closer to the surface and facing the blinding light itself.
I braced myself as I entered the surface and closed my eyes.
Once I got pulled out of the surface, I found myself drifting on the surface of the water.
I woke up, and what I saw… was completely beyond my comprehension.
—
When I opened my eyes, I found myself in a wide, empty blue space. There were swords latched onto the still waters as far as my eyes could see.
“By the Twelve…,” I muttered.
What in the seven hells is this place?
I don’t think this place exists within the realm of Hydaelyn itself, and yet…
“Greetings,” A voice called out to me.
It caught me off guard.
I froze at where I sat. For some reason, I cannot seem to submerge into the water anymore.
Perhaps the natural laws of physics do not take effect in this realm. Especially that I can still breathe underwater early on.
I heard footsteps and rippling waters. It slowly approaches me.
Plop, plop, plop…
As the footsteps stopped, it revealed itself as a robed figure with a mask on his face.
His mask was similar to that of the Ascians, but it bore a different design. The mask was black in colour, with glowing green lines decorating the edges.
“I’ve been waiting for you for so long…,” the robed figure continued.
The robed figure put down the hood of his robe and revealed a messy, long blue hair. He also removed the mask from his face and revealed a pair of glowing green eyes.
“... my brave little shard,” he concluded.
Wait.
Glowing, green… eyes? Like me?
Who is this man?...
Suddenly, my head started to hurt and I furrowed my brow and grimaced.
My sudden headache caused the man to be slightly surprised, but he reached out for me and placed his hands on my shoulder.
“Steady now…,” he told me, “This is a normal occurrence, especially that this is our first proper meeting,”
The headache slowly disappeared as he touched me, and I slowly relaxed my brows.
“F-first proper meeting?” I repeated.
“Yes,” the robed man nodded, “I tried to reach out to you so many times, but because your body wasn’t in the right state to make a proper contact with me, it took until eight rejoinings before I could successfully establish a link between us,”
“I-I’m sorry? Eight rejoinings?” I asked again.
There was a lot going on inside my head.
Visions of the recent events suddenly flooded my mind.
The end of the world.
My body almost gave itself up to the light as it slowly transformed.
A familiar comrade comforting me during the lowest point of my life.
Another familiar comrade reached his axe out for me before confronting the final villain.
“Ah…” I gasped.
The robed man was still in front of me. He was watching me spacing out as I suddenly remembered the recent events.
“I assume that you must have been through a lot, am I right, my friend?” he asked.
I nodded.
“My apologies. I think it’s better if we start all over, shall we?”
The robed man let go of his hands from my shoulders and stood up.
There was a brief silence between us as the robed man momentarily pondered upon himself.
“To start off, I am the root of your existence,” he began, “I was you before the Final Days fell upon this realm, and you are one of my latest incarnations that currently survived in the present day,”
The me before the Sundering…
That reminds me, our life is an endless cycle of reincarnation.
When a person dies, their soul will be sent to the aetherial sea before they eventually reincarnate into a new body.
I know I have been told about this several times, but now that I think about it…
It's a small wonder I sometimes have dreams and visions of lives that I’ve not experienced firsthand.
I think I remembered having dreams of this man during the Final Days, and a vision from the Warrior of Light before me who travelled with my dad seven and a half years ago.
“My given name is Perseus, and in my lifetime, I held the title of the Traveler,” the robed man, Perseus continued, “Azem, the Traveler, to be exact,”
The Traveler, huh…?
Could he be associated with Hydaelyn in a way?
The way he carried himself reminded me of the Ascians, but in contrast, less hostile compared to their more malevolent counterparts.
It seemed to me that we were meant to meet, but I still don’t understand why.
“As I have mentioned, the reason we are able to meet now is that your soul is finally dense enough to establish a proper connection between you and me,” Perseus resumed, “I’ve been wanting to do this for such a long time is because I want to impart my knowledge unto my shards,”
“Knowledge?” I repeated his words.
“My magic, to be precise,” he answered, “I assume you are familiar with ‘reinforcement’ and ‘projection’ magicks, am I right?”
To recall...
Reinforcement magic is the art of strengthening an object by manipulating the aether and the material composition of the object.
While projection magic is the art of conjuring an object using aether manipulation by channeling our imagination in order to allow it to manifest into reality.
Wait.
Are you telling me, he is the one behind the strengthening magic that I have learned under Reynaud and Shishiro’s guidance all those years ago?
Perseus chuckled at the sight of my astonishment.
“I take that as a yes,” Perseus smiled with a shrug.
“Yeah, you’re right,” I replied, “I’ve learned a bit of strengthening, but I’ve never been able to do projection yet unfortunately,”
“I’m not surprised, to be honest,” he added, “Your body is not meant for magicks of that caliber yet,”
“Though, I think I only managed to do it once, but I guess that’s just out of pure luck,” I continued, “I was desperate to get out of the predicament I was in back then and eventually, that also led to my Echo’s awakening,”
I spoke of the time when I was swallowed by a giant sandworm during the final stages of the Rite of Passage.
In the U tribe, when the child of the U hit their nineteenth nameday, they must partake in a ritual called the Rite of Passage in order to be officially acknowledged as an adult.
After the Calamity, the current chief, U’odh Nunh, took me under his tutelage and trained me in order to be able to survive in the wilds and learn the basics of combat and adventuring.
It took me five years, but the training really paid off in the end.
Eventually, I am where I am now.
Anyway, as I’ve said.
I only mastered strengthening magic. Perseus told me that my body is not sufficient enough to be able to cast projection magic yet.
I wonder if that still stands?
Especially that I have been rejoined eight times thanks to Ardbert saving me at the last minute before I confront Emet-Selch.
“Interesting,” Perseus nodded at my explanation, “Now, considering that your soul is finally dense enough to be able to initiate a conversation with me, I guess now is the perfect time to impart my knowledge about these magicks,”
Huh, that’s interesting.
I guess that kinda saves me the trouble of supplementary magic classes with Reynaud again after this.
Wait.
Suddenly I feel like my body is drifting away but I still have a lot of questions.
“Oh no!” he interjected, “It seems that time is not on our side,”
Although, for now, I’ll just ask this one.
“One more question!” I interrupted, “W-where is this place, anyway? It doesn’t seem like I’m dead, but I don’t think I’m anywhere else in the First or the Source,”
“Ah yes,” Perseus pondered, “This place exists between dream and reality, mind and matter. As this place holds the connection between you and me, only we can enter this place, and because I am long dead, you can only speak with me here,”
“I see,” I took note of his words, “So this means I can see you again after this?”
“Precisely,” he nodded, “Go on. Adventure awaits, and I don’t want to hold you back when your friends are waiting out there,”
“Thank you,” I thank him, “I shall see you again when I can,”
After I nodded and waved goodbye at Perseus, I could feel myself slowly blinded by the light and eventually, disappeared from that place.
I don’t know how I ended up there, but I guess that means I had a really deep sleep.
But nonetheless, it was a worthy encounter.
The next thing I know, I was back on my bed, inside the chambers of the Pendants at the Crystarium.