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[alicesadventuresinffxiv]

FFxivWrite2024 #15 (Free) / #wolkrileweek #2

Title: A Nostalgic Adventure 

Wordcount: 552

Spoilers through: Eureka, Shadowbringers

Alternate Universe: WoL!Fordola

Relationships & Characters: Krile (Azem)

Summary: Krile finds a strange crystal in Galuf’s office.

(Sunday was the free day for FFxivWrite, and meanwhile I'd been thinking about Krile ideas because of #wolkrileweek... so I woke up this morning and a weird fusion of both fell out of my brain. ^^;)

.

Krile puttered about the board room, straightening books, cleaning up dust and debris. Eureka was no more, but more importantly Eijika, Fordola, and the whole team of adventurers were safe, thank goodness. 

The past few moons had been quite the adventure! Far more excitement than Krile preferred, to be honest.

And yet… risking her life, battling strange beasts, exploring the unknown… there was something about it that had felt uncannily familiar. As impossible as it could be. Krile was a creature of comfort and academia. However much she ached to do more to help the Scions, her talents and personality were best suited for support. 

Take now, for example. Ejika’s stunt (not to mention the revelations of the final fate of her grandfather) had left her feeling rattled. Something about the whole encounter, the horrible explanation for the isle’s fate, still nagged at her even as she refused to look away from its truth. And so she cleaned and she wandered, as though putting the room back the way it had been could also restore her broken, grieving heart to the way it had been.

Krile idly shuffled through the books on Grandfather’s desk. It felt uncomfortable to touch them - as though he would appear at any moment to gently scold his nosy little bundle of trouble for going through his things the way she did his thoughts - but the books belonged on the shelves and leaving them scattered about did naught for no one.

Then she froze.

Underneath the parchment that contained Galuf’s final words was a curious orange crystal. And the aether pulsating from it… ah, that was why she hadn’t noticed it before. It was incredibly strong, but not elementally aspected as she’d been on guard for.

An artifact like this… whatever it was, it was dangerous. Every instinct that made Krile, Krile, screamed at her not to touch it. Let someone who actually understood cursed objects handle it!

And yet, when she picked it up, it felt right in her hand.

Even as it felt as though the floor lurched out from under her and she was falling, falling, falling into the memory.

Krile remembered. Galuf’s hurried preparations. His confrontation with the Ascian. The way the monster in the black robe had laughed as she’d drawn Krile’s limp body out of the dark portal.

(Of course she hadn’t made it to the harbor. She’d never had the chance.)

Krile remembered. Galuf’s terror and fury at seeing her so helpless. The Ascian’s cruel taunts. She’d never been after Eureka at all. What was a mere eikon to their cause, compared to finding her?

The Paragons would reward her handsomely for this.

Krile remembered. The look of resignation and sorrow on her grandfather’s face. His farewell and an apology. His last spell, and the light of the Mothercrystal into which he’d entrusted her.

It was a kinder fate than what the Ascian had intended for her. But even the best-laid plans of gods and men were wont to go awry. 

Krile gasped and clutched her head as she remembered. Wanderer. Adventurer. Not who she was now. But who she had once been.

Tear after tear poured down the lonely girl’s cheeks as her eyes took on an ancient, unearthly glow.

At the wrong time, in the wrong place… Azem remembered.