Lord of Flame

Dear Friends,

You will not believe what I'm about to tell you.

Today, I met Aerylia and she told me her plan regarding the whole beastmen/empire situation. Her idea was to trek to the beastmen stronghold and try to convince the Amal'jaa to side with us against the Empire. HOW INSANE!

But you don't know Aery, she has a rather seductive way about her, and when she asks a favor I cannot seem to help myself.

So, like fools, we made the journey to Paglth'an, the Amal'jaa stronghold. Naturally, we were sighted as soon as we arrived and taken into custody by a small army of beastmen. Personally, I was a bit worried about being eaten. Aeryila on the other hand, seemed quite excited. She said that she heard a rumor that a real life Paragon might be here at the stronghold. What is a Paragon? I suppose I should address that first. According to the slyphs, Paragons are the legendary beings that taught the beastmen tribe to summon their primal gods. Aery seems convinced that if we met up with this Paragon, it could help turn the tide in the battle against the Empire.

We were held captive with several other adventurers. However, they all seemed to be brainwashed. They were very "numb"-sounding when I tried to speak with them and they kept claiming to worship the beastmen god Ifrit at their master. It was as if all the will had been drained from their spirit. It wasn't long until the Amal'jaa came back and brought us out from the cave they had us holed-up in. They ordered several of the other captives to attack us. Reluctantly, we defended ourselves. Luckily, the other prisoners all came to their senses before we had to actually hurt them.

Seeing this angered the beastmen and then they themselves attacked us. This it where is gets unbelievable... Suddenly, crashing down from the sky was the MASSIVE form of the legendary Primal, Ifrit! The Lord of Flame! In the flesh!

He reared back his head and a wave of searing flame erupted from his mouth. It engulfed Aerylia and Myself, as well as several of the other adventurers that were jailed with us. It seemed that the intention of the flame was not to destroy us, but rather to change our minds on some psychic level. This must be why the other prisoners were so out of it...

Surprisingly, this mental-flame attack did not seem to have any effect on Aerylia and I. This REALLY seemed to get Ifrit's attention, as he leaned down and actually SPOKE to us.

Aerylia appealed to him. She told him of the Empire's plans to go to war with his people. He observed us for a moment and accused us of being in league with some of the other primals! We naturally denied this. He seemed to believe us but he warned us not to summon our own Primal into this world or we would suffer the consequences. He truly believed us to have this power. He said he could SMELL it on us! With this, we were dismissed. Can you believe it!?

Aerylia seemed really interested in the concept that the special abilities granted to us by the Echo may actually be the boon of some long forgotten god or Primal. At first my reaction was dismiss such a claim. But then, my mind went back to the first day I sat foot in Gridania. The day the airship crashed and took down the hedge. I recalled that disembodied voice that told me:  "Feel... Hear.... Think...".

Could it be....

Omigosh!

~Kiji