Words on the Wind

I step outside of the temple-like shelter the Dusk Sages have given us to rest in for the night. I idly notice that Kiyoshi and Moses are nowhere in sight. The form of Zippora, stilll sleeping soundly indicates that wherever they went, they went secretly. Most likely the "Fire" I heard Moses mention earlier. Curiosity tugs at me, but I decide to let them be. Besides, I have more pressing business now.

I look up at the stars in the night sky, noting the position of the Wandering Star.

If only you were indeed simply an omen, and not what I know you are... How long have you been up there? Plotting your rape of Karia?

The worst part is, I get the sinking sensation I'll have to find out before my quest is complete. I simultaneously hate and value these feelings. When I suspect the worst... and I know I'm right.

A brief whiff of the sea breeze brings my mind back to my original purpose in being out here. I take off the singed, sweat-stained, salt-encrusted, war-torn remains of my Gogajin field hat, little more than scrap by now.

So hard to keep a decent hat these days...

"Ahem." I clear my throat and open myself to my senses, and the first few notes of the Song of Wind slide through my weathered old lips. A feeling of impending dread is sitting deep in my gut. I may not get another chance to do this.


"Moon, my beloved. I hope you are well. My state of being has become quite the tale these days. Since we last saw each other, we have fought another Oni, stolen and immediately lost the greatest Starchild warship in Karia, witnessed the death of all but one remaining Vorax, traveled across the western sea, and found the Dusk Sages. As you can no doubt imagine, my nerves are a bit frayed.

As you've likely guessed, the Lady Una is truly the last Vorax now. I would like very much to retain hope that she is not, but the assertion of the Dusk Sages themselves is difficult to disbelieve. Una is faring surprisingly well, considering. She is a strong woman. Amazingly strong, even.

As for the Dusk Sages... I cannot decide whether to ask you to rejoice or mourn. They are... dying, Moon. It is a process they refer to as The Unraveling. It seems a Dusk Sage is bound by something to spontaneously create life with mana at regular intervals; intervals as regular and unchanging as the phases of the moon. Unfortunately, this creation depletes their own stores of mana. Eventually, the Sage will wither away, spent. If they resist by fighting the creation or by consuming other beings to harvest their mana, they survive for longer, but doom themselves to becoming Kyo-Tee-Shee. That is what they are, Moon. A Kyo-Tee-Shee is nothing other than the restless, malignant spirit of a dead Dusk Sage. The Sage we fought at the Grand Chantry was the one who discovered the act of resistance, and goaded other Sages to do so, becoming the first Kyo-Tee-Shee. There were six, and you already know the names. The intent was to create them for the purpose of reclaiming lost mana. Harvesters, if you will. And the reason the Dusk Sages left our homelands was to avoid their wrath. For to fight them, to resist them, would mean their eventual transformation into Kyo-Tee-Shee themselves.

Which brings me to the bargain we have struck with the Sages. In exchange for their help through knowledge, we are to destroy the Kyo-Tee-Shee. And apparently, the only way to do that is by allowing them to be consumed by the Oni... the Enemy. I am unsure how the Enemy fit into the puzzle beyond that. All I know is that they exist to consume, destroy, and exterminate. And yet, despite the void of mana in their beings, the Kyo-Tee-Shee can still harvest a great deal of mana from them. I have my own theories regarding that.

Though this brings to light a hopeful yet terrifying thought. What if the Cataclysm, as it is referred to by the Dusk Sages, is simply the end of the Dusk Sages? What if they act as a great source of mana that is gradually bled into Karia to create life, eventually ending, leaving them deceased but Karia full of life? If that is true, then the only enemy to this process is the Enemy and the Kyo-Tee-Shee. If we find a way to destroy them, we ensure the survival of Karia, if not the Dusk Sages. A theory based on incomplete data, but a theory nonetheless. This is of course, assuming that the Sages are telling us the truth, and not a load of bull designed to coerce us into fullfilling their agenda which may not be aligned with our own.

*sigh* Enough. The dissemination of my gathered information is not the main reason I'm sending this message. Something is... wrong, Moon. I can feel it in the ground under my feet. I can smell it on the breeze. I can see it in strange omens writ in the rolling of a wave or the way birds are flying above. I cannot shake this feeling that something has yet to be seen. Something coming for me, my companions... something. Possibly just paranoia, but you know how my gut is, Moon. It hasn't led me astray yet.

I wanted just to send you this message, to close my affairs just in case. The Dusk Sages mentioned that they would send us somewhere close to the Enemy's source, and I don't think that it's anywhere in Karia.

If I don't see you again, I want you to know, for certain, and without any doubt that I love you and that all my decisions and actions I have made have been to protect you, the children, and our grandchildren. Time has yet to tell me if those decisions were correct, but at the very least, they were made for the right reasons.

Good Bye, my beloved Moon."

I wait for a gust of salty-air to carry the last of my words away, a tear seeping down my cheek. After shaking a controlled sob from my chest, I begin singing again.

I send messages to each of my children and grandchildren. I tell them not to worry. I tell them I love them, and that nothing is certain, save for that love.

When I finally finish, I look up at the Wandering Star again, steel in my gaze.

"Tomorrow will be quite the day. Quite the day indeed."