A soft wind was blowing and the sun was shining brightly high in the deep blue sky. It was a beautiful day to go adventuring. The hint of salt hangs in the air as the wind carried it from the ocean onto the land. The bridge leading out of Limsa was a beautiful place to catch an amazing view of the ocean and the city.
After taking my time enjoying the view, I reached the end of Tempest gate and I walked down a broad but shallow stairway. It let into a small open square with a 2 meter, or just over 2 yalm, high wall around it.
Multiple people were carrying boxes around and sorting the goods inside. They were, most likely, meant for the market near the main Aetheryte plaza, on the Lower Decks of Limsa. There were always merchants running around here that were selling all kinds of goods. Not that I ever needed it during my time playing the game. I never visited a shop in my time playing and I believe neither did most of the community. That might chance this time around, as I don't see myself gaining all kinds of gear from completing quests.
When I left the small gate in the wall behind me, the paved floor stopped and a cobblestone path continued. The path could hardly be called 'maintained', as it was mostly kept weed free by all the merchants trampling the plants with their chocobo's and carts. Today was apparently a calm day for traveling merchants as I could not see any movement down the path in front of me.
The path before me lead gently down a slope that would eventually lead to a crossing where one route let to a small village called "Red Rooster Stead" to the north, while the other lead to the "Moraby Drydocks" to the south. The latter being a big no-no, as my current experience would be hardly sufficient to survive the animals that were out to kill me there. I didn't remember the level they were, but I know it was not for me to travel there now.
I did wonder though.
This world is far more realistic than the game was. Would that mean that the animals are less aggressive and more realistic as well?
"No use breaking my head over it, I was on a mission to kill my first enemies." I told myself confidently.
The path before me was surrounded by small hills and ridges. The road was pretty much safe but when straying too far from the path, I could already see a handful of animals walking around, ready to kill me. The trees around here were really tall and full of leaves that gave a nice shade to cool down in, after I would inevitably get into some heated situation. Far away down the slope, I could see the ocean water gently flowing into Moraby Bay making for an amazing view.
While trying to appreciate the surroundings, I started walking down the path but after a few steps almost tripped over a cobblestone that was sticking out a bit. A yelp escaped me as I caught myself while also surprising myself with my own voice.
I still have to get used to this voice. I thought as I steadied myself.
"These roads are a lot harder walk on in--" I broke my sentence midway as It still felt weird to say that this was 'real life'.
"A screw it, its all real. I will now refer to everything around me as 'real'."
After a little bit of walking, I found my first prey. Just over to the left of the main road, five Wharf Rats scurrying around near some bushes. How did I know these were my target? I didn't. I just knew they would be somewhere around here and they look like rats. There were no names floating in the air, but I can remember faintly that these creatures looked like rats and walk near the Tempest Gate.
My body tensed a bit with the anticipation of my first battle. After taking a few deep breaths, I picked up my grimoire and opened it. I saw the writings and, weirdly enough, suddenly found myself clueless on how to even use magic.
"Wait, how does this work? How do I do this? Why didn't I think this one through?"
I tried to remember how, in the game, the character moved, and what I read online about how it worked. After a moment of reflection, some memories returned, though still incomplete and hazy.
"So, if I remember correctly, the book contains geometry that is needed for the spells. Which in turn have descriptions written on the page next to it. But as far as my understanding goes, I should be able to use magic without this book as long as I understand the calculations and geometry to perform certain magical spells, right?" I was nowhere near confident enough to believe myself on this one. I just hoped to... the twelve? Was it? , that it worked.
I was somewhat reluctant to try this on living enemies, out of worry for repercussions. So decided I would find the nearest tree and got into combat position. My body twisted a little to the right, as I picked my grimoire from my left hip. While pulling it out of its holster, I fumbled a bit trying to open the book. My attempt to get into position like my character did in the game, went about as well as you could expect for a first timer. Not only did I not get the book opened as fluidly as I hoped, I almost dropped it as well.
The game makes it look a lot easier. I thought while feeling less and less confident.
I felt a bit lost now, as I had no teacher to tell me how this all worked. Looking at the first page it had some geometric shapes and some text. The texts looked like it was about the spell itself.
"Hmm, is this an incantation? I don't remember the game using many of those. Incantations were mostly used for casting really large spells. Well shit, this is going to be a problem then."
The text in the grimoire was written in the common tongue. Which means the Aorzean alphabet and thus I could not read it. Seems like the ones responsible for me being here, didn't think it wise to give me some form of knowledge about the language. I felt annoyed now, and maybe I should go back to Limsa and see if I can find any books to learn the language.
"Why didn't I notice this before? I can speak the common tongue. But how? Still, I can't read it. Though, looking at it from a positive side, it is only half an inconvenience now."
My mind was trying to work out how I was able to speak but not read it. But as I was thinking about it more questions arose.
If I can speak the common tongue fluently, would I also be able to speak the Auri tongue as well? My mind was on the brink of going down a spiral of thoughts.
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Before I would reach a point of no return and stand around here all day, I slapped my cheeks softly. It brought back my focus on the task at hand, and I prevented a blue screen in my head.
"You know what? Screw it, let's try something."
My pride really didn't want me to go back to the city, so I resolved myself to just start focusing on the book. More specifically the page I was on. I closed my eyes and tried to concentrate on the grimoire in my right hand. I held out my left hand in front of me with the palm facing forward, while the grimoire moved back.
While trying to focus on the book and imagining pushing aether through my body, a movement within me piqued my attention. A wave of energy started moving through my body. As I focused, I became more aware of everything around me. Sounds around me felt louder, the warmth of the sun and the cooling feeling of the wind more tangible. The energy was spreading its way into every part of my being. It felt like the energy within me was amping up all of my senses.
So this is what it feels like when using aether. I thought as my focus gradually increased.
There was a feeling, a feeling I can't describe. It felt instinctual, like my subconsciousness knew I was ready. My eyes shot open and without thinking about it, pulled my focus to the unfortunate tree that would be receiving the full impact of my attack.
In front of my hand, I noticed multiple magical rings glowed in red translucent color. The rings contained characters I had never seen before, but they felt like an extension of my hand. Energy was floating from my right hand, that held the grimoire, to my left hand, into the circles. The accumulation of aether in the circle continued as, again on instinct, I knew I was ready to fire.
With a flash of light, the magic circles around my hand shrank to a central point in the palm of my hand. The flow of aether stopped and at the center, an orange glowing orb, the size of a soccer ball, appeared. Instinct kicked in again, and with a small push and careful focus on the poor tree, the ball shot off in force as it guided itself to its target and impacted the tree.
There were some bruises on the bark of the tree, but nothing earth shattering. Not that I was expecting it anyway.
"I did it," I yelled out. "I used my first magic spell." My smile felt like it was hardly able to fit inside the confines of my face.
Ok, now lets repeat it before I really start celebrating. I thought, though my grin was probably visible from the moon.
After repeating the same process a few times I was confident that I could take on the animals from my starting quest. Turning away from the tree, that was now scared by all my attacks, I tried to get back to the road. I did not expect, however, for a guy to be standing there. Our eyes locked as my face started to get red.
How long has he been there? How much did he see? Did he see my celebration? My head turned as red as a tomato, or a Rolanberry. Which I only remember because it's just a strawberry.
"You really messed up that tree, didn't you?" He smiled all the while I felt like I could sink into the ground.
I should have done this some other place. He most be thinking what an incredible noob I am
"Sorry," he broke the silence and my train of thoughts, as he saw me turning bright red. "I didn't mean to scare you or interrupt you. I wasn't here for long either, I just saw you shoot your final shot. Though the tree tells a story of having faced your wrath multiple times now. " He said jokingly.
My eyes were buried in the ground, but his apology made me feel bad. It wasn't his fault that I was such a small sprout. Getting myself back together I looked up and smiled back somewhat awkwardly.
"No please, don't worry about it. I am new to all of this, so before trying my hand on real enemies, I wanted to be sure I could fire off an attack."
He nodded his head in acknowledgment.
"Yeah, it would be wiser to to be prepared before getting into a fight."
The man was also an Au Ra and a Raen at that, same as me. He was tall, very tall. I knew the Au Ra Males were large but, damn, this puts things into perspective.
These guys are huge. This will take some getting used to. My mind had to reset as in my previous life, I was a guy of almost 2 meters, making me taller than most.
The Au Ra was wearing a very detailed and intricate armor that, as far as I can tell, was a Summoner specific set. It had the, somewhat iconic, horned headband, and lots of copper detailing and ornaments. He was wearing a black jacket-like piece over a white shirt that seemed to extend past the end of his black sleeves, while the jacket had open chest showing the white shirt while wrapping around his middle. His shoulder pauldron was a mix of leather with copper colors. A white skirt piece, hanging down to just below his knees, was attached to his middle and, again, copper colored detailing finished bottom edge. Finishing his look was black pants with a darker orange colored bandage-like material wrapped around it, with black knee-high boots with the same copper color on the edges.
He really has the whole god damn set complete. I thought with a hint of jealousy.
There was a moment of an awkward silence as I quickly tried to take in the image of this guy. Meanwhile, he was confused to why I just stood there and just stared.
"Are you ok?" His voice suddenly snapping me back to attention.
"Ow, yeah, sorry. I spaced out a little."
He looked like a nice guy and I could see his grimoire on his side. Seeing it, brought an idea to mind and, with my mind clear again, I thought I should just ask him.
"Uhm, can I ask you something? I think you might be able to help me, if you have a some time."
The guy was surprised at the question, but looked interested in what my question could be.
"Sure, if It is something I can help with, I will try." He said while smiling.
"Well, I am new to the continent and recently had an accident where I lost most of my memories. I decided it would be good to take on a job-class and earn some money. I also lost everything I owned in the accident. It would be better to do something, instead of just sitting around hoping things will come back to me."
I knew of course that that would never happen. Though I was still wondering, if I just replaced someone else's life or if I just spawned in this world.
"Ow, sorry to hear that. That must have been rough then. But what would I be able to help with?" He asked curiously.
"Well, I probably came here for a reason, but I realize it would be good to learn how to defend myself. So I started at the Arcanist Guild. Sadly I have no idea how magic works."
While I'm at it, I might as well say something regarding my inability to read. This will come back to bite me if I don't, I just know it. I thought as I tried to prepare for the future.
"I am also still learning to read the common tongue, so some help starting out would be wonderful."
The man looks to be thinking things through, but it was only for a few seconds.
"Sure, why not. I was going to take a few days off from traveling anyways. Might as well do that here in Limsa." He answered with a smile.
He reached out his hand to finalize our agreement, and I reached out and grabbed it. As our hands touched, I have been yet again reminded how small I really was.
"I can't really give you anything in return yet. Is that alright with you?" I said a bit unsure.
"yeah, I know, but don't worry about that." His voice was calm and reassuring. "I'm travelling the world to learn more about the history of summoners and to meet new people. So consider yourself among the new people I got the privilege to meet."
Our handshake went from an awkward one to a firm one, at least as firm as you can expect from a small girl like me.
"Eliphas Zahed, is the name. Pleasure to meet you."
"Shina Suzume, and likewise a pleasure to meet you."
"So, I take it you are out here for your first quest right?"
I nodded and turned my gaze to the Wharf Rats that were still scurrying around the bushes not more than 30 yalms away.
Eliphas started laughing as he saw the target of my quest.
"haha, that brings back memories. It's been some many, many moons ago that I first set out to kill a related species for my first battle." He had a nostalgic look on his face as he looked back to me.
"Well, let's start with that tree again. Show me what you can do, and I will see you ready for your first battle."