Chapter Text
“And so my conquest ends, Cid. In smoke and ashes…”
He wakes up, somewhat disoriented. Hadn’t he died, surrounded in the flames of his charred husk of a base?
Yet, upon viewing the crystallized tree with plasmoids hovering nearby, he soon realized his error. No… He had failed Solus, failed his men, and most importantly… Failed himself. Disgust and loathing did not nearly describe the multitude of feelings that nearly overwhelmed him. Bad enough that he’d been tricked into Lahabrea’s scheming, but in a reckless bid to finally conquer Eorzea, his men had paid the price in blood.
It was so very tempting to just let himself fall over the edge of the cliff to the crystalline wasteland below. To finish what should have been done in the destruction of Praetorium.
He blinks. Wait, how did he arrive on this cliff to begin with? His eyes narrow. The loathsome emblem of The Scholar gleamed at him but did not offer any answers. He’d remember staring at the destruction of his base from the inside, but afterwards… Nothing.
Unease settles through him. He was no fool. Whomever ‘saved’ him must have had a purpose. Even the glorious Warrior of Light had his own reasons for his altruistic actions. Was this his penance for entering a covenant with the Ascian?
He turns away from Thaliak’s symbol, and notes the people in the distance. Two thaumaturges, a lancer, and a gladiator of sorts. A group of outcasts… Here? How fitting.
He needed answers, but to find them, he’d need a change of clothes. A way to disguise himself. How convenient indeed.