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A bright, full moon cast a ghostly pale light over the scorched sands and brush of Central Thanalan. Sparse, towering shadows crept out from behind thin, bare trees and loose patches of wispy weeds. Crickets churned and warbled in a roaring cacophony over the hissing roar of the waterfall emptying into Soot Creek. The rolling water of the creek trickled between steep canyon walls, past a set of sand-dusted stone stairs leading to a crumbling stone structure nestled against the sheer cliff face.
This pile of stones, and the unknown waiting beyond the open mouth leading further into the wreckage, was all that remained of the buried and forgotten Sil’dih civilization. Aside from the chorus of the nighttime crickets, the night was still, as if the very sky above held its breath in anticipation for the pin drop that would shatter the serenity.
It wasn’t long until the moment arrived.
A voice, high and strained, echoed along the walls of the Sil’dih ruins and exploded into the night in a deafening cry:
“HELP ME! SOMEBODY!”
Immediately, the shadows stirred; a lone white-haired Hyur, clad in a black shirt with green pants and gray leather boots, leapt from atop the sheer cliff face with his legs splayed out in a jump; his clothes billowed behind him and his hair ruffled in the wind of the freefall. The moment the soles of the man’s feet touched the toppled archway looming over the entrance of the ruins, he jumped once more and came to rest atop the ruin’s stairs. As the new arrival turned to stare down the open, waiting maw of the unknown cavern beyond, the voice cried out again.
“ HELP ME, PLEASE! ”
His right hand released the hilt of a sheathed dagger and went to his ear. Distinctive purple tattoos, the signature mark of a Sharlayan Archon, adorned each side of the man’s neck.
“This is Thancred,” he said into the air. “Anyone in the vicinity of the Sil’dih ruins in Central Thanalan, please respond. I need immediate assistance.”
A sharp, whining noise came in reply: a burst of growling, squealing static. Thancred winced, shook it off, and pressed the linkpearl in his ear once again.
“Anyone reading this?” he asked. “I repeat: this is Thancred, I need assistance at the Sil’dih ruins at once!”
More garbled, choppy static hissing into his ear. Thancred growled in frustration, then pressed the linkpearl once more to turn it off. A lingering, tinny sound remained ringing in his ears.
“Blast,” he muttered. “Fine then, I’ll do this myself.”
Thancred cupped his hands and yelled into the waiting entrance of the ruins.
“Hello?” he called. “Can you hear me down there?”
Silence stretched on in an endless moment. Then, a weak and timid response:
“ He-...hello? ” the uncertain voice asked.
Thancred sighed in relief, wiping a hand across his brow.
“Are you all right down there?” he replied. “Worry not, I’m here to help!”
“ You-...you are? ” the voice in the ruins asked. “ Oh, praise the Traders! I-I don’t remember how I wound up down here, but I woke up at the bottom of a collapsed stairwell! There’s no other way up! ”
Thancred immediately glanced around, surveying his surroundings: nothing but stone, sand, and water in the moonlit night.
“Just hold tight!” he called. “I’ll be down as quick as I can!”
“ Oh, thank you! ” the echoing voice cried. “ Thank you so much, you don’t know what this means to me! ”
Then, the voice changed; the echo faded, and the frantic tone came from behind Thancred this time.
“I thought I was going to die in here!”
Thancred felt his chest ice over from within; in a flash, both hands dropped his dagger hilts and scraped honed metal against coarse leather, pulling the weapons free and spinning around to see a second figure casting a featureless shadow into the shimmering waters of Soot Creek. Instantly, the rogue’s spin stopped as invisible hands ensnared him within an icy grip; the blood in his veins iced over, and his skin burned in the unseen chill.
The figure behind Thancred stood along the edge of the ruin’s stairs, draped in an impenetrable shadow. A red mask, with demonic eyes and pointed fangs, rested above a visible mouth twisted into a sinister smirk. When this new arrival spoke, his calculating and steady cadence froze the very air around him.
“So,” he began. “Mine enemy reveals himself at last.”
Thancred, brown eyes wide and breath escaping in croaky gasps, instinctively tightened his hold on his daggers.
“Your first mistake was assuming you were alone in the shadows, my friend. It will take more than darkness to hide you from me.”
The cloaked man crossed his arms, the pointed metal talons on his gloves now gleaming in the moonlight.
“As you watched me ? I was watching you in return.”
A noise finally escaped Thancred’s chilled throat.
“La-” he gasped, the word burning in his throat.
“What’s that?” his attacker asked. “Speak up, dear boy.”
“La-...Laha-... Lahabrea .”
The hooded man chuckled, then gave a bow.
“I see my enemy knows me,” Lahabrea replied. “Yet, I do not know you .”
The Ascian took one step closer to Thancred, then extended a hand and tapped his cold, steel digits against the hot flesh on both sides of the rogue’s neck.
“Or do I?” he questioned. “An Archon of Sharlayan? There is only one reason someone like you would be in a place like this .”
Lahabrea’s arm drew back; hot sweat beaded along Thancred’s forehead, and a dry swallow wracked his tightening throat.
“The disciples of the great, departed Louisoix continue their struggle in vain. You must intend to meet the same fate as your dear mentor.”
Lahabrea raised his right hand to his chin, the point of his talon tapping against his dimple in a steady pattern.
“Yet,” he hissed. “Mayhap a use for you remains. Oh, you’ll no longer need those .”
The Ascian flicked his wrist; Thancred’s grip slackened, and the daggers clattered upon the stone steps.
“How long will it be, I wonder, before your colleagues come looking for you?”
Lahabrea closed in upon Thancred, one long and striding step at a time, until the two stood face to face. Thancred’s eyes winced as they stared into the false orbs of Lahabrea’s crimson mask.
“Long enough,” he mused. “Long enough to find what I seek within your head.”
Thancred spat at Lahabrea’s feet, and the Ascian recoiled.
“You’ll get nothing from me!” the defiant rogue yelled. “I’ll die before I tell you anything! You won’t get away with this, damn you! We’ll fight you to the end!”
Lahabrea bared his teeth in a sneer.
“Fear not,” he urged. “It won’t quite come to that.”
The Ascian held his palms open before him; a swirling vortex of dark energy appeared and disappeared just as quickly, leaving behind a black necklace with a gem dark as coal. Thancred cried out as his knees buckled beneath him, forcing him to kneel before Lahabrea with his arms outstretched at his side.
“All I need from you is a little cooperation.”
Thancred grunted, fidgeted, but to no avail, as the necklace chain slid down his neck and the dark gem came to rest below his white choker. Lahabrea then thrust his right fist into the air, and swirling tendrils of dark shadow emerged from beneath his cloak.
“Hold still-”
A bright, red glyph flashed before the Ascian’s mask.
“-and open wide. ”
Thancred felt his jaws part, tendons straining against his own will. Lahabrea disappeared into the swirling darkness, and the churning cloud leapt right at him.
Daylight in Central Thanalan, and a baking heat radiated from the stones of the Sil’dih ruins. A lone figure, clad in a long, white coat, stood on the banks of the shimmering water of Soot Creek. His own face, reflected in the murky stream, stared back at him with tired eyes carrying the invisible weight of unspoken trauma. A cold, sinister voice echoed across his memory from the last time he stood here.
“ Now then, little Archon ,” a voice that wasn’t his had sneered into the water. “ Let’s find your way back home. ”
“Thancred?” a familiar, friendly voice asked from behind.
The man in question jumped and stepped back from the water, his reflection disappearing. Thancred sighed in relief upon seeing the tall, slender, and familiar figure lingering behind him.
“Tis not my intention to rush thee,” Urianger began. “But we mustn’t tarry, for our ship will depart from Limsa Lominsa ere long.”
“Right, my apologies. I’m done here, anyway.”
Urianger glanced around the canyon, and placed a hand on his hip.
“Dost thou visit every year?” he questioned.
“No,” Thancred said. “Not since it happened.”
The gunbreaker glanced around at the steep canyon enveloping them, throat growing tighter and hands bunching into fists. A hard swallow, and he relaxed once again.
“Mustn’t forget the past,” he replied. “Not if we’re to navigate the roads ahead.”
“Indeed,” Urianger replied. “Now come, my friend! The Indigo Sea awaits! And just beyond that-?”
Thancred smirked as he stepped past Urianger, the sour expression on his face suddenly brightening as his hazel eyes glinted in the sun.
“The New World,” he said. “So, let’s not keep it waiting.”