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"To put it plain, they are imitations of royalty—living keys born of Allagan ingenuity."
So concluded Nero tol Scaeva upon the opening of the gates to Syrcus Tower. Unei and Doga, by their very nature, provided us with a means of ingress to the spire and with it, our one hope of sealing away the dangers presented by the Allagan technology within.
Or so we thought.
What we had yet to understand, however, was that G'raha Tia would also come to serve as one of those keys.
I raise my eyes to the firmament from where I sit perched high atop the ramparts of Revenant's Toll. Few roam the streets below at this hour, but up here I am alone, plagued only by memories and the ghosts of what could have been.
My gaze is inexorably drawn to the Crystal Tower, a steadfast presence on the horizon that blots out the stars in its vicinity, and my thoughts—as they are wont to do—turn to the ruby-eyed Miqo'te that slumbers within.
The Royal Eye, they called it. The symbol of a wish for a brighter future that transcended generations. Delving into the World of Darkness unlocked the full scope of the memories that had been placed in his mind—answers for which he had been searching his entire life. Their discovery awakened him to what he felt he must do.
And then he was gone.
Though I know it to be futile, my mind has continued to revisit that final day—was there aught I could have said or done to forestall such an outcome? But to do so would have been to deny him the very fate he was born to embrace.
"The future is where my destiny awaits."
Words that have haunted my dreams ever since, words that leave me waking with his name on my lips and an ache in my breast. The future… With one threat after another to put down, I have scarce had time nor leisure to ponder such a thing, but now it is all I think of.
A future without him.
A shudder goes through my body and I force myself to take a deep breath, and then another—until the stars fade and the first blush of dawn stains the horizon. Still my dry eyes remain fixed on the Tower, and now his final words to me surface in my mind like the rising sun:
"Go. Create a future where hope reigns, and the tragedies of the past are but memories. No one but you can accomplish such things."
On a day far, far in the future, G'raha Tia will emerge from the Crystal Tower into a realm transformed. Our futures may no longer be intertwined, but thanks to him, our star may yet have one. And though I will not live to see it, I can make the world to which he will return a worthy one. Unto the last, he placed his unshakeable faith not in the vaunted "Warrior of Light, Champion of Eorzea", but in me. And I shall not let him down.
I stand and face the coming day, for there is work to be done.
"No doubt your heroism will be the star by which I chart my course when I awake."
Because until then, I will fight.
For a better tomorrow.
