G'raha Tia / the Crystal Exarch
I will slumber within the Syrcus Tower until then, to greet those with the means to open the gates. But yours lie outside of these doors. Go. Create a future where hope reigns, and the tragedies of the past are but memories.
How many years have come and gone since that day? How many years have I waited for this moment. For the one who stood alone against the storm...For the one they called...the Warrior of Light.
This tragedy, greater even than the Seventh Umbral Calamity, must be undone. If history must be unwritten, let it be unwritten. Become what you must. Become...the Warrior of Darkness.
Now... now I have you! Stay with me! Focus on my voice! Let expanse contract, eon become instant... Throw wide the gates so we may pass!
Though it meant depriving a world of its champion, I had to try─for in saving the First, you would bring salvation to the Source as well. But what manner of host harangues his guest in the middle of the road? Let us continue our talk within the Crystarium.
Despite appearances, I am an old man─one burdened with many...difficult memories, some too painful to recall.
But whatever it is you decide to do, I have every confidence that you will do well. For you have the strength to forge your own path. You will leave countless lives better than you found them, and the souls you touch will never forget your kindness. Then, in trying times, when you question your worth and your choices, they will raise their voices to remind you of the difference you have made. And thus will your deeds come to affirm your path. Remember this.
Then...I would ask him/her about his next adventure. And if he/she should wish me to be a part of it, oh...how happy it would make me. Together, we would travel the lands and cross the seas and take to the skies upon the eternal wind... My heart swells simply to imagine it.
Who would choose to remain here, in this dying realm, when they might go elsewhere and begin anew? Not I. And thus...thus did I use you!
At journey's end, an opportunistic thief makes off with the hero's prize. A paltry way to end a chapter, I concede. Yet your tale will continue, and my role in it will scarcely be remembered.
Thank you for fighting for this world. For believing. Fare well, my friend─my inspiration.
People cried out in despair, "There is no hope. We are finished. Mankind is finished". Then others raised their voices in answer. "Though we be beyond salvation, those who came before may yet be saved. We will forge a crossroads, and pave the way for a different future. By the wisdom of our forebears we will prevent this Calamity from ever having come to pass".
The Warrior of Light has been our unbroken thread. Where others would stumble and fall, he/she would rise above. Where others would break and run, he/she would carry on. The Warrior of Light's tale is one of unyielding bravery. To tell it was to feel courage; to hear it was to feel hope. It was a breath of inspiration in an age of suffocating shadow.
Let expanse contract, eon become instant! Champions from beyond the rift, heed my call!
The glory of the heavens was ever beyond the grasp of those who never thought to reach for it. But if I've gained anything from all of this, it is the courage to stretch out my hand. Do you hear me, G'raha Tia? This is no time for sleeping!
One of the brave souls who saw me delivered unto the First once said...that the world shall ever have a place for tales of heroism, so long as we have need of inspiration in our lives.
In such company, I felt as if I were a character in the epic tales that had stirred my heart as a boy. As if my dream had come true... It hadn't, of course, for I was no hero. Neither then nor after. [...] There was, however, one thing of which I was certain: that I could not bear to let those dear to me meet a tragic end.
Your ill-begotten power, obtained by exploiting that which is best in us... I shall have it, your soul and all!
Promise me you'll take me on your next adventure. A journey. Together. That's all I ask.
If I were to tell you that this isn't the end─that we will meet again─would you believe me?
When I was a boy, many long years ago, I yearned to stand tall as the heroes of eld. But like a fool seeking to pluck the star from the heavens, my every attempt to reprise their deeds fell short... And then, one day, an all but forgotten dream from my youth stood before me, in the flesh. So it was that a new adventure began...
Never─in the past, present, or future─have I found only happiness. To live is to be ever beset by hardships great and small. Yet it is in adversity we find the strength to strive for the next moment of peace, and the next, no matter what trials we face.
Time and time again, it seems that Allagan something-or-other are either the cause of or the solution to our problems.
Life is a series of journeys, my friend, and there's no telling what awaits us on the long road. But what's important is to be true to yourself as you walk it. Only then can we hope to be content when we arrive at the end of one─and step forward into another.
