Chance Encounter

A bright, blinding light filled my eyes as the sounds of a gentle river and a multitude of birds singing their songs filled my ears. I thought I heard a voice as I struggled to open my eyes...no, I knew I heard a voice, I was just having a hard time remembering it. In fact, I couldn't remember anything about myself; save the word "Hiryuu".

My eyes fluttered open and I saw a large bird-like creature with yellow feathers, dark eyes, a sharp beak, and two comically small wings on the side of its body. The creature squawked at me before jumping away and running off, leaving me alone in the middle of a forest that was teeming with life.

I tried to sit up, but a searing pain in my neck forced me to give up. My limbs felt like pure lead, not that I knew what that was mind you, and I found myself silently enjoying the scenery as an uncomfortable feeling began to rise from my back.

Eventually, I had gained enough of my strength back to roll over, ridding myself of the uncomfortable feeling; that is until my arm started to turn numb. Growling in annoyance, I let myself fall from my side and onto my stomach.

Before I could react, I landed face-first into a fist-sized glowing purple crystal, sending waves of pain crashing through my nose and into the rest of my head. I lifted my head and watched as small droplets of blood fell to the ground, narrowly missing the crystal like their lives depended on it, however, this was no where near the end of my misfortune.

The ground beneath me began to glow brightly as runic patterns began to draw themselves on the ground in large circles. The massive pattern encompassed several malms of land before completing and shrinking rapidly to only a few hundred Fulms.

The ground under me began to rumble violently as the sound of a distant roar echoed through the forest, causing the birds and animals to flee in fear. The ground began to split as another, more violent roar pierced the air.

The ground burst open in a shower of rock and dirt, sending me flying back into a log. The tail that I never knew I had whipped my leg, its several spiky barbs slashing my skin in the process, as debris pelted my skin. Four feathery wings slowly rose from the ground as a long, whip-like tail writhed about, toppling trees and smashing boulders like they were mere toys.

The massive creature lifted its large, serpentine body out from the rubble as it lifted its long neck and glanced back at me. Though I didn't know the meaning to the word, I found myself stammering "D-Dr-Dragon...!!" over and over again.

The Dragon shook the rest of the dirt and minerals from its body before fully turning around to face me. "Thou hast freed thine vessel at long last. Long have I waited, Warrior. Too long." I blinked several times, the pain I once felt fading quickly as adrenaline pumped through my veins.

"Do not fear, Warrior, for I have not come to harm you. You have freed me from a millennia of torment at the hands of the Ascians and, for that, I will forever be in your debt." The Dragon dipped its head low before lifting its body to its full height and looking out over the trees.

After briefly scouting the area, the Dragon lowered its head and snaked its head close toward me; its piercing blue eyes stirring a primal fear within my heart. "You, Auri Raen, it seems like you have a binding magicks in place of your memory...Come, follow me. I shall look after you until you I deem you capable enough to venture out into the world."

Though I knew this Dragon would cause me no harm, I felt my body growing weak as my sight began to slowly fade away. I felt myself falling to the ground in what seemed to be an infinite descent as my head began to throb painfully.

I felt a large vibration in the ground beneath me, but could see nor hear anything as my senses faded away completely and I settled into a deep state of unconsciousness.

---

I woke with a start and clutched my chest as my heart painfully and repeatedly thwacked against my chest. I looked around and saw that I was in an endless expanse of darkness and stars with nothing else in sight; it was like the stars were close enough to touch, yet millions of malms away.

"Death...Decay...Destruction..."

I startled at the sudden voice booming in my ears as I bolted to my feet, even though there was no ground beneath me, as a large ball of darkness about the size of my body floated toward me. "Did you just speak to me?" I asked as I took a step back from the advancing...thing.

"You have naught to be afraid of, my warrior. I am your benefactor, and you are my Chosen..."

My face scrunched in confusion as I stared at the ball of darkness and asked "Chosen? What does that even mean? Why did you choose me, and what for?"

The ball, let out a mocking laugh before speaking in a significantly lower voice. "My power...fades, friend. I cannot continue to speak with you for long. Go, take the rest of my power and use it to keep our world safe...we will speak again once I have enough...strength..."

The ball burst into a bunch of small purple motes and I felt like I was being pulled backwards by a ridiculously strong presence. The next time I awoke, I found myself staring up at the ceiling of a massive cave with a glowing blue gem on my chest.

"Ah, the Auri Raen awakens!" I heard a familiar voice from behind me as I shook my head and carefully sat up. My tail throbbed, most likely from me laying on my back, and I accidentally poked my arm with my horns when I sat up, but I was otherwise fine.

"You had me worried when you fell over, but I knew what was happening when the Crystal of Darkness appeared on your body." The Dragon paused for a second before releasing a large breath from its nose and saying "Greetings, Warrior of Darkness, Harbinger of Zodiark's will. I am The Eternal Fire, Xymriss!"

Xymriss let out a deafening roar as he rose to his full height within the cave and struck a rather frightening pose. Xymriss was covered in dark blue scales that curved out at their ends to make it look like he had spikes all over his body while his four wings had dark black feathers instead of the membranous skin you would usually see.

Wait...what am I talking about...?

A flash of pain assaulted my mind as the image of a young man with short black hair facing off against a black dragon seared itself into my brain. My vision turned fuzzy as the ground began to spin beneath me. Luckily, my momentary dizziness had passed relatively quickly and I was spared the experience of smashing my head on the floor of a cave.

"Is something the matter, Warrior of Darkness?" Xymriss asked as he settled down and snaked his head toward me. I waved a hand in his direction as I shook my head and said "I'm fine, but I want you to answer a few questions."

Xymriss nodded and patiently waited for me to gather my thoughts. "What is this "Warrior of Darkness" thing that you keep calling me?" Xymriss chuckled and muttered "If the Allfather didn't explain, then that means the situation is worse than I thought..."

Xymriss shook his head in an exasperated manner before looking me in the eyes and saying "The Warrior of Light is the primary defender of this world. The Warrior's only duty is to protect the land and keep the balance between Darkness and Light in check, but I fear that is already beginning to falter. As a Warrior of Darkness, your job will be rather difficult, but I have a feeling you'll do great!"

I gave Xymriss a deadpan stare and said "That was the worst explanation ever." before sighing and saying "Never mind, just tell me everything you know about these "Ascians" you mentioned before, my race, and everything else about this world I'm in. Maybe it'll jog my memories a bit..."

Xymriss went on to explain to me that the world I was in was named Hydaelyn and there were several continents on its surface. I was currently in Eorzea, which has three different city-states with a separate ruler that governs their respective area. The first city-state was Ul'dah, a place full of rich merchants and surrounded by a vast desert and ruled by a woman named Nanamo Ul Namo.

The second city-state was Gridania, a place covered in lush forests, surrounded by all kinds of spirits, and ruled by a woman named Kan-E-Senna. The final city-state is Limsa Lominsa, a large city that is a massive trading port as well as a hideout for many pirates and their crew. These three city-states form what is called the "Eorzean Alliance".

Though a place known as Ishgard was once part of the Alliance, they had long since closed their borders and gates to outsiders because of their war with the Dragon race. When I asked Xymriss if there were any other places besides the four he had told me about, he gave me a sly wink and told me to find out for myself.

Now, on to the races. Xymriss said that I was an Au Ra, a descendant of Dragons; my tail, horns, and scales helping to add credibility to his claims. There were two different Clans for each race, with me being a Raen, or descendant of the Dawn, and the Xaela, the descendants of the Dusk.

Among the Au Ra were the Hyur, Elezen, Lalafell, Miqo'te, Roegadyn, Viera, Hrothgar, and the Hyur-like pure blooded Garleans. These were the base races that lived amongst the several continents. The Hyur were your standard Human-like race that varied in size while the Elezen were considerably taller than the Hyur with long, pointed ears.

The Lalafell are a species of stupidly short people with chubby faces and pointed ears like an Elezen, or so Xymriss says. The Miko'te have fluffy ears, much like a cats, with equally fluffy tails and cat-like pupils. The Roegadyn are, without a doubt, the most robust of the species on Eorzea with their large builds and square features, often times working as laborers or Adventurers.

The Viera are a species of bunny-eared people with long, slender forms and naturally agile bodies. The Viera are also somewhat unique in the way their society is structured from what Xymriss told me. The females control the society by themselves while the males are forced out of the city and into the forest.

The Hrothgar are similar to the Miko'te, but they're more animal-like with the burly build of a Roegadyn. The Garleans were somewhat of a complicated race. A pure-blooded Garlean would be easy to identify because of the their pearl-like "third eye" along with their inability to use Magicks.

After the rather long lecture, Xymriss let out a loud, rumbling sigh and fell to the ground in apparent exhaustion. "Man! All that talking has left me starving..." Xymriss complained as his stomach let out a massive growl. "Then go get something to eat. Shouldn't be hard for an apex predator of your size." I responded while observing the scales on my upper arm and chest.

Xymriss let out a booming laughter before shaking his head and saying "You truly do not get it, little Dragon. If anyone saw a Dragon of my size, they would undoubtedly attack and try to kill me out of fear. You will have to kill animals, gather their meat, prepare the meals, and learn these things on your own. All I can teach you is history and a few ways on how to train your body and attune with the aether in the air."

As Xymriss was nearing the end of his sentence he had to gradually lower his voice because of faint words coming from outside of the cave. I sat there watching the entrance as three dark figures slowly walked in front of the cave before freezing up when Xymriss lifted his head and snorted.

"D-Dr-Dragon!!"