onedrinkwithme | Memory Regains: Trustfell

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Memory Regains: Trustfell

Keeping track of memories regained. Some will be written out.

WARNING: If you have not played through the following patches- Heavensward, As Goes Light So Goes Darkness, The Gears of Change, and Revenge of the Horde, THERE WILL BE SPOILERS. View at your own risk.

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The scene is a grand office with many fine furnishings but it is not the decor that the two men are conversing. One, an elder man with a long white beard and white ornate robes sit and hold his staff as Aymeric stands before him, sounding furious.

"The founding, the scriptures--a thousand years of lies--all to deceive the common man! Nay, our own brothers and sisters-for the blood of the knights twelve flow through all our veins! You knew this to be true. You knew and you concealed it!"

The man sitting before him, his eyes shut as he spoke, managed to open them to reveal piercing light blue eyes...just like Aymeric's own.

"I should be interested to hear how you came by this knowledge. But yes, you have the right of it." He paused as the lord commander glared on but he showed no waving resolution. As he spoke, he was completely calm.

"The architects of Ishgard, King Thordan and his knights twelve, entrapped and butchered the great wyrm Rataoskr, that they may partake of her eyes, and thereby transcend their mortal limits. Upon learning of their treachery, Nidhogg was consumed by a murderous--and justified--rage. I daresay you know what followed..."

"...the great wyrm slaw the king and half of his knights." continued Aymeric.

"Aye...but Nidhogg was subdued, and his eyes plucked from their sockets by the knights that remained. Their one mistake was to show mercy, for from his brother, Hraesvelgr did Nidhogg receive a new eye, thus rejuvenating his form and empowering him to embark on an eternal quest for vengeance."

"...Whilst Thordan's son, Haldrath, took one of Nidhogg's eyes and learned its power in defense of his people..."

"Thus was the first Azure Dragoon born. And ever since that time his honored successors has risen to drive Nidhogg from our lands whenever the wyrm has returned to plague us."

A pause then the old man spoke: "I ask you, my son: will you answer for my sins? Will your son and his son answer for me as well?"

"What do you mean?" Aymeric is not curious but defensive. Was he trying to pull the wool over his eyes?

"If a man cannot atone for his sins in the course of his all-too-fleeting life, must his progeny then be held to account? Must every subsequent generation be judged as well?" his father questioned, to which Aymeric shut his eyes and looked away in uncertainty. "Thordan's betrayal of Rataoskr was an unconscionable, unforgivable sin. Should we, as his descendants, meekly surrender ourselves to an eternity of punishment? Nay, say I. I would not see our children sacrificed in a vain attempt to appease an implacable foe. Dragons are not like us, my son. To they who live forever, the wrongs of antiquity are as those of yesterday. No reparations shall ever suffice.

This fact alone should serve as ample justification for our actions, yet some refuse to see it as such. For men like you, who yearn to commit themselves to a nobler cause, a more compelling narrative is required."

...so it was true. His father hid the origins of the very war they had fought from not only him but also the entire population of Ishgard. Aymeric couldn't believe it and as he spoke, his voice rose in fury at the thought of countless lives being lost to uphold one huge lie. It sickened him beyond belief.

"This is your solution!? This is how you protect our people? You have given us a lost cause! A death sentence! With your compelling narrative, you but doom our countrymen to give their lives for a lie!"

"And they do so gladly. Highborn and lowborn alike are proud to serve---to fight and die for their country. And what would you say to them?" the archbishop looked on, waiting to hear Aymeric speak up, whose eyes widened in shock. "What would you tell the wives who have lost their husbands, the mothers who have lost their sons? ...That their loved ones died for naught?"

And Aymeric can't speak. "I..." How could he answer such a thing while he himself was still trying to process the truth himself? How could he speak up and say that many people died for a cause that was unjust?

And yet, the archbishop continued.

"Over the course of a thousand years, countless men have donned these robes, and every one came to accept the necessity of this solution. Once, I hoped you might come to accept it as well."

He rose from his chair and walked towards a statue of the Goddess of War, Ishgard's patron deity, Halone as she watched over the men from a balcony. "Do not despair, my son. Soon I shall free us from the sins of antiquity...and bring about the change you so fervently desire."

He then raised his staff slightly, only to bang it on the floor. Appearing on each side of Aymeric were two men dressed in white and blue armor, members of the Archbishop's personal guard called the Heavens' Ward. And sharply, his father commanded to them:

"If he has spoken with others, I would have their names. Escort him to a cell and question him--thoroughly."

"Your Eminence."

And as Aymeric moved towards his father, one guard stopped him by raising his claymore sword. Aymeric knew where they were going to take him...and in all honesty it terrified him. He knew of the Vault and what his father meant by 'throughly'...but would help come for him?