Memoirs of Adventure Creative Writing Contest (NA) - Official Entry Thread

[MellyasKitsune]

Final Fantasy XIV has given me the chance to get closer to a friend and now fiancé that I never thought I would have a chance to. I have been able to spend my time gathering, leveling, and progressing through the rich story with this man thanks to this game. My fondest memory is the time when we were both sat in Coerthas, he was attempting to level up his alchemist and I was trying to level up my fisher. We both sat there together on an edge of a snowy cliff, talking to each other, and genuinely enjoying each other's company. Today we'll be renewing our bonds, with our friends that we've met along the way to celebrate with us that weren't there for the first time! Thank you Smilax Kitsune for staying with me and to the team across the world that continues to keep this game up and running for us to continue enjoy each other's company and what the game has to provide!
(Gaelicap)

[Dust_Sphere]

It was odd, feeling so at home with strangers. But now that i look back on it, maybe i was feeling fondness. It's difficult to pick one memory with any of them, for i cherish them all.
Maybe it was travelling unknown lands together, or how we slayed even the mightiest foe together.

Recalling these people, i can also remember a few things they indirectly taught me.
I can safely say heroes, adventures, people, can either etch their name in history with fear or inspiration.
Bards always sing of how the hero struck his foe down with naught more than his belief and faith in others, yet never speak of his unnamed companion who gave him the opening he needed to deal the final blow in the first place.

He is remembered as a "Hero" and his unnamed friend, his unnamed family, his unnamed personhood is also lost, before long, even the "hero" is forgotten, too. It starts with a minor revision until even his name is forgotten, replaced with a title or some such. A blinding light in place of his companions; their shadow ever running darker, bleak compared to his radiant light.

Which is why i cling so tightly to their memory, which is why, despite everything, i will remember you. I thought it was the end, we did the impossible and yet i somehow thought this was the end, on the Mt. we could all clearly see how the blinding light cloaked the sky, we both were weak. And yet, we both lived.
Like "Heroes."

I cannot forget you, or anyone else. I wish we could adventure, just like you wanted, but wishing only achieves so much. I know, that inevitably, i too will be naught more than a shadow.
An avatar of my deeds rather than a person. Eventually, these words will be not only forgotten, but unknown as well.
Which is why we must fight, there is always hope, something to believe in, to pave the way for a brighter future we may never experience.

And you believed in me, didn't you?
I won't forget anyone, but especially not you.

-Warrior of Darkness

(Mandragora Choker)

[Vyrerus]

In the belly the technological marvel Alexander we came upon a wide arena where electrified water barred further entry. A canister, spherical in shape with a turn handle valve levitated in mid-air. We coasted into the arena on a conveyor belt. Before our eyes, water rushed forth from the canister, and it took the shape of a giant humanoid demon, comprised entirely of effervescent water. Free Lancer hurried out a battle plan, commanded us to our positions, and we fought the creature for many hours. Enuriel took it upon himself to ward its every blow, and Fleh Buus kept up with the damage he sustained, until the creature shifted forms into a giant hand. It seized Enuriel in its grasp, and despite all efforts, his life was ended, and he was cast limp into a watery grave. Then I was all that stood between the bubbling monster and my comrades. I stood steadfast, taking every blow, but the giant hand split into two lesser hands, and I could not head off both. Somehow we managed to scrape by, only for the hands to squish together and become a vortex which birthed slime like beings.The slimes rushed for the electrified water, and each one that made it, exploded with such violent force that we could hardly stand. Some of the slimes were caught in the whorl, and launched out of it at high speeds, bursting on whoever they struck. I was struck by one, and it was all I could do to stay conscious, until the healing magic made me right again. By the time the creature returned to its humanoid form, Datonare was dead, as were Fleh and Zets. It was then that it rained down a terrible cascade of energy imbued water ceaselessly from its body, nearly drowning us. I turned to Aisu, threw her over my shoulder; we retreated out into the Dravanian Hinterlands.

I traveled then, to a far off land. I lost myself in the pleasures found there. A cafe, the arms of a foreign woman, and more alcohol than I could stand. When I returned to Eorzea, Aisu's heart was set on revenge, and she asked me to come back with her and her new band. I agreed to if only to keep her hail and whole. The Living Liquid had no tricks we had not seen before. Even so, the battle waged was of such ferocity we were all standing in pools of our own blood as the fight came to a head. Out of options, the creature began channeling all of its energy, which coursed over its bubbles, which now leaked bright blue fluid. We knew this to be its death knell, as well as our doom. I became fury incarnate, and swung my axe with reckless abandon, my bones cracking under the weight of my limits. Aisu channeled the power of the Dreadwyrm Bahamut, and roared with all the fury of the father of Meracydian Dragons, and shouted forth Deathflare. Living Liquid surged, and its raging torrent blasted everyone of us. Three of the new band died, but in the end, the canister from which the beast came lay on its side, empty, as all of the waters surrounding the arena receded as if they'd never been.
{Scarf of Wondrous Wit}

[FaerieAura]

A Chance Encounter, An Eternal Bond

To my love,

It was getting into the late hours of the evening when it happened. I had been working, you see, at the Machinists’ Guild. The turrets that we were using were fine, but we were commencing development on a prototype – an automaton that could engage enemies in melee. I had reached the end of my limits, and I needed a drink. Thank the Gods I left when I did.

The snows were falling to the stone streets of the Brume when I first saw you, stumbling along the pavement, looking as lost as I had been the moons before when Ishgard had first opened its gates to a select few. It had long been my dream to study under the machinists of Ishgard, and yours, it seemed, was to learn to read the stars.

I approached you slowly, trying to seem as friendly as I could. It’s hard for a Viera to lose the natural stern countenance nature bestows upon us.

“Uh… h-hi… c-can I help you?” you stammered as you nearly tripped over your own axe.

“You look lost. I take it you are from outside of Ishgard as well? Tis rare to see a Miqo’te in this city, and I don’t know if you can tell from the ears, but my kind are equally rare. Mayhap you could use a guide? My name is Sjel, formerly of Arda.”

“That would be lovely. I am of Gridania. C-can you help me find the Astrologians’ guild? I-it’s freezing out here!”

“Follow me. We can get you someplace warm, and in the morning, we’ll get you sorted out.”

Twas over the next two moons that the two of us came to nurture a burgeoning friendship, though our lives could not be more different. You were ever the mystic, focused on your spiritual training and nurturing your inner beast, and I on my technology and craftsmanship. As we both became embroiled in the plots and intrigue of Ishgard, however, there was only one constant: each other.

Eventually, on a rare quiet day for both of us, I asked you to come with me to the Black Shroud, as there was an urgent matter that required both of our attention. As we made our way to the Shroud and I directed our chocobos to the Sanctum of the Twelve, I sat beside the lake with you and told you of my feelings.

“Since that day at the Brume, you have been my only constant. My only light. I want nothing more than to spend the rest of my days with you, no matter what comes next.”

You said yes.

On the day of our ceremony, as we looked into each other’s eyes, preparing to exchange our rings, our friends from our Free Company looking on, I still imagine what would have happened had I not had the urge to get a drink that night. The happiness I felt as I saw you, dressed in your finest suit and I in my dress, makes me realize that despite the dangers that this world holds, the beauty that can be found in the people around us makes it all worthwhile.

With all of my love and hopes for the future,
Your beloved eternal partner

[i would like the bluebird earrings]

[Flana]

I still remember that first day, all that time ago, when I first set foot on the dock of Limsa Lominsa. The biting wind coming in from the ocean, and the myriad scents of a trader's port. I remember staggering through the crowds at Hawker's Alley to finally find Mealvaan's Gate, and my pleasure at finding my calling with the Arcanists' Guild that very day. The joy from the first successful construction of a carbuncle. My first grimoire, now all but ruined from hastily written notes on every page.

There were so many 'firsts' back in those days, when the world felt vast and open. New places to go and new people to meet. New experiences to be had in every corner of the realm. It all seems so mundane now, but those days were filled with a special magic. I hope that in reading this you too can relive some of those special days, to see just how far you have come. And, perhaps, to see just a bit of where we all might be heading next.

- An Arcanist of Limsa Lominsa


(gaelicap)

[Nevermore084]

There is much and more I wish I could tell you, wish I could show you. It’s been so long since I’ve seen you both and held you both but I hope that you would be proud of me, of the things I’ve accomplished and the people I’ve given another tomorrow to. You would not believe the adventures I’ve gotten myself into recently and I imagine few truly would. Perhaps not even I would have had I not known all I do or experienced it for myself.

Recently I’ve visited a whole new world entirely, one where the night sky never graced, where stars never had the chance to twinkle or the moon to cast its soft light over the land. So hard is it to think of what to tell and yet fit it all to a single page but for the sake of telling you in person when next we meet I helped save this world. I helped banish the Light, helped the world know a cool nightly breeze and what it is like to gaze upon the stars for hours.

Yet what I wished to tell you the most here and now is of a place right out of the dreams of my youth and when the sun had arisen once more to a clear, beautiful sky. How I wish you both could see it. Imagine a forest with leaves of lavender and trunks with bark like silver without its luster, a spire of radiant blue crystal stretching high enough to scrape the heavens. Under that clear azure sky I could not help but walk, walk and let my mind wander with my feet.

I walked and I felt a breeze once stagnant feel so cool and fresh upon my skin, felt the warmth of the sun like it is meant to be felt and I could not help but wonder what it must be like for someone to feel for the first time in their whole life like those here. As I walked I stumbled upon a ruin of ancient, crumbling stone and let my hand feel along the surface of the ages old wall.

It was there upon that stone I felt something right in the air, a certain peace and under that sky, in that woodland of beautiful purples, in this place where civilization once lived free I drew my lance and let my hands and feet move of their own accord. It felt right. To close my eyes and feel the weight of the metal in my hands, to let it carry me as if striking down foes already slain and feel the breeze upon my cheeks and in my hair.

I know not how long I was there, meditating in a way I’m sure only you and I would truly know, father, but it helped me think and reflect and remember what I was fighting for. I kept at it until my limbs ached and my fingers throbbed and when I opened my eyes again to that truly awesome sight…

I miss you mother, your lullabies and the flowers you would tuck into my hair. I miss you father, your radiant confidence and never faltering smile. I’ve not forgotten you or the advice you’ve graced me with that every day I find new meaning in. I have not given up on finding you. Until the day I can hold you both I will continue to write and to hope.

Your loving, ever caring daughter,
August
{NB pls}

[MikeTavish]

“Has it really been four years?”

Taking a seat in the once unfamiliar, now comforting house in the Mist, I couldn’t help but reminisce on just how long it had been since the day I truly entered the lives of the people in this Free Company. Despite joining the Company long ago, it wasn’t until that one challenge that I made myself truly known. It was the ordeal that needs no introduction, the unique and unquestionably terrible force that wreaked havoc on friendships, companionships, relationships, and the overall lives of adventurers across Eorzea and beyond.

I joined in after the rest of the group had nearly given up hope. They had been trying to overcome this hurdle from the Fourth Astral Moon all the way back around to nearly the First of the next year, and the team was broken, beaten, and exhausted.

“Hey adventurer, we’ve seen you around the house and our Paladin recently decided the ordeals of saving Eorzea were too much for him. As such… we’ve got a spot open now and… anyroad… we were wondering if you’d be interested in helping to save the world!”

I jumped in and in no time at all knew I had found friends for life. Despite countless failures, we didn’t give up. We figured out how a tornado works, which way to point disembodied hands, and even learned the ins and outs of magnetism. After all of that and accompanied by a last minute Blade Dance and a Warrior Sacrifice, the unbeatable monster was finally beaten.

To this day, heroes across Eorzea wake up in cold sweats from nightmares from those days, and cower at the very mention of his name.

I shook myself as Terra’s voice woke my from my reverie.

“Sure has, can’t believe you’ve stuck with us for this long ya nitwit.”

“Nitwit? At least I don’t wet myself every time I hear the name ‘Living Liquid’!”

“THAL’S BALLS!” shouted most of the room, as they hid behind various pieces of furniture.

I shook my head, smiled silently, and hoped for another four years and beyond.


(Thank you for reading! If I am selected, I would like the Gaelicap!)

[VoiceofYumi]

Dearest Siz,

How long has it been since the day I met you? A mere four years? Yet I can hardly remember a time before you entered my life, nor do I wish to. I remember the days we spent exploring the depths of Alexander. I was a fool back then. So afraid of ruining our friendship by making my feelings known, I took up a fool of a partner who tried to push you away and spoiled any chance we had of defeating the massive mechanical Primal. I only wish I had seen my folly sooner. I only wish I was brave enough to confess to you then instead of waiting.

Now it has been two years since I found my courage, and we have both changed much in that time and added so many accomplishments to our list. We have ended wars, pushed back the Garleans, travelled across worlds, defeated enemies more powerful than any we faced before. Even now we join our comrades in reviving The Empty on The First Shard. I know that we shall succeed, as we always have. Because we are together.

Indeed I don\\'t think there\\'s anything we cannot do, any foe we cannot fell when we are together. Perhaps the words of Lady Valentione are truer than most would take them for. I certainly believe they are. I do hope you\\'ll continue travelling with me for years to come as all of my fondest memories have been with you.

Forever yours,
Yumi

(chosen prize: Noble Barding)

[Emizel]

The "Warrior of Light", so they called me. It was a title rather exhausted, a title I had worn for far too long in expectance of ease and comfort, as I had experienced with that of my previous enemies. However, at this moment, such a title was meaningless. I fought not in the name of Eorzea, nor the Scions, mayhap not even myself, but in my desperate pursuit for veracity. For once in my journey, I had realized the meaninglessness of my own being. This was not a conflict that concerned myself nor my idiosyncratic blessings, for such blessings were powerless in their faith before the might of the pitch-black dragon standing before.

For the first time in my journey, I felt wanted rather than needed, and felt shared comradery in place of feeling as though I were always being ordered around. Even with the blessings of Hydaelyn once restored to me, the Final Steps of Faith called not for the hopes of the crystal mother, but the aspirations of generations of a thousand years. I stared on ahead, yet what stood before me was not just an encompassment of ever-lasting hatred and vengeance, but also a figure filled with a pain that could not be let go of, an understanding too harsh to come to terms with, along with the changed and twisted ideals of the one who I've been able to come to call an ally through my journeys across what felt like heaven.

The hole of emptiness one is left with following traitorous deception, I knew too well. Never could I understand the skewed desires of my kind to bury the truth in more misery. Never could I understand the black dragon's unwavering longing to kill, for his brother had given onto our regrettable kind his vulnerability once more, and to me, the utmost of his strength. For the maiden of ice who's heart was the warmest of all, the dragoon who had learned to empathize with his worst enemy, and the white dragon who had undergone the worst pain; to let go, fear was absent from mine body and soul. The thousand-year Dragonsong war would end with me.

Yet, I could not take credit for that victory alone. "Warrior of Light" they called me, yet I stood as a black mage, ready to rain the lasts of bitter destruction that this war would ever need. Who stood beside me was my fond and most trusted ally, a Dark Knight who's ambitions were identical to mine. As a mage of black and a knight of darkness, our titles as Hydealyn's children were hollow. Light had already shed upon the truths of what lead us to this path. All-consuming dusk and destruction that held the misery and agony of countless generations of both humans and dragons was the only reciprocation that could be deemed deserved retribution. With two personifications of darkness standing side by side like a burning eclipse, Nidhogg would not live to see another millennium.

If selected as a winner, I would like the bluebird earrings.

[alin_laphel]

To whom it may concern,

I write this letter as a record for who I once was and who I am today. I would not be where I am if it were not for you, healer of a forgotten name. The memory is still vivid, a memory where I lack the skill and experience to guide a party. That quest where my shield often falter and our lives often at risk due to my ineptitude. The other adventurers in our team would continuously berate and mock me for my failures. You stood up for me. "We were all new once." You advise me on timing my skills and how to position myself in combat. Slowly, but surely, we made it through alive. AS you turned to leave, I wanted to say thank you but could only whimper an apology. "Don't sweat it. You'll get there. Just don't give up." And with that, you left.

How many years has it been since that moment? In those years, I have improved as a Paladin. Steadfast and brave, my shield holds true. Just as you stood up for me, I now do the same as mentor for adventurers. I wish I could tell you of all the people I have met and all the adventures I have been on. Those days are full of success and failures. Each day shaping into the person I am. Your words igniting my soul that drives me forward each day.

If the receiver of this letter is another adventurer of whom I may or may not know of, I have a few words for you. Whether you are a veteran of war or novice dipping your feet, just remember: You only failed when you have given up. Put your heart into your passion and it will return to you in kind.

If by some miniscule miracle that you are the healer from that quest so long ago, I have a few words for you. I hope you are in good health. We may have encountered each other several times unbeknownst to each other's identity. Or we may never see other again in a world as large as ours. I will always remember you for what you have done. For you, it may have been a small gesture where you stand up for the novice of the team. For you, that day may have been another passing day with strangers. Regardless of who you are and how you feel about it, there are two words I want to tell; two words that I was too timid to say all those years ago.

Thank you.

Sincerely,

A Fellow Adventurer

(Gaelicap)