I was logging rosewood logs near the Hawthorne Hut when the call came. I tried to enjoy the work, the feeling of physical labor, the sound the axe made against the tree, but only the presence of my friend from my Free Company made the work bearable.

I called him Uri, but that wasn’t his full name. Despite the face he was a Miqo’te like me, I found his name uneasy on my tongue. He called me Toby. Together we worked on gathering logs to make into lumber.

“Anyone available to help with maps?” came the call over the Free Company chat line.

I ignored it. I was still relatively new to the game, despite just reaching the higher levels of adventuring. My focus had been moving through what the Scions had requested of me, gaining more and more experience. As far as I knew maps were just what you pulled out to see which way you were heading.

“I need a few more for maps!” came the cry again. It was from Dani, a senior member of the group.

“Want to do maps, Toby girl?” Uri asked me, pausing the work of gathering logs.

“What do I do?” My muscles clenched and I bit my lip.

“Gear up your bard,” he said, “and put away the axe.”

Truth be told, I loved singing songs and shooting arrows far more than I liked whacking at trees for their bounty. We geared up.

As we got closer to the coordinates, I blinked, confused. Right there in the middle of the zone was a glowing portal. I had never seen anything like it before! While it glowed around the edges, the center of the oval was blacker than night. Were we going in there?

“Everyone ready?” Dani asked.

Affirmatives sounded. I found myself in dissolved into blackness. When light returned to my world, I stood inside a circular chamber with my party mates. One large circle dominated the center, several smaller ones were around the outside. “Here we go!” Dani announced.

One circle lit up, and then the one next to it, faster and faster, then slower and slower until the light hit upon a certain blue circle. It was like a game in the Gold Saucer!

A song of announcement played, and we had landed on something called a Lesser Summon. I pulled out my bow and aimed it at the mob. One shot, two, singing a song to support my fellow adventurers. I soon became involved in the mechanics of barding. The monster was soon down.

We spun again. Purple. What mob will this be, I wondered?

But the party groaned.

Atomos. He arose from the platform in a swirl of dark smoke. We spun and twisted in a great wind, headed directly into his mouth.

The world went dark once more.

Sometimes the maps seem cruel, denying portals, or letting us in only to be instantly kicked out by the ever-watchful Atomos. Others they are generous, with those of us who participated walking away with the sounds of gil in our pockets.

Though I have participated many times since, my heart still skips in anticipation when Uri asks me, “Want to run some maps?”