Presentiment | FFXIV: Shadowbringers MSQ [24]
1,199After scaling the mountain after endless waves of sin eaters, we had finally arrived at the apex of the mountain to face the king of sin. Pompous as ever, he makes his way down from his throne to face us whilst demanding our submission allthewhile. Our stance unwavering, we prepare ourselves for a battle to the death against the epitome mockery of holiness. The fight was proceeding rather swiftly in our favor as we ravaged his form with blades, arrows, magic and the like. Until, that is, when he succumbed himself entirely to the Light that resided within. Doing this, he had transformed to a higher, truly grandiose being deemed only as "Innocence".
The fight had evolved to another layer of ferocity as we pit all of our past experience to overcoming Vauthry's newfound power. In the end, we once more emerge victorious as the final Lightwarden of Norvrandt had been laid low by our might. Even so, there was still one more arduous task to be done: absorbing his aether.
With our aether already reaching its breaking point, we steel ourselves for the most difficult absorption of them all. As we proceed in the task, we see a vision of Vauthry's beginnings. It presented a brief tale of a wealthy, selfish, and possibly politically powerful man cursing his populace for not being more grateful for his leadership. The setting of this tirade was alone in Vauthry's room in Eulmore, with only his wife as company. Through his ramblings, we gather that he may have led a sizeable portion of people out of a calamitous situation, but not without great sacrifices made in the process. During this, we hear a familiar voice intruding with supportive praise towards the man and his decisions; fueling the furnace of entitlement within him. Surprised, the man and his wife turn towards the new person, and we find that it is none other than Emet-selch in his Ascian attire. He approached them whilst offering a gift of power by means of transferring the essence of a Lightwarden into the womb of his wife, so that their son may be born as a god to rule over the lands for eternity. The man seemed to show no hesitation, and jumped immediately in favor of the idea. The vision flashes forward in time and shows that the sin eaters had obeyed Vauthry's presence ever since he was born due to this splicing of aether.
As the vision ends, we begin to a̸͚̓s̸̖͂c̵̺̈́ẽ̵̟n̷͕̒d̷͇͒ and feel the aether inside begin to brutally erupt as it proceeds toᶜ̵ˡ̸ᵉ̴ᵃ̷ⁿ̵ˢ̵ᵉ̶ eviscerate us from the inside-out. It ᵇ̶ʳ̶ᵉ̴ᵃ̸ᵗ̷ʰ̵ᵉ̸ˢ̴rips through our soul and ʰ̸ᵉ̷ᵃ̸ˡ̸ˢ̷tears our mind.
I hear voices call out to me. Familiar ones. Close ones. They're faint. It's hard to hear with all the noise. I wonder if I try to listen more closely... or maybe I should...
We see the Exarch. Things become a bit more clear now; a bit less fuzzy, and the bleeding hurts less. He proclaims using the power to teleport away to start a new life on a better world. Something about using us this whole time for a selfish purpose.
He's always been good at keeping things secretive, but he seems pretty bad at lying.
With our senses coming back to us, we get a better grasp of the situation. We are put alone in an aetherial ring along with the Exarch, and he is channeling the light aether from us unto himself. Perhaps with the power of the Crystal Tower, he could actually successfully harness it safely...?
...But then we overhear the theories of our friends, and the conclusion that the Exarch means to teleport himself into the rift after taking all of the Light into himself. In doing so, he will die with the purpose of sending the corruption hopelessly adrift in the rift.
What about the adventures he wished to go on? The memories he'd like to make? The friend he so wishes to be with again?
During the channeling, the tempestuous air blows away his cowl, and that is when we see him. We remember him. The man who took the burden of sealing the Crystal Tower alone to keep Eorzea safe from power-hungry tyrants getting a hold of its technology.
We call out his name, and in response, G'raha Tia thanks us for believing, and fares us well for the last time-
There is a gunshot.
He dropped his scepter.
He's collapsing.
I see him... the one behind him.
Emet.
Timestamps:
Introduction - 0:00
Playthrough - 1:10
Cutscene 1 - 11:51
Playthrough - 22:06
Cutscene 2 - 30:57
Playthrough - 44:28
HW and SB raid slight spoiler talk - 45:32
Playthrough - 46:43
Cutscene - 47:36
Outro - 54:28
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