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| Screen Shot of FFXIV |
I revel in the weight of the new
shield slung haphazardly over my shoulder and the sturdy high level armor I clutched
in my hands as I left the Waking Sands. The cold stone walls were illuminated
lightly by the soft glow radiating above the door and I could feel the warmth
of my moogle’s body floating closely beside me. With trembling fingers, I
tugged open the drawstrings of my bag and shoved a few Hi-Potions and Dusk Bat
wings aside to fit the new armor in. Pulling it closed and tying it around my
waist I hold my quest list between gritted teeth and clomp up the stairs while
my footsteps echo off the walls in the barren staircase.
When I make it outside the air is warm and
salty and the sky is the bluest I’ve seen with fluffy white clouds. In Ul’dah
I grew up feeling claustrophobic watching the crowds of tourists and passersby
always lumbering through and the nearly identical rows of steps and
storefronts. Going to the Ruby Road Exchange left me tumbling into deeply
pigmented rugs of red and blue that I spent a few seconds examining each time
before pulling myself back up and wiping off the dust. They would apologize for
tripping over me, so small as a child that it was not a surprise they wouldn’t
notice me, but I thought about the maps I saw Momodi roll up and extend to her
Adventurers each time I returned from an errand for her. The woven patterns of
the rugs they lined up along the road looked like little paths I could follow
out of Thanalan if I just kept walking.
The first quest I took from Momodi
as a young Lalafell was to an Adventurer I had seen pass through Ul’dah once a
year in the Second Astral Moon. As he was leaving on a new quest for her, to
Gridania, he left behind a wrinkled map smudged brown along the creases with faded
ink detailing the names of buildings and monuments marked in color with symbols
to show what kind of place it was. I saw blue crystals drawn where their
Aetheryte was and pictured the glowing blue light of the one here wondering how
long it would be until I could see that familiar blue glow in another city.
I had run as quickly as possible in
my faded brown boots and stumbled a few times along the way but when I made it
to him, panting and holding the map carefully in both hands, I could see my
reflection in the silver metal that encased his body. Staring into that
reflection I pictured myself in his place, wearing a thick shell of armor, and
taking a step down the stairs out of Ul’dah.
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