Lord of the Inferno

I ran into Hero today at the center of Ul'dah. I could see he had a lot on his mind so I stopped to talk with him. He'd been thinking of what the Antecedent had told us and decided he wanted to take it a step farther. He asked me to accompany him to the Amalj'aa stronghold of Paglth'an to convince the Amalj'aa to join the city-states in standing against the Empire. It was bold and dangerous, but we had spoken with them before so perhaps it fell to us to do this for Eorzea. It took me a while to get my mind around it. Was there no one else who could make this right that it falls to Shai and Hero?

Of course I had to stand by my Path Companion, but this situation was serious and I could not do it alone. I could not go forward without Nimla involved in these decisions. So far I have walked the Path without her - doing odd jobs for the Adventurer Guild, the Waking Sands and the Ashcrown Consortium - but the fate of Eorzea and certainly my fate as a citizen of the city-states may lie in the balance.

Our plan was to intercept a Paragon headed to Paglth'an and try and convince him in order to sway the Amalj'aa. It would give us a solid foothold in negotiations to have a Paragon argue our case to the beast tribes.

Off to See the Paragon

 Nimla and I met up with Hero and the sylphs from the Consortium had come as well. Hero worked out to deliver the missive he himself had written for the Consortium and deliver it to the Paragon, but tragedy befell us and our plan was thrown into chaos. The sylph had vanished and Hero, Nimla and I were captured by the Amalj'aa.

Amalj'aa Jail is Dreary

I know not how long we were held in that cave, but we were not alone. There were others trapped with us and some of them behaving rather peculiarly. We weren't left to speculate too long on their fate or what would become of us when our jailers arrived to take us away.

We were taken through the canyons to a clearing at the edge of a cliff - the gates of Paglth'an perhaps. I had lost all sense of time and direction, was starved and thirsty, but bound by these Amalj'aa beasts. What happened next, however, will be burned into my mind (literally) until I die, which through fortune that would not be this day. Through a brief ritual summoning the Amalj'aa called forth a beast so mighty and fearsome I felt it would consume the world in fire as I gazed upon its majesty - Ifrit, Lord of the Inferno.

Hero tried to stop the madness, tried to reason with the primal. He told it of our wish and our plight, but the creature would not listen and spewed forth a devious blue flame that engulfed us and the other prisoners. The Echo shielded Hero and I, but others among us were less fortunate. Their minds had changed somehow. They were no longer prisoners, but slaves to Ifrit's will. If I had not shielded Nimla with my body she would have succumbed to this madness as well.

What's Come Over You?

The three of us immediately began to engage these captives with words and with our weapons when words were not enough and after a long fight we managed to return them to their former selves - Ifrit watched on while we did this, but the Amalj'aa were not amused. They tried to stop us but we subdued them as well.

Listen to Reason!

Then we were left to face Ifrit and Hero spoke once more to this self-proclaimed god. Ifrit insisted we were blind and ignorant. He also said that the Paragon insisted we be left alive but he wished to make us vow not to summon Another. Ifrit left us with much to think about - foremost among those thoughts was how could we summon a primal? Perhaps it had said too much. Are the five races of the twelve also capable of summoning primals or gods? Perhaps the beast tribes were not the only ones after all. Is this the source of the Echo?

Nimla is just as accomplished a conjurer as I and a member of Moogle Knights as well. We have seen our share of battles, but this one left us both overwhelmed. I suspect it is the raw power of the primal that had its influence cast over us - as soon as Ifrit was gone, Nimla used her anima to whisk us back to Ul'dah where I planned to present my report to the Path of the Twelve. 

Minfilia was upset with the liberties we took. It was perhaps unwise of us to go to the Amalj'aa when the eyes of the Empire are everywhere. She was however impressed with what we learned from our encounter with Ifrit and because she felt responsible for putting ourselves in danger gave us a healthy reward for our service to the Waking Sands. I am again left with much to think on including the very nature of the Echo itself.