Chapter Text
Something was strange with the aether of Mor Dhona. Y’shtola had been the first to notice it, naturally, and several others had confirmed it with aetherometers. There was some kind of unknown pulsing wave emitting from a particular place, apparently; that was all that Liolaeus knew about it, and it was what had brought him out here beneath the bright Mor Dhonan sun today.
There were six of them in their little investigative party; Y’shtola, G’raha, and Urianger for their expertise; Liolaeus, Alisaie, and Estinien (who had happened to be in the area) in case whatever was causing the distortion needed stabbed in the face a few times. The epicentre turned out to be in a rocky, secluded area, bordered on one side by aether crystal. But there didn’t appear to be anything of note there; just stone, crystal, and scraggly weeds.
“Perhaps the source is beneath ground or trapped in the crystal? Do you see anything, Y’shtola?” G’raha suggested, fumbling with his aetherometer to get another look. Yet before Y’shtola could answer, each of the six was wracked by a headache, accompanied by an ear-splitting, dissonant, inorganic noise. Lio instantly recognised the feeling; the very same as when G’raha had summoned them to the First...
They all soon fell to the ground, and everything went dark.
It is done?
It is done.
How many?
Six.
Perfect. Send them forth.
Of course.
The next thing Liolaeus knew was waking up on dusty red ground with a sore head and aching horns. The earth felt subtly, indescribably odd against his palms as he pushed himself to his feet, and though the desert sun blazed high in the sky above, the temperature was mild, neither hot nor cold.
“Oh, hells... Not again!” Alisaie was audibly exasperated. Lio turned to see her standing with her arms folded amidst the rest of their party, who were groaning and rising. “Now of all times...”
“What is this place?” Estinien asked nobody in particular.
“Twelve... the aether here is completely different.”
“Pray tell what thou meaneth?”
“It’s forming cubic structures, and the consistency is bizarre. It’s unlike anything I’ve seen on the Source or beyond.”
“Everything looks quite ordinary to my eyes.” G’raha added.
Though they all agreed that they must find a way home, they quickly noted that their teleportation spells failed them. In fact, every attempt they made to manipulate the aether was fruitless; even the dragoon magicks that allowed Liolaeus and Estinien their sky-high jumps were inaccessible. They were not merely blocked at the stem, they could not be drawn in the first place. It reminded Lio of his brief, unpleasant stint in a Garlean body. There was no trace of a gate of any sort nor of any other-
“It’s your fault! Your fault! We’d all be left in peace if it weren’t for your lot!”
They all rushed over to the edge of the mesa upon hearing the cry- if nothing else, it meant there were people in this strange land. Though they weren’t people of sorts any of them had encountered before; there was a varied array of figures in the canyon below who ranged from plant-like to animalistic in any flavour of mechanical or humanoid. They were distinctly split into two groups, though what they might have in common could not be told.
“We didn’t ask for this! We only want to live! Is one stupid piece of data really all it takes to make you point weapons at children?!” shouted one who looked nearly like an armour-clad Hoobigo, if not for their bright orange skin and huge stature. They waved their giant steel claws impassionedly at the opposing faction. A tiny creature, nearly too small to notice until it moved, hid behind its legs.
“It’s you that the Knights want! We won’t tolerate any of you here! Not even your runts!” replied the first speaker, a kind of flower-like being with a sturdy-looking body. “Leave!”
The other was about to yell a rebuttal, but one of their fellows, who looked somewhere between a Lupin and the best of Garlean artillery, pulled them away and said something into their ear. The wolfish one scooped up the tiny creature behind their friend and the three of them walked off behind another mesa as the others hurled insults at their backs.
Liolaeus gazed thoughtfully at the dust swirling through the canyon as the remaining few shuffled through a concealed door on the opposite mesa. “That.. was certainly one way to be introduced to this land’s people.”