Path of a Summoner

The following morning, Wren and Merris told Twill what they had found deep below Mobius’ home. Twill’s expression turned to one of confusion.

“What does he believe he’s protecting Spira from?”

“He won’t say,” said Wren, shaking her head. “I’ve asked him two different times why he has his own Fayth, and both times he’s said the same thing.”

“Nothing suspicious about that,” said Merris, making a small jab in the air with his finger for emphasis.

He then swung his bag containing his things over his shoulder, and headed to the entrance.

“I don’t… understand what it is we’re getting into,” said Twill, scratching the back of their neck with a frown. “I feel like it’s my responsibility to keep looking into this, but at the same time, I know we’re in over our heads.”

“I feel the same way,” said Wren. “It’s… a lot to think about.”

Merris was nowhere to be seen when they made their way down from the guest rooms.

Mobius was waiting there for them at the bottom of the stairs again. The ominous aura from the previous night was gone, chased away by the light pouring into the room from the balcony window.

“Good morning! If you’re looking for your friend, he’s gone ahead,” said Mobius, cheerily. “I doubt he’ll be allowed entry without my word of approval, though. I’ve written it down in a letter for you to give the foreman, but he left without saying a word to me.”

He handed Wren a thick piece of parchment that was folded into three segments. She opened it to view its contents briefly, finding it to be exactly what he had said, instructions to allow the three of them into the temple.

“Thank you,” said Wren, folding it back up neatly. “We had better catch up with Merris.”

“I’m just sorry you couldn’t stay any longer,” said Mobius, gesturing the two of them to the door with a pleasant smile. He didn’t seem to have heard what she said about the other member of their party.

“Us too,” she said, starting to move.

She tried not to feel obligated to say anything else as the front door was opened and they left.

Once they were out the door and headed down the main street leading into the town, she spoke up again. “Do you think he noticed I was avoiding speaking to him?”

Twill tilted their head back, thinking. “I don’t… know what he notices. He seems to be in his own little world. But I’d say that most people would have picked up on that.”

Wren gave a small hum as they walked, picking up the pace. “Oh well. I don’t want to spend too much time here anyway. If I can avoid him, I will.”

As Mobius had said, they found Merris in front of the temple, pacing his anxieties away. When he spotted them, he stopped to pick up his things.

Wren showed him the piece of parchment given to her by Mobius. After reading it over, he shrugged, then motioned with it to the information center.

They took the parchment to the man from the previous day. He took them to the door, and unlocked the new mechanism that had been put in place to keep the general public out. He allowed them inside, wishing them well with whatever they might find.

Unlike the other temples, this one had a living feeling to it. There were large cables to carry power to the town lying on the ground. Every light inside glowed fiercely, as if somehow supercharged, yet never burning out.

“This place has been defunct as a temple for a while now,” said Merris, squinting into the light of the path ahead of them. “I haven’t really been here since they were installing all of this.”

“They moved their place of worship to that place beneath Mobius’ mansion,” said Twill. “They can’t have visitors with these lines running energy to the town, but I’m still suspicious of his intentions.”

“I think we’re past suspicion by now,” admitted Wren, frowning. “But without knowing what he’s really up to, all we can do is keep our heads down and pretend we suspect anything…”

Merris grunted in agreement, and the three of them moved on, careful of the lines as they walked.

“As far as I can tell, I don’t think people come in here very often,” he said. “They only send someone here to check the lines if there’s a problem, usually with fiends. I don’t know what we’ll find in here, so brace yourselves.”

The walk to the innermost sanctum of the temple wasn’t far. The lift was already operational when they arrived, so they let themselves in. When the lift stopped, they were standing in a large, dark room unlike the previous rooms. Twill set a light, and they found themselves staring into an endless pit.

“This is like what I saw in Kilika,” said Wren, stepping back from the pit so she was still standing at the door. “Something came out of the pit…”

“The Pyreflies,” said Twill, nodding.

Merris was inspecting something on the far wall from the door, standing over what appeared to be a broken Machina.

“This explains why the lights are out,” he said, frowning. “This is where the power runs from, but the light has been damaged… I guess it has been awhile since they sent anyone in here. This should probably be considered a safety hazard. If anyone reported it…”

“Maybe a fiend broke it?” asked Wren. “This is where all those fiends came from too, right?”

“That’s right, but… I don’t think this was a fiend,” said Merris. “If they left it like this, with no signs of any fiends around, they would have fixed it by now.”

He got on his knees and started searching in the mess of broken parts, as if the machine had been smashed. He inspected the bits and pieces, screws that had fallen out of place, and bent plating. After a few moments, he stopped, staring at something in his hand.

“What is that?” asked Twill, bringing the light closer.

“It’s… one of Tana’s earrings. She made it herself,” said Merris. “I don’t know how recently, but she was here…”

“And no one else has seen her since she supposedly left town…” said Wren, eyeing the pit. “Hey, Merris…”

He turned his head, stuffing the earring into one of the pockets on his belt as he stood up. “Yeah, I think she fell. Or someone pushed her, who knows. There are signs of a struggle here.”

“Mobius said that these pits lead directly to the Farplane,” said Wren. “Is that where the energy is coming from too?”

Merris nodded, beginning to pace the floor once again. “Yeah. I don’t actually know that much about the process. Some kid was here working on it who designed the whole thing, but like I said, I haven’t exactly spent much time here.”

He stopped pacing, and then sat down on the ground, burying his face in his hands while he thought. “I have to get down there somehow…”

“Think it’s safe to jump?” asked Wren, wincing. “I mean… if the energy is running from the Farplane, someone has to have explored what’s on the other side, right?”

“It should be. They had to send people down there somehow,” said Merris. “She could still be alive down there…”

“If we had some way of rappelling down, we could make it without having to jump. But we don’t even know how far down it goes,” she said. “You can’t even see the light from the Farplane from here.”

“...I’ve heard,” said Twill, frowning. “I don’t know, but I’ve heard that’s how they dealt with the first outbreaks in the temples, when these pits first appeared. That people jumped into them to take care of the fiends? And lived to tell the tale, of course. The Farplane is really its own realm, like the other side of the veil… But whether or not it’s safe to jump in...”

“We had better consult Lady Yuna,” admitted Wren. "Even if we entered from Guadosalam, I don't know how we'd be able to find Tana."

“That might be a good idea,” said Merris, sighing.

Wren took the CommSphere given to her by Yuna out of her bag, inspecting it for a few moments. She activated it, and braced herself for an answer when the sphere responded to her touch.

“Hello?” asked Yuna’s voice.

In the dim image of the sphere, she could see Yuna’s face. It was still early in the day, but she seemed to have been awake for some time now.

“Wren?”

“Lady Yuna?” answered Wren. “I’m sorry to bother you so early, but… We have reason to believe that someone is in danger, and may be stuck in the Farplane.”

Yuna paused for a few moments, as if she was studying the image seen in her own CommSphere. “...Where are you right now?”

“We’re inside the temple in Djose. There’s a big pit here, like the one in Kilika,” said Wren, turning the sphere so the hole was visible. “We want to rescue Merris’ sister, but we… don’t know what to do, if she really did fall.”

“Those holes do lead directly to the Farplane,” said Yuna, her tone becoming serious. “I fell into one of them myself, a few years ago. Exactly how doesn’t matter, but I wouldn’t advise you to jump in headfirst. But if you're doing it to save a friend, then I'll admit it should be fine, if you did.”

“It should be?” asked Wren.

“I did have to return a few times, but it's not as if I did it because I was curious,” said Yuna. “I’m not even actually sure how the holes are connected to the Farplane, but each time, I didn’t have as much as a scratch on me.”

“Wren,” said Twill, freeing their hand to tap her shoulder.

She turned her head to look at the other, who gestured around the room. The room was now suspiciously empty, apart from the two of them.

“He’s already gone. I’m going to follow him,” said Twill. “I’ll make sure he’s safe.”

Wren paused for a few moments, frowning, before looking back at Yuna. “Well, it looks like all my friends are jumping down holes, so I guess I have to too.”

Wren and Twill stand in Djose's chamber of the Fayth.

Yuna gave a weak laugh at that. “Let me know how it goes, if you can. I hope you find what you’re looking for.”

“I do too. Thanks, Yuna,” said Wren, dipping her head.

The sphere went dark, and Wren tucked it away once again, then looked over at Twill for validation.

Twill nodded to her, though they also seemed nervous. “He’s braver than I am. But I’d better go after him, just to make sure he makes it back.”

Wren wasn’t sure she had much of a choice but to jump. She only had other people’s word that it would be safe, but thinking about it made her feel worse. She tried telling herself that on the other side would be a huge, soft bed for her to land in. She’d be alright.

“Let’s jump together, on three?” she asked.

“One…”

She gripped her bag tightly.

“Two…”

They both stepped closer to the edge, looking down into the abyss.

“Three!”