Path of a Summoner

The display started to dissolve as the Hall’s main chamber came into view between shimmering pyreflies that reformed into Amalthea’s human shape. The only thing showing that she was no longer among the living was the fact that her feet did not quite reach the floor. Her eyes still held a sort of wistfulness and pain, and her hands fidgeted in her sash once more.

For a few moments, no one wanted to speak, not quite meeting the girl’s eyes. No one needed to ask what happened next. Even if they didn’t understand the details of the process it took to create a Fayth, the truth in the very air felt suffocating.

Wren had realized she could pick Amalthea’s voice out of the hymn that echoed throughout the many chambered Hall. She felt even more afraid of what could have happened to Tana if Mobius had succeeded in killing her, but looking at Amalthea’s memories, she was relieved he hadn’t done the deed himself. She wondered if he had planned to come back for Tana later. Actually, she didn’t want to think about that.

Finally, Amalthea broke the silence. “Mobius has tried to commune with me since then, more than once, but I’ve never granted him my power after what he did. The others… I don’t know what they knew before this was done to them, but I was the first, and I can only assume he has their Aeons already.”

“Um… yes, I’ve seen two of them,” admitted Wren, looking at the floor. “The one he used in Macalania was… Leviathan?”

Amalthea gave a small snort. “Idiot. I guess in the end they trusted him more than I did. More and more people came on board with… whatever they believe Mobius’ goal is. I know he hasn’t told the regular members about Sin. But even I didn’t stop to think until it was too late.”

“Trying to revive Sin?” asked Tana, curling her lip in bewilderment in a way that had Twill gravitating to her side comfortingly. “You never thought that was wrong?”

“...I can’t tell you what was going through my head then. To be honest, I was only thinking about my own problems growing up. I didn’t think about the consequences, or I didn’t care,” said Amalthea. “I never said that it made sense. I only want you to understand that I will help you, and only you.”

“Us?” asked Wren, looking up. “Wh-wait. What do you mean?”

Amalthea waved her hand a little, the other hand going to tug at a section of her thick hair. “Well… I’m a Fayth. I can’t really move from where my stone is on my own, physically, so when you entered the Hall before I latched onto you then, thinking you might be able to help put an end to Mobius.”

Wren felt deeply conflicted before Amalthea even finished speaking. While she wondered what it would take to stop him from carrying out his will, she wasn’t ready to kill anyone. Still, she felt she had to try to stop him through any means. She would try her way first--without taking his life.

“I can’t kill him,” she said, shaking her head. “But I’ll do whatever I can. I’ll find him, I’ll talk to him if I can. If it has to come to it, I hope I don’t have to…”

“You don’t know him,” said Amalthea firmly, shaking her head. “You won’t be able to change his mind, and if you try you’ll put yourself in a lot of danger, if he knows you’ll try to stop him. I trust you to make up your mind in the end, if only because you’re the only one who can do it.”

“Why am I the only one?” she asked, gesturing to her friends. “I wouldn’t ask any of them to do this either, but… you’re asking me to become a summoner? To call your Aeon and use it against Mobius?”

“It’s the pyreflies,” said Twill, placing their hand on their chin. “The pyreflies that fell when Sin was defeated, Mobius had a piece of them. And you have two pieces now, don’t you? Am I right?”

Amalthea nodded enthusiastically. “I think in order to recreate Sin, Mobius needs the pyreflies that came from it. I don’t know what they are exactly, but his magic became much more powerful after he came to. You’re a mage too, aren’t you Wren?”

She wrinkled her nose at that. She wasn’t an expert, by any means, but when she had set out from Luca she had only known a basic fire spell, expecting to use it for utility, to start a fire if need be. Since Kilika, though… Even that simple spell seemed somehow amplified, and the few times she’d cast without her staff had been far easier than when she practiced alone before leaving home. Was that because of the pyreflies?

“Sort of… yes, I suppose so…” she said. She didn’t want to believe that none of that was because of her own work. Maybe she would bring it up to Twill later. “So because of the pyreflies, you think I’ll be able to summon your Aeon?”

She tried not to think about the implication that she also had the ability to summon Sin, in theory. Even if she would never use that power, she didn’t think she should have it to begin with.

“I do,” said Amalthea. “That’s why I want to ask you if you will bear my will, and use me to whatever means you must in order to stop him. Will you help me?”

Wren nodded her head. “I will.”

“Then I will give you the ability to call forth my Aeon. Whenever you need me, I will do whatever I can in my power, and if you need to speak to me again, you know how to find me,” said Amalthea.

Before Wren could really react, Amalthea’s form started to glow, illuminating the statue of Yunalesca above them, and causing the group to shield their eyes. She felt something moving towards her, being drawn to her, and then the light was gone.

And so was Amalthea.

Her knees felt weak, and she held her head, looking as if her feet were about to give under her.

Merris, who was the closest, put his arms around her shoulders to steady her if she started to fall.

“Is she going to pass out?” asked Merris, looking at the other two.

“I don’t think so,” said Wren, weakly. “Um… but can you help me get back to the ship? I think I need to sleep this off.”

“Can you walk?” asked Merris. “I’ll carry you.”

Wren shook her head, brushing his hand aside gently. “I’m okay. Just let me lean on your shoulder, maybe?”

“We can share,” teased Tana, taking her other side to usher Wren to the lift that would take them back to Respira’s meeting place, to the town, and back to the ship where Chia was waiting for them.

As they boarded the ship again, Chia greeted them with a worried expression as Wren wavered between leaning on the two much taller siblings shoulders. “What happened to her? Did you run into Mobius?”

Twill laughed softly, a little nervously. “No, but we’ve still got a lot of work ahead of us, apparently. She’s going to need some sleep before we can move on.”

Chia chattered with Twill and Merris, as Wren made her way with Tana to the cabin, where she helped her into bed.

If Wren thought that sleep would be an escape from the situation she found herself in, she was wrong, for as soon as her head hit the pillow, she was face to face with Amalthea once more.

It surprised her, actually.

Before, she had never seen Amalthea’s face, until they met inside the Hall, but now she was seeing her face in her dreams as well. Wren wondered if it was because she had no face to place to the name before, or if it was because she had received her Aeon. Did that even have an effect on dreams?

“There you are again,” said Wren softly, nervously. She felt a little strange, seeing her face to face, as evidently real as her own physical form, within the dream.

They were standing in the fountain court again, sitting side by side at the fountain’s base.

“Here I am,” she said, agreeing.

Wren didn’t know if there was very much for them to say to each other, after spending an extensive amount of time speaking already. Except…

“Um… I don’t mean to sound like we can only talk if I need something, but do you have any advice?” asked Wren, after a few moments. “I mean… I don’t know how to summon. Is it just something you feel? Will you come if I call you? Where should I go next, if we have to cut Mobius off from reaching the remaining temples?”

Amalthea leaned back, balancing with her arms on the stone behind her. “I don’t know anything about summoning. I can tell you what I saw Mobius do, but even though being in this state has changed my perspective on… a lot of things, actually, I don’t know any more than I used to about technique. I’ve never been summoned before.”

“Alright, but you can offer a little. Okay,” she said, nodding. “We’ll come back to that, I’ll definitely have to find someone who can teach me. What about Mobius?”

“I don’t know that much about what’s been going on outside, except for what you’ve already seen,” admitted Amalthea. “Um… I guess the obvious is that he’s probably going to go to Zanarkand. Anywhere there’s a temple… Actually, I heard him say something once, a little bit after the Calm began, he mentioned something about a cavern in the Calm Lands, where there was a Fayth stone. Before the temple Fayth all disappeared, anyway. Apparently, there was some kind of tourist attraction there, but from what I heard, it didn’t go very well because of particularly powerful fiends…”

“That’s kind of disturbing,” said Wren, frowning. “If it was that dangerous…”

“Yeah, I don’t know,” she said, shrugging. “Mobius said the Fayth was probably moved there by someone trying to put a stop to the pilgrimage, but obviously it didn’t work. Whoever put it there probably intended for it to be dangerous. Making it into an attraction for the whole family probably wasn’t the best idea.”

“Oh, yeah, but as far as Sin goes,” she added, sitting up again. “I don’t know where the actual summoning will take place. I keep thinking about how big Sin is… There isn’t a lot of sacred ground with enough space to create something like that. Mobius is… big on tradition, to say the least.”

“It’ll probably be the Calm Lands, then,” said Wren, nodding. “That’s… where summoners go to fight Sin, right? Plenty of room for… that. I bet that’s where he’ll go.”

Amalthea gave a small hum of agreement. “I think so too. If he’s making his way across Spira, one temple at a time… He probably hasn’t gone all the way, yet. You could find the others, and cut him off in Zanarkand. That’s as far as you can go. If you cut him down there, he’ll never even make it to the Calm Lands.”

Wren turned to look at the water behind her, that frown returning. “Yeah… I’m not excited about the idea of killing someone, even for your revenge. I promise, I’ll do something, but not that.”

“It’s not just about revenge though, right?” asked Amalthea, wrinkling her nose in a frown. “I’m not the only one who deserves peace. What about Tana? The other people he’s tricked?”

Wren shook her head quickly, her hair flying everywhere with the force. “I don’t know. I’m not a murderer, I barely know how to defend myself from fiends, that’s why I hired Merris and Twill in the first place. I promise, I’ll think of something.”

Amalthea’s expression was dark, but she turned her expression to the water too. “We’ll see. Again, I’ll do what I can for you. If you can manage to summon me, I’ll follow your instruction, but if things go badly and you haven’t pulled it together by then, I’ll be happy to put an end to him myself. In fact, I insist on it.”

Now Wren was decidedly uncomfortable. She’d been getting increasingly weird feelings from Amalthea ever since she started to learn more about her. She felt Amalthea was just a very confused, and very hurt young girl, but she feared that her detachment from the living world had somewhat skewed her perception of the living. Or had she always sort of been like that? It might be both, she thought, thinking of what she’d seen. Either way, she was focusing very hard on keeping Amalthea out of her head again.

“Um, I’ll think of something,” she said, quietly.

Amalthea was playing with the water, letting the ripples run over her fingers. She was listening, and it was clear she wasn’t satisfied, but she was being very patient in spite of that. Thankfully.

“I think… I’ll go to Besaid,” said Wren, changing the subject. “I’m pretty sure Mobius has already visited the temple there, but… I need to learn how to use your power. The only person I know who can tell me what I need is High Summoner Yuna.”

“...That makes sense,” mumbled Amalthea.

She could tell Amalthea wasn’t thrilled about that either, but she doubted her grudge over being prevented from leaving Bevelle was with Yuna herself. She couldn’t deny the bitterness in her tone, however.

“Um, Amalthea,” started Wren, glancing away. “Before anything else… I know you’ve been through a lot, and you told me yourself that we’re in this situation because I just happened to be there, right? I just want to say that I’ll listen, if you need to talk. I feel like the people that you’re used to aren’t the best at hearing out other people’s feelings, you know?”

She wasn’t sure what she was getting into by offering, but it seemed polite to do so.

Amalthea seemed surprised by that. “Oh. Yeah, today is probably the first time I’ve ever spent so much time talking about myself. Thanks for offering, I guess.”

That made Wren feel a little better. If they could understand each other, maybe Wren could do more for her than just get revenge. Maybe she could put her at ease, too.

Not that Amalthea’s way was completely off the table, though. If it came down to it, Wren really thought she might have to take someone else’s life. It was scary, no matter who it was.

But understandably, she didn’t think Amalthea had such reservations.