The Quicksand was not as small a building as it appeared in the games. The chalky sandstone bricks were dense and sturdy. They formed a cohesive wall that towered up near the upper limits of Ul'dah. Even within the buildings, interconnected rat-ways allowed one to traverse the city without once being exposed to sunlight.
It had been roughly 3 months since I had arrived in Ul'dah, and though I didn't miss the desert, I always took time to bask in the sun upon waking up.
Momo-nee had given me a room and some work at the Quicksand. I typically started just before mid-day, but I always woke up a few hours before. Why? To train of course.
'Hear, Feel, Think.'
Words of the Mother Crystal. They are what she whispered to her chosen. A mantra that I theorized was the key to training the Echo, however to train the echo, you had to be chosen. I was not.
'Hear its flow.'
No, instead I was grasping for something else. Aether. The energy that all life was constructed from. And Aether also just so happened to be the Font of Magic. Magicks? I disregarded the spelling. Casting magic required a strong understanding of Aether and an even stronger skill to manipulate it.
'Feel the Astral.'
I was bullshitting, but I had little choice. I had no clue that joining a guild would require damn near 10k gil. Far more than I had at the moment. To cast spells you had to memorize incantations. The stronger mages of Eorzea didn't chant however, so it's possible they eventually learned to do so silently. Such a possibility was what I placed my efforts on.
'Study the Umbral.'
Efforts that showed promise. I felt something. A sticky sensation that probed the pores on my skin and made my hair raise. I felt it on the very first try a few days ago as well.
I dare not absorb it recklessly. Aether was so much more than just Final Fantasy's spin on the RPG trope of Mana.
Aether was life. It was the soul and spirit. It's said that when you die, you turned into raw Aether and entered the Lifestream, where the Mother Crystal would cleanse you for reincarnation.
Aether was also the blood of Primals. And the source of their Enthrallment. Aether could corrupt, drive one mad. It could also cure, and grant one unimaginable power.
'Six Elements betwixt the Twelve.'
Aether could also be attuned with something akin to a personal signature. Whether the signer be man or force, absorbing Aether that didn't belong to you was a likely death sentence.
"Hoo..."
There it was again. The sticky feeling, like I had missed my daily shower. If I let the force in, it promised to make me clean forever. So I got up and walked to take a second shower. But not before making faces in the mirror and staring at my still tan-resistant, corpse pale skin, dull blue eyes, and outrageous pink hair. I was a puff of cotton candy on a stick.
'Damn it.'
---
"Enjoy!"
I flashed the customers a smile.
"Ahhhhh!"
"Hey sweetie, why don't you come with us for a while?"
A female Roegadyn and her Miqo'te friend were trying to drag me to bed with smiles on their faces. It's not like I was explicitly against it. They were both attractive women, but I was on the clock and after work I needed to use that time to train. The why of the situation bounced around the back of my skull, but I disregarded it. Momo-nee assured me that I was attractive somehow. She'd never lie to me! Speaking of-
"Keep your damned hands off my brother, Blue!"
Momo-nee, my eternal star walked in to rescue me from these carnivorous bitches! I swooned!
My little big sister tottered up to the table and pointed at the Roegadyn woman that I believed was named Blue. A somewhat strange name that didn't match her towering 7 foot stature and smoothed copper colored skin.
"Awe, come on Momodi! We're about to go to Gridania! Cut us some slack and let us have some fun!"
The cat woman exclaimed angrily. Her tail flicked and swished in a way that my cat did when he was playful.
"Gr-Gridania?!"
Momo-Nee covered her mouth in shock.
"Aye."
Blue had a fed up look on her face.
"The forest of twigs and fools. A subjugation to do 'ere with the Masks."
"Oh my- wait! I don't care!"
"Tch."
Momo-nee snapped out of her shock and made the cat girl click her tongue.
---
"Thank you, Momo-nee"
A contented smile bloomed onto her small face.
"If anyone gives you trouble, you come to your big sister! I'll sort them out!"
Momo-nee then flexed her non-existent muscles. Always a delight with her. Ever since we met, I'd been pampered like this non-stop. She would always inquire about my well-being and eventually after a familial joke, she asked me to call her such. It oddly fit.
"Momodi!"
"Comin'!"
Momo-nee gave me one last nod and left me to my own devices. I looked outside and estimated that my time to clock out was coming soon.
Upon being taken in by Momo-nee, my outfit changed into something of her own theme. The centerpiece being a bone white vest with two golden buttons. Above them lay a thin chain connecting a bauble to a pin that was woven into the vest. The contrasting black sleeves and collar were rippled like water. The rest of my outfit was simple white slacks sitting upon brown dress shoes.
I recognized this vest-like piece of gear as Boulevardier's Ruffled Shirt. An item that was only available through crafting at level 70. Which also meant, patch 4.0.
I was freaking out at first, but after calming down, I realized the insignificance of this item. Expansions in XIV seldom changed the entire world in destructive ways. Continents didn't suddenly sink or get permanently destroyed. What happened in each expansion was that the player got access to another part of the world. I guessed that it made sense for a strange and foreign article of clothing to end up in the City of Gold... But-
'Then what of the classes?'
It seemed that not all content was free to exist out of time. The Blue Mage for example, it seemed impossible for me to find one before the Calamity. It was understandable I supposed. The Blue Mage was seen as a scammer before he found the player. Constantly on the run selling "fake job crystals".
I started hiking back up to my room for more training. One might ask why I didn't start doing morning runs and 100 repetitions of push ups like other novel protagonists might. After all, that simple panicked run from the Cactuar when I first arrived proved my physical weakness. Well I would, however the world of XIV wasn't as easy to cheat as I expected.
To put on muscle, you needed far more calories than I could afford with my meager salary. And not just any calories, but protein. The Ul'dahn diet was rich in starches and fats, but oddly scarce in what I needed the most to pack on muscle. The markets also didn't hold as much meat as I would need to grow stronger. The worst part is that my body just didn't want to eat that much. It was hard to keep down half a plate of food. I seemed to reach a hard limit.
However, Thancred, a man that's not only taller, but almost as thin as I was, could dash around, climb buildings, leap rooftops and the like. He wasn't the only one either.
I've seen numerous Miqo'te jumping and flipping an impossible amount of times in one leap.
Lalafell carrying massive hunks of steel that one could vaguely call a sword.
Even my Momo-nee could jump from the ground to the top of a table if she so desired.
Obviously there was something else at play here that kept me weak. It's possible there was something in meat that made one stronger? Or perhaps there were indeed experience and levels in this world.
I walked into my room and sat down in the middle of the floor immediately.
All of this was an issue because it meant that taking a martial class would be a terrible choice for me.
In Ul'dah, players could start out as a Gladiator which would evolve into a Paladin, a Pugilist which evolved into a Monk, or a Thaumaturge which would grow into a Black Mage.
As one could tell, two of these choices are physical. To gain power, money, and the ability to survive the Calamity, I needed a class as soon as possible.
'Hear. Feel. Think.'
I almost had enough for one class trainer to take me in. In XIV you could pick as many classes as you wanted on 1 character and switch between them at will. However in this world, with a guild, and guild dues, training wasn't free.
"Hear its flow."
While I could potentially do some crazy Vegan workout plan, I found instant success touching the Aether. I obviously had a talent for it. I needed power and fast. I had no idea how long the 1.0 story-line was. Or any patch cycle for that matter. The story-line could start today and I'd be swept up in its rhythm without notice. It almost felt like the whole tale of Final Fantasy XIV took place within 8 years. 5 of those are just rebuilding from the calamity.
'Feel the Astral.'
When I found the time, I had to pick up a Tank class. There were dangerous things that I would be dragged into in the future. Each Tank had a life-saving move that could keep them at 1 HP no matter how much damage they took. To survive this world, I needed one of those.
'Study the Umbral.'
I was unsure of how I'd handle it all or what the limits were. I simply could not leave this city without money or power. Aetheryte cost thousands of gil per teleport. Adventurer's gear wasn't cheap either. Guilds would provide you with a starting armor set for free upon joining. Once I became a Thaumaturge, I would test the limits of this world and find what I could take advantage of.
'Six Elements betwixt the Twelve.'
I refused to lay down and die. I passed the tutorial through luck alone. I could not be held in such a dangerous position again. I was weaker in every possible way compared to the Warrior of Light at level 1. I had a lot of catching up to do. The Warrior of Light could best Primals at just level 15.
I felt the Aether glide across my skin. It flowed continuously like a river. I had to take a risk this time. I couldn't continue to be scared.
I "reached out" to the Aether.
An invisible limb gliding its "fingers" across the air-borne stream. I could "feel" the pads of its "fingers" going numb. I couldn't absorb it no matter what.
But perhaps I could move it?
I tried to "pull" a sliver of a strand of the Aether away from its stream. It came loose willingly like string cheese. Somehow heavy and flexible. The hair of Aether seemed to still flow even while disconnected, shimmering in my mind's "eyes". I flicked my middle "finger" and-
*WHOOSH*
A gust of icy mist coated my bed sheets and the wall behind it. Not too long after, it dissipated. The size wasn't large, but it was something. I couldn't stop the smile from blooming onto my face. In XIV, such an effect was only equivalent to splashing my target with a handful of water. But if I could do this in just a few months, imagine what I could do with a year!