On recent events.

Revered XXXXXXXX,

Ever of late, I have found myself torn by the conflicting desire to know, and know intimately, and the terrible fear of the answers which I must uncover.

Although for a score of years hence, I have wandered Vana'diel as one lost and in longing, within the span of a mere few weeks I found myself at last in front of my heart's desire. It was with Tsiife's power and conviction that I was able to muster this courage, but I am ashamed to admit that, once confronted with what I had long sought, my heart quailed within me. I tasted fear, and then drank it deeply, deeply from the cup.

As you well know, you who have watched countless years turn without cessation, I am not as the others of this world are. I am as you. I am of the ancient peoples, the Zilart, and I am a survivor of the war ten thousand years in antiquity. In that era, I served the one I now know to be the Dawnmaiden, the one who gazed upon the face of the Goddess and worshiped her. When the Kuluu phenomenon emerged, my people made war upon them, and our conflict rent the earth asunder and scorched the sky with mighty arts. Those few of us that survived into this modern era emerged not whole and unspoiled men, but instead shattered and broken remnants of a cursed people. And it was long before my full remembrances returned to me.

However, these past years that I have survived within this Crystal Era, I have been devoured by the quest of my faint reminisces. I recalled with fervor the woman I knew only as the Shining Lady, a woman that I knew was most dear to me, a woman of velvet and satin and holiness so profound that her name seemed too hallowed to speak. Nightly, as well, I have been tormented by the visions of this Lady entering a door. Although Vana'diel lay within the grip of another war that gripped all within its violence, my mind and my heart lay ten thousand years in the past, and I burned with the desire to discover the fate of the Shining Lady, and uncover the mystery of what lay behind that door.

For twenty years, I eschewed the company of man or Zilart, the few that remained, and spent my time in solitude. I traced the rumors of the Celestial Capital and the paths that remained, for Al'Taieu my homeland no longer existed within this Vana'diel. I closed my heart and soul and buried them within themselves, within the past and my tendrils of memory, and allowed no one to approach me. My companions now have labored hard and with much toil to breach that gap that exists between Zilart and the peoples of this era; I fear often that it has for them been a thankless task without reward. Their companionship gave me succor, and I began to realize, or hope, that with time an intimacy could be created between us even without the bridge of the whisper of the soul.

A darkness threatened Tsiife's heart, and together, we vowed to obtain the path to Al'Taieu. Suddenly, fate thrust us forward, and through arts unimaginable and adventures unspeakable, we soon made our way to the Celestial Capital, which is no more. Trembling, we made our way to the innermost sanctums of the Grand Palace of Hu'Xzoi, and there found the unassuming door which had so long haunted my dreams. Great lady, I am sure you remember well its appearance, and can guess how my heart thrilled within me as I halted before it; and yet, at the source of all of my dreams and worries, I found myself unable to at last open the door. Had it not been for the immediacy and peril of my companion, I am sure I would be still hesitating in front of that door, unable to fulfill destiny.

Of what was seen within that room, I cannot speak. I know you greatly desire me to share the secrets of that place, my lady, but I cannot. Know only that what was seen cannot be unseen, and that at last, I found those answers for which I have yearned these past twenty years. And I have forged for myself a peace, albeit a peace of grief.

Now, a new quest awaits me. My eyes have turned from the past and toward the future. I hope to continue to rely upon your assistance and discretion, and the wisdom for which you are so widely renowned.

I remain most cordially yours,
Kre'oss of San d'Oria
Signed this XXth day of the XXth month, CE 905