Gulool Ja Ja's Legacy: A FFXIV DT Rewrite + Expansion Concepts [Fanfiction]

Ch10: Clues

Wuk Lamat paused, taking her time to consider the question posed to her. What exactly did her heart desire from confronting Zoraal Ja?

"I grew up with my brother, trained with my brother," she eventually began. "I do not fully understand why he chose this path-- to even take my father's life. I desire an answer, as does the currently dormant soul of my father." She lightly touched the hacked regulator on her own head.

"Closure," outrunner Cahciua noted.

"And I must return to Tuliyollal with him in chains," Wuk Lamat continued. "His attack has taken the lives of many-- they, too, deserve an answer."

"And if you are unable to?"

"I wonder," Wuk Lamat replied, her eyes downcast. "I can't help but wonder, if I had been more of an intrusive sister, constantly poking my nose into his business and his thoughts... perhaps he would have expressed himself more. Perhaps I would then have been able to pull him away from the abyss. Instead, I travelled the land, more than happy to drown in the sights, leaving him to carry the full burden of succeeding father upon his body and mind..."

The Warrior of Light was silent. Indeed, Wuk Lamat was never particularly interested in the succession rite, and was pressured into participation by Gulool Ja Ja. Even after being forced into it, she treated it more as a leisurely adventure, believing Zoraal Ja to be the proper choice. An assumption that had since been proven absolutely incorrect.

"If he is unwilling to return to Tuliyollal to face the consequences of his actions, I can only strike him down," Wuk Lamat gritted her teeth. "Though he is my brother... It is our responsibility to ensure the prosperity of our people. He has abandoned that...for what?!"

Indeed, the party had already, to an extent, gained some degree of understanding of the society within the purple dome, having explored the Outskirts prior to entering Solution Nine. They had even seen a fighter employ some kind of soul augmentation referred to as feral soul-- which they recall Zoraal Ja and a soldier employing as well.

Before any had the opportunity to console Wuk Lamat, the sound of rapid pitter patter sounded out behind them. They spun around to find the form of a child Mamool Ja speeding out of the hideout!

"That is...?" Wuk Lamat was naturally filled with shock.

"I named him Gulool Ja," outrunner Cahciua sighed with sorrow. "I cannot say if he is a spawn of Zoraal Ja, or perhaps..."

"Or perhaps...?" Y'shtola probed.

"... a clone of sorts." outrunner Cahciua muttered.

The Warrior of Light noticed Estinien narrowing his eyes at these words. Though the dragoon was able to maintain what one might call a poker face, the Warrior of Light could tell that the Ishgardian, internally, was stewing in a chaotic murkiness.

After all, Estinien, in order to inform Zoraal Ja of the absurdity of his desire to 'unite' the world, had spoken of the Garleans and the dragons, and even made mention of the long-gone Allagans.

"Hmmm," G'raha Tia tilted his head. "Or perhaps that is his brother soul?"

"Oh?" Outrunner Cahciua displayed a large O on her monitor, curious.

The party proceeded to inform Cahciua of the ending of the succession rites, where the mysterious voice that they now recognize to be Queen Sphene's informed them that it was her intervention that allowed Zoraal Ja to live. There has never been a child of a two-headed Mamool ja that survived birth, and it was Queen Sphene that informed them that the very reason for this was that those children were born with one head yet carried two different souls within the body.