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

Ch12: 9.0 Concept--Timeline Chaos

"But would they join with me?" The Warrior of Light wasn't so sure about that. Ardbert wasn't exactly cooperative when they first met.

Still. It was their only chance.

The cup-shaped relic activated once again, and the party was sent to another shard.

As such, the Warrior of Light encountered many civilizations on vaious shards. Unfortunately, there was no time to fully explore said civilizations, due to the threat of a pursuing 'possessed' Midgardsormr.

The details of the journey through these shards are elusive due to the quickness of the process, but the Warrior of Light somehow managed to convince the various shards of Azem's souls to join with the body of The Source. Frankly, once they became aware of the seriousness of the situation, they agreed to sacrifice themselves, as befitting of a Warrior of Light.

WIth every returning soul shard, the Warrior of Light became stronger, along with the infusion of memories from these soul fragments. The Warrior of Light felt a great level of guilt-- these other soul fragments had their own lives upon these differing world shards. Unfortunately, the only method to deal with the pursuing 'possessed' Midgarsormr was to match him in power.

Against all odds, the Warrior of Light's soul was made whole again. The Warrior of Light no longer attempted to run from the pursuing Midgardsormr.

When the dragon appeared from another rift once again, the Warrior of Light did battle against the serpent fearlessly.

Yet Vrtra's judgement was proven incorrect. Though the Warrior of Light felt stronger than ever, and could now employ certain creation techniques for battle, the serpent's endlessly regenerating body proved unbreakable.

Seeing the Warrior of Light barely holding off Midgardsormr, G'raha Tia could not help but step forward in an attempt to provide assistance.

This was a costly mistake. Midgardsormr opened his mouth and G'raha Tia was promptly sucked into his mouth, to the scions' shock and dismay. Of course. G'raha Tia carried memories of two timelines. That must have attracted this 'possessed' dragon's attention.

The Warrior of Light had a sinking feeling. The Warrior of Light felt ashamed. To use time travel recklessly to avoid the calamitous results of the ninth was foolish after all. The Warrior of Light could only accept responsibility.

Strangely, that was when G'raha Tia's voice sounded from the depths of Midgardsormr's body.

"You must return to the beginning of time itself! When the timelines have yet to split and fracture!"

The Warrior of Light's eyes widened, enlightened by a newfound crazy idea. Of course. There, at the beginning of Etheirys, would be ample assistance to deal with the nagging problem of this 'Guardian of Time' Midgardsormr.

The Warrior of Light activated the cup-shaped relic once again.

"This is my responsibility. Live your lives well, my friends," the Warrior of Light bid farewell to the scions.

"No!" Alisaie yelled. "You promised that you would never do this a--"

But the Warrior of Light was already gone as the magic from the relic activated.

The cup-shaped relic was vibrating with power in the Warrior of Light's hand, seemingly struggling to carry the Warrior of Light back to an ancient past.

Eventually, it shattered into a thousand pieces and the magic carrying the Warrior of Light failed. The Warrior of Light was thrown into darkness, crashing into some... unseen figures who yelled on the sudden collision.

"What the--"

"Hmmm. How curious. What could this entity be?"

Snapping fingers sounded as a flame was lit.

The Warrior of Light's eyes widened as the flame illuminated the face of the one known as Emet-Selch. A much younger one, visually in his teens.

"This... 'entity' is none other than another one of us going through this troublesome trial!" Emet-Selch groaned. "Honestly, I do not know why I even agreed to partake in this trial."

"Come now," Hythlodaeus replied. "Understanding and contributing our talents through this trial will be beneficial to the governing of our world. And you, my friend, should be recognized."

Eventually, the Warrior of Light, a being from the future, would take on the mantle of Azem in this ancient world, journeying across the ancient lands of Etheirys.

Author's comments:

I know-- some ffxiv fans believe we should be done with the ancients and 'move on'. I personally think that it would be great to go on many 'proper' journeys with Emet and Hythlo.

Also, there is also much more lore left unexplained. Such as how the ancients came to be. How they built their societies. What about the other tribes on Etheirys, and their interactions with the ancients? How were the dragons born in relation to the Dragonstar?

The beginning of this concept draws from the fact that somehow, G'raha Tia did not disappear after the events of the First due to the creation of another timeline.

The Warrior of Light is also sometimes a little too 'perfect'.

As such I came up with the idea of having the WoL abuse time travel, creating many timelines that threaten reality. And I desired to explore the dragon's powers and influence more, and thought revealing midgardsormr as a dragon possessed by a primal force would be interesting.

So the concept is as follows:

Dragons are retconned to be guardians of time, and will be overtaken by a primal force to defend a proper timeline.

The Warrior of Light attempts to use time travel repeatedly to resolve failures in the various shards.

This awakens the ancient guardian of time 'force' within Midgardsormr.

In an attempt to defeat Midgardsormr, the WoL completes their soul by visiting other shards and absorbing soul fragments.

It was not enough. G'raha Tia, carrying the memories of two timelines, was especially glaring in the possessed Middy's eyes, and was thus swallowed.

Thus the WoL has to return to the time of the ancients, to a point in time before the timelines bifurcate. Doing so prevents Midgardsormr from following.

The cup-shaped relic breaks along the way, miring the WoL in this ancient past. So it is that the Warrior of Light realized that this was meant to be. Azem, was in fact, always the Warrior of Light from the past.

The Warrior of Light will grow and experience the development of the ancients, while seeking help to resolve the problem of the split future timelines threatening reality.

What follows? The six calamities of the six major civilizations after the ancients.