Final Fantasy XIV: Ashen Dawn

Rising Sun

The Solar
Hours Following Milala's Incarceration

"I haven't done anything to deserve this."

Eniro had gotten so used to never having a choice in his life that being able to make a positive one was near alien to him. Just that morning he had turned in Milala Mila, cleared his name of his bounty and charges, and was a free man to roam Eorzea following a promise he had made to a friend. None of this felt real. It wouldn't have been real had he not taken up Cyprus's offer, and even so, despite having accomplished the one thing he thought was impossible since running away, he still felt empty. Almost like it wasn't enough when it was all he ever wanted. Why did he feel this way? Was he because he was faced with another choice? Maybe-he didn't know. But something that he did know was that this choice in particular was something he could have never seen coming.

"Nonsense, Eniro. You've grown past your own tribulations and have become a stalwart ally to our cause; this is a position that you have earned, and there is no doubt in my mind that everyone alongside you would agree that you deserve such an opportunity."

Minfilia's words, no matter how complementary, didn't do much but embarrass the boy. He wasn't used to being praised like this-hell, he wasn't used to being praised at all.

"But even so, it is still your choice. If you wish to decline, it would be unfair of me to stop you."

"...."

The Solar was a big, big room. A lot bigger than what Thancred had described to him, and a lot more spacious than that of the Waking Sands. Eniro had never been there, no, but knew of its existence while he was on the run, and only looked at the Scions as a potential obstacle for a wrongly-accused criminal back before he caught wind of the fall of Ul'dah. Now? He was being offered a spot amongst their ranks.

If he said yes, he would become a Scion of the Seventh Dawn. Him. The apparent "boy savior", according to Yda.

He had a new home, a new family-hell, a new mentor in Estinien. He was finally a person again.

"...Eniro?"

"Hm?"

"If you do not mind my asking, how old are you?"

Odd question, but he didn't have a problem answering.

"I'm 20."

"Are there any other...demons that you wish to conquer in your time here?"

He had to really think about that one. Nothing he could recall that nobody else knew about, he thought.

"I mean, I want to quit drinking. There are healthier ways to drown out my sorrows, and I don't want to drown at all anymore. I'm not even old enough to do it."

He paused to let out a dry chuckle.

"It made me feel weaker, but it felt like an escape. If I couldn't think at all, I wouldn't think about everything that I did. All the lives that I took and everything that I've been given despite that."

Minfilia put a hand to her chest in response. Eniro could tell he had worried her, and started to feel bad.

"You are far too young to have so much put unto your back. You have far too much of your life left ahead of you to waste it away while you wallow in self-doubt."

"I know that, Minfilia. But I've been doing this on my own for so long that I don't know if anybody even needs me. That's why this is such a hard decision for me; because I don't want to hold anybody back."

They both shared a bout of silence following the boy's tangent. That was Another demon of his that had only just been realized.

"...Do you all really believe in me that much?"