"Your Hero has arrived!" - Journal of Iliette Guillestet

Iliette shot up from bed, she had a strange dream... Her father was in it, a dark and dingy room. Iliette remembered, she wasn't allowed into it. Her mother said that, that's where monsters went. That didn't stop the screams. She was told they were the monsters, The other watched them as monsters... The bed she was laying on belong to some healer, she must have passed out. The creature was massive after all, she had it too, she came out victorious! She must have lost too much blood though, she remembers talking on the linkshell, then everything turning black...

-The writing is the worst you can read from Iliette, almost ineligible-

Journal, I don't know what's happening to me, I'm all over the joint. I can't seem to focus and I can hardly sleep. I can hardly focus. Either on people or the fight. I'm helpless, Eyes everywhere... I don't know when the nightmares started, maybe after the fire?

The Drifters? They are about, someone got kidnapped, Asdrellia? I think her name was...is... I met her once, I think. She is nice... I do hope they succeed... Gaardal what a wanker. I only wish to beat him. The fucker questioned our pride, well he'll soon learn to fight the hurricane that is us. Let him come!

The others? I got to work with Illith and Zachree, it was a nice change of pace, working with others. Not many who know me usually do, but they were nice and capable. The children, just like me covered in blood, I couldn't react. I didn't know what to say. Get stronger, don't let this happen to others. That's my plan anyway...

The sun is rising, I need to train, chest hurts a bit... I wonder, would I get caught If I sneak out...

DAMMIT! XI!!!! Why does your existence just anger me beyond belief??? ARGH!!! You can only run, you never fight properly and you suck up to Raku, like it will save you! Well not this time, this time I will show you!!!! You accepted my challenge, bear with the consequences!!!! I will beat you on equal grounds!!!! *she keeps on ranting for a good couple of pages worth of name calling, trash talking etc...*

Tsk... We had a fight, then these random guys just went and jumped in, like it's their business! Seriously! Though I got to meet someone cool today, his name is Nix! I will kick his ass, but from what I have seen, he is pretty competent!

Iliette put down the pages and picked up her lance, hacking at the air and swinging it around the small room. Twirling it between her fingers then making sudden motions with it to an invisible enemy. CRASH! "ILIETTE, IF YOU HAVE BROKEN ANOTHER ONE OF MY VASES I WILL MAKE YOU WORK IN THE STABLES AGAIN!!!!"

Iliette plopped down on the chair and and put her hand on the table, with a horrified expression on her face "What have I done?" she picked up a quill.

Oh god, what have I done!? What have I done? Why do I even care what Xi thinks of me? Why did I have to sign up Kyndle's auction? Oh god! I better fall through with it now, otherwise people will laugh at me and she... Oh god... Kyndle will break me in half... What am I gonna do? Seriously??? Hmmm... Better look for an outfit... I have no understanding of fashion!!!! Seriously, I'm not a pretty face like XI! What if I wear something horrible and nobody votes on me? Maybe I should show up in my armor or something... Show them my ability instead, yeah that's a good idea! *scarches out last part* No it won't do! I have t get something at least half-decent... I don't want to get killed!!!

( I originally wrote this for "A day in the life of..." but it got seriously long winded)

Iliette woke up from her slumber in the inn room that she rents in Gridania on occasion, the room was small, almost like a closet rather then an actual room. It's the best she could afford and hey. It's home! The bed sheet was rolled around her like a cocoon. The room was a bit of a mess, armor bits dropped on the floor leading to the bed, a bag beside the night stand and it's contents almost poured out to the floor, leaving not much visible. The culprit lying curled up, beside Iliette.

She sat up looking around then looking dismayed at the furry fellow near her lap. "Tsk... How did you sneak in kitten?" she shook her head as she wiped her eyes and got up. She got a pair of trousers and a shirt out of her bag and began to get dressed. She began gathering what was left of her bag and spotted what exactly that thief was looking for.

"My beef jerky!!!!" she exclaimed. She held the bag up for closer examination, then she held it close to the cat. "I was saving this for a special occasion!!!" The kitten just rolled over showing it's tummy and purring towards Iliette. "You expect me to stroke you after this? You had another thing coming!!!" the kitten rolled back and reaches it's claws towards the bag. Iliette's frown slowly started to turn into a smile and gave in. "Seriously, this is now the fifth time you are doing this!" she started to think.

"Look, we may not have much, but we'll share okay? Also You will need a name..." she crossed her legs on the bed and started to observe the little black and white tabby. "You remind me of someone..." she picked the fellow up and made the kitten face her. "Hmmmm... I'll call you... Arlo!" she smiled. "Do you like it?" Arlo gave an approving meow, before he began trying to open the empty bag. She laughed and bgean gathering up the rest of her stuff and putting on armor for another day's training.

Iliette said her greetings to the owner of the fine establishment and owner of the local adventurer's guild Minnoune and a couple of others that frequented the place. "You going by Ywain's place?" Minnoune would ask and Iliette would reply with a nod. "Bring this to him would you?" and Iliette would comply.

Ywain was a hard man, riling up the lancers under his tutelage. "One, two, three!" he would examine the other students. "Watch your footwork Marrion!" correcting the other's stance. "Stand Firm, Evelyn! Otherwise the attack will just push you back!" he would turn to the whole class. "REMEMBER, YOU ARE NOT AS WELL ARMORED AS A MARAUDER OR A GLADIATOR, YOU HAVE TO RELY ON SPEED AND PRECISION!"

Iliette observed the class and kept her head low while trying to sneak in. Evelyn leaned closer to her, while Iliette took up her fighting stance. "Seriously, You were supposed to be my partner" she whispered.
"I know... I know..." she replied. "I was kept back at the inn..." Evelyn had a suspicious smile across her face. "What?"
"A guy?" Evelyn asked with great curiosity.
"You could say that..." Iliette frowned, when she heard a loud cough from behind her.
"I'm sorry ladies to interrupt, but I would appreciate if you could keep your chatter for after you are finished here..." It was Ywain. "Which I suppose you won't have a lot of time, since you both will be cleaning the building, tonight!" Both Iliette and Evelyn sighed with anguish. Ywain turned to Iliette. "You are also late! You didn't think I will see? You get double the punishment tonight. You will be running 'till the hall closes... No stops, till you have to clean the place!"

"Awww MAAAN!!!" she exclaimed.
"NO COMPLAINING! GET TO IT!!!" Ywain shouted as he walked away back to his class.
Iliette obeyed, like a well trained puppy.

Gridania was bustling with life by mid afternoon, She has been running for a long while now, she lost count how long. People started to snigger as she ran by. She stopped caring a long time ago. she just kept on running when she was waved off by a familiar face. "Iliette! Are you free?" the Miqo girl had a hard time keeping up with her. "Ummm..." she looked around to check nobody will see them. "No..."

The Miqo girl always had a job for her, may it be guarding a caravan or maybe standing guard at the restaurant that she worked at, but today it seems wasn't a case. "Could you cover me?" she asked.
"Huh?" Iliette was surprised.
"Yeah, cover my shift at the restaurant today!" she was almost begging "I just got a boyfriend and today is our first date!"
"What's in it for me?" Iliette asked. She was cold. The Miqo was seriously pissing her off with all her boyfriend talk.
She whipped out a familiar leaflet. The auction leaflet. "I'll get you a dress for it, so you could go for a high price!" she smiled like a Cheshire cat. Iliette stopped in her tracks looking mortified.
"I'll do it..." she didn't know or want to know what the Miqo will do with the leaflet.
"Thanks, if you could come now that would be great..."

The place was busting with people and Iliette didn't belong one bit. She didn't know what was more embarrasing. Her not remembering the orders, her awkwardness walking in high heels and a mini skirt or her punching every man who sent a wolf whistle her way, but sure enough the day ended with her picking up the Miqo's last check and buying some dinner for her new room-mate, before she skipped on Ywain and Evelyn for the auction.

Iliette came through the door and collapsed onto her bed with a loud thud. Yesterday was too much for her, both emotionally and physically. Her chest hurt as the metal rubbed against her burned scar. She turned over the tears streaming down on her face. "Stupid...Stupid Nix..." she punched the pillow. She couldn't help herself. Why did she care so much? This was not like her at all.

She remembered what transpired after, someone healing the two of them and leaving them in the Quicksand to heal. She ended up crying and she hasn't felt that weak, not since that time. She held the pillow like it was a person. she didn't want to be alone and yet she wanted to be. Nothing made sense to her. Nix told her she wasn't alone. She didn't expect anything different though.

"Tsk..." she punched her pillow. She stared at the ceiling thinking. "No..." she said it out loud. I must focus, fighting with Nix taught her something, never back down! Her training is not over yet, she has still got a lot to learn. Fight night was coming up, and she could not afford to loose, neither to that Zanana or Nix or anybody else!

She got up and slowly removed her armor and set it down, examining each ching and wear and tear and squeezed. "I will get stronger... I will loose all weakness!!!" she didn't know who to swore this to, herself or perhaps someone else and with that she went to bed another morning waiting on the horizon!

Iliette staggered out of the wench, her hand aching from the broken fingers and her head pounding from the after effects of alcohol... She didn't know when she started drinking, probably after Nina left. They spoke, to Iliette it seemed that Nina pushed a dagger into her heart, one that was already there, she just ignored. She wanted to see him so bad and not at the same time!

"Gods, when did I become so pitiful?" She muttered as she collapsed against the wall.

She told him everything. How she never felt so alive except when they fought. How her heart sped up when he was near. How she was worried, when he wasn't. How her heart hurt and she became angry when he was with someone else... "Tch..." She hid her face as the tears came. If this was the definition of love, then dammit Iliette was in love!

This was an illness she hoped to never catch and if she did she expected the other to say no and let her heart break into a million pieces. She was more expecting of rejection, then this...

The man in question did accept her feelings, but he has another... Iliette felt guilty, but so happy at the time. He'll sort it out, he said. Everything will be alright, he said. They kissed, an innocent one, light, but sweet. Then they parted.

How do you even act in a relationship? Iliette didn't know and when the next day came, she definitely didn't know what to do. He smiled at her. He knows everything about her. Yet he smiles. They were both crazy... Was he happy with her? He told her, she was stupid to not tell him anything.

It made her weak... Nina agreed, love is weakness... But how can one control their heart? Was this all a mistake? Was she becoming a weakling?

The fight with Kyndle, she lost... She lost because she was weak, she should have been more focused on training! She woke up in the wench after the fight... Did they fight in the Wench? Oh gods... Was she barred? She shook her head. She was weak... It made her sick to her stomach. Is this how her mother felt? When their parents first met?

She stood up, trying walking once more, without the motion sickness...

"That's her..." The manly voice came behind her. Iliette tried to spin around to see who the assailant was, but the potato sack was already over her head and she felt a sharp pain at the back of her neck as she fell with a thud...

As the three marched along the corridor, she looked to her side to maybe get a hint of where she is. What she saw was quiet different.

She tugged at the guards and moved closer to the stone rails and lean out, her face showing awe at what beauty awaited her.

It was a large cavern, lit by artificial light along the small streets, most of the houses and manors carved out of the stone they were embedded into, most were in ruins though as if someone haven't used them in ages, the sides were covered in statues of trees and elezen in heavy armor some fallen in disrepair as the elements and the outside world raged on. The main square was lit up the most, where two male elezen and a female one statues stood back to back of each other. One was holding a lance in his hand, the other with an axe, the woman was depicted as a Mage with water flowing out of her hands.

The streets were not bustling, similarly dressed soldiers stood at the closer vicinity of the place she was in.

The guards exchanged a look between themselves. One shrugged the other turned to Iliette and spoke. "Okay, that's enough sight seeing!" He tugged at the binds which he led Iliette by.

Iliette glared at the man, but obeyed. The place she was in seemed like an old castle or a manor, the walls covered in paintings of Duskwights looking solemn and regal, some even wearing armor or standing on top of defeated enemies on a battlefield.

Iliette observed each picture as she passed them and the guards that stood between them, any that was not a Duskwights was marked, either by a tattoo in the shape of a red tear or their face clawed in some (but very few) beyond recognition. What the hell do these people want with her? She will not be part of any of their schemes!

The trio was greeted by a large set of double doors. One of the guards opened it slightly while the other took of the lead, but not the rest of the rope that bound Iliette. The guard pushed her in.

She was presented a large round oak table and made to sit on one end.
"My liege" the soldier began to address the only other person in the room. Iliette raised an eyebrow. "We present to you Iliette" his tone turned to disgust. "*Guillestet*"

The man turned around, he was tall and as muscle bound as their race allowed. He wore similar colours as Iliette and were just as uncomfortable in them as she was. Iliette assumed that the man was handsome once, but the four claw marks left him disfigured. His white hair held back by a red ribbon.

He came closer to the table and sneered at Iliette.
"So you are *her* miscreant!" He began. "I imagined you to be more... Well....More! I did hear *so much* about you!"

"Tsk... And I never heard of ya old man!" She growled. " and yet I still manage to be disappointed!" The guard on her right grabbed her head and smacked it down the table. "Don't disrespect the patriarch!" He shouted.

The older man chuckled. "We'll at least one thing was true..."
"And what is that?" She asked as she lifted her head up.
"You do have your father's temper..." He replied. "He talked shit all the time too!"
"How do you know him?" She asked as she sniffed and spit some blood out.
"Your father?" He looked surprised. "Marius? Why I was the idiot that recruited him!" He laughed. "My sister ran away with that fool whoreson! News flash kid! I'm your uncle!!!!"