Aria Benett

Dear, Diary,

"We found land. We found land, and we found life! Maybe I shouldn't be too excited?

On a ship washed aground are two people. An old man stands guard over a young girl in bed. He tells us that they've been here ever since the world became how it is now, doing their hardest to keep it from fully freezing over. I get the impression that the girl is the only thing keeping us alive. The old man informs us that the girl behind is Aria, a priestess of the Water Crystal. But she's sick. Drew rushes to give her a Hi-potion, which brings the girl back to life. As though it is second nature, she knows that we're the Warriors of Light. She gets out of bed and asks us to take her to the Temple of Water, far to the south. She's not recovered, but we felt like we had no choice.

South of their ship is the Water Temple, located on the biggest island we've seen. In the far back is a Crystal Fragment. Aria informs us that the priestesses prevented the darkness from swallowing the Crystal when the world was covered in darkness. I don't know how breaking a piece of it off did that, but I can't argue with the results. But I am curious where these other priestesses are? To restore the Water Crystal, we'll need to go to the Cave of Tides behind the temple. The door to the second floor is locked, but Aria prays, and it opens up. We now need to make our way down, past the various mobs in our way. Aria occasionally casts Cura and Protect on us, so she's an amazing white mage! I look forward to having a full time healer on the team. Maybe I'll give up my fancy hat and get a pointy one? We had to teleport out a few times because we are not good with item management! Like, so, so bad.

We're bad at items, but we're great at pushing on. We made it to the very bottom! Aria placed the shard before the full sized Crystal, and it regained its light. Even when in stasis, it seemed pretty shiny. Aria asked us to speak to the Crystal, so we have to get into position now.

Why did we have to walk away? Why were we so oblivious? When we had our backs turned, we got attacked. Drew...Drew almost died. The only thing that saved him was Aria pushing him out of the way. But...but that means she just took the attack herself. Why did someone so sickly take the full force that a good Monk might have survived? Kraken...I don't even remember what he said to us. I doubt any of us do. All we saw was an octopus that needed to die. But, like all the other monsters aiming for the Crystals, he put up a fight. Like last night, we kept reliving the scene over and over again. But this time, I think we all did. We tried to delay going back to the Crystal a few times. We went home for a moment to restock and buy Flame Mails. We even got a new Thundara spell, which is partly Xander's fault. He had an extra the whole time but didn't want to share. We walked our water priestess around the Floating Continent, but she wanted to get to the temple, so we always followed through. I don't know how many times we saw die, but it never got easier.

Xander wanted to see if remaining a scholar would aid in saving her. I don't know if it did, but he used a lot of Zeus Wraiths on Kraken. I summoned as much lightning and Blizzaga as I could while Drew begged to get attacked. He never was. I think even Kraken knew hitting the enraged would end badly for him. But we did it. He defeated him, but he got the last laugh. Aria lay there, barely moving. She asks us to promise that we'll banish the darkness. We will, Aria. She then granted us the power of the Water Crystal and passed. As she did, the Earth began to shake. 

A Dream? I dreamt a strange old woman told us seek someone named Doga, who lives on a continent I've never heard of before.

It's been nearly three days now, and Drew is still asleep. An old man found the four of us in the cave and brought up back to the town of Amor. Aria brought back this world to its rightful place. No one even knows they were gone...no one even knows about Aria. While we slept, a rich missr named Gondar locked our ship with a chain because he thinks we're the Warriors of Light. The only way to reach his gold encased house is to find some boots that make us float over the swamps around it. The person who has such a thing lives in the sewers...

Also, there are four old, balding men who think they're the true warriors, so something tells me something is going to be annoying."


The problem with writing a diary style update is I can't talk about the music in FFIII. "Eternal Wind," the overworld OST for the Floating Continent, is one the greatest pieces of music ever written. It's always stuck in my head, and I'm never down when I hear it. Then compare that to "Boundless Ocean," the theme of the world before Aria dies, and feel how crushing it is. And "Aria's Theme," itself, is amazing. It's gentle and calming but has a foreboding effect on it. It fits her perfectly. And it makes me wonder why Aria's death feels so heavy. She's with the party for an hour, barely showing any personality. Even in the extra 3D skits they add, she's pretty one dimensional. Maybe it's because of her song? The combo between that and "Boundless Ocean," as well as the shift from "Eternal Wind"? Maybe I just have a type? I dunno.