DISCLAIMER: The following is a crash course for the plot of Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker. IT CONTAINS SPOILERS, it does not have any sort of personal insight, and is mainly meant as a tool for those who have skipped, forgotten, or want a refresher on the major plot points of the Endwalker narrative.
Enjoying Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker? Perhaps you would like to learn more about the series up to this point and catch all the little (and sometimes not so little) references to the series’ larger history? Endwalker draws a lot of inspiration from Final Fantasy IV for instance! You might want to check out my Final Fantasy Retrospective series where I am replaying the entire franchise from the start live on Twitch with both archived VODs and edited videos on Youtube.
Endwalker (6.0)
Chapter I: Hope Across the Sea
The Warrior of Light reunites with their allies in the Scions at the Rising Stones in Mor Dhona and receives the news that Krile has finally secured passage and entrance to Sharlayan for them all. The Scions travel to Limsa Lominsa where they await their ship and wax nostalgic about their travels to and from Sharlayan with Master Louisoix all those years ago. The group boards the ship and begins their long voyage to the homeland of the archons.
While on the ship, the Warrior of Light is roused from their slumber by a mysterious voice. They follow it to the deck of the ship to see the same luminescent woman they witnessed back at the shores of Lake Silvertear some time prior and are able to confirm what they suspected then – it is Hydaelyn. Or a visage of Hydaelyn at least. She confirms what you learned from Emet-Selch on the First, that she is indeed a primal, and as her counterpart and prisoner Zodiark regains his strength through each ardor of the reflections rejoining the source, she grows weaker. She no longer can summon the Warrior into the Rift to talk with them directly and thus must resort to this weakened image that stands before them without even enough extra aether to cast a spell but she wanted to do this much, to speak with the Warrior once more, to tell them that she believes that they are ready for what is about to come. With their conversation at an end and others taking to the deck of the ship to get a first glimpse of Sharlayan, Hydaelyn vanishes and the Warrior of Light rejoins their companions.
Arriving in the city proper, the Scions decide to play their origin and purpose close to the chest and instead give less direct answers to the immigration officer. The archons and the twins declare their citizenship, though the clerk acknowledges the rumors swirling about Master Fourchenault disowning his only children. The Warrior of Light is given a myriad of choices depending on their accolades and achievements but generally gets choked up to being some kind of ‘Mercenary’. Estinien says he USED to be the Azure Dragoon of Ishguard but completely blanks in a mix of existential crisis and lack of improv ability when questioned what he does now. Luckily, Kirle arrives just in time to save him and declares him another mercenary in the employ of the Students of Baldesion.
With immigration out of the way, G’raha and Krile give the Warrior a tour of their home city before convening with the rest of the Scions at the Baldesion Annex and discuss their plans. Their concerns are ultimately two fold: why is Sharlayan being cagey about the End of Days, and what to do about the towers that the Telophoroi have summoned across Eorzea and the Lunar Primals that they spew forth. Fortunately, Krile has a lead about the latter through a friend in Thavnair. The Scions ultimately decide to split their efforts with Thancred, Urianger, and Estinien traveling to distant Thavnair through an experimental aetheryte technology, and the twins, Krile, Y’shtola, and G’raha investigating the mystery surrounding the Forum’s decisions in Sharlayan.
The Thavnair group arrives through the experimental aetheryte inflicted with horrible aether sickness. As they recover, they begin to take in their surroundings and learn from a local dealer, Khalzahl, that the trading markets have completely dried up, bringing anxiety and ruin to the merchants of the island. The Warrior of Light also teams up with a local matanga, an elephant person, to explore the region and learn about its culture – including their powerful local deities: The Three Magus Sisters of the Manusya.
The group travels on to meet Krile’s contact at a village known as the Great Work, and meets with a young au ra boy named Varshahn who is the servant to local ruler – the Satrap. Estinien is instantly suspicious of the young boy but takes no action. Varshahn rouses the exhausted alchemists with a fresh batch of dragon scales he has come to deliver and aid them in their work to develop warding talismans to protect people against the mind controlling effects of the Towers.
Estinien, spurred on by his pact with Nidhogg and his memories of the Dragonsong War, wants to know where the scales came from and Varshahn explains that the Satrap has formed a pact with a dragon who has given the scales willingly. The Warrior of Light and their companions aid the alchemists in their tests and experiments which draw the attention of Fandaniel, the Ascian working with Zenos and the leader of the Telophoroi. Fandaniel is intrigued to see if the diligent alchemists could actually pull off this endeavor and chooses not to interfere… yet.
Once the warding talisman is completed, the Warrior of Light helps Krile’s friend and contact – Nidhana – test its efficacy by journeying to the nearby Telophoroi tower off the shore of Thavnair that the locals have dubbed ‘The Tower of Zot’. Nidhana manages to resist the tower’s aether corrupting influence and the test is declared a success, but the victory is momentary as Fandaniel opens the gates of the tower and draws Nidhana in with animated chains.
Inside the tower, the Warrior of Light confronts Fandaniel who decides to share a little bit about himself – or at least this incarnation of Fandaniel. Before he ascended to the ranks of Ascian, he was a humble scientist for the Allagan Empire named Amon. The very same Amon that we face an incarnation of within the halls of the Crystal Tower. Amon was a gifted genius who worked to create horrific monsters out of the populace to entertain the bored noble citizens of a decadent age. In an effort to draw the Empire out of its stupor, he cloned and resurrected their greatest emperor – Xande – to lead them to a new golden age. While Xande’s conquest waged on, Amon was contacted by Emet-Selch and offered the position of Fandaniel within their ranks. Thinking on his Emperor’s words – that nothing in this world lasts, death will claim us all and life is just a short dance before eternal nothing – Amon accepts Emet-Selch’s offer and leaves a clone of himself to serve Xande. The Warrior of Light is stirred from their echo vision and retrieves the talisman before running off to tell the others what happened.
In the wake of the successful test but the kidnapping of their lead alchemist, the Warrior of Light and their companions are brought to the capital of Radz-at-Hann and meet with the Satrap in person. Estinien finally snaps with anger and declares the Satrap to be a fake and he can sense the true leader behind the curtain – literally and metaphorically. The Satrap yields and reveals the true master of the island nation, the great wyrm Vrtra, child of Midgardsormr and brother to Tiamat and Bahamut. The dragon explains that he has ruled this nation in secret for ages, and deeply cares for its people. He beseeches the Scions to destroy the tower and free his people trapped within. The group acknowledges the dragon’s request, but needs to reunite with the rest of the Scions to discuss a plan.
Back in Sharlayan, the investigation grinds to a near halt as the group desperately pulls on threads by going through old books about Sharlayan history. That is until the Warrior takes a break with Alisaie to grab some coffee where they witness a caravan of Gleaners, field researchers tasked with gathering items from the rest of the world at the request of the Forum, bringing in a massive amount of boxes and crates and delivering them to the underground storage facility of Labyrinthos. The group decides to investigate and head into Labyrinthos, but G’raha decides to stay behind to work on another angle that he has a suspicion about.
Down in the vast living archive that is the subterranean crater of Labyrinthos, the Scions work to make friends with the Gleaners in hopes of finding out more about what’s going on. Krile however is struggling as she keeps zoning out and feeling pulled away since you entered the lower levels. The Scions work with the researchers to aid them and learn about their work. That they’ve been tasked with finding things like fast reproducing livestock or plants that grow well in very harsh conditions. One of the Gleaners seems to think they’re prepping for some sort of mass migration of Sharlayan to a harsher climate, maybe to one of the southern islands, but they don’t have any solid proof or anything.
The Scions sneak into the more restricted sections of Labyrinthos where the Warrior and the Twins spy on a Forum member disguised as frogs. There they learn that this work that is exhausting the Gleaners is to complete some ancient task given to Sharlayan ages ago. Krile however has continued to become distracted and disorientated the further down in Labyrinthos the party descends. Finally, the reason becomes clear when she becomes the willing host to the voice of Hydaelyn herself who reminds the Warrior that they have the ability to walk free and make their own choices. The Hydaelyn-possessed Krile offers the Warrior a flower called the Heart Bloom that changes colors with the dominant emotion surrounding it with the disclaimer that they should use it to help guide them in their darkest times.
That’s when the Forum, including Alisaie and Alphinaud’s father – Fourchenault – confront the Scions in the forbidden areas of Labyrinthos and places the whole group under arrest, stating they already caught G’raha in the forbidden sections of the library, and they are to be put on trial for ‘obstruction and suppression’. The trial quickly devolves into debate until G’raha drops the bomb that he discovered in the forbidden section: he had been delving into the records of the Forum’s decision making and found something odd hidden in the reasoning behind the choices made.
At one point in their history, the actions of the Forum ceased being about ‘preserving knowledge to help shape society’ and became ‘help shape society to preserve knowledge’. The change came about at the exact time the colony in the Dravanian Hinterlands was conducting research into the Aetherial Sea. Y’shtola exclaims that they must have found something in their explorations that was so earth-shattering that they decided to pivot the entire direction of Sharlayan society toward this ‘great work’ that was mentioned in Labyrinthos.
Unfortunately, none of this has any bearing on the trial at hand, but after some kind words by Scholarch Montichaigne, a friend of the late Louisoix, who offers the defense that the Scions have made no secret of their intentions, nor have they tried to ‘convert’ anyone to their side. They have simply come to seek knowledge, like all good scholars. The words seem to stir the Forum, who ultimately votes not to banish or imprison the Scions but restricts them and the Students of Baldesion from acting on Sharlayan grounds or investigating state business.
Returning to the Annex, both groups reunite to plan their next move. With their hands now tied on the Sharlayan end of the investigation, and the prospect of the warding talisman in Thavnair, the Scions decide to take Vrtra up on his request and make their assault on the Tower of Zot. It’s decided that they’ll split into two groups to take on the Tower. One will confront the Tower’s defenses and take on the Magus Sisters when they are summoned, and the other will focus on keeping the matanga sealed within the tower’s wall alive and hearty until they can locate the central core of the structure.
The plan is carried out successfully and with the Magus Sisters dispatched, the groups reunite at the core – a massive machine that draws the aether from the surrounding land, but as Y’shtola notes it is drawing more aether than what is required to maintain the tower. She tries to investigate further only to discover that a human limb is the heart of the core. Estinien seizes on Y’shtola’s horror to just destroy the thing and as the tower begins to vanish into thin air without the core, G’raha casts a powerful levitation spell to help catch and lower the Scions and all the freed matanga to the ground.
The Scions return to Radz-at-Hann and meet with the great wyrm who tanks them and offers any aid he can to their cause, including enough warding scales to outfit an entire army. Vrtra also imparts some wisdom to the Warrior of Light that his father, Midgardsormr’s silence at this dire time shows that he must trust the Warrior implicitly to do what’s right, but warns that the Warrior’s actions are a convergence of struggle, victory, life and death that will draw everyone near them into the storm. The dragon cautions the Warrior to hold those dear to them close, no matter what.
Elsewhere in the capital, Nidhana has recovered and meets with the Scions as they pick up the crates of warding talismans. She is ecstatic that her work was a success and that she can help everyone, which causes the Warrior of Light’s heart bloom flower to turn bright orange. Nidhana ponders if it is Akasa, a form of spiritual energy based on emotion that Hannish alchemy has theorized as a separate force from aether but due to its strange nature there is no viable way to measure Akasa and thus it remains theoretical.
Returning to the Baldesion Annex in Sharlayan, Y’shtola notes that they now have enough warding talisman to gather their allies and mount a formal attack on Garlemald without fear of the dominating power of the massive structure at the nation’s heart. They make arrangements to send word to all of the Scion’s friends and allies, but in the meantime it’s a chance for a bit of rest. The Scions bring in an order of delicious food from the local restaurant and enjoy each other’s pleasant company.
Meanwhile, in Garlemald, Zenos and Fandaniel share and wax on the few things that give them joy in this world that they seek to burn down.
Chapter II: Darkness in the Moonlight
The next day begins with the Warrior joining Krile, Alisaie and Alphinaud in revisiting their academic glory days in search of Scholarch Montichaigne, who had stopped by the Baldesion Annex while the Scions were in Ilsbard dealing with the tower threat.
They express their thanks for his assistance in the forum and inquire if he could elaborate on the mysterious duty that Sharlayan has. The Scholarch explains that he couldn’t even if he wanted to, as every member of the Forum has been enchanted to prevent the secret from being revealed. Shocked to hear of such an enchantment, the Scholarch offers to give a short lecture to his dear departed friends’ grandchildren. Montichaigne explains about the three types of aether – the physical that most people are familiar with, the soul and memory. He compares the soul to a piece of paper and memory to writing on that paper. The magic that binds the Forum members is akin to taking a brush and covering the writing with the same ink, essentially hiding the memory and preventing it from being used. He also notes that this technique is illegal in Sharlayan save for the matter of this sacred duty.
Alisaie inquires if the process can be reversed, to which the Scholarch responds that it would require a 9/10ths vote by the Forum to undo the enchantment. The only other way is that when we die and return to the lifestream, our soul is cleansed and thus the enchantment would break but the memories would also dissipate. He also explains that some believe that there are certain memories emblazoned so deeply onto the soul that not even death can erase them. There’s no evidence of it, but it’s just as likely as anything else about what happens after people die.
After finishing the discussion with the Scholarch, the group heads back to the Annex to grab several crates of warding scales to take to Limsa Lominsa to share with the Grand Company of Eorzea and to meet with its leaders. The leaders of the three city-states appreciate the gift of scales because they will prove vital in their upcoming plans – to enter Garlemald, stop the Telophoroi, and aid the people of the Empire who have suffered due to the whimsical tyranny of Fandaniel and Zenos.
Happy to hear of the news, the Scions immediately pledge their support and make their way to Ala Mhigo to join the forces planning the mission. Upon arriving, the Scions are greeted with the full might of the Grand Company with representatives of every guild and faction across Eorzea. All of which are pledged to liberate and aid the Garlean people. They are joined by the Eastern Alliance with warriors and soldiers from the Azem Steppe, the Lente’s Tears from Dalmasca, and the Bozjan Resistance.
With everyone assembled, the operation begins with the Garlond Ironworks using airships to deliver the troops across the icy mountains that surround Garlemald and onto the ice fields just beyond the capitol’s perimeter of defenses. Once there, the group learns of the force that stands in their way – a united front of soldiers from the Empire’s Ist and IIIrd Legions, once bitter enemies during the civil war for ascendance but now sworn allies under the banner of tempering.
The infiltration into the icy north begins with Thancred’s reconnaissance team made up of the Bozjan Resistance and Lente’s Tear sneak through a supply depot to disable the imperial magitek reinforcements. Meanwhile, the rest of the force is divided between escorting a supply caravan and the vanguard who plan to pierce the defenses, subduing and imprisoning the tempered and capturing their commander. The Warrior of Light hops between both groups lending their aid where they can until victory is achieved and the groups all reunite in the eerily silent abandoned town at the edge of the capitol, which they dub Camp Broken Glass after the only sound piercing the silence being the echoing of cracking ice under their feet.
With a base camp established the teams get to work. Thancred leads a group of Ala Mhigan scouts to check out the city, the smiths and machinist begin working on fixing the magitech heaters, and Y’shtola joins with the healers from Gridania to start treating the tempered Imperials that were captured. The Warrior of Light is given the task with the Lavilleur Twins and the Ishgardian black sheep Emmanellain to search for any signs of survivors out among the icy rimes of the eastern front. With a little searching from a high spot, the team finds a woman in a green dress sprinting and hiding among the ice. The Warrior of Light follows stealthily and finds that the woman leads them to a small manor on the edge of the mountains where a few survivors have been hiding out since the Empire fell.
The survivors each share their stories from the horrifying roar that robbed their countrymen of their minds to the brief hell of violence followed by the even more frightening complete silence. One of them holds fast that the Emperor had faked his death and was sending out secret messages via the radio to the survivors. They ask the Warrior to seek out the Tappers, a group of non-Garleans who have been trained to siphon Ceruleum from the depths of the frozen lake. The Tappers have been surviving in a small ice cave where they use the Ceruleum to warm themselves and trade with other survivors for supplies. They’ve never fled Garlemald because their only notable skill set is mining a substance that can only be found here, but they are willing to work with the outsiders, less so with the stuffy Garleans that once barked orders at them but now have become beholden to the Tappers’ talents to survive.
However, on the return to the manor, it is revealed that things were not as peaceful as previously thought. The girl in green had hid her sick younger sister, the other three male survivors attempted to attack Alphinaud, and in the comotion the two girls fled to the icy wastes preferring to take their chances with the beasts and cold than trust the cursed magick of savage outsiders who would exploit their trust to take revenge and steal Garlemald for themselves. Shocked and hurt, but taken with a grain of understanding, Alisaie and Alphinaud resign to return to Camp Broken Glass with news of the scared and scornful locals and their tales.
Back at the base camp, Lucia shares what she and Maxima had discovered about the fall of Garlemald. The Ist and IIIrd legions, manipulated through rumors and fear mongering by Elidibus and financially backed by House Brutus through Fandaniel, were driven into a civil war. Then one night, an earthquake followed by a terrible roar shook the entire capital and enslaved the populace. The only ones who were spared the control turned out to be those huddled around their radios, which coincidentally emitted a field similar enough to the warding talismans to protect the nearby from the tempering.
The revelations are interrupted by Cirina, an au ra from the Steppes, who rushes in to inform the group that they caught an untempered imperial soldier stealing supplies. The group confronts the prisoner who immediately lashes out at Lucia and Maxima calling them traitors to Garlemald for standing with savages. The two counter by inquiring why a proud son of the Empire would lower themselves to stealing supplies, but if he is truly that desperate, their mission IS to aid the people of Garlemald, so they’ll happily turn a blind eye to allow the young man to make off with his spoils with his pride. The angry youth states his name is Jullus and he will not negotiate with them, but is willing to take a group of no more than three to meet with his commander. Alisaie and Alphinaud volunteer, stating their experience with the survivors has already given them an insight to the plight of the people here. The Warrior of Light agrees to tag along as chaperone. Jullus is unimpressed by two children and a mercenary, but Lucia insists that they are more than enough to represent the Alliance’s cause.
After a long cold trek to the edge of the city proper, Jullus leads the group to his commander, Lord Quintus van Cinna, the legatus of the Ist Battalion – the loyalist faction who fought in the civil war. He greets the envoys with distrust. Claiming that any desire for peace is simply a ruse to either enslave Garlemald with debt or to backstab them later. The Twins attempt to argue otherwise, but Quintus silences them with a simple question: if they just want to stand together in peace, why reject and repel unity under the glorious banner of the Empire? The legatus has the group arrested and the twins fitted with shock collars, but recognizes the Champion of Eorzea and states the collar would be wasted on them. They will just shock the twins more if the Warrior of Light steps out of bounds. Beyond that, they are free to wander the camp as they see fit.
The group begins to mingle with the various soldiers. Some refuse food to help make sure that others can eat, others remain mistrustful, and the Warrior is shown how their actions could be perceived from the other side as a survivor of the Praetorium recalls the horrific night of slaughter as her comrades were ripped apart by monsters in the guise of men. However, through all the interactions, it becomes clear that supplies – both food and ceruleum – are low. The group asks Jullus if they could bring some in from their allies, but Jullus refuses because the Garlean survivors claim that reinforcements are in-bound from outside the capital. Alphinaud insists that even if that is the case, supplies are needed now. Jullus relents and speaks to Quintus about the idea, but Quintus refuses aid from anyone outside the Empire, but allows Jullus to take the three and scavenge for ceruleum from the city ruins.
The expedition into the ruined city provides minimal but welcome success. Jullus finds himself warming to the surprising gestures of selflessness that the twins and the Warrior show to help find any of the precious blue tinted fuel to warm his countrymen and thus in kind shares some about his past, his family, and his country. While Jullus helps the twins, Thancred makes contact with the Champion of Eorzea to exchange information. He lets the Warrior know that Camp Broken Glass has received new information but is working out the best way to handle it, and to just go with whatever the Garleans want for right now.
Upon returning to the underground camp with enough ceruleum to reactivate some of the heaters, Quintus orders Jullus to instead use the scavenged resources to refill the engines of their Magitek armor – much to the shock and dismay of the other soldiers. Quintus then tells Jullus and the others to follow him to discuss private matters.
After the meeting Jullus returns to announce that Alisaie and Alphinaud are to be detained as prisoners of war and will be stripped of all weaponry and equipment then imprisoned. Jullus and the Warrior of Light will return to the Grand Company of Eorzea contingent and deliver the Ist’s demands: full withdrawal from Garlean lands, leaving behind all supplies and one airship. Only then will the children be returned. Hurt and betrayed by having their kind gesture returned with imprisonment, the Twins protest but the Warrior remembers Thancred’s instruction and tells the two to just go with it.
Alisaie and Alphinaud have a moment to themselves where they huddle to get warm, and reflect on their path to get where they are. Alphinaud’s missteps in politics and failures with the Crystal Braves and Alisaie’s strive to find her own reasons to fight, calling back to her own struggles while exploring the remnants of Bahamut and Dalamud. Their short talk is interrupted by a noise at the door.
Meanwhile, the Warrior and Jullus make their way back to Camp Broken Glass. Jullus stops to reflect at a ruin and shares with the Warrior that it was his family’s house. The day the Empire was tempered, he was with Legatus Quintus in the field but had sworn to return the next day to get his family to safety. Instead, he came home to find mindless slaves bound to the will of the Telophoroi. He was forced to kill his own family – his mother and younger siblings – in order to stop their suffering. Jullus reflects that duty often means doing things that you don’t want to before moving on.
When Jullus and the Warrior of Light return to Camp Broken Glass, Jullus issues Quintus’ demands. Lucia responds to the threat by letting Jullus know that Thancred and the other scouts have already freed Alisaie and Alphinaud and removed their collars. Shocked and heartbroken, Jullus announces that Lord Quintus had a secondary set of orders if the Eorzeans refused the demands and orders an ambush. Panic sweeps through the camp as Garlean soldiers and Magitek armor charge in but A-Ruhn-Senna, the Padjal from the Gridanian contingent, interrupts the battle with a massive blast of wind that gives Lucia a moment to speak.
Lucia reveals that Garlean Xth Legion recently contacted the Grand Company of Eorzea upon failing to unite all the various broken and disparate remnants of the imperial military. They requested aid and asked that the detachment in Camp Broken Glass deliver a message to Lord Quintus: “Have the iyl stand down.”
Quintus, who has been listening in via a remote device, recognizes the counter-sign and orders Jullus to stand down. He then dismisses his guards and tells them to spread the word that they and all the soldiers under him have been released from their duty. Quintus then takes a moment to think back to the late Emperor Varis and laments that their quest for peace not only ends in failure, but also humiliation at the hands of their barbarian enemies. With pistol in hand, he ends his own life, while Alisaie and Alphinaud rush back to the train station to stop the legatus from doing anything rash.
By the time the Warrior of Light and Jullus reunite with the twins, it’s too late. Quintus is dead by his own hand. The group who arrived from Camp Broken Glass join Thancred’s team of scouts in offering aid to the refugees in the underground shelter. They welcome them to move with them to Camp Broken Glass, but allow any to stay behind that wish to and leave them with heaters and food to help them hold on until further help can be arranged.
They all return back to camp and Jullus stumbles in to find a warm fire and an Ala Mhigan who offers him a cup of a hot drink made from a Steppe recipe. Jullus dumbfoundedly watches as the soldiers from the disparate nations of Eorzea bicker, squabble, chat and laugh, as the Ala Mhigan shares the sentiment that it’s the little things that make life worth living. Warmed in body, soul and heart, Jullus’ walls break down and he begins to cry as those around him offer support.
Suddenly, the calm night is interrupted by a fierce roar from the frightening construction at the heart of the city – the so-called ‘Tower of Babil’ – and the late emperor’s voice begins to echo through the radio. Warding talismans begin to go off across the encampment as those without protection begin to be tempered. The rush begins with people dashing to equip talismans to those without, but a familiar voice calls out to the Warrior of Light for aid – the Warrior turns to find Fandaniel dressed as a Lominsan soldier. The Ascian uses the guise of the chaos and steals Eorzea’s champion into the night.
The Warrior of Light awakens to a horrific sight of a monstrous looking room and sitting at a dining table across from Zenos. Fandaniel welcomes them to dinner, and invites them to try out their new body. Confused, the Warrior of Light looks down to find themselves trapped in the form of a random Garlean infantry. Fandaniel says that the soul swap or ‘mindjacking’ was made possible by Doctor Aulus Asina, the scientist that the Warrior had fought during the Ala Mhigo liberation, though Fandaniel admits he used his knowledge from his former life as part of the Allagan Empire to improve on the technique. The conversation is interrupted by a terrifying roar – identical to the one that triggered the tempering back at Camp Broken Glass – deeper in the chamber. Fandaniel expresses that “daddy” is happy that Zenos has found his playmate.
Sensing the Warrior’s confusion, Fandaniel elaborates. Though the Empire had banned all religion in hopes of stopping summoning through faith, the people of Garlemald still believed in something, and when civil war razed their city they still cried out for someone to save them – the late Emperor Varis. Their pleas – their prayers – were channeled through the late Emperor’s corpse to give rise to a primal monstrosity that was the embodiment of their pride and spirit as Garleans – their Anima. Fandaniel then used the Emperor’s corporeal form to build the cores of all the various towers across the world, allowing them to be extensions of Anima’s will and thus drawing the aether back from across the planet back to the Tower of Babil.
Zenos, on the other hand, doesn’t care. He’s more interested in his ‘friend’ and favorite prey. He insists that he has honed his craft so that the Warrior of Light won’t grow bored by a simple retread of their last hunt, and likewise has unleashed his hordes across every nation to help whet the Warrior’s proverbial blade in hopes of setting the stage for a euphoric clash. Zenos tells the Warrior of how he learned to perfect his technique while trapped in a foreign body while the Ascian, Elidibus, gallivanted around wearing his face, and now offers the Warrior a similar chance to determine whether their true skill resides in the flesh or the soul.
Zenos then reveals the Warrior of Light’s true body before activating his artificial echo and transfers his soul and consciousness in the Champion of Eorzea’s body and teleports away with designs to wreak havoc on the Warrior’s friends in their body. Fandaniel, wishing to provide Zenos with sport, teleports the Warrior’s false form to the center of the city and fills its streets with tempered soldiers and beasts with orders to kill anyone not tempered to Anima. Thus the curtain rises and the Warrior is granted a single chance in the body of a common soldier to find a way back to Camp Broken Glass in time to save their allies and friends.
The unknown Garlean soldier sneaks and fights their way through the ruins of the capitol city, aiding any survivors they come across before getting caught in a ceruleum explosion. Still barely alive, they drag themselves toward Camp Broken Glass. While at the camp, the Scions have contained the situation, arranged medical aid and reversal of any tempering, and now have begun to search for their missing Champion. Luckily, the Warrior of Light appears just over the horizon much to Graha and Alisaie’s excitement. Y’shtola is confused as their aether doesn’t look anything like what she’s used to but is willing to assume it was the tempering blast that threw things out of whack for her.
Graha and Alisaie rush up to their strangely silent and eerily smiling friend who summons forth an avatar from the Void to strike at them – but the attack is barely stopped by a flying sword piercing through the voidsent and dispersing it. Graha, Alisaie and the Warrior turn to look where the sword was thrown from to find a nameless Garlean knight who screams at the top of their lungs for Zenos to leave their friends alone. Zenos in the Warrior of Light’s form and the Warrior in the unknown knight clash in a brief brawl before their mindjacking begins to wane.
Fandaniel appears as the rest of the Scions join the scene and applauds the group for how predictable they were. He needed more time to finish his plan, so he threw beasts at them, tempered soldiers for them to cleanse, and stole supplies from survivors to force them to find a way to replenish them. All the while the Ascian could finish gathering the aether he needed within Anima atop the Tower of Babil, so that he can release Zodiark from the ancient primal’s prison and bring forth the Final Days.
Zenos then shares with the Warrior that he plans to feast on and absorb the dark god’s power and then destroy the Scions and everything else the Champion holds dear in the world, so that Zenos can face the pure, full, unleashed rage of his friend to relish in battle.
With that declaration, the Warrior of Light passes out and awakens back in their own body surrounded by friends. Now aware of the quickly closing window to stop Fandaniel’s plot, the group begins to figure out how to infiltrate the Tower of Babil – a name that Graha states means ‘Gateway of the Gods’ in Allagan and was used once to describe Xande’s voidgate atop the Crystal Tower – and shut it down for good.
The plan involves ground troops distracting the tempered forces in the city, while a smaller group infiltrates the tower proper by hijacking a supply train bound for the nightmarish building in the subterranean tunnels below the capitol. The infiltration team tears through the tower until the Warrior of Light and their comrades face off against the primal Anima. In the wake of the Eikon of Eikons defeat, the group confronts Zenos and Fandaniel who fires the Tower of Babil’s gathered aether at the Moon, which crashes with the built in magical defenses around the dark god’s prison. Hydaelyn appears again using Krile as a vessel to explain the aetherical brands that act as the seal on Zodiark.
Fandaniel’s weapon destroys almost every brand, but the wind aether seal holds fast. Disappointed, Fandaniel begins to activate a teleporter for himself and Zenos to go to the Moon and destroy the seal in person. The group moves to intervene but are interrupted by the sound of explosions. Zenos reveals that he sent the final command through Anima to its tempered thralls that should the Empire fall, the world should fall with it. So now the Garlean tempered are committing suicide missions throughout the tower, the capitol city and even back at base camp. Torn between pursuing Zenos & Fandaniel and saving everyone else, the Warrior of Light decides to split the group and follow the Ascian themselves. Hydaelyn reveals that she diverted Zenos as far away from the brand as she could, and she will send the Warrior to someone on the Moon that can help them.
Upon arriving on the Moon, the Warrior of Light is contacted by a harmonious voice echoing in their mind – the spirit of an Ancient beckons the warrior near. The Warrior approaches the spirit only to hear it cry out from a tortured memory before fading away. Another force calls out to the confused Warrior and leads them to the crystalline palace nearby where they come face to face with The Watcher, the Ancient spirit that Hydaelyn charged with guarding the sole prisoner of this cold, barren moon: Zodiark.
The Watcher explains that something has destroyed five of the six giant blades that serve as locks to Zodiark’s prison. The Ancient has managed to repair one, but its work is now obstructed by the lost souls of Ancients once sacrificed to create Zodiark that now are spewing forth from the ruptured prison and wander the surface. The Watcher explains that as long as the locks hold, the souls are protected from fading into nothingness. The prison was built as a place of stasis where the souls will not fade, and no further sacrifices will be necessary to sustain Zodiark.
The Warrior of Light takes off to confront the souls and ease them, but they are only met by the wails of those who do not understand why this all happened. They speak of how Zodiark was the savior of the star and that they chose to be sacrificed to help save the world. They were promised that they would be summoned back again but now they linger as lost souls in an unknown time and place. They cry out wanting to know what happened to their perfect star they died to keep safe?
Finally, the souls begin to overwhelm the Warrior until a friendly voice pardons themselves and says they knew they thought they recognized the soul of Azem. The Warrior recognizes the soul before them as Hythlodeus, who they met a shadow of in Emet-Selch’s false Amaurot. The Warrior explains what happened with the unsundered Ascians in the First, which causes the soul of Hythlodeus to give a chuckle at his old friend Emet-Selch being so nostalgic. Hythlodeus says that he knows they’ve never met, but he chooses to believe in you as Emet-Selch did when the Ascian asked the Warrior to remember them and promises to keep the souls at bay while you defend the wards.
The conversation is interrupted by the repaired ward exploding, leaving a sole lock on the prison standing. The Warrior of Light rushes off with a strange glowing dog named Argos to confront Zenos and Fandaniel but arrives a moment too late as Zenos swings his terrifying scythe to bring down the final pillar.
Fandaniel ponders on the amount of raw power that even an incomplete god wields, and now that its heart is gone with the death of Elidibus the eldest primal is a raving beast acting solely on instinct. Zenos delights in his quarry being so near and asks if the Warrior wants to try to stop him as an appetizer to whet his hunger before the slaughter. The Warrior draws their weapon but the pair are interrupted by Fandaniel who asks to finish and promises to make it brief.
He turns and smiles asking if the Warrior remembers when he said that he wanted to die and take everyone with him – The Ascian assures the Warrior of Light that he meant it. Fandaniel then throws himself into the pit that descends to the core of the moon where Zodiark resides. This triggers a nightmarish explosion as darkness consumes the Warrior of Light.
In the inner darkness of the Moon, the souls of Zodiark begin to call out declaring themselves the savior and defender of the star only to be silenced and mocked by Fandaniel who has now become the heart of the mighty primal. As Fandaniel assimilates with the primal and takes control of it, the voices of the sacrificed souls begin to vanish one by one. They call out to the Warrior to save the star. With the crystal of Azem in hand, the Warrior reaches out and calls forth aid from beyond the void and the friendly spirit watches on asking if this would satisfy Emet-Selch before vanishing.
The battle with Zodiark is intense, a rush to stop the god-like being before Fandaniel gains complete control of it, but in the end the Warrior of Light stands victorious with Zenos watching the whole affair from a nearby cliff. The Watcher calls out that it’s prepared to reactivate the prison and will teleport you out but Fandaniel begins to laugh from within the primal. Fandaniel congratulates the Warrior on defeating his every plan… which is precisely what he wanted.
Fandaniel’s goal was always to kill Zodiark and now that the creature had been sufficiently weakened, Fandaniel forces the old god to rip into its own chest and kill itself. As the first Primal dissolves into nothingness, Fandaniel welcomes the Warrior to the Final Days. As his new form vanishes back into aether, Fandaniel thinks back on the man he once was and if they would hold his current actions in contempt, but he resigns that after ten millenia he has decided that the true answer to the ancient and unknown question that plagued him was that all life is pointless, meaningless and unworthy of existing but Fandaniel considers the coming cataclysm to be Hydaelyn and her children’s final chance to prove him wrong.
In a flash, the Warrior of Light is back on the surface of the moon with an eerie red trail of light emitting from the hole where Zodiark’s prison once stood. The Warrior hears a creepy woman’s voice cackling, “AT LAST…” before witnessing a vision of the world above eroding and corrupting into darkness. The Watcher calms the Warrior from their freak out and tells that it was not an illusion but a vision of things to come from the echo, and that there is much they must tell the Warrior about the Final Days that are to come.
Before the Watcher and the Warrior can depart, Zenos leaps out the hole, empowered by a red and black glow and ready to challenge the Warrior but finds them distracted by this new development that has consumed their attention. Zenos states that the Warrior won’t be a sufficient challenge as long as their mind is on other threats, so he plans to go and find greater power to allow him to drown the world in despair as to demand the Warrior’s attention and rage. The Warrior rebuffs him but Zenos ignores the comment and strolls off.
The Watcher states that they’ve been joined by ones that Hydaelyn once informed them are allies and takes the Warrior back to their tower where Thancred, Urianger and Yshtola are waiting. After they are caught up, they give the Watcher a chance to regain their energy after trying to reseal Zodiark and take the opportunity to explore the tower’s records. Their perusing uncovers the intense labor and required energy to keep Zodiark imprisoned, the fact that the Ascians never made an attempt to free their god before he was completely reconstituted and the presence of ‘helpers’ on the moon known as Loporrits. The Scions reconvene to share their findings when the Watcher rejoins them to explain the nature of the Final Days.
The Final Days was an event during the time of the ancients on the pre-sundered world of Etheirys that was caused by an unknown roar from the depths of the planet that caused the creation magic of the ancients to bring forth monsters of terrible despair and suffering. It started in a few isolated spots and began to spread, and while the Convocation of Thirteen was never able to deduce the origin of the phenomenon, they were able to find a way to predict where it would occur next.
The Watcher explains about the various types of aether of the world, such as air and earth, but also a lesser known one called ‘Celestial Aether’. Yshtola states she’d never heard of it, and the Watcher remarks that it’s not surprising – it was a fairly niche discovery even in the time of the Ancients. But wherever this celestial aether grew stagnant, that is where the corruption of the creation magics would occur next. Urianger puts it together and realizes that is why the Convocation summoned forth Zodiark – a god of darkness and thus change & activity – to rewrite the laws of nature and halt the stagnation of the aetherical flow and thus stopping the FInal Days.
The Watcher confirms this and states that this is why, even if Hydaelyn had the strength to defeat Zodiark, she could not without bringing that destruction back upon the world. So instead she weakened Zodiark and herself by sundering themselves across the thirteen reflections. Between the sundering and maintaining the much stronger Zodiark’s seal, Hydaelyn reached out with whatever power she could spare and called out for Champions to help keep the Darkness at bay and to stop the rejoinings created by the Ascians so she could continue to keep her counterpart imprisoned.
Thancred asks then now that this cataclysm is upon them once more, what would happen to the reflections if the source should fall? The Watcher laments that the nomenclature is quite accurate. Without a Source, there can’t be reflections. If the Source falls, then all of them fall. Suddenly, the entire moon shakes and the Watcher announces that it’s ready. The Scions stand confused and the Ancient being explains that Hydaelyn knew her power was not absolute and thus created a contingency plan within the Moon. Should it ever fail as a prison, it would serve a secondary purpose as a celestial ark to carry the people of Etheirys to a new home. The Watcher then offers to take the group to its pilots as their final duty as the Watcher in the Dark.
The Watcher takes the Scions to summon Argos, the strange glowing dog from earlier and explains that it is the familiar of Hydaelyn. The Watcher notes that Argos is strangely friendly and familiar with the Warrior for some reason before parting ways with the Scions. Argos duplicates itself and flies the group to a massive door sized for an Amaurotine and the Scions enter the subterranean construct.
Inside the Scions bear witness to dozens of small rabbit-like humanoids awakening from their slumber and rushing about to prepare for their soon to arrive guests now that Zodiark is no more. The group hunts down their leader – a spritely brown rabbit who identifies themselves as ‘Livingway’ – who mistakes the Scions as children and offers to explain what they (the loporrits) and their elders are up to. The plan is to load up everyone and everything they can from the inevitably doomed world and launch the moon to hop from star to star until they find one ripe for rehabitation. The entire plan was designed by Hydaelyn ages ago back when she was still known by the name ‘Venat’ and her assistant who served as the model for the construct now known as the Watcher.
The Scions eventually let Livingway know that they are full grown adults, and that the people of modern Etheirys are no longer of Amaurotine size. This causes Livingway to go into a full blown panic about what else they hadn’t learned from their terrestrial cohorts that have sent them supplies and reference material over the years. Livingway orders Buildingway to remake the dormitories at 1/3rd the size. The Scions attempt to ask who has been sending the Loporrits their information, but Livingway insists with the short time table that the Scions assist in finding any other inaccuracies first before answering questions.
The Loporrits attempt to show the food and clothing they’ve come up with for people, only to show that they are woefully unprepared for the population to come. Fearing that if word gets out about this, that the people of Etheirys won’t want to be saved the Loporrits began to scheme and plot to only send back Urianger – the one person who didn’t dismiss their efforts wholly – and keep the rest of the Scions trapped on the Moon until it is time to depart.
They try their best to distract and occupy the group, but eventually the Warrior of Light meets up with Urianger and has a heart-to-heart about how the duty of being the one to conspire with those who wish to sacrifice for the greater good has weighed on him: from Minfilia to the Exarch and now the Loporrits. Urianger wonders if he had just said what he wanted instead of what was necessary that Moenbryda might still be alive. The Warrior shares that they too have felt that burden and the acknowledgement that he is not alone helps Urianger some.
Ultimately, he chooses not to go back to Etheirys. Instead, he plans on staying with the Loporrits to help prepare the moon for guests as a last resort while the Scions return and try to stop the Final Days. The Loporrits seem pleased with this outcome and offer to share the name of their collaborators – which Y’shtola worked out was the Sharlayan Forum far earlier. The heartbloom flower in the Warrior’s pocket takes on a bright orange hue, and The Watcher appears and asks where the Warrior of Light got the flower. Upon receiving an explanation, The Watcher is amused and remarks how like Hydaelyn that is. The Watcher tells the Warrior that in their time, the flower was called an ‘Elpis’ and encourages them to remember the name.
Back planetside, the group minus Urianger reunites at Camp Broken Glass to find out what they’ve missed. The tempered garleans have been subdued and are being treated, the XIIth Legion has officially declared Zenos a traitor & outcasted him with the new title Zenos Viator Galvus to reflect that. They also report that with the defeat of Anima, all of the other towers have vanished and their prisoners are being helped and healed.
The rest of the Scions have moved back to Sharlayan where the Warrior rejoins them and fills them in on what’s happened. The group is determined to do whatever they can to stop the Final Days. Tataru rushes in and says the Forum is holding a public meeting. Outside, before the population of Sharlayan, The Forum announces the truth of their sacred duty, that during the experiments with the Aetherial Sea in the Dravanian Hinterlands, they made contact directly to Hydaelyn and were warned of the coming apocalypse. They also convey their work with Hydaelyn’s representatives on the lunar surface to make preparations for a grand exodus to lead the people of the world to a new home. They urge everyone to stay calm and keep up with their duties as the Twins’ father, Fourchenault, leads the exodus.
The Twins confront their father and say they have no intent to call him a coward or to impede his work, only that he understands that they are not children in need of protection and will do everything they can to stop the coming calamity. The others comment that if Fourchenault weren’t so stubborn they might have caught how proud he must be of his children.
That night, the Warrior hears that eerie female voice from the Moon once more and witnesses another vision, this time of the sky burning before being startled and brought back to reality by a knock at the door. The Warrior has a touching scene with one of their fellow companions before calling it a night.
Elsewhere, in Ala Mhigo, the locals are discussing the vanishing of the towers and debating whether it’s right that the fate of the tempered Garlean soldiers are to be given aid, even if it is away from the city proper. A nearby traveler overhears the conversation and begins to emit a shadowy smoke.
In Ishgard, Erenville the Gleamer is searching for yet again another important must-have from the Forum when he sees a man stumbling and beginning to emit the same shadowy smoke, which Erenville attributes to a trick of the light, but worries that despite all of the threat of the towers and the Empire being done with – that the worst is yet to come.
And in Thavnair, the worst has already begun.
Chapter III: The Truth of the Final Days
The Warrior of Light’s morning is abruptly interrupted with a sense of tension as Tataru tells them that the other Scions have already gathered. Inside the main room, the others quickly confirm their worst suspicions – the Final Days have begun. The call for aid came from Radz-At-Han where the sky has begun to rain fire and a countless number of horrific monsters have begun to appear. Tataru and Krile stay behind to continue to monitor the situation, while the rest of the Scions depart for Yedlihmad.
Arriving in the port town confirms all that they were told and the frightening visions drive Alisaie’s determination even further. The Satrap of Radz-At-Han, Ahewann, meets with the Scions and delivers an even more grave message: The monsters that are consuming the lands of Thavnair aren’t appearing from nothing – they are the people of Thavnair transformed. He mentions that it all began with a very large monster resembling something of ancient legend that the people have taken to calling a “Blasphemy.” The creature has taken to the northern end of the island kingdom in a region of jungle known as Vanaspati. That is where Vtra has gone to try to aid the people there, but Ahewann worries that the dragon’s immense heart may prove to be too sympathetic to do what might be necessary.
The Scions hop a boat to the northern jungle and fight their way to the great wyrm who refuses to fight back against the turned people. Showing the mighty dragon that the people are no more, and only these abominations remain, Vtra takes to the skies to try to provide some cover there while the Scions continue to hunt the blasphemy. Along the way they witness men, women and children succumb to the mysterious transformation and are forced to put an end to them. Finally, they show down with the terrible monster at the head of this invasion and put it out of its misery where its last breath utters the words of “I’m Ruined.” before vanishing in a cloud of dark mist. Y’shtola steps forth in horror and asks if the monster is gone now, which the others confirm. Y’shtola then relays that she couldn’t see it – alive or dead – because her vision is based on aether and the creature in question had none. Confused by this, Y’shtola reminds the group of what the Watcher had said on the moon. The Final Days began with a stagnation and decay of aether in certain areas. These monsters are a result of that, born from the people whose aether has stagnated to the point of destruction. The Twins wonder if that means they can’t be saved, to which Y’shtola quickly and disheartedly responds – there’s nothing left to save.
Ahewann and Vrtra soon join the Scions and Ahewann begs Vrtra to step out of the shadows and be the strong leader that his people need, but the dragon refuses and insists on continuing the ruse to avoid confusion. The Scions agree to join Ahewann in Radz-At-Han to offer their aid, while Vrtra and Estinien take to the skies to continue to keep the monstrous horde at bay. Back in the city, the Warrior of Light and the Scions split up to investigate how all of this got started. The Warrior ultimately traces it back to a single merchant – Khalzahl, the merchant from Yedlihmad that the Warrior of Light met at the start of their journey to stop the Telophoroi. Apparently after a number of bad deals, failed negotiations and terrible trade, Khalzahl fell into a deep despair and then suddenly became a blasphemy.
The group reunites to share their news and all seem to come to the same conclusion, negative emotions – especially despair and hopelessness – seems to be the instigator of the transformations. Gra’ha and the Warrior also share the detail that Khalzahl transformed before the skies turned red, which Alisaie clarifies means that the Final Days could be triggering anywhere and there would be no warning until the chain reaction of blasphemies already begins. The Satrap arrives to settle the nerves of the gathered crowds, but an old woman begs for Ahewann to go to the local village of Palaka’s Stand and save her grandson. As if summoning an ill omen, Matsya – the fisherman from the previous visit to Thavnair – arrives to announce the monsters have descended on Palaka’s Stand. The old woman loses herself and begins to transform, which sets off a series of chain transformations unleashing a crowd of new monstrosities across the field. The Scions panic and try to keep everyone safe and calm, until Ahewann ends up sacrificing himself to save a man who just saw his young son turn into a monster and then get crushed by a bigger monster. With the leader gone, Gra’ha sighs and slams his staff in the ground. Channeling the Crystal Exarch once more, he issues commands and offers stability and hope in the panic. As half the scions fight with the Radiant Host to stop the monsters, the Warrior of Light and the Twins make for Palaka’s Stand.
Estinien however goes to confront Vrtra and inform him of Ahewann’s demise. The dragoon urges Vrtra to honor Ahewann’s final request to reveal the truth to the people of Radz-at-Han. Vrtra however still feels that mortals would react in fear in a time when that emotion is more dangerous than ever. Estinien insists that people would accept him and that he truly believes that if dragons and mortals were destined to fight each other, then the Dragonsong War would have never ended, and Hraesvelgr and Shiva would have never found comfort in each other.
In Palaka’s Stand, the Twins and the Warrior of Light hurry to help find Matsya’s friends – a young couple who recently had a child – who fled into the jungle from the blasphemies. They recruit others in the village to help them search, but they only find the husband who was attacked and now dying. He begs the Warrior to help his wife and child before perishing and setting off a chain of panic among the people who are searching. However, Matsya calms them of the teachings of their gods dating back to the founding of Radz-At-Han: Life is hardship with death as its only reward, but each dark night makes the sun all the brighter the next day. Suffering makes us stronger. Loss makes us appreciate what we do have. The words resonate with the Warrior of Light who thinks back on their brief talks with Hydaelyn and sees the connection in Matsya’s words.
The search continues until the Warrior of Light finds the young woman holding her child, cornered by a blasphemy. The Warrior and the Twins rush to aid her but sadly arrive too late as the blasphemy grabs the woman by her head, snapping her neck and flinging her lifeless body along with the baby into the nearby water. The Twins confront the blasphemy while the Warrior dives into the water to save the child. Emerging from the water, the Warrior sees that the monsters continue to manifest. The Twins are being pushed to the limit and need aid. The Warrior of Light entrusts the child to Matsya and tells them to get the child back to Palaka’s Stand.
Matsya hurries with the babe back to the Stand but as they trudge through the horror filled jungle, the child begins to cry and emit the same dark mist that has overtaken every other person before transforming into a blasphemy. Matsya tries desperately to reassure the baby to no avail and the desperation begins to get to him and Matsya too begins to emit the dark mist as monsters and blasphemies surround him. However, in the last moment, the blasphemies fall dead in a flash of steel. Arriving in the nick of time is Estinien, riding on Vrtra to save the young Matanga and the baby and help them to safety.
Vrtra reveals to the people of Palaka’s Stand and then Radz-At-Han that he is the true satrap who has been ruling in secret to a surprisingly welcome reaction. The interaction brings a smile to Estinien and Alhinaud’s faces knowing that Ysayle would be pleased with the sight. However, the moment of reprieve is ended by the arrival of Harauchefant and several members of the Sharlayan Forum requesting to speak to the Satrap and offer the people of Thavnair an expedited invitation to the Moon due to the arrival of the Final Days. Vrtra leaves the decision to each of his people to choose whether to accept the offer, but also wonders if escaping is the only way since his sire, Midgardsormr, believed this world to be the last beacon of hope.
The Scions and Nidhana discuss the nature of these strange blasphemies and ponder how they can still act and move if they are completely devoid of aether. Nidhana suggests the possibility of negative emotional energy. To test the theory, The Warrior of Light produces the strange heartbloom flower and it immediately turns black and withers to ash. But while the revelation is interesting to know, it doesn’t provide any leads on what to do next. The only remaining lead is the name “Elpis” for the flower that they received from The Watcher on the Moon, and as Alisaie points out there aren’t exactly any living ancients left to ask about it. G’raha Tia has a moment of realization and states that there is someone they can ask who isn’t alive or dead and suggests the Warrior visit the First and speak to Elidibus whose aether remains trapped in the Crystal Tower.
With the Warrior of Light departing with G’raha’s spirit vessel, Y’shtola heads off to meet with Matoya to figure out if they can still contact Hydaelyn in the Aetherial Sea while Alphinaud will work with other nation leaders to figure out where best to dispatch Estinien’s lance.
Arriving back in the first, the Warrior of Light reconvenes with Lyna and Ryne and learns that the First has faced none of the devastation of the Final Days and in a secret chamber of the oculus activates the tower’s systems to call forth a projection of Elidibus. The former Ascian states that he can no longer sense Zodiark and wishes to know what happened, and in exchange Elidibus tells the Warrior that he didn’t know of Elpis as a flower but a place. It was a testing facility for new lifeforms before being released to the planet and overseen by a man named Hermes, who would eventually rise to the seat of Fandaniel. But Elidibus also explains that with time travel you can go back and observe but not change anything, because it all must come to pass for the present to be what it is. With that warning, Elidibus expends the last of his aether to open a passage into the ancient world and send the Warrior of Light on their way. In the quiet solitude before he vanishes completely, the last unsundered Ascian congratulates Hydaelyn on her ultimate victory and hopes that Her champion can save the star.
The Warrior of Light arrives in Elpis but only shin-height due to their reduced aether compared to the rest of the world of ancient times and they conveniently stumble upon a pair arriving for official business for the Convocation of Fourteen: Hythlodaeus and Emet-Selch. They mistake the Warrior of Light for a familiar belonging to Azem and confirm that they too are looking for Hermes as they grant the Warrior additional aether to increase their size and new garments to help fit it.
The Trio seek out Hermes who is caring for a group of aquatic creatures along with a small girl adorned with blue feathers and wings. The young girl becomes instantly enamored with the Warrior of Light because they are both “different” as she puts it in broken and stunted speech before switching to a more eloquent telepathic speech. Hythlodaeus notes that the girl’s aether is unbelievably thin and Harmes explains that she is a personal project that he hasn’t filed the paperwork for yet called ‘Meteion’. The group moves to a nearby meeting so that Emet-Selch can discuss the Convocation business he was sent for – Hermes’ former mentor, the current holder of the Seat of Fandaniel, is stepping down from his position and has put forth Hermes as a replacement. Hermes is clearly upset by this, not because of the offer but because his mentor has decided to “return to the star.” Meteion wonders if this means that Fandaniel is going to die, and Hythlodaeus is surprised to hear such an uncommon terminology used. It’s explained to Meteion that when someone has fulfilled their duties on the world – Etheirys – that they traditionally return all of their aether to the Star, and this is always viewed as a celebration of an accomplished life. Hermes doesn’t doubt that Fandaniel has done great things but he can’t fathom why anyone would desire to end their own life.
Meteion seems bothered by Hermes’ reaction and the researcher asks the Warrior of Light if they’ll take Meteion outside as they finish up. Outside the Warrior learns a bit more about Meteion and that she has the ability to read other people’s emotions which is why she was getting upset being around the upset Hermes. She also has the ability to project her emotions onto others and that her telepathy is in fact just the brain interpreting the projected emotions she sends out as words, so she can communicate with anyone regardless of language or even not having the ability to speak. The pair are joined by Hermes and then by Hythlodaeus and Emet-Selch who plan on keeping Hermes company as he thinks over the offer. While they attend to their duties the Warrior of Light discovers another Elpis flower. Hermes explains that like Meteion the flower is an entelechy – a lifeform that can detect Dynamis, the energy of emotion. Emet-Selch mocks the idea stating he’s never heard of Dynamis, and Hermes explains that until the discovery of this flower it was all theoretical. Dynamis is inherently weaker and less dense than Aether, and since everything on Etheirys is made up of Aether, Dynamis is not terribly viable nor easy to detect, but in the space beyond the Star Dynamis can make up to 68% of all energy. Hermes wonders out loud if all that Dynamis was empowered with the might of a roaring river if it could possibly break through the damn of Aether, and he chuckles but then relents and explains that Meteion is the result of his own desire to create a lifeform that could travel solely on the power of Dynamis, hence her weakened Aether.
The group continues to travel about Elpis as Hermes works diligently to save every anomaly or deviation of life they come across to his fellow researchers’ confusion. They state over and over it would be a simple matter to just break the animals down back to Aether and then reform them after tweaking the design, but Hermes insists that their lives are all these animals have and he refuses to execute them as a last resort. He’s even created a memory alteration device dubbed “Kairos” to help reset problematic behaviors in creatures that might arise. However, when news reaches the Head Researcher about a group of animals slaughtering others without need of hunger or being threatened, it’s clear that something must be done. Hermes entrusts Meteion with the Warrior of Light once more and heads to meet with his team.
Meteion explains that Hermes doesn’t agree with the others who treat life just like they do magick: a tool to be used or disposed of. She wants to do something to cheer Hermes up and upon stumbling upon another patch of the Elpis flowers, she explains that Hermes both loves and hates them because they always turn dark for him. The Warrior of Light admits they turn dark for them too and Meteion excitedly asks if the Warrior could show Hermes. The bird girl brings Hermes back and the Warrior kneels down to demonstrate the flowers turning dark purple. Hermes is amazed to see them change like that for someone else and decides to talk with the Warrior of Light some more. He explains that ‘returning to the Star’ is only met as a celebration for mankind and all other life exists in fear and confusion of their end. However, no one cares about what the animal thinks or feels. They’ll just destroy it back to Aether without a care. He points out the stars in the sky and says that any of them could be another world like Etheirys and he ponders what they live for and if they’re just as blindly devoted to their Stars as mankind is to Etheirys. Hermes admits that’s why he created Meteion… and all of her sisters. He dispatched the sisters across the sky already to seek out the news of what other civilizations live for and he eagerly awaits to hear the result.
Hermes works with the others to execute the remaining violent creations but it’s clear that it pains Hermes to do it. He even tells one of the dying beasts that they are free to return to this world with hate in their hearts for mankind, they deserve it, but to please leave its suffering behind. Emet-Selch uses the opportunity to push for Hermes to join the Convocation once more and Hermes angrily snaps back with a sinister tone of voice that seems more familiar to the Fandaniel that the Warrior of Light knew and asks what is the point? Why should they sacrifice life after life for the Star? Once they make the Star perfect, are they all just supposed to die? Meteion tries to calm him because his anger is hurting her and Hermes excuses himself. With nothing left to do until Hermes answers, Emet-Selch and Hythlodaeus continue on inspecting the research facilities with the Warrior of Light in tow.
Upon reaching a higher area, they come across the former holder of the Seat of Azem who refused to return to the Star when they stepped down from service – Venat. She looks at the Warrior of Light and instantly asks if they are from the future to everyone’s surprise. Venat explains that the Warrior of Light has her Traveler’s Ward that protects from Aetherical changes which the Warrior realizes is the Blessing of Light. After some prodding and demanding from Venat and Emet-Selch, the Warrior of Light decides to share their story about the Final Days, Zodiark and Hydaelyn, The Ascians and everything that has come to pass. Emet-Selch finds the whole thing entirely ridiculous how he would become an outlandish villain who would dishonor his fellows by recreating Amaurot. He takes Hythlodaeus and leaves, but Venat is curious as to what events would have led her to betray the Fourteen and joins the Warrior of Light for some sleuthing on their two major leads: Dynamis and Meteion.
As Venat and the Warrior travel about to question the locals on Hermes’ secretive studies into Dynamis and the creation of Meteion, Venat shares why she never chose to return to the Star. That she loves all the people of Etheirys and believes in their infinite potential because despite all the odds, they came to exist on this Star. She refuses to return until she knows that the fate of the Star is in good hands and that the people don’t need her anymore. She wonders if in the distant future of the Warrior’s time she’s still waiting on the day that mankind can walk on their own and she can finally rest. The pair also learn that Hermes would regularly return to a small island to the skies south of the facility in the early hours where a researcher saw a flock of Meteions – the Meteia – take off into the sky. Eager to pursue the lead, Venat summons her familiar to fly them to the island: Argos the Dog, the same dog that so vehemently came to the Warrior of Light’s aid on the Moon. However at this point Argos wants nothing to do with the Warrior and Venat decides to prove that the Warrior of Light is worthy to Argos by having a sparring session. The clash with the former Azem is no simple brawl – she draws forth various weapons that she switches between to trap the Warrior in a dangerous dance but the Champion of Eorzea emerges victorious. With Argos satisfied that the Warrior is its master’s equal, it lends both of the travelers a ride to the island.
On the solitary island, Venat uses the power of the Echo to pierce the veil of time and reveal that Meteion is part of a vast hivemind of Meteia that were sent across the Stars with the order to report back in 108 cycles. Hermes was apparently hoping to find proof to show others that mankind wasn’t the only life form whose existence should be treated with reverence. Both the Warrior of Light and Venat agree that they don’t believe Hermes is malicious in his intent, but Venat warns that you don’t need to have ill desires to bring about a terrible outcome. Venat suggests that they seek out Hermes and share with him the Warrior’s tale in hopes to steer him away from a path that may accidentally end in the Final Days. She and the Warrior travel to Ktisis Hyperborea and run into Hythlodaeus and Emet-Selch who were hoping to inquire Hermes’ advice about stopping the so-called Final Days. The group finally locates Hermes and explains the whole story to him. Hermes confirms that the Final Days does sound like a Dynamis phenomenon that affects the Aetherically weaker Creation Magick of the ancient world and the Aetherically sundered people of the future. Furthermore Hermes hypothesizes that if the ‘weak points’ in the flow of Aether are being targeted first, then it stands to reason that its the outermost layer of the Star’s defenses being hit with Dynamis – meaning the threat is coming from beyond the Star itself.
However, as the group discusses this threat, Meteion interrupts and announces that she is receiving the scheduled update from her sister’s networked mind but the report isn’t good. An onslaught of loneliness, pain, suffering, hate – a tsunami of negative Dynamis exploding out from Meteion that drives both her and the Warrior of Light to the ground in pain. Frightened of what this news will do to Hermes, Meteor shifts her thin Aether to turn invisible and runs off leaving the group to find her. After chasing Meteion across the islands of Elpis, the entire group corners her and forces her to deliver the report. Meteion begs the Warrior of Light to protect everyone before delivering the results from her sisters. It seems that every world the Meteia visited were either already dead or all died soon after their arrival – either by war, sacrifice or suicide. Emet-Selch asks Hermes what the question he gave to the Meteia and Hermes says they were to ask what the people of other Stars live for. Emet-Selch chides Hermes for the ill formed question. What is the conclusion that the Meteia would reach when they find people who are dead or don’t want to live? Emet-Selch insists that he take Meteion back to Amaurot and recall all her sisters before any further damage could be done, but Hermes says that he won’t turn away from Meteion’s answer even if it was nothing but pain. He grabs Meteion and transforms into a flying creature to take the bird-girl to Ktisis Hyperborea to finish the report. The others quickly gave chase.
The group fights through the released creatures within the facility, face Hermes and ultimately subdue him but in his defeat Hermes pleads with Meteion to know if anyone out there had a reason to live. Meteor explains that her sisters scoured records, spoke to ghosts and sought any information to answer Hermes’ question. Every society they found had sought to eliminate whatever they thought was the source of sadness and strife for their Star and every time it proved to be their downfall with the only universal fact being they all felt that they did everything they could for the sake of their Star. The Meteia’s conclusion? That as long as life existed, it would only suffer. So Meteion and her sisters plan to make their nest at the end of the universe and sing a song of despair so powerful to pierce even the Aetherically protected Etheirys and grant the universe peace by ending everything. That is their ultimate answer to the question: What is there to live for? Death.
Hermes surprisingly agrees. Since everyone on Etheirys seems keen to discard any life that is flawed in its design, why shouldn’t the same judgment be applied to mankind? Hermes declares a wager: If mankind can learn to value all life and still want to live on they shall be spared otherwise they will all perish. To make it even, Hermes activates Kairos to erase his, Emet-Selch’s, Hythlodaeus’, Venat’s and the Warrior of Light’s memories before they all first arrived at Elpis. Hermes lets Meteion go to make her nest with her sisters but Venat refuses to let that happen and gives chance but is only able to place a tracking enchantment on the bird-girl.
Meanwhile, using the warm up period for Kairos, Emet-Selch and Hythlodaeus trick Hermes into creating an escape for Venat and the Warrior of Light by breaking a hole in the walls of Ktisis Hyperborea and letting them flee on Argos. Emet-Selch leaves the Warrior of Light with the final words that he doesn’t believe that it’s his fate to walk such a dark path but he asks that the Warrior not squander the legacy he leaves to them. Venat and the Warrior make it out just moments before Kairos erases everyone’s memory leaving them to be the only one’s left that know the truth of both Meteion, Hermes’ question and challenge, and the future that the Warrior warned of. The others walk out of Ktisis Hyperborea with only a vague hazy recollection of an experiment gone wrong. Venat escorts the Warrior of Light back to the portal to the future and says she doesn’t know what to do. That the world must be prepared to deal with the despair to come, but should she turn to the Fourteen it may create infighting and they’ll lose Hermes and his knowledge of Dynamis. She suggests that maybe she’ll have to find those she can trust and form her own group to answer Hermes’ question. She wishes the Warrior – her “Light” – a farewell and begins her own foretold path to the Final Days.
As the Final Days wreaked havoc on the ancient world, they sacrificed half their population to summon forth Zodiark to shroud the Star with Aether and protect it from the unseen threat of Dynamis. Beyond the devastation, the people of the Star couldn’t deal with the despair and suffering wrought and tried to sacrifice yet another half of the population to their new god to return the world back to its blissful and peaceful world that existed before the Final Days. Venat confronts those who pray to Zodiark and tells them there will always be suffering and they must grow stronger, but the people ignore her and cry to Zodiark to end their suffering.
With blade in hand, Venat declares that she will have to remove the temptation to simply wish away suffering. She will sunder the world, and no longer shall mankind fly to paradise – they will walk. And thus Venat embraced her destiny as Hydaelyn and became the monster that brought endless suffering to the children of the Star that she loved so much. Leaving fourteen worlds where once there was one, where people would fight, suffer, get sick, bleed, weep and ultimately die. The people cried to Hydaelyn, what is the purpose for us to suffer? And Hydaelyn tearfully wept that their purpose is to find purpose and to grow strong in spite of suffering. That she wants all her beloved children to be ready for the song of oblivion that is to come.
Chapter IV: To The End
The Warrior of Light arrives in the present and makes for the Baldesion Annex with news of what they’ve learned in Elpis, but the Scions are currently off helping escort the refugees of Radz-At-Han to the Lunar Bridge in Garlemald to expedite the evacuation, but there’s been an issue: The Final Days have come to Garlemald.
Meanwhile, in the icy mountains surrounding the Imperial capital, Fourchenault struggles to keep the refugees calm in the wake of the onslaught of blasphemies. Luckily, the Scions are there to lend their aid. Alphinaud tending to the wounded while Estinien watches his back, G’raha Tia and Alisaie combating wave after wave of monstrosities like they know their champion would if they were there, and even Jullus leading a squadron of magitech armor from the Garlean military appear to contribute to buying time for Sharlayan and the refugees. As the group is pushed to their limits, from the mists arrives the Warrior of Light to help turn the tide and push back the blasphemies until the refugees can retreat to safety.
Fourchenault concedes that reaching the capital proper is nigh impossible at this rate and invites the Hannish refugees to come to Sharlayan until a new plan can be formed. He can’t guarantee them safety, but he does promise to defend them with everything in his power. He also invites the Scions, stating that he doesn’t agree with their methods or goals but he does recognize that gratitude is due. However, the exit is interrupted by the appearance of Zenos, who comes to see if his friend is ready to play only to find the Warrior of Light still distracted with the whole saving the world thing. Zenos is about to depart when he is confronted by Jullus who asks why the Crown Prince would let all his people die and Zenos simply responds that since he never got the fight he wanted – it was for nothing. As Jullus grows angrier, Zenos follows it up with his own question: What response would have been satisfactory? What answer would make Jullus okay with all the deaths? Zenos pontificates that at least he’s honest, while everyone else garbs themselves in patriotism or honor or pride to justify their detestable actions. Alisaie says that unless Zenos learns to care about others he’ll just be alone, miserable and never get what he wants – not even the fight he so desperately wants. Zenos just ignores her and walks away as the airships lift off.
The group arrives back at Camp Broken Glass and explains the situation. Lucia states that it’s for the best that Sharlayan pulled back as the city is even worse. Maxima is on the front line coordinating the fight with the blasphemies and now that Jullus is back she plans to send his team to join him. Jullus is surprised that as Garleans they’re being trusted with weapons let alone magitech. However everyone agrees that past transgressions shouldn’t be weighed as heavily as future deeds. G’raha then hears something in the distance. Over the horizon something small and fuzzy marches forward in a stupor murmuring, “Pudding… puuudding…” It seems that the Loporrits have arrived to lend their aid since no one has shown up at the Moon and also kind of wanted to see Eitherys before it was abandoned to its doom. Fourchenault is shocked to finally meet his collaborators but welcomes them back to Sharlayan, as well with a promise to discuss the Forum’s Grand Endeavor with the Scions as repayment for the help.
With the Scions all reunited back at the Baldesion Annex, the Warrior of Light is finally able to relay what they learned in the past. The Scions have a target now: Meteion. If she is defeated, then the song ends and so do the Final Days. The problem remains where to find her and how to reach it. The former’s solution is clearly to try to speak to Hydaelyn, but Y’shtola and Thancred had little success working with Echo blessed adventurers like Arenvald down in the Antitower. The puzzle ends up being put on hold as the Scions receive word that the Forum is ready to explain their plans. The Forum explains that the goal is to extract the extensive knowledge from around the world first, then Sharlayan itself and then the rest of the world, starting with Sharlayan’s allies first followed by prioritizing those who won’t create conflict. To accomplish this, they have constructed a space faring vessel to transport everything to the Moon and back. However, while the vessel is functional, it has yet to meet the speeds necessary to meet the evacuation’s proposed schedule. Alphinaud steps forth and offers to help solving the problems with the vessel in exchange for two things: the first is to speak with Hydaelyn since the Scions have deduced that the Forum would have never abandoned the Antitower without an alternate means of contacting to the Aetherial Sea. Second, Alphinaud would like to propose an alternate use for the vessel once its complete and emphasizes that the Forum would be free to reject the proposal with no resistance. Hard to see fault in the proposal and ultimately having little to lose, the Forum agrees to Alphinaud’s offer.
The Scions and Fourchenault descend to the lowest and most inner ring of Labyrinthos to meet with Kokkol Dankkol, the head engineer on the aetherburner – the engine of the vessel. Kokkol is racking his brain to try and find a way to push another 6% out of the machine when if there was a way to get even another 0.6% he would have done it in the first place. He notes that it would be a different case if he could get his hands on Allagan-refined adamantite from the internment blocks of Dalamud, and before another word could be uttered Alphinaud has linkpearl in hand and contacting allies across Eorzea and beyond to gather the necessary supplies.
In Ul’dah, the Sultana enlists the soldiers, factions and guilds to answer the Scions call. Even Lolorito and the Monetarists are given free reign to profit from any deal so long as they claim what’s needed for the cause. In the Black Shroud, A-Ruhn-Senna is lamenting having too many healers and not enough soldiers to infiltrate the nearby fragment of Dalamud, but luckily Lyse arrives with the Ala Mhigo Resistance to lend a hand. In Coerthas, Emmanellain finds his brother praying to Haurchefant’s grave when the pair hear the roar of a dragon as the two former enemies join hands to save the Star. And in the distant Ruby Sea, Hancock is working on a deal to transport relics with the Confederacy when Soroban arrives to discuss a similar matter.
Back in Labyrinthos, the Scions have spread out to lend their aid to the Aetherburner project. Urianger and the Loporrits are answering questions, calming fears, and fascinating a tearful reunion between Urianger and Moenbryda’s parents. The Twins are working with a friend of their father and learn how torn Fourchenault has been all his life between honoring his family creed of non-interference and heeding Loisoix’s wisdom. But they do learn exactly how much Fourchenault loves his children when the family friend describes him as giddy as a schoolboy the day they were born. Finally, G’raha is working to deal with some unruly elementals but ponders with the Warrior of Light about the similarities that Hermes and Amon had even before Amon was awoken to his ancient memories: angry with the disregard to life or a desire to seek answers beyond this world. G’raha wonders if there are some memories seared onto the soul that appear in every incarnation – like how every sundered Azem has something of an adventurous streak.
The Scions all meet back up confidently that they’ve done everything they can in terms of assistance, and almost on cue Alphinaud gets word from Krile that the shipment has arrived. Meanwhile, an aide from the Forum rushes to find Fourchenault about a commotion at the docks. Back in the city, the piers are piled high with mountains of crates containing relics, scavenged adamantite, and a variety of other gifts from across Eorzea and the distant East, delivered by allies the Scions and the Warrior of Light have made along their journeys: the Sky Pirates of the Sea of Clouds, the Prima Vista from the skies of Kugane, Soroban brings gifts from the Blue Kojin, Hancock brings relics on behalf of Lord Lolorito and the East Aldenard Trading Company, and ships flying every nation in the Eorzean Alliance. To the Scions shock, they’re reassured that all the costs have already been paid for – by Tataru, who has been stocking the coffers with her various endeavors as well as gifts from her secret partner, the Twin’s mother: Ameliance.
Krile joins the group with her own group of helpers – the Gleaners – who worked to assemble and transport help and goods behind the Forum’s back to help save the world they’ve fallen in love with and want to keep exploring. With them is the team from Garlond Ironworks who are excited to work on a star ship. Nidhana arrives from Thavnair with Aether rich scales from Vrtra, Tiamat, and Hraesvelgr. The abundance of materials to work with blows away Kokkol who is convinced they can reach 14% increased output – well beyond the necessary amount.
Realizing that the Scions have held up their part of the bargain, Fourchenault takes his children aside and asks them if they are prepared for the burden of taking the fate of every fragile life on the Star. Alphinaud assures him that they have traveled across the world and beyond, and they refuse to abandon any of the wonders or splendors they’ve seen and will take the burden to see it saved. This causes Fourchaenault to break into tears and embrace both Alphinaud and Alisaie and asks if he can share that burden – not as a member of the Forum but as their family. He was so elated but also terrified when the twins were born because of the foretold Final Days, and he swore to bear any hatred or sacrifice to ensure his children would be safe, but thanks to good-hearted people helping guide them, he happily admits that his children are stronger and wiser than he ever thought possible and have earned the right to forge their own paths.
The Scions return to the depths of Labyrinthos and are given access to the top secret heart of the facility – Thaumazein. There they are shown the glowing star ship that holds the last hope for the people of the Star, and then are led to a complex elevator on the far end that serves as the entrance to the Atiascope, an improved and expanded version of the Antitower concept that will take the Scions directly into the depths of Aetherial Sea. Fourchenault warns that the Aetherial Sea is an “underworld” haunted by the memories of those who cling to their loves or hatreds that they had in life. True to that warning, the Scions descend and face shadows of old foes: Ilberd, Livia, and Rhitatyn, but also aided by fallen friends and allies: Papalymo, Moenbryda, Haurchefant and even Minfilia. At the end of their path lies the final barrier between them and Hydaelyn, a spirit of spite and anguish known as Amon. The intense battle climaxes with Amon’s grand curtain call that he once used as his show stopping act in Syrcus Tower but the Scions are saved by an ice wall in the final seconds by one final memory coming to their aid – Ysayle.
After claiming victory, the Warrior of Light questions Amon and asks if he remembers their time in Elpis together. Like the final piece of a puzzle clicking into place, Amon realizes it was the Warrior who arrived with Hythlodaeus and Emet-Selch. Amon explains that before he was awakened as an Ascian he had nightmares of a place he would eventually remember as Elpis. That when the fool, Hermes, used Kairos to wipe his memory, all he actually accomplished was burning those suppressed thoughts deep onto Hermes’ soul – which is to say Fandaniel’s soul, and thus Amon’s soul – and no matter how many times they died and came back those memories were still there. However, that’s not why he sought to end the world. Instead, Amon found his answer to Hermes’ question through the anguish, betrayal and wickedness he witnessed in mankind. Amon came to the conclusion that life is suffering and thus there’s no reason to live at all, much like the other civilizations in the Meteia’s report. He still has doubts in his heart though. That comment, that moment of questioning, calls forth another memory from the Aether who mocks Amon’s faltering convictions, and didn’t even care that its body was used as a corpse puppet, but it will not forgive Amon for the sin of using its body to betray Lord Zenos. The shapeless void suddenly takes shape as the memory of Asahi appears to drag Amon with him into oblivion so the Ascian will never bear witness to his magnum opus.
With the final obstacle passed, the Scions approach the heart of the very Star – the Mothercrystal – and to meet Hydaelyn herself. Hydaelyn warns them that Meteion dwells at the end of the universe, in a domain formed of pure Dynamis. Aether will not protect them, and memory & emotion will govern everything. Meteion wields the dread and despair of countless dead and doomed worlds as a weapon and the Scions must be prepared to face that. Alisaie says that she might have once said confidently that they will, but she’s full of doubt. Hydaelyn gently reassures Alisaie by explaining that in ancient times, untold numbers of worlds sought to eliminate suffering and darkness but they all failed because darkness exists in all life and to live is to suffer. It cannot be defeated, instead it must be overcome and lived with. The goddess summons forth her sword and states that if they are going to carry the fate of all of her children then they must have the strength to face the overwhelming power of a deity. If they cannot, then they must be stopped so her children can flee the Star. The Scions unsheathe their weapons and accept the challenge.
After a fierce battle that reflected the one that Venat and the Warrior of Light engaged in back in Elpis, Hydaelyn collapses with the last of power spent. She had always held back just enough so that she could conduct this final trial with all her might. She confesses that what she did sundering the world was not done in kindness or justice, but as a necessity so that the world could learn to overcome Dynamis. However, her efforts bore fruit and now mankind has surpassed her expectations and no longer needs her. Hydaelyn happily entrusts not just the Star but the future of the universe to mankind. She presents the Scions with a crystal of light that contains the path Meteion took when she fled across space. Alphinaud states that they still don’t have the means to fly on Dynamis or enough Aether to propel the ship that far. Hydaelyn points out the Mothercrystal – the crystallized aether of countless souls who coalesced at the heart of the Aether Sea. Finally, Hydaelyn beckons her old, old friend – the Warrior of Light – forth and gives them one more blessing. The last of her power imbued into the Crystal of Azem, and gives the Warrior of Light temporary power over stasis, peace, and tranquility. She leaves with the words of the last holder of the Seat of Azem: “When the way forward is hidden even from the mind’s eye, look not to the invocation but within yourself.” Hydaelyn’s aether dissipates, allowing her to, at long last, rest.
Returning to Labyrinthos, the Scions share the tale of what transpired down below. The Loporrits are eager to get working on the crystal if only to distract them from the loss of Hydaelyn. The Warrior of Light returns to the Baldesion Annex for a good night’s sleep, but their dreams are filled with a strange vision of being below water and hearing one-side of a conversation as the voice Hythlodaeus welcomes someone.
The next day as the Loporrits work, the Warrior of Light and the Scions take care of any lingering business. Be that reminiscing about the past, spending time with family and friends, or just enjoying life on a sunny afternoon. Meanwhile, that night in Ala Mhigo, Zenos returns to the Royal Gardens and ponders over Alisaie’s words to him. The former prince wonders what he and the Warrior of Light each truly sought in the last glorious battle.
Finally, the Day of Reckoning has come. The Scions unite in the Baldesion Annex and recollect how far they’ve come from hunting down stolen crystals and dealing with bickering city-states at the Waking Sands, to the glory and falls faced at the Rising Stones, from Ishguard to Kugane to the First where they unraveled the secrets of their world. Now they stand ready to travel to Ultima Thule, the furthest point any person could possibly go. Krile implores the group to triumph – what that may mean could be different for each of them but claim it nonetheless. Tataru tearfully wishes her Scions a safe journey as their dutiful receptionist as the Scions descend back to Thaumazein.
In the hangar, Cid and Fourchenault both confirm that the vessel is ready. The Lopporits have finished attaching their lunar ‘HyperHopper’ to the engine to ensure the ship can make the distance. However, before departing Cid insists that they still have to come up with a better name than “Fourchenault’s Teeny Tiny Toy Boat” as the Loporrit’s have taken to calling it. Fourchenault notes that the vessel has required unprecedented cooperation but without one man none of it would have happened. So in honor of Loisoix’s efforts to save the world, they will name the ship for the piece of Dalamud that delivered the first pieces of adamantite and the designs to make this ship possible: The Ragnarok.
Sicard arrives with the representatives of the various beast tribes, with Livingway explaining that there’s no logistical way to transport the Mothercrystal to the ship, but instead they decided to turn that aether into something more mobile. Utilizing a combination of Lopporit creation magick that was taught to them by Hydaelyn and the summoning rituals of the various tribes, they can summon purified versions of the primals that do not have the zealous mind control first introduced by the Ascians. The beast tribes are more than willing to help because the Scions’ never cast them as villains or judged them when their gods ran amok. Moenbryda’s parents, researchers of teleportation magick, give the Scions teleporters that will chain together everyone in the area when just one person presses the button and bring them back to the Ragnarok. With that all said, the Ragnarok launches and the primals fueled by the Mothercrystal’s aether chase after and fuse with the engines allowing the ship to open up a gateway and surge through to the ends of the universe – Ultima Thule.
As the Ragnarok surges toward its destination, Livingway warns the Scions that Ultima Thule is a literal blank spot on the map. Since the region is composed entirely of Dynamis, it is impossible to know what will be there until they arrive. However, the question is quickly answered as they pass into the realm at dream’s end and the lights begin to flicker inside the futuristic ship. In the flashes, Meteion appears and welcomes them to her ‘ultimatum’ but assures them that they needn’t have come, she would be ending their world’s existence soon enough and free them from their suffering. The Scions declare their intent: they are the last hope of Hydaelyn and as such will put an end to Meteion and her song. Meteion responds by simply removing air from the ship. She explains that in Ultima Thule, emotions dictate reality. So those who burn valiantly with the desire to live with find themselves quickly burning their lives short. One by one the Scions and Lopporits collapse, save Thancred who uses his last bit of life to march toward Meteion and strike before the last ship member collapses.
When the group awakens they find that both Thancred and Meteion are nowhere to be found. The Loporrits report that the area around the ship appears to be completely habitable and the group departs to search for Thanced. There is no sign of their companion, indeed hardly anything but battle scarred ruins and the shadowy forms of dragons that can only be seen by the Warrior of Light and Estinien due to their previous connections with Midgardsormr and Niddhog respectively. As the Scions move northward, they come across Meteion once more who explains that they are walking through the memory of a now dead world that she brought with her here to help fuel her song of despair. When confronted about Thancred’s whereabouts, Meteion taunts them by explaining that he’s ‘everywhere’. She had destroyed his physical form in their altercation, and yet his final dying wish: “Survive” single handedly was powerful enough to reshape the landscape of Ultima Thule – giving it land to walk on, air to breathe, and even a means by which the blind Y’shtola could see. Indeed it was that wish that saved the remaining Scions from their dire fate, and Estinien decides not to squander such a gift and attacks Meteion who simply disappeared as quickly as she came. The bird girl’s voice hangs in the air to remind that it doesn’t matter how close they are – emotions rule here and her despair is supreme. They can strike but never hit, see but not touch, and walk but never advance.
The Scions struggle to accept their impossible task but decide to continue to push northward to honor Thancred’s sacrifice. Urianger notes that Thancred existing without a body is not unprecedented. Such was the state the Scion’s were in during their time on the First. Which means Thancred is not necessarily gone. Across the craggy landscape, they find a group of dragons that everyone can see, and decide to speak to them and learn of their story: the home star of the dragons was besieged by a race of machines who waged a long and terrible war, but when the machines claimed victory found that any resources the dragons’ world may have to offer were no longer of any uses and departed for another battlefield. However the war corrupted the aether of the Star and any attempt to rebuild or repopulate would succumb to deformation and ruin. They tried to send their remaining strongest with clutches of eggs to cross the expanse and find a new home, but every place they found just bore conflicts anew. So those who remained without hope of recovery decided to simply do nothing and remove themselves from the cycle of conflict until their end came.
The Scions also discover that leaving the floating island they are on is impossible. Attempts to manipulate the landscape just causes it to vanish and reappear elsewhere and the Loporrits cannot read any of the other landmasses with their instruments and thus cannot land safely. Urianger however has found another potential lead in the form of a dragon who bears a greater amount of despair than those around them. He leads the group to this dragon – Al End – and Estinien confronts the dragon by explaining that Midgardsormr did find a home with his clutch, but Al End asks if they found conflict and Estinien resigns and admits they did. Al End affirms that the choice to do nothing was the right one and Estinien stops him and challenges the dragon’s belief by stating that the cycle of conflict cannot be ignored – it must be broken by facing it head on and seeing yourself within your foe. Only then will you be able to most past the bloodshed and find true peace. The dragon explodes in a dark cloud of Dynamis that wraps around Estinien as the dragoon is forced to bear the despair of dragonkind and test his resolve against it. He turns to the other Scions and simply says “The rest is up to you.” before vanishing like Thancred before him only for a gust of window to sweep across the area and shatter the miasma that held it in stasis. With Alphinaud in tears over the loss of Estinien, the group presses on to the next landmass floating beyond.
As the Scions explore their new surroundings they find sandy earth and a strange unknown language engraved on stone in purple crystal. Following these monoliths they meet the Ea, a group of beings who abandoned their physical forms long ago and are now attempting to recreate their physical forms so they can die “properly” instead of dissipating their aether into nothing but their struggling with things they don’t remember or have accurate records of – like how touching works, the nervous system or vocal chords which means they have to talk through Dynamis. The Scions are still curious as to why they would want to work to get their bodies back only to die, and the Ea explain that their ancestors thought to remove limitations to overcome sorrow and find true happiness. They worked for generations to remove their physical bodies and thus removing the limitations of food, sleep or even air but ultimately ran into the problem of the limitations of their knowledge. The Ea worked to explore the laws of creation to predict all possibilities and phenomenon and thus remove anxiety. However, to continue their tale the Ea would have to share the ‘fundamental truth of the universe’ – a topic that piques Y’shtola’s interest – but the Ea debate whether a primitive species should be left in ignorant bliss. After some debate, the Ea agree to share it and lead the group to a particular site to share the wisdom. Urianger however grabs the Warrior of Light and G’raha to have a word first and lets the others go ahead.
Urianger leads the Warrior and G’raha to a secluded area and asks them why they think out of the countless civilizations Meteion encountered that these specific few are the ones they’re encountering? The trio deduce that these all must be worlds that Meteion encountered before their demise and using her abilities as an entelechy, saw their desire to die and granted it to them. She wiped them out and absorbed them as a memory to help fuel her engine of despair. Urianger advises that if they ever find themselves unable to move forward, they should seek out the individual who wants to end their existence the most. Urianger also confides that should he find a moment where he can stand strongest to help to not stop him, he shares this out of a desire to not hide anything anymore. The Warrior of Light and G’raha agree and they set off to join the others.
At a group of stones commemorating the final words of those Ea who have already dissipated their aether, the Ea explain the truth they learned: the universe began as a single particle and began to expand. However, the universe cannot expand infinitely, but eventually the stars will grow so distant from each other and so devoid of aether that the entire universe will become sealed in an eternal ice age. Everything will die and nothing will remain. After learning this fundamental truth, the Ea decided that attempting to accomplish anything was pointless. The Ea urges the Scions to abandon their quest and embrace blissful ignorance. Y’shtola takes exception to that. She doesn’t deny that she has no way to confirm or deny the Ea’s findings, but she still believes that truth is in the eye of the beholder and learning isn’t just reading words but gaining knowledge through understanding. As such, Y’shtola refuses to live in ignorance. This surge of determination causes the Ea to transform into a swirling cloud of dark Dynamis and insist that they will show Y’shtola their true despair so she can understand the hopelessness that knowledge brings. Y’shtola doesn’t relent but she doesn’t turn to explain to the Warrior of Light that Hydaelyn’s gift imbued into Azem’s Crystal may be enough to bring back the lost Scions’ bodies but insists that it should not be used lest all the paths created to move forward so far will be unmade. Urianger however joins Y’shtola in the cloud of Dynamis and says he’s at his strongest when he’s supporting friends, to which Y’shtola remarks that they can’t lose. The pair vanish and a pillar of light erupts in the distance. Meteion appears and shares that she’s impressed that they’ve rekindled two dead civilizations and Alisaie steps forward to warily threaten that they will continue to hunt Meteion down no matter where she hides. Meteion simply points to the black orb riddled with red cracks hanging in the sky and explains that she’s there. That’s her nest – a dead sun. She states that in her journeys, the Meteia learned that death is not the end of life. Those who die return to the star or to an even larger flow if the Star is not available to be reborn. Meteion insists that true peace is not death, but never being born. So in her nest, the souls that she gathers stagnate and cannot be reborn. She advises G’raha, the Twins and the Warrior of Light that they should hurry along before their fallen friends’ protection fades before vanishing again.
The four remaining Scions make their way to the pillar of light to find a transporter to another island, this time one forged of steel and inhabited by hostile machines. They eventually encounter the Omicrons, a species of intelligent machines that constantly seek to improve themselves through conflict and technology who at the time of this memory had just recently defeated the dragons and acquired great combat data but very few resources. G’raha suggests seeking out the Omicrons’ commanding unit – ‘SIR’ – and attempts to make contact with it by striking a communications beacon with lightning. With Sir awakened it seems to try to avoid any unnecessary conversation but explains that it’s waiting for the Extended Operation Unit’s report before issuing any orders. The group tries to locate any errant Omicrons that might be this Operation Unit and find a single wandering unit that wanders off from the combat-ready base to ponder a tree on the far edge of the island. The wandering machine wonders why the tree, whose native world is long gone and was only brought back for a study that’s now complete, continues to grow, sprout branches and produce seeds. Why does it continue to try existing when there’s no function or point to it all? G’raha notes that the unit was not here on any orders and is simply observing the tree of its own volition.
Through a simple experiment using lightning once more, the group discovers the errant unit is in fact ‘Sir’ and is likely the one that best matches Urianger’s suggested criteria for the being that blocks the way forward for the group. They confront the errant ‘Sir’ unit and ask why they refuse to issue orders to which ‘Sir’ responds by explaining the history of the Omicrons: Long ago they were weak, frightened and fleshy things that were terrorized by the stronger races. So to find safety, they began to augment themselves to get stronger. However, even once they mastered the ability to digitize their minds and conquer their star, they still felt unsafe because there were other stars out there. They began to travel to other stars, conquering them and using the data and resources gathered to improve themselves to ensure that they could never be conquered. What stopped ‘Sir’ from giving orders was a simple thought: “What should happen if they became so powerful that they had no equal?” To become stronger had become the point of their existence, but if there’s no goal beyond that was there ever a point beyond wanton destruction? Faced with this question, ‘Sir’ has resolved to not issue any further orders and simply sit idle until the Omicrons run out of energy.
G’raha Tia asks why the Omicron simply find a new purpose but ‘Sir’ explains that they lost the ability to conceive of new directions or dream of new possibilities when they sacrificed the last vestiges of their flesh to become ever evolving machines. G’raha sighs and turns to his compatriots, stating he knows how to open the path forward but he wants something in return – a promise from the Warrior of Light for a proper tour of Ishgard, and to hear stories of all their adventures and then to go on a new adventure together. The Warrior of Light mournfully agrees and G’raha turns back to ‘Sir’ to posit a hypothetical: How do we know we are the same person we were when we went to sleep the night before? Memories can be forgotten even when awake. Bodies constantly change. Souls may not even be yours originally given the Lifestreams cycle of rebirth. The answer, G’raha states to ‘Sir’, is that it doesn’t matter. Who you were last night has no bearing on who you are now, so one should simply give in to the desires of the present regardless of what has come to pass. The leader of the Omicron states that it doesn’t know how and G’raha offers to help by sharing a tale of a world on the brink of nothingness that learned to persevere and the man from there with grand dreams that got to awaken to a grander reality. ‘Sir’ transforms into the same spherical cloud of dark Dynamis as before and whisks away G’raha, leaving a crystal trail to the sky. Alisaie sobs and screams at the sky that G’raha needs to stay with them to the end at least once.
Now only the Warrior of Light and the Twins remain as they ascend the crystalline path left to them by the departed G’raha Tia. As they march forward, they share their thoughts, fears and comforts until they reach the next island – the remnant of a wholly empty world. Meteion appears to share that this is the world as she found it, already devoid of all life. The trio rush around to every edge of the island in hopes of finding any sign of activity or people but there was nothing, instead they find moments – a half finished meal, belongings left on the ground, as if all life simply vanished at once. However, Alphinaud thinks he knows how to proceed or at least a way for the Warrior of Light to proceed. Alisaie protests saying they can’t leave their friend to bear the weight of this alone but Alphinaud calms his sister and explains that this isn’t just giving the Warrior a path, but a chance at a happy ending. Alisaie agrees and filled with determination the two teenagers turn to Meteion and explain that the world isn’t empty – Meteion is there.
Alphinaud explains that it was Meteion who found this world dead and abandoned, it was her that must have feared the implications for what this would mean to Hermes. Meteion attempts to retaliate by saying that she’s just doing the inevitable as the Ea foresaw and that any fear she might have felt was but a slow drip compared to the raging river of despair that powers her. The Twins ignore the threats and insist that failing is not the end and one shouldn’t be afraid to get up and try again. Meteion explodes into a fog of dark Dynamis and consumes Alisaie and Alphinaud who vanish, sparing a word back to the Warrior of Light to keep moving forward.
Back in Sharlayan, the crowds stand gazing at the sky in hopeful patience waiting for good news from the Scions when the dock customs officer shows up to tell Krile and Tataru that a friend of the Scions has just arrived and wishes to speak to them. A familiar jangling of belts and chains ascend the stairs as a figure arrives to the pair of Lalafells’ complete shock.
In Ultima Thule, the Warrior of Light marches forward on the path left for them by Alisaie and Alphinaud. They grip their fists tight in the wake of a thousand thousands of world’s despair and draw strength to keep moving from the words of friends and allies they’ve made since they first stepped off the carriage and wandered into the adventurers guild. At the absolute pinnacle, the Warrior of Light faces off with Meteion who plainly explains that this is the end. There is no path from this isolated rock to reach her Nest. No amount of hope can help you reach a place of pure hopelessness. The Warrior of Light pulls out the Crystal of Azem and thinks on the words from their friends and compatriots before summoning forth – not the Scions but instead Emet-Selch and Hythlodaeus, now with their memories restored to them in the Aetherial Sea. The pair of Ancients insist that Meteion will not be the end of their journey before using their creation magick to create the Warrior’s desire and fills the barren isolated rock with a small field of pure white Elpis flowers beaming with hope. Meteion recalls her talk with Hermes and his promise to give her a flower when she returns home. The small bird-girl falls to her knees among the flowers.
Emet-Selch explains to the Warrior of Light that this abundance of hope should allow them to use Hydaelyn’s magick to reform the Scions, so the Warrior grips the crystal tight once more and summons forth their friends and allies back from the nothing that had consumed them. However, in the wake of this uplifting moment, the Nest cracks and pours out a sphere of liquid like Dynamis that leads to the core of the Nest. The Meteion sitting in the flowers looks up to the Warrior of Light and begs them to end the song of suffering before vanishing. Hythlodaeus and Emet-Selch also take their leave insisting that the Ancient’s chapter of this tale is done and it falls to them to continue the story, but tasks the Warrior of Light as the bearer of Azem’s crystal to continue to expand their horizons and seek out new adventures and secrets from their Star – such as the lost treasures of the Bounty, or the truth of the Twelve, or even the lost golden city of the New World.
Stepping into the swirling sea of Dynamis that erupted from the Nest, the Warrior of Light leads the Scions as the Meteia drag them from memory after memory of worlds that suffered destruction and death but the Scions emerge undaunted. Meteion rages and asks what she must do to force them to succumb to their despair and Alisaie retorts that as long as they have each other they can always pick each other up when they fall. Meteion decides that then they all must drown at once in despair and joins with her sister to fuse together into their ultimate form – The Endsinger. While the original Meteion from Elpis tries to calm her sisters, the Endsinger conjure forth entire worlds to throw at the Scions, torturing them with nightmarish attacks and rewinding time over and over to do it again and again. The Endsinger demands that it will not suffer in despair by itself and it shall make everything suffer with her as it prepares its cataclysmic attack. To save their friends, the Warrior of Light pulls out the teleportation device given to them before they left and against Alisaie’s pleading not to, pushes the button and throws it into the tempestuous air as the Scions are getting sucked up to teleport them all to safety.
With only the Warrior Light and the Endsinger remaining to face each other, the moment is interrupted by a shattering into the Dynamis sea as Zenos arrives clad in the guise of Shinryu and empowered with a piece of the Mothercrystal’s aether from Krile, given in exchange for Zenos’ aid in this final confrontation. The dragon asks why this prey is taking his friend so long to defeat and offers to help finish off the distraction so that he and the Warrior of Light can finally have their satisfaction. Riding atop Shinryu’s head, the Warrior of Light faces off with the Endsinger in a brutal battle that has the god-like being throwing entire planets, spawning pools of pure sorrow, and rewinding and repeating waves upon waves of destruction. In the darkest of moments when it seems death is certain, the Scions pray to lend their aid in a moment that reflects the prayers to the Twelve that empowered Loisoix when facing the fall of Dalamud five years prior, filling the Dynamis Sea with hope and shifting the tide allowing the Warrior of Light to ride it to victory over the Endsinger.
Now in the silence that comes after, the Warrior steps forth to the small form of Meteion who repeats her standard greeting and asks if they can be friends. The Warrior of Light takes the bird-girl’s hand and she is flooded with emotions from the Warrior’s journeys. She sees that there was never a single answer to Hermes’ question, that every life has their own path to their own happiness. Meteion compares it to a field of flowers, a single bloom that gives way to a field filled with a myriad of colors, shapes and sizes as far as the eye can see. With the blue returning to Meteion’s feathers, she admits that she can’t undo everything her and her sisters did but what they can do is sing a new song – a song of hope and renewal – to spur life to return someday to the desolated worlds that fill the universe. As further thanks, she offers to lead the Warrior of Light back to their friends and takes off in the form of a small bird with a starry trail behind… but there’s one final matter to settle: Zenos.
Zenos asks if the Warrior will hear him out, not as a champion or hero nor he as a villain or the former crown prince, but as two people as they are now standing alone at the edge of the universe. He wants to challenge the Warrior of Light. He admits it’s all he really knows how to do. He has spent his entire life chasing challenges and giving challenges to those around him. Zenos states he won’t blame the Warrior for walking away from him, but he doesn’t think they will because underneath the world-saving and heroics beats a heart that similarly seeks out new challenges, greater foes, and unseen sights for no other reason than self-satisfaction. After all, isn’t that what it means to be an ‘Adventurer’?
The two engage one last glorious battle, with Zenos utilizing all his newfound gifts from taking up the Reaper’s scythe and contracting with a voidsent avatar. He even fuses with the avatar to take a stronger form to continue the fight until the two combatants are running on fumes and simply exchanging punches as the last bit of their life forces are burnt out like final bits of a candle’s wick. At death’s door, the two collapse on the ground and Zenos confesses that he never understood other people’s pleasures or obsessions but there were a few small moments where he felt like he could glimpse the happiness that others had. He turns to his ‘friend’ and asks if they ever found the satisfaction that they sought? In silence, the two fighters close their eyes and begin to cross that final threshold to death’s door when a small device – the teleporter button – falls from the sky and lands next to the Warrior of Light. It beeps a few times and teleports the Champion of Eorzea back to the Ragnarok, leaving behind the fallen and motionless form of Zenos.
On the Ragnarok, the Scions tearfully try their best to resuscitate the Warrior of Light only to offer smiles and scold their heroics the moment their hero opens their eyes. However, everyone is alive and well as the Ragnarok arrives back at Eitherys, flying over the various lands that the Warrior of Light had traveled in their journeys until arriving back at Sharlayan with a triumphant welcome home from Tataru and Krile.
Some time later, Alphinaud is penning his final letter to his parents from the Scion’s home in the Rising Stones. The group has decided to at least publicly dismantle the Scions of the Seventh Dawn and turn the defense of the realm over to the Grand Company of Eorzea. They’ll still work together in an unofficial capacity should a task or threat arrive that they need each other for, but until that day comes the group plans to go their separate ways while Tataru remains utilizing the Rising Stones as an artisan workshop to cover for and finance the group’s clandestine operations. In the meantime, Estinien plans to help out Vrtra in Radz-at-Han, the Twins are heading to Garlemald to aid in the reconstruction, Krile and G’raha are headed back to Sharlayan to rebuild the Students of Baldesion, Y’shtola plans to visit a certain old lady in the Dravanian Hinterlands before starting her research into traveling between the reflections, and finally Urianger and Thancred aim to do some “purposeful wandering.” The group then asks the Warrior of Light what they plan to do and the Warrior looks up and sees a small blue starbird fly overhead and smiles.
Newfound Adventure (6.1)
Some time after disbanding the Scions, the Warrior of Light visits Tataru to catch up. The two chat about the idea of doing some old-fashioned adventuring for once. Under Tataru’s suggestion, The Warrior of Light travels to Radz-at-Han and hits up the local tavern where they meet with a drunken professor who lets slip about a treasure map for sale in the market that leads to the fabled ‘Azjadaal’s Legacy’ – a vault of treasure plundered from other worlds said to lie at the sea floor of the Bounty. The Warrior heads off to the market to see the shady merchant enact a painfully obvious shill with a young boy to help sell the treasure map, only to see Estinien walk up and buy it with a hefty sack of gil. The Warrior of Light learns that Estinien plans on using the fabled treasure to set up a relief fund for the people of Radz-at-Han who lost loved ones and livelihoods in the Final Days and the pair team up to go treasure hunting.
They work to secure a ship, but out of concern for their safety by the same boy that was helping the merchant, the Warrior of Light sets off to find additional compatriots for their expedition. They recruit an ecstatic G’raha, Y’shtola who is curious about the other worldly plundering and Urianger who coincidentally is working on designs for vaults for the Loporrits. With a full group assembled, they make for the island and utilize the enchantment on the map to open up secret passageways to the bottom of the ocean. In the ocean-floor chambers, the group finds piles of treasure but even more fascinating is a sealed alchemical furnace that they attempt to open but are stopped by Varshahn, the homunculus controlled by Vrtra. Varshahn explains that it can only be opened on his authority and shows them why: the sealed vat contains a small but very active planar gate to the Void of the Thirteenth Reflection.
The excited Y’shtola asks how a true voidgate came to be sealed in this facility, and Varshahn tells the tale of the vicious war between the Allagan Empire and Meracydia led by Bahamut and Tiamat. However, when Bahamut fell, the Meracydians summoned their primal gods – The Warring Triad – which in turn forced Emperor Xande to forge a pact with the Cloud of Darkness in the Void. The bloody struggle seemed endless until Vrtra’s older sister – Azdaja – dove into the Allagan’s voidgate to seal it once and for all. Vrtra then spent ages looking for a way to cross the rift and find his sister, but only found this tiny gate at the bottom of the sea. Once Radz-at-Han had been established, Vrtra had the vault constructed and the alchemist worked to grow the gate to at least the size that Varshahn could enter, but by that point there was no trace of Azdaja. Torn between serving his people and seeking his sister, he chose the former and sealed the gate so the voidsent couldn’t escape.
Meanwhile, in the sunless realm of the Thirteenth, a figure clad in dark armor sits atop a throne and converses with his four unseen generals. They confirm that the gate opened, but not from this side and that they sensed the presence of the mortal that bested the Cloud of Darkness beyond it. The dark armored knight urges his generals to stay their zeal and not lose themselves, for soon the war to win redemption for their star would begin.
Back in Thavnair, Y’shtola requests permission to study the gate while Estinien and the Warrior of Light work with Vrtra to decide how best to use the treasure from the vault to aid Radz-at-Han. After meeting with locals, it’s decided that the funds will be used to uplift the struggling trade industry but those who accept the coin must pay a portion of their profits toward a new orphanage for the children who lost their family in the Final Days. With that settled, the Warrior of Light meets with Y’shtola who explains a bit more of how travel between the reflections works. She states that a planar tear works only if you just send your soul through as well as someone on the other side to guide your soul through the Rift. Gates like this one however do not, so the size is the only problem. Vrtra says the alchemists of old had constructed an artificial voidsent to enhance the size but the knowledge was lost. Y’shtola grins and says she knows exactly where to find lost knowledge.
In Sharlayan, Y’shtola and the Warrior of Light petition the Forum for access to the restricted area of the Neumenon to seek the secret lost knowledge of the Hannish alchemists. They are granted access, but under the trust they won’t abuse this privilege and the search turns out to be successful as they find the book and discover the secret: an artificial atomos with a crystal used to mimic the aetheric vibrations that a real atomos would use to expand the gate in its mouth. They return to Thavnair and gather Varshahn, Estinien and also Nidhana to help with an experiment in the Vault. Before they go down the path of building an artificial atomos, Y’shtola wants to be sure that their warding scales are up to the task. They can handle a primal, but an entire dimension of corrupt aether? Less sure. At the voidgate, Y’shtola summons a pair of nixies with an uncharacteristically upbeat and sing-song incantation she made as a child and gives on a warding scale before sending both into the gate. While they wait, Y’shtola recounts the origins of the Thirteenth, how it was a failed attempt at a Rejoining by the Ascians who instead triggered a Flood of Darkness and destroyed the entire reflection. Afterward, the nixies are recalled and one is corrupted to the point of nearly becoming a voidsent but the one with the warding scale is relatively fine – though the scale is damaged. Feeling renewed in her resolve to visit all the remaining reflections, Y’shtola tasks Nidhana and the Great Work to begin on the artificial atomos while she pays a visit to Garlond Ironworks to see about strengthening the warding scale since Nero has some experience with the matter back during the events of the Crystal Tower.
Meanwhile, Varshahn struggles with his conflicted desires to do his duty to his people and nation and to join the expedition to the Thirteenth to search for his sister. Estinien confronts him about it with a group of alchemists, merchants, children from the new orphanage, and soldiers of the Radiant Host – all of which agree that they can handle the matters at home and that their noble and kind satrap deserves a chance to find his sister. Varshahn steels himself and decides to join the journey, assuring his citizens that while his dragon body will remain in Radz-at-Han, he will mostly be indisposed as his focus will be on controlling Varshahn across the rift.
Meanwhile, in the dark void of the Thirteenth, a shadowy form appears and reveals itself to be the voidsent avatar that was once bound to Zenos, now free to return to its native domain.
Buried Memory (6.2)
With the artificial atomos complete and the warding scales reinforced, the Warrior of Light joins up with their companions at the Great Work. There Nidhana gifts Varshahn a gift: a new adult version of his vessel to house Vrtra’s eye that will allow Varshahn lend his aid against any newfound threats in the Thirteenth. Y’shtola also has a gift for the Warrior of Light – the crystal of light that housed the path that Meteion traveled.
The group travels back into the Thirteenth and emerges in a winding and twisted castle ruled by a voidsent called Beatrice. They chase the voidsent through her castle until she is ambushed by a larger voidsent who devours Beatrice’s Aether. This stealthy new threat introduces himself as Scarmiglione the Lich, the Archfiend of Earth and one of the elite generals of someone referred to as ‘Lord Golbez.’ The Warrior of Light defeats Scarmiglione and a crowd of voidsent appear to bear witness to the scattered Aether dancing through the air but they seem apprehensive about making a move. The group tries to communicate with various voidsent, only to learn of a “clever” one down in the dungeons.
In the depths of the castle, the Warrior of Light finds the shadowy voidsent avatar that had bonded with Zenos when he took up the Garlean art of Reaping. Likewise, the Avatar recognizes the Warrior of Light as Zenos’ ‘Friend’ though they don’t seem to understand what that word even means. However, Hydaelyn’s Crystal of Light reacts to the shadowy being and purges the corruption to reveal a pale skinned dark-robed woman, who while appearing human is without a doubt a voidsent. She expresses that she has no intent to fight someone clearly stronger than her, but when asked for information the former avatar asks what she’ll receive in payment. She explains that the way of the Thirteenth is everything is give and take. Y’shtola offers her some Aether since she reckons that’s all a voidsent would likely want, and the Avatar recounts a tale of the world before the Flood of Darkness, when the land was embroiled in a brutal war known as the Contramemoria and that she fought in it, as she was turned into a voidsent while still in the womb and thus stopped aging upon reaching maturity.
Y’shtola asks what the Avatar’s name is, and she explains she is just ‘Voidsent’ but Y’shtola decides on calling her “Zero” instead – not meaning ‘nothing’ but instead to indicate a place of beginning. Zero accepts the name and leads the group to the throne room of the castle for her expected payment of Aether only for Scarmiglione to reappear and attack. Unsure of how the Archfiend survived, it’s revealed that much like how the Light of the First prevents life from emerging in the Empty, the Darkness of the Thirteenth prevents anything from truly perishing here. Their Aether just reforms after a time. This means no matter how many times the group tries to defeat Scarmiglione, he simply returns as does his minions. Zero knows how to deal with them, but won’t since she still hasn’t received payment for the information. Y’shtola states that Zero never paid for her name either, and Zero accepts that reasoning to join the fight. Zero demonstrates her unique ability to seal away the voidsent’s aether in crystal form and thus keep them from reforming. This ability – the Memoria – was the central conflict of the war she had mentioned before.
Picking up Scarmiglione’s crystal, the Warrior of Light is given an Echo vision of the Archfiend’s memories that reveals that four voidsent were uplifted into the roles of the Archfiends by a dark armored knight called Golbez by feeding them Aether from Vrtra’s captured sister.
The group retreats to Zero’s personal domain, a safe harbor for weak and scared voidsent who don’t want to be devoured and absorbed into stronger opponents. There they learn more of Golbez whose Archfiend’s have been wandering the Void and wiping out whole domains of other Voidsent, recruiting the strong into Golbez’s crusade or devouring the weak. Zero also explains that when a voidsent is devoured, their memories and emotions are absorbed into the devourer – creating a being that is a blend of both. By the same stroke, when a strong voidsent that has devoured many is destroyed, the Aether of the lesser voidsent are freed to reform in their original bodies.
Meanwhile, Golbez learns of Scarmiglione’s fate at the hands of a Memoriate – one who wields the power of the Memoria – despite no one having seen or heard of one in an eternity. The Archfiend of Wind, Barbariccia, offers to slay the Memoriate and their comrades from the other world in exchange for the remainder of the dragon’s aether. Golbez agrees to the terms and sends forth his general. Barbariccia’s floating domain appears outside of Zero’s territory and the Archfiend arrives to begin devouring the Aether of the various weak voidsent that dwell in the ruins. The Archfiend of Wind catches the scent of Vrtra’s eye within Varshahn and notes her master was wise to leave Azdaja alive to lure further prey into the void. Varshahn demands to know where his sister is and Barbariccia states that she will tell him if they can defeat her in her domain. She then departs and Varshahn offers all the draconic aether he can spare to Zero if she’ll help defeat Barbariccia and she agrees.
The group flies off to the nearby rival domain with Zero sealing the various voidsent attacking in crystal while Y’shtola, Varshahn and Estinien keep their enemies at bay so the Warrior of Light can descend and fight the Archfiend. Zero warns to not give up the advantage just to hear the fiend talk, and that it’s a safer bet to seal them in crystal and read their memories. However, after defeating Barbariccia and sealing her away, the Echo doesn’t activate. Worse yet, Zero passes out from Aether depletion forcing the group to make the decision to bring her back to the Source to recover.
Back on the Source, Zero is given a bed to rest in at the Megadhuta in Radz-at-Han. Y’shtola explains that simply by breathing here, Zero will absorb more than enough Aether to recover, still they should fetch her something to eat. When Zero awakens, they demonstrate that while the Aether can simply be absorbed, there are benefits to eating the food such as the pleasure of tasting it. Zero says she has no frame of reference for it being good, since the only way to taste anything in the Thirteenth was to devour another but that would mean merging her being with another and she refused to sacrifice her individuality like that. With some of her strength regained, Varshahn decides to invite her and the Warrior of Light to tour the city and they come across some children playing who share their idea of what a ‘friend’ is with Zero, which causes the voidsent woman to realize that her forced bond with Zenos had given her a rather skewed view of how the world works.
Back at the Megadhuta, Zero shares more of the tale of the Contramemoria. That the Ascians came to their world and taught people to summon forth the Thirteenth’s equivalent of Primals: Eidolons. In turn, heroes with the power of Memoria began to appear to seal away the Eidolons. But the power soon began to corrupt those same heroes who would use the Memoria to turn people into voidsent monsters and build vast armies to go to war with each other. Some resisted, like Zero and her mother, but it couldn’t stop the doom to come. Soon the Flood of Darkness descended upon the Star and consumed everything. Zero was only spared by falling out into the Interdimensional Rift while the world was destroyed. Y’shtola shares that much like the First, the Thirteenth might be saved since it never rejoined the Source, but Zero doesn’t care about anything but the cause they’ve paid her for – saving Azdaja.
Meanwhile, on the Thirteenth, Golbez confers with his remaining Archfiends. The Archfiend of Fire suggests a plot to work with his watery counterpart that even in failure should still pave the way for Golbez’s crusade. The dark knight gives them permission to carry out their plans. With the two of them off, Golbez thinks back on how he had struck down the Watcher on the Moon of his world to free the blessed damned from their prison of passivity, and how far he’s moved on from that point. He notes that even should all of his generals fail, he will not be stopped. The gate is now open, and he will fulfill his ambitions.
Gods Revel, Lands Tremble (6.3)
In her time since coming to the Source, Zero has spent her days watching the people of this world. How they seem carefree compared to the brutal world of bargaining and hunting she comes from. She joins the Warrior of Light and shares how she expected everyone here to be like Zenos and that she is quite pleased that’s not the case. The two rejoin the rest of the group at the Megadhuta to prepare for another venture into the Thirteenth when Vrtra suddenly lets out a calling roar from the heights of Radz-at-Han. Varshahn explains that he sensed Azdaja’s essences for a brief moment to the distant north, and the group sets off for Garlemald to chase the lead.
The Warrior of Light and their compatriots meet up with Alphinaud and Alisaie where they learn that Garlemald is still struggling to rebuild a formal leadership while Jullus leads the restoration teams and the Ilsabard Contingent provides supplies to keep them all afloat. However, they note an increase in voidsent attacks coming from a mountain to the east where there once was an isolated village that practiced the art of reaping in secret. The only way up is a magitech snowcraft and all of the one’s they have access to are broken down. The Warrior of Light, Alisaie and Zero head off to find a mechanic at Tapper’s Den and on the way Zero inquires as to why Alisaie is helping the Garleans without payment. Alisaie laughs and says that she wants to, and her payment is the rewarding feeling in her heart for doing it.
With an engineer recruited, Y’shtola, Estinien and Varshahn help keep the voidsent at bay while assisting with repairs. The Warrior of Light joins Alisaie to help keep the voidsent away from the populated areas while chatting about Alisaie’s hopes that Garlemald will become self-sustaining again. Zero aids Alphinaud in handing out food rations to the Garleans, a practice that Zero finds strangely familiar for some reason. The two are joined by Jullus who offers Zero one of the spicy dumplings from the Azim Steppe and they chat a bit about Zero’s different takes on the concept of ‘Friends’ that she’s encountered. The chat is interrupted when word comes down that a sudden surge of voidsent has emerged from the mountain. Zero states that she has no obligation to get involved – especially since death for her is permanent in this world, but when Jullus states he has to do something, Zero conflictingly insists that she goes instead as Jullus stands no chance against voidsent.
Zero rushes out into the snowy hills to face off with a legion of voidsent, who ultimately beat her and leave her passed out in the snow where she recalls a memory of being defeated by a trio of evil Memoriates who she tried to stop from besieging a town. The three fallen heroes left Zero within an inch of her life and cursed that she didn’t have anyone to help her. Just then, Zero is snapped from her stupor and back to the present by the arrival of the Twins and the Warrior of Light who aids her in defeating the voidsent. Back at the Tertium camp, Zero receives a warm welcome and a hearty thanks from Jullus before she passes out from using up her Aether while Alisaie teases that the Warrior of Light is a bad influence on Zero.
With the snow vehicle repaired and Zero rested and ready to help for no payment, the party fights their way to find the Archfiend of Water: Cagnazzo. Cagnazzo reveals that he lured them there using the Eye of Azdaja but states that only Golbez himself knows where the dragon is actually behind held. The group defeats the Archfiend who dies happily knowing that his Aether will now return to the lifestream instead of reforming. With the voidgate hidden in the mountain destroyed, the group gathers supplies from the hidden village and heads back down the mountain. They say their farewell to the Twins who remind Zero to look after the group because they’re all comrades now.
With the matter in the north now settled, the Warrior of Light, Zero, Varshahn, Y’shtola and Estinien all return to Radz-at-Han to continue their expedition to the Thirteenth, only to witness an enormous explosion off the coast. Estinien and Y’shtola head to the explosion to investigate, while Varshahn sees to his people and the Warrior of Light & Zero look into the matter of a monster that flew northward from the explosion. Y’shtola responds quickly via linkpearl that the entire vault along with the voidgate have been destroyed, and that this was likely what Cagnazzo was providing a distraction for. The Warrior of Light is quickly able to find the creature responsible: Rubicante, the Archfiend of Fire, who is admiring the rich colors and scenery of the Source. The Archfiend remarks that he believes that Golbez’s ultimate goal is a noble one, but so is the desire to save Azdaja. Rubicante suggests that he and the Warrior of Light battle to see whose cause is truly more just and invites them to the summit of Mount Ordeals to face each other.
After defeating Rubicante at the peak of Mount Ordeals, Rubicante reveals Golbez’s plans to Zero and the Warrior of Light. They wish to conquer the Source and claim it for the Thirteenth so that they can at long last rejoin the proper cycle of life and death. Zero however insists that she has learned on the Source that not everything has to be a trade, and that it is wrong to damn one world to save another. Rubicante relents that Zero may be right, and they may be monsters already in that sense, but even a monster still has his honor, so as a reward for proving their cause is nobler in their contest of strength Rubicante uses his last breath to reveal that Golbez and Azdaja are hidden on the Moon of the Thirteenth but warns that Golbez has other desires beyond their righteous crusade.
With Golbez’s plot to destroy the wall that separates the Thirteenth from the Source revealed, Y’shtola commits to finding a way back to the Thirteenth. Zero is also committed to the cause, eager to explore this burning desire in her chest that spurred her to speak out so righteously at Rubicante and to face death so willingly back in Garlemald. While on the Moon of the Thirteenth, Golbez states that he must carry on without his Archfiends and reveals his dark throne resides in the depths of the Void’s equivalent of Zodiark’s prison.
The Dark Throne (6.4)
Y’shtola and Urianger return to Radz-at-Han with new plan to reach the Thirteenth: to open a void gate big enough for Vrtra to join in his great wyrm form on the Moon of the Source utilizing the Tower of Babil to transmit Aether. To do this, they’ll need to get approval from the Ilsabard Contingent that currently holds the Tower of Babil as well as gather Aether from the Isle of Haam that was originally slated to be the Ragnarok’s fuel source before Hydaelyn offered up the Mother Crystal.
To gain access to the Isle of Haam, the group will need to gain the approval of the Forum, but since the Scions are disbanded they’ll need another organization to approach them for approval: the Students of Baldesion. Krile is happy to do it as she just has finished a bit of gossip with Erenville before the gleaner departs for what he describes as a homecoming, while the rest of the group heads down into Labyrinthos to meet with the researchers who created the Aether containment vessels originally designed for the Ragnarok project.
With permission from the forum and a means to transport the Aether secured, the group is ready to head to the Aetherfont on the Isle of Haam. They are joined by Thancred who converses with Zero about her struggle understanding her desire to help people without payment. Thancred explains that his desire to help comes from his belief and trust in his friends. Zero states that trust is a foreign concept in the Void that was lost well before the Flood of Darkness, but Thancred assures her that if she sticks with the Warrior of Light she’ll learn about trust just fine. Before everyone departs with the gathered Aether, Thancred takes Urianger aside to discuss an invitation they both received from a client looking for archons that piqued their interest.
Unfortunately, the matter of using the Tower of Babil is more complicated than first thought. The Garleans are not happy with the idea of the tower being reactivated. Either out of a fear of magic or a patriotic demand to keep foreigners out of what was the royal palace. The Warrior of Light and Zero join Varshahn in discussing the matter with the fledgling Garlean leadership and learn that there’s a growing mistrust and resentment toward the Ilsabard Contingent. Zero points out that this is likely due to the arrangement being born from non-equitable terms: the Garleans are dependent on the Contingent, but the Contingent has no need of the Garleans, so the Garleans feel like the Contingent must have ulterior motives. This revelation gives Varshahn an idea: He will reestablish the former trade connections between Garlemald and Radz-at-Han. Thavnair can provide supplies in exchange for magitechnology and access to the Tower of Babil. The traded magitechnology means Thavnair will need a reliable supply of ceruleum from Garlemald, thus foreign coin will continue to circulate between the two nations and help Garlemald stand on their own two feet as well as aid Thavnair with its damaged trade after the Final Days.
They present the proposal to two lords in charge of the interim government and while one sees the merit in the trade agreement, the other lord feels that being willing to trade Garlean national secrets like their magitechnology is downright traitorous and storms off. Jullus chases after the lord along with the Warrior of Light and Zero and manages to save him from a rampaging machina roaming the ruins of the city. Jullus takes the moment to explain to the stubborn lord that there’s no going backwards for Garlemald. The nation must move forward. That means traditions might change, politics will change, but at the heart of it will always be the Garlean people, and so long as a nation has its people – that nation will live on. Jullus’ wise words cause the lord to reconsider their position and they return to the negotiating table. Zero asks Jullus how he managed to convince the politician to return. Jullus explains that it’s easier to trust someone once that person has put their trust in you. Zero thinks on that and says that in the Thirteenth, the concept of trusting someone died in the wake of the Contramemoria. By the time of the war, people were valued for their strength alone and their dealings centered around that. No one helped out of kindness or trust, save for a pair that she once came across – a knight and a sorcerer – that were aiding a village without cause. The pair even asked Zero to join them, but she refused thinking they had some kind of hidden motive in the offer. Zero realizes now that those two must have had a bond of trust and she regrets not joining them. Jullus assures Zero that as long as she’s alive, she has the chance to change things for the better. Zero, feeling that same passion burning in her chest again, thanks Jullus and shakes his hand – a symbol of trust as Jullus puts it.
With the trade agreement made and access to the Tower of Babil secured, the Warrior of Light and their allies meet with Y’shtola on the moon for their next move. Y’shtola explains the plan is to use the brands around Zodiark’s prison to create a seal to stop the voidsent from entering the Source from the Thirteenth, with the Lopporit’s combat robots patrolling the area to eliminate any smaller voidsent that might sneak past. With everything set, Y’shtola leads the operation and orders Alisaie and Alphinaud back in Garlemald to activate the Tower. As the Aether pools inside the empty prison, Y’shtola and Urianger work their incantations to open a massive voidgate. Vrtra arrives by flying from Etheirys to the Moon as a great dragon and lets the others ride him into the voidgate.
On the other side of the Rift, the group emerges on the crimson tinted moon of the Void. The landscape is absent of voidsent, sound or anything at all save for the massive chasm that serves as a reflection of the cradle of darkness that once held the dark god in the Source. Vrtra senses his sister in the depths of the pit and they all dive down to find Golbez’s dark throne and Azdaja imprisoned within a cage forged of Golbez’s very will. Upon returning Azdaja’s eye to her, she awakens and shares that defeating Golbez will release her, but warns that the prison is also the only thing preventing the dragon from being corrupted into a voidsent. They ask where Golbez is and Azdaja states that he spends much of his time in the depths of the chasm, but when he rises up he always visits the same spot on the surface and she shares the location.
The Warrior of Light investigates the spot and finds a small cairn with a memoria crystal within it. The power of the Echo shows the Warrior of Light a vision from the crystal of an armored knight fighting corrupted memoriates alongside a sorcerer named Durante. The two encounter a young woman at the edge of the liberated village and invite her to join them on their quest to end the war but she rebuffs them. When the Warrior of Light shares this with their friends, Zero realizes that this crystal must be the memoria of the knight she had mentioned encountering before. However, this revelation is interrupted by the arrival of Golbez who summons a swath of voidsent to engage the group.
As the party battles the voidsent, Golbez thanks them for delivering his golden opportunity and instilling the longing desire to return back home – to the Source – in Azdaja. He removes the cage from around Vrtra’s sister and forces her to succumb to the corruption of the Void and turn into the powerful voidsent known as the Shadow Dragon. The Warrior of Light rushes to confront Golbez and the Shadow Dragon, to which Golbez happily summons forth an artificially constructed arena from the stone of the moon and his dark sorcery.
After the intense battle, Golbez reveals that the confrontation and the summoned voidsent were all a distraction to keep the heroes away from the chasm as the shattered remnants of the Thirteenth’s sundered piece of Zodiark have now congealed into a god-like voidsent. Golbez feeds the defeated Shadow Dragon to the newly born void god and allows it to absorb not only the dragon’s aether but her emotions and desire to return to the Source. With his masterstroke now complete, Golbez names the void god after an ancient hero – Zeromus – to signify its forthcoming destiny to bring salvation to the Thirteenth.
Zero attempts to seal Zeromus in a memoria but fails to even scratch the unfathomably powerful creature’s shadowy shell. However, upon being repelled, she does drop the memoria crystal found in the cairn earlier into Zeromus’ dark swirling and down into the chasm. Realizing that they need a new plan to counter this godlike threat, the group retreats to the Source on Vrtra’s back. There Zero attempts to console Vrtra by reminding him that when they defeat Zeromus in the Void, the aether will dissipate and they’ll have the opportunity to extract Azdaja and free her. However, to do that they’ll need to find a way to pierce through Zeromus’ powerful darkness, to which Y’shtola suggests they might want to borrow some resplendent light from the First. The mage departs swiftly to the libraries of Sharlayan to investigate a way to bring light to the Void.
Growing Light (6.5)
After some time working on a solution, Y’shtola returns to Radz-at-Han with an update. Zeromus is going stronger, and is not waiting to reach full strength to begin trying to tear through their voidgate. Urianger and the Loporrits are struggling to maintain the brands to keep the gate sealed. Luckily, Y’shtola has some good news as well. She discovered an ancient design for Aether transmitter created by the Allagan archmagus Noah, and commissioned Cid and the Garlond Ironworks to make a crate of them. She wants to use them to transfer Light Aether from the crystallized Flood of Light in Nabaath Areng and channel it to the Crystal Tower. There they can transfer the Aether directly through the Rift to the Thirteenth and use a set of transmitters there to pierce through Zeromus’ darkness like a lance of light.
The Warrior of Light takes the aetheric transmitters but Zero stops them and asks to come along to the First. She explains that voidsent summoning is not unlike the methodology used with the spirit vessels, so she should be able to travel with the Warrior just like the Scions had. The Warrior of Light agrees and Zero excuses herself to begin the transfer. With the spirit vessel in hand, the Warrior of Light heads to the First and finds Beq Lugg to get Zero reconstituted. While waiting for Zero, the Warrior steps out to find Ryne who has been studying botany to find plantlife that can grow in the newly brought back parts of the Empty.
Zero arrives and joins the Warrior and Ryne for a tour of the Crystarium, ending at the Crystal Tower where they are met by Lyna who has heard of the Warrior of Light’s mission and expresses the concern that channeling Light across the lands of Norvrandt into the Tower may create fear, confusion or panic – much like the dilemma in Garlemald. Understanding the matter, the Warrior of Light and Zero travel to the various groups in the First and explain their proposition and reassure them of their intent before heading to Ahn Araeng to set up the transmitters.
As the transmitters begin to channel the light aether across the lands of Norvrandt to the Crystal Tower, Zero ponders on the power of light and if it is too much for a creature of darkness like herself to handle or even wield. The memoriate resolves that she will not submit to darkness or light and begins to absorb the pure light from the crystallized flood into her own body but it causes her to collapse to the ground knocked cold. Ryne rushes over to revive the visitor from the Void and asks her what she could possibly have been thinking. Zero shares that she felt that now that so many people believe in her that she might not have to be bound to darkness for all eternity and wanted to bring hope to her world by showing that one can become balanced between the light and dark after succumbing. Ryne wants to help Zero make that dream a reality and helps the Reaper balance the Light as she tries to channel it again, and this time successfully absorbs the light aether and in doing so becomes determined to save the Thirteenth.
With the first half of the plan complete, the Warrior of Light returns to the Source with Zero and heads back to the voidgate on the Moon. They travel back to the Thirteenth and set up the final transmitters to cut through Zeromus’ dark shroud that covers the crater. Before descending, Zero admires the light shining once again in her world and resolves to save her reflection without dooming another world. The group heads into the Lunar Subterrane where they battle through swarms of voidsent that have flocked to Zeromus until they stumble upon the memoria crystal that Zero had previously dropped. The crystal draws the group into a memory of Golbez and Durante fighting to liberate the city of Baron which culminates in Golbez being inadvertently struck by an evil Memoriate’s spell and transforming the knight into a voidsent. Durante defeats the monstrous Golbez but can’t bring himself to kill his friend, ally, and mentor – the man he believed would save the world. Durante instead seals Golbez in a memoria crystal, and then takes up Golbez’s armor and name, resolving to complete the quest to save the world and to ensure the world knows that it was Golbez that did it.
Freed from the memory, the party finds themselves face to face with the real contemporary Golbez – which is to say the man lost to history named Durante. Zero confronts him that they don’t have to condemn the Source to save the Thirteenth, but Golbez rebukes her explaining that none of them have a fraction of Zeromus’ power, and that power is what is needed to make such a sweeping change in the world. Golbez explains that after taking up his former mentor’s mantle, he tried to follow his example and help where he could, trying to make small changes but an Ascian took advantage of his impatience and convinced him to travel to the Moon and strike down the Watcher who had created the first memoriates. This triggered the Flood of Darkness, and since there was no calamity on the Source to absorb the aether – the Thirteenth was lost. Since then, Golbez learned not to trust anyone else and set off on his crusade to tear down the wall between worlds and save the Void and fulfill the legend of Golbez.
The Warrior of Light and their allies refuse to let the dark knight have his way. Golbez summons shades of his four Archfiends to battle them, but the group secures enough of an opening that the Warrior of Light can dive deeper down into the Moon to where Zeromus awaits. Golbez notes that it doesn’t matter – nothing can defeat Zeromus but the Warrior’s friends, new and old, all commit to their belief that if anyone can fell a void god – it’s their champion and friend.
In the shadowy crucible below, the Warrior of Light faces off with the true form of Zeromus in a battle that threatens to shatter the walls of reality itself but the Warrior prevails and destroys the insatiable hunger only for it to reform instantly. One by one, the Warrior of Light’s allies join them and help beat back Zeromus until Golbez himself leaps down to defend the group with a powerful magical shield before warning that the only way to stop Zeromus permanently is to seal it within a memoria. The Warrior receives an echo vision of what happened above with Zero offering Golbez some of the light she absorbed on the First as a sign of trust, which caused Golbez to remember meeting Zero before the Flood of Darkness. Zero compels Golbez to live up to his namesake and believe that the world can be saved before offering her hand to shake, and Y’shtola stating that she wants to share the knowledge of what they learned in saving the First to help the quest.
Back in the present, the group battles to destroy Zeromus but Zero is struck by an attack that threatens to cast her into the Rift before her newfound connection with her friends pulling her back. Strengthened by her friends’ trust and belief in her, she awakens to the light she absorbed and casts off the shadow of the Reaper to embrace the shining armor of her paladin past. Combining her light and Golbez’s shadow sorcery, they shatter Zeromus’ corporeal form and allows Vrtra to call out for Azdaja and free her aether from the whole before Zero seals it in crystal. Varshahn uses the eye within his vessel form to combine with his sister’s aether to resurrect Azdaja’s physical form. Golbez confides in Zero that after witnessing this trial, he truly believes her that the Thirteenth can be saved, but fears that he has no place in it after playing the villain for so long. Zero assures him that he has earned his chance at redemption and welcomes him to join her to seek out others who will share their dream and work to save the Void.
Back on the surface of the Moon, Zero says her goodbyes to the Warrior of Light and her new friends. She knows she can’t thank everyone who helped her, but she wants Ryne to have the memoria containing Zeromus’ aether in hopes that it helps the Oracle of Light’s mission in the Empty. In exchange, the Warrior of Light leaves the memoria of the archfiends with Zero to help inspire Golbez. Before departing, Y’shtola summons a nixie and gives it her warding scale to stay with Zero as another companion – should they ever need to find Zero or Golbez in the future.
In the Source, the Loporrits celebrate the victory and wonder if their upcoming environmental research project might help the Thirteenth as well. In Garlemald, the Warrior of Light passes on Zero’s thank to Jullus. Jullus in turn lets the Twins know that with Garlemald on the road to standing on its own again, the two of them have earned a vacation – he recommends someplace warmer. The group escorts Alisaie and Alphinaud home to Sharlayan where Y’shtola meets with the Forum to discuss a report on her breakthroughs in cross-rift travel. The Warrior of Light then heads back to the First to present the memoria from Zero to Ryne and Beq Lugg asks to borrow G’raha’s spirit vessel to use the Crystal Tower’s systems to investigate transferring Light to the Void and Darkness from the Void back to the First. Before departing, Gaia pops in to tease the Warrior of Light that she should have been invited since darkness is her forte. Finally, the Warrior of Light joins in the celebration back at Radz-at-Han where Estinien, Y’shtola and the Warrior look back at how much closer the reflections have become after this adventure while a pair of joyous great wyrms share a happy roar across the city.
Meanwhile in Sharlayan, Krile finds a long neglected letter that was hidden under a mountain of old paperwork that contains a strange earring and a petition to Galuf – Krile’s grandfather – to investigate the mythical golden city in Tural. Over at the Sharlayan docks, Erenville returns from his trip home with a compatriot seeking a champion.
The Coming Dawn (6.55)
A short while after their adventure to the Void, the Warrior of Light is called back to the Baldesion Annex in Sharlayan. There they meet Krile, now wearing the earring she found, and G’raha who reached out on behalf of Erenville who has just returned from the New World: Tural. The gleaner has returned with a guest – Wuk Lamat, one of the claimants to the throne of the capital of Tuliyollal. Wuk Lamat wants to invite the Warrior of Light to come and help her compete in her people’s Rite of Succession that will determine who will become the next ruler. She even teases that the Rite will involve a great adventure that’s rumored to involve the fabled city of gold and the legendary beast Valigarmanda. However, she wants to learn more about her potential champion first and suggests a hunt to get to know each other.
Erenville suggests that if they want to hunt, the Guildship has recently put up a bounty for unruly monsters on the Isle of Haam that need to be culled, which instantly piques Wuk Lamat’s curiosity to what such monsters would taste like. Erenville sighs exasperatedly and leads them to the docks. Arriving on the isle, Wuk Lamat is surprised at the diversity and wonders of Sharlayan that she heard about from one of her brothers, Koana, who came to the city to learn at the Studium. They travel through the island until they find their target: a giant colibri that can mimic speech. They defeat the huge bird but G’raha notices that Wuk Lamat is shaking from the ordeal and attempts to reassure her. Wuk Lamat feigns confidence but is quickly shaken once more when the bird rises back up and almost eats her until Krile arrives and finishes the beast with the power of pictomancy. The lalafell reveals that she’s been studying the magical art of Archon Relm since she felt left behind during the adventures down the Atiascope or to Ultima Thule, and is hoping to join Wuk Lamat for the competition as well.
Krile also shares that she wants to go to Tural because she found an old letter and shares the document with Wuk Lamat. Wuk Lamat looks it over and states that while the signature of her father, the Dawnservant, is genuine, the letter itself couldn’t have come from Tural. She explains that they don’t speak or write Eorzean like the letter, but another language called Turali. The letter also was closed with a wax seal which isn’t something they use in Tural. The mystery spurs Krile to want to come along even more.
Back in Sharlayan, they cook up the colibri using ultra-spicy seasonings from Radz-at-Han that Zero made popular during her stay. Over dinner, Wuk Lamat shares a bit about what’s happening in Tuliyollal. That one of her brothers who is also competing wants to use the weakened Garlemald as an excuse to lead their people to war and conquest, and she wants to stop him at any cost. G’raha asks if it’s wrong that she’s inviting foreigners to meddle in her nation’s affairs, but Wuk Lamat explains it’s the opposite. Since Tural is made of a myriad of cultures, their leader should be versed in working with people from all walks of life.
The next day, Alisaie and Alphinaud overhear G’raha and the Warrior of Light discussing the journey and instantly want to get involved and rush off to prepare. G’raha then shares his worries that there’s more going on then they’re being told about this whole affair while Thancred listens on from the shadows. With a whole party now involved, the Warrior of Light heads back to the Annex to accept Wuk Lamat’s invitation, G’raha agrees to look after the Students of Baldesion so Krile can join the group, and Wuk Lamat insists on dragging a reluctant Erenville along since it was the gleaner’s childhood dream of seeing the city of gold.
Coincidentally in Limsa Lominsa, Estinien is trying to determine where he should travel next. He mutters to himself that he’s already been to the north and to the east, so he chooses to buy a fare on a ship heading west – toward the New World.
Elsewhere in Sharlayan, Thancred meets up with Urianger and amusingly notes that it looks like the rest of their friends are also headed to Tural, albeit to aid a different candidate for the throne. Urianger asks if Thancred is having any hesitation possibly working against their comrades, but the gunbreaker laughs and says that the possibilities instead excite him. With that, the pair head off to Tural to work with one of Wuk Lamat’s rivals.
That night, the Warrior of Light stands alone on the docks of Sharlayan and looks out at the horizon while remembering the words of Emet-Selch asking if the heir of Azem has ever seen the secrets that lie beneath the waves of the Bounty, or been to the treasure islands beyond the Blindfrost of North Othard, or visited the Golden City of the New World. With an exciting new adventure ahead, the Warrior of Light grins and welcomes the new dawn.
“See this tale to a triumphant conclusion, and with elation in your hearts, bid the final curtain fall. Only then may it rise again and a new tale begin – with new parts for all to play.”
– Emet-Selch
Enjoying Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker? Perhaps you would like to learn more about the series up to this point and catch all the little (and sometimes not so little) references to the series’ larger history? Endwalker draws a lot of inspiration from Final Fantasy IV for instance! You might want to check out my Final Fantasy Retrospective series where I am replaying the entire franchise from the start live on Twitch with both archived VODs and edited videos on Youtube.
Vrykerion 