_____ _ __ _ _ _ _ |_ _|_ _| |___ ___ ___ / _| | |_| |_ ___ /_\ | |__ _ _ ______ | |/ _` | / -_|_-< / _ \ _| | _| ' \/ -_) / _ \| '_ \ || (_-<_-< |_|\__,_|_\___/__/ \___/_| \__|_||_\___| /_/ \_\_.__/\_, /__/__/ |__/ ================= | Synopsis Script | | Ver. 1.3 | ============================================================================ | Transcribed/Written: Kalorii | | First Version: November 28, 2006 | | Last Updated: December 5, 2006 | ============================================================================ | VERSION HISTORY | | | | Ver. 1.3 - 05/12/06 | | - Minor spelling mistake corrections | | | | Ver. 1.2 - 01/12/06 | | - Added Neoseeker to the list of sites that can use this guide | | | | Ver. 1.1 - 29/11/06 | | - Minor spelling mistake corrections | | | | Ver. 1.0 - 28/11/06 | | - Initial release | ============================================================================ | !!WARNING!! | | THIS SCRIPT CONTAINS SPOILERS! I am not responsible if you read this | | before you've completed the game! | ============================================================================ | !!DISCLAIMERS - PLEASE READ!! | | Tales of the Abyss and its characters (C) Namco Bandai | | Guide (C) Kalorii | | | | Sites that can use this guide: | | - GameFAQs & affiliates (http://www.gamefaqs.com/) | | - Neoseeker (http://www.neoseeker.com/) | | | | Quotes can be used freely without credit given. However, you may NOT post | | this FAQ in its entirety on other sites. Please contact me beforehand if | | you wish to post it on your own website. | | | | If you see this guide on another website that is not in the list or you | | have any comments, kudos, questions, complaints or corrections please feel | | free to contact me at: | | kalorii@gmail.com | ============================================================================ =================== | TABLE OF CONTENTS | ============================================================ | To search through the document, use the key provided in [] | ============================================================ 01) Introduction......................................[INTRO] 02) Synopsis..........................................[SY000] - It Started with a Song........................[SY001] - Nighttime in the Valley.......................[SY002] - The Malkuth Empire............................[SY003] - The Grocers' Hamlet, Engeve...................[SY004] - Sacred Cheagles...............................[SY005] - The Talking Cheagle...........................[SY006] - The Tartarus..................................[SY007] - The Meaning of War............................[SY008] - Resolution....................................[SY009] - The Citadel, St. Binah........................[SY010] - Ion's Situation...............................[SY011] - The Fubras River..............................[SY012] - The Border Fortress, Kaitzur..................[SY013] - Disaster at the Port..........................[SY014] - Searching for Memories........................[SY015] - A Trip by Ship................................[SY016] - The Power of Hyperresonance...................[SY017] - The Center of Trade, Chesedonia...............[SY018] - The Dark Wings................................[SY019] - Analyzing the Fon Disc........................[SY020] - The Capital of Light, Baticul.................[SY021] - The Dark Wings Again..........................[SY022] - The Goodwill Ambassador.......................[SY023] - Encounter in the Rain.........................[SY024] - A Calling Voice...............................[SY025] - The Curse Slot................................[SY026] - Distant Feelings..............................[SY027] - The Horrible State of the Mines...............[SY028] - Becoming a Hero...............................[SY029] - The Qliphoth..................................[SY030] - Replica.......................................[SY031] - The Eyes in the Mirror........................[SY032] - Fomicry.......................................[SY033] - Dirtied Hands.................................[SY034] - The Watchers' Home, Yulia City................[SY035] - The New Journey's Flavor......................[SY036] - Daath, Headquarters of the Order of Lorelei...[SY037] - Worrying About the War........................[SY038] - Rescue........................................[SY039] - The Silver World, Keterburg...................[SY040] - The Silver World, Keterburg...................[SY041] - The Incident in the Forest....................[SY042] - The Floating Capital, Grand Chokmah...........[SY043] - Collapsing Citadel............................[SY044] - The City of Craftsmen, Sheridan...............[SY045] - The Rescue and the Hover Drive................[SY046] - The Rescue and the Hover Drive................[SY047] - The Albiore and the Sinking Town..............[SY048] - The Passage Ring..............................[SY049] - The Binah War.................................[SY050] - Civilians in Wartime..........................[SY051] - The Cease-Fire................................[SY052] - A Fake Princess?..............................[SY053] - The Fate of the Villagers.....................[SY054] - A Prelude to Collapse.........................[SY055] - Diverging from the Score......................[SY056] - The Closed Score..............................[SY057] - The Baticul Incident..........................[SY058] - Through the Marsh.............................[SY059] - The City of Fon Machines, Belkend.............[SY060] - An Unexpected Meeting.........................[SY061] - The Forbidden Text's Secrets..................[SY062] - After Him!....................................[SY063] - Rejoining Ion.................................[SY064] - Painful Memories..............................[SY065] - Preparing to Lower the Land...................[SY066] - The Place Where It All Started................[SY067] - Unifying the World............................[SY068] - Father and Daughter...........................[SY069] - Retrieving the Flightstone....................[SY070] - Treaty Preparations...........................[SY071] - The Peace Treaty..............................[SY072] - Stopping the Core's Vibration.................[SY073] - The Effects of Lowering the Land..............[SY074] - Forgiveness and Uncertainty...................[SY075] - The Grand Maestro and the Volcano.............[SY076] - Distant Siblings..............................[SY077] - Showdown with the God-Generals................[SY078] - The Decisive Battle...........................[SY079] - The Score, Master, and Me.....................[SY080] - An Uncomfortable Home.........................[SY081] - Friendly Words................................[SY082] - Everyone's Feelings...........................[SY083] - The Plot Revived..............................[SY084] - People and the Score..........................[SY085] - The Approaching Evil..........................[SY086] - The Fon Master Offers Hope....................[SY087] - Ion's Legacy..................................[SY088] - The Weight of Hyperresonance and Life.........[SY089] - A Discovery on the Mountain...................[SY090] - The Grand Maestro's Fate......................[SY091] - The Princess' Birth...........................[SY092] - Clinging to the Score.........................[SY093] - The Forgotten Island..........................[SY094] - The New Order of Lorelei......................[SY095] - As a Fon Master Guardian......................[SY096] - Truth and One's Place in the World............[SY097] - Where the Original Belongs....................[SY098] - Tower to Heaven...............................[SY099] - A Reason for Being Born.......................[SY100] - Those Who Were Driven Away....................[SY101] - Eyes on Me....................................[SY102] - Words Between Father and Daughter.............[SY103] - The Chosen Future.............................[SY104] - One Who Would Seize Glory.....................[SY105] - Casualties of the Score.......................[SY106] - Footsteps to the Finale.......................[SY107] - The Night Before..............................[SY108] - The Glorious Land.............................[SY109] - The Strength of Feelings......................[SY110] - Only Room for One.............................[SY111] - The Grand Fonic Hymn..........................[SY112] - A Raised Cross................................[SY113] - The Promised Time.............................[SY114] ______________________________________________________________________________ ============== ========= | Introduction | | [INTRO] | ============================================================================ | The synopsis inside of Tales of the Abyss is unlike any other I've seen in | | an RPG before. Instead of just a general synopsis of what you've done, it | | is shown through Luke's eyes. It was executed well as you get to see him | | turn from a selfish, sheltered brat to a decent human being, even if he is | | emo incarnate near the end. >.> The synopsis is also very informative, | | giving information on the terms used in the game as they're explained to | | Luke. | ============================================================================ ========== ========= | Synopsis | | [SY000] | ============================================================================ | The core of the guide is this. There are a few entries that change/ | | appear depending on what you do during the course of the game. I have put | | the circumstances under the title of the entry where that happens. | ============================================================================ ======================== ========= | It Started with a Song | | [SY001] | ============================================================================ Remday, Rem-Decan 23, ND2018 Looks like it's going to be another boring day. Not one thing has gone right over the seven years since my kidnapping, I lose my memory... They keep me confined here... I keep getting headaches and hearing things all the time... But today, Master Van came to the mansion, so maybe it won't be so boring after all. Time to head over to the drawing room to see him! I heard some really depressing news in the drawing room... Master Van won't be able to come and train me for a while. Apparently this "Fon Master Ion" or somebody from the Order of Lorelei disappeared, so he has to go help in the search. This really makes me mad! Since he has to go away, he said he'd give me some training today in the courtyard. But just as I was practicing with Master Van, I heard a strange song (a "fonic hymn," he called it... What's that?). It made me sleepy, and then this weird girl came in and attacked Van. I tried to stop her, but all of a sudden some incredible power appeared between us, and we were thrown into a valley neither of us were familiar with. ========================= ========= | Nighttime in the Valley | | [SY002] | ============================================================================ The girl's name is Tear. She keeps talking about this "Seventh Fonon" and other stuff I don't understand. She's got a pretty face, but a wretched personality. She said she'd take me back to the mansion, so we headed out of the valley. There was a coach driver at the valley's entrance. He said he was going to the capital, so we paid the fair with Tear's pendant and got on. Whew... Finally I can relax. I woke up in the coach to a huge noise outside. Apparently it was a Malkuth Land Dreadnaught chasing after some thieves called the Dark Wings. ==================== ========= | The Malkuth Empire | | [SY003] | ============================================================================ That's when we realized we weren't in the kingdom of Kimlasca, but rather the Malkuth Empire--our enemy--instead. And the "capital" the coach was heading for was Malkuth's capital Grand Chokmah, not Kimlasca's Baticul. But now it's too late to turn around, because the Dark Wings blew up the bridge back to Baticul when they fled. We ended up heading for the nearby village of Engeve instead. ============================= ========= | The Grocers' Hamlet, Engeve | | [SY004] | ============================================================================ We finally reached Engeve, the grocer's hamlet--part of the Malkuth Empire. What a dirty, boring place. But it looks like they don't call it the grocer's hamlet for nothing. I saw a really good-looking apple while I was walking, so I picked it up and took a bite, but all of a sudden this guy started yelling at me to pay him. We've had merchants at the mansion before, and I never had to pay anything, so I didn't know what the heck was going on. I gave him some money anyway, to shut him up. I guess you always have to do this when you buy something... What a pain. Afterwards, we headed to the inn, where people were talking about food getting stolen. All of a sudden they started accusing me and took me to see Rose, the village leader. There was this four-eyed guy named Jade from the Malkuth army at Rose's place, and he saw right away that I wasn't the food thief. Then Fon Master Ion from the Order of Lorelei came in and said that some monsters called cheagles were responsible, so they finally let me go. I'm still pretty mad, though. I thought Ion was missing--what's he doing here? I wanted to ask him about a lot of stuff, but we decided to stay at the inn for the night. We met this kid at the inn who said she was looking for Ion. Tear said the girl's a Fon Master Guardian. A kid protecting a kid, huh? Anyway, I'm really tired. Time to get some sleep. Tear said we'd head for the border tomorrow, but all that business about being called a thief really made me mad, so I decided to go to the Cheagle Woods to set things straight once and for all. What do I care if Tear objects? Tomorrow I'll go to the cheagles' nest in the northern forest and tear them apart! ================= ========= | Sacred Cheagles | | [SY005] | ============================================================================ That Ion showed up again, this time collapsed in the Cheagle Woods. Apparently the stuff about the cheagles bothered him too, so he came to check it out. I found out that Tear's one of the Oracle Knights, too--and that she's Master Van's sister. Why the heck would anyone try to kill their own brother? Just when I was going to ask tear about that, a cheagle appeared, so we went after it. I can worry about Tear later... Right now, we have to do something about those cheagles. The cheagle got away, but Ion said their nest is deeper inside the forest. Ion looked like he'd just get in trouble again if we left him alone, so we ended up bringing him with us. Tear argued a lot, but then again, that's all she ever does. We found some Engeve apples lying around in front of the cheagles' nest. So all those stupid things were responsible after all! I'll go in and squish every last one of them! ===================== ========= | The Talking Cheagle | | [SY006] | ============================================================================ Inside the nest, there was a Cheagle Elder that could speak our language. Apparently this ring called the sorcerer's ring translates for them--not that I really care. According to the elder, a young cheagle named Mieu burned up the home of these other monsters called ligers, so the ligers came to the Cheagle Woods and said they'd start eating cheagles if the cheagles didn't bring them food. I think they deserve it, but Ion went and said we should try to convince the ligers to stop. We ended up heading for the ligers' home deeper in the forest, bringing Mieu along to translate. Mieu can use the power of the sorcerer's ring to breathe fire. We can use this to burn up grass and stuff to open up passages. I guess we'll just have to be careful we don't start any forest fires. The liger queen was protecting her eggs in the ligers' nest. Apparently most monsters are born from eggs. And because of the eggs, the queen was really touchy and not in the mood for conversation. She ended up attacking us, and she was really tough. I almost thought we couldn't beat her, but then that four-eyed guy from Engeve, Jade, showed up and helped us out. We managed to defeat the liger queen, but I wish we could've avoided breaking all the eggs in the process. We weren't able to talk with the ligers, but it looks like they won't be a threat anymore anyway, so we ended up going back to tell the Cheagle Elder about it. What a pain. Apparently Jade had come here to pick up Ion, so he came with us, but the Fon Master Guardian that had come with him left earlier. Wasn't she supposed to be protecting Ion? Well, whatever. We went and told the elder what happened, and somehow we got stuck with Mieu. I don't want any pets! But everyone else said to take him along, so I figured I'll bring him back to the mansion and let everybody play with him. Finally this food thief problem is taken care of. Let's get out of this dirty forest and start back to Baticul. When we reached the edge of the Cheagle Woods, all of a sudden Malkuth soldiers appeared and captured me and Tear. It turns out ol' four-eyes sent back the Fon Master Guardian, Anise, to bring the soldiers here. They took us to the Land Dreadnaught Tartarus. And just when I thought I could go home... Jeez! ============== ========= | The Tartarus | | [SY007] | ============================================================================ It looks like Jade took us into custody because he was investigating the Seventh Fonon reaction when me and Tear ended up in that valley. Jade said he's taking Ion to Kimlasca to try and stop a war from breaking out between Kimlasca and Malkuth. As soon as he found out I'm the son of Duke Fabre, he asked me to help him. He told me to go talk to people around the Tartarus, and if I decide I can trust them, to help him out. What a bore...but I guess I might as well take a look around. The Malkuth people don't seem so bad (aside from four-eyes). There's no point in trying to cause trouble, and I guess it would be pretty bad if a war did break out, so in the end, I decided to help. It looks like what's going on is, Malkuth and Kimlasca could go to war at any moment, and somebody called Grand Maestro Mohs from the Order of Lorelei is making things worse. Ion managed to escape from Mohs, and now he's trying to bring back peace. But Tear says that Mohs is only working for peace and fulfillment of the Score, and the one REALLY trying to start a war is Van. What is she, nuts? There's no way Master Van would do anything like that! That really annoyed me, but it's not like she listens to me anyway, so I guess I'll just wander around the ship some more. I didn't really have anything else to do, so I was just wandering around the ship, when all of a sudden monsters attacked. They said there were ligers among them. Ligers are those things we had to fight in the Cheagle Woods, right? And there's a whole pack of them? They'll kill us in an instant! We tried to escape from the Tartarus, but this guy called Largo the Black Lion, one of the Oracle Knights' "Six God-Generals," came and got in our way. He said he came to take Ion away...but isn't Ion like his boss or something? And if he's with the Oracle Knights, that puts him under Master Van, too...so what's he doing here? Largo used a fon slot seal on Jade, which made Jade unable to use any of his fonic artes. Things were looking bad, but Jade's pretty strong even without fonic artes. He stabbed and killed Largo with his spear, and now he wants us to help him take back the Tartarus. Anise has gone to help Ion, while Tear and I head for the bridge with Jade. When we got to the bridge, Tear used her fonic hymn to put all the Oracle soldiers to sleep. Tear and Jade went into the bridge to do something, but they made me stay outside, like I was just getting in the way. I was annoyed and bored, so I was messing with Mieu when all of a sudden the sleeping soldier woke up and charged at me. I reflexively swung my sword at him...and killed him. The commotion woke up the rest of the Oracle soldiers, and we ended up getting captured. ==================== ========= | The Meaning of War | | [SY008] | ============================================================================ When I woke up in a cell, Jade and Tear started talking about rescuing Ion and escaping from the Tartarus. That means we'd have to fight people again, but they don't even blink at that... And they even started saying I was a burden, so I decided to fight too. I mean, it's not like I want to swing a sword at other people, but I can't stand them making fun of me like that. Jade broke out of the cell and activated an emergency shutdown system he'd put in the Tartarus. But before we can escape, we'll have to get back our equipment that was taken from us. I wonder where it is...? We found our equipment pretty quickly. Now we just have to find Ion and get out of here. We're heading for the port hatch, where we can get Ion back. Let's hurry. We waited in ambush for the Oracle Knights to show up again, and eventually a woman named Legretta came back with Ion. Apparently Legretta used to be Tear's instructor. Come to think of it, Tear was with the Oracle Knights too, wasn't she? How come they're all fighting each other? I remember her saying something about factions... Anyway, just when it looked like we were going to be able to get away, another Oracle Knight named Arietta appeared, and we almost got captured instead. But then Guy came from out of nowhere and saved us. He said he'd come looking for me after I disappeared from the manor. That's Guy for you! Ion said that when Anise came to rescue him, she got into a fight with an Oracle soldier and got thrown out of the Tartarus. He didn't know whether she survived, but if she's still alive she should be heading for a town called St. Binah. ============ ========= | Resolution | | [SY009] | ============================================================================ On the way to St. Binah, Ion collapsed. Talk about a wimp, sheesh. Oh well, I guess we'd better take a rest now. While I was explaining the situation to Guy, some Oracle Knights attacked us all of a sudden. We managed to take care of them, but I couldn't get myself to kill a real live person...and Tear ended up getting hurt because of it. We ended up staying overnight here to let Tear's injury heal. Everybody says that I don't have to fight, that it's perfectly normal for civilians to be afraid of killing. But what they're really saying is that I'm just in the way. I don't want to be treated like that, so I decided I'm going to make myself do it. I don't want to kill people, but if I have to do it in order to survive, then I guess there's not much choice. Everyone accepted my resolution and now we're off to St. Binah again. ======================== ========= | The Citadel, St. Binah | | [SY010] | ============================================================================ We finally reached St. Binah, but Oracle Knights had closed off the entrance. Dammit, they got ahead of us! But as we were thinking about what to do, a wagon from Engeve came by to deliver food supplies, so we hitched a ride and snuck in. Now we have to find Anise without those Oracle soldiers finding us. Anise should be waiting at the Malkuth base inside the town. It was the Oracle Knights' Six God-Generals that had blocked off the town-- though only five of them were here. They weren't able to find us, so they opened up the entrance again and left. If only they'd left earlier, we wouldn't have had to go to so much trouble to get in. Anise wasn't in the Malkuth base. When she found out that the Oracle soldiers were watching St. Binah, she left a letter for us and went on ahead. The letter said that she'd gone to Kaitzur, which Jade said is on the other side of the Fubras River to the south. So, now we're heading for the Fubras. ================= ========= | Ion's Situation | | [SY011] | ============================================================================ Ion collapsed yet again. Man, he sure is weak. I guess we'll have to stop and rest for the night. Apparently Ion collapsed because the Oracle soldiers were dragging him around to the Sephiroth. Sephiroth are something like the planet's vital point. I wanted to find out what they were doing there, but Ion said it was a secret of the Order and wouldn't tell me. We just saved his butt and this is how he acts?! ================== ========= | The Fubras River | | [SY012] | ============================================================================ We reached the Fubras River, but the bridge was washed out, so now it looks like we'll have to walk across. The place is full of monsters, and we'll have to get our feet wet... What a pain. We managed to make our way through the monsters and across the river, but then Arietta from the Oracle Knights' Six God-Generals found us. She said she wanted revenge on us for killing her mother. Apparently she meant the liger queen that we killed in the Cheagle Woods. But really, who would ever think a monster could be a human's parent? Just when it looked like we'd have to fight, an earthquake hit, and Arietta collapsed. A crack broke open in the ground, and a poison gas called "miasma" or something started flowing out. We couldn't go anywhere with all the miasma, but then Tear started singing a different fonic hymn than the one she'd been using until now, and all of a sudden the miasma disappeared. She said the hymn's power temporarily shields us from the miasma, but it doesn't last long. When we were about to get going, Jade suddenly moved to kill Arietta. It startled me and I stopped him--I mean, how could you kill someone when they're out like that? Ion also asked Jade to let her go, so we left her there and headed for Kaitzur. ============================== ========= | The Border Fortress, Kaitzur | | [SY013] | ============================================================================ When we reached Kaitzur, Anise was stopped at the border because she didn't have a passport, so we were finally able to catch up to her. She kept the letter from Malkuth about the peace treaty safe, so that's a relief. But then we were suddenly attacked by Asch, one of the Six God-Generals. I got taken by surprise, but then Master Van appeared--he'd been looking for me! I guess Asch must've been afraid of Van, because he ran away, but then Tear looked like she was going to kill him. When are things finally going to calm down?! Anyway, Master Van convinced Tear to put her knife down, and we decided to go to the inn to hear from Master Van about what's going on. Tear seems to think Master Van's trying to start a war and that the Oracle Knights came and attacked because Van told them to. But Master Van says the Six God-Generals have taken the side of Grand Maestro Mohs and that they're moving under his orders instead of Van's. Obviously I believe Master Van over Tear. He came to look for me, after all, and he saved me from Asch, too. Master Van was surprised to see Ion here after having been looking for him. When he found out that Ion was trying to negotiate a peace treaty, Master Van even said that he'd tell the Six God-Generals to stay out of our way. He said he didn't know whether they'd listen, but he is Master Van, after all! As for Tear, she only said that she was looking for some Seventh Fonstone or something left behind by Yulia, and didn't really tell me anything. What a loser. She'd be really pretty if she didn't open her mouth so much. Anyway, so Master Van brought some passports for us so we could cross the border and head for the Kaitzur military port further to the south. Finally I can get back to Kimlasca! Though it'll be a pain to get confined in the mansion again... ====================== ========= | Disaster at the Port | | [SY014] | ============================================================================ When we reached the Kaitzur military port, there was some sort of commotion going on, and all of a sudden we heard a scream and a monster's roar. Sounds like trouble... And trouble it was. Almost all the ships in the harbor had been destroyed, and a bunch of soldiers were lying dead on the ground. We were wondering what was going on, and then we saw Master Van fighting with Arietta from the Six God-Generals. That damn Arietta caught up with us already. Arietta kidnapped the maintenance chief from the port, told me and Ion to go to Choral Castle, and then flew off on a monster. Did she do all that just to get us to follow her? We started thinking about what to do, but Master Van said he'd take care of Arietta, and that we should head back to the Kaitzur border checkpoint to wait until a ship's ready. That certainly would be the easiest thing to do, but... When we were about to leave for Kaitzur, one of the engineers came and asked us to bring their chief back. Ion said we should go save him, so we ended up heading for Choral Castle. Sorry, Master... Choral Castle is a place east of here that belongs to Father. Apparently it's where I was found after Malkuth kidnapped me, not that I remember it or anything. Anyway, let's see what's there... Who knows--maybe I'll even remember something. ======================== ========= | Searching for Memories | | [SY015] | ============================================================================ Or maybe not. Even after we reached Choral Castle, nothing came back to me. Oh well, that's not important now anyway--we have to go find that maintenance chief. Let's head inside and look for him. We found a lock on a door that couldn't have belonged to Father, and on the other side was a room with a strange machine in it. We were looking around trying to figure out what it was, when Anise was startled by a mouse and jumped onto Guy's back. All of a sudden Guy let out a terrible scream and threw Anise off. That really took me by surprise. I knew Guy wasn't good with girls, but I've never seen him so scared like that. He said he lost his family when he was young, and there was probably something that happened then that made him afraid of women. I never knew Guy had a past like that... I only ever saw him in the manor. Jade was acting weird, too. He looked like he recognized the machine, but he wouldn't tell us anything about it. We ended up just leaving it behind and heading on to find the maintenance chief. We eventually found out that Arietta was on the roof. But as soon as we reached the roof, one of Arietta's monsters came and grabbed me. I blacked out, but I thought I heard something about opening my synchronized fon slots or something... (What the heck are "synchronized fon slots"?) When I came to, I was lying on that machine we saw earlier. Sync, one of the Six God-Generals, was there too, but when I was about to ask him what was up, everybody came back and found me, and Sync fled the scene. As Sync was leaving, he dropped a fon disc. Guy picked it up and said we should try and find somewhere to analyze it. I thought I saw Sync's mask fall off too, but I couldn't see his face. I wonder if Guy did? Not that I actually care what he looks like. Anyway, the maintenance chief is on the roof, so we'll have to go back through all that again to rescue him. What a pain. Arietta was waiting for us on the roof again, but I wasn't about to fall for a stupid trick like that twice. We dodged the monsters' attacks and knocked Arietta out. Jade was about to kill her again, but Ion said he'd take her back and have her stand before an inquiry. Then, Master Van arrived, and he agreed with Ion. Apparently Master Van found out that we hadn't arrived in Kaitzur, so he came to meet us here. I guess we ended up causing him trouble after all. We handed Arietta over to Master Van and started back for the Kaitzur military port. ================ ========= | A Trip by Ship | | [SY016] | ============================================================================ At Kaitzur, the ship we were going to ride was already being repaired. It was going to be a little while, so we decided to stop in and see Count Almandine, who's in charge of the port. Count Almandine was angry that Arietta, a member of the Order of Lorelei, had attacked Kimlascan soldiers. I can't blame him, either. Ion was apologizing profusely... I guess being the Fon Master must be tough. Come to think of it, it's my job to see that Ion and Jade make it to Baticul to see my uncle, isn't it? I remembered that and figured I'd ask Count Almandine to send a pigeon to Father. It'd be handy if we could use fonic or fontech or something to send a message, but apparently there's no way to do that. Anyway, when I told Count Almandine who I was taking along, his expression changed completely. That's right, Jade's an enemy of Kimlasca... Well, it was too late to take it back, and Count Almandine said he'd send off the pigeon anyway. The ship still wasn't ready, so we decided to spend the night here and leave in the morning. Now I'll get to travel with Master Van! This is great! ============================= ========= | The Power of Hyperresonance | | [SY017] | ============================================================================ I've never been on the sea before, but this isn't bad. Well, aside from the headaches, but I'm used to those by now. Master Van sent for me, so I headed for the deck. On the way to see him, I met Tear. It seems like she's finally figured out that I'm not a Seventh Fonist. But...I still don't really know what a Seventh Fonist is. I mean, they came up in my studies, but back then I had so much else to learn--my parents' faces, the language... I'd even forgotten how to walk. I guess I just didn't have time to think about the rest of the world... When I said that to Tear, she suddenly started acting nicer to me and explained all about Seventh Fonists. Turns out Seventh Fonists are fonists who can use the Seventh Fonon-- mostly healers and Scorers. The Seventh Fonon is this new fonon that was discovered after the basic six elemental fonons, and it can only be used by those born with the ability. Apparently, I'm able to use the Seventh Fonon, and that's why Tear mistook me for a Seventh Fonist. Out on the deck, I got another one of those headaches, and then something strange happened. I suddenly lost control of my body, and started hearing things. Then I started moving like somebody was controlling me, and I made part of the ship disappear. Just when I thought the whole ship would be destroyed, Master Van appeared and stopped whatever it was that was happening. Master Van said that the thing I did that made part of the ship disappear is called hyperresonance, and it's the same thing that happened to me and Tear when we were thrown out into that valley. Hyperresonance is an interference phenomenon that can destroy all matter. It happens when two Seventh Fonists use the Seventh Fonon at exactly the same time under certain conditions. But...apparently I can cause hyperresonance all by myself. Master Van said Malkuth kidnapped me for that power, and Kimlasca kept me confined so they could use me in war. Does that mean I was going to be trapped in the manor until a war started?! Master Van didn't deny that. He did tell me how I could get around it, though. His solution was for me to become a hero. See, if I can personally stop the war, I'll become a hero, and then they won't be able to keep me confined any longer! That was when the ship reached Chesedonia, which put an end to our conversation. We'll have to change ships in Chesedonia to get to Baticul. I decided to take a look around the town. ================================= ========= | The Center of Trade, Chesedonia | | [SY018] | ============================================================================ As soon as we reached Chesedonia, Master Van separated from us. He said he had to turn Arietta over to an Order of Lorelei inspector, and that he'd be coming to Baticul later. Unfortunately, we have to leave before that. Damn, and just when I could've heard more about how to become a hero... Oh well. I guess I'll head down to the Kimlasca consulate to see if the ship's ready yet. Astor is a merchant who managed to build Chesedonia up into an autonomous state all by himself. He had a machine for analyzing fon discs, too, so we had him analyze the disc we picked up in Choral Castle. The results were pretty long, though, so we decided to wait and read them on the ship. Now all we have to do is board that ship and we'll be headed for Baticul. They should know at the Kimlasca consulate whether it's ready or not. Just as we left Astor's mansion, Sync of the Six God-Generals suddenly attacked us, apparently to get that fon disc back. He succeeded in that, but we managed to hold on to the analysis results. We escaped from Sync, ran to the port and jumped onboard the ship for Baticul. Guy got hurt a little, but once we were at sea, we were safe. On the ship, we started going through the fon disc analysis results, with Jade doing most of the explaining. The data on the fon disc was about isofons. It seems people (and in fact everything else in the world) each have a different fonon frequency. When two things share the same fonon frequency, they're called "isofons"--but they can't exist naturally. The only way to find them is to create them. There's this technology called "fomicry" which allows replicas of things to be made, but even if the replica looks the same as the original it was made from, the replica's fonon frequency ends up being different. It looks like the data on the fon disc was about research into technology for creating isofons. But it looks like we lost some of the results when Sync stole the disc back, so we couldn't learn all the details. Just as we were talking about that, the ship was suddenly attacked. The Oracle Knights, again?! They just won't quit, will they... At this rate they'll take over the ship, just like with the Tartarus. If that were to happen here at sea, we'd be in real trouble, so we headed for the bridge to put a stop to them. It turns out the attack was led by this weirdo from the Six God-Generals named Dist. Apparently he and Jade know each other... He even wears glasses, too. He really got on my nerves, but we defeated him and made it safely into the Baticul harbor. ================ ========= | The Dark Wings | | [SY019] | ============================================================================ While I was wandering around Chesedonia, some weird chick came up all of a sudden and started touching me. I wondered what was up with her, but it turns out she was a pickpocket! She stole my wallet and tried to run away with these other guys. What the hell! And they said they were the Dark Wings! The bastards! Getting in my way again! Tear got my wallet back, but the Dark Wings got away. If I ever see them again, I'll rip them apart! ======================== ========= | Analyzing the Fon Disc | | [SY020] | ============================================================================ We made it to the consulate, but the ship wasn't ready yet. We had some time to kill, so we decided to go find this wealthy guy named Astor to get the fon disc analyzed. Personally I couldn't care less about the fon disc, but I do want to see Chesedonia, so I decided to go along. =============================== ========= | The Capital of Light, Baticul | | [SY021] | ============================================================================ General Goldberg and General Cecille were waiting for us at the port. They said they'd take me back to the manor and Ion and the others to the castle, but then what about my chance to become a hero and get myself free? I told them I'd take everybody to the castle myself. It's not like there's anyone here in Baticul who can overrule me, so they agreed to that, and now we're heading for the castle. This is the first time I've actually been in Baticul since I lost my memory... It doesn't even feel like home anymore. Oh, well. Right now we need to head for the castle to see Uncle. When we got to the audience room, someone was already there--Grand Maestro Mohs, from the Order of Lorelei. I listened to him talk for a little bit, but he really bugs me. He talks like he's so special, even though he's below Ion, and all he was doing was spouting lies to try and worsen our relationship with Malkuth. I guess he's the one behind all this war stuff... Master Van wasn't doing anything. I bet Tear will change her tone about Mohs after this. We gave the peace letter to Uncle, and then I heard that Mother's fallen ill. She's always been pretty weak... Apparently my cousin Natalia is visiting her, and everybody else wants to see the manor, so we're heading there now. We ran into Father when we entered the mansion. He was with General Cecille, and he was cold to me, as always. He seemed to be concerned about Master Van. Something worries me about that... When we reached the drawing room, Natalia was there, just back from seeing Mother. I haven't seen her in a while, but she was playing the proper lady as always. When I think about the fact that I'm engaged to her, it really gets me down. But Natalia told me something that startled me--apparently, my disappearance is being blamed on Master Van kidnapping me, and he might even be executed for it. No way! It's Tear's fault! I asked Natalia to talk to Uncle about it, and she told me to remember how I proposed to her as a kid. How am I supposed to remember that? Anyway, Natalia went back to the castle to talk to Uncle. I hope Master Van will be okay... When I went to see Mother, she was really happy that I'd come home. I wish Father was even half as nice. Apparently Mother thought my disappearance was some kind of plot, but she seemed relieved when Tear apologized for the incident. Well, I've visited Mother, and I've seen Natalia... Might as well go get some rest. When I returned to my room, Ion, Jade and Anise all said they were going back to the castle. Guy has some kind of report to make too, and even Tear finally left. It's been a long time since I was alone. Finally I can get some good rest in my own bed. Tomorrow I may be stuck in the manor, but for now all I want is rest. ====================== ========= | The Dark Wings Again | | [SY022] | ============================================================================ On the way to the castle, we saw the Dark Wings. They look like a circus act or something with those ridiculous outfits. They tried to steal my wallet in Chesedonia... I'd better watch out for them. ========================= ========= | The Goodwill Ambassador | | [SY023] | ============================================================================ Gnomeday, Gnome-Decan 2, ND2018 I was worried it'd be back to the old boring days, but when I woke up I was told to go to the castle because Natalia was calling me. It looks like I won't be confined again after all. I wonder what happened to make them let me out...? Well, whatever the reason, at least I get to go out. I wonder if Natalia's heard anything about Master Van? Guess I'll hit the castle and find out. I ran into Tear and Mohs whispering something to each other at the castle entrance. They were saying something about the Seventh Fonstone... Is that the Score that Tear's looking for? Then Mohs noticed me, but he seemed to be in a better mood than yesterday. He told me Jade was in the audience hall. He REALLY bugs me. I entered the audience hall with Mohs and Tear, and Jade was waiting inside. Uncle and Father were both there, and they told me to go to the town of Akzeriuth in Malkuth as a goodwill ambassador from Kimlasca. Apparently there's a bunch of miasma coming out from underground there, and the people of the town are in bad shape. The road to Akzeriuth on the Malkuth side is unusable and it's only reachable from Kimlasca, so Malkuth was asking for help. They said that if we save Akzeriuth, it would be a good step toward peace. To be honest, it sounds like a real pain and I didn't want to accept it, but they said they'd free Master Van if I did, so I gave in. Then Uncle told me something unbelievable. He said I'm the hero read in Yulia's Score. Yulia's Score contains the world's future, and a part of the Sixth Fonstone that contains that Score is held by the Kimlasca-Lanvaldear royal family. According to it, one of the royal family with red hair who inherits Lorelei's power will lead the Kingdom of Kimlasca-Lanvaldear to prosperity. In other words, me. If I go to Akzeriuth, Yulia's Score will come true, and Kimlasca will prosper. This is why they were keeping me in confinement, too. So if I go along with this and become a hero, I'll no longer have to be imprisoned in my own manor. Sounds good to me! It's not just me going to Akzeriuth--Tear and Jade are coming too. And they said I could take Guy and Master Van along with me too. Yes! Now I can finally go on a trip with Master Van! He's in the underground cell--I can't wait to see him! When I got to the underground cell, Master Van had just been released. There, I found out the true meaning of the Score. There was more to Yulia's Score than what I'd heard in the audience hall. It says my power will cause calamity, and be used as a weapon of Kimlasca. So that's why Master Van said I was being held as a weapon... The Order of Lorelei seems to believe that my presence will cause a war between Malkuth and Kimlasca, and Master Van was trying to keep me from being used as a tool of war. Here's his plan. First, I'll go to Akzeriuth as a goodwill ambassador. The Score says that the war happens when I move people out of Akzeriuth, so instead of doing that, I'll use hyperresonance to destroy the miasma in the town. Then, instead of returning to Kimlasca, I'll follow Master Van to Daath. That way, Kimlasca won't be able to use me. Master Van's great! He's always thinking of me. I asked him why, and he told me about something from my past that I've forgotten. When I was young, I was put through lots of cruel experiments because of my hyperresonance power, and so I asked Master Van to take me to Daath. He tried to take me from the manor once to fulfill my wish. So that kidnapping that everybody says was Malkuth's work was actually Master Van trying to save me. Master Van said he'll make sure we get away this time. So I promised to keep the plan a secret, and we headed out of the castle to rejoin everybody else. When we rejoined everybody outside, Jade had a real downer for us. He said the Oracle Knights were patrolling the sea, and that it was probably Mohs trying to stop me from getting to Akzeriuth. Man, what the hell! What a pain... What's with those guys? Jade suggested putting out a decoy ship and traveling over land to Chesedonia instead. Master Van agreed, and then said he'd ride on the decoy ship with the rest of the aid team. He said that it would make the decoy more convincing, but I want to stay with him! He wouldn't listen to me, though, and we ended up having to travel separately. So I'm stuck with the four-eyed devil, the cold-blooded girl, and Guy... It doesn't get any more boring than this. We should be able to rejoin Master Van once we get to Chesedonia, so we'll have to hurry. On the way out of Baticul, we ran into Anise. She said Ion's disappeared. According to an eyewitness, the Dark Wings kidnapped him and took him out of the city. Those Dark Wings sure like to cause trouble! Anise tried to leave Baticul to find him, but Sync is keeping watch over the exit. So now if we tried to leave Baticul, Sync would notice us and the Oracle Knights would know the ship's a decoy. That left us without a way out, but then Guy suggested going to an abandoned factory in the old city. We might be able to get outside through it. He said there's an aircar that we can ride to the factory. Anise decided to come along to search for Ion, so the five of us headed for the aircar platform. ======================= ========= | Encounter in the Rain | | [SY024] | ============================================================================ When we got to the abandoned factory, Natalia was waiting for us. She says that as a princess she can hardly overlook Akzeriuth's plight. But Akzeriuth is part of Malkuth! Why should she care? That sense of justice, that always wanting to help people--it's really annoying. But Natalia overheard me and Van talking, and she threatened to tell everybody about it, so I gave in and let her come. Then Tear and everybody gave me nasty looks... Hey, I'm the ambassador! They should just do what I say! We headed deeper into the factory ruins. Since it used to be a factory, it ought to have facilities for disposing of waste water, which means we should be able to get out. We'd better get looking. We made our way through the factory, defeated a weird monster, and finally found a way out of Baticul. It's pretty high up, so we'll have to take a ladder down. Man, what a pain... And now we'll have to cross the desert. *Sigh* I can't believe what I saw... It was raining when we got out of the abandoned factory. There was a landship I didn't recognize off in the distance, and Sync was taking Ion off somewhere... I ran up to try and save Ion, and then one of the enemies turned to face me. That was the first time I saw Asch's face. I felt like puking. I actually did puke later. Asch had the same face as me. It felt like I was looking at myself in a mirror. I still can't believe it... Even for twins we look too alike... What is he, anyway...? Everyone else was surprised too, but we've got bigger problems. Now the Six God-Generals know that we're traveling over land, and they got away with Ion. I thought about going back to Baticul and taking a ship, but Natalia said the port's closed off and we wouldn't be able to use it. We have to save Ion anyway, so we ended up continuing our overland trek. For the moment, we'll head for the oasis while we keep watch for any sign of that landship. But man... just who is that Asch guy? ================= ========= | A Calling Voice | | [SY025] | ============================================================================ Just when we reached the oasis, I heard Asch's voice in my head. It was like the voices I hear when I get those headaches, but I knew it was Asch this time. Asch told me that Ion's in the Zao Ruins. Why? He's our enemy, isn't he? Is he trying to make fun of us or what? I'm worried he's set a trap or something for us, but we don't have any other leads at the moment, so I guess we might as well head for the Zao Ruins and take a look. We found the Zao Ruins buried in the sands. At least it'll be a little cooler underground than out in the sun. Okay, let's go find Ion! Ion was deep down in the ruins. There was some sort of weird door, and Ion was being made to perform a ritual there. The God-Generals Sync and Largo tried to stop us from taking Ion back, but we knocked them out of the way. Asch had been just watching us, but then all of a sudden he came and attacked me--using the same sword techniques I learned from Master Van. The timing, the distance--everything was the same. It was disturbing. Anyway, Sync came in and broke us up, then offered to give back Ion as long as we left. That worked out well for both sides, so we agreed, and headed out of the Zao Ruins. Come to think of it, Guy seemed concerned about Sync. I wonder why... When we got out of the Zao Ruins, I asked Ion what he'd been made to do here. He said that there's a Sephiroth here, and that the Six God-Generals wanted him to remove the "Daathic seal" that was protecting it. But he didn't say anything about what the seal was for. I don't like this Order of Lorelei... They keep too many secrets. If he's not going to tell us anything, there's no point in staying here any longer. We'll all burn up out here like this, and Master Van's waiting for us in Chesedonia. Let's get moving. ================ ========= | The Curse Slot | | [SY026] | ============================================================================ We finally reached Chesedonia, but just as we were about to take care of things at the Malkuth consulate, I got another one of those headaches and started hearing voices again. We decided to take a little break at the inn, just to be safe. We headed for the inn, but all of a sudden I couldn't control my body. It seemed like Asch was controlling me instead. He made me pull out my sword and attack Tear, even though I didn't want to. The headache got so bad I passed out, and got carried to the inn. How embarrassing... Jade says that Dist probably did something to me back in Choral Castle. I'd actually forgotten about that. He said that unless we can find Dist there's not much we can do about it. Then we started talking about what to do with Ion. He said he wanted to go to Akzeriuth, and everybody else decided that we could protect him from the Oracle Knights that way. They all ignored me. I'M the ambassador, dammit! Don't leave me out of things! Ion and Anise ended up coming along, making seven of us. I just want to catch up to Master Van. Master Van should be in Chesedonia. We'd better hurry to the Malkuth consulate. At the Malkuth consulate, we found out that Master Van had already left for Kaitzur. Dammit, if only we hadn't gone off to save Ion! Just as we were about to go after him, this time Guy suddenly grabbed his arm like he was in pain, and then he threw me back like he was being controlled. Apparently somebody used something called a curse slot on him, which allowed him to be controlled. We were going to call a doctor, but he said not to worry, and that we should go and get on the ship. Ion said the power of the curse slot weakens with distance from the user, too, so we decided to leave Chesedonia as soon as we could. As soon as the ship left Chesedonia, Guy started feeling better. I guess the user of the curse slot must have been in Chesedonia. That's a relief. Now we just have to catch up with Master Van. ================== ========= | Distant Feelings | | [SY027] | ============================================================================ We finally made it to the Kaitzur military port. Now we just have to head for Akzeriuth. I want to meet Master Van soon. We'll have to cross the Deo Pass to get to Akzeriuth. If we don't catch up with him there, I probably won't be able to meet him until we reach Akzeriuth... We reached the Deo Pass, but Master Van wasn't there. I guess he must be in Akzeriuth already. When I said we shouldn't have wasted time in the desert, everybody got mad at me. I'm the ambassador--I'm the one who's important in making peace, not Ion! What's wrong with calling something a waste of time if that's what it is? We don't need Ion anyway, so what's their problem? I can't stand these people. I just want to get over the Deo Pass and to Akzeriuth as soon as I can, so I can rejoin Master Van. Then I can lose these idiots too. Bastards, every one of them! On the way through the Deo Pass, Legretta from the Six God-Generals attacked us...or more like, she came to talk to Tear into going with her. And she called me a defect, the jerk! Everybody else started talking about forbidden technology, and about Ion's knowledge of it, and a bunch of other stuff I didn't understand. They totally left me out. I'm the ambassador! I'm the most important one here--the chosen hero! You can all just go to hell! As long as Master Van's with me, that's all I need. I want to find him soon. ================================= ========= | The Horrible State of the Mines | | [SY028] | ============================================================================ Akzeriuth was full of miasma, with people lying on the ground everywhere... What a dirty place. Everyone started talking about how to save them--they weren't even worried about catching whatever those people had. I just want to find Master Van--he'll know what I need to do. Apparently Master Van headed into the mine with the vanguard. I'd better hurry after him. When we were about to enter the mine, an Oracle Knight came up and called Tear back because he said they found the Seventh Fonstone. I keep getting confused because there are good Oracle Knights and bad ones... All I know is that Mohs and the Six God-Generals are enemies, while Ion and Master Van are allies. It seems like Tear's real purpose was to look for the Seventh Fonstone, so Ion agreed and she left. What a relief not to have to deal with that unsociable girl. Anyway, after Master Van! When we went deeper into the mine, we found a bunch of people collapsed-- it looked really bad. And I still couldn't find Master Van anywhere. And then I heard Asch's voice in my head, and he told me not to go any farther. Why should I listen to a God-General, huh?! ================= ========= | Becoming a Hero | | [SY029] | ============================================================================ We split up to check out the area, and I finally found Master Van at the far end of the mine. There was one of those weird-looking doors behind him like we saw in the Zao Ruins (a Daathic seal, was it?). When I approached him, he told Ion to open the door. Apparently there's something called a "passage ring" in there, and if I use my hyperresonance on it, the miasma will disappear. Master Van and I made Ion open the seal, and we headed inside. We reached the passage ring, and with Master Van's help I caused a hyperresonance. There was a blinding flash of light and an incredible wind. I felt some sort of power flowing out of me, and I couldn't stop it. The whole place shook and started to fall, passage ring and everything. Just then, Tear and Asch arrived too. I don't understand what happened after that. Master Van called me "replica Luke." Asch yelled at me, "that was why I told you to stop"... Akzeriuth collapsed, disappeared, and I lost consciousness... ============== ========= | The Qliphoth | | [SY030] | ============================================================================ When I came to, we were in some sort of underground world. Apparently Akzeriuth disappeared--collapsed into the underground--but Tear protected us with her fonic hymn. But Akzeriuth, and everybody living there, were gone... Is it because I caused a hyperresonance...? No way... Better not to think about it for now. This underground world we fell into is called the Qliphoth. The land here is like a bottomless sea of sludge, and the remnants of Akzeriuth, the people who survived the fall, got swallowed up by that sea. The only thing left is the Tartarus, with its emergency buoy. We fled to the Tartarus before we sunk into the sludge as well. Tear seems to know a lot about the Qliphoth. She says there's a place called Yulia City west of here, so we started out to find it. The Qliphoth really is empty...no matter how far we go, there's still no sign of Yulia City. While we were traveling, Tear told us something incredible. The land we lived on was once here in the Qliphoth. Here, they call our land the "Outer Lands," which were made by taking the land from the Qliphoth and raising it up into the air. About 2000 years ago, Auldrant became covered in miasma. Legend says that the miasma was sealed underground with Yulia's Score, but in reality, the crust of the planet itself was raised into the air, trapping the miasma underneath it. The Sephiroth were used to hold the Outer Lands up, by taking advantage of the power that collects at those vital points. And it was the passage rings, protected by Daathic seals, that controlled them. So what I used hyperresonance to destroy was not the miasma, but the passage ring and the pillar supporting the Outer Lands... But I didn't know anything about it, so it's not my fault. Everybody keeps on blaming me--it's not my fault! I didn't make this happen! Master Van said to do it, after all. I was just trying to help! It's not my fault! Why is everybody leaving me? It's not my fault... Master isn't feeling well, so I'm writing in his place. Mieu! Yulia City was behind a big waterfall. ========= ========= | Replica | | [SY031] | ============================================================================ When the Tartarus reached Yulia City, Asch was there. Asch said that Master is a replica of him. Is that why they look the same? Master got angry and said that he wasn't a replica, and Asch was really angry about Akzeriuth, so they got into a fight. After the fight, Master passed out. I can understand, with all the sad things that happened. Poor Master. ======================== ========= | The Eyes in the Mirror | | [SY032] | ============================================================================ ...What does Mieu think he's doing, writing in my diary? Oh well. While I was unconscious, everyone cut their ties with me. Not that I blame them. I really was an idiot... Anyway, they all decided to work with Asch, so they could get back to the Outer Lands and he could use the Tartarus to get around. Of course, I only heard that secondhand, because I was still out at the time. But I'm kind of relieved... At least I didn't have to see them giving up on me. Afterwards, Asch sent his voice into my head again. He says it's a channel that connects the two of us, usable because the two of us are isofons...because I'm a perfect replica of him, down to the fonon frequency. That's why he's able to talk to me like that. ...I don't want to admit it, but I guess I really am a replica. Asch told me to try and control him. Of course I tried, but in the end I couldn't tell whether I really was controlling him or he was just moving on his own. In any case, for a time I was able to see things with Asch's eyes and send my voice to him. Asch plans to meet with Tear's grandfather Teodoro, the mayor of Yulia City. I guess I'll just watch for now. Asch was working on a plan to use the Sephiroth to raise the Tartarus back up to the Outer Lands. Teodoro said that there was still enough power left in the Sephiroth at Akzeriuth to do that, if only once. The plan succeeded. Asch, Jade, Natalia, Anise, Ion...and Guy--all of them made it safely back to the Outer Lands inside the Tartarus. Asch wants to head to Belkend. Apparently there's a fon machine laboratory there that Master Van's been using, and Asch wants to find out what he's up to. So I really was tricked and betrayed by Master Van... I have no idea why he wanted to make me destroy Akzeriuth. Maybe it would be best to try and find out, like Asch says. Everyone else on the Tartarus wanted to return to their homelands, but they ended up deciding to work with Asch for a while. They're heading east to Belkend now. The group reached Port Belkend, a small town north of Belkend itself. I wonder what'll be revealed in Belkend? At any rate, we have to head south to get there. (Though it'll be Asch doing the walking.) So Belkend is part of Father's lands... It's the first time I've ever seen it. Asch seems to think we can learn something about what Master Van's trying to do at Fon Machine Laboratory I, here in Belkend. We'll just have to head there and see what we can find. At the laboratory, Asch's group encountered a researcher named Spinoza. Asch says that Spinoza was involved in his--no, in the original Luke's kidnapping, and that he's studying the use of fomicry on living things. And it turns out that Jade is the one who invented the technology of fomicry itself. I never knew that Jade was such an incredible scientist... Not only that, Spinoza's deeply involved in Master Van's plan as well. He said something about a preservation project... What could that be? It sounded like it had something to do with fomicry and replicas. After listening around, a place called Ortion Cavern started to sound suspicious. A chemical called fonimin that's needed for fomicry can be obtained there, and if Master Van's researching fomicry, he'd need lots of fonimin. With no other clues, the decision was made to head for Ortion Cavern. But just then, Guy announced that he was leaving. He'd always been worried about me, and now he said that he wanted to wait for me to return, trusting that I could recover. Guy... Thanks. He even said it without me present, which made me really happy. Guy left the others at Belkend, and Asch and the rest headed west for Ortion Cavern, on the Radessian continent. ========= ========= | Fomicry | | [SY033] | ============================================================================ The walls of Ortion Cavern were full of strange minerals that looked almost like mirrors. I hope we can learn something about Master Van's plan here. All we can do for now is head deeper inside and look around. At the far end of the cave was some fomicry equipment. Jade began investigating the equipment, and discovered that the research being done here was for making a replica one-tenth the size of Auldrant itself. He also found replica data taken from the people of the destroyed island of Hod, almost like they were planning to revive Hod. But it looks like this facility hasn't been completely abandoned--there were two cheagles probably used in experiments, an original and its replica. According to Jade, replicas' abilities tend to be inferior to their originals. He also said that sometimes the extraction of replica data can have a negative effect on the originals, sometimes even killing them. For an instant, I was worried that the same thing might happen to Asch, but Jade said that always happened within ten days at most, so if Asch is still doing this well after seven years, he has nothing to worry about. I was relieved, but Asch still seemed concerned about something. I wonder what? Jade also mentioned that something different can happen to perfect replicas, so maybe that's what's bothering him. Anyway, Asch apparently found what he came for. We learned that Master Van is trying to create some sort of huge replica, possibly the destroyed island of Hod. But what does that have to do with the loss of Akzeriuth? In any case, Asch said he was leaving Ortion Cavern, and everyone followed. At the exit, an earthquake occurred. Asch said that the earthquake might be a precursor to the area around St. Binah falling. Since I destroyed the pillar at the Akzeriuth Sephiroth (he called it a "Sephiroth Tree"), the other Sephiroth have been affected as well. What have I done...? Not only that, Master Van seems to be trying to get to the other well-protected passage rings to use them to speed up the collapse of the outer Lands. St. Binah may really be in danger... Just then, Asch suddenly cut off the channel between us, and I finally woke up, not hearing anything else from Asch. That's everything I saw through Asch while I was asleep. =============== ========= | Dirtied Hands | | [SY034] | ============================================================================ When I woke up, I felt like I was back in my own body for the first time in a long time. Mieu was waiting next to me. I wonder why, after how badly I've always treated him...? But I'm kind of glad he's here. I may have returned, but I still don't know much about this place, so I decided to go find Tear first. Tear was in the selenia garden. I told her about the danger St. Binah is in, and asked about a way back to the Outer Lands. But Tear responded coldly. She said that I'm always basing what I do on what others say, that I never try and think for myself. That was when I first realized the truth. The truth that up until now, I've never even once really listened to anyone, considered their words or decided for myself what to do. And I knew that I wanted--that I had to change that. But I was doubtful Tear would believe simple halfhearted words, so I cut my hair. It's not that I really cared about my hair that much, but I wanted to show that I was throwing away my old self. Tear still didn't seem to really believe me, but I'm serious. I will change. But I don't even know a way to find out whether St. Binah really is going to collapse, much less how to save it if it is. Tear suggested that Teodoro, the mayor of the city, might know something, so I decided to ask him for information. This time, I'll think for myself, of course...and take responsibility for my actions. I will never forget that. ================================ ========= | The Watchers' Home, Yulia City | | [SY035] | ============================================================================ I met Teodoro and heard an unbelievable truth. The collapse of Akzeriuth was written in Yulia's Score, and happened because it was destined to. And not only that. The destruction of Malkuth's Hod Island, which led to the biggest war in recent years, was likewise part of Yulia's Score. So the people of Yulia City knew about both disasters ahead of time, and simply let the people of both towns die. Even Tear, who knew that Hod's fate was written in the Score, hadn't known that it had simply been allowed to be destroyed in order to fulfill the Score. She seemed pretty shocked to hear that. Unlike Tear, Master Van did know the truth about Hod. Teodoro said that although he hated it at first, he's come to be a fine watcher, working as a member of the Order of Lorelei to ensure that the world follows Yulia's Score. The Order of Lorelei itself is simply the presence of Yulia City in the outer Lands, dedicated to directing the world along the path written in Yulia's Score toward the prosperity that the Score foretells. So the Order of Lorelei and Yulia City are connected at the top. A new war between Malkuth and Kimlasca is also written in the Score, and that's why Grand Maestro Mohs was trying to start a war, in order to follow the Score. Even Master Van's using me to destroy Akzeriuth was for the purpose of the Score. It all comes down to Yulia's Score. If the Score does promise a prosperous future, that's nice...but is that a reason to let people living now die? When we asked about St. Binah falling, Teodoro said flatly that it was impossible, because the Score doesn't mention it. If we were still worried, he said, we could use the Yulia Road, a fonic circle used for transport, to return to the outer Lands and see for ourselves. I headed back with Tear to her house to make preparations for departure. While we were getting our things packed, Tear told me a little bit about her past. She said that both she and Master Van were originally from Hod Island, on the Outer Lands. When Hod was destroyed, it fell into the Qliphoth much like Akzeriuth did. That time, Master Van used Yulia's fonic hymn to survive, and the two of them were taken in and raised by Teodoro. Contrary to what Teodoro was saying before, Master Van had always hated the Score, and one day Tear overheard him saying he was going to destroy the inhabitants of the outer Lands. That's why Tear had decided to follow Master Van and stop him, even at the cost of her own life. The duty of looking for the Seventh Fonstone was likewise just a convenient excuse to stay near Master Van. It looks like I've misunderstood her all this time. What a stupid idiot I was... We finished preparing for our return to the Outer Lands, and headed for the Yulia Road to check up on St. Binah. The Yulia Road leads to a place on the Padamiyan continent called Aramis Spring. Padamiya is also where Daath, the Order of Lorelei's headquarters, is located. We entered the fonic glyph and returned to the Outer Lands. ========================== ========= | The New Journey's Flavor | | [SY036] | ============================================================================ The other end of the Yulia Road was a spring nestled in a small valley. We arrived in an instant... Fonic artes really are incredible. At any rate, we'd better hurry out through the nearby cave. Guy was waiting for me in the cave. I was really glad to see him...but I'm not the real Luke, after all. I wonder if Guy's okay with that... He said not to put myself down, but...I can't help worrying. Not that worrying about that will get me anywhere. I have to get him to accept me as I am now. First we'd better hurry out of this place. When we reached the cave's exit, Jade showed up. But unlike Guy, Jade hadn't come here to wait for me. He was here to ask for Guy's help to rescue Natalia and Ion, who had been captured by Grand Maestro Mohs. He treated me like I was just in the way. I didn't like it, but I guess I can't blame him, given the way I used to be. Tear told me that it's not easy to regain trust once I've lost it. ...Yeah, she's got a point. And besides, I don't have time for self-pity right now. We have to check up on St. Binah, and a war could start too. Ion and Natalia should be willing to help with both problems. It's time to head for Daath to rescue them. On the way to Daath is a place called the Fourth Monument Hill. The whole city of Daath is visible from the top of the hill. So that's where Natalia and Ion are being held... Jade said Anise is in Daath, trying to figure out where they are. I guess we'll be rejoining her once we arrive. ============================================= ========= | Daath, Headquarters of the Order of Lorelei | | [SY037] | ============================================================================ We rejoined Anise in Daath, and she had discovered that Natalia and Ion were being held in the underground Oracle Headquarters. Outsiders aren't allowed to enter, so Tear is going to try and sneak us in as purported witnesses to the discovery of the Seventh Fonstone. First we have to see Maestro Tritheim to obtain a pass to enter the Oracle Headquarters. We succeeded in fooling Tritheim and obtaining a pass to the Oracle Headquarters. Okay, let's head underground. ======================== ========= | Worrying About the War | | [SY038] | ============================================================================ On the way, we overheard Mohs and Legretta talking. It sounds like a war really is about to start. We'd better find Natalia and Ion fast so we can stop it. ======== ========= | Rescue | | [SY039] | ============================================================================ We made it into the Oracle Headquarters, but there's no hint of where Natalia and Ion might be. We'll have to stay low while we look for them. We found Natalia and Ion in a room in the lower area of the Headquarters. They were both doing fine. That's a relief, anyway... Ion said that Master Van was trying to force him to open the Daathic seals on the Sephiroth. Just like Asch said, he must be trying to control the Sephiroth to make the Outer Lands collapse. It's too dangerous to stand around here talking, so we decided to return to the Fourth Monument Hill before doing anything else. We fled as far as the Fourth Monument Hill, but it looks like nobody's coming after us. I guess they can't go and kidnap their leader in broad daylight... They're not an evil organization, after all. At this rate, a war's going to break out, and there's still the possibility that St. Binah will collapse. But considering that Uncle sent me to Akzeriuth, I have to assume Mohs has his ear. In that case, we decided it would be best to rely on Jade's connections to get help from Emperor Peony of Malkuth. Fortunately, Asch left the Tartarus in Daath Bay for us, and it's capable of traveling on the sea, so we're going to take it to Malkuth. The port's northwest of the Fourth Monument Hill. We have to hurry. Grand Chokmah, the capital of Malkuth, apparently closes off its port when there's the threat of war, so we can't enter it from the sea. And not only is Jade probably thought lost in the Akzeriuth disaster, the Tartarus is believed to be in the hands of the Oracle Knights. It looks like we won't be able to use it to get to Grand Chokmah directly. We'll have to land at Rotelro Bridge, to the northeast of Chesedonia, and head for Grand Chokmah on foot. ============================= ========= | The Silver World, Keterburg | | [SY040] | ============================================================================ | This version of the entry will occur if you try to head directly to | | Rotelro Bridge and don't do any sight-seeing in Keterburg ahead of time. | ============================================================================ On the way to Rotelro Bridge, we encountered a defensive mine. The resulting damage to the Tartarus was great enough that we could no longer reach Rotelro Bridge, so we decided to stop at the nearby Keterburg Bay for repairs. When we reached the port, a Malkuth soldier tried to interrogate us, but Jade's quick thinking got us out of that, saying that he would report to the governor of Keterburg instead. We're now headed for the town of Keterburg to meet with the governor. Wow! Nephry Osborne, the governor of Keterburg, is Jade's sister! Nephry was a really nice person, unlike Jade. Repair of the Tartarus would take some time, so we decided to spend it looking around the town. But just as we were leaving, Nephry pulled me aside and told me to come see her alone, that she has something important to tell me. I wonder what it is... Nephry wanted to tell me about the reason Jade invented fomicry. I don't know how well I can sum it up, but I'll try and write it down here. Basically, Jade thought up fomicry as a way to replicate a doll that Nephry broke. I guess that is kind of strange... Normally you'd just buy a new doll. But anyway, that was the first replica he created. Jade was a genius even when he was young, but he was never really able to understand the death of living things. He even killed harmless monsters just for fun. It was Professor Nebilim, a private teacher, who changed him. But an experiment Jade performed out of curiosity went awry and killed Professor Nebilim. He used fomicry on her while she was still breathing to try and revive her. That was the first living replica created...but even though it looked like her, it turned into a monster. Jade then had himself adopted by the Curtiss family and entered the army, all in order to revive Professor Nebilim. Nephry wanted me, another replica, to act as a deterrent to Jade. She was worried that he's still trying to revive Professor Nebilim. But he doesn't look that way to me. I don't like him, but he does seem to have common sense, at least now. (He probably wouldn't want to hear that from me...) Jade knew what Nephry had told me, and he said he's not trying to revive Professor Nebilim any longer. I think I can believe him when he says that... He understands death now. I saw that at Akzeriuth. So he'll be okay...I think. Jade told me not to tell anyone about this. Yeah, I can't blame him. I wouldn't know how to explain it anyway. The following morning, the Tartarus was usable again. Time to get back on course for Rotelro Bridge. ============================= ========= | The Silver World, Keterburg | | [SY041] | ============================================================================ | This version of the entry will be entered if you go to Keterburg directly | | instead of heading directly for Rotelro Bridge. | ============================================================================ On the way to Rotelro Bridge, we stopped in at Keterburg Bay. Jade didn't seem very excited about it. When we reached the port, a Malkuth soldier tried to interrogate us, but Jade's quick thinking got us out of that, saying that he would report to the governor of Keterburg instead. We're now headed for the town of Keterburg to meet with the governor. Wow! Nephry Osborne, the governor of Keterburg, is Jade's sister! Nephry was a really nice person, unlike Jade. Maintenance of the Tartarus would take some time, so we decided to spend it looking around the town. But just as we were leaving, Nephry pulled me aside and told me to come see her alone, that she has something important to tell me. I wonder what it is... Nephry wanted to tell me about the reason Jade invented fomicry. I don't know how well I can sum it up, but I'll try and write it down here. Basically, Jade thought up fomicry as a way to replicate a doll that Nephry broke. I guess that is kind of strange... Normally you'd just buy a new doll. But anyway, that was the first replica he created. Jade was a genius even when he was young, but he was never really able to understand the death of living things. He even killed harmless monsters just for fun. It was Professor Nebilim, a private teacher, who changed him. But an experiment Jade performed out of curiosity went awry and killed Professor Nebilim. He used fomicry on her while she was still breathing to try and revive her. That was the first living replica created...but even though it looked like her, it turned into a monster. Jade then had himself adopted by the Curtiss family and entered the army, all in order to revive Professor Nebilim. Nephry wanted me, another replica, to act as a deterrent to Jade. She was worried that he's still trying to revive Professor Nebilim. But he doesn't look that way to me. I don't like him, but he does seem to have common sense, at least now. (He probably wouldn't want to hear that from me...) Jade knew what Nephry had told me, and he said he's not trying to revive Professor Nebilim any longer. I think I can believe him when he says that... He understands death now. I saw that at Akzeriuth. So he'll be okay...I think. Jade told me not to tell anyone about this. Yeah, I can't blame him. I wouldn't know how to explain it anyway. The following morning, the Tartarus was usable again. Time to get back on course for Rotelro Bridge. ============================ ========= | The Incident in the Forest | | [SY042] | ============================================================================ We landed at Rotelro Bridge to head over to Rugnica for Grand Chokmah. But before we reach the capital, we'll have to pass through Theor Forest, to the north of Rotelro Bridge. We've wasted enough time as it is... We'd better get moving. We reached Theor Forest, but perhaps in preparation for war, it was completely sealed off. We tried to convince them to let us through, but we couldn't gain their trust yet, so we ended up waiting at the entrance while Jade went to Grand Chokmah alone to get permission for us to pass. While we were waiting, all of a sudden we heard a soldier scream in the distance. That doesn't sound good... We'd better go see what's happening. Deeper in the forest, we found a soldier collapsed on the ground. It seems like he was attacked by Oracle Knights. They might be trying to break through the forest. At any rate, let's try and get to Grand Chokmah! Just when we were about to reach Grand Chokmah, Largo showed up and attacked us. So he's the one who attacked the Malkuth soldiers! But just then, Guy started attacking me all of a sudden, controlled by that curse slot. Ion said it was Sync that was controlling him. Then another earthquake occurred, and we managed to notice Sync hiding. Apparently they were trying to capture Ion. Finally some Malkuth soldiers showed up, and Largo and Sync ran off. We were able to protect Ion, but Guy's still unconscious, and we all ended up being arrested and taken to Grand Chokmah. ===================================== ========= | The Floating Capital, Grand Chokmah | | [SY043] | ============================================================================ At the entrance to Grand Chokmah, a soldier named General Frings took custody of us. Apparently he had come to meet us ad Jade's request. He got a room for us at the hotel so we could cure Guy's curse slot. I was going to follow him in, but Ion stopped me. Ion says that a curse slot can't make you do something you don't really want to do. So that means Guy must hate me enough to want to kill me. I can't believe it... Is it because of Akzeriuth? Or did I hurt Guy without knowing it...? General Frings noticed my shock, and made some time for me before we went to see the Emperor. I guess I should try to cool myself down a bit... I was really down and didn't feel like talking to anyone, but Tear brought me back to reality. Perhaps Guy did hate me once, she said, but even if so, he still came back to wait for me at the Yulia Road exit. ...Yeah. I saw him express his trust in me, through Asch's eyes. If there is a reason he hates me enough to want to kill me, I'm sure he'll tell me about it. I ought to trust him, just like he trusted me. Okay, now's not the time to be sitting around depressed. Let's go find Jade and Natalia, and see the Emperor. General Frings led us into the castle, and we met with Emperor Peony. There, we learned that things were just as bad as we had feared. Kimlasca had declared war on Malkuth, accusing them of killing me and Natalia in the Akzeriuth incident. So that's why things are so tense here... And there are reports that the ground near St. Binah is sinking, so it looks like there's a good possibility St. Binah really will collapse...even though its collapse isn't written in the Score. Even worse, the Malkuth army was just sitting around, despite being able to guess at the danger to St. Binah. Apparently they thought that Akzeriuth was the work of Kimlasca, done in order to create a reason to go to war, and that if the Malkuth army moved to St. Binah, it would suffer the same fate. I asked Emperor Peony to let us take care of evacuating the people of St. Binah. If we're the only ones to enter the town, the Malkuth army will be safe, whatever happens. I thought we could gain his trust that way. Jade also spoke up for us, and it was decided to implement the plan: we would work with the forces stationed in St. Binah to evacuate the citizens of the town. We've got to hurry to St. Binah now, but I'm still worried about Guy... Is he doing okay? We should probably stop by the hotel before we leave. When we reached the hotel, we found out that Ion had succeeded in removing the curse slot on Guy. Guy had already recovered, and he told me of his past. Guy was originally from Malkuth--he was the successor to the House of Count Gardios, the family that controlled Hod Island. But the Hod War broke out when he was still young, and his family, his servants...all were killed by the Kimlascan army...by my father, Duke Fabre. Guy managed to survive, and made his way into my mansion to exact revenge. But Guy really is mature. Even though I'm a replica, I'm still the son of his most hated enemy. It would only be natural for him to hate me--but he asked me to take him with me, saying there was something he wanted to confirm. I'm glad of it, but it must be hard on Guy. Still, he laughed like he always has, so I don't feel quite as bad. Guy really is a great person. I'm glad to have him as a friend. Not only Guy, but Anise and Ion also joined us as we left for St. Binah. Ion expressed a strong desire to come. Anise wanted him to stay here, but knowing him he'd probably just come along anyway, and besides, it's easier to protect him if he's with us. Now we just need to head for St. Binah. Let's do what we can. ==================== ========= | Collapsing Citadel | | [SY044] | ============================================================================ At St. Binah, the two McGoverns were arguing over whether to evacuate the townspeople or prepare for war. We delivered Emperor Peony's order, and they finally decided to abandon the town. Now we've got to lead everybody to Engeve. I won't let anything like what happened to Akzeriuth happen again, ever. Just as we were about to finish the evacuation, Dist appeared to try and capture Ion. Why does he keep getting in our way?! At this rate we won't be able to evacuate everyone in time! We managed to forcibly remove him, but by then the town had already started to fall, leaving former Field Marshal McGovern and several townspeople trapped on the other side of a hole in the ground. Guy then told us about a flying fon machine that was being developed in the city of Sheridan, in Kimlasca. We might be able to save everyone that's still trapped if we had that. Tear also told us that the situation in St. Binah looked more like when Hod fell than like Akzeriuth. Apparently, in the case of Hod, the land fell slowly until it reached a force field called the "dividing line" and collapsed into the Qliphoth right after passing that point. If that's the case, we still have some time. I don't know if it'll be enough, but let's head for Sheridan to see if we can borrow the flying machine. Sheridan is on the east side of the Radessian continent, where Ortion Cavern was. It's probably fastest to head straight west from Baticul. We'll have to return to the Rotelro Bridge and board the Tartarus. Let's hurry. ================================= ========= | The City of Craftsmen, Sheridan | | [SY045] | ============================================================================ Sheridan is a city of craftsmen. I know Guy likes fon machines, but I can't believe how excited he's acting at a time like this. Oh well... In any case, we need to find someone who knows something about that flying machine. On a lookout, we found some old men and a woman all excited about something. Apparently the "Albiore" crashed during a test flight... Wait, is that the flying machine?! We'd better ask that old man Iemon about what's going on. Iemon said that the flying machine Albiore crashed in the Meggiora Highlands, trapping its pilot inside. And with the strong wind gusts in the Meggiora Highlands, it could fall down from the ledge it's on at any moment. The pilot would die for sure, and we might even lose the hover drive, the most important thing needed for flight. The hover drive is a fon machine excavated from 2000-year-old ruins, and nobody knows enough about them to make a new one today, so we'll have to recover that one or we'll have no way to fly. We arranged to borrow the second Albiore, which is still under construction, in exchange for recovering the pilot and the hover drive. They'll take parts they need from the Tartarus and finish building the Albiore II while we're gone. We won't be able to use the Tartarus after that, but we don't have any other options. Okay, let's get moving. We've got to get to the Meggiora Highlands soon, or we'll lose both the pilot and the hover drive. The Meggiora Highlands were swarming with monsters, just like the rumors said. In order to save the pilot of the unstable Albiore, we'll have to use launcher devices to secure it from both sides. We don't have much time, so we're going to split into two groups. ================================ ========= | The Rescue and the Hover Drive | | [SY046] | ============================================================================ | This is pretty self-explanatory but this entry will show up if you manage | | to rescue Ginji from the ledge in time. | ============================================================================ We managed to reach the Albiore before it fell off the ledge, and rescued its pilot, Ginji. We also recovered the undamaged hover drive, so now we just have to bring it back to Iemon in Sheridan. We returned to Sheridan, and Ginji left us to deliver the hover drive to Iemon. Let's go see Iemon ourselves. When we arrived at the Albiore's dock to see Iemon, we were found by Kimlasca soldiers. They saw the Malkuth uniform Jade was wearing, and tried to capture us. I guess I can't blame them, being in a state of war and seeing an enemy soldier like that. We ran into the dock, and found that the Albiore was complete and ready to fly. We left Iemon and the others to handle the Kimlasca soldiers, and boarded the Albiore to go to St. Binah. Ginji's sister Noelle is piloting the Albiore for us. Thanks, Noelle! ================================ ========= | The Rescue and the Hover Drive | | [SY047] | ============================================================================ | If you're under-leveled or just plain mean, this is the entry that will | | show up if you don't manage to save Ginji in time. | ============================================================================ We rushed as fast as we could, but we weren't able to reach the Albiore before it fell of the ledge. By the time we found the pilot, Ginji, he was no longer breathing. Ginji, I'm sorry we couldn't save you... We recovered the hover drive, luckily undamaged. Let's take it back to Iemon in Sheridan. When we returned to Sheridan, a girl named Noelle was waiting for us. She took the hover drive from us to deliver to Iemon. Let's go see Iemon ourselves. We'll have to tell him about Ginji as well... When we arrived at the Albiore's dock to see Iemon, we were found by Kimlasca soldiers. They saw the Malkuth uniform Jade was wearing, and tried to capture us. I guess I can't blame them, being in a state of war and seeing an enemy soldier like that. We ran into the dock, and found that the Albiore was complete and ready to fly. We left Iemon and the others to handle the Kimlasca soldiers, and boarded the albiore to go to St. Binah. It turns out that Noelle is Ginji's sister, and she'll be piloting the Albiore for us. Sorry, Noelle... ================================== ========= | The Albiore and the Sinking Town | | [SY048] | ============================================================================ The Albiore managed to make it to St. Binah just in time. We picked up former Field Marshal McGovern and the other trapped people, and took off in the Albiore. Just then, St. Binah fell past the dividing line and collapsed into the Qliphoth. According to Tear, if we don't do anything, St. Binah will fall into the mantle and disappear. The people from St. Binah looked depressed at that. I tried really hard to think of how we could save the town. I thought about Akzeriuth... Could the reason only pieces of land remained be because of the hyperresonance I caused? In that case, since St. Binah's collapse was caused by Master Van doing something to the Sephiroth, couldn't we do something else to it and raise the land up again? But Tear said that nobody knows how to control the Sephiroth, so that would be difficult. I started to lose control and lashed out at everybody. I was mad that they wouldn't help me think of how to save St. Binah, that they didn't realize how much I wanted to avoid a second Akzeriuth. But then Jade scolded me. I think that's the first time he's ever done that. He's looked at me strangely, he's annoyed me, he's ignored me plenty of times, but he's never scolded me. Jade told me that everyone else wants to save St. Binah too. That's when I realized--everyone knew that panicking wouldn't accomplish anything, so they were trying to think calmly. Only I was flailing around like a stupid kid. I haven't changed at all... I'm really pathetic. Jade suggested that we ask about the Sephiroth at Yulia City. Yeah, that's probably best right now. Let's head for Yulia City. Teodoro was waiting for us at Yulia City... Apparently they had realized something was wrong when St. Binah collapsed. We placed the people from St. Binah in his custody before heading on. Just then, Mr. McGovern told me to cheer up--Jade wouldn't waste his time scolding people he didn't think were worth it. Really? I'd like to think so... It would mean I've regained a little bit of trust--no, I was probably never trusted in the first place, so maybe I've finally earned some trust for myself. But I can't let it go to my head. Anyway, I'll keep trying. Let's go see what Teodoro can tell us. I asked Teodoro if there was any way to save St. Binah and the lands around it. He said that there was no way to raise it back up to the height it used to be at, but it might be possible to keep it from sinking further. Here's how it would work. The Outer Lands are held up by power from the planet's vital points, the Sephiroth. Pillars called Sephiroth Trees are extended from the Sephiroth, creating a force field called the "dividing line" on which the Outer Lands rest. The Sephiroth Trees are created by devices called "passage rings" that control the Sephiroth. That's how Master Van was able to make the Sephiroth Tree beneath St. Binah disappear. So if we reactivate the Sephiroth Tree, we should be able to create a force field above the mantle that will keep the area around St. Binah afloat. That may be the limit of what we could do, but Teodoro says it should be possible. The passage ring that was supporting the area around St. Binah is apparently under Shurrey Hill. Ion said he was brought there when he was captured on the Tartarus and forced to remove the Daathic seal. That's one of several seals the passage rings were protected with, since they're such important devices. Master Van must have gotten around all of them somehow. It's also necessary to use the Seventh Fonon to operate the passage ring, but that shouldn't be a problem. We've got two Seventh Fonists with us, Tear and Natalia, and it seems like even I can use the Seventh Fonon. Sitting around sulking won't help St. Binah. Let's see what we can do at Shurrey Hill. ================== ========= | The Passage Ring | | [SY049] | ============================================================================ We arrived at Shurrey Hill. The Daathic seal is already gone, so let's head inside. We came as far as the device that's presumably the passage ring, but it doesn't respond to anything we do. Apparently it's still sealed by the Yulian seal. That's odd... I thought Master Van removed that seal. Maybe he sealed it again? Let's look around Shurrey Hill and see if we can find a way to unseal the passage ring. Well, we've done what we can. I was worried that we still wouldn't be able to use the passage ring, but it reacted to Tear and started up. I wonder if it's because Tear is a descendant of Yulia. Anyway, we were about to try and use the passage ring, but it looks like Master Van was a step ahead of us--he set the passage ring so that the Sephiroth Tree couldn't be regenerated. Put simply, he's made a valve out of some sort of code that closed off the Sephiroth. We were stuck, so I asked if there was any way I could use hyperresonance to erase the valve. I have been practicing the use of hyperresonance, after all... Jade said that it could work, so I gave it a shot. The passage ring control panel is something like a picture, with all the information represented graphically. So if the part of the picture representing the valve is erased, then the code will disappear too. I followed Jade's instructions, using hyperresonance to cut the valve part out, and succeeded in reviving the Sephiroth Tree. I did it! But just as I was getting elated, we found out that things were much worse than we thought. It turns out that the Sephiroth Tree controlled here had been supporting almost the entire continent of Rugnica. At the very least, it looks like Engeve is going to fall as well. We can't just sit around here--we have to evacuate everybody from Engeve! With the comparatively light weight of the Albiore, it should be easy to use the remaining power of the Sephiroth to return to the Outer Lands. Let's head for the hole in the Outer Lands northeast of Yulia City. =============== ========= | The Binah War | | [SY050] | ============================================================================ We returned to the Outer Lands...and found that Kimlasca and Malkuth had gone to war. So we weren't able to stop the war after all... Worse, the battles were occurring throughout the East Rugnica Plains. The Sephiroth Tree that was supporting this area is already gone--at this rate, all the soldiers on the battlefield will die. Tear said that this was Master Van's real aim. There was a reason he was trying to make people follow the Score he hated so much: by causing a war and then removing the Sephiroth Tree under the battlefield, he could eliminate a large number of people from the Outer Lands all at once. But why is Master Van trying to kill people here? Is it revenge for Hod? Thinking about that won't help us right now. We've got to stop the war and get everyone out of the area. We decided to split into two groups: one group going with Natalia to negotiate a cease-fire, and the other going with Jade to evacuate the people of Engeve. ====================== ========= | Civilians in Wartime | | [SY051] | ============================================================================ | This only appears if Luke goes with Jade to Engeve. It doesn't matter who | | your third party member is since they don't get mentioned. | ============================================================================ Jade consulted with the people of Engeve, and it was decided to have Noelle carry the women, children, and elderly in the Albiore, while the rest crossed the battlefield on foot, heading for Chesedonia. It's dangers, but given the limited space on the Albiore, it's the only way we'll make it in time. We'll have to be careful not to get caught up in any battles if we can help it. We heard a lot of shocking things on the way to Chesedonia. It seems that both the incident at Akzeriuth and this war have disrupted the lives of many people. When we reached Chesedonia, for some reason Natalia was there as well. Apparently she had crossed the battlefield to meet Count Almandine, the commander-in-chief, about a cease-fire. ================ ========= | The Cease-Fire | | [SY052] | ============================================================================ | This one only appears if Luke goes with Natalia to Kaitzur. Again, it | | doesn't matter who your third party member is. | ============================================================================ Natalia found General Cecille about to march, and asked her to stop the fighting, but she said that only the Commander-In-Chief, Almandine, had the authority to order a cease-fire, and he was in Chesedonia. Natalia decided to cross the battlefield for Chesedonia in order to speak with Almandine, but we'll have to try and avoid running into any enemies--we're not going out for the purpose of fighting, after all. On the way to Chesedonia, General Frings and General Cecille both visited us, and ran into each other. Both of them are good people, but I guess the enemy really is the enemy. When we reached Chesedonia, we found Jade there as well. Apparently Grand Chokmah was closed as a defensive measure, so he led the people of Engeve across the battlefield to Chesedonia. For all that it may have been read in the Score as necessary for future prosperity, I still don't like war. I can't say whether it's good or bad, I just don't like it...and I'm afraid of it. We'll have to find Count Almandine and persuade him to stop the war. I hope we find him soon. ================== ========= | A Fake Princess? | | [SY053] | ============================================================================ We found Almandine with Mohs near the border in the center of Chesedonia. But just as we tried to persuade him to order a cease-fire, Mohs said something unthinkable. He claimed that Natalia was a fake princess. That's impossible! I couldn't believe it, but Mohs said he had proof. That made getting a cease-fire hopeless, and Count Almandine returned to the battlefield. Mohs seems satisfied in getting the war started like the Score says. And to think that Yulia City is so concerned about St. Binah falling...how can he still think the war is the key to prosperity?! As if that wasn't bad enough, Mohs suggested to Ion that he return to Daath, and amazingly, Ion agreed. I don't know what he's planning, but I'm worried that Master Van will capture him again if he leaves our side. But Mohs denied that possibility. He doesn't seem to approve of Van destroying the Sephiroth Trees and making the Outer Lands fall. It looks like Mohs and Master Van have different plans. Then I guess Ion's safe for the moment... Ion left Anise with us, then returned to Daath with Mohs. We decided to head for Baticul as a last resort and try to convince Uncle to stop the war. But the Albiore is being used to carry people from Engeve, so we can't use it right now. Worse, we entered from the Malkuth side, and with the war going on the border is closed. If we can't cross over to Kimlasca, we can't reach Baticul. There must be a way around... We'll just have to search every nook and cranny in the town. In order to cross the border, we tried entering the bar, which has doors on both sides, thinking we could just enter from one side and leave from the other. But inside, the Dark Wings were demanding bribes to let people through. We made a deal with them and managed to make it to the Kimlasca side of the border...but just how long do we have to put up with them getting in our way, anyway?! Well, I guess getting angry won't solve anything. Let's hurry to Baticul! When we tried to leave Chesedonia for the desert, for some reason we were stopped. Apparently something's happened in the desert. A Kimlasca soldier went to Astor's place to report... Let's go ask Astor what happened. =========================== ========= | The Fate of the Villagers | | [SY054] | ============================================================================ We met with Astor, and apparently Ion had already asked him to take in the people of Engeve, so he agreed readily. Whew...they would have been in a tough situation if they'd been turned out. ======================= ========= | A Prelude to Collapse | | [SY055] | ============================================================================ The news about the desert that had been brought to Astor was serious: the entire area around Chesedonia and the Zao Desert was sinking. That's the same as St. Binah... Master Van must have removed the Sephiroth Tree under this area too. And with this war going on, there's no way we can evacuate everybody like we did with St. Binah and Engeve. What can we do...? Jade had an interesting answer to that question. Once a Sephiroth Tree has disappeared, it won't be able to support the Outer Lands above it again even if it's restored. But if we use it the same way we did to keep St. Binah afloat, we might be able to lower the falling land gently, like an elevator. If we can manage that, then we won't have to worry about people dying from the impact with the Qliphoth on the surface, even if we can't evacuate them. There's still the problem of the miasma in the Qliphoth, but at least we can keep everything from being destroyed at once. It's better than doing nothing, at least. The passage ring that controlled the Sephiroth Tree in this area is in the Zao Ruins. Ion's already opened the Daathic seal there, so we should be able to reach the passage ring by ourselves. Let's head for the Zao Ruins. But I have to admit I'm worried about Natalia. She's pushing herself to help us do what we need to, but the shock of being called an imposter is really telling on her. She probably likes Asch, so maybe he could comfort her... After all, he's...the real me. As we were about to leave for the Zao Ruins, Asch contacted me through that channel again, and told us to go to the oasis. Tear was worried that Master Van might be behind it, but at this point I don't think Asch is connected to either him or Mohs. Anyway, let's head for the desert oasis and see what he has to say. Asch and I met for the first time in a while, and I was sure he was going to start in on me again, but he just asked if anything strange was happening to me. What's with him? When I told him no, he tried to leave again, and just when he'd dragged us all out here. What's his problem, anyway? When I pressed him, he finally told us that the area around Engeve had started to fall, and the battlefield's going to go with it. Even if we're able to let the area around Chesedonia down safely, we wouldn't be able to save the people on the battlefield... But when Asch heard what we were planning to do, he suggested a way to save the battlefield as well. He said that we could operate the passage ring at Shurrey Hill remotely, lowering the battlefield area slowly along with Chesedonia. Apparently the Sephiroth are all connected to each other, so one passage ring can be used to control another if they're both already activated--at least in theory. All we can do now is try it and hope for the best... Asch left then, saying he was going to see what Master Van was up to, and we started for the Zao Ruins. We were able to reach the place where the Daathic seal had been with no trouble. A monster that had been living in the ruins got in our way, but we were able to defeat it, so we shouldn't have anything else to worry about. The area beyond here is probably another relic structure from the days of the Fonic War, just like at Shurrey Hill. Let's go find that passage ring. We succeeded in operating the passage ring in the same way we did at Shurrey Hill. Jade gave me instructions to carve away this, connect that, and I followed them. I still don't quite understand how it all works, but in the end it looks like we managed to control the passage ring at Shurrey Hill as well, just like Asch said. We waited for a while, until it seemed like the area had reached the Qliphoth safely. Okay, let's head outside and see if it really has. I'm a bit worried about Tear, though...she got dizzy when we were operating the passage ring, and she doesn't look too good. Guy was thinking about something, too--I wonder what... When we got outside, we saw that we really were in the Qliphoth. But to return to the Outer Lands from here, we'll need the Albiore. Noelle was supposed to meet us in Chesedonia... I'm sure she'll have made it even if she had to land while it was descending. Let's go to Chesedonia and see if we can find her. ========================== ========= | Diverging from the Score | | [SY056] | ============================================================================ Noelle was waiting for us in Chesedonia. I knew she'd make it. She really is amazing. As soon as we found her, Jade asked her to fly around the Qliphoth so that he could check something. He didn't say what, but when he gets like that there's always something up. I just hope it's nothing bad... Well, anyway, let's go fly around the Qliphoth a bit. Once we were airborne, we saw right away what Jade was worried about. The Sephiroth Trees supporting the outer lands were flickering, bright one moment, dim the next as if they were going to disappear... That can't be normal. Jade said it was because the Sephiroth were out of control. That was also part of the reason for all the earthquakes on the Outer Lands--they weren't just because of the land falling. Jade said that there was a warning on the passage ring control panel about the passage rings reaching their endurance limit. He said some sort of influence on the Sephiroth probably made them go out of control, and the passage rings hadn't been able to deal with it. At this rate the passage rings will stop functioning soon, and the Sephiroth Trees will all disappear. If that happens, all of the Outer Lands will fall into the Qliphoth, killing everyone in the collapse. That can't be... What can we do...? It seems even the people of Yulia City didn't expect that to happen. I guess that's not surprising, since the fall of St. Binah wasn't foretold by the Score either. Could this be the first time that Yulia's Score has been wrong...? Tear says that there are some things even Teodoro, the mayor of Yulia City, isn't allowed to know, and that they may say something about what's happening. The only one who is permitted access to those materials is the Fon Master--so Ion might be able to tell us something. Natalia was worried about the war, but after the descent into the Qliphoth, I doubt either side is thinking about that. We decided to see Ion before heading to Baticul. He should be in Daath--I hope he can help us... Travelers in Daath were up in arms about being trapped with no ships running. But with eighty percent of Rugnica as well as the Zao Desert gone, it's certainly no time to be traveling on the sea. Apparently the war's come to a halt too, so we'd better go see if Ion can help us. Apparently Ion's room is protected against intruders by a fonic glyph that only executives of the Order can use. But Anise knows how to use it, so let's go find that fonic glyph. Ion wasn't in his room. And talk about bad timing--just as we entered, we heard Mohs and Dist approaching, so we hid in the shadows. Fortunately, they didn't notice us, and we were able to overhear them talking about using Ion to restart the war. How can they still be thinking about that at a time like this? I can't believe it... It looks like Mohs is trying to get the war restarted to fulfill the Score, while Dist is bouncing back and forth between Mohs and Master Van for his own ends. So what's Master Van trying to do? Is he really trying to exterminate humanity? Since it's pretty clear what Mohs is up to, it might be better to take care of him first. In any case, we still have to talk to Ion. Mohs said he's in the library-- let's go see him. ================== ========= | The Closed Score | | [SY057] | ============================================================================ Ion was surprised at us turning up. We explained to him what was going on, and asked him if there was anything in Yulia's Score about the Sephiroth going out of control. But Ion said he didn't know about the Closed Score, even though he should be able to access all the Order's information. Apparently he'd never bothered to check it. Why not? Even if Mohs had kept him from doing it, isn't that odd? Putting that aside, Ion said that the fall of Akzeriuth and everything else that's happened motivated him to return to Daath in order to investigate the Closed Score. If he'd known it earlier, he probably would have realized when we met that I would destroy Akzeriuth. But Ion couldn't recall anything about the Sephiroth going out of control, even in the Closed Score. In order to confirm what Yulia's Score actually says, we went to the chapel, where Ion says he can read the Score, including the Closed Score. Yulia's Score is extremely long, and would take a great deal of time to read in its entirety, so Ion only read the parts that dealt with the collapse of land in recent years--though the Seventh Fonstone is missing, so it's only up to what the Sixth Fonstone has. But we didn't learn anything new from the Score Ion read to us. We were talking about whether the Seventh Fonstone might have any information of use when Tear said something strange. She pointed out that Yulia's Score doesn't say anything about replicas--about me. Does that mean that we've already diverged from the Score? And if so...is it because I was born? As we were thinking about that, we were suddenly attacked by Oracle Knights. If they're coming after us, they must be the Grand Maestro faction! We can't afford to be captured here--we'd better flee to the Albiore, outside Daath. Mohs was a step ahead of us--by the time we got to the edge of Daath, he had already blocked the exit. Tear tried to tell him that the Score wasn't functioning anymore, but he insisted on holding to it, and went on to say that if I die and the war starts, the world will enter an age of great prosperity. We tried to escape from him, but Dist had taken Noelle hostage as well. In the end, he captured us, and seems to intend to use us at Baticul to restart the war. Isn't there anything we can do? ====================== ========= | The Baticul Incident | | [SY058] | ============================================================================ Natalia and I were separated from the others and brought to Natalia's room, inside the castle. We were going to be executed there by poison. But then we heard Tear singing a fonic hymn, and everyone showed up--how did they get free? It probably would have been better to flee, but Natalia insisted on going to see Uncle, to find out why he ordered our deaths. I feel the same way. And besides, we have to see him to keep the war from getting restarted as well. Everyone went along with us. It'll be dangerous, but let's head for the audience hall. When we entered the audience hall, Mohs, Largo, and Dist were there too-- along with Natalia's wet-nurse. There, Natalia learned that she was in fact her nanny's granddaughter. The real Natalia was stillborn, which left the Queen consort herself in shock, so Natalia's wet-nurse switched the dead baby for her own just-born granddaughter. Uncle ordered me and Natalia killed, saying he would then declare war on Malkuth. But he didn't look at us when he said it. I think he wasn't sure of himself. He believed that Yulia's Score was still functional, and listened to Mohs in order to fulfill the Score and bring about prosperity. Yes, it may be perfectly natural to follow the Score, and it may be hard to even imagine going against it. But Uncle...is this really what you want? Uncle didn't listen, and we were trapped--but then Asch came in and saved us. Apparently he's the one who saved the others before. We left him to deal with the situation and fled the castle. Now we've got to get out of Baticul...that's our only way to survive. As we left the castle, Pere the gardener and the White Knights from the manor came out to help us. Thanks! Soldiers kept coming after us, but the people of Baticul came to our aid. They were all people who'd been helped by Natalia's policies of aiding the weak. Natalia may not be a princess, but she's certainly done the job of one. How come she's being thrown out of the castle? When we had almost made it out of Baticul, General Goldberg charged after us, not even hesitating to attack the townspeople in his way. But Asch caught up with us and stopped him. The townspeople helped us escape, and told us to flee through Inista Marsh to the west, since the Zao Desert has fallen. Thank you all... I just hope you don't suffer for letting us get away. =================== ========= | Through the Marsh | | [SY059] | ============================================================================ Inista Marsh is the largest marsh in the world. With the dangerous monsters living here, almost nobody passes through, but we don't have any other choice. I'm worried about Asch, who we left behind in Baticul, but the longer we stay here, the greater risk we run of being caught. We'll have to make it through here and to Belkend, beyond the marsh. There's an incredibly tough monster called a Behemoth living in Inista Marsh. I don't know whether it has some sort of special power or what, but we couldn't do anything at all against it. Since we can't defeat it, we'll have to run if we encounter it. The Behemoth is a problem, but I'm worried about Natalia, too... She's been looking down ever since we left Baticul. I can't blame her. It was really tough on me when I found out I was a replica, after all. Guy tried to cheer her up, but she probably still hurts inside. Just as we were about to make i tout of the marsh, the Behemoth attacked again. We did manage to make it away, though--for some reason it flinched from my attack. Why would that be? Up until now we hadn't been able to even scratch it. Jade said Tear's fonic hymns might have had something to do with it, but who can tell? Anyway, we managed to make it out of Inista Marsh, so let's head for Belkend. It's west of here along the mountain range. =================================== ========= | The City of Fon Machines, Belkend | | [SY060] | ============================================================================ When we got to Belkend, Jade told me that when he was here with Asch, he'd heard Spinoza talking about working with Van. Well, yeah, I saw that too. Anyway, as long as we're here we might as well see if he has anything to tell us. ======================= ========= | An Unexpected Meeting | | [SY061] | ============================================================================ At the laboratory, Oracle Knights mistook me for Asch and took me to Master Van. It's the first time I've seen him since Akzeriuth. It seems like Master Van really does hate the Score. He said that Lorelei, the collective consciousness of the Seventh Fonon, is what's creating the Score, so he's going to destroy Lorelei and free the world from the Score. And his plan for doing that is to drop the Outer Lands into the Qliphoth. I can't understand how the collapse of the Outer Lands could free the world from the Score, but Master Van doesn't seem to care that doing so will destroy all of humanity. He says that since everybody living now is controlled by the Score, with no free will of their own, he'll just replace them with replicas. ...So Master Van's plan is to create a replica world? The meeting ended with Asch coming in to intervene. Master Van called me an inferior product, and asked Asch, my original, to help him. So I was just a replacement for Asch from the beginning... And it looks like Guy used to be on Master Van's side--though I'm sure he isn't now. But it looks like I've really been alone from the beginning... As we left Master Van, Asch said he had something to give us. He'll be waiting for us at the inn... No, stop it! Getting all depressed over the obvious won't solve anything! Yeah, it's tough to hear about Guy and Master Van, but it's the truth. Besides, how can I not trust Guy? Okay, let's settle myself down and head for the inn. ============================== ========= | The Forbidden Text's Secrets | | [SY062] | ============================================================================ When we reached the inn, Noelle was there--apparently Asch saved her as well. Dammit, how come he gets all the glory? Noelle told us that she had come here on the Albiore, but the Albiore's flightstone had been taken away, so it can only travel on the water now. But at least it gives us a way to get around. The thing Asch had for us was a book sent by Ion--Jade called it a forbidden text, and said it was a history book about the Dawn Age. Jade's the only one among us who could understand it, so we left it to him, and decided to spend the night at the inn. We learned some important information from the forbidden text. Let's see if I can summarize it. Our current problem is that the Sephiroth are out of control, and the Outer Lands are facing the threat of collapse. We don't even know the reason for the behavior of the Sephiroth. At this rate, all of humanity could die. In order to avoid that, one thing we could do is lower the entire Outer Lands into the Qliphoth, like we did with Chesedonia. There's still the problem of the miasma, but in any case, the Outer Lands used to be in the Qliphoth, so we'd just be returning Auldrant to its original form. But even if we do that, the out-of-control Sephiroth won't be able to keep the land afloat forever, and it'll eventually sink into the liquefied crust of the Qliphoth. So we'll have to solidify the crust first. Basically, we have to find a way to solidify the crust and then lower the Outer Lands. So why did the crust of the Qliphoth turn liquid in the first place? The forbidden text had an answer for that. It says that the cause of the liquefaction is the Planet Storm, an important facility that carries energy throughout the world. The Planet Storm is causing the core to vibrate, and those vibrations are resonating throughout the planet. But if we stopped the Planet Storm, fonic artes and fontech would be drastically weakened, and we'd lose a lot of resources, so that's not an option. As an alternative, the book described research that had been done on stopping the core's vibration while leaving the Planet Storm active. But since it wasn't written in the Score, nobody until now has paid attention to either the core's vibration or the possibility of Planet Storm stopping. The Score may have been an absolute before, but now there's a good chance it's not even functioning anymore. I think we should go ahead and stop the core's vibration to solidify the crust, then lower the Outer Lands. In order to stop the core's vibration, we'll need to recreate a fon machine based on the forbidden text, so we'll need help from researchers. The researchers here are all under the eye of Master Van or Father...it'll be too dangerous to ask them. But then Guy said he had a thought, and suggested looking for someone named Hencken at the fon machine laboratory. Let's go see if we can find him. We found Hencken in the laboratory. At first he refused to help us, but the instant we mentioned the name of Iemon, from Sheridan, his mood changed completely. He even volunteered to talk the governor into helping keep the research secret from Master Van. Apparently there's some sort of rivalry between Iemon and Hencken. Guy knew about it and used it to convince Hencken to help. He and his partner Cathy ran off to the governor's mansion even before we were able to explain what we wanted. Oh well, let's go follow them. The governor of Belkend is subordinate to Father. I was worried that he'd report us, but Hencken and Cathy handled the situation well, so that the problem was taken care of. But before they can construct the actual device, they said they need to know the core's vibration frequency. In order to measure that, we'll have to find a Sephiroth Tree that's still supporting the Outer Lands, but the only Sephiroth we know are the ones we already lowered into the Qliphoth. (Actually, it seems that the locations of the Sephiroth themselves are known, but not the locations of the passage rings.) So it's time to ask Ion again. He should have the Daathic seal protecting them. We left the construction of the measuring device to Hencken and Cathy, and left for Daath to pick up Ion. When we left the governor's mansion, we saw Spinoza outside--he'd been listening in on us. He got away, undoubtedly to tell Master Van of what we're planning. Our plans would probably cause problems for Master Van, and more than anything, he's got the laboratory under his control, so Hencken and Cathy could be in danger. We were about to chase after Spinoza, but then Asch said he'd take care of Spinoza, so we should go and get Ion. Something about the way he said it made me really mad, and I started arguing with him. Eventually it was decided that Asch would go after Spinoza and we'd see to Ion...but to be honest, I want to find Spinoza myself. Before Asch does. I can't stand losing to him. I will head for Daath...but you guys don't mind a little side trip, right? ============ ========= | After Him! | | [SY063] | ============================================================================ | This entry only shows up if you do what Luke wants and chase after | | Spinoza. Otherwise, it skips this entry and goes to Rejoining Ion [SY064]. | ============================================================================ Everyone got angry with me, but I ended up checking around various towns to try and find Spinoza. Just wait, I'll get to him before Asch! That was the plan, anyway, but it turns out that Asch had hired the Dark Wings, and he worked with them to find Spinoza. Damn...I keep on losing to Asch. Oh well, let's get going to Daath. =============== ========= | Rejoining Ion | | [SY064] | ============================================================================ Well, we finally made it to Daath. We'd better be careful this time not to get caught by Mohs. The first thing we did was to check with Anise's parents on what the Oracle Knights were doing. According to them, Mohs and the God-Generals were all out of Daath at the moment. They said Arietta might return soon, so now's our chance. Let's get Ion out while we can. We met Ion and explained everything that had happened, and Ion agreed to come with us. He says that there's a passage ring in Tataroo Valley. Let's go report to Hencken. As we were leaving the church, Asch used his channel to contact me. He said that Spinoza got away from him, and Master Van has found us out. Give me a break! What was all that about "I'll go find him"?! Some job you did! Well, at least Asch finally sounded concerned. He said he got Hencken and Cathy out of Belkend on a ship of Sheridan, so I guess we'll be heading for Sheridan now. ================== ========= | Painful Memories | | [SY065] | ============================================================================ Just as we were about to leave Daath, we ran into Arietta, who had just returned. Things got ugly pretty quick, but then Anise's mother, Pamela, got badly injured protecting Ion. We managed to stop Arietta, but Pamela was in bad condition. And it looks like the scene triggered something in Guy's memories. Things finally settled down, and we managed to get Pamela to safety and see to her injuries. Once her condition was stable, I headed for the chapel to talk to Guy. Guy had remembered the time during the Hod War when his family had been killed. In order to protect him, the heir to the house of Gardios, his sister and servants gave their lives, throwing themselves between him and the attacking soldiers. He lost consciousness then, but when he woke, he was buried beneath the bloody bodies of his sister and the maids. Ever since then, the touch of a woman unconsciously brought up the terror of that instant. ...It's my father that caused Guy such painful memories. I can't apologize enough to Guy... But Guy laughed and said he was fine. I feel bad for him, but it's dangerous to stay here any longer than we have to, so we'd better hurry to Sheridan. ============================= ========= | Preparing to Lower the Land | | [SY066] | ============================================================================ The Dark Wings were waiting for us in Sheridan, and said that they'd brought Hencken and Cathy with them. I have no clue why we're getting along with those guys, but now's not the time to be thinking about that. Let's go see Hencken and Cathy. We found Cathy and Tamara outside the meeting all. Apparently Hencken and Iemon are fighting inside. Can't they at least show a little maturity at that age? It wasn't easy, but the two finally agreed to work with each other. They've certainly got plenty of energy for their age. In any case, we got the measuring device. While we measure the core's vibration frequency in Tataroo Valley, they'll build us a device to stop the vibration. Okay, let's get going to Tataroo Valley! ================================ ========= | The Place Where It All Started | | [SY067] | ============================================================================ When we reached Tataroo Valley, I made a comment about the last time I was here that had the girls making fun of me. ...And Tear was cold to me. That kind of hurt. Why is she always so cold to me...? I guess I'm still a loser. As we went farther into the valley, we came across a rare butterfly that can be sold for a lot of money. Anise left us and ran after it... She's just as bad as always when it comes to money. I'm hardly one to comment, but how is she going to manage when she grows up? Just then, an earthquake occurred, and Anise almost fell off the edge of the cliff she was running along. And Guy saved her! The same Guy who couldn't stand even the lightest touch of a woman...that's a huge step for him. I hope the pain in his heart heals quickly. We found a path we had missed at night, and followed it to find a doorway with a Daathic seal. This must be where the passage ring is. As we were going to enter, a monster called a uniceros appeared. Uniceros don't normally attack people, but this one suddenly charged us. We managed to knock it unconscious, then had Mieu talk to it. It said that it didn't like miasma, and since Tear had miasma in her, it had attacked us unthinkingly. Tear has miasma in her? What's that supposed to mean? The uniceros eventually left, but I wonder if Tear's okay... Ion opened the door for us. It seemed hard on him... I wonder if it's just because his body is weak. Come to think of it, Tear always seems to get tired when she approaches a passage ring. I hope she'll be okay... Not that I have any idea what to do about it, so we might as well head inside. We measured the core's vibration frequency, and made preparations for lowering the Outer Lands while we were at it. According to Jade, the plan is to link all the remaining passage rings together, and have them lower the Outer Lands all at once. Well, if Jade says so... Oops, I was trying not to just blindly rely on people like that. I wonder why I keep trying to do that... I guess I'd better be careful. Anyway, we did what we came for. Let's head back to Sheridan and report the results. ==================== ========= | Unifying the World | | [SY068] | ============================================================================ When we got back to Sheridan, Iemon and the others said they were modifying the Tartarus to use in neutralizing the core's vibration. After all the time it's been sitting in the port, it's finally got a job to do--and what a job! They said it'll still take a while to finish their work, so we handed over the measurements we'd made and headed outside to kill some time. Since we had the time, I brought up something that's been bothering me for a while. I was wondering whether it was really okay for us to go ahead with the preparations for lowering the Outer Lands all on our own. If we go and actually do it without getting permission from Emperor Peony and Uncle, things might get ugly. Everybody agreed, but Natalia seemed uneasy. I can't blame her... After all, Uncle tried to kill both of us, and she thinks she's not a real princess. Natalia asked us to let her think it over, so we headed for the inn to get some rest. I woke up early in the morning at a sound from nearby. Apparently Natalia had left her room. I was a little worried, so I followed after her, and saw her talking with Asch. I watched them for a little while, but their conversation started to get pretty deep and I thought I shouldn't be listening in. So I headed back to the inn--and there was Tear, who scolded me for that very thing. I sure do get scolded a lot, don't I? Seeing Asch and Natalia like that might have made me a bit uncertain of myself... I started talking about how things might have been if I hadn't been born. But then Tear said that my experiences and feelings are my own and that I shouldn't deny them. Yeah...I wish I could believe that. I'm sure I'll be able to...someday. In any case, Asch's encouragement seems to have helped Natalia make up her mind, so we headed off to Baticul. We've got to convince Uncle somehow. ===================== ========= | Father and Daughter | | [SY069] | ============================================================================ With Ion's help, we were able to enter Baticul. Last time we ended up being chased out, but this time we have to convince Uncle, no matter what. When we saw Uncle, it looked like he really did care about Natalia. Jade handed him a document explaining the situation, and we left to wait for his decision. It'll be a whole day before we find out Uncle's decision. We don't dare stay at my manor, so let's take a room in a city inn for tonight. When we went to the audience hall the next day, Mohs was there as well, just as I'd feared. I was worried about how things would go, but it looks like Uncle decided that we couldn't simply rely on the Score anymore--and that Natalia was his beloved daughter, connected by blood or not. Uncle and Natalia made up with each other. I hope they can form a good father-daughter relationship again. So we've got Kimlasca's cooperation. Now we need to see about Malkuth-- let's go meet with Emperor Peony. Emperor Peony had no reason not to want a truce with Kimlasca. He agreed to the lowering of the Outer Lands, and to holding a conference on ending the war in Yulia City. But if it's going to be in Yulia City, we'll need to get the Albiore flying again. Apparently Dist has the flightstone, the fonstone that controls the hover drive, so we'll have to go to Daath to get it back. Let's go! ============================ ========= | Retrieving the Flightstone | | [SY070] | ============================================================================ When we reached Daath, Dist threw a letter at us, saying to come to Keterburg if we wanted to get the flightstone back. But it was an obvious lie, and Jade, who knows Dist best, said to just ignore it. So we went to see Maestro Tritheim to check whether Dist had returned to Daath. Tritheim told us that Dist had come back once, and left again immediately. It sounds like he really did go to Keterburg. Did he take the flightstone with him? We were told to ask Dist's assistant Reiner for details, so we headed for Oracle Headquarters to find him. As soon as we entered Oracle Headquarters, we were attacked by Oracle soldiers under orders from Dist. ...So the flightstone's here after all. Let's go find that Reiner! We found Reiner performing service exercises, and he was indeed holding the flightstone for Dist. I was trying to think of how to convince him to let us have it when Tear used a fonic hymn to put him to sleep, and we just took the flightstone from him. It's for a good cause, but we're almost like the bad guys here... But then again, with Jade here we're already pretty close to bad guys anyway. Anyway, let's get out of here. We were pretty much all set for the conference and were going to go pick up the rulers of both countries, but then Ion proposed that we include Astor to represent Chesedonia as well, even though it's not a full nation. I have no problem with that--the more people we can get to agree to our plan, the better. So we decided to head for Chesedonia first and talk to Astor, while Noelle transported the other heads of state to Yulia City. ===================== ========= | Treaty Preparations | | [SY071] | ============================================================================ We separated from Noelle at Chesedonia. She'll take care of getting Their Majesties of Kimlasca and Malkuth to Yulia City, so let's go see Astor. Astor agreed readily to joining the conference. I asked about how life in the Qliphoth has been, and he said that it's pretty tough. Once we get the Outer Lands lowered, we'll still need to do something about the miasma, but what...? In any case, we took care of inviting him to the conference, so we headed to the inn to rest while we waited for Noelle to return. I couldn't stop worrying about the miasma, so I asked Tear about it. She said that if it stays around too long, the situation would become really bad. But even my hyperresonance can't eliminate the miasma... Tear cheered me up then. There's a huge difference between the times she's nice to me and the times she's cold...does she hate me after all? If so... In any case, Noelle rejoined us the next morning, and told us all the heads of state had arrived in Yulia City. At last, we'll get the peace treaty signed. Let's go to Yulia City! ================== ========= | The Peace Treaty | | [SY072] | ============================================================================ With Teodoro as mediator, the peace treaty was signed. But we learned some startling truths at the conference. It started off with Guy. Apparently he'd been waiting for this moment, to find out from the rulers of both countries why Hod had been destroyed. He was about to exact revenge on Uncle and Father (though I don't think he was serious--it looked more like a bluff), but then Emperor Peony and Jade revealed the truth behind the destruction of Hod. It wasn't Kimlasca that had destroyed Hod, but Malkuth, in order to keep Kimlasca from learning about the experiments it had been performing on Hod. Malkuth then used that as an excuse to declare war on Kimlasca. That's just the same as Akzeriuth! Hod was destroyed through hyperresonance, which was already being researched at the time. They connected a fomicry subject, a child, to a device that artificially generated a hyperresonance. And that child was none other than Master Van! I finally understand why Master Van knew so much about hyperresonance, about fomicry. He was a subject of fomicry experiments, too. With everything that was revealed, it was decided to adjourn the conference for a short time. At least the peace treaty was signed, but still... We have some time before things settle down and any decisions are made, so we decided to wander around Yulia City for a while. We can find out what we need to do by talking to Teodoro when they're finished. I just hope that the truth about Hod doesn't stir up any new problems... Apparently the plan to lower the Outer Lands was agreed to at the treaty conference as well, and Yulia City will cooperate with Belkend in researching the miasma. I hope it all works out. We headed for Sheridan to see about stopping the core's vibration. =============================== ========= | Stopping the Core's Vibration | | [SY073] | ============================================================================ At Sheridan, all the preparations were complete. We'll be taking the Tartarus in to the core, then using it to neutralize the core's vibrations by vibrating at the same frequency. Then we'll escape in the Albiore, leaving the Tartarus in the core. Because of technical limitations, we'll only have just enough time to get in and out... It'll be dangerous, but we'll have to accept that. The operation will start when we talk to Iemon, so let's make sure to prepare ourselves well so we have no regrets. The operation's started. But just as we were getting started for the Tartarus, located in Port Sheridan, Legretta attacked us. Damn, it looks like they're going to try and stop us after all. We don't have time to fight our way through her and her soldiers. ...So Iemon and Tamara helped us escape. If we flee to the port, we'll be abandoning them and the people of Sheridan...but if we don't go, we won't be able to silence the core's vibration. We had no choice but to leave them. We were able to escape from Sheridan, thanks to the sacrifices made by the townspeople. We need to head for the port, so that their deaths don't go for nothing. Iemon...everyone...I'm sorry. When we reached the port, Master Van himself showed up, led by Spinoza. The bastard, selling out his own friends! Iemon and everybody died because of him! Master Van tried to stop us. But Hencken and Cathy threw themselves in his way to protect us. I really wanted to save them...but then, again, we'd fail in silencing the core. We can't afford that failure. Once again, we had to watch people who had helped us die. We paid a great price, but were finally able to arrive at the core. But when we got there, we found that Sync had made his way aboard. He must've snuck on while we were being delayed. Dammit! I won't let the God- Generals get in the way! We defeated Sync, but then the mask he always wears fell off, and I couldn't believe what I saw: Sync and Ion had the same face. Sync, and even Ion, were replicas of the original Fon Master Ion, who had died two years ago. Arietta had be reassigned from her post with the Fon Master Guardians, and Anise added in her stead, so that the switch wouldn't be noticed. Sync said that he was nothing more than a discarded defect, mere trash, and threw himself into the core. Those were his final words. Sync...do you really think so? Are replicas only trash if they're not useful as replacements for someone else? ...I don't have time to sit around pondering that right now. We have to escape from the core as soon as we can. Sync erased the fonic circle we needed to escape, so we have to recreate it as soon as we can, or we'll die here. We managed to recreate the fonic glyph. But just as we were about to escape, Tear's consciousness was taken over--by Lorelei, the collective consciousness of the Seventh Fonon. Lorelei said that its power was being absorbed by something enormous, and that was causing the Sephiroth to go out of control. But Lorelei disappeared in the middle of talking to us. We escaped from the core, not knowing what it was Lorelei was trying to tell us. At least we made it out alive, but I'm worried about Tear. Lorelei's taking control of her may have had side effects, so we decided to have her undergo a thorough examination in Belkend. Come to think of it, Guy mentioned that he saw something flash as we descended into the core. I wonder what it was... I'll ask him about it later. ================================== ========= | The Effects of Lowering the Land | | [SY074] | ============================================================================ Governor Viridian of Belkend suggested that we see a doctor named Shu in the laboratory. Now that Master Van's not involved here anymore, we can have Tear examined without worry. The results of the examination were startling--Dr. Shu said that Tear was contaminated with miasma. That's just like what the uniceros said. Apparently, every time Tear activates a passage ring, a large volume of Seventh Fonons enter her body, bringing miasma with them. He said her condition is already dangerous. But without Tear, a descendant of Yulia, we can't activate the passage rings. Tear and I are both necessary in order to lower the Outer Lands. But the longer we continue with the plan, the more Tear will suffer... I wish we could just stop with it. But... I wonder how Tear feels about it. Let's go ask her. Tear said right away that she's fine with continuing the plan. ...I doubt she really wants to keep on doing something that may kill her. But she said she'd continue it. And I...I couldn't tell her to stop. Many people have helped us make this plan work. Many people died so that we could continue it. We certainly can't ignore that fact. But...it's still painful. Why does it have to be this way...? If we're going to continue with the plan, we'll have to find out where the next passage ring is. We left Dr. Shu's office to look for the researchers from Yulia City. There are three passage rings left. The two whose locations are known are in the Meggiora Highlands and Mt. Roneal. But Mt. Roneal is a dangerous place, so we decided to head for the Meggiora Highlands first. The passage ring in Meggiora Highlands is apparently up the Nirni River. Let's go. We made it to the Meggiora Highlands. Let's go find the Daathic seal door. ============================= ========= | Forgiveness and Uncertainty | | [SY075] | ============================================================================ As we were making our way through the Meggiora Highlands, Legretta appeared. From what she said, it looks like she's trying to convince Tear to join her. She knew Tear was contaminated by miasma, as well. She must have realized that her attempts were futile, and left, warning us that the world would proceed as the Seventh Fonstone showed, regardless of any minor disturbances. It was then that Guy realized what he had seen in the core. He had seen the Seventh Fonstone, holding the future of the world inside it. No wonder nobody had been able to find it. Apparently the Seventh Fonstone used to be in Hod, and Master Van's family had been protecting it for generations. I guess that explains why he knows about the Seventh Fonstone's Score. ...Then isn't it possible that we are in fact doing what the Seventh Fonstone's Score says, and Master Van's got the right idea after all? Whether that's true or not, right now we have to worry about the Outer Lands falling. If we don't do anything, they'll certainly collapse, killing everyone--which is what Master Van probably wants, too. I guess we'll just have to go ahead with lowering the lands. We did the same thing as usual at the passage ring, but it looks like that really is what's causing Tear's body to absorb miasma. And Jade said it looks like the core of the planet itself is contaminated with miasma. If there's that much miasma, I couldn't think of any way we could possibly get rid of it, but Jade said that might actually make it easier to do something about. How does his head work, anyway? In any case, he said we'll need help from Belkend with gravity research, so we started back to ask for their assistance. On the way out of the Meggiora Highlands, we ran into Aston. He had miraculously survived Master Van's attack, and was working on a third Albiore. Just then, we noticed Spinoza eavesdropping on us again. We chased after him, but he stole Aston's Albiore III and flew off. To the Albiore, and after him! Spinoza ran out of fuel and crashed near Belkend. He's probably fled into Belkend itself. Let's get him! When we caught Spinoza, he said he'd followed Aston to the Meggiora Highlands in order to apologize. If that's the case, he didn't have to run away! ...But I think I can understand what he's feeling. He's done something that can't be undone, and now everybody's blaming him for it... When everybody did that to me, I thought they were telling me to take responsibility, but I knew even then there was no way I could make up for it, so I didn't want to admit that it was my fault. And now, he wants to do anything he possibly can. I'm sure those feelings are real--I was the same way, too. Anise didn't seem convinced, but everyone else agreed to at least try trusting him. It seems that Spinoza's an expert in the field of physics, so he'll be looking over Jade's idea for neutralizing the miasma, or isolating it or whatever it was. I sure hope this will take care of the miasma. We also learned the location of the last passage ring. Apparently it's right near Daath. We headed there to look for it while Spinoza did his work. =================================== ========= | The Grand Maestro and the Volcano | | [SY076] | ============================================================================ We reached Daath, but with the size of the church, I hope we can find the passage ring... We ran into Mohs inside the church. I was worried that things would come to blows, but since he's only trying to uphold the Score and bring prosperity to the world, unlike Master Van who's trying to destroy the Outer Lands, he's apparently given up on the war now that the peace treaty was signed. He wasn't exactly nice to us, either, but he did tell us of a secret passage leading to the passage ring before he left. He also said that more than half the Oracle soldiers have left to join Master Van, so he's very busy at the moment. ...Damn, even now I can't help but think "Master Van's great!" What a loser I am... Anyway, we'd better go find the passage ring. We reached the room Mohs pointed us to, and while we were looking around, Anise started acting strangely and found the secret passage. I bet she knew about it in the first place, but she insists she didn't. Oh well. In any case, we have to take care of operating the passage ring. The secret passage was connected to the inside of a volcano. It looks like Mohs has been doing some sort of research here, too. I hope we can find the Daathic seal around here somewhere. We took care of fixing up the passage ring. Now we just have to do the one on Mt. Roneal, but we decided to go back to Belkend first and see how Spinoza's coming. ================== ========= | Distant Siblings | | [SY077] | ============================================================================ It looks like Jade's plan is going to work. Let me see if I can remember the details well enough to write them down. The Outer Lands are held between the dividing line pushing them upwards and the planet's gravity pulling them downwards. It's just like how if you pull on something from both sides with equal force, it won't go anywhere. So when we start lowering the Outer Lands, it'll create a downward force underneath the dividing line, and that should act as a membrane to push the miasma back into the core. After that, if we close off the Sephiroth, that should prevent any more miasma from leaking out. Of course, a little bit will come out with the Planet Storm, but the miasma probably won't leave that stream. Jade knows more about that than I do, anyway. That takes care of the miasma, so that just leaves the passage ring on Mt. Roneal. We decided to rest at the inn while Tear picked up some more medicine. When we got up the next morning, Tear still hadn't returned. Apparently Asch came to Belkend, and the two of them headed off for Ortion Cavern. Did Asch find something? Let's go after them. We found Legretta in Ortion Cavern. It looks like Master Van really was using those facilities we found at the far end of the cavern, but apparently they're not going to use this place any longer. Legretta had been told by Master Van to let us through. She said she'll settle things at Mt. Roneal, and left. Okay, let's go find Tear and Asch. Tear and Asch were arguing with Master Van in that room with all the fomicry equipment. There, we heard that Master Van was planning to use the Seventh Fonon--Lorelei--to create a replica of the entire world. As the vibration of the core grows, so does the strength of the Planet Storm, and the total volume of Seventh Fonons in the world increases. He's going to use those Seventh Fonons for his fomicry. And once he finishes, he'll use Asch's hyperresonance to destroy Lorelei, getting rid of the Seventh Fonon and preventing the Score from being read. That's the new world Master Van's trying to build. Why does he have to go to that extreme? With my existence, the world has already diverged from the Score... Tear tried to convince Master Van to stop, but he wouldn't listen. He disappeared, and Asch left as well. We decided to head for Sheridan and hear what Tear had to say. ================================ ========= | Showdown with the God-Generals | | [SY078] | ============================================================================ We reached Sheridan, and were looking for a good place to talk when Aston suggested the meeting hall to us. Yeah, that sounds like a good idea. Let's borrow it. Tear said that the reason she ran off alone like that was because she thought miasma might be accumulating inside Master Van's body just like it was with her. And she wanted to try just once more to convince him to stop his plan. But Master Van didn't listen. Tear seems to have resolved to fight Master Van...that that's the only way left to stop him. It must be hard on her... But it's Tear's decision--none of us can interfere. We set out for Keterburg Bay to head for Mt. Roneal. When we stopped in Keterburg to pick up information about Mt. Roneal, Nephry came and told us that Dist had collapsed in the town square. I guess he really had come and been waiting dutifully for Jade. What an idiot. Dist might know something about how Mt. Roneal has been recently. We headed to the hotel, where Dist had been carried. Thanks to Jade's "expertise," we were able to get information about Mt. Roneal from Dist. The military police carried him off, so that's one more of the God-Generals taken care of. (Okay, that may not be the nicest way to write about them...) Now we just have to operate the passage ring in Mt. Roneal. Let's hurry. We reached Mt. Roneal, and found it covered in snow. It won't be easy climbing this. We'll have to watch out for avalanches in particular. As Legretta had said, she was waiting on Mt. Roneal, along with Largo and Arietta--the remainder of the God-Generals, aside from Asch. They refused to listen to us. How can they go along with Master Van's plan? They're original human beings, too... We ended up having to fight them. But right after the battle, maybe because of all the noise and activity, an avalanche occurred, and swallowed up both us and the God-Generals. When I came to, the God-Generals were gone. They must have been thrown into the ravine by the avalanche. We were lucky enough to have landed on a ledge, maybe because of where we were standing. And it just happened that the Daathic seal was nearby, so we headed for the passage ring. We operated the passage ring as usual, but we had a nasty surprise in store for us. The work we did here connected all the Sephiroth except the Radiation Gate to the Absorption Gate. But as soon as we did that, memory particles, which make up the Sephiroth Trees, started flowing in reverse from the Absorption Gate. Apparently Master Van had been waiting for us to connect all the Sephiroth, and he's taking advantage of that power to stimulate the core. That way he can destroy the Tartarus, start the core vibrating again, and strengthen the Planet Storm. And as a result of what he's done, all of the Outer Lands except for the Absorption Gate are in danger of collapsing. Dammit...if we don't stop Master Van, all our efforts will go for nothing! Right now, let's get back to Keterburg. As we were leaving Mt. Roneal, Tear wondered out loud why the God-Generals could believe in Master Van's ideal. I was thinking the same thing. Is there something they believe in so strongly that they're willing to give their lives for it? Is that why they're cooperating with Master Van? We're working toward the same goal--the preservation of humanity--and yet the difference between a world that keeps the originals and one that kills them has set us at odds with each other... ===================== ========= | The Decisive Battle | | [SY079] | ============================================================================ In Keterburg, Noelle told us that the Albiore's hover drive had frozen over due to low temperatures, and it would take the entire night to get back into working order. We have to prepare for tomorrow ourselves, so we split up to each do what we needed. I wonder what I'll do. Maybe I'll go and talk to everyone... When I went to rest at the hotel, Tear had news for me from Jade. Apparently the Outer Lands are in a seriously bad state, and we probably won't have time to get to the Radiation Gate. We were planning to use the Radiation Gate to lower the Outer Lands, but that plan might change, so he said we need to be ready. Then I went up to my room, but just as I was lying down on my bed, I felt that headache that always happens when Asch opens the channel to me. He's nearby, and he's calling me--that must be it, I decided, so I went outside to look for him. And he really had come to Keterburg. It looked like he'd been asking Noelle about our plans. I asked Asch to help us. He's helped out before, so I figured we should have him along in this final battle with Master Van. But he still hadn't recovered from the injury Master Van gave him at Ortion Cavern. He told me to make sure we kill Master Van and left. Asch may not have wanted to, but he's left everything to me. I can't afford to lose. I'll beat Master Van tomorrow...! The next morning, the Albiore had been repaired. Ion said he'd wait in Keterburg for us to return. So this will be our final battle... To be honest, I'm not confident I can beat Master Van, but everyone's with me, so I'm not worried. ...No, that's no good. For the sake of everyone who's given their lives, for Asch's sake, I'll win! So let's get going to the Absorption Gate. =========================== ========= | The Score, Master, and Me | | [SY080] | ============================================================================ We parted with Noelle at the entrance to the Absorption Gate. Noelle's helped us a lot up till now. We need to take care of the rest ourselves. We'll find Master Van inside the Absorption Gate...and kill him. As we were heading down toward the deepest part of the Absorption Gate, there was a big earthquake. The Outer Lands must really be about to fall at any moment. Thanks to the earthquake, our party got split up...but I believe in everyone. If we keep going forward, we should be able to rejoin them. When Tear and I reached the deepest part of the Absorption Gate, we found everyone else there, waiting for us. Then Jade told us that we're out of time, and we'll have to start the process of lowering the Outer Lands without using the Radiation Gate's passage ring, though it's a rather clumsy method. He says he doesn't know whether it will work, but in any case we don't have enough time to make it to the Radiation Gate. And he says I'm the only one that can do it. Then I will. I'll make it work. That's the least I can do for Akzeriuth, for all the people I've killed. Now we just have to defeat Master Van. There's no turning back now. I'll win! I swear it! We found Master Van on the lowest level of the Absorption Gate. Master Van says that humanity is addicted to Yulia's Score. That a powerful medicine, a replica world, is the only way to remedy that addiction. But I know, from my own existence, that the Score has gone off track. The future can be changed. Mankind can choose to discard the Score. And after a terrific battle, we succeeded in defeating Master Van. Even to the last, he never once accepted me... But there's no time to wallow in grief right now. And besides, I'm not the only one who's got it tough... Tear had to watch her own brother die. I followed Jade's instructions, and tried to start lowering the Outer Lands. But without the Radiation Gate active, the other passage rings wouldn't respond to my hyperresonance. Just when I thought that it was hopeless, the Radiation Gate suddenly started up, and I felt a hyperresonance different from mine come from there. There's only one person besides me who can cause a hyperresonance... He must have helped me. There's just one thing that bothers me. I heard Lorelei's voice as I was lowering the Outer Lands. "Luke! I will send you the key! Use it to set me free! ...One who would seize glory...is trying to capture me..." I didn't understand what Lorelei was trying to say, but at least we've succeeded in preserving the original world, and returned Auldrant to its original form. Surely that's enough. ======================= ========= | An Uncomfortable Home | | [SY081] | ============================================================================ Remday, Gnome-Redecan 28, ND2018 I woke up shortly after noon today. As usual, I have nothing to do, nothing to write about. ...Or had nothing, anyway, until Mieu came and said that my parents were calling me. I really don't want to leave my room. What a pain. I guess I have to go, don't I... I thought I was just going to get scolded again, but General Cecille was there to. Father asked me about the scene of Master Van's death. Apparently the Planet Storm has grown stronger recently, and when a team was sent to investigate, they found Van's sword missing, even though it had been stuck in the floor before. They guessed that someone must have stolen it. Master Van... It's been a month already since he died... Father then left with General Cecille for the castle. Which left me with nothing to do, but then Mother suggested that I go see how everyone...how Tear and all the others are doing. She seemed concerned about me sitting around in the mansion all day. Even though I'm not her real son... She said Ramdas should know where everybody is, so I guess I'll try asking him. Ramdas had letters from everybody that he'd been keeping from me at Father's orders. What does he mean, associate only with the proper people?! I'm not...I'm not even a member of the Duchy! I'm just a defective replica... Just a useless piece of trash... But none of these letters were from Asch. I was kind of disappointed, but kind of relieved...it's an odd feeling. I have to admit I'm bothered by what Father was talking about, so I guess I'll head for Sheridan and borrow the Albiore to visit everyone. I'll have to take a ferry from the port to get to Sheridan... Guess I might as well get going. ================ ========= | Friendly Words | | [SY082] | ============================================================================ On the ship, I read through all the letters. Tear's in Yulia City, Guy's in Grand Chokmah, and Anise is in Daath, all hard at work. Looks like I'm the only one who's just been sitting around... ...Oh well. Once I reach the port, I guess I'll head for Sheridan. When I reached Sheridan, I heard from Aston that Asch had borrowed the Albiore III, and Noelle said he'd gone to Yulia City. Noelle volunteered to pilot the Albiore II again, so now I can head for Yulia City. But the effects from the strengthened Planet Storm seem to be pretty bad...I should probably check with Teodoro about that. It seems Asch really had been to Yulia City, asking if there was a way to enter the core. Teodoro said Asch looked worried about the Planet Storm's increased activity as well. But he'd also mentioned something about Lorelei, so maybe he's heard something more from Lorelei. I still remember what Lorelei said when we lowered the Outer Lands. Asch might have heard the same thing... After all, he's the original, and I'm just a defective replica. Teodoro said to ask Tear about the Planet Storm. To be honest, I probably wouldn't understand anything about the Planet Storm even if I had it explained. But I do want to see Tear. Tear had been praying in front of the grave for Master Van she had made in the selenia garden. She said she'd spent the last month wondering why Master Van had chosen such an extreme course of action. So she'd had a lot on her mind...just like me. And I started to talk about the thoughts I've kept inside me all this time. At the end, Van asked me, "Can you not live unless you were born for some particular purpose?" I'm just an empty replica, with nowhere to live, nowhere I belong to. I feel like I'm going to just disappear if I don't know the reason I was born. I told Tear I was trying to find myself, and she said she'd come with me-- even though she's got plenty to worry about on her own, with the miasma in her and all... Thanks, Tear. Tear said she was headed for Daath to deliver a report on the Planet Storm, so I decided to go with her. ===================== ========= | Everyone's Feelings | | [SY083] | ============================================================================ When we reached Daath, we caught Anise tricking people into giving offerings. She's just as dirty as ever when it comes to money, isn't she? She did say her family's caught up in loans, so I guess she might have worries of her own...though she sure doesn't look like it. Anyway, we have to see Ion, so we headed to the church while Anise went back to return the offering she'd taken. While we waited for Anise, I asked Tear how the Order of Lorelei was doing recently. Apparently Mohs has been removed from his position as Grand Maestro. Good going, Ion! Then Anise rejoined us, and she told us that the Order isn't having much success in getting rid of the Score--the people keep asking to have the Score read. Apparently they think that the Outer Lands falling into the Qliphoth was part of the Closed Score. I guess from their point of view, the Score is still on track, so they can't imagine living without it. We'll just have to change things a little bit at a time. Ion should be in his room. Let's go see him. Ion was doing even better than I'd expected. It seems he hasn't had to use Daathic fonic artes, so he's in good shape. That's a relief. There was something I'd wanted to ask Ion. He's a replica too, after all... I wanted to know how he'd feel, what he'd do if he was in my situation. Ion said that he realized during our trip that he didn't want to be anybody's replacement, so he'd probably work to inform the world about replicas. That sounds like Ion. But I...I couldn't do anything like that. I'd be too afraid of being told I wasn't needed... Tear gave Ion her report. Apparently the Planet Storm's increased activity is being caused by large-scale consumption of Seventh Fonons. Tear said she thought Master Van's plan might still be alive, and causing the problem. But we don't know the truth. In any case, Ion had a meeting to go to and said he'd see us off. I don't want to cause him any trouble, so I guess we should go. At the entrance to the church, we ran into Guy! He'd come from the Malkuth House of Lords to report to Ion. He said that Dist had broken out of his cell in Grand Chokmah and taken Mohs from the ship that was carrying him to his hearing. And he said the reason the breakout was noticed so soon was because Asch had said to keep an eye on the God-Generals. Asch himself had headed for St. Binah, saying something about freeing Lorelei. So Asch really did hear Lorelei's voice! And it sounds like he understood the meaning, too--unlike me. When I said I wanted to go after Asch, Guy said he'd come along, because he'd been told to find Asch too. And even Anise ended up coming with us. Why her? It's odd for her to leave Ion's side. But she'll certainly be a help in battles, so I'm glad to have her along. Even with Auldrant back to its original form, the monsters are doing as well as ever. So, we headed for St. Binah. ================== ========= | The Plot Revived | | [SY084] | ============================================================================ When we reached St. Binah and met former Field Marshal McGovern, he mistook me for Asch. So Asch must have been here after all. I asked about him, and apparently he's gone to Shurrey Hill. We might still be able to catch him--let's go! At Shurrey Hill, Guy asked me if I was scared of meeting Asch. He was right on the button... He really does watch people closely. Yeah, I'm scared of meeting him. I think he ought to return to the manor, but then I don't have a clue what I'd do. And when I think of Guy, who managed to put aside years of contemplating revenge... I wish I could be as decisive as Guy, but I guess that's impossible for a replica... As we proceeded through Shurrey Hill, we found the dead bodies of Oracle soldiers lying on the ground. Tear said that the Oracle Knights were being reorganized after deaths of Master Van and the Six God-Generals, so they should all be on standby. I don't like this... Let's go forward and find out what's going on. I can't believe who we saw. Asch was under Shurrey Hill, facing off with none other than Legretta, who was buried in that avalanche. Granted, we survived it, so there's no reason they couldn't have as well, but... At the least, it's clear that Legretta's alive, so it's probably best to assume that Arietta and Largo are as well. Then Asch said Sync was also alive. That can't be! We saw him fall into the core and die. If he's alive, then even Master Van, who likewise fell into the core from the Absorption Gate, could have survived. But it seems like that's not the reason why Asch wants to go to the core. He says that Lorelei is trapped somewhere. Lorelei is the collective consciousness of the Seventh Fonon, so if it's trapped, the total volume of Seventh Fonons in the world will decrease. Then the Planet Storm will increase in strength to try and make up the difference, leading to the core's vibration getting worse and destroying the Tartarus. So long as Lorelei's trapped, the world is going to be in danger again. I wanted to learn more, but for some reason Asch got mad at me and left. What's with him? Especially after being injured by Legretta like that. Anyway, if we return to St. Binah, Asch might still be there. Let's hurry back. And Legretta was saying something about a Key of Lorelei she was trying to get from Asch. I wonder if that's something Asch has? When we returned to St. Binah, we found Malkuth soldiers gathered there, with Jade in their midst. Apparently the Malkuth troops had been attacked during training by a mysterious group, and General Frings, who had been leading the exercises, was severely wounded. Jade said that Asch hadn't been by St. Binah, but right now I'm worried about General Frings. We went with Jade to Grand Chokmah, where General Frings had been carried, to learn more. ====================== ========= | People and the Score | | [SY085] | ============================================================================ General Frings was already down to his last breath. With his remaining strength, he told us about the attack. The attackers had carried the flag of Kimlasca's army, and used fontech bombs to carry out suicide attacks. But he said that they hadn't looked like the real Kimlascan army. I'm sure it wasn't. I know Natalia wouldn't allow that to happen. General Frings said that the mysterious soldiers all had eyes that looked like they were dead. ...And those were his last words. We departed to inform Emperor Peony of the incident. Farewell, General Frings. We told Emperor Peony about General Frings, and he asked me to quietly check the Kimlascan court to confirm the situation. Well, I'll go if he asks me to...but I don't really want to go to the castle. I'm scared to meet Uncle--the King... Guy reported that the God-Generals are alive, and that we saw Asch. Apparently Emperor Peony is looking for the Key of Lorelei Asch has, because it might be able to calm the Planet Storm down again. Then I mentioned what Lorelei had told me when we lowered the Outer Lands, and everybody was startled. It looks like I was the only one that didn't know what it meant. From what everybody said, it sounds like Master Van is alive, and has trapped Lorelei somewhere--and that Lorelei should have sent a key to me as well as Asch. But I haven't received any sort of Key. I don't know what's going on... Jade then suggested that we start with what we can easily confirm--that the army that attacked the Malkuth soldiers really wasn't Kimlasca's. Anise said she wanted to write a letter to Ion to tell him what was happening, so we headed to the entrance to Grand Chokmah to wait for her. Anise sent off her letter and rejoined us. Tear seems worried about Master Van possibly being alive. I can understand that... I'm sure she'd be happy to see him alive, but if he's still thinking the same way, we'll probably end up fighting again. But that would also be a good chance to ask Master Van what he's really trying to accomplish. And besides, like Jade said, right now we need to take care of what we can. Let's head for Baticul and see what we can find out. At the entrance to the castle in Baticul, we ran into Natalia, who had just returned from inspections. It seems she's heard of the attack on the Malkuth troops as well. She was infuriated at the rumors that Kimlasca was at fault. Not only that, it sounded like Kimlasca has been attacked by the mysterious army, too. At any rate, the King should know more. His Majesty confirmed that he Kimlascan army wasn't attacking Malkuth. So who are those mysterious soldiers...? Jade brought up General Frings' comment on their eyes, and suggested that the God-Generals might be creating an army of replicas. Since it looks like they're trying to increase tension between Kimlasca and Malkuth, that would match up with the report that Dist had taken Mohs back. Then Natalia asked the King for permission to travel to Daath and arrange a summit to discuss how the Score should be handled, to try and prevent any more foolish actions in its name. She sure knows what she's talking about--I guess that just goes to show that she's royalty and I'm a mere replica... If the Score is going to be discussed, Ion will obviously need to be involved as well. We started out for Daath to ask his opinion. ====================== ========= | The Approaching Evil | | [SY086] | ============================================================================ As soon as we reached Daath, Tear's condition suddenly got worse. She says she's okay, but I'm worried. Anise said she'd go and tell Ion, so let's get Tear to the church. We made it to Ion's room and set Tear down on his bed, but Anise wasn't there. Ion's right here--where'd she go off to? Ion saw Tear's condition, and said that he knew a way to remove the miasma from Tear's body, but just as he was about to explain it, Anise came running back into the room. She'd brought news: the miasma had suddenly returned, and the whole city was in a panic. Anise then dragged Ion off. So that's why Tear suddenly collapsed before... The miasma had affected her. We left Ion's room to find Anise and Ion. We used the fonic glyph to exit Ion's room--and found ourselves surrounded by Legretta and her soldiers. It looked like that was going to be it for us, but then Arietta appeared and saved us for some reason. Apparently Arietta and the rest of the God-Generals are at odds regarding Ion. Then we heard something unbelievable. Anise had taken Ion and headed for the Sephiroth, and she was going to force him to read the Planet Score--the Score containing the life of the planet, just like Yulia's Score. Ion's a replica, so he's weak already...if he does that, he'd probably die. Arietta had saved us so we could stop that from happening. We left Arietta to deal with Legretta, and headed for the secret passion leading to the Sephiroth. In the secret passage, we saw Mohs taking Ion away--and Anise with him, not doing anything. Anise said that her job from the beginning had been to report on Ion to Mohs, and left with Mohs for the Sephiroth. And the fonic glyph leading to the Sephiroth no longer worked when we reached it. How could Anise betray us...and Ion?! Then Guy found a letter held by Anise's Tokunaga. The letter said there was a way to the Sephiroth from the volcanic shaft in Mt. Zaleho. If Anise had really wanted to betray us, she wouldn't have left a letter like that. There must be some reason for what she's done. Let's trust in her letter and head for Mt. Zaleho. When we returned to the church's entrance hall, Arietta and Legretta were no longer there. Tritheim was, and he explained that Arietta had succeeded in fighting off Legretta, but had suffered injuries of her own and collapsed. Then he asked us to find Oliver and Pamela to watch over her, and we realized what had happened. Mohs had been using Anise's parents to control her. And it looks like what Anise had said about the miasma returning wasn't just a lie to fool us, either. With everything going on it's hard to keep calm, but first let's go to Mt. Zaleho and free Ion. For Anise's and Arietta's sake, as well. When we reached the entrance to Daath, we found it blocked off by a suspicious group that was fighting with the townspeople. When we looked closer, we saw Iemon, General Frings, and even Guy's sister Mary. They were replicas, and had been sent by Mohs to kill us. We'll have to fight them to get out, but that means killing them...even knowing that they're replicas, how can we possibly fight them?! Then Tear--as hard as it must have been on her--sang a fonic hymn, and we were able to escape the town. Damn that Mohs! Just how mean can he be?! We're going to head west from Daath to Mt. Zaleho, save Ion, and get Mohs! ============================ ========= | The Fon Master Offers Hope | | [SY087] | ============================================================================ We flew to the top of Mt. Zaleho in the Albiore and got off at the top of the volcanic shaft. It's awful hot in here, and the magma comes right up to the ledges we're walking on. We'll have to be careful, but we need to hurry downward. Something really painful happened... To be honest, I'm not in the mood for writing. But this is a truth I have to face, so... When we reached the Sephiroth, Ion was already reading the Planet Score. I tried to stop him, but it was too late, and he read one final Score for me, looking as though he could breathe his last at any moment. But he didn't even care, telling Tear that since he was going to die anyway, he'd take her miasma with him... So that was how he was going to heal her. He's a replica, so he's made of Seventh Fonons, and he took advantage of that to draw out Tear's contaminated Seventh Fonons, releasing them into the Planet Storm along with his own. That...that was what Ion wanted. And yet Mohs--even though he killed Ion by making him read the Score--he said that the Score Ion read was wrong! I couldn't forgive him. How could he kill Ion just for the sake of the Score...? Ion had only been alive for two years, and Mohs threw him away like a discarded tool...! Mohs swore to bring about the war foretold by the Score for the salvation of the world, and left. We rescued Anise's parents, who had been held hostage, and headed back to Daath with Anise, depressed over losing Ion. We'll have to tell Arietta what happened. I'm sorry, Arietta... I'm sorry, Ion... Arietta flew into a rage when she learned of Ion's death and challenged Anise to a duel. She said that she'd send a mediator to inform Anise of the time and place, and left. Oliver and Pamela tried to comfort Anise, but she ran out of the room. Anise must be blaming herself for Ion's death, thinking she can never forgive herself. We can't leave her alone...we've got to find her. Anise told me that she had been following Mohs' orders, keeping watch on Ion, all for her parents' sake. If it was me, I'd probably blame Ion's death on that too, but Anise said that she herself had killed Ion, and couldn't stop crying. I felt sorry for her, but I also thought she was really strong. So I gave her the fonstone from the Score Ion read on Mt. Zaleho, the only thing that Ion left behind. We then decided to head for Belkend, following the Score Ion read for me. According to that Score, we should find a way there to do something about the miasma. Let's trust in the final Score that Ion read. It does go against our trying to get rid of the Score, but for now it's the only thing we have to go on. Ion, show us what we need to do. ============== ========= | Ion's Legacy | | [SY088] | ============================================================================ We reached Belkend, and suddenly saw somebody fall over and die right before our eyes. Apparently a lot of people have been dying or collapsing shortly after having the Score read by a traveling Scorer. Jade said they might have had their replica data extracted. I'm worried about the rumor that the traveling Scorer has headed for Baticul, but right now let's follow Ion's Score and see if we can do something about the miasma. Spinoza might know something. Spinoza said that with the Planet Storm's increased activity, the core is vibrating so strongly that the Tartarus can't silence it completely. At this rate, there's even the possibility that the land could become liquefied again. For the miasma, he suggested I use my hyperresonance--if I could get rid of the miasma that way, I'd do it in an instant. He also said Asch had come by, and was looking at the data on the Mt. Roneal Sephiroth. Asch should know more than we do about what's going on. Let's go after him. ======================================= ========= | The Weight of Hyperresonance and Life | | [SY089] | ============================================================================ I was thinking about what Spinoza had said about the miasma and hyperresonance, so I asked Jade about it before we left for Mt. Roneal. But he said that it was impossible, so I should give up on that idea. If I wanted to use my hyperresonance to neutralize the miasma, I'd need the Sword of Lorelei, which is one of the Keys, and a large quantity of Seventh Fonons. Leaving the Sword of Lorelei aside, the only way to get enough Seventh Fonons would be to kill around ten thousand Seventh Fonists or potential Seventh Fonists, Jade said. And I'd die the instant I destroyed the miasma. So he told me to give up on the idea. Yeah...I couldn't force ten thousand people to sacrifice themselves. But what if that's the only way to do it...? ============================= ========= | A Discovery on the Mountain | | [SY090] | ============================================================================ On Mt. Roneal, we encountered the Dark Wings. They told us that Asch was looking for the Jewel of Lorelei, the second Key that forms a pair with the Sword of Lorelei. That's the Key that I was supposed to have received from Lorelei. They said Asch had gone to the passage ring. Let's see if he's still there. When we reached the place we got caught up in the avalanche last time, I found a locket lying in the snow. I opened it up, and it had a picture of a baby and a message that read, "ND1999, in commemoration of the birth of my daughter, Meryl." Could it be Natalia...? But I don't have the courage to ask her, so I hid the locket away. We found Asch by the Sephiroth, and he told us what he knew. Asch said that he hadn't heard Lorelei's voice since the lowering of the Outer Lands. He also said that Lorelei had wanted to be freed from the core since the beginning. It seems that the longer Lorelei stays in the core, the worse its effect on the planet gets. But before Lorelei was able to get free, events took an unexpected turn--Master Van fell into the core, injured, and somehow was able to seal Lorelei within his body. Lorelei wants to be released and form a seventh layer of the fon belt, so Asch is trying to find the Jewel of Lorelei to complete the Key and fulfill that desire. And then he started yelling at me for failing to receive the Jewel, just as I expected. Since I don't have the Jewel, Asch says it must have been thrown out through one of the Sephiroth, so he's looking for it--as are the God-Generals. I suggested that we work together, but Asch refused. We ended up leaving the Jewel search to Asch, while we went to look for the Scorer who was reading the Score in violation of the Order's rule against it. I think someone in Belkend said that the Scorer had gone to Baticul, so let's try looking there. ========================== ========= | The Grand Maestro's Fate | | [SY091] | ============================================================================ When we reached Baticul, we heard that Mohs had been found and arrested, but escaped inside Baticul, and soldiers were searching for him. We can't let Mohs go free--let's take care of finding him first. Mohs was hiding in the port. But before we were able to capture him, Dist showed up to take him away. Then we saw something horrible...Mohs turned into a monster right before our eyes. He wanted the power of the Fon Master, and in order to get it, he had Dist infuse him with the Seventh Fonon, even though he had no innate ability for it. The end result was that his body transformed into something monstrous. Mohs then left for a place called Eldrant. At this point, we'd better report on what's happened. We decided to head for Yulia City and tell Teodoro about Mohs. But there's still the issue of that traveling Scorer, as well as the locket I found on Mt. Roneal. I can't keep track of things with everything happening at once like this... ===================== ========= | The Princess' Birth | | [SY092] | ============================================================================ I thought about it for a while, but eventually decided to ask the King about the locket I found on Mt. Roneal. Though I didn't expect Natalia to follow along... We ended up making up a story to fool Natalia into staying behind. Everybody else ended up coming with me, but that can't be helped. Now that Natalia's not with us, let's go see the King. Upon seeing the picture in the locket, His Majesty said that it was almost certainly Natalia. Then Anise said something startling--she had seen Largo with that locket before. ...Does that mean Largo is Natalia's real father?! Natalia's wet-nurse should know more about her father. The wet-nurse is currently working in Astor's mansion in Chesedonia, so we made up an excuse that the traveling Scorer had been seen going in that direction and headed for Chesedonia ourselves. I guess the report to Yulia City will have to wait. ======================= ========= | Clinging to the Score | | [SY093] | ============================================================================ When we reached Chesedonia, we found out that the lie we had concocted to fool Natalia ended up being the truth--the traveling Scorer was there. We tried to make the Scorer stop, but we stopped short when we saw his face. It was Ion--no, Sync, another replica made at the same time as Ion. We'd already heard about it, but he really had survived after all. And it sounds like Master Van is alive as well. Sync said something about using Mohs for his own ends, and vanished along with the mob clamoring for the Score. Anise looked hurt from seeing Sync, looking so much like Ion. Jade took advantage of that by telling Natalia to help her calm down--damn, how does he do that so smoothly? Thanks to that, we can go ask Natalia's wet-nurse about Natalia's birth, but Anise is going to hate us for it. Oh well, we can't let this chance go. Let's head for Astor's mansion. After warning Astor about Sync, we talked to Natalia's wet-nurse. Natalia's father's name was Badaq, a man of large stature who was called the Lion of the Desert. It looks pretty certain now that Largo really is Natalia's father. We found out what we came for, so let's go rejoin Natalia and Anise. Well, we got a little sidetracked, but now we can report to Teodoro about Mohs. Let's head for Yulia City. ====================== ========= | The Forgotten Island | | [SY094] | ============================================================================ When Teodoro heard about Mohs, he said he'd get to work restoring the Order of Lorelei. Then he informed us that two spots had been found where Seventh Fonons were being used up at a high rate. One of them was near where Hod used to be, and the other was traveling around the sea--and far larger than a simple ship. With no war going on now, the only thing that would use up that many Seventh Fonons would be fomicry. We headed out to find that large object moving around the sea. As we searched the sea, we came across a strange floating island. It should be impossible for an island to be floating, but we decided to land and take a look. We got off the Albiore, and Guy recognized the island almost immediately. It's Feres Island, which was destroyed in the tsunami caused by the disappearance of Hod. But Feres was an ordinary island--even a tsunami shouldn't be able to make it float. Let's investigate it and see what going on. We found Arietta on Feres Island. Apparently this is her hometown. She miraculously survived the tsunami and was raised by monsters. Eventually Master Van found her here and took her into his custody. Master Van had promised Arietta to bring Feres Island back to life, and had installed fomicry equipment here for that purpose. Arietta said that Master Van is the one that made the island float, too. This must have been one of his bases. Arietta still hated Anise, and said that she would send Largo as a mediator to tell Anise where the duel would be held. Then she left. I feel sorry for Arietta. She was used by Master Van, and she never realized that the original Ion she loved was already dead. But it's probably just as hard on Anise for knowing all that. From Arietta's words, we can be certain that Master Van had something to do with this place. Let's find out where the fomicry equipment is. We found the fomicry equipment, still operating. It looks like replica soldiers were being created here. If nothing else, we can't afford to let any more Seventh Fonons be used up, so we decided to shut it down. All of a sudden, replicas--including Iemon and Mary--appeared from a nearby room and criticized us. They said that they had been born at Mohs' desire, and that they did not care if those that did not desire them are killed. I couldn't believe what they were saying. After all, I'm a replica, and by being born I stole the place of my original. I couldn't even imagine wanting to disregard that original. But Tear said that the hubris of those replicas was something I used to have, something I could use now. And Guy told me that I lack self-confidence. But it's just as true that Asch suffered because I was born, and I'm only his replacement, after all... I don't know. Of course I want to have self-confidence. But what did I use to base such self-confidence on? Just then, a huge island rose from the sea. The replicas called it the new Hod. Then is that huge thing a replica of Hod?! Before we could learn more, the replicas disappeared, saying they were going to a place called the Tower of Rem. We boarded the Albiore and headed for the floating island to see if it really was Hod. Unfortunately, the island was protected by the Planet Storm, and we couldn't approach it. There's not much we can do about it now, so we decided to head for Grand Chokmah instead, where Jade says the replica data from the original Hod is stored. ========================== ========= | The New Order of Lorelei | | [SY095] | ============================================================================ We ran into General Nordheim at the entrance to the Malkuth army headquarters. He and Chief of Staff Sesemann were gathering information on the floating island, so we went along with him. It looks like that island really is a replica of Hod. And worse, the new Hod seems to be causing a sort of hyperresonance that's destroying the nearby islands. Jade and Sesemann seem to understand what's going on, and they're headed to speak with Emperor Peony and explain the situation. The rest of us followed them to the audience hall. The moment we stepped outside, we suddenly heard Mohs' voice from the sky, speaking to the entire world using some sort of radio technology that hasn't been perfected yet. Mohs called himself the Fon Master of the New Order of Lorelei, a new religious group dedicated to protecting the Score, and declared war on Kimlasca and Malkuth. But his voice sounded strange... It looks like the forcible injection of the Seventh Fonon into his body has caused neural contamination, and Mohs is slowly losing his sanity. At any rate, this makes things a lot more difficult. The people of both countries will likely side with the New Order of Lorelei in order to get the Score back...they may even riot. First things first--let's speak with Emperor Peony. In the audience hall, Jade explained about the appearance of the new Hod, as well as what he called "quasi hyperresonance." Basically, Master Van is extracting replica data from Auldrant and using that to create replicas. As a result, a quasi hyperresonance occurs between the original land and its replica, resulting in the original being destroyed. So as long as the replication continues, more and more land will be destroyed. Of course, it will take some time to extract the replica data for the entire planet, so it's not like the originals will disappear immediately. And Jade suggested that the fomicry equipment creating the replicas was probably on Eldrant, the name Mohs gave to the new Hod. Right now, we're the only ones who are able to fly, so it's our job to stop the fomicry taking place on Eldrant. It was also decided to hold a summit on how to deal with the New Order of Lorelei, so that both countries and the original Order can come to an agreement on the measures to be taken. Emperor Peony agreed. Uncle--the King also knows about the summit, so now we just need to check with Teodoro in Yulia City. When we left the castle, Largo was waiting for us. He told us that Arietta was waiting for us in the Cheagle Woods. So the time for the duel has finally arrived... Let's let Anise take care of that before we go to Yulia City. ========================== ========= | As a Fon Master Guardian | | [SY096] | ============================================================================ The Cheagle Woods were unchanged from the last time we visited them. It's a little painful remembering Ion, but he probably wouldn't want to see us spending all our time moping over him. Anise told us to wait at the entrance to the forest. But Anise is...well, this is kind of embarrassing to say, but she's one of us. We can't let her go alone. We headed deeper into the forest to face Arietta together. The duel between Arietta and Anise began. Anise never once spoke the truth about Ion, and in the end, Arietta lost the duel and breathed her last. Largo, the mediator, watched everything, then left--tacitly admitting that he was in fact Badaq. It must have been tough on Anise but she insisted that she was fine, so we headed for Yulia City to finally take care of arranging the summit on the Score. ==================================== ========= | Truth and One's Place in the World | | [SY097] | ============================================================================ When we reached Yulia City, we found a replica on the ground in pain. Apparently the world has been flooded with replicas, and some of them are being treated cruelly and running away. I felt for them. I'm in exactly the same position myself... Teodoro agreed to attending the Daath summit, and said he would leave for Daath shortly. Now we just need to report to King Ingobert. Let's head back for Baticul. There were a lot of replicas in Baticul, just like we had heard at Yulia City, and they weren't all being treated well. The sight worried me. Before the castle, we found a group of Baticul citizens who believed in the New Order of Lorelei about to riot. Natalia somehow managed to calm them down, but it's easy to see they're at the limit of their patience. We'll have to get the country unified again as soon as possible. Anyway, let's go report to the King on the Score summit. The King was also worrying himself over the replicas. We explained what had happened since Mohs' worldwide broadcast, and reported that the Score summit would be held in Daath. His Majesty said that he would propose military action against the New Order of Lorelei at the summit, as well. But there are still a lot of problems that need to be resolved. Eldrant is still protected by the Planet Storm. The replicas need to be taken care of, and there are domestic issues as well. His Majesty then said he needed to discuss the stance Kimlasca would take at the summit. He allowed Natalia to join the summit as well. I decided to wait at my father's...no, at Duke Fabre's mansion until the preparations were complete. As we were leaving, I mentioned the issue of Natalia's father to the King, and was told to visit His Majesty in his chamber afterward. Okay, let's take care of that first. Upon hearing that Largo was indeed Natalia's father, the King couldn't decide whether to tell Natalia or not. Everybody had their own thoughts...but I suggested that Natalia should be told. Though, of course, His Majesty is the one who'll make the decision. He's much more of a father to her than Largo, after all. With the report taken care of, we headed for the mansion. ============================ ========= | Where the Original Belongs | | [SY098] | ============================================================================ As we left the castle, Jade said that he would return to Malkuth to help settle Malkuth's policy. He took the Albiore with him, so we ended up stuck in Baticul. With no other choice, we headed for the mansion, but then Asch contacted me, saying he was going to come and meet me. That gave me a thought, so I told him to come to the mansion. Okay, let's wait for Asch in the mansion. Asch arrived before long. Apparently he hasn't been able to find the Jewel of Lorelei, and is out of clues on where to look. That reminded me of Ion's Score, the one about going to Belkend to find a way to eliminate the miasma. That way was to use hyperresonance to dissolve the miasma, with the power of the Sword of Lorelei and ten thousand sacrifices. I asked Asch about that, but he came right back and asked me if I was offering to die. ...That's when I first realized how insincere, how weak my resolved to change, even the gesture of cutting my hair, had been. Back then, I had thought I could die. But now? Even if my death could save the world from the miasma, I'm afraid of dying... Asch said that he didn't want to die either. It's just like Jade said... This method is too unrealistic. Asch tried to leave then, but I still had something for him to do. I'm going to make him see Father and Mother... I brought Asch to see Father and Mother, and left for the courtyard. I'd been thinking I wanted to get Asch back here to see them, but now that I finally have, it was too difficult to watch. When I got out into the courtyard, everybody scolded me for thinking about dying in order to get rid of the miasma. But I've spent a lot of time thinking about it...thinking about why I was born. Maybe I was born in order to eliminate the miasma...then wouldn't that mean I had a reason to exist after all? Then Asch returned from seeing Father and Mother, yelled at me, and left. Even though we're the same person, we always wind up fighting. ...Or maybe it's because we're the same person. Natalia and Jade returned the following day. Both countries had agreed to stopping the Planet Storm in order to attack Eldrant. Now we just need to get things arranged at the summit. Both rulers are already headed for Daath-- let's get going in the Albiore ourselves. But just as we were leaving Baticul, we found Spinoza waiting for us. He said Asch had gone to ask him about how to neutralize the miasma. He can't be planning to use hyperresonance to do that...?! Even Asch, the original, wouldn't be able to survive that. And what's he planning to do about the ten thousand people he'd have to sacrifice? I wondered about that out loud, and Jade replied that he was probably going to use replicas. Since the Seventh Fonon is used to bond together atomic particles during replica synthesis, replicas could serve as substitutes for Seventh Fonists, Jade said. Is Asch planning a mass suicide with that many replicas...? We can't let him do that. We decided to head for the Tower of Rem, which is probably where Asch has gone. The Tower of Rem is on the Qiubi Peninsula, the southernmost part of the Rugnican continent--southwest of Kaitzur. Let's board the Albiore and hurry after Asch. ================= ========= | Tower to Heaven | | [SY099] | ============================================================================ The Tower of Rem was filled with countless replicas. We also saw Noir, from the Dark Wings--which means Asch must be here too! Noir asked us to stop Asch. Of course we will. We won't let him die! But the door to the elevator leading to the top of the tower closed on us. We'll have to climb the stairs instead. We managed to use energy from golems and make it onto the elevator. There we found the replica of Mary, Guy's sister, who said that the replicas were waiting at the top of the tower for Mohs to save them. And we found out that Asch had asked them to sacrifice themselves. He really is serious about this... Just then, Dist flew in and attacked, saying he had come to destroy the replicas at Mohs' order. We fought Dist to protect the replicas, and defeated him. Dist's last words before his machine exploded were that Mohs had forsaken the replicas. The replicas seemed to fall into despair at learning that they no longer had a place on Eldrant. Then Asch arrived, to prod the replicas into making a decision. We tried to stop him, but he wouldn't listen, and he descended in the elevator, saying he would wait for the replicas to make their choice. We can't let him go like this. Let's go after Asch and convince him to stop! The Dark Wings were waiting for us at the entrance of the Tower of Rem, and they told us that Asch had gone to Daath. Then we'll just have to follow him there. ========================= ========= | A Reason for Being Born | | [SY100] | ============================================================================ When we reached Daath, the summit had already begun. Apparently Asch had shown up as well, and left a letter saying that he would work with the replicas to eliminate the miasma and asking that the replicas be given shelter if he succeeded. He then left for the Sephiroth in Mt. Zaleho to look for the jewel of Lorelei. We told them the truth about Asch's plan--that he was going to die in order to get rid of the miasma. I was sure the three leaders wouldn't permit such a thing, but they only stood silently. They can't believe that letting Asch die, even to clear out the miasma, is a good thing?! But when Jade spoke the alternative, I realized that that was probably the best way, the only way. The three leaders must have been thinking the same way as well. I'm the one that has to die, not Asch. I'm a replica, and Asch is the original, after all. If one of us has to disappear, it obviously ought to be me, the defective one. They told me to think about it, but I doubt there's much to think over. They've probably already reached their decision. So this is the future that Ion saw... Everybody except Jade tried to stop me, but I've already made my decision. I mean, I don't really want to die, but this is the only way, so I don't have a choice, do I... To be honest...I'd be happier if Asch died instead of me. That's how much I want to stay alive...but that's not an option we have. I guess it's time to go and inform everyone of my choice... But on the way back, I ran into Asch. He told me to look for the Jewel of Lorelei myself because he was going to disappear. So I told him that I'd die to neutralize the miasma instead. We got into an argument. It must have sounded stupid... Neither of us want to die, and yet both of us were saying we'd die in the other's place. Eventually Jade broke us up, and Asch headed for the Tower of Rem again, ignoring my words. I returned to the chapel to inform the leaders of my decision. The leaders accepted my resolution. Teodoro said that there had once been a mining town near where the Tower of Rem is, so if I do succeed in my plan, it will end up fulfilling Yulia's Score, that Score foretelling prosperity-- I'll die in a mining town, taking thousands of people with me. It seems that all the other issues raised at the summit were resolved: a three-way alliance, the stopping of the Planet Storm, and an attack on Eldrant. All were accepted. The only thing left is for me to eliminate the miasma. ...Let's go to the Tower of Rem. ============================ ========= | Those Who Were Driven Away | | [SY101] | ============================================================================ We found the replica Mary at the top of the Tower of Rem, holding an injured replica. Apparently that replica had been treated as a slave by human beings, and had barely managed to make it to the tower. I guess there isn't much room for replicas in the world right now. The replica Mary agreed to die on the condition that we would guarantee protection for the remaining replicas. I was still wavering, but Asch came along and yelled at me. We started fighting over the Sword of Lorelei, and then I caused a hyperresonance. To be honest, I don't really remember what happened then. I was probably thinking a lot about how I didn't really want to die. But in any case, I was able to grab the Sword of Lorelei from Asch, and I used it to start a hyperresonance. But I wasn't able to eliminate all of the miasma by myself. Then Asch helped me, and together we neutralized the miasma...at the cost of thousands of replica lives. As can be seen from the fact that I'm writing this, I didn't disappear. In fact, as a result of my body partially disintegrating, we were able to acquire the Jewel of Lorelei, which had become mixed in with the fonons in my body. At first glance, it looks like things couldn't be better. But I know the truth. I saw my hand starting to vanish. That may be a sign that I myself am going to disappear. Fortunately Asch and the others didn't seem to notice. In the end, Asch took the Sword of Lorelei with him, while I kept the Jewel of Lorelei, and we separated. If we stay together, it'll be that much easier for Master Van to attack us. Asch left, and we headed for Belkend, so that I could get a thorough examination. The result of the examination in Belkend was as I expected. I'm going to disappear. And in the near future, too. I told the doctor not to tell anyone about it, wanting to keep it a secret, but Jade realized the truth. He said he wouldn't tell anyone else, though. Thanks, Jade. It looks like I don't have much time left, but at last I've finally started wanting to live. I don't want to die, I don't even want to think about it, but I don't have a choice, so I want to enjoy the time I have left with everyone else. I hope I'll be able to fill the rest of this diary with such good things. In any case, we need to report to the King, and I could use some rest, so we decided to head back to Baticul. Let's go. ============ ========= | Eyes on Me | | [SY102] | ============================================================================ We decided to save the report to Uncle for tomorrow, and rest at the mansion today. I guess I might as well head back to my room and take a nap. I was in my room, thinking about what it would be like to die, when Tear came in. Apparently she'd heard from Mieu that I was going to disappear. That Mieu, of all things to babble about... Tear's the one person I didn't want knowing about it. Tear told me not to keep anything from her anymore. Yeah, I guess. Now that she's learned my biggest secret, I don't have anything...well, only one thing to hide from her. Thanks, Tear. The next morning, I was feeling just a little better. It's odd... I feel bad for making others share my pain, but at the same time it makes my own feelings lighter. Anyway, I guess I ought to head out and report to Uncle. Everyone's probably waiting in the drawing room...let's stop there first. =================================== ========= | Words Between Father and Daughter | | [SY103] | ============================================================================ When I entered the drawing room, a messenger from the castle had just arrived, reporting that the New Order of Lorelei had sent an emissary. Here they come at last... Father headed for the castle--let's follow him. The emissary from the New Order of Lorelei was Largo. Uncle refused the New Order's demands. There's no turning back now. After Largo left, Uncle told me and Natalia to see him in his room later. It sounds like he's decided to tell her the truth. It'll be tough, Natalia, but hang in there! When Natalia learned the truth about her father, she ran off to question Largo. We can't just leave her alone--let's follow her. Natalia had caught up with Largo at the port. There, we heard from Largo why he joined the God-Generals. He had lost his wife and daughter because of the Score, and had come to hate the Score for that. And, he said, the Score holds the planet's memory--the record of the entire life of the planet, from its creation through its destruction--a memory which all life on the planet is destined to follow. Largo had refused to accept that. He also said our methods were insufficient. As long as the planet's memory exists, any choice we make will eventually lead to the same place. The Score is that absolute. I finally understand why Master Van is taking such an extreme course of action. The originals are limited by the planet's memory, so he wants to create a new human race, the replicas, which will truly be free. That's the world that Master Van desires. Natalia looked depressed, and the rest of us were shocked by the new truth we learned about the Score. At any rate, Uncle is probably worried about Natalia, so let's head back to the castle. Uncle told Natalia that she didn't have to go out and fight anymore. The summit on the Score had concluded safely--there was no reason for a father and daughter connected by blood to fight each other. But Natalia decided to come with us, and think about how to face Largo on the way. Uncle accepted her decision as well. So the next thing we'll need to do is stop the Planet Storm. But we don't even know how the Planet Storm works, so let's stop by Yulia City, where there should be some records about it. Teodoro should be able to help us. =================== ========= | The Chosen Future | | [SY104] | ============================================================================ Teodoro told us that the Planet Storm is controlled by a fonic glyph that was drawn using the Sword of Lorelei, so we'll need to use the Jewel of Lorelei to close it. We decided to split up while Teodoro had the Jewel analyzed. Surprisingly, Tear was the one that suggested we split up, and she took Natalia with her. I wonder if something's wrong? Let's go see... Tear had taken Natalia out to cheer her up and give her a chance to collect her thoughts. It looks like I shouldn't interrupt them. Let's go back and see if Teodoro is ready. Teodoro said that there was a fonic arte inscribed in the Jewel of Lorelei, which could be used to close the Gates by focusing Seventh Fonons into it. Okay, let's head for the Absorption Gate and close it first. =========================== ========= | One Who Would Seize Glory | | [SY105] | ============================================================================ When we reached the Absorption Gate, we found an Oracle ship there as well. They must be here too. Let's be careful. A lot of things happened at the Absorption Gate. Let me see if I can get them all straight. When we reached the place where we fought Master Van before, Asch and Largo were glaring at each other, and Mohs was there with a boy that looked just like Ion, protected by Legretta and Sync. And then Master Van appeared, in the very place he fell into the core from. It looks like he had been able to stay alive by drawing Lorelei into himself and using its healing power. Master Van gave the fragment of the Seventh Fonstone he had taken from the core to Mohs, who left with Sync and the boy that looked like Ion. Apparently Mohs wants to use that fragment to read the Seventh Fonstone's Score. Only the Fon Master can do that--so that boy must be another replica of the original Ion, like Sync. Ion had seven replicas made, after all... Master Van asked Asch to help him. Asch refused, of course. Then he turned and offered his hand to me. If this had happened long ago, I just might have accepted his offer. But now I know the truth. There's no turning back. When I refused, Master Van looked surprisingly satisfied, and left with Legretta. We tried to follow him, but were blocked by Largo, so we let Asch go after Master Van instead. Natalia tried once more to convince Largo to stop. She probably knew it was useless, but still had to try one last time. Largo, of course, stayed firm, and we ended up having to settle things in a battle. Largo fought, and died, like a soldier. It must have hurt Natalia... But this isn't the end of our battle. We came here not to defeat Largo, but to close the Absorption Gate and stop the Planet Storm. Let's head downward and find the fonic circle controlling the Gate. The instant I used the Jewel of Lorelei to close the Absorption Gate, I felt myself being sucked down into the core. I don't know exactly what happened, but I must have been caught in the flow of the Planet Storm. With my body's fonons separating, I guess it's becoming easier for me to merge with things like that. I saw things in the core that I shouldn't have been able to see--like Master Van trapping Lorelei in his body, and reviving Sync. Maybe this is the planet's memory... Finally I saw Asch fighting with Sync, and when I told Asch that I'd go to help him, I suddenly found myself back at the Absorption Gate. It turns out that the Absorption Gate had been successfully closed after all. Okay, let's hurry back and help Asch--he's in danger, just like the planet's memory showed me. Just as we reached Asch, Sync ran off, apparently sensing that he was at a disadvantage. We asked Asch about what had happened, and he said that Mohs was just outside the Absorption Gate, making the Ion replica read the Score, and Master Van was watching. Okay, let's go. The Score that the Ion replica read was exactly the same from the Planet Score before. Mohs refused to believe it, and attacked the Ion replica. I moved to protect him, and all of a sudden, maybe because of the Jewel of Lorelei I was holding, Mohs' neural contamination advanced, and he flew off into the sky. Then--maybe it was the Jewel again--Lorelei started to awaken inside Master Van's body, but Master Van managed to suppress it, and left for Eldrant with Legretta. Asch then said he would come to meet us again when the Planet Storm had been stopped, and he left as well. The Ion replica had been left behind, so we decided to take him to Daath. ========================= ========= | Casualties of the Score | | [SY106] | ============================================================================ We can't go on calling the Ion replica a replica, so Anise named him Florian. We left Florian with Maestro Tritheim, and headed for the Radiation Gate to stop the Planet Storm. As we approached the Radiation Gate, we were shot at by Eldrant, perhaps to prevent us from stopping the Planet Storm. Noelle dodged the fire and managed to land us safely at the Radiation Gate. Okay, let's head for the bottom. Just as I closed the Radiation Gate, Mohs flew down and attacked us. With the advancing neural contamination, he barely seemed to have any sanity left at all, but he still said nothing but "the Score, the Score!" It was too horrible to watch... Since he won't last long anyway, we decided to end things for him. Mohs may have thought differently than we did, but in his own way he was trying to save the world. That made me afraid...afraid that we were, like Mohs, following the wrong path. To be honest, thinking about saving the world or anything like that is probably way overdone. Even without doing anything like that, people will probably manage somehow or other. But I want to live as long as I can. Even more so, now that I know that I don't have much longer. We've taken care of stopping the Planet Storm, so Eldrant has lost its armor. Now we just need to do something about its anti-aircraft fire. At Jade's suggestion, we decided to head for the Grand Chokmah military headquarters. ========================= ========= | Footsteps to the Finale | | [SY107] | ============================================================================ According to Chief of Staff Sesemann, the Kimlasca and Malkuth forces have already begun preparations for deployment. We were also able to confirm the interval between Eldrant's cannons firing. Now we just need to complete the Key of Lorelei and proceed inside Eldrant. The joint military force is based in Chesedonia, so let's head there. Asch was waiting near the entrance to Grand Chokmah. He held out his hand to me, so I offered him the Jewel of Lorelei. After all, he's the original, the one whose power is stable. But he didn't seem to like that, getting angry at me "putting myself down." I know I used to be like that...no, maybe I still am to a degree. But as a simple issue of ability, I thought that Asch was more appropriate for the job than me. I don't think any less of myself for that fact. I'm me. I've finally realized that, after learning that I'm going to disappear. I'd always wanted someone to approve of me, to accept me, but that wasn't what was really important. Asch, please understand. Asch said we should fight to determine who's Master Van's real student. If that's what he needs, then I suppose I'll have no choice but to fight him. I'll probably end up fighting Asch on Eldrant. Right now, we need to prepare ourselves for going to Eldrant. Let's head to Chesedonia and arrange things with the military. ================== ========= | The Night Before | | [SY108] | ============================================================================ We reached Chesedonia, and Jade told us that soldiers were given 24 hours of leave before being deployed, so we decided to do the same, and split up. Natalia spent time talking with Guy. Probably about Asch, I'd guess. She's been through tough times, with me and Asch arguing and all, but I'm sure Guy will be able to comfort her. Jade apparently went out drinking. I wouldn't be surprised if Anise followed him, too. The two may be separated in years, but they sure look like close friends. I bet they're looking forward to after the battle, talking about what they'll do next. Noelle invited me and Tear to the Albiore, and took us out on the sea. The nighttime sea was really beautiful, and so was Tear. I was about to tell her my true feelings...but I decided not to. After all, I'm going to disappear. But if she reads this diary after I die, I wonder if she'll realize anyway? I've tried not to let them show through, but... The next morning, we all met again in Chesedonia. We'll wait directly underneath Eldrant in the Central Ocean for the joint forces to arrive, then start the operation. Let's make sure we're fully prepared, and head for Eldrant. =================== ========= | The Glorious Land | | [SY109] | ============================================================================ While we were waiting in the Albiore, we suddenly heard an alarm and saw a huge object--Eldrant itself--flying toward us. We were nearly smashed, but Noelle managed to avoid it and keep us safe. Eldrant crashed into the Ispanian Peninsula, warping the land around it. Even then, the anti-air fire didn't stop. We managed to locate a single area with a dead cannon, and landed there. Master Van must see the Key of Lorelei as a real threat if he's going to these lengths to stop us. So as long as we have the Key, we have a chance to beat him. When we landed, we found the Albiore III, which had crashed into the cannon and disabled it. It looks like Asch has already made it inside Eldrant. Let's hurry in ourselves. ========================== ========= | The Strength of Feelings | | [SY110] | ============================================================================ Inside Eldrant, we encountered Legretta. She had apparently come to take the Jewel of Lorelei from us. I was concerned for Tear, but neither of us can back out from this battle now. We defeated Legretta. Her last words were of hope that Master Van would reform the world. Tear looked pained at having lost her instructor, but didn't cry at all. That's some self-control she has. Come to think of it, I've never seen her crying even once since we met. I wonder if she won't cry even after I die? Probably not. Not that I want her to or anything... It just seemed to me that would be like her. =================== ========= | Only Room for One | | [SY111] | ============================================================================ As we headed farther on, I suddenly got caught up in a trap and separated from the others. That was sure clumsy of me. But I was startled to see that Asch had been caught in the same trap, and both of us were stuck in a room with no way out. I guess Asch and I really are the same person in some ways. Asch said that the room was made so that only one of us could get out. I tried to make him go, but he refused. So we both ended up fighting to prove who we were. I won. Asch wasn't civil about it, but he gave me the Sword of Lorelei. Now our roles have been decided. I'll defeat Master Van and free Lorelei, and Asch will help me. Just then, Oracle soldiers came and attacked, trying to take the Key of Lorelei. I thought of staying with Asch to defeat them so that both of us could leave, but Asch told me to perform the role he had left to me. For all that he hated me, Asch really has left his hopes with me. I can't betray those. I put my trust in Asch, and left the room to rejoin the others. ====================== ========= | The Grand Fonic Hymn | | [SY112] | ============================================================================ As we proceeded through Eldrant in search of Master Van, we came across the former mansion of Count Gardios. We started talking about the Score, and all of a sudden Tear recalled the Seventh Fonic Hymn, which she had never been able to remember before. She said Master Van had sung it to her as a lullaby when she was little. She still doesn't understand its meaning or symbolism well enough to use it as a real fonic hymn. But now that she's remembered it, she's able to use the Grand Fonic Hymn, which could reawaken Lorelei within Master Van's body. We've gained a new weapon for our battle. This should give us another advantage in fighting Master Van. Let's hurry and find him. ================ ========= | A Raised Cross | | [SY113] | ============================================================================ Further on, I suddenly got the headache that comes with Asch's channel, and I saw Asch--no, I saw the world through Asch's eyes. Asch's body was covered with injuries from fighting the Oracle soldiers, and yet he kept on battling. And just as it looked like he had taken care of them all, he relaxed for an instant, and in that instant an Oracle soldier ran him through with a sword. Even so, Asch pulled together the last of his strength, defeated the soldier, and called to me... "The rest is up to you." Then I felt something warm flow into me. It was Asch...the same feeling I had when we lowered the Outer Lands, when we neutralized the miasma. So I knew exactly what had happened. Asch had died... Natalia was immobilized by the shock. And with the worst timing, we were caught in a fonic trap, and were about to be destroyed by it. That instant, I felt power flow out of me, and it neutralized the trap. The power I used, the power Asch probably gave me, is called "second-order hyperresonance." Sync appeared before us and called it that. Sync attacked us, cursing his own birth. He had joined Master Van to help destroy the Score which had led to his being born. We defeated Sync. Was he really empty, like he said? Or did he simply think he wanted to be empty? We can't ask him anymore, but I wish I could have heard his answer. Jade scolded Natalia for succumbing to shock at Asch's death, and she finally realized just how dangerous her actions had been. And she said to me that Asch was inside me. Even though she could have said that I should have died instead, and I wouldn't have been able to respond... I'm sorry, Natalia. =================== ========= | The Promised Time | | [SY114] | ============================================================================ We felt Master Van waiting ahead of us, an incredibly strong presence. Once we go past this point, we probably won't be able to return until we've defeated Master Van. And once we go beyond here and finish everything, I'll probably disappear. In order to defeat Master Van, in order to free Lorelei, I'll almost certainly have to use hyperresonance and the Seventh Fonon. By using that power, the fonons within me that have just barely been staying together will separate and vanish. Thank you all for everything. Please lend me your power for this final battle. ______________________________________________________________________________ ============================================================================ | This is the end of the script! As said above, email me (kalorii@gmail.com) | | if you need anything. ^.^ | ============================================================================