PART I: BEFORE THE SEALING OF THE BLACK MAGE

Chapter 5: Aeona and Tana

(A/N: These events chronologically begin after the fall of the Ancient Gods and likely finish sometime after Darmoor awakens as a Transcendent.)

In the Radiant Temple on Grandis, two girls came into existence and stood before the Executors of Light and Darkness to be judged. (A/N: The Radiant Temple has also been called the Temple of Light.) One girl was able to hear a beautiful yet cold voice, that of the Overseers. This girl became known as Aeona, the Transcendent of Light. The other became known as Tana, a reserve for the Transcendent.

Over time, Tana grew curious about her powers of light and her sister’s powers of darkness. In her research, she discovered that light and darkness were merely analogies for the true power of the Transcendent of Light, that of creation and destruction, and learned that an awakened Transcendent could only wield one, while the other power was held by the reserve.

(A/N: It’s unknown who the reserve for the Black Mage is. The most likely candidate is Luminous, who was created from the discarded light of the White Mage, which fits the mandate that the reserve holds the other power that the awakened Transcendent doesn’t, i.e. Luminous wields light magic because the Black Mage awakened with the power of dark magic.

Another candidate is the White Mage of Friends World, which is a parallel world to Maple World that exists in the same dimension, meaning that it’s possible that Transcendents or their reserves could potentially exist in either. Given that the White Mage of Friends World has been trying to fuse Friends World and Maple World, which resulted in the creation of the Arcane River alongside the Black Mage’s attempts to fuse Maple World and Grandis, it’s possible that the White Mage was given the power of light, which he used to help the Black Mage with his plans.)

Over time, Aeona slowly appeared to lose her sanity and used her powers to destroy seven races in Grandis, though it was believed that she may have destroyed even more, as she had left no traces of her actions for a precise count to be established. When Tana learned about what Aeona had done, she confronted her sister, who told Tana that she hadn’t been able to help herself, and that she had only been doing her job.

Believing that her sister had become insane, Tana fought Aeona and managed to kill her, upon which she felt the power of the Transcendent of Light flooding into her. The Executors realized that they had been wrong in their proclamation that Aeona held darkness, while Tana held light. They then proclaimed that Tana was darkness and Aeona was light, heralding Tana as Aeona, the Transcendent of Light. Tana suddenly began to hear the voice of the Overseers and realized that she was now shackled to their will. However, she refused to be enslaved and vowed to live freely, even if it would destroy her.

(A/N: The Executors’ naming system confused everyone who played through Esfera. To clarify, Aeona and Tana aren’t really names so much as titles. Aeona is the title for the Transcendent of Light, while Tana is the title for the reserve. Originally, the Executors claimed that Aeona was darkness and Tana was light because the one who held darkness had heard the voice of the Overseers.

After Aeona’s death, the Executors proclaimed that the one who held light was the new Transcendent, and so they swapped the names for the two girls. While Tana continued using her original name, her official name is still Aeona, which many characters like Neinheart and Orchid continue to use after the events of Esfera, despite the Adversary continuing to call her Tana.

Regarding the old Aeona, I feel really bad for her. She seemed fairly cold and distant, but she was never particularly hurtful towards Tana. She came across more as bitter and jaded because her entire existence was just her being forced to wipe out entire races by the Overseers against her will. It seemed like she was actually trying to protect Tana from the truth when she destroyed the book about Transcendents and kept her at a distance with snide comments. Even at the end, I don’t think that she was able to properly explain that her actions were being done against her will, making Tana believe that she had simply gone insane.

The concept of the Transcendent of Light and their reserve was added in the Esfera storyline, but a lot of the details are still pretty nebulous. We don’t know what happens when the reserve dies or awakens as the new Transcendent of Light, such as in the case when Tana awakened after her sister’s death. Since it was emphasized how the two powers need to be shared, I wonder whether a new reserve would be chosen to wield the other power.

Additionally, I find it interesting that Tana was able to kill a Transcendent. The Ancient Gods and the Transcendents are said to be a class of higher beings, and that mortals are unable to harm them. The Overseers had also created laws that governed Transcendent powers, which made it so that a Transcendent is unable to kill another Transcendent, including themselves.

However, the fact that Tana is neither mortal nor a Transcendent means that she’s in a unique position to be able to kill other Transcendents. If it’s true that Luminous is the reserve for the Black Mage, it might imply that Transcendents who were mortal before awakening have reserves who are also mortal, which would explain why Luminous wouldn’t be able to directly kill the Black Mage.

Regarding Tana’s awakening as Aeona’s replacement, it’s unknown whether the reserve for the Black Mage would awaken as the new Transcendent of Light after his death, but given that there’s no mention that Luminous or anyone else suddenly becomes a Transcendent, it either means that we don’t know the identity of the reserve, Maple World is completely bereft of a Transcendent of Light, or the fusing of Maple World and Grandis means that Tana’s existence satisfies the requirement of a Transcendent of Light, and so there’s no need for the reserve to awaken. It does pose an interesting question about what the fates of the other Transcendents are since Alpha/Beta and Chronica share the title of the Transcendent of Time, as well as Alicia and Darmoor sharing the title of the Transcendent of Life, but that’s beyond the scope of this author note.)

After leaving the Radiant Temple, Tana eventually left Grandis itself and soon found a way to cross dimensions into Maple World. Her travels brought her to the kingdom of Kritias, where she arrived at the capital of Trueffet. While walking in the town square, a young orphan named Jean snuck up in order to pickpocket her.

Just then, a large anti-magic stone being hoisted by a rope fell down and exploded. Tana pushed Jean out of the way, but she and everyone else in range were vaporized. To everyone’s shock, however, Tana rematerialized out of thin air. She was then arrested and thrown into prison, where the mages of Trueffet experimented on her in order to find the source of her immortality so that they could bestow it upon their ruler, King Hekaton.

After her capture, the mages of Kritias began experimenting on Tana, now known only as Subject No. 618, in an effort to learn the secret of her immortality. During their research, the mages discovered that memories were tied to the body, rather than the soul, as Tana kept losing more and more of her memories each time that she regenerated the injuries that the researchers inflicted upon her, leaving her with only the faint memory of wanting something.

After a year, the mages grew frustrated that their experiments had yielded no results. They began wondering whether there were any clues in Tana’s memories, though they regretted that any chance of learning them was now lost, as Tana couldn’t even remember her own name anymore. Believing that they had no other choice, the researchers decided that they would attempt to force Tana beyond her regenerative capacity.

The mages inflicted a fatal wound upon Tana, who unexpectedly went berserk and unleashed a massive flash of light, just as she had when the anti-magic stone had fallen on her, causing six of their best researchers to vanish into thin air. In the aftermath, she calmly spoke aloud that she remembered her name, Tana. Because of the inhumanity and incomprehensibility of their experiments, the High Priest, who had been summoned from the Temple of Time, resigned, saying, “This is neither magic nor science. It is beyond human; it is of the gods. We have overstepped our bounds.”

In his place, the new High Priest, Arkarium, was ordered to continue conducting the experiments. As a boy, Arkarium had demonstrated great devotion to the Goddess of Time, Rhinne, allowing him to rise through the ranks to become her most trusted priest. Along with Arkarium, a young man named Shey, who had left Kritias after Tana’s capture in order to become a Priest of Time, returned back to his home in order to assist Arkarium.

After arriving in the dungeons, Shey was shocked at how inhumanely the mages of Kritias treated Tana, viewing her as nothing more than an inanimate object with no emotions, desires, or memories of her own, despite the fact that she was in immense pain. Upon speaking with Tana, Shey learned that the only thing that she could remember was her name and the faint memory of there being something that she had wanted.

Over time, Shey helped Arkarium and the other researchers attempt to transfer Tana’s regenerative capacity to others. Though Arkarium made great strides in the experiment, Tana continued rejecting the transfer of her power to the test subjects, causing their bodies to disintegrate while their souls were left behind. Their souls would desperately attempt to create new bodies for themselves, which resulted in them transforming into monsters.

Meanwhile, Jean - Shey’s childhood friend and the pickpocket whom Tana had saved - discovered where Tana had been imprisoned and broke into the dungeons in order to see her. Though Tana’s memories and emotions had been erased, Jean would nevertheless bring food and read stories to her every night in order to keep her company.

From afar, Shey secretly watched his friend fall in love with Tana, noting that Jean - an orphan whose greatest fear was to be forgotten - had likely felt great compassion for Tana, who had been imprisoned and forgotten in the dungeons. Though it remained unclear whether Tana was being positively affected by Jean’s visits, Shey did notice that during the experiments, Tana would occasionally look up at the ceiling, as if waiting for Jean to climb down and visit her.

As the experiments continued, King Hekaton began to grow impatient and ordered Arkarium to succeed in his experiments by the next day, which would be the day of his Ascendancy ritual. As the experiment for that day concluded, Tana overheard the researchers claiming that regardless of the outcome of the Ascendency ritual, Tana would die one way or another.

That night, Jean came to see Tana, who attempted to push him away so that he wouldn’t miss her when she disappeared. Though she claimed that she had grown tired of his visits and the book that he would read to her, Jean quickly saw through the lie. As the realization that she was about to die set in, Tana’s mental state began deteriorating, causing her powers to spiral out of control. Repeating the mages’ words that she wasn’t human, Tana began screaming in excruciating pain and begged for it to stop.

As Jean attempted to calm her down, Tana recalled that alongside her name, she also had a faint memory of wanting something. As the memory came back to her, Tana realized that what she had wanted more than anything else before she had lost her memories was to die. Upon realizing this, however, Tana immediately grew terrified at the thought, as she realized that she didn’t want to die anymore.

As her mental state continued deteriorating from fear and pain, Jean hugged Tana tightly, promising that he would always keep her safe. Though Tana was afraid of hurting him, Jean’s refusal to leave her side helped her regain control of her powers. Unbeknownst to them, however, Arkarium had secretly watched the entire exchange, causing him to realize that Jean was the key to ensuring the success of the transfer ritual.

The next night, Jean obtained an anti-magic necklace as a present for Tana, which was part of his plan to break her out. With Shey’s help, Jean broke into the dungeon where Tana was being held. Before he could free her, however, Arkarium used his magic to possess Shey, forcing him to call the guards. King Hekaton, whom Arkarium had asked to wait outside, then arrived and ordered his guards to kill Jean in front of Tana.

Just as Arkarium had anticipated, the shock of Jean’s death eradicated Tana’s willpower in rejecting the power transfer, allowing Hekaton’s Ascendency ritual to begin successfully. However, Tana crushed the anti-magic stone in the necklace that Jean had given her, causing the unstable magic to disrupt the Ascendency. Though Hekaton successfully gained the immortality that he sought, the disruption to the ritual caused him to be transfigured into a monster. (A/N: What’s funny is that if Hekaton had successfully taken Tana’s powers, he likely would’ve become Grandis’ new Transcendent of Light. As it is, Hekaton and the other failed experiments contain a trace of the Transcendents’ power.)

In his final moments, Hekaton experienced a brief glimmer of humanity and ordered the evacuation of his people from the castle into town. Hekaton then fused with the castle of Trueffet and transformed into a large golem, while the soldiers who were caught in the blast lost their bodies, causing their souls to create grotesques forms to inhabit. The castle of Trueffet then rose up into the sky, where it hung upside down. Meanwhile, the disrupted ritual forced Tana into a state of endless pain as her sanity began to erode, trapped in an endless cycle of decomposition and rematerialization.

(A/N: At this point, the Black Mage - after stealing the power of time from Rhinne - uses her Transcendent powers to travel back into the past and invade Kritias, thereby ensuring that all records of Tana are destroyed. He then seals Kritias away in a pocket dimension where time stands still in order to save Tana from endless suffering, as well as to keep her secure until the time comes to take her power for the Genesis Ritual.)