PART IV: AFTER THE DEFEAT OF THE BLACK MAGE

Chapter 13: Carcion, the Cradle of Life

• After the invasion, Neinheart called for an Alliance meeting, in which he updated the world leaders on the state of Maple World. He explained that based on information from past missions, he was certain that Darmoor was targeting the power of both the Transcendents and the Ancient Gods, and that based on the complexity of the draining crystal, it was evident that he had been planning it for some time.

• Because of this, he proposed a strategy for the Alliance to prevent Darmoor from taking the power of the gods by claiming that power in the World Heart first, which would keep it out of Darmoor’s hands, as well as strengthen the Adversary. As the meeting proceeded, Gaon’s spear lit up with a watery energy that pointed towards Grandis.

• Gaon revealed that the jewel on his staff had been given to him by an Ancient God named Keira. He revealed that during the Ancient War, his people - the black tortoise Anima - had been wiped out, leaving him as the last survivor. Resentful of the gods and their chaos, Gaon had wandered the world in order to put an end to the fighting.

• During the Ancient War, Gaon was fatally wounded from the battle and collapsed in Carcion, known as the Cradle of Life, while searching for pure water that the black tortoise Anima could use to heal themselves. There, he had been rescued by Keira, who had used her powers to heal him. Though initially mistrustful of her, Gaon had been surprised to learn that Keira was unlike the other gods, as she resented violence and wished to protect all living things, for which she had taken in snake and turtle Anima refugees under her protection.

• Eventually, Gaon had been chosen by the will of the world as one of the Four Symbols, for which he would need to leave Keira and help the elders defeat her and the other gods. Seeing Gaon’s conflict, Keira had decided to make his decision easier by choosing to seal herself away, explaining that she would do her part in putting an end to the chaos of the gods.

• Keira had then given a jewel containing her blessings to Gaon as a symbol of their friendship, which he had embedded into his spear. However, Gaon explained that by the time he had reached Odium, Keira’s power had already faded away from the jewel, as she had sealed herself away by then. The Adversary realized that if the jewel was lighting up again, it meant that Keira had awakened, and that she was likely calling Gaon back to Carcion because she needed his help. Believing that the High Flora were targeting Keira, Neinheart dispatched the Adversary, Gaon, Claudine, and Eckhart to save her.

• As the Glory Guard set out, a fleet of High Flora ships under the command of Limbo - now promoted to General - neared Carcion. Alongside Limbo and Albaire were two of the traitorous elders - Shensung the monkey elder and Xula the dog elder - who had been dispatched by Darmoor to conduct research for his Adversary project. Shensung quickly got on Limbo’s nerves by constantly goading him, with Xula lightly scolding Shensung and keeping him in check.

• Soon after, the Glory Guard arrived at Carcion, where they discovered that the High Flora had already arrived and polluted the waters with a strange infective agent. As the World Heart began reacting to the waters, Gaon explained that long ago, an Ancient God in the form of an enormous sea serpent named Brihini had once attacked Carcion in retaliation for Keira refusing the stand against the Overseers. Though Gaon and the other Anima had managed to drive Brihini off, many Anima had been killed or wounded, for which Keira had imbued the pure waters of Carcion with her divine blessings, which were capable of healing and strengthening the Anima.

• The Adversary realized that the World Heart was reacting to Keira’s divine power in the water, as well as the strange purple pollutant, which contained Darmoor’s Transcendent power. With the World Heart constantly reacting independently of their will, the Adversary realized that they needed to learn how to control it, as simply filling it with power was not enough.

• Meanwhile, Limbo began using Darmoor’s Transcendent powers to break through the protective barrier that Keira had created around herself. As he continued chipping away at the barrier, Albaire reported that Shensung’s special experiment - Specters capable of imitating Anima - had successfully infiltrated the snake and turtle Anima tribes in order to cause infighting between them. Limbo then gave Albaire a portion of Darmoor’s Transcendent powers and tasked him with seizing control of the area, while Shensung and Xula began their experiments.

• Elsewhere, the Glory Guard rescued a group of turtle Anima led by their chief, Duhan, who brought them back to his village after recognizing Gaon as the legendary Black Tortoise who had once been Keira’s guardian ages ago. Duhan then revealed that the snake Anima - whom the turtles had been fighting for years over control of Carcion’s pure water - had sided with the High Flora, and that they had helped the High Flora seize control of Keira’s sanctuary. He also revealed that the snakes had polluted the waters and kidnapped many of the turtle Anima.

• With the infected Anima getting worse, the Adversary realized that with the pollutant containing divine power, the World Heart would react to it. By focusing their willpower, the Adversary consciously used the World Heart to extract and absorb the pollutant from the infected Anima. The Glory Guard then agreed to help the turtle Anima investigate the snakes and recover the kidnapped Anima.

• Their investigation led them into the jungle, where they found a laboratory that the elders had created to perform their experiments. Though the laboratory had been abandoned, the Glory Guard was able to learn that the elders had been performing experiments on the kidnapped Anima. This infuriated both Duhan and Claudine, who was reminded of how Gelimer had experimented on Vita and countless others whom she hadn’t been able to save.

• Vowing revenge, Duhan declared that he would attack the snakes, though the Adversary attempted to calm him down and reminded him that they also needed to find the missing Anima. While Duhan, Gaon, and Claudine searched for the missing Anima, the Adversary and Eckhart traveled to the snake Anima village.

• Along the way, the Adversary and Eckhart defeated the nearby Specters and discovered that the Specters were stronger variants of the ones that Eckhart and his Knights had fought at the border between worlds. Eckhart also realized that the crystals being carried by the Specters were responsible for polluting the waters of Carcion.

• At the snake Anima village, the chief of the snakes, Hinya, explained that the turtle Anima had kidnapped their villagers and polluted the waters. Though confused by her story, the Adversary nevertheless used the World Heart to heal the infected Anima in order to gain Hinya’s trust before forming a rescue party to reinforce Gaon and the others. Meanwhile, Gaon and his team found the missing Anima in the sea caverns, where they were shocked to find that the Anima were actually disguised Specters.

• Just then, Albaire and the elders appeared and trapped them in a force field, after which they began raising the water levels in cavern. Before leaving, Xula attempted to put Gaon at ease before his death by assuring him that Baekyeon and Ara were both still alive, while Shensung revealed that the kidnapped Anima were being held at the sanctuary.

• After the enemy left, the Adversary and the rescue party arrived to save Gaon and the others. Though the Glory Guard told Hinya and Duhan that it was the disguised Specters who had kidnapped the Anima, the two chiefs nevertheless refused to work together, blaming each other for the fall of the sanctuary.

• As tensions continued to rise, Keira’s watery form appeared from the jewel in Gaon’s spear and admonished the Anima for fighting over her divine blessings for centuries, reminding them that she had blessed the waters because she abhorred violence. Humbled by Keira’s words, the snake and turtle Anima agreed to put aside their differences in order to save her.

• Together, the Glory Guard and the Anima fought their way into the sanctuary, while Shensung and Xula - unable to find any suitable candidates for their experiment - disappeared into a hanging scroll similar to the one that led to Shangri-La, though this scroll instead led to a shadowy city skyline. Meanwhile, Limbo finished breaking the barrier around Keira, just as the Adversary and Gaon arrived.

• Though he had been ordered to absorb Keira’s power into a draining crystal, Limbo decided to absorb Keira into himself in order to momentarily experience the power of the gods, which he claimed would help him get closer to the Abyssal Source. Transforming into his enormous Specter form, Limbo fought against the Adversary and Gaon, bringing them into an illusory space that he had replicated from a region close to the Source. Though the Adversary broke out of the space, they were unable to defeat Limbo and his Specter form’s rapid regenerative abilities.

• From within Limbo, however, Keira was able to weaken his regeneration in order to help the Adversary and Gaon. With Keira’s help, the Adversary was able to defeat Limbo and used the World Heart to extract Keira back out from him. Furious, Limbo attempted to gather his power into a large energy ball, intending to wipe out all of Carcion. However, the snake and turtle Anima banded together and consolidated their individual blessings together into their own energy ball.

• To their shock, however, Keira took the ball of energy and declared that she would sacrifice herself to defeat Limbo, thereby putting an end to the cursed power of the gods which had drawn the High Flora to Carcion and put all the Anima in danger. As Keira attempted to stop Limbo, the Adversary consciously channeled the power of the World Heart, giving Keira back her power that the World Heart had absorbed from the waters.

• With Limbo defeated, Eckhart attempted to interrogate him about the High Flora’s purpose. However, Limbo adamantly retorted that the only purpose of the High Flora was to wipe out all life, and that the elders’ experiments on the Anima were nothing more than simple pastimes for Darmoor until their goal could be realized.

• As Eckhart moved to arrest him, Havoc suddenly appeared in a flash of red lightning in order to help Limbo, who began groveling and begging Havoc to take him away from Carcion. However, Havoc disdainfully asked Limbo how he could think about retreating when he hadn’t even finished his job. Havoc unleashed red lightning on the Glory Guard and the Anima, with the Adversary unable to move due to the World Heart’s influence. To the Adversary’s surprise, however, Havoc spared their life, instead noting that they were a disappointment, even with the World Heart.

• Havoc then used a draining crystal to extract Keira’s power from her, though Gaon was able to use Keira’s power inside his spear to create a barrier before Havoc could take all of it. However, with the crystal filled and his mission complete, Havoc took Limbo and the High Flora army away from Carcion, returning back to Aboris.

• With Carcion devastated from the pollution, Keira used the last of her power to purify most of the land, entrusting the Anima with working together in order to fix the rest. The Glory Guard then brought a powerless Keira to Ereve, where Neinheart revealed that he had been able to bring up communications with Prince Carlisle.

• Carlisle revealed that after many years, the Apostles had moved out of the shadows in order to conduct raids all across Grandis, stealing the power of every single Ancient God that they knew about. Having taken the power of dozens of gods, Neinheart believed that the High Flora would not be able to carry out such a major operation again for some time, which would give the Alliance time to gather allies, spread their influence across Grandis, and plan out a counterattack.

• Carlisle revealed that there was a new faction of resistance against the High Flora called the Primacy, and that Seren had come across them while fixing the holy sword. He explained that Seren had asked him to tell the Adversary to cross the continent and meet her at ‘the place where the world starts again’. Carlisle assured the Adversary that he would continue looking into any leads he had, and that he would contact them soon.

• After the meeting, the Adversary met with Keira and Gaon, who planned to leave on a mission to save Ara and Baekyeon from the elders. As thanks for their help, Keira told the Adversary that in order to claim the power of the gods inside the World Heart, they would need to satisfy one of two criteria: to defeat a god and take their power by force - as they had done by defeating Kaling and taking Darmoor’s power - or by inheriting the will of a god - as they had done with Shinsoo by swearing to save Cygnus.

• Elsewhere in Aboris, Darmoor was interested to know that the Adversary had managed to consciously wield the World Heart. Though Limbo apologized in terror for failing, Darmoor assured Limbo that he was not displeased. He then declared that he could hear the prayers to the false gods and ordered his Apostles to bring ‘everything’ to him, claiming that he would bring forth ‘the true paradise’. Around the room, there were dozens of draining crystals filled with the power of countless gods targeted in the raids.

• Soon after, the Adversary helped Neinheart investigate the elders’ laboratory in Carcion, where they learned that the elders were combining their Adversary research with Specter research for unknown purposes, even going as far as to confirm the existence of a ‘special soul’.