PART IV: AFTER THE DEFEAT OF THE BLACK MAGE

Chapter 2: Convergence

(A/N: With the end of Aftermath, this is the official start of the Grandis storyline. There’s a very notable shift in how much the story quality has improved in the Grandis update, as this is around when the KMS story group was established. I have some mixed feelings about the lore introduced in the Grandis update. On one hand, the KMS directors have been particularly interested in the story and aesthetics of Grandis, and so you can clearly tell that this is where they’re investing all their effort.

However, there’s one side effect of this that I don’t like. Grandis has been established to be this technologically advanced society since the dawn of the universe itself. It just so happens to be the place where all the Ancient Gods were, where the Transcendents just so happened to be the most active, where there was a whole factory that produced cybernetic Adversaries, and overall just where everything notable in the history of the story took place.

What I don’t like about this is that, in contrast, Maple World has retroactively been made into this dingy, backwater world, and its actual significance to the story has been greatly reduced. Part of this is just a natural side-effect of a game whose lore has been going on for almost twenty years now. Obviously, things are gonna be added that don’t mesh well with the established history of stuff from the early game. However, I think that part of it just comes from the influence of the higher-ups at Nexon, who seem to care a lot more about the ideas that they pitched for Grandis than Maple World.

It just feels a bit disrespectful for the writers to sideline Maple World when it’s the OG content that shaped the entirety of the game for many, many years. Every Grandis story gives this vibe that it’s trying to outdo anything that happened on Maple World, and it’s not even done well. The story team has a very inconsistent level of writing quality; they frequently drop or retcon their own plot points, and their revamps constantly misunderstand the characterization and motivations of established characters. I think that the idea of the story team is a good concept, but I really wish that they’d get writers who actually understand the story on a deeper level instead of this superficial level of cohesion that always falls apart under scrutiny.)

Some time after the defeat of the Black Mage, Neinheart summoned the Adversary to the Outpost, where he told them that the Alliance had found Will unconscious in the Origin Sea shortly after the Black Mage’s death. (A/N: This is likely because Orchid won their fight at the end of the Esfera storyline.) As Will had been the only Commander to know about and fully approve of the Black Mage’s goals, the Alliance had secretly relocated him to Maple World in order to interrogate him.

Though he had only recently regained consciousness, Will had appeared to be unexpectedly cooperative, to the point that Neinheart was growing suspicious. He asked the Adversary if they would be willing to visit Will, where Grendel the Really Old was questioning him. After the Adversary agreed, Neinheart escorted them from the Outpost to Ereve, where the Adversary pointed out the risk of keeping Will so close to the Empress.

Neinheart reassured them that Ereve was the most secure place in Maple World, though he added that it troubled him to keep such a great enemy there. However, he was confident that Will would be instrumental in helping them plan future battles. The Adversary asked what other battles there could be, to which Neinheart told them about Melange, who had disappeared shortly after the defeat of the Black Mage.

He then gave them a letter from Edea, which had been sent shortly after Melange had first joined the Arcane River expedition. Edea had written that she had finished investigating Melange, as per Neinheart’s request, and that though she normally considered Neinheart’s distrust in his allies to be ridiculous, she believed that his suspicions were right in Melange’s case.

She explained that Melange had initially claimed to be the disciple of a great magician, though she had later learned that he had been expelled for practicing forbidden magic. Furthermore, not only was Melange both highly skilled in several branches of magic and extraordinarily powerful, but he also had great knowledge about the Transcendents, far greater than that of the Alliance’s allies in Grandis.

Neinheart told the Adversary that because of Melange’s unusually vast knowledge, he hadn’t been able to afford risking losing Melange’s trust by taking him into custody, and so he had settled for keeping an eye on him. However, Melange had easily managed to escape the guards that Neinheart had sent to escort him to Ereve after the battle of Tenebris, and his whereabouts and plans remained a mystery.

When the Adversary learned that Neinheart planned to go after Melange, they asked if it would be safe to leave Will with fewer guards. Neinheart reassured them that as Will’s powers had been tied to the Black Mage, he wouldn’t pose a risk, especially with a Chief Knight assigned to his cell to keep him under constant surveillance. 

Suddenly, the ground began to quake as the Adversary headed to the prison with Neinheart. There, they found Oz fighting Soot monsters, which she claimed had come from inside the prison. After helping her defeat them, they rushed inside and found Hawkeye fighting several more monsters. The Adversary quickly took care of them, after which Hawkeye reported that Will had done something to Grendel, causing him to vanish. Just then, an Alliance soldier arrived and reported that he had brought Grendel’s apprentices, Elwin and Lily. (A/N: We were first introduced to Elwin and Lily during the events of FriendStory.)

Elwin and Lily explained that when Grendel had first touched the core fragment from Gloom, he had seen the countless futures that led to despair, which had caused him to start sympathizing with the Black Mage about his dream of creating a world without such pain. Because of that, Grendel had gone to see Will, who had recognized that Grendel had touched the core. He had noted that Grendel must have felt what he himself had felt, though he had then corrected himself, explaining that Grendel must only feel regret and despair now that the Black Mage was gone.

Will had added that humankind was now doomed - trapped and relegated to languish from the laws that bound their broken world. However, Grendel had retorted that broken things could be mended, and that it was no excuse for the Black Mage’s plans, as he would have destroyed everything and everyone. He had added that despite everything, humans longed to keep living, which Will had agreed with, though he had replied that to people like himself and Grendel, choosing to live in such a way was shameful, and a fate worse than death.

Grendel had then told Will that he had seen the future that the Black Mage had chosen, in which he had intended for the Adversary to kill Tana. Will had confirmed that it was indeed the future that the Black Mage had intended, to which Grendel had replied that even that future had branched off into several other paths, though Will had claimed that such a thing wasn’t possible. Grendel had then explained that the Black Mage wasn’t the only Transcendent trying to overthrow the natural order, causing a shocked Will to wonder whether it was the work of Gerand Darmoor.

(A/N: Like I mentioned in the Limina section, there was a lot of narrative shifting that happened in-between writers regarding the Black Mage and his goals. The Genesis Weapon storyline, which was released before Convergence, revealed that the Black Mage had confided in Will that he was aspiring for something more than just the creation of a new world. Before we got a proper answer in the Destiny Weapon storyline, it was originally left fairly ambiguous regarding what exactly it is that he wanted, which added another layer of confusion to his motives.

Before the Kao revamp, it was suggested that the Black Mage had wanted to bring back the Ancient Gods and their chaos to overthrow the Overseers and their order, which is why he armed us with the Genesis Weapon to handle whatever new threats come our way. After the Kao revamp, however, it’s revealed that the Black Mage had truly wanted to create a new world, and that us sparing Tana’s life changed the course of everything. It’s implied that the reason why he wanted us to kill Tana was because damaging her and causing her to reform would erase her memories, which would remove her as the final variable who could use her Transcendent powers to interfere with his plans.

Obviously as we find out in Kao’s Memory and the Limina storyline, removing Tana’s influence was the mistake that led to Kao being unable to draw out the power of the Adversary, which is where the Black Mage’s plan went wrong. And because of this miscalculation, his doubts over the integrity of his plan is what ultimately leads to him abandoning his mission to create a perfect world when we spare Tana’s life and go against what he had expected us to do in that moment. From what we learn in Convergence, it seems like Gerand Darmoor had tried to intervene in Kao’s timeline to prevent the Genesis Ritual from succeeding, and although his actions branch multiple futures, we see that the Black Mage ultimately brings about the future that he wanted regardless, erasing Darmoor and everyone else in the world except for the Black Mage and Kao.)

Grendel had then asked Will what the Transcendents were, and for what purpose they had been created. Will had laughed and replied that someone had once told him that truth was a sweet poison, and that it was sometimes better to avoid it. He had added that in that sense, there were no bigger fools than himself and Grendel, as neither of them could give up their insatiable hunger for the truth. Will had then taken out another core and given it to Grendel, who, upon touching it, had vanished in a flash, after which the Soot monsters had begun appearing.

Lily then told them that Grendel had been acting strange ever since he had touched the first core fragment, though it had been nothing like what had happened with the second core. Hawkeye asked Will what he had done with Grendel, to which Will replied that he had merely given Grendel a nudge in the right direction on the path laid out by the Black Mage.

He explained that if Gloom’s core was a simple array of futures, then the one that he had given Grendel was a core filled with thoughts. He explained that the core that he possessed contained the Black Mage’s innermost thoughts, plans, and his deepest despair. Neinheart then asked Elwin to create a dimensional gate to follow Grendel and told the Adversary to accompany Elwin and Lily. Elwin then used Grendel’s magical trace to create a portal to his location.

(A/N: Zero gets some exclusive dialogue here. Right before they enter the portal, Will asks them whether they know that the teeth of spiders contain a poison that can even stop time. He explains that though he normally enjoys the anticipation, he’s particularly excited this time.)

After entering the portal, the three found themselves in Lachelein. There, they met Protective Mask, who led them up the clock tower. He then told them that while he had been searching for Lucid, he had seen Grendel wandering inside. Upon tracing his path, they found themselves inside Lucid’s room, where they discovered Lucid in deep slumber.

Protective Mask then allowed them to peer inside Lucid’s dream, where they found Grendel speaking with her. To their surprise, they found Lucid addressing him as the Black Mage and telling him that the Alliance had begun investigating the Gate to the Future, after which she asked whether she should stop them.

Grendel then echoed the Black Mage’s words in the memory, telling Lucid to let it be, as it was the only way that the Alliance would learn fear. By witnessing the Second Future, they would learn about the lie of free will and begin to hate the chains of fate. Grendel then spoke in his own voice and realized that the Black Mage had intended to lose from the very beginning.

The Adversary was also surprised to learn that the Gate to the Future had been part of the Black Mage’s plan. Elwin then told Grendel to snap out of it, but Grendel merely exclaimed that he had to know more before teleporting away. Protective Mask then decided that he would rescue Lucid from her nightmare, realizing that her subconscious had created him for such an occasion.

Lily was surprised that Lucid had thought of such a possibility and realized that Lucid had hoped all along that someone would help her when she couldn’t help herself. Protective Mask then entered Lucid’s dreams, where she was drowning in a dark ocean, and took off his mask, revealing Mercedes’ face underneath. Protective Mask pulled Lucid out of her dark abyss and told the others that she would remain unconscious for a while longer, after which he would hand her over to the Alliance soldiers in the town square. With no more time to waste, Elwin created a new portal to follow Grendel.

(A/N: Mercedes gets some exclusive dialogue during this part. When Protective Mask rescues Lucid, Mercedes expresses her shock that Protective Mask is a projection of herself. Right before they enter the portal, Lucid calls out to Mercedes in her sleep, overjoyed that she came to save her from her nightmare. Lucid is still asleep at this point, and so she’s actually addressing Protective Mask, believing him to be Mercedes. The actual Mercedes then promises to return soon in order to bring her back home to Elluel.)

With no more time to waste, Elwin created a new portal to follow Grendel, which led them to Trueffet in the Morass. They continued onward, fighting past the thralled monsters, and found Grendel speaking with the White Mage. The Adversary was surprised to see the White Mage, as Tana’s memories of Trueffet were set after the White Mage had already fallen. Lily pointed out that Transcendents weren’t bound by time and space like they were, meaning that the Black Mage’s return to his original form before he died could have influenced moments in the past.

They then heard Grendel speaking as the Black Mage, who told himself that he could leave the task of removing Arkarium to his echo in the Morass. He noted that the process of achieving his goal was long and complex, as he was still on the path that the laws of the world had intended, though he also realized that the complexity and uncertainty of his situation may have given him a clue to escape that fate. With those words, Grendel disappeared once again.

Elwin attempted to open a portal to follow him, but the White Mage’s presence terrified him to the point that he couldn’t do so. Suddenly, the White Mage teleported before them, immediately scaring the trio. The White Mage reassured them that he wasn’t the Black Mage and that they had nothing to fear from him. Lily asked what he had told Grendel, to which the White Mage explained that he hadn’t told Grendel anything, but rather, Grendel had realized the truth about the purpose of the Transcendents on his own.

The Adversary asked him to tell them what Grendel had learned, and so the White Mage told them that long ago, before the Transcendents had existed, the universe had been ruled by many unpredictable and uncontrollable gods who had their own independent aims and goals. In some cases, they had actively interfered in the world, resulting in an inevitable age of chaos.

In resistance, the world had desired order and control. Its will had forged chains of law that began suppressing the Ancient Gods, whose creations had gradually become insignificant as a result. Over long years, the chaos had gradually subsided, but the will of the world had not yet been satisfied, as there was a possibility that the Ancient Gods, who had been chained into an unnatural slumber, could still awaken someday, and the countless factors of causality that stemmed from this created countless futures, which spelled an uncertainty that would never end.

The White Mage explained that up until that moment, the future remained open, as it wasn’t something that could be predicted or manipulated. Because of this, the Transcendents had been created, whose mere existence suppressed the Ancient Gods from ever awakening again. Simultaneously, they had exerted tremendous influence on the universe, and as a result, uncertainty was eradicated, and the future became set in stone.

(A/N: Zero gets some exclusive dialogue here, in which they express their shock that they were used to manipulate fate, regardless of their own will.)

Lily was shocked to know that even the Transcendents were slaves to order and asked if Grendel had any more questions. The White Mage told them that Grendel had asked what would become of Maple World with the absence of the Transcendents, and that he had set out to confirm his suspicions. With their questions answered, Elwin created a new portal to follow Grendel.

(A/N: Several characters get some exclusive dialogue right before entering the portal.

Luminous asks the White Mage if the darkness that he had received from the Black Mage will disappear. The White Mage tells Luminous that the darkness is now a part of him and says that he’ll just have to learn to love that darkness, just as ‘she’ does, with ‘she’ referring to Lania.

Shade asks the White Mage if he knows how to remove the curse on him. The White Mage replies that he doesn’t know how, but he tells Shade not to worry, as he’ll shortly see that the curse will soon mean nothing. While this line doesn’t initially make sense with the Shade revamp, it actually does stay consistent with the new story, as they do more or less explain that the Fox God’s blessing didn’t “fix” Shade’s curse so much as slap a temporary Band-Aid on it that would eventually run out of juice and leave him right back where he started.

For the Demon, the White Mage stops him and explains that there’s something that he needs to know before leaving. The Demon asks if it’s about Damien and Arkarium, which the White Mage confirms. The Demon explains that at first, he didn’t know whom to hate between Arkarium, who had been the perpetrator, and the Black Mage, who had given the orders. However, he tells the White Mage that he no longer cares, as neither Arkarium nor the Black Mage nor Damien exists anymore. He explains that he doesn’t want to keep living in anger and regret, to which the White Mage is pleased to note that the Demon has made his peace with it. He then asks the Demon to keep moving forward, explaining that it’s the duty of those who survive.)

The White Mage smiled softly as they left before scattering into Erda. The Adversary then began considering what the Black Mage’s goals were, to which Lily offered to explain the principles of magic and the universe’s structure in order to help them understand. She gave them a situation in which two identical marbles were put in a box, which was then shaken. Based on the dimensions of the box, the shape and weight of the marbles, and the force and direction of the shake, it was possible to predict the path that the marbles would follow.

However, she then changed the situation to add more marbles of different sizes and weights, which would make it much harder to predict the trajectory of the original two marbles. In that regard, Lily equated the Transcendents as having removed the countless variables introduced by the Ancient Gods from the equation in order to make the future predictable, and explained that the mere existence of the Transcendents was what maintained order.

Soon after, the trio emerged into the Radiant Temple in Esfera, where the Adversary watched their past self rush into Mirror World in order to defeat Will. Lily realized that they were in the Morass, which had taken the form of the Black Mage’s memories of watching the Adversary in Esfera. They entered the mirror and fought through the monsters before reaching the moment when the Adversary had refused to take Tana’s life.

They then saw Grendel voice aloud the Black Mage’s thoughts that the Adversary had rejected their fate. He noted that the power of the Seal Stone - which he described as the power of chaos, the power to refuse control, and the power of the gods - was what had allowed them to do so. However, he added that the decision to use that power had been the Adversary’s alone.

(A/N: Here, Elwin expresses his surprise that the Adversary chose to spare Tana and asks them what they were thinking. You get the choice to say that you were having trouble thinking clearly at the moment, you thought that fighting would be inevitable anyways, or that you just couldn’t do that to Tana, although it doesn’t really make a difference which choice you pick because it just cuts back to Grendel’s dialogue no matter what.)

The Black Mage noted that it was, at once, a victory and a defeat, as it had demonstrated both the power of the gods and the will of the people. He noted that if the Adversary could defeat him - the last Transcendent of Maple World - then the universe would return to its original state. Suddenly, Grendel himself had an epiphany based on what he had heard from the Black Mage’s thoughts and disappeared.

(A/N: The idea that the Adversary sparing Tana’s life is both a victory and a defeat stems from his decision to not enact the Genesis Ritual. This is a defeat for him because he won’t be able to realize his ideals by fulfilling the plan he’s worked centuries towards achieving, but it’s also a victory because it showed him that the Adversary - a demigod who retained their humanity - is the only person who stands a chance at defeating the Overseers without losing everything that makes life worth defending. His realization that the world will return to its original state after his death is him realizing that the Ancient Gods will soon return, and this is why he decides to leave us the Genesis Weapon so that we’re armed against them and Darmoor in the fights to come.

Please note: the following text contains major spoilers for the Shangri-La storyline. If you don’t want spoilers, skip to the next paragraph.

The line about the Seal Stone holding the power of chaos and the ability to refuse control is part of the original KMS dialogue that was omitted in the GMS localization, which only said, “The Seal Stone contained incredible power. Enough power to change destiny itself.” This concept later becomes a significant plot point in the Shangri-La storyline, as it reveals that the Overseers had ordained that the fate of every Adversary is to die after fulfilling their purpose, which was meant to prevent them from plunging the world into chaos with their immense power to influence the world. When the elders meet us in Shangri-La and see that we’ve broken free from our destiny to die, they believe that our existence goes against the will of the world and that we’re inevitably going to bring an end to the natural order if left unchecked.)

As they prepared to follow him, Elwin realized that Will had dropped his book nearby and suggested grabbing it before Melange did. (A/N: I mean, this is the Morass, so it still wouldn’t change the past.) As Melange appeared, Elwin told him to stop, calling him a kid while doing so. This irritated Melange, who then unexpectedly grew self-aware and realized that he was a memory in the Morass, after which he cast a spell to make the three ignore him and find Grendel.

He then created a dimensional portal, and the three found their legs moving on their own towards it. As Elwin passed him, Melange ordered him to stop and hit him in the head with his staff as punishment for calling him a kid before sending him on his way. Lily was surprised that Melange knew that he was in the Morass and was shaken that he had used magic that she had never seen before.

They then emerged in the waterfalls of Limina and fought past the monsters until the Erda Surge poured down, changing their setting to the inactivated Genesis Crux. Suddenly, the Crux began shaking, and the waters turned crimson. They were then suddenly transported to the White Spear overlooking the giant before teleporting to the ship that the Adversary had used to reach the Temple of Darkness.

Just as the ship exploded, the scene changed to the Throne of Darkness, where the Aeonian Rise and Tanadian Ruin towered over them. As the twin knights slashed their blades, the scene changed again, sending them to the black and white void where the godlike Black Mage appeared before them, saying, “The answer is here. It is time to act.” (A/N: The Black Mage here is actually Grendel speaking aloud.)

Just as he launched an attack, the setting changed once again, and they found themselves standing on a strange cliff with runic rock formations. At the center of the area was an indentation in the ground, where a round gem was embedded. There, they found Grendel, who told them that they were, quite literally, at the end of the world.

Grendel explained that his journey had helped him reach the answers that he had been searching for. He revealed that the Transcendents had changed the nature of Maple World by their very existence, and with their absence, Maple World could return to its natural state. When the Adversary expressed their confusion, Grendel asked Lily what had happened when Rhinne and Alicia had disappeared.

Lily replied that Maple World and Grandis had started converging as a result of the Transcendents’ disappearance. They all then realized that if the Transcendents’ existence had influenced the world, and that their absence had resulted in the two worlds’ convergence, it meant that Maple World and Grandis had originally been the same world.

(A/N: This is what the White Mage meant originally when he told Shade that the curse won’t matter. Since the two worlds will become one, there’s no dimensional travel between Maple World and Grandis, which means that no one will forget him if the Fox God’s protection wears out and he ends up traveling between dimensions.

This storyline also makes an interesting retcon with how the world merge works. In Zero’s storyline, it’s explained that a world without Transcendents will seek to merge with another world in order to maintain balance. However, from what we learn here, Maple World and Grandis were originally the same world, and they’re simply returning to how they were always meant to be.

The lore presented here adds to the idea that the Overseers and their enforcement of order are an artificial construct, as they’ve essentially gaslit everyone into believing that keeping the universe separate is supposed to be the natural order, which the Black Mage is attempting to undermine with his plans. In reality, however, the Overseers are the ones who’ve been suppressing the true natural order. The world merge isn’t happening because Maple World is trying to maintain its balance - it’s because the Transcendents are no longer there to constrict it from returning to its natural state.)

Satisfied with their understanding, Grendel told them that the place where they were standing marked the veil between the two worlds, which had grown paper thin without the Transcendents. To their shock, Grendel raised his staff and smashed the jewel in the center, causing massive spell circles to appear in the air. Their dissipation pushed away all the clouds and fog, resulting in a blinding flash of light.

As the light from the dimensional convergence faded away, the Adversary, Lily, and Elwin were shocked to see that the sky was now filled with the moons of Grandis. They also saw a large city that hadn’t been there before, which stood at the other end of a sea that hadn’t existed either. Suddenly, however, the ground began shaking as a purple wave of light appeared that melted through the ground, just as the Adversary began to hear a mysterious voice in their head.

(A/N: This is where the 6th job advancement storyline is meant to take place, although you technically don’t need to complete it in order to story the Cernium storyline.)