PART IV: AFTER THE DEFEAT OF THE BLACK MAGE

Chapter 2: Convergence

• Soon after the battle of Tenebris, the Alliance captured Will and began interrogating him in Ereve. While questioning him, Grendel was given a core similar to Gloom’s core, which contained the Black Mage’s thoughts. Because of this, Grendel was consumed with curiosity and went on a journey to learn more about the Transcendents and their purpose.

• Around the same time, Neinheart began investigating Melange, who had disappeared from Pantheon. He learned that Melange had falsified his records, and that he had been the disciple of a great magician until his expulsion for the use of forbidden magic.

• After Grendel’s disappearance, Neinheart asked the Adversary and Grendel’s apprentices - Elwin and Lily - to go after him. Their first stop was in Lachelein, where they met with Protective Mask and learned that the Arcane River was slowly fading away.

• They then found an unconscious Lucid, who was trapped in her own nightmare, and found Grendel viewing a memory of her speaking with the Black Mage. They then learned that the Gate to the Future had been part of the Black Mage’s plan to make the Alliance resent the idea of a predetermined future, which would hone their determination to resist it at Limina.

• Protective Mask then revealed that he had been created by Lucid’s subconsciousness long ago in the event that she needed to be saved from her own nightmare. Protective Mask then removed his mask and revealed himself to be a projection of Mercedes, who saved Lucid from her nightmare by pulling her out from the darkness of her mind. Lucid was then given over to Mercedes, who took her back to Elluel until she would awaken from her coma.

• The Adversary, Elwin, and Lily then followed Grendel to the Morass, where they found the echo of the Black Mage created from Tana’s memories, who had turned into the White Mage after the real Black Mage had become the White Mage in his last moments. The White Mage then revealed that before the Transcendents had existed, the universe had been ruled by the Ancient Gods, who had caused an age of chaos with their disregard for the natural order.

• Seeking to restore order, the will of the world - the Overseers - had been created to suppress the Ancient Gods. However, the Overseers were still unsatisfied, as there remained a possibility that the gods could someday return. For this reason, they had created the Transcendents to maintain order, using them as slaves to remove uncertainty from the universe and set the future in stone.

• They then followed Grendel through Esfera, where they encountered the echo of Melange from the Black Mage’s memory of watching the events of Esfera. To their shock, however, the echo of Melange grew self-aware that he was a memory made of Erda. Melange then used his powers to forcibly make the Adversary, Elwin, and Lily move past him into the next memory.

• The trio then caught up with Grendel at the border between worlds. Grendel revealed that the fusion of Maple World and Grandis had begun as a result of the Transcendents being sealed away, and that their permanent absence meant that the two worlds - which had been artificially separated by their presence - could finally return to their original state. Grendel then shattered the paper-thin border between dimensions, causing Maple World and Grandis to converge into one world.