PART III: AFTER THE UNSEALING OF THE BLACK MAGE

Chapter 6: Ellin Forest

(A/N: I’m actually starting out with the Explorer’s 4th job advancement because it needs to chronologically be done before Ellin Forest. It’s fairly short and also ties heavily into the Ellin Forest lore, and so you can just consider it to be essential reading because it’s too short to be in its own section. I would’ve placed this earlier, but it breaks the narrative flow with all the stuff that happens directly as a result of the Black Mage’s unsealing and the formation of the Alliance. However, you can assume that the events of this section happened concurrently with the earlier sections.)

Athena Pierce called the four Explorers to Henesys and explained that the Black Mage had been eerily silent after attacking Maple Island. Because of this, she asked them to check on the towns of Victoria Island and look for any strange activity. As the Explorer set off to investigate Perion and Ellinia, Tess asked them to swap with him and investigate the Nautilus instead, though he refused to explain why.

Aboard the Nautilus, the Explorer met with Kyrin, who told them that she believed Tess to be suspicious because of the way that his skills had seemed to be far beyond those of a normal Beginner when they had first met, as well as the fact that he had a strange energy that seemed to drain hers as well.

(A/N: If the Explorer is a pirate, when we first meet Kyrin, she’ll note that it’s been a while and asks what brings us back. Otherwise, she’ll welcome us to the Nautilus and ask if we’re here to become a pirate.)

As she had been unable to talk to him after his job advancements, she believed that he had something to do with the Black Mage. The Explorer told her that Athena would frequently give Tess important jobs, which made Kyrin feel as though she had misjudged Tess if Athena really trusted him. After confirming with her that the Nautilus was safe, the Explorer decided to intercept Tess in Ellinia and confront him about Kyrin’s suspicions. In Ellinia, Tess was amused when the Explorer asked if he was part of the Black Wings and decided to tell them his full story.

He explained that his mother, Yuris, was a half-elf who had died soon after giving birth to Kyrin when a strange poison containing the Black Mage’s power had corrupted Ellin Forest. While on a mission to scout Victoria Island, his father, Destonen, had found a suspicious tent and had discovered several research notes inside.

The notes had detailed how the writer, Kirston, had been curious about how the Black Mage’s charisma was such that it could attract such a motley group of Commanders. Kirston had found himself enraptured by the Black Mage’s mysterious ideals. Noting that the Black Mage had been sealed, he had resolved to break the seal, as he hadn’t been sure whether the Black Mage had intended to be sealed away.

Another research note had revealed that Kirston had encountered several maple leaves with an entity within them. According to a prophecy which he had uncovered, he had feared that the entity would foil the Black Mage’s plans, and so he had resolved to eliminate all obstacles that would prevent the Black Mage’s resurrection.

Suddenly, Kirston himself had entered the tent and had cursed Destonen’s bloodline so long as the Black Mage remained alive. Upon returning back to the camp, Destonen had found that Yuris had died from the poison soon after giving birth to Kyrin. He had then brought Tess and Athena to the area that he had been exploring, which would one day be known as Perion, and had told them about Kirston and the curse before passing away soon after.

Tess had soon realized that the curse had been split between himself and Kyrin, the two descendants of Destonen’s bloodline, and that the curse worsened the closer they were to each other. In order to save both their lives, Tess had resolved to stay away from his sister, which was why he had stayed for as little time as possible around her on the Nautilus, and why he had spent centuries trying to find a way to break the curse.

After having heard the full story, the Explorer felt bad for Tess and resolved to become stronger in order to help him. Suddenly, the mysterious voice which they had heard during their previous job advancements rang out and told them that their heart wanted to be stronger for others’ sake, and that their heart would lead them to their fate.

Feeling a new power within themselves, the Explorer returned to the Chief’s Residence, where the chiefs sent them to the Forest of the Priest in Leafre. There, the Explorer encountered the Explorer Priests, who deemed them worthy of receiving their knowledge. They reminded the Explorer that their new strength was meant to help others, and that it was their duty to lead Maple World into the future as a hero.

(A/N: Originally, you had to first prove your strength by collecting a Heroic Pentagon from Manon and a Heroic Star from Griffey. Back in the day, you could also buy a special scroll in Ludibrium that you could bring to Chief Tatamo in order to get the items for free, although that option was removed some time before the RED update.

Moving on, we have the actual Ellin Forest storyline. If you’re interested in seeing what the original Ellin Forest storyline was like, check out the link to the pre-Destiny revamp chronology. For the most part, any class can complete the new story, but it makes the most sense for an Explorer to do it, as Destonen is a major link between the events of Ellin Forest and the present day.

While this theme dungeon can be completed at level 95, Explorers should do it after their fourth job advancement for the sake of immersion because it otherwise introduces a plot hole, as the quest dialogue has Explorers know all about Tess’ family history, which obviously shouldn’t be possible when we don’t hear it until level 100.)

A traveler was called to Helios Library by Wiz the Librarian, who explained that he had discovered a new book that chronicled the history of Ellin Forest. He told the traveler that a new sentence had glowed on the pages when he had opened it, and that it had described how someone with the traveler’s exact description had arrived in Ellin Forest centuries ago, which had prompted him to call them. He also told them that at the exact moment when he had discovered the book, the Time Control Room in Ludibrium had broken down, with Karen, the keeper of the Time Controller, being unable to say why.

(A/N: I’ve mentioned this before, but this conflicts with Aran and Luminous’ quests that had them travel to Ellin Forest, as those events are meant to have taken place long before the events of this storyline. The only workaround that I can think of is that it took some time for Wiz to track them down based only on their description in the book. In KMS, Karen was called the manager of the Time Control Room, which I think is a lot funnier.)

Wiz told the traveler that a Temporal Gate had opened up, which led to Ellin Forest from hundreds of years ago. When the traveler asked what sort of place Ellin Forest was, Wiz explained that it had existed centuries ago, shortly after the Black Mage had been sealed, when towns like Henesys hadn’t yet existed.

(A/N: Explorers get an exclusive dialogue that has them realize that Tess’ father had died around that time. They also wonder whether it would be possible to prevent Destonen’s death. Pathfinder gets some exclusive dialogue in which she speculates that there must be many relics in perfect condition to be found there.

The Heroes and the Demon get some exclusive dialogue as well. Aran notes that she hadn’t been able to do a thorough search when she had first visited because she had been looking for the Seal Stone of Ellin Forest, but she wonders whether returning there will help her regain her memories. Evan and Mir wonder whether they’ll meet another Onyx Dragon. The rest of the Heroes recall that Athena Pierce had intended to head to the southern plains of Victoria Island and wonder why she had settled in Ellin Forest instead. The Demon notes that he probably wouldn’t be welcome in a time right after the Black Mage gets sealed away.)

Wiz then sent the traveler to meet with Karen, who refused to let them enter without good reason, claiming that it was too dangerous to venture inside the Temporal Gate, which was an aberration that defied the fundamental laws of time. Hoping to convince her, the traveler obtained the copy of the Chronicles of Ellin Forest from Wiz and returned back to Karen.

(A/N: I’m guessing that security’s gotten tighter around the Temporal Gate since Aran last visited, since she had no trouble going through during her class storyline.

Explorers get an exclusive dialogue that has Karen remind them that she won’t let them travel to the past without good reason. What’s interesting is that there are different paths within this same exclusive dialogue. In both cases, you start out by saying that you have a quarter-elf friend who was cursed during the time of Ellin Forest.

If the player hasn’t finished Limina, the Explorer tells Karen that their friend has been suffering from the curse for centuries, and that they want to stop it from happening. However, if the player has finished Limina, they tell Karen that despite his curse being lifted, he had still been suffering for centuries, and so they want to prevent it from ever having happened in the first place. In both cases, Karen tells them that she still can’t let them through, prompting the Explorer to show her the book. This exclusive dialogue is currently bugged in GMS, as Explorers receive the post-Limina dialogue even if they haven’t finished it yet.

It’s actually very rare for us to get exclusive dialogue that’s dependent on the completion of another storyline. Before the release of the Ellin Forest revamp, I only know of two other storylines where something like that has happened before. In Hotel Arcus, the Adversary only recognizes Senya Angler if they’ve completed Detective Rave’s Case Notes.

In Mushroom Castle, characters who completed Mushroom Kingdom before its removal from the game apparently get some sort of exclusive dialogue as well. I’ve never witnessed this personally, and so I don’t know what that exclusive dialogue actually is, but I’ve gotten several testimonies that this is actually real.

I really want to know whether this would also happen during Kerning Tower for characters who’ve completed Kerning Square, and so I’d appreciate any confirmations sent my way. The writers seem to be making a bigger push to have conditional exclusive dialogue, as the Odium storyline also has specific lines that only appear depending on whether or not you’ve competed storylines like Detective Rave’s Case Notes or Reverse City.

Aside from Explorer dialogue in this part, Aran has exclusive dialogue in which she tells Karen that she’s from that time period, and that she’s lost her memories of it, which is why she wants to go back there and see what kind of a person she really was. Evan and Mir tell her that they want to meet other Onyx Dragons, while the other Heroes tell her that they used to live during that time period, and that they had to leave for reasons beyond their control, because of which they want to see how everyone has fared without them.)

The traveler presented the book and showed Karen that their presence in Ellin Forest had been recorded. A surprised Karen noted that the power of time had touched the book and realized that the traveler must be part of a pre-destination paradox. She reluctantly gave them permission to enter the Temporal Gate, but she warned that history could never be changed, and that they should always be mindful that they were just a stranger like the book said. The traveler then entered the Temporal Gate and arrived in Ellin Forest of the past, where they encountered Yuris.

(A/N: The Heroes all get exclusive dialogue here. Aran, Mercedes, Phantom, and Luminous introduce themselves by name. Evan calls himself a Dragon Master and Shade introduces himself as a friend of Freud. Like I mentioned in Aran’s Seal Stone of Ellin Forest quest, the appearances of time-travelers have been changed in order to prevent time paradoxes. In Phantom’s case, Yuris points out that he has red hair, while the real Phantom has blond hair. Likewise, Yuris perceives Luminous to have black hair instead of silver hair. It isn’t said how the others have their appearances changed, but Yuris doesn’t recognize any of them.

In the case of Evan, Yuris also sees Mir as a lizard and claims that he has no horns when Evan tells her that Mir is a dragon. When Yuris doesn’t recognize Shade, he assumes that he’s been forgotten in the past as well. In the case of all the Heroes except Evan and Shade, Yuris dismisses each of their claims of being one of the Heroes by saying that there’s no one who hasn’t heard of the Heroes before and brushes them off as a follower of the Heroes who’s impersonating them. In the Demon’s case, Yuris is surprised to see his wings, to which he admits that he’s a demon. However, Yuris gets confused and asks if he’s joking, as she perceives him as a Nymph from Orbis.)

Yuris greeted the traveler and asked them to find a fragment broken off from one of the large Floating Rocks on the crashed airship. After the traveler gave her the fragment, Yuris asked them to let Perzen know that the airship was almost repaired. The traveler entered Altaire Camp, where Perzen was shocked to see an outsider. He demanded to know how they had made it past his magic barrier, to which the traveler explained that they had come from the future.

(A/N: All the Heroes except for Evan are surprised when Perzen doesn’t recognize them. They all wonder whether they might have been erased from history, but note that Perzen clearly still remembers the existence of the Heroes themselves. In Evan’s case, Perzen sees Mir as a snake, whereas Yuris thought him to be a lizard, both of which happen because they don’t see Mir having any horns.)

Unconvinced by their story, Perzen led the traveler to Athena Pierce, who immediately vouched for them. She told Perzen that she was sure that the traveler was telling the truth because she had met people who had come from the future before.

(A/N: This is a reference to Aran and Hiver from the Seal Stone of Ellin Forest quest. In the case of Aran, she tells Perzen that she knows that Aran is telling the truth because she’s been to Ellin Forest before. Aran and Mercedes both have exclusive dialogue, in which they reveal their identities. Despite not being able to perceive their real appearances, Athena believes them.)

Athena then asked Perzen and the traveler to keep the fact that they had come from the future secret from the other refugees, explaining that it would only confuse them. She then asked the traveler why they had come in the first place, to which the traveler explained that they wanted to know more about Ellin Forest.

Athena told the traveler that things weren’t going well between the Black Mage splitting Victoria Island from Ossyria and the refugees being swamped with difficulties. She explained that when the Heroes had gone to fight the Black Mage, she had intended to lead the refugees to the southern plains of Victoria Island, but for some unknown reason, dragons had attacked their ship and had forced them to crash land in Ellin Forest instead.

(A/N: They mention that the dragons had inexplicably attacked them several times in this storyline in a way that makes it seem like it’s going to be a major plot point, but there’s never a clear answer given about why. It would be really cool if this was the setup for a future story revamp about Horntail, especially since he was one of the three Great Kings of Leafre alongside Nine-Spirit and Afrien.)

The traveler then remembered Yuris’ instructions and told Athena and Perzen that repairs to the airship were nearly complete. Perzen realized that he would need to begin preparations to magically activate the floating gemstone on the ship and set off to do so. Athena thanked the traveler for the information and explained that the refugees had been trying to create a village in Ellin Forest, though she regretted it would no longer be possible, as Ephenia the Fairy Queen didn’t want to coexist with them anymore, despite having been a gracious hostess when they had first arrived.

As a result, Altaire Camp had been divided into hunters and gatherers. While the hunters searched the wilds for a better home, the gatherers stayed and maintained the camp. As the only ones capable of defending the camp were herself, Perzen, and Tess, Athena asked the traveler to help the refugees.

The traveler agreed and met with Tess in order to ask him whether he needed any help. (A/N: Explorers get an exclusive dialogue in which they note that he looks exactly as he does in the present, which they find to be a warm welcome.) As he was stuck on guard duty, Tess asked the traveler to find flowers for his mother, Yuris, who was soon about to give birth to his sister, Kyrin. He also told the traveler to bring the flowers to Sion, who could wrap the flowers as a gift.

(A/N: Fun fact: the first time that we ever see Sion is as a nameless background character on the refugee ship during Aran’s tutorial. She gets named and is given a role in both the original and current Ellin Forest storyline, and as far as I’m aware, she’s the only background character from Aran’s tutorial to appear in other storylines.)

After the traveler obtained the flowers, they brought them to Sion, who told the traveler that Crawls with Balrog had a fever, and that he urgently needed medicine. Following Sion’s instructions, the traveler asked Loha for some medicine, though she realized that they had run out. As the search team had taken some with them, she asked them to obtain medicine from Lohd deep in the forest.

After the traveler obtained the medicine from Lohd, they returned to Sion, who happily told them that she didn’t need it anymore, as Crawls with Balrog had beaten the fever on his own. She added that Perzen had also foreseen that the child was fated to carry the future on his shoulders. (A/N: It’s heavily implied that Crawls with Balrog is a baby Dances with Balrog, and although it’s never explicitly confirmed, I basically just treat it as canon at this point.)

As she didn’t need the medicine anymore, Sion asked the traveler to return it back to Lohd. The traveler returned to Lohd and gave him back the medicine before asking why he was exploring such a barren place. Lohd explained that though the land was barren, it could later be revived. He admitted that though settling on fertile land would be best, it wasn’t always possible.

He told the traveler that once repairs on the airship were finished, they would all go to the most promising land that they had explored, which would become the capital of Victoria Island. He then revealed that he was planning to make the barren land that he was exploring a base for thieves, emphasizing that his thieves would be different from others, and told the traveler to seek him out instead of boarding the airship if they were interested in joining.

(A/N: The implication here is that he’s referring to Explorer Thieves, as opposed to common thieves with no training. The old Ellin Forest storyline implied that Lohd would become the first Dark Lord, with his name ‘Lohd’ itself being a reference to ‘Lord’ in the title ‘Dark Lord’. While the new storyline still confirms that he’ll found Kerning City, the old storyline had an extra detail which suggested that he founded the city because he often had disagreements with Athena Pierce about how to run the camp, causing him to found Kerning City, while Athena helped establish Henesys.)

The traveler then returned to Sion, who asked them to collect Tree Rod Vines in order to wrap them together with Tess’ flowers. After the traveler helped Sion prepare the flowers, they gave the present to Tess, who thanked them and explained that his father, Destonen, had gone on a mission.

(A/N: It’s around here that the new Ellin Forest storyline diverges from the old one. The original version had several other pioneers of Altaire Camp whom you helped, such as Kanderune, Shadrion, and Rius. All of these characters were removed and the plot was modified to focus on Destonen and his family. Kanderune was the warrior representative for Altaire Camp and he was responsible for the questline with Chao, although his role was taken over by Destonen in the revamp. Shadrion is another thief who worked under Lohd, while Rius was Sion’s soulmate.

Kanderune still technically appears in the story, although not by name. In the Forest of Poison Haze PQ, party members take on the appearances of the leaders of each of the five job branches in Ellin Forest. Warriors become Kanderune, magicians become Perzen, bowmen become Athena Pierce, thieves become Lohd, and pirates become Yuris. This is still true after the revamp, which might suggest that Kanderune may still exist in-universe, even if he doesn’t show up in the revamped storyline. If that’s true, then that may also suggest the same for Shadrion and Rius too.

On a related note, the weird appearance morphs in the revamp may have come from this PQ and potentially even the original storyline. In the original theme dungeon, everyone in Altaire Camp recognizes us as Kao, who accidentally went too far back in time while attempting to travel back and warn us about Arcane Power. When we meet Tess, there’s a very subtle reference to the appearance morphs in our conversation with him, in which he asks us about how we got the bruise on our head, even though we don’t have one.

Back when I originally did the theme dungeon, I was pretty confused about the purpose of that line, but with the release of the revamp, it’s a bit clearer that the writers had always intended for these appearance morphs from the beginning. That still doesn’t explain the line about the bruise, though. My first though was that Tess perceives the bruise because Kao had that bruise before leaving Ellin Forest, but the fact that he asks us where we got it means that Kao didn’t have the bruise, and so I still have no idea what the purpose of that line was.)

Tess explained that he was worried that his mother, Yuris, would catch a cold because of the rain. In order to help shield Yuris from the rain, the traveler obtained a large mushroom to use as a parasol and brought it to her. Before they could explain what it was, Yuris told them that she was having pregnancy cravings and asked them to obtain fruit from a fairy named Ellin. When the traveler asked whether Ellin was the master of the forest, Yuris scoffed and told them that the forest was ruled by Ephenia.

The traveler was confused, as Wiz’s book clearly stated that the forest was called Ellin Forest. Nevertheless, the traveler went to see Ellin, who gave them the fruit in exchange for eliminating the noisy fairies around her. The traveler brought the fruit to Yuris, who told them that her cravings had disappeared.

The traveler then told her that the mushroom was a parasol for the rain, and though Yuris was touched that Tess was worrying over her, she explained that the rain wouldn’t stop, as it was being artificially generated by Perzen’s magic in order to settle the large amount of dust that had been scattered into the air as a result of Victoria Island’s separation from Ossyria.

(A/N: Explorers have an exclusive dialogue in which they recall that Yuris had died from poisoning, causing them to wonder whether Perzen’s rain is toxic. It’s actually not toxic until Kirston releases his poison. Luminous notes that if Perzen is strong enough to create rain on such a scale for so long, he ought to investigate what else Perzen can do. I don’t really know why they added this line for him because he never ends up talking to Perzen. Technically, Luminous has a small quest after finishing Ellin Forest where Perzen asks him to investigate a trace of darkness deep in the forest, which leads to him meeting Guwaru in the Forest of Spirits, but that doesn’t really connect to this piece of dialogue because Luminous never really investigates Perzen’s other abilities.)

The traveler returned to camp and visited Perzen, who asked them to investigate an ominous aura near the magic barrier by speaking with Destonen at the western border. The traveler headed west and met with Destonen, who told them that he was being blocked from investigating the nearby cave because of Chao and the other wild boars.

The traveler defeated Chao and cleared a path for Destonen, who thanked them and asked what part of Ellin Forest they had been tasked with exploring. When the traveler told him that they weren’t on the exploration team, Destonen came to believe that they were a gatherer and noted that it was a shame, as he believed them to be quite strong.

The traveler then asked him about the ominous aura in the area, to which he told them that everything seemed to be normal in the western forest, though he had seen fairies being corrupted into monsters in the east. The traveler pointed out that all fairies were monsters, but Destonen replied that they must know little about fairies and asked if there weren’t any fairies where they came from. He explained that though some were monsters, most were kind and caring.

He added that though he had seen quite a number of fairies being turned into monsters, he had trusted the Fairy Queen to deal with it. When the traveler told him that Perzen had mentioned how the ominous aura was spreading, Destonen wondered whether something was wrong with Ephenia and asked them to speak with Ellin, who was still friendly to the refugees.

The traveler went to see Ellin, who was annoyed to see them, as she believed that they had come for more trivial reasons. However, she paused when the traveler asked about Ephenia and explained that the ominous aura had been affecting the Sylphs, which had been triggering her headaches. She then revealed that Ephenia had sided with the Black Mage. As fairies shared their fates, what affected their ruler affected them all, meaning that Ephenia’s corruption had spread to the other fairies in the forest, which had even caused the trees to wither.

(A/N: This is an expansion of the original lore introduced in Mercedes’ storyline, which was that the destiny of the elven ruler was tied to their subjects, explaining why Mercedes’ curse had extended to the other elves. Elves are a type of fairy, and so this piece of lore in the new Ellin Forest storyline has retroactively made this a general rule for all three types of fairies: Elves, Nymphs, and Sylphs.)

Ellin explained that she had been debating on whether to stay quiet, or to reveal the truth and become a traitor to her race. She told the traveler that she had ultimately decided to betray Ephenia and instructed them to let Athena Pierce know. As she knew that Athena would likely be in disbelief of a fellow fairy’s corruption, Ellin gave them a letter that Ephenia had written to Guwaru as proof of Ephenia’s actions.

(A/N: This letter is actually a book that’s identical to the one that we get from the Forest of Poison Haze Cross World PQ. It basically just has some stuff that Ephenia wrote to Guwaru about how she believes in the White Mage’s ideals. There are lots of references to the White Mage chapter in the Grand Athenaeum, such as how angry she is that humans are kidnapping fairies and grave robbing their resting places, as well as how enamored she is by the White Mage because of his promise to create a better world with light.

In the final pages, it’s clear that her obsession with him corrupts her after he becomes the Black Mage and her love for him grows twisted. She tells Guwaru that the White Mage was right when he said that the ultimate light can only be found in the ultimate darkness, and so she wants to exterminate all life on Victoria Island in order to remake it into a better one without humans.)

Though Athena was still hesitant, even after reading the letter, Perzen was adamant that Ephenia was a threat and asked the traveler to eliminate her. The traveler went into the heart of the forest and successfully killed Ephenia before returning back to camp. Athena thanked the traveler and explained that though she knew that she ought to have faced Ephenia herself, her judgement had been clouded. She told the traveler that because of Elluel’s proximity to the Fairy Forest, the elves and the Sylphs once had close relations, adding that she and Ephenia had once been close too.

(A/N: There’s an Easter egg in this theme dungeon where if you keep heading east past the map where Ellin is, you can enter the Sealed Forest, where you’ll find the entrance to Elluel. The entrance has been completely sealed with ice, which we actually do ourselves when playing as Mercedes during her tutorial.)

She then confessed that she had believed that the Heroes’ battle with the Black Mage had ended the war, and so she had focused on settling Victoria Island instead of searching for the Heroes. However, she realized that she was wrong in thinking that the Black Mage’s threat was over and confessed that she didn’t know what to do. The traveler began to reassure her that her efforts wouldn’t be in vain, as the town of Ellinia would be founded as a place where fairies and humans could live together in harmony. However, Athena stopped the traveler, believing that it would be too dangerous to know about the future.

Perzen argued that learning about the future would be an opportunity to plan better, adding that the traveler’s arrival itself was an auspicious omen. (A/N: Perzen has the ability to see parts of the future, which is probably why he’s a lot less cautious about it.) Athena countered that the future was determined by their choices, and thus, it had to be their own free will that carved the path ahead, not the words of a time-traveler, no matter how well-intentioned. Perzen came to agree and decided to stop casting his artificial rain, as he knew that he would need to focus all his magic on the barrier in order to ward off the fairies that would inevitably come for revenge.

After Perzen left, the traveler noticed Athena’s expression and asked if they could do anything else to help defend the camp. Athena reassured them that they had already done enough, adding that she was merely worried about whether not asking them about the future was truly the right decision. She then asked the traveler why they had come back to the past, if not to change it, to which they explained that they had been told that the past must not be changed. Noticing their hesitation in answering, Athena decided not to press the issue.

The traveler then wondered whether they had altered the past by killing Ephenia, and so they opened the Chronicles of Ellin Forest and saw that a new line had been written that described how Ephenia had been killed by an unfamiliar traveler. The traveler also read that a prospector of Altaire Camp would die shortly after Ephenia, and they concluded that it had to refer to Destonen. (A/N: Explorers get a line saying that if they were able to change the past by killing Ephenia, then they might be able to prevent Destonen’s death as well.)

The traveler asked Athena about who would most embody the word ‘prospector’, to which she agreed that it would refer to Destonen, who had once sailed in search of new lands before the rise of the Black Mage, and who would pave the way for pirates in the future. The traveler then decided to go after Destonen and traveled through Chao’s cave, which they had cleared for Destonen some time ago.

The traveler found Destonen about to enter Kirston’s tent and warned him not to go inside, explaining that he would learn a dangerous truth that would result in his death. The traveler then revealed that they had come from the future, which Destonen immediately believed, explaining that his intuition and the look in their eyes made him realize that they were telling the truth.

He then began to tell the traveler about how he had first met Yuris in her self-made airship while he had been sailing the ocean. He explained that many people had believed that he had been looking for freedom on his long voyages, but he revealed that what he had really wanted was a place to rest at the end of his grand adventure.

He also noted that despite many speaking ill of him for abandoning his wife and son in camp while exploring Victoria Island, he had been hoping to create a better world for Yuris and his children. He then asked one question of the traveler, which was to reveal Kyrin’s fate, as he would never be able to see her grow older, since he was the only member of their family without elven ancestry. (A/N: Explorers tell him that she lives on the sea as freely as him, while other classes merely speculate that she does, as they’ve never met her before in the present.)

As a final favor, Destonen asked them to deliver a letter to Yuris, but when the traveler went to the airship, they found that the area was empty and a black ribbon had been tied to the mushroom parasol. They rushed back to Sion’s tent, where they found a newborn Kyrin sleeping next to Crawls with Balrog.

The traveler was shocked to realize that Yuris had already died from Kirston’s poison spreading across the forest. Believing that their warning had averted Destonen’s death, however, the traveler returned back to the present in order to verify that the blood curse mentioned in the book hadn’t transferred to Kyrin and Tess. Aboard the Nautilus, however, they discovered that nothing had changed.

(A/N: Explorers who haven’t finished Limina and all other classes who speak to Kyrin have her say that Tess is suspicious when they ask if she knows who he is. Explorers who finished Limina have Kyrin say that Tess is her big brother, after which she thanks them for lifting the curse and reuniting her with him.)

Confused, the traveler returned to the past and told Athena the real reason why they had come to Ellin Forest. Athena revealed that in spite of their warning, Destonen had entered Kirston’s tent and had gotten cursed, with Tess leaving shortly after Destonen’s death in order to find a way to lift the curse from himself and Kyrin. She also revealed that though she wasn’t sure about whether the history was still the same, Ellin had become the new master of the forest.

(A/N: This is new lore added in the revamped story. Ellin was present in the original story, but it was never explained why there was a connection between her name and the name of the forest.)

She added that she would also work with Ellin in order to establish the town of Ellinia that the traveler had described. Overwhelmed, the traveler realized that Karen’s warning about changing the past hadn’t been a warning, but a fact, that people were fundamentally incapable of changing the future, as everything in the past had been preordained.

(A/N: This universal law was established by the Overseers, with mechanisms like the changes in appearance and the inability for objects to be moved from their time period being part of their way of creating a fixed future. This is the same rule that the Black Mage was hoping to overcome, and it's through the power of the Seal Stone that the Adversary gains the ability to defy destiny and break away from their preordained fate.)

The traveler returned back to Wiz and told him that even though they had thought that they had changed fate by killing Ephenia, their actions had always been meant to be. Wiz explained that it may have been a result of the will of the world, which had intervened after the accidental creation of the Temporal Gate in order to correct the alterations in history. However, he noted that they still had no idea why the Time Controller had broken down in the first place, though he consoled the traveler by asking if there was anything that they had gotten from the experience.

(A/N: The Heroes and the Demon tell Wiz about how they were perceived differently, to which Wiz speculates that the will of the world might have altered their appearances in order to prevent paradoxes. The will of the world is another way that the game refers to the Overseers. The plot point about the broken Time Controller is still open-ended, just like the stuff with the dragons crashing the airship, and it makes me wonder whether this might open the door to stuff like new Papulatus lore, since he’s involved with the stuff about time breaking down in Ludibrium.)

The traveler then realized that they had been unable to deliver Destonen’s letter to Yuris, and so they instead decided to give it to Kyrin, who recognized it as her father’s handwriting.

Destonen had written an apology to Yuris for not being able to be with her when their daughter was about to be born. He explained that he would have been with her every moment if he could, especially since his life was much shorter than hers. As he would pass on long before her and their children, he had wanted to be there with Kyrin from the start, and for as long as possible. He explained that he had come to realize that his own life was short, but those whom he loved would continue to live on for much longer, and so he had decided that he would hold back his sorrow and continue his explorations for their sake.

He then told Yuris that he had chosen to open a Pandora’s Box full of dangerous truths for the sake of his family’s future and asked her to only mourn him for a moment if it cost him his life. He recalled how she had once joked that she would marry someone else when he died, but he asked that she still remember him even if she did so. He told her that even if he wasn’t part of the world anymore, he still wanted to remain in her heart and added that he loved her more than life itself, with all his heart.

(A/N: I would literally die for Destonen. I strongly believe that it is the civic duty of every player to simp for this man. This letter was unbelievably sweet, but for some reason, Kyrin just gives a plain thank you and says that she won’t ask how we got it, which is the most lukewarm response I’ve ever heard to getting a long-lost letter from your dead father. If she really doesn’t want it that bad, I’ll gladly take it back and frame it on my wall.)