PART III: AFTER THE UNSEALING OF THE BLACK MAGE

Chapter 5: Fight for Azwan

• With the formation of the Alliance, Neinheart resolved to look into the movements of the Black Mage’s Commanders. He dispatched an Alliance member to investigate the ruins of Azwan, believing that Hilla’s hometown could reveal more information about her.

• In Ariant, the Alliance member learned that a wandering dancer had been spreading rumors of an Elixir of Life to the citizens of Ariant, with the greedy and tyrannical Queen Areda sending grave robbers to Azwan in order to obtain it first.

• The Alliance member met with the Cygnus Knights, who revealed that a barrier was obstructing entry to the city. While looking for another route, the Alliance member found an underground passageway that the grave robbers had been using. They soon entered a refuge and met with the ghostly citizens of Azwan, including a Shamaness named Medina.

• Medina was surprised to learn from the Alliance member that centuries had passed, as time meant little to ghosts. She revealed that Hilla had turned the souls of Azwan into monsters, and that she had created the barrier to establish a protective zone where they could remain safe from the curse.

• Medina agreed to help the Alliance member and led them to Hilla’s tower, where the Alliance member was separated from Medina and wandered through an endless labyrinth of darkness before encountering Hilla, who revealed that she had dealt with Medina before attempting to kill them.

• Just then, Medina appeared and saved them, revealing that the Hilla before them was only an illusion. After dispelling the fake Hilla, Medina revealed that illusion magic had always been Hilla’s specialty, capable of driving people to madness.

• She and the Alliance member concluded that Hilla’s illusion in the tower meant that the real Hilla wasn’t in Azwan. Because of this, Medina believed that it was safe to lift the barrier and allow the Alliance entry to investigate the city.

• Following the investigation, the Alliance member learned that several Elixirs of Life were in circulation. After obtaining the elixirs, the Alliance member brought them to Medina, who discovered that it was actually a potion that extracted obsession and insanity hidden within the drinker’s heart. The Alliance confiscated all the elixirs and warned Queen Areda that there was no such elixir of everlasting life.

• Nevertheless, Areda paid the wandering dancer who had originally spoken of the elixir to bring one to her. After delivering the elixir and receiving a large sum of riches, the wandering dancer - revealed to be a disguised Hilla - smiled at the chaos that she had just unleashed upon Ariant.