2010-2015 (Big Bang-Heroes of Maple)

December 2010-January 2011: Gate to the Future (Chaos)

(A/N: The Gate to the Future is one of the biggest missed opportunities in the game. While I think that it’s a great concept for us to enter the future and realize that we’re going to lose everything, the storyline was added far too early into the game’s history for it to remain impactful after all these years. Henesys and its citizens had a higher significance to us when the game was smaller in scope, but in the present day, we have so many characters and storylines going on in parallel that seeing a ruined Henesys only works if you have the nostalgia factor from having spent a lot of time grinding and doing town quests there during the pre-Big Bang era.

The Gate to the Future and Twilight Perion both depict the corrupted Cygnus Knights and Resistance, but I feel that the writers failed to explore the concept to its full potential. This storyline was the perfect place for classes to get exclusive dialogue that reveals their fate. We could’ve had the Heroes be corrupted and explored the darker aspects of their personalities, like Mercedes becoming a second Ephenia who believes that elves are superior to humans, or a dark Aran whose moral code as a warrior has become warped into her attacking innocents and enemies alike just to prove that she’s stronger than anyone.

Aside from characters, I think that they really should’ve continued releasing more parts of Victoria Island instead of just stopping at Perion. I would’ve loved to see future Sleepywood and gotten the chance to fight an unsealed and overpowered Future Balrog. We’ve had some pretty interesting discussions about it on the lore server, so feel free to click the link and join if you’re interested as well!) 

Soon after, a traveler heard the rumors of the attack on the Temple of Time and decided to investigate. They entered the Gate to the Future and immediately heard the distant voice of Shinsoo, who sounded as though she was trying to tell them something. Upon going deeper inside, the traveler was stopped by an older Big Headward, whom they recognized as the hairstylist of Henesys.

Big Headward immediately became suspicious of the traveler, as no one should have been able to remember his old life aside from the other townspeople. Because of this, he brought them before Chief Alex, whom the traveler remembered as Chief Stan’s runaway son. Alex asked them if Cygnus had sent them, which the traveler denied and instead explained that they had known each other in the past. Unable to remember them, Alex began asking them a series of questions in order to determine the truth, but he was shocked when they were able to recall details that only someone who knew him well could have known.

Though he still couldn’t remember them, Alex decided to tentatively accept their story and asked where they had come from, as Cygnus’ attack had cut them off from the rest of Maple World. As they couldn’t reveal that they had come from the past, the traveler made up a story that they had been knocked unconscious and had woken up in Henesys. They then asked Alex about what had happened to Henesys, to which Alex explained that Cygnus had sent her Knights to attack Maple World after she had been corrupted by the Black Mage. As remembering the past was too painful for him, he told them to get the rest of the story from Athena Pierce.

Upon meeting the traveler, Athena was relieved to know that there were survivors beyond Henesys. She told them that Cygnus had taken an interest in the World Tree, which she believed to be the key to defeating the Black Mage. Upon finding the World Tree, however, she had realized too late that it had been a trap set by the Black Mage, who had then corrupted her and the people of Ereve. With both Cygnus and Shinsoo having fallen to evil, the divine power of the Empress was lost to them, causing Ereve to crash down upon Maple World. Cygnus had then sent her corrupted Knights to conquer the rest of the world.

(A/N: Although it was probably envisioned as a literal tree, I like the fact that they introduced the World Tree even as early as back then in the game. I do wish that they had done more with the idea of Cygnus being obsessed with the World Tree, as it feels like a missed opportunity not to have them refer to events of the Gate to the Future when Alicia is discovered in Root Abyss.) 

After hearing the struggles of the townspeople, the traveler decided to stay and help them. Upon hearing rumors of a ghost haunting the town, the traveler discovered the spirit of Chief Stan. Though they seemed vaguely familiar to him, Chief Stan nevertheless asked the traveler to prove themselves by defeating the Mutant Snails outside town.

After they proved their good intentions, Stan thanked them and explained that the monsters had been keeping him on edge, which was likely why the townspeople could sense his agitation, but he promised to settle down so that he didn’t scare them anymore. Next, the traveler helped Jay collect Mutant Snail Shells, which he wanted to study in order to learn how the Black Mage’s magic had mutated the monsters in the area. They then gathered Mutant Mushroom Caps for Camila, who used them to prepare meals for the townspeople.

Soon after, Camila asked them to find her husband, Utah, who had gone missing while scouting. They found Utah in the Creepy Humming Forest Trail, where he asked them to tell Camila that he would be home soon. After letting her know, they returned to help Utah, who asked them to find a marble that Camila had given to him when they were kids.

The traveler brought the marble to Utah and proceeded deeper into the forest, where they found Anne, Dr. Betty’s daughter, who asked them to help her defeat Mutant Tinos. They also helped gather Mutant Tiru Feathers for her to craft more arrows, after which she told them that Jay needed help with something.

Back in Henesys, Jay asked them to gather Mutant Tiguru Feathers in order to help him with his research on dark magic. He then told them that Big Headward had been looking for them. Big Headward asked them to eliminate the Mutant Slimes, and after they returned, he asked them to collect Pig Oil so that he could style his hair better. (A/N: What kind of priorities does this man have in the middle of a war?)

Soon after, Camila told the traveler that Utah had finally returned home and asked if they could collect Mutant Pork so that she could make him a hearty meal. After helping Camila, the traveler learned that Utah wanted to restart his family’s pig farm in order to have a steady source of food for the town. The traveler then captured several Mutant Ribbon Pigs in order to help Utah get started.

Utah thanked the traveler and gave them a shining object which he had discovered in the forest as a token of his appreciation. Unsure of what it was, the traveler showed it to Athena Pierce, who was startled to see that it was a Dream Fragment. She immediately began acting strangely, mistakenly claiming that Cygnus had conspired to attack Maple World, rather than the Black Mage, and insisted that it would be a waste of time to look into it. (A/N: This is likely Lucid’s dream instinctively reacting to our attempts to learn the truth, resulting in Athena behaving out-of-character in order to throw us off-track.)

As Athena couldn’t help them, the traveler decided to bring the Dream Fragment to Neinheart in the real world. Neinheart was intrigued by their discovery and told them that one of his informants had given him a report on Dream Fragments, which explained that they were related to a follower of the Black Mage who had the power to create dream worlds. The traveler wondered why an element of a dream world would be in the Gate to the Future and began to suspect that something was off.

Some time later, Alex told the traveler that he had received reports of movement at the Knight Stronghold. Upon investigating, the traveler discovered that security had gotten much tighter than usual. Alex suspected that Cygnus was planning to launch an attack and decided that they needed to cripple her forces before she could execute her plan. In order to infiltrate the stronghold, Alex asked the traveler to obtain an emblem from one of the Cygnus Knights. With the emblem, Alex told them to launch a surprise attack on the stronghold by defeating Official Knights A and B. Alex was pleased by the successful attack and told them that he would soon reach out with more instructions.

Soon after, he asked the traveler for a personal favor and explained that ever since he and Jay had lost their parents, Jay had grown obsessed with becoming more powerful, and as a result, he hardly ever smiled. In order to help lift Jay’s spirits, Alex asked them to find a Cheery Book, which was said to make one bust up laughing with a single paragraph. (A/N: Literally who else but Lucid would include something like this in a dystopian future.) The traveler stole one from an Official Knight B and brought it to Jay, who smiled slightly after realizing that Alex had been worrying over him.

Some time later, Alex told the traveler to obtain a report from their undercover informant. The informant told them that he had no news to report and explained that he would contact them himself in order to prevent his cover from being blown. After the traveler returned back to Henesys, Chief Stan’s spirit told them how much he regretted that he had never expressed his love to Alex while he had been alive, and so he asked them to find a letter that he had written to Alex, which detailed how much he loved his son.

After learning that a Knight who had attacked Henesys had taken it, the traveler found it in the hands of an Official Knight C and brought it to Alex, who was touched by the letter and thanked the traveler for finding it. Camila then told them that Anne and Big Headward were arguing once again and asked them to collect gloves from Official Knight D’s and bandanas from Official Knight C’s, with which she made gifts to reconcile the two. She then explained that Utah had injured his shoulder while wrestling with one of the pigs on their farm and asked them to bring pauldrons from Official Knight E’s in order to help keep him safe. 

Some time later, Alex gave them a new mission to ambush the Advanced Knight A’s while the Knights were running drills. After completing their mission, they helped Jay obtain a Superior Magic Wand from Advanced Knight B’s so that he could wield the powerful magic that he had been researching. Big Headward then asked them to bring back a Superior Bow from Advanced Knight D’s so that he could give it as an apology gift to Anne. Soon after, however, he explained that Anne had been making fun of him, since her weapon was now better than his, and so the traveler obtained an Ornate Sword from Advanced Knight E’s to give to Big Headward.

Some time later, the informant asked the traveler to covertly let Chief Alex know that he had discovered where Neinheart was being held. Alex immediately asked them to rescue Neinheart, and so the traveler infiltrated the stronghold and entered the secret grove, where they defeated the guards surrounding Neinheart’s cage.

Neinheart thanked the traveler for rescuing him, but he explained that he wanted to stay, as his absence would only make things worse for the people of Henesys. He added that he might also be able to do some good from where he was and asked them to tell Alex of his decision. He also begged them to stop Cygnus, claiming that she was beyond saving, and requested that they weaken the knights’ power base before Cygnus could launch her siege on Henesys. After thinning out the Advanced Knights, the traveler reported back to Neinheart, who was relieved to hear the news.

Soon after, the informant reached out and explained that it was getting harder to deliver messages, as the Knights were beginning to suspect him. Because of this, he asked the traveler to locate the Cygnus Garden in his place, where Cygnus and her Chief Knights resided. After discovering its location, the traveler reported back to Alex and told him that they would need a key to get in. Alex vaguely recalled something about a key that Stan had once told him, although he was unable to remember what it was.

The traveler then asked Stan’s spirit, who told them that they would need to create a Dream Key, and that Jay would know how to make one. Jay explained that the Dream Key was created by the stones of the Elemental Spirits which protected the Cygnus Knights. The traveler told Alex what they had learned, after which he asked them to craft a Dream Key in order to enter the Cygnus Garden and eliminate Cygnus and her Chief Knights.

At the Hallowed Ground, the traveler obtained stones from the five elemental spirits - Dawn, Blaze, Wind, Night, and Thunder - which they used to craft a Dream Key and enter the Cygnus Garden. They then engaged in a fierce battle against Cygnus, Shinsoo, and the Chief Knights, ultimately defeating them and ending Cygnus’ reign of terror on the future Maple World. Just then, they heard the voice of the real Shinsoo telling them to wake up from the dream. Shinsoo then explained that the world inside the Gate to the Future was nothing more than a dream planted by the Black Mage in order to demoralize the people of Maple World by showing them a ruined future.